Running out of time to evacuate. The number of kurdish women and children displaced is swelling while isis is poised to make new gains. We have the latest on the crisis. The new report revealing the growing anxiety about the current crop of 2020 candidates and the alternative names being talked about. A lot to get to this morning. Right now, a highstakes deposition by a key witness in the impeachment investigation is taking place on capitol hill. A career diplomat who called President Trumps ukraine policy, quote, crazy, is giving lawmakers his side of the story. Its happening as the New York Times reports that democrats will slow their impeachment timeline to sharpen their public case as new polls continue to move in the direction of impeachment. Lets go right to the center of the action in the nations capitol. Msnbcs Garrett Haake is on capitol hill for us. Nbcs hans nichols is at the white house. Garrett, lets start with whats happening right now where you are. Ambassador bill they your talking to investigators. Remind us who he is and what information lawmakers hope to get from him. Sure. Taylor is a career diplomat with decades of experience. He served in places like afghanistan, someone with a lot of credibility on both sides of the aisle as a Foreign Service officer and an expert on this part of the world. He was called in to service after President Trump pushed aside the ambassador to ukraine a few months earlier. He arrived over the summer, taking over that portfolio and quickly became concerned about what was going on there. At least thats what we think we know based on his Text Messages. This is someone most famous in this country for Text Messages in which he expressed surprise, frustration on what he sees as the aid to ukraine being tied up for political purposes. House members running this impeachment inquiry have known about bill taylors texts for quite some time. Today theyll get a chance to question the man himself ability what he saw when he arrived in the country and what led to that concern and what, if any, additional steps he took to raise flags about what he saw going on inside the country, both with Rudy Giuliani and others operating on behalf of the president outside of the normal state department protocols as weve heard from some of the other witnesses. Hans, lets talk about the impeachment inquiry and how its impacting the president of the United States. A lot of people watched a rambling onehour back and forth with the press yesterday and said you can feel the pressure that he must understand that hes under. Today he invoked a word that frankly has already brought a big backlash and is causing a lot of people to raise questions, including frankly, already some of his own party who have had like Kevin Mccarthy, i would not have used that word. The word is lynching. Thats what the president is comparing to whats happening to him, making an ugly comparison. Chris, i think well find out shortly whether or not the white house thinks this is defensible, this kind of language is defensible. Hogan gidley is scheduled to go on fox news in a minute. Typically after these appearances, gidley will stop by the cameras, a couple hundred yards down here. A lot of reporters are waiting for gidley to see if there will be any sort of White House Defense of the president s use of the term lynching. Lets put the full quote up there from the president on twitter. So some day, if a democrat becomes president and the republicans win a house even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the president without due process or fairness of any legal rights. All republicans must remember what they are witnessing here, a lynching, but we will win. I think well see whether or not, how the white house decides to defend this. In the past when the president makes controversial tweets, they fall back on the line that the tweet speaks for itself. Again, it happened a fairly short time ago, garrett. Were starting to hear some reaction. Lindsey graham who rebuked the president over his decision to remove troops from syria, not a rebuke, but, in fact, doubling down on what the president had to say. Reporter chris, stop me if youve heard this before. The president tweeted something many people find offensive and has divided those on capitol hill as to how to respond. Most of the members weve spoken to have refused to defend the language saying the process is unfair but thats not the word they would use to describe it. Here is what Lindsey Graham had to say. A vote of inquiry allows the president to confront his accuser and to call witnesses on business behalf. Until that is done, this is a joke, this is a sham and this is a political lynching. Reporter republicans have been pretty much in lockstep in criticizing the process of this impeachment inquiry. There you see Lindsey Graham who has been time and time again one of the president s most loyal defenders being the first to line up behind this ugly language that some of the president s other staunchest defenders have refused to support. I want to talk about impeachment, but i want to stick to what were talking about right here. Let me bring in rick tyler, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst. And with me, eddie glaude, chairman of africanamerican studies at princeton college. So first when i saw you and we talked about this, i was very emotional. Now im just furious. When are we going to stop normalizing racist language . When are we going to stop normalizing offensive content . When are we going to say its not okay to compare a constitutionally