Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20191007

Century. Welcome to mondays meet the press daily. Im katy tur in washington in for chuck todd. New subpoenas, new whistleblower, new attacks from the president and new excuses from republicans in the fight over impeachment. House investigators have subpoenaed documents from defense secretary mark esper and acting omb director russell vott to the withholding of empty aid in ukraine. Adding to the growing subpoena pile that includes white house, secretary of state, the president s lawyer and could potentially include the Vice President , if he does not comply with requests for documents. And in addition to the mounting evidence against the president , the lawyer for the first whistleblower has now confirmed that at least one more whistleblower has come forward. And this one has firsthand knowledge of potential misconduct. The president , meanwhile, is escalating his attacks on everyone, blasting his critics, attacking the news of another whistleblower and accusing Speaker Pelosi of treason. And in the face of mounting evidence, the president abused the power of his office, we are seeing some remarkable interv w interviews with republicans trying to defend his actions. Here was wisconsin senator ron johnson yesterday on meet the press. Senator, im asking about under line exactly why President Trump is upset and why his supporters are upset at the news media. This is not about the media. Senator johnson, senator johnson, please. Can we please answer the question i asked you instead of trying to make donald trump feel better here that youre not criticizing him . Im not. Im just trying to lay the groundwork of your very bias what made you wince . Im asking you a simple question about you clearly were upset that somehow there was an implication that military aid was being frozen. Yes, i was. Because the president wanted an investigation. Why did you wince . Because i didnt want those connected and i wanted i was supporting the aid, as is senator murphy and everybody who went to that initial inauguration. Here is the salient point of why i came forward. When i asked the president about that, he completely denied it. That interview came after the president sent a clear warning sign to republicans thinking about criticizing his actions, tied to the democrats impeachment inquiry after mitt romney condemned the president , he unloaded in one treat calling mitt romney a fool who is playing right into the hands of the donothing democrats. Then used the impeachromney. In another tweet he raged that romney was, quote, a pompous ass. For more im joined by white house news correspondent kristen welker, and msnbc contributor adrian elrod and republican strategist and former aide to jeb bush and mitt romney, matt gorman. Every day i say a new word i never thought i would say on television, kristen welker. That one there with mitt romney and the president s tweets. Tell me, what is the strategy of the white house . Are there direct communications with republicans, basically threatening them to defend the president at all costs, no matter how ridiculous it may make them look because if they dont, he is going to start screaming at them on twitter . Reporter well, he certainly is trying to send that message, katy. Theres no doubt about that. And as you pointed out so well, he was making that very clear in his tweets to mitt romney. I put the same question to white house officials earlier today and over the weekend. Are they clearly communicating their strategy with congress, with republicans on capitol hill and with their allies . Now the administration believes it is but i can tell you, ive been speaking to those within republican inner circles who say theyre not exactly clear what the strategy is. I think saw that play out on sunday. The fact that youve had all these different messages that were coming from Top Republicans in addition to what you just heard from ron johnson on meet the press, you heard other republicans struggling to answer for whether it was appropriate, that President Trump called on china last week to investigate joe biden, right after he called on ukraine to investigate joe biden in the same breath. You had some republicans trying to make the case that essentially the president wasnt being serious and yet if you look at the president actually saying that on camera, its tough to make that argument. What weve been reporting, katie, is that mick mulvaney, acting chief of staff, and Jared Kushner are trying to take the lead when it comes to a communication strategy here at the white house. But its not clear that President Trump wants there to be a unified message coming from this white house. It seems that he wants to be in charge of all the messaging. One more point ill make. Lot of questions that will be swirling on when theyre going to send a letter to nancy pelosi, basically saying were not going to cooperate until you hold a full vote in the house. Im told that letter will come some time this week but so far hasnt been set out. Whats the goal with that letter, kristen . Reporter the goal is to delay, katy, to not have