Jansing in for ali velshi with documents . Reporter the last 24 hours or so have given democrats a the day having President Trump going on trial before the u. S. Little bit of wind in their sails in that regard with two senate. Major new pieces of evidence i chief Justice John Roberts arrived on capitol hill a short know youll talk about further time ago to assume the on in this broadcast. The lev parnas documents and constitutionally mandated role as presiding officer. He then administered a special interviews last night given democrats some hope, push that oath to the senators. Perhaps he could be a witness they want to hear from. Do you solemnly swear that in and then theres this gao report all things pertaining to the saying that essentially the trial of the impeachment of administration broke the law refusing to turn over that money Donald John Trump president of to ukraine as it was set aside the United States now pending by the congress. You will do impartial justice so both of those things have according to the constitution and laws so help you god . Given democrats new ammunition in that argument and not clear the swearing in hours after where they stand if thats the house impeachment managers convinced republican senators to arrived to read the articles of feel the same way. Thank you for that. As he just said, the start of impeachment. Donald j. Trump has abused the impeachment trial comes as a the powers of the presidency in man at the center of the ukraine investigation is making bombshell allegations. That using the powers of his his name is lev parnas. He is an associate of president high office President Trump trumps personal attorney rudy solicited the interference of a giuliani and he gave his first foreign government, ukraine, in interview to msnbcs rachel the 2020 United States maddow. Heres a reminder of the main president ial election. He did so through a scheme or allegation that is he made course of conduct that included against President Trump and other key players in this probe. Soliciting the government of ukraine to publicly announce President Trump knew exactly what was going on. Investigations that would benefit his reelection. He was aware of all of my movements. He i wouldnt do anything and just before the without the consent of rudy proceedings began, the giuliani or the president. Nonpartisan Government Accountability office delivering do you know if Vice President a blow to the president s claims that he did nothing wrong. Pence was aware that that was the gao concluding that, in the quid pro quo . That was the trade and that that fact, the Trump Administration broke the law when it withheld in fact is why his inaugural hundreds of millions of dollars visit was called off . In aid to ukraine. Im going to use a famous the congressional watchdog quote. Everybody was in the loop. Did Rudy Giuliani tell you agency wrote in the decision, quote, faithful execution of the hed spoke on the the attorney general specifically about law does not permit the ukraine . Not only Rudy Giuliani, i president to substitute policy mean, victoria, joe, they were all best friends. Priorities for those that barr was attorney general congress enacted into law. Barr was basically on the team. We disagree with the gaos does it strike you as unusual opinion. Omb using the authority to or inappropriate that devin ensure taxpayer dollars are properly spent consistent with nunes is a lead investigator on the president s priorities and with the law. We begin with the key this . I was in shock watching the hearings and when i saw devin constitutional moments that unfoeltded in the Senate Chamber nunes sitting up there and there today and whens coming up next. Was a picture where Derrick Garrett haake joining us from capitol hill where we should carvey in back sitting. Tell you we expect a press i text my attorney and said i conference from Senate Minority cant believe this is happening. Leader chuckou when the trial r because . Because they were involved in getting all this stuff on biden. Joining us to talk about it all is California Democratic congressman ted lue who sits on the House Judiciary Committee. I know you know republicans were quick to refute what parnas had to say. Team trump variously put it this way. Hes a liar, under criminal indictment whos on a media tour desperately trying to reduce the exposure to prison. Do you think that parnas is credible . Does he add to the impeachment case against the president . Lev parnas didnt just provide testimony on the Rachel Maddow show but documents and Text Messages and so important for the senate to have a full and fair trial to call in witnesses and have documents and any trial includes witnesses and documents of the senate to not do that would be an abdication of the responsibility and a sham process. Were waiting for Chuck Schumer who i think starts in a moment but can i ask you very quickly because you are a person who is sort of a cochair of messaging for the democrats, what is going to be what nancy pelosi said you have to have for the managers, the clear, concise case to be made against the president . Its a point to understand that donald trump was impeached for abusing his powers, for abusing the powers of his office for his own personal gain and the Government Accountability office, a nonpartisan independent Watchdog Agency confirmed what donald trump did wasnt just a violation of the constitution, it was flatout illegal and during the impeachment hearings i brought up the empowerment control act. That was passed by congress in response to watergate to prevent the president to do what he did which is to withhold congressionally appropriated aid. We have a violation of federal law, the constitution an again thats why we need a full and fair trial in the senate. We much appreciate it. Well go live to the minority leader Chuck Schumer who has just started talking. The weight of history, the eyes of history, you feel it, are upon you. I know every one of my colleagues felt it. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle felt it. You all heard the reading of the articles of impeachment by representative schiff at noon. It was a solemn recitation of charges that if proved are crimes against our democracy itself. To actually hear the charges read even though we have heard them many times before impresses the seriousness of the charges. This is not something trivial. This is not something everybody does. This is not something that can be dismissed. President donald trump is accused of coercing a foreign leader into interfering in our elections and then doing everything in his power to cover it up. These are exactly the kind of offenses the founders most feared when they forged the impeachment clause in the constitution. Do we want foreign powers to determine our elections . Do the American People want someone from overseas determining whos their president , whos their governor, senator, congressman . This is what the nation has feared for centuries. And we fear it today more than ever. With this president. This is very, very serious stuff. This is not trivial. Because its hard to imagine a greater subversion of our democracy than for powers outside our borders to determine the elections within our borders. And for a country to attempt such a thing on its own as russia has done is bad enough. For an american president to deliberately solicit such a thing, to blackmail a foreign country with military assistance, to help them win an election, is unimaginably worse. Im actually filled with anger. When you read the attempt to subvert our democracy. So these charges are serious. Very. And its on those charges which the senate has to render a verdict. Remarkably, crucial pieces of information related to the charges against the president are still coming out. Last night lev parnas, an associate of the president s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani gave an astonishing interview on National Television that further implicated the president in a plot to remove the u. S. Ambassador and pressure ukrainian president zelensky into announcing investigations into one of the president s leading rivals. And just today through the good work of Chris Van Hollen who you will hear from shortly, the gao found it was illegal, illegal for President Trump to withhold military assistance from ukraine to pressure them to interfere in the 2020 elections. Both the revelations about mr. Parnas and the gao opinions strengthen our push for witnesses and documents in the trial. The gao opinion especially makes clear that the documents we requested in our letter to leader mcconnell are even more needed now than when we requested it last month because President Trump simply put broke the law. Every senator will get a chance to vote to obtain these documents next week. Now returning to how i began, the oath we all just took will weigh heavily on senators to consider this question about how fair a trial we have. We have asked for four fact witnesses and three specific sets of relevant documents. The witnesses are not democrats. Theyre the president s men. His top advisers who he appointed. The documents are not democratic documents. They are just ieachment trial in our history all 15 that were brought to completion featured witnesses, every single one. Le mcconnell is fond of citing press accident. We have all heard him about 1999. The precedent in impeachment trials in the senate is to have witnesses. To have no witnesses would be a dramatic break with precedent. It would mean the first impeachment trial of a president in history with no witnesses. The first impeachment trial of anybody that went to completion in the senates 200 and some odd year history without witnesses. So in the coming days each of us, every one of us, democrat and republican, will face a choice about whether to begin this trial in the search of truth or in service of the president s desire to cover it up. Now that every senator has sworn a solemn oath before god and the American People to do impartial justice, let every senator reflect on their choice and let history weigh on every one of our shoulders. Senator harris. Thank you, leader schumer. I would argue that not only is this an impeachment trial but that the very integrity of the United States senate is on trial. What is before us are charges that are arguably the most serious charges that have ever been leveled against a president of the United States. And where there has been an abandonment of responsibility to uphold the ideals much less the words of the United States constitution by the president of the United States that responsibility now rests on the shoulders of each member of the United States senate. Which is to uphold the integrity of our system of democracy, up hold the system of justice and the integrity of the United States senate which has a responsibility to do fair and impartial justice which means demanding that the American Public and each member of this body receive all evidence, documents and individuals who are witnesses, so that we can engage in a fair deliberation and make a decision that reflects the ideals and the values and the very principles of the United States system of justice. And so that is what is before us today. And we took a very solemn oath. Its a very serious matter. Which each of us should take responsibly and take seriously, understanding