mandated process, high crimes and misdemeanors in the u. S. Constitution, with one of the blackest, darkest, most violent periods in u. S. History . Chris, we will stop normalizing it when we believe that its no longer politically valuable or effective. That kind of language and reference from donald trump and from Lindsey Graham is designed to appeal to particular folks who think they will support them. From my vantage point, there are folks who are still alive who lived through this, family members strung up from trees. There have been modernday lynchings. Absolutely. Just yesterday the New York Times was reporting they had to put up a bulletproof sign of emmett tills memorial in mississippi because it was being shot up daily. The idea of invoking lynching to describe this process at least does one thing for me. These folk walk over our dead like they dont matter. They like over our horrors like it doesnt matter. Lindsey graham can play politics with our dead like it doesnt matter. You see . Its more than just simply inappropriate language, offensive language, right . Its speaking to some visceral experience of folks, not in the 19th century, not in the early 20th century, but folks who have family members, a father murdered in this way. Im just suggesting to you and to others that it will no longer be useful or effective when its no longer politically perceived tore effective. They know exactly what theyre doing. Rick tyler, if they know exactly what theyre doing is it to rile up the base, is it a diversion they want to bring away from some of the other things that are happening . Why this controversy . Why do you have someone like Lindsey Graham and we know hes been an apologist for this president repeatedly, but there are certain times when he has again, in the case of syria, stood up in a different way. When you have a Kevin Mccarthy saying i would not use that word, what does the white house, what does Lindsey Graham think theyre accomplishing with this . Theyre certainly not winning over anyone they havent already won over, are they . I have no idea, chris. This is frankly just disturbing. I can explain donald trump because donald trump gets backed into a corner and he has a verbal puke, and thats what he does. Its very difficult to explain why Lindsey Graham would use the word again himself. This is a white house president , a billionaire, the president of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, and he is attributing to himself the victimhood, the victim status of a true victim, someone who had no access to resources, someone who is africanamerican, someone who had no access to the judicial system or the judicial process, and hes trying to compare his plight to being executed summarily because of racism. Its so abhorrent. For the last 2 1 2 years weve run out of words to describe our outrage. They just keep Digging Deeper and deerp. My hope is the American People will look at the president who uses this language purposely to be divided, that Lindsey Graham who lives in the state, by the way, that has a large africanamerican population, would use this language to describe the president , a billionaire, the most powerful man in the world, as a victim, the same kind of status, victim as someone who was lynch ed dont know what else to say about it. Its despicable. While you were speaking, i was on wikipedia looking at lynchi lynchings, and i didnt have the time to scroll through the list of lynching victims in the United States in the 20th century. So obviously we have a situation where a president is extremely vocally and physically acting out at this impeachment process. Ambassador bill taylor is being deposed right now, rick, by lawmakers. As a reminder, career diplomat. He raised a red flag early and often on trumps ukraine policy. He said it was crazy to withhold security assurance from ukraine for help with a Political Campaign in a text message which is getting a lot of attention. We also wrote, were now saying Security Assistance and white house meetings are on investigations . What message can hlicans who ha been skeptical of that impeachment process . Because this is somebody whose reputation is unimpeachable. I think the thing he needs to describe to members of congress and ultimately the American People, this president is a, easily manipulated, b, easily seduced and susceptible to conspiracy theories, and that hes using Foreign Policy and the power of the presidency remember, the Foreign Policy is controlled by the executive branch. Thats where the accumulation of power and Foreign Policy is. He can almost work that almost unilaterally. Instead of using it for the good and security and the safety of americans, hes using it for political purposes so he might be elected. That is very dangerous. Remember, he talked with north korean chairman kim and agreed to stop military exercises with our troops in the south and got nothing in return. He had one single phone call with erdogan and removed our troops from protecting our allies, the kurds, of which they are being slaughtered. Hes been manipulated by the president of hungary to turn against ukraine which is now has led to this insane investigation about a dnc server. There is no dnc server. Thats not how the modern internet works. It goes on and on. He needs to convey to them that hes putting the United States in peril. Remember erdogan just said over the weekend hes in pursuit of a nuclear weapon. The u. S. Has Nuclear Weapons in turkey. So what we have now is a lot of things going on that democrats, Many Democrats believe are impeachable