to turn over the documents. Theres nothing in the constitution that requires the house to hold a vote in order to start an official impeachment inquiry, although historically, we have seen that happen, the past three impeachment processes have started with a vote in the house. The white house is pointing to those examples to say, look, this is not an official impeachment inquiry. This is a press Conference Held by House Speaker nancy pelosi. Democrats are pushing back against that narrative and say effectively it is not required under the constitution or by the laws of the house. And so they feel they are justified in moving forward without a full vote. Katy . Matt, i dont know if you watch the simpsons, but you probably do. Homer, once in a while, would get mad at bart and strangle him and his head would flop back and forth. I kind of when i think about what the president is doing to the Republican Party, i see that image in my head. As somebody who worked for mitt romney, as somebody who worked for jeb bush, whats your take . Yeah. It seems the communication strategy is a bit of carrots and sticks right now. The sticks are in full display with mitt romney, trying to essentially scare people into not having a sliver of daylight between the president and the rest of the Republican Party. Why does it work so well . Because its effective politically. A long list of folks have gone up the president and seen their political careers kind of go up in flames. But theres also starting of a little bit of carrots, Vice President pence go to democratic districts. Their philosophy is a good defense is a good offense, putting pressure on democrats. Protest at a town hall for a democratic flipped republican seat. Theyre trying to kind of feel this out and maybe theyll make a new strategy. Well see. Its not just fundamental costs but tear down Everything Else in the process. Ron johnson as you saw this weekend on meet the press didnt just throw out conspiracy theories. He said point blank he doesnt trust the cia or the fbi. Lets listen to him say that to chuck. Do you trust the cia and fbi now . None of have them have come to any of the conclusions youre trying to come to. Im just curious. Do you trust them now . Now who are you talking about . The cia and fbi. I dont trust andrew mccabe. I dont trust james comey. I dont trust peter strzok. I dont trust brennan. Are we going to hear this until the end of time, peter strzok, lisa page . Probably to some extent. Whats interesting about that is the Republican Party used to be, just one of their pillars is the party of law enforcement, the party of that backs those sorts of institutions. Its another piece or plank weve seen fall by the wayside with President Trump. The white house doesnt need to have individual or direct conversations with anybody. The president makes totally clear what hes going to do to anybody that he views as going against his plan, which is to criticize any of the investigation, to tear down any individuals who come forward, to say that the investigation is not valid and criticize anybody who is involved in it. And so anyone, any republican who gets on his bad side, in that sense, is just weve seen him be very we were talking about it, be very effective at this. And all of these lawmakers are just worried about their next reelection. The way that the Republican Party now has embraced conspiracy theories, the ukraine this idea that the ukraine has a dnc server, it meddled in the election, the whole russia investigation was a setup to try to take donald trump down. First read pointed out that donald trump a few years back was the chief conspiracy theorist pedaling birtherism and now has infected, i guess, the whole Republican Party with it. Absolutely. What were seeing is that many of the republican lawmakers are a reflection of the base right now. The base has moved far more right than mitt romney or any of the other republicans. Where are they getting their information, any normal news outlet . Email, list servers. Facebook. Places that havent been vetted. Its troublesome. Whats revealed about many of these conservatives, a lot of them talk often about having these deeply held convictions about morality and values but right now it doesnt seem like those ideas are that deeply held at all because theyve been pushed away. Theyve been rejected and moved in the direction that trump says they should be. Theres also this idea that, you know, dont take the president seriously all the time. Only when we want to take him seriously were going to take him seriously. Jim jordan, marco rubio and a couple of others over the weekend. Well, i doubt if the china comment was serious, to tell you the truth. You dont take the president at his word . No. The president loves to go out on the white house driveway i havent talked to him about this. I dont know what the president was thinking but i know he loves to bait the prs. George, do you really think he was serious about thinking that china is going to investigate the biden family . Why cant you answer yes or no . Do you think its appropriate . Because i dont think thats what he did. I dont