that whatever the Party Affiliation of the president of the United States, right now it is incumbent on the United States senate to do the work of upholding americas constitution and our very system of justice. Thank you, senator harris. Senator coombs. Thank you. Swearing to do impartial justice was a solemn moment, a solemn moment for all of us. A moment where the very weight of history becomes clear to be in the chamber as the chief justice of the Supreme Court stroeed up to the podium and took his oath to do impartial over this coming weekend we have two questions that i think our colleagues need to wrestle with. One is, is this going to be a trial. Theres a simple reality. In america trials have evidence and coverups do not. Trials have evidence, they have documents, they have witnesss that are relevant to the matter in front of us. Leader schumer has by letter asked that we consider four different witnesses who are directly relevant, who were Senior Leaders in the administration, in the room on the email chain and could testify if they testified truthfully to whether the president did or did not inappropriately block aid to ukraine. As has been charged. This is a big departure from previous investigations of president s for impeachment that President Trump has used an overly broad assertion of executive privilege to try and block critical testimony. President clinton even president nixon directed his closest advisers to cooperate with an investigation which leads to the second issue. The second article is obstruction of congress. The president has to decide is he going to present a defense . If he hopes to claim xan ration he has to have put a defense in front of this senate. So far the evidence developed and presented in front of the house intelligence committee, the House Judiciary Committee and that led them to take up and vote two articles of impeachment seems very compelling largely because the president declined to present a defense. He will have his chance in briefs over the next few days and in the conduct of this trial. So i would say to my colleagues on the other side, please, spend the weekend reflecting on the importance of this moment, on the ways in which i would agree the senate itself is on trial and see whether you can be open to the idea that we should have a trial not a coverup that features documents, evidence, witnesses rather than a historic sham that fails to meet the moment. Thank you. Senator blummenthal. I thought that senator schumer captured well the extraordinary drama of this moment. I was struck by the deep steeped sense of solemnity and there was a knot in my stomach when the chief justice came into the chamber and then pronounced the name Donald John Trump. The difference in the reference to President Trump struck me as really distinguishing this proceeding from any other. And in fact, nothing we do while we serve in the United States senate will be more important and consequential than putting country above party in this proceeding. The report released by the gao, an independent nonpartisan Watchdog Agency squarely raises the importance of Mick Mulvaney as a witness. He was the acting director of the omb that withheld the money. He took the president s orders. John bolton was the witness who tried to dissuade the president from this socalled drug deal. Direct contact with the president of the United States. Robert blair and michael he pre they were the president s henchmen. They executed the drug deal. Each of these witnesses had eyes and ears on the president of the United States. They have firsthand knowledge. They are the witnesses who must appear and maybe they will have evidence to show the president s innocence. Maybe they will help to exonerate him. But the president has refused all of those witnesses. He has gagged them as hes blocked all the documents and let me say about the documents. As we argue to the jury, documents dont lie. Its black and white. Its there without any shading. And an effort by the president s defense team to use a document that they have blocked should be excluded. As it would be in any trial. They should be playing by the rules of a full and fair proceeding, not a coverup which is what the president has sauout to do. So i hope my republicans will, in fact, put country above party and decide that the American People want a full, fair and open proceeding so that they will know all of the truth and all of these corroborating witnesses the case is already overwhelming. But im going to be listening. I will be listening closely to every word, watching every video and document that we see. And i will try to be as full and fair as i can be as a considerer of the fact and the law here. Senator van hollen. Thank you, senator schumer. So on one side you have the democrats who are about to start a trial, impeachment trial, for the president of the United States. He has just answered a series of questions. Lets take a listen. That tape the tape is not quite ready to roll but we do know he addressed any number of the issues around impeachment. He talked about the trial length an one of the things you just ts was essentially a not very thinly veiled message to republicans about the weight of history. About how history will judge them. According to Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, the weight of history, the eye of history is on us. You feel it. You heard from kamala harris, very integrity of the u. S. Senate is on trial. We took a very solemn oath and, of course, at the heart of this is whether they will allow the four witnesses that the democrats have asked for, whether they will allow the documents that the democrats have asked for. The way chris