offenses, but were getting word that they are looking to be very focused in what they eventually charge, that they are looking to be very simple, very clear. They want to be able to make the case to the American People that, in fact, a lot of them feel they were not able to make with a voluminous report that came from robert mueller, right . So theyre getting some new poll numbers that show 50 of americans say President Trump not should just be impeached, but also removed from office. These numbers have been moving. What should be the democratic strategy now . Do they have it right now . Theyll slow this potentially into the Christmas Season . I dont know. Its a catch 22. Let me say it in this way. Donald trump and his minions, they rely on institutionalists process in order to pursue their agenda. The idea is i can do whatever i want because i know youre beholding to norms and procedures. As long as youre beholding to those norms and procedures, i can act out. If you break those norms, i can say, see, youre a hypocrite. Trump plays on the process that were committed to norms and processes. He takes advantage of folks who are institutionalists. Institutionalists or conservative impulses feed into what they want to do. You look up and evening has been changed, undermined. On the one hand we have to understand strategically how that works. On the other hand, we have to be deliberate. We cant allow the process to be viewed as a political hit job. It cant be seen as part san ship. It has to be somber, in some ways it has to follow the facts, be dispassionate. Their main concern clear and convincing. To slow it down, though, to take it into the winter holidays, the christmas holidays, to take it into january actually in some ways raises a red flag. Thats right. Early february you have the iowa caucuses. So much to talk about, eddie glaude and rick tyler, so glad you were here. Question, is there anybody else, the question by long time democratic insiders about the current field of Democratic Candidates . Democratic anxiety, is it for good reason . Plus, time is running out for kurdish fighters to leave Northern Syria as the pause in fighting is set to end. New alarms about the number of children displaced and new gains for isis. Here is part of what the president is saying. We never agreed to protect the kurds. We supported them for 3 1 2, four years. We never agreed to protect the kurds for the rest of their lives. That noninvasive colon Cancer Screening test. The delivery guy just dropped it off. Our doctor says it uses advanced science. Its actually stool Dna Technology that finds 92 percent of colon cancers. No prep, and private. Colon Cancer Screening thats as easy as get, go, gone. Ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. Covered by medicare and most major insurers. Gimme one minute. And ill tell you some important things to know about medicare. First, it doesnt pay for everything. Say this pizza is your part b medical expenses. This much about 80 medicare will pay for. Whats left is on you. Thats where an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company comes in. This type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesnt. These are the only plans to carry the aarp endorsement for meeting their high standards of quality and service. So call Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company today and ask for your free decision guide. With this type of plan, youll have the freedom to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. And when you travel, your plan will go with you anywhere in the country. Whew call unitedhealthcare today and ask for your free decision guide. Call unitedhealthcare today 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 five democratic day agreement aimed at halting fighting in Northern Syria is nearing an end. Turk turkeys deadline for turkish fighters to evacuate the socalled safe zone is less than four hours from now, 3 00 p. M. Eastern. As u. S. Troops withdrew, residents pelted them with potatoes. Looming in the background for the moment, new concerns the u. S. And kurdish withdrawal may give new life to isis. Nbc chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel is on the ground in Northern Syria. Were waiting for a press conference in sochi to start between putin and erdogan. Tell us what youre seeing as this deadline nears . Reporter everyone is watching that press conference, frankly. It was carved up when president bush invaded iraq in 2003 and blew up that country. Now syria is on the table being carved up between Vladimir Putin and turkeys president erdogan. Theyre carving it up because u. S. Troops are leaving this area and creating a vacuum. Now erdogan and putin, and there are pictures looming over a map of this area, are deciding what will happen, which pieces of Northern Syria where i am right now will go to turkey, which pieces will go back to russias ally, putins ally, Syrian Regime of ash shar al assad. This area is the kurdish homeland, the place where the last five years kurds have been fighting side by side with american troops. Their homeland is being divided, very little concern paid to their future. Now hundreds of thousands of kurds are on the move, many of them living in desert areas. Its getting cold. U. N. Aid agencies say 70,000 children have been displaced. Right now people are watching sochi and theyre watching another Major Division of the middle east under way. We should know when putin and erdogan come out, take to those podiums and announce that they either have extended the ceasefire or that the fighting will resume. Either way theyre going to come out and look like the new kingmakers in the middle east. We have that picture up. Well continue to watch that in sochi. Richard engel, thank you for that. Lets bring in nbc news correspondent carol lee and Pulitzer Prize winning author of black flag, the rise of isis. Jobi, what do you expect well see when the deadline passes hours from now . Its hard to say. What were seeing so far is alarming. The images yesterday of vehicles pelted by kurdish residents as the u. S. Troops are leaving, pretty horrific sight for us visually. The biggest concern is what happens with the Islamic State which is not going away. The caliphate may be gone but the organization is still quite powerful. The pentagon estimated Something Like 18,000 members of isis still in iraq and syria, and its like the Law Enforcement away because the kurds are preoccupied. Theres nobody to look at prisons or fewer people, nobody to do the raids and keep isis under control as we have done for the last couple years. Thats a big worry. How immediate do you see the threat posed by these isis fighters and supporters . Northeastern syria is a place with a crime syndicate. Its a pretty big problem. If cops go away, then they start to come back. It may not be the next day, but they start to take liberties, return to their old stomping grounds, taking over villages, doing things to put them back in control. We see bits of this already. Attacks are up. Attacks against prisons particularly but also against village chiefs, assassinations, the kinds of things isis does very well. Thats happening already. Isis is also getting a big propaganda victory out of this, theyre putting out the word weve lost the caliphate but were back in business. Recruits, give us money and support because were on the rise again. Carol, youve got new reporting that the pentagon has started drawing up plans for an abrupt withdrawal of u. S. Troops from afghanistan just in case the president decides he wants to pull the troops out quickly like he did in syria. Is there any indication a decision like that might be coming from the president . Officials told us theres no directive from the white house to withdraw troops from afghanistan at this time. This is more officials kind of reading the president , trying to guess where his next move might be because of a couple of things. This is a president who talked since he came into office about pulling out of not just afghanistan, but syria and elsewhere. Hes repeatedly brought that up. Two, were getting closer to the electi election. You heard President Trump say yesterday he was elected on bringing troops home. Thats certainly folks in the point gone hear. Weve seen with syria, the president s willingness to go where he was talked out of going before, meaning just pulling the plug on having u. S. Troops deployed there. So theres concern that that could possibly be what is going to happen with afghanistan, hell turn his sights there and pull the plug on that. Theres Contingency Planning on what it would look like if they had to pull all the troops out of afghanistan in a matter of weeks, chris. It tells you so much that theyre making a plan that they dont have a strong indication can happen, but they know how quickly things can change. Joby, prs has not suggested he made a mistake this time to pulling troops. To the contrary. Id like to get your take to something he said yesterday afternoon, he should get credit for stopping isis. I went to iraq, figured out a plan, done within a month and a half. Im the one that did the capturing. Im the one that knows more about it than you people or the fake pundits. In your painstaking and brilliant book, black flags, you found plenty to criticism on bush and obama. Whats your take on what he said there . The same message hes been putting out for the campaign and the election, claiming credit forgetting rid of isis. The president adopted the formula already in place under obama. Its something the Obama Administration you can criticize them as being slow to put this together, but they put together a coalition of more than 70 countries with kurdish fighters on the ground, no american foot soldiers, no infantry on the ground. We carefully and deliberately pushed back isis from his massive territory. It was as big as great britain, the territory it held. Thats been successful. Trump came in with his generals and decided this is working, in some ways they accelerated, pushed down command authority, lower down to field commanders. So that was a good thing. Its been the same strategy and the same continuum since essentially 2015. So it worked, but its not strictly because of trumps policies. Joby warrick, carol lee, thanks so much. Well talk about the looming deadline and the threat of resurging isis with someone who understands both well. Congressman jason crow, former army ranger who fought alongside the kurds. Well also ask him about the president comparing the impeachment inquiry to a lynching, something talked about just moments ago on the hill. The impeachment process is the closest thing of a political death row trial. Absolutely rejection of the process. I wouldnt use the word lynching. I would love for the house to take up the unanimously passed lynching legislation from the senate and do something with it as opposed to president s use of it, making it legal everything your trip needs, for everyone you love. Expedia. With moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis or crohns, your plans can change in minutes. Your head wants to do one thing, but your gut says, not today. If your Current Treatment isnt working, ask your doctor about entyvio. Entyvio acts specifically in the gi tract to prevent an excess of white blood cells from entering and causing damaging inflammation. Entyvio has helped many patients achieve longterm relief and remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. Pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio. Ask your doctor about the only gifocused biologic just for Ulcerative Colitis and crohns. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. Relief and remission when i needed to create a better visitor experience. Improve our workflow. Attract new customers. Thats when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics. Yeah, and now business is rolling in. Get started at fastsigns. Com. Were staying on top of the breaking news. The president of the United States compared the constitutional process of impeachment to a lynching. S in News White House correspondent Peter Alexander is standing by. I understand you questioned hogan gidley, Deputy Press Secretary about the president s claim. What did he tell you . Reporter we reached out to hogan gidley, he was doing an interview on fox news and came before our cameras to take questions. I asked him specifically about the president s tweets comparing the treatment of him to the lynchings of largely africanamericans in american history. Take a listen. The president couldnt possibly be the victim of a lynching. The president is not comparing what happened to him with one of our darkest moments in american history. Whats he doing . Hes just not. What hes explaining clearly is the way hes been treated by the media since he announced for president. You know thats not true. I know thats not true. He used the word lynching. The word impeachment was used about this president the day he was elected and before he was even sworn into office. Reporter that was the Deputy Press Secretary to the white house, hogan gidley just moments ago. The president , as you saw this morning, tweeted comparing himself to the victims of lynchi lynchings. Today you heard hogan gidley tell you thats not at all what he did. Your eyes tell you the real truth. This was a stunning claim on this day, its inflamed racial tensions for a president who has told congresswomen of color to go back where they came from. His charlottesville comments that people are so familiar with, the fact his political career was based on the racist lie that barack obama was not born in this country. Its an effort, in effect, to try to distract i think americans from a lot of the criticisms the president is facing right now from g7 where the president claimed his decision to hold the g7 summit next year at doral was outraging only democrats. In fact it was republicans who called him out on it. What weve heard about whats taking place in syria right now. The president saying he was bringing troops home, but in fact leaving a residual force and sending other troops to iraq. Those forces are being told they cant stay there. The crisis regarding his controversial phone call with ukraine, this appears to be the latest distraction but it comes against the backdrop of a lot of hateful comments over the course of his presidency and predating it. A lot of people will hear Hogan Gidleys words and draw their own conclusions about whats going on here. And saying again that Lindsey Graham said this is a joke, this is a sham, this is a political lynching, when asked if he could understand how africanamericans might be offended by the use of the word, he said no. Peter alexander, thank you so much. We appreciate your questioning of hogan gidley. Let me bring in congressman jason crow, democratic from colorado, former army ranger who served in iraq and afghanistan and member of the House Armed Services committee. I have to ask you first, congressman, the president of the United States just compared the constitutional impeachment inquiry to a lynching. Again, learned see graham agreeing with that characterization. Whats your response . Clearly were in a very dangerous time. The president is saying wilder and wilder things, more erratic things. Thats a stunning thing to obviously say. Theres a part of me that feels like the president doesnt understand our history, but what might be even more troubling is he doesnt care. That just underscores the need for us to do our job. There needs to be adults in the room here in washington, d. C. Who are willing to do the job, conduct oversight, do the investigation that we think is necessary to get to the bottom of some of the corruption were seeing, some of the very erratic behavior and resolve the crisis thats unfolding now in the middle east thats of the president s making. Lets talk about the crisis thats unfolding. Were less than 3 1 2 hours away from that deadline, the end of the supposed pause in fighting. What are your concerns about what comes next . I have so many concerns about what goes next. I was an army ranger, served in iraq and afghanistan, three combat deployments. I know well the situation thats unfolding there. I actually led a congressional delegation a few weeks ago to afghanistan, to jordan, to the syrian border. I talked with our senior military commanders, our diplomats, intelligence officials. Number one, none of them had any idea this was about to happen. So theres a huge disconnect between the white house and our top senior diplomats and intelligence officials and military. Thats concerning enough. Number two, isis is now emboldened. Iran is emboldened, syria is