coons put it, is this going to be a trial . Trials have evidence. And coverups do not. Lets go back and listen in while we wait for the president. We are waiting for that tape of and the comments he had to make while at another event. Was willing to break other laws as part of his overall scheme to abuse power and to cover up that abusive scheme and the gao report also made clear that in their inquiry, in their investigation they were stonewalled. They were blocked. They didnt get all the documents they wanted and in their report they said they believe that raises constitutional questions which it does. The whole purpose of the em poundment control act is to enforce the constitution of the United States. The power of the purse and separation of powers. So in ordering the violation of that law is part of the overall abuse of power scheme the president again showed contempt for the constitution of the United States. And finally, the g 5o report like other evidence has come out has underscored the importance of having relevant fact witnesses and relevant documents. You dont have a fair trial if you dont get all the evidence. The house has established a mountain of evidence supporting their claims but all of us has said that we want to see all the evidence. The American People are entitled to the evidence and i also will wait until all the evidence is in and listen to all that evidence which we dont know what it will be before rendering a final verdict in this case. One other point related to what chris said. It seems very likely that the documents well continue to listen to the democrats but now lets go to the president. We have gone through the russian witch hunt. We have gone through a lot of them, from probably before i came down the escalator and certainly since i came down the escalator, look at what happened. And in the meantime our country doesnt matter what you hes tried to probably make a deal for himself. [ inaudible ] i dont know who this man is other than i guess he attended fundraisers. I take a picture with him. I take thousands and thousands of pictures with people all the time. Thousands during the course of the year. And oftentimes taking a picture with somebody and say i wonder what newspaper that one will appear in. Perhaps hes a fine man. I know nothing about him. He described i can tell you this. He says i dont know him. I dont believe ive ever spoken to him. On the phone with giuliani and he said i dont believe ive ever spoken to him. Ive thousands of people. I meet thousands and thousands of people as president. I take thousands of pictures. And i do i do it openly and gladly. And then if i have a picture where im standing with somebody at a fundraiser like i believe i saw a picture with this man, but i dont know him. I had never had a conversation that i remember with him. Sir he let me just tell you, you have to take a look at the polls. Quiet. You just have to take a look at the pictures, the polls. I dont need anybodys help. The economy is the best its ever been. We have never had an economy like this in history. We just made the two best trade deals in the history of our country. We are doing well. I dont need the help of a man that i never met before other than perhaps taking a picture at a fundraiser or something if thats where it was taken. [ inaudible ] are you still going to davos . I will probably be going to davos. I have been invited. We have tremendous World Leaders and we have the great Business Leaders and want the Business Leaders to come to the United States. Some of the businesses left the United States because they were disgusted with what happened and now theyre all coming back. We are booming. Our countrys the hottest country anywhere in the world. Nothing even close. Every world leader sees me says what have you done . This is the most incredible thing we have seen. The stock market today i understand broke 29,000. When i came in it was a fraction of that and would have been cut in half had the other person or the other party won. The number would have been cut in half. We are doing so well. We have tremendous room for growth in our country. In terms of the economy. We have tremendous powerful room for growth. So im going to davos, meeting the biggest Business Leaders in the world, getting them to come here and also meeting with foreign leaders. Okay . You talk about prayer and faith today. What is your message to the millions of catholics in the United States . Why should they vote for you in the upcoming election . I have a great relationship with catholics. I have done so much for catholics. You take a look at the abortion issue, many of these mexico city, so many of the different issues. My relationship with catholics and the Catholic Church has been very, very good as you know very well. Yes . Mr. President , Rudy Giuliani wrote a letter to zelensky requesting private meeting and he said it was in his capacity as private counsel to President Donald Trump before the inauguration. Did you authorize him to write that letter . What was your understanding of what the meeting was supposed to besome. I dont know anything about the letter but rudy is one of the great crime fighters in the history of our country and probably the best in the last 50 years, the greatest mayor in the history of the city of new york. I think rudy was truly an outstanding mayor, an example, t him elected. Rudy was the greatest crime fighter and rudy is somebody that frankly having him on my side was a great honor for me and has been a great honor for me. Rudy giuliani Rudy Giuliani did a phenomenal job over a long period of time in fighting crime. And frankly, hes a very legitimate guy. A very straight shooter. I