emboldened. We have done a couple of terrible things in one fell swoop, the president has done a couple of terrible things. Hes emboldened iran in syria and russia. Hes emboldened isis. Hes ruined our credibility in the middle east and destroyed the morale of our troops. Im seeing images of our soldiers retreating from their partners in Northern Syria, having stuff thrown at them. I know what that feels like. Its a terrible thing for a soldier to go through. The president obviously would not understand that. I want to play what the president said in his Cabinet Meeting yesterday about our onetime allies in syria, the kurds, who died alongside our troops to contain isis. Take a listen. Where is an agreement that said we have to stay in the middle east for the rest of humanity, for the rest of civilization to protect the kurds . As you know, most of the isis fighters that we captured, we, we, not obama, we, we captured them, me, our country captured them, working with others including the kurds. We helped them. Dont forget. We helped the kurds. Everyone said the kurds helped us. Thats true. We helped the kurds. Theyre no angels but we helped the kurds. What message does that send to our allies and as a part of that, as someone who served alongside when you see the u. S. Military and produce is being thrown at them and theyre being shouted out, give us your sense of what the real impact is of the president s words and his actions. To be honest, half the time i dont even understand what the president is saying anymore. He seems to be babbling there. I think what hes saying is were not responsible for the kurds. What really is going on here is nobody except for the president is talking about staying in the middle east and staying with the kurds forever. What this is about is about a hasty retreat that nobody knew about, about us abandoning our allies, partners that lost 12,000 soldiers fighting alongside u. S. Servicemen and women to destroy the isis caliphate who we have in the blink of an eye abandoned to be slaughtered by turkey. Thats whats going on here. Our credibility is shot. Our standing in the world with our partners is shot. Isis is going to reform and be reemboldened. Were not going to have troops on the ground to deal with it. Oh, by the way, we said we were going to move our troops from Northern Syria to iraq and iraq comes out and says theyre not welcome here either. We cant move our soldiers to iraq. Clearly the president doesnt know whats going on. Hes not coordinating with the pentagon. This is a terrible situation. We need an adult in the room to actually figure this out to keep us safe and keep our soldiers safe. Congressman jason crow, thank you so much, sir, for your service and thank you so much for taking time to talk with us this morning. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. Canadas Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau poised to win reelection and will serve a second term. Hed lead a minority government. Canadas election was mired in scandal after a series of photos emerged of trudeau in black face. Trudeau thanked voters writing in part, regardless of how you cast your vote, our team will work hard for all canadians. Up next, the growing anxiety within the democratic establishment about their current president ial candidates and whether its time to look for someone else. Plus russia. Again, the alarming new revelation from facebook its disrupted networks attempting to further interfere in our elections. Ols hiv, fights cancer, repairs shattered bones, relieves depression, restores heart rhythms, helps you back from strokes, and keeps you healthy your whole life. From the day youre born we never stop taking care of you. Aewith Medicare Advantage plans designed for the whole you. And monthly premiums starting at 0. Plus hospital, medical and Prescription Drug coverage in one simple plan. And Health Coaching and fitness memberships to help you age actively. So you can be ready for what matters most. Call today. Well send you a 10 visa reward card with no obligation to enroll. Or visit us online at aetnamedicare. Com tv vo the subaru crosstrek. Dog tested. Dog approved. Subaru establishes National Make a dogs day. Helping hardtoadopt dogs find homes. Well, its that time of the primary season for democrats. According to the New York Times, anxious members of the democratic establishment are asking, is there anybody else . Jonathan martin writes, with doubts rising about former Vice President bidens ability to finance a multistate primary campaign, persistent questions about senator Elizabeth Warrens viability in the general election, Democratic Leaders are engaging in a familiar right, fretting about who is in the race and longing for a white knight to enter the contest. Among the names bandied about, shar rod brown, Michelle Obama and even, yes, Hillary Clinton. Joining me michael star hopkins who served on the president ial campaigns of barack obama and Hillary Clinton and until recently worked for john kel lane any. Maura gay is an msnbc contributor. This story in your paper mara reflects right here from a number of democratic kratic activists, it says the mood of alarm is more intense because of the partys hunger to defeat President Trump. With over three months to go before voting starts in iowa, their impatience with finding mr. And mrs. Right among the current crop of candidates. Are these concerns warranted, or is this just business as usual, democrats fret, its early, fretting is what they do. Its funny. I have a little different take. I hear that from folks