didnt know about the specific letter. If he wrote a letter, it wouldnt have been a big deal. Rudy was always it was very important to rudy that i be a great president. Thats okay to me. It was important to a lot of people because our country was going to hell an now its on a path that we havent seen in decades and decades. We have never done better. Go ahead. No, no, no. Not you. The trial starting next week, what is your view on very quickly. It is a hoax. It is a hoax. Everybody knows that. Its a complete hoax. The whole thing with ukraine. So you have a perfect phone call. This is a call actually two. You people dont report that. Two calls. They were both per forget calls. In fact, probably among the nicest calls i have ever made to foreign leaders. Now, you have the perfect calls an everybody says it now. Before they knew they were so good because fortunately they were transcribed, you had other people saying terrible things about the calls. You had a fake whistleblower that wrote a report that bore no relationship to what was said. Everything was false. You have now the ukrainian president and the foreign minister of ukraine saying there was nothing done wrong. In fact, they said there was absolutely no pressure whatsoever. Everything was perfect. And they impeach. Its totally partisan. We had 1950 republican votes. I guess we got a democrat that came over to the republican side. We had 1950. This is a hoax. Its a shame. I did the biggest deal ever done in the history of our country yesterday in terms of trade and probably other things, too, if you think about it. The deal with china and that was the second story to a total hoax. Today we just had passed the usmca. It is going to take the place of nafta which was a terrible deal. And the usmca will probably be second to this witch hunt hoax which hopefully everyone knows is not going anywhere. It was nothing done wrong. This was a perfect phone call. The president of the United States whos led the greatest growth, the greatest economic revival of any country anywhere in the world is the United States as big as it is. Doing better than any other country by far, our unemployment numbers are the best in over 50 years. Africanamerican, asianamerican, hispanicamerican, unemployment, the best in the history of our country. And i have got to go through a hoax, a phony hoax. Put out by the democrats so they can try and win an election that hopefully theyre not going to win. It was put out for purposes of winning an election. Our country is doing great. Our country has never done better. They figure the only thing to do, they failed on the mueller report. That was a bomb. After two and a half years they failed. Now they said what can we do and they pick up a phone call that was perfect. They didnt know it was perfect. They only found out later. They made up a phone call. What they did look. What they did. You have a corrupt person, adam schiff. He made up a phone call. He went out youll hear about this as you grow older. He went out and he said things that quid pro quo eight times. It was no times. He said dont call me. Ill call you. Thats a mob statement. I never said that. Fortunately, i released the transcript of the call. The transcript was perfectly accurate. And now everybody agrees because it went through a lot. Could you add one word here . Or Lieutenant Colonel said, well, i think they should add added a word. Everything everyone agree it is transcript is perfecto. Done by total professionals, right . I released that after they had done these fraudulent acts. And youre going to impeach on this . We have the greatest economy in the history of our country. We have the highest job numbers today. It was Just Announced we have more people working in the United States than ever before in the history of our country. Almost 160 million people. Were doing an incredible job. Mr. President . For absolutely no reason, for absolutely no reason i got impeached. It is a dais grace and a hoax. Thank you very much, everybody. Lets go come on. Move that was the president obviously in the oval office who was tauting the impeachment and the day that the articles officially went over to the senate so that they could begin the trial. Calling it again a witch hunt hoax but also denying what democrats are saying is the critical new interview that was done last night on this network by Rachel Maddow with lev parnas, very close to Rudy Giuliani. He said that president just now and not the first time he denied knowing parnas. He said i dont know who the man is. I dont believe ive ever spoken to him. Ive never had a conversation with him that i remember. Joining us now from the white house nbcs kelly odonnell, the Washington Post Senior Reporter aaron blake and nera tandem, former adviser to president obama and hillary clinton. Lets start with you, if i can, at the white house, kelly odonnell. I want to read from the transcript. Last night one of the questions we heard from Rachel Maddow was the president had denied knowing you, lev parnas. Is he lying . Is that a true statement from the president. He said, he lied. We are not friends. When you say friends, we dont watch Football Games together. He knew who we were. Who i was because i interacted with him at a lot of events. We had a lot of one on one conversations with him at the gatherings with the rountables with six people at the table. We have had several of those. The president saying he doesnt recall ever having a conversation with lev parnas. Tell us what the mood is in the white house following the two things we heard from the democrats, the parnas interview and the report from the g a o. Reporter theres an effort to put parnas in the box