in new york from a lot of the strategists i talk to. I actually think this is exactly the kind of story that infuriates voters of both sto storistore parties because it suggests that democratic insiders who should be hand picking who the American People should vote for or be most interested in. Quite frankly, theres plenty of time to see folks like warren and Pete Buttigieg expand their base of support to black voters. Theres menity of time to see joe biden improve and perform better. But honestly, its hard to keep donors out of politics. At the same time, i really wish theyd focus more on get out the vote efforts and worry less about who the voters are interested in. Theres plenty of time for this to evolve. The fretting is normal. Weve seen it for years. People worried about barack obama. This is as old as time. We do see time and time again how much parties with fret, maybe more so because of what happened the last time. But michael, your former boss, Hillary Clinton, has reentered spotlight over her comments of Tulsi Gabbert. That same New York Times article said clinton talked privately and said if she thought she could win, she would enter the primary. Do you really think shes given it any serious thought and did she hurt herself with the comments on Tulsi Gabbert. Hillary clinton is not getting in the race. Her days of being a politician or candidate are over. I think she hurt herself with the Tulsi Gabbert dustup. The big thing democrats need to focus on right now is excitement. I think theres rightfully so ng sight over the top tear. Bernie Sanders Health issues and joe biden and his frequent gaffs as well as Health Issues with him and Elizabeth Warren let me talk, michael, about the top tier. It was fascinating in our meet the press first read newslet r newsletter, they say the race has narrowed to a clear top four. In national, iowa, New Hampshire polls and fundraising, the names are the same. Widen, warren, sanders, buttigieg. When you break it down, all of them are white, three are men, one woman. Three are 70 or older, the other is 37. One is gay, only one out sioutse the east coast or new england. None is from a state that has more than 11 Electoral College votes. None are a crept or former governor and only one has served in the military. So when you look at those numbers, first of all, you look at those candidates and look at the key democratic question which is who can beat trump, how should that list make democrats feel . It should make democrats worried. Pete buttigieg is someone who is a moderate but has little experience when it comes to actually governing. When Bernie Sanders talks about giving away a lot of things, medicare for all, it opens up a vulnerability within the party. Democrats have to turn out republicans. Republicans are going to turn out. The question is whether the obama coalition, democrats, independents and kind of upset republicans are going to show up this goaround. They didnt in 2016. Democrats need them to show up in 2020. Speaking of sort of those middle of the road show up in 2020. Mara, your paper is reporting theyre following Amy Klobuchars campaign. Following her performance in the debate, shes getting a second look from voters in iowa. She announced on Rachel Maddow that she has raised 2 million. Then you have Pete Buttigieg, also climbing in the polls and bringing in a lot of money. Are these two legit challengers to joe bidens down the middle of the road candidacy or is that Wishful Thinking on the part of their supporters . No, i think time will tell, but certainly given that joe biden has stalled and fallen in the polls and that his performance has been, quite frankly, weak on the campaign trail so far, i think folks who are on the more moderate side of the party are very interested in finding someone to fill that vacuum. And Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, especially with their strong debate performance last week, seem really wellpoised, especially with Pete Buttigiegs fundraising dollars, to do that. Mara gay, michael star hopkins, thank you very much. Julian castro will join my colleague ali velshi to talk about his campaign at 3 00 p. M. Eastern today. President jimmy carter is in the hospital recovering from a fall at his house in georgia. This is his second recent injury, he fell earlier this month and got a black eye and needed stitches. The Carter Center says this morning hes in good spirits, we wish him very well. Ahead, facebook reveals its disrupted more attempts to interfere in the next president ial election. And the accounts are from russia and iran. But first, as we head to break, new york citys central park has just unveiled plans for a monument depicting three pioneers in the fight for womens rights. Today the park has 23 statues but all of men who have made their mark on history. This will be the first one celebrating the achievements of women. Its being erected next summer to mark the 100th anniversary of the amendment that granted women the right to vote. Dment that grn the right to vote. And i recently had hi, ia heart attack. It changed my life. But im a survivor. After my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. Its for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. Brilinta is taken with a lowdose aspirin. No more than 100 milligrams as it affects how well brilinta works. Brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. In a clinical study, brilinta worked better than plavix. Brilinta reduced the chance of having another heart attack. Or dying from one. Dont stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor, since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. Brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. Dont take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. Slow heart rhythm has been reported. Tell your doctor about bleeding new or unexpected shortness of breath any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. If you recently had a heart attack, ask your doctor if brilinta is right for you. My heart is worth brilinta. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Where people go to learn about their Medicare Options before theyre on medicare. Come on in. Youre turning 65 soon . Yep. And youre retiring at 67 . Thats the plan its also a great time to learn about an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company. Heres why. Medicare part b doesnt pay for everything. This part is up to you. A Medicare Supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesnt. Call Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company today to request this free decision guide. And learn about the only Medicare Supplement plans endorsed by aarp. Selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. This type of plan lets you say yes to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Do you accept medicare patients . I sure do so call unitedhealthcare today and ask for your free decision guide. Oh, and happy birthday. Or retirement. In advance. If you have moderate or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. For psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. 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. Facebook dropped some big news ahead of ceo Mark Zuckerbergs critical day on capitol hill tomorrow. He told our lester holt that the company took down networks based in russia and iran and warned that the campaigns are getting more sophisticated. Nbcs Business Correspondent jo ling kent has more. What do we know about what facebook took down . Reporter its coming from russia and iran, as you say. Its 93 Facebook Accounts and four instagram accounts coming out of iran, targeting American Voters specifically. Then on the russian side you have about 40, 50 instagram accounts and one facebook account taken down that are coming out of russia. And those may also have some links to the Internet Research agency, the i. R. A. That organization inside russia that did pose so, so much confusion in the leadup to 2016. So lester asked Mark Zuckerberg about what the threat currently looks like. This is what he had to say. They signal that these nation states intend to be active in the upcoming elections. But its also i think a sign that weve been able to pro actively identify them and take them down. We were looking for more traditional threats like hacking but we werent looking for these coordinated information campaigns that now were aware of. Reporter now, zuckerberg told us journalists on a press call yesterday that the threats going into 2020 really have changed. But he says facebook has too. He says hes very confident about its ability to fight disinformation and discord going into the 2020 election. But they continue to have to evolve in the way they attack these threats as American Voters continue to use their plat formplatform looking for information. This comes after he doubled down, saying no, im not going to fact check politicians ads on facebook. That of course continues to generate controversy as they try to figure out what is the right thing to do here. Zuckerberg will face the House Financial Services committee tomorrow. What are we expecting and is there any sense this announcement might temper some of the criticism he might face from lawmakers . Reporter chris, im headed to capitol hill to cover zuckerberg tomorrow. Hell be testifying about libra, the cryptocurrency efforts to facebook is trying to get off the ground, not to much success so far. Lawmakers will ask him lots of questions about privacy and security, the election. A whole swath of issues. Zuckerberg certainly preparing to take those questions. The criticism is probably going to be quite heavy as he comes out of making this major speech on freedom of expression that was not so wellreceived by both sides of the aisle. So, chris, certainly a lot of fire coming his way on capitol hill tomorrow. Well be there to bring it to you. Well be looking for you there, jo ling kent, thank you so much, we appreciate it. Thraat will wrap up this ho of msnbc live, im chris jansing. Andrea mitchell reports starts right now. Thank you, chris. Right now, crazy talk. Bill taylor who texted its crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with a Political Campaign, testifies to the impeachment committees at this hour. Was his text evidence of a quid pro quo . And does he have more proof of a ling between military aid to ukraine and the president s reelection hopes . Why was it important for you to speak with house investigators today . Why come back from ukraine . President trump calling the house impeachment inquiry a lynching, causing immediate outrage from congress. To compare the constitutional process to that is far beneath the office of the president of the United States. The president has the support, on this, from Lindsey Graham. This is a joke. This is a sham. And this is a political lynching. And race against time. The Syria Ceasefire about to expire as Vladimir Putin meets today with turkeys president to divide up their territory. Reporter while President Trump focuses on syrias oil, turkey and russia are focusing on carving up the whole country