of a man trying to save himself and trying the distance him from the president. Now, the president certainly had occasion to be in the same place with parnas because he was a donor and part of that donor club that would be at whats known as a roundtable. Thats really a specific term in Campaign Finance land where youll have an event where a candidate or a president is with a Smaller Group of donors and they call it a roundtable and a policy discussion that kind of thing. Those are Standard Practice for all kinds of campaigns and so if he is saying he attended a number of those there would certainly be opportunities for him to have done that. And the president acknowledges taking photos with him and then says as many president s do they take photos with thousands of people. Are there other things in the body of evidence that get him closer and closer to the president . One of the most concerning things for the president is parnas proximity to giuliani who clearly has a close, long, enduring relationship with the president. And so, when the president says i dont know him as he just did or talks about sort of these accidental ways where they might have been in each Others Company and doesnt know anything about the substance we have heard that before from the president when he has been asked about different players, figures, characters in the long drama of the russia investigation and now impeachment. And so, that is in some ways not surprising. What we have heard from a number of white house officials is simply trying to discredit parnas and to separate him from the president. Aaron, i dont know if you had a chance to listen to what the democrats had to say. There was an appeal it seemed to the historic nature of what theyre facing in terms of the small pool of republicans to decide whether or not there will be witnesses but when you hear somebody like Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, say that you have these two important what the democrats see as important new things, the lev parnas interview as well as the documentation provided and did gao report, does it make a difference . Could it potentially be a game changer, again, for that very small pool of republicans whose minds need to be changed . Well, a couple things. One is that these senators who are going to be making these decisions about witnesses and admitting new evidence all of them need to consider what happens after this trial ends. We may not have all the information at that point because the trial might happen in the matter of two or three weeks but they all need to consider the idea that this information could come out even after they dont necessarily ask for it and at that point they might have to answer for the idea that they should have been asking for questions about these things and so i think that is something that might weigh on a few of them. But look. In the last couple of days or so i think democrats have gotten some maybe not so great signs about exactly how open some of these potential Republican Voters who could cross over and vote with them are going to be on their side. One is Susan Collins kind of dismissing the parnas information, suggesting that the house should have been able to get that before it sent the impeachment over. That suggests that maybe she is not terribly open to all the ideas about new witnesses and information. The other is the exchange we saw today with senator Martha Mcsally up for reelection in a tough state in arizona whos basically asked to be open to new information and basically attacked the reporter for being biassed. A very standard question that a lot of these senators have been asked but i think that her very testy response, not willing to commit to that shows that this is going to be a very difficult vote for republicans to go against the president on, of course, we need four of them to cross over in order for democrats to get any new witnesses or new information. Yeah. Mcsally attacking a reporter who i think frankly colleagues came to defense to say this is not a biassed reporter. But i want to go back to what aaron said about the maine senator collins and read what she said about Rudy Giuliani and lev parnas. She said im perplexed the house is sending over Additional Information which should have been included earlier it appears. When she was told the evidence was only recently made available she responded then that means the house rushed their proceedings, doesnt it . I wonder where you see things standing right now. Id agree with aaron that republicans are going to face a really hard you know, they face a hard choice here. And i think one of the questions that democrats you saw senator schumer really make the case around is, you know, they have a question about whether they follow their oath or whether they follow politics. I think the issue with senator collins and what she and her description of events are, frankly, absurd. Essentially the white house and the Trump Administration is obstructing the process and then she is complaining that the democrats werent able to get documents. The American People recognize but tpoint, do you see those as signs that a lot of democrats who felt like we might be close here, we may well get witnesses, may well get the documents we asked for, its further away than maybe democrats would have hoped . I dont think the single democrat thinks Susan Collins is going to rest on principle and you should just count on that. I think the truth is that she faces pressure. She has a very Competitive Senate race. She wants the look like shes open as long as humanly possible. I think the fact that so many republicans, so many republicans and public polls, its an overwhelming majority of americans think there should be witnesses and i think those numbers will go up with the revelations from parnas and the documents from parnas. Frankly, after the gao report today which shows which is an impartial finding that the president broke the law, Susan Collins will look much, much more political when she takes these sort of gymnastic positions to avoid the basic fact that trials have witnesses and evidence and she can choose to stand in the way and vote no or she can uphold the oath and vote yes. We preeshappreciate you stan by. Thank you so much. Up next, we are learning more, as well, about an improbable character in the ukraine scandal. Candidate robert hyde and his role in the scandal to pressure ukraine. How does he get so close to the president s inner circle . How the president s legal team and democrats are planning to win. Youre watching msnbc. Icious . Only egglands best. With more vitamins d and e and 25 less saturated fat . Only egglands best. Better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. Yeah. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. 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Thats because its the only Wireless Network that automatically connects you to millions of secure wifi hotspots and the best lte everywhere else. Save up to 400 a year when you switch. Plus, save even more with 100 off galaxy a50. Click, call or visit a store today. Were learning new details today about another figure in President Trumps orbit involved in the alleged Pressure Campaign on the ukrainian government. Hes republican congressional candidate robert hyde and as the New York Times puts it evening in a preemt drama brimming with improbable characters roblt f. Hyde stands out. The trove of new evidence released by House Democrats includes encrypted mess ands between hyde and one of Rudy Giulianis associate lev parnas. In them hyde appears to be tracking the movements of former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and today nbc news spoke with a woman who claims to have dated robert hyde. He disappeared but i worried about him because he was make a statement, something can happen to him. Because the last time when i was with him he said i can get killed. I dont know, like, maybe he just make it up. It is about alcohol or mental situation. We are on the same circle. The hotel, Trump International hotel. And trump faces, pro trump people like it is usual. Like a club sort of. Robert hyde worshipping President Trump. Its because robert hyde is trump, actually very similar. He act like him. Joining me now nbcs Josh Letterman who did extensive reporting on this story. Which was interesting to me about her statements is to mirror what parnas told Rachel Maddow about him last night and before we even get into the credibility issue and clearly parnas came to believe that hyde was lacking, how does someone like that get so close to the president s inner circle . What does he mean to this big pick clur . Yeah. Well, this is a pattern that we have seen play out throughout the Trump Administration, chris. Where you have people who are kind of random. Theyre able to ingratiate themselves in the trump orbit largely by making donations to a republican candidate, the president s campaign, to the inauguration. They start hanging out at places where theyre likely to runins with people in trumps orbit such as the Trump International hotel here in washington, the maralago resort, the doral facility, as well, and start to get to know the characters. They go to events where they can take and use that to basically parlay themselves into position wheres theyre actually playing a role. In this case we see mr. Hyde was able to do that with lev parnas to some extent, exchanging these harrowing Text Messages about what he seems to be suggesting was a surveillance operation he was running on the ambassador to ukraine. In the worst case scenario, yovanovitchs safety was put into jeopardy. Robert hyde was an almost reckless character who somehow had access to the personal lawyer. Again, you have so many people and the president said this again today so many people. He says ive taken pictures with thousands of people. What do we know of what type of access hes had or the truth of what some of the allegations are . We know he spent a lot of time in the trump hotel along with people like lev parnas, Rudy Giuliani, other Trump Associates who hung out there. Were still trying to assess whether there was any veracity thoo surveillance he was running. It didnt seem he would have the cape capability to do that and signs he was prone to exaggerating himself and his abilities. He told a conservative news outlet in his first interview, since all of this broke last night, that he had been deployed to north carolina. He doesnt have a military presence. He has a whole website for this lobbying firm, he says was lobbying at the highest levels from issues from a to z. No evidence he did any lobbying work. Its easy to create an appearance, through the photos were seeing, when you have all these thumbs up with mike pence, thoot to an outsider looking for someone close to the president , you might look at a guy like robert hyde and assume hes in the inner circle. Let me ask you about this, the investigation by ukrainian officials to look into the alleged surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch . They dont want to get involved in u. S. Politics but the fact of the matter, is it would violate ukrainian law and the vienna convention. The fbi wont comment on whether they are investigating. But we confirm fbi officials were on scene at both mr. Hydes house and office just within the last few hours. Thank you so much for that and of course all of this is coming as weve seen whats unfolded the last couple of hours on capitol hill. 99 u. S. Senators taking a formal oath. Oklahoma senator absent for a medical emergency will be sworn in and join his colleagues on tuesday. The six house impeachment managers passing the charges to the senate. But some are belittle it. Saying the process has been over since the house held its hearing. I want to bring in bill mccellm and former a prosecutor for the Southern District of new york. So glad to talk to you because of your experience. Yesterday, nancy pelosi, said its clear the emphasis is on litigators, Comfort Level in the courtroom, making the best possible case to seek the truth for the American People. How do you see it, as someone whos done it, the job of the impeachment managers . Theyre representing the house, the prosecution f you will of the articles of impeachment before the United States senate. I know i took that very seriously. In the terms today of how soltime was in there. You present the evidence, the facts, you argue the case. If theres an argument for witnesses, you make that argument and i think youll find them wrapping up and concluding. You are in the senate under their rules acting very similar to a prosecutor in the civil world. When you look back at your time as an impeachment manager, is there advice you would give . Have any of them reached out to you . None of them reached out to me. But if i gave them advice, i would say they should focus on their job, try to put aside anything else. Theres a lot of spin, a lot of things said in the next few days and weeks. I think they need to focus on the task at hand. Theyll all have some assignment and they need to concentrate and look at the senators. No matter what they say, theyve already made up their mind. Your job isnt to be distracted by that. Your job is to present the breast case you can and if the president s attorneys rebut it and let the process work. Both sides need to make their arguments and thats what the managers need to do. Maybe theyll pay closer attention. A lot of things struck me in the last hour was to see the political and the legal, the chief justice of the Supreme Court there with the members of congress who are going to play a role there as well sitting and listening to the evidence. I wond what youll be watching for with chief Justice Roberts . Its an interesting role for the chief justice. And not one i think we have much pr precedent for here. Only the second time since weve actually seen them in the video age. We have several different examples. You have the clinton proceeding who tried to involve himself as little as possible. And thats a contrast to the johnson hearings who saw himself as a much more active player. I would expect chief roberts taking the approach of renquist, being passive and getting involved only when called upon. Very cognizant of the fact any ruling he makes can be overruled by the senators by the simple vote. And the oklahoma senator compared the size of the deposition and notes the senate got to that of the clinton investigation. I want to play what he had to say. There doesnt appear to be much evidence to support the articles. They basically sent over a notebook, the notes thigh had. If you compare that to the clinton investigation, they sent over 18 boxes of information in 1999. This time its a very thin notebook. I dont make a lot of it. The difference being we had a Major Investigation handled by the outside counsel, the independent counsel. So we had volumes and volumes. In this case they have their depositions that they took. They have the hearing testimony and maybe some documents. But its a pretty thin grul compared to what was sent over by those of us working on the clinton impeachment trial. We had clear evidence of crimes that were committed by the president. I know there are arguments there werent but most came thoop c conclusion they were and the president was guilty in the criminal law sense but they didnt want to remove him. Thats what we have to be watching for here. Is theres a presentation of the facts, arguments and a motion to dismiss. I suspect it will get past that. But it might not. Because some senators are going to believe they dont need to hear anymore. On the other hand, its going to be a fascinating process because the senators will control that. In my case they forced us to do this all by deposition. And if they do bring in witnesses, theyre going to bring them in from both sides. Its a big decision day at that point. If you were a betting woman and knowing what you know about the law and politics, what do you think the chances are we actually hear from witnesses and we see documents we havent seen . I think theres enough pressure, because of the recent document dump weve seen from lev parnas and including the statements on the Rachel Maddow show last night, i think theres going to be pressure on senators to make this a real trial. Its so fantastic to have you here w your experience and insights. We really appreciate it. And this is going to wrap up this hour for me. Ill see you at 9 00 a. M. Thanks for watching. Deadline white house with niwallace. And another day in the news of donald j. Trump. Playing out in washington d. C. Articles of impeachment against the president for abuse of power and obstruction of congress were formally presented to the senate for only the third time in u. S. History. This afternoon senators were sworn in, swearing an teeth, quote, do impartial justice according to the constitution and law. That oath taking on added importance with the onslaught of new evidence em
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