know if thats a real request or him needling the press, knowing you guys were going to get outraged by it. He plays it like a violin. That wasnt a real request. Was it a real request when he was on the phone with with the president of ukraine asking for it . Was it a real request back in 2016 when he asked russia and, as Robert Mueller showed, russia listened to it and that very day started poking into the dnc and Hillary Clintons emails for the very first time. Exactly, katy. You covered the campaign. I was there for that. You were there for that day. First of all, republicans should quit going on television if this is the kind of if these are the remarks they are going to say. They just make themselves look foolish. Secondly, no, of course hes not joking. These guys have no excuse. Theyre scared of trump. Theyre afraid he is going to do something or Say Something to affect them politically. And to what you were saying earlier, redistricting has impacted where we were were seeing it in manifestation 2019 into 2020. The lines are so clearly blue or red, you have republicans so scared to death of losing their seats, which is why trump is polling at 85 to 90 approval. Thats why these guys are so scared to go against them. Theyre afraid theyre going to lose their seats. Do you recognize this party . Parts of it, yeah. Look, from what ive talked to the dynamic among republicans is tough because they obviously dont want impeachment but theyre critical of ukraine and china and are also critical of schiff. However this debate in their minds as they talk amongst their staff leaves no room for nuance. Earlier today, rob portman came out with a statement saying im not going to defend this, but i dont want impeachment. That might be a little way forward to be a little more effective if theyre going on television. How can you do that after youve been on television, saying theres nothing wrong or completely trying to distract from the topic at hand . The people who came out this weekend will have to find a way to figure that out. Some of the people who were silent, rob portman, Susan Collins had a very Effective Response saying im going to be a juror in this trial if it goes to the senate. Im going to hold off. Not going to take a stand one way or another. For those who havent weighed in yet. Mitt romney basically did that and he went after mitt romney. Its a real question whether or not thats going to pass the president s test, which is a real black and white test and has been for some time. People talk a lot about how president clinton allowed for democrats to say i dont support the behavior but im not for impeachment. And President Trump really has not shown any willingness to that. He sees it as a threat to his presidency, cease sees it as ve personal. Correct. Colin powell and whats going on with the republicans. Listen to him. The Republican Party has got to get a grip on itself right now. Republican leaders and members of the congress, both senate and the house, are holding back because theyre terrified of what will happen, to any one of them, if they speak out. Will they lose a primary . I dont know why thats such a disaster. But they need to get a grip. And when they say thiee things are not right they need to Say Something about t our Foreign Policy is in shambles, in my humble judgment. I see things happening that are hard to understand. Matt, get a grip . Yeah. Colin powell isnt some nobody, he is a very respected voice. Thats why you played it. What im interested to see is when the senate comes back and the press is in the hallway with them, as more kind of facts come out, whether or not theyre forced to explain more, whether they can go as far as portman or whether they have to go further. Matt, carol, eugene and adrian, kristen welker, thank you very much. Criticizing the president today. There is one issue. Stay with us. There is one issue stay with us limu emu doug and now for their service to the community, we present limu emu doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] its an honor to tell you that Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. And now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Im happy to give you the tour, i lohey jay. It. Jay . Charlotte oh hi. He helped me set up my watch lists. Oh, hes terrific. Excellent tennis player. Byebye. I recognize that voice. Annie . Yeah she helped me find the right bonds for my income strategy. Youre very popular around here. Theres a birthday going on. Karl he took care of my 401k rollover. Wow, you call a lot. Yeah, well its my money were talking about here. Joining us for karaoke later . 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I fullynd both sides of t i campaigned on the fact that i was going to bring our soldiers who emand bring them home as rapidly as possible. Welcome back. Catastrophic, grave mistake, disaster in the making, what some of the president s most loyal republican allies in congress, from Lindsey Graham to Mitch Mcconnell are saying today about his decision to pull u. S. Troops out of northern syria, which you just heard him there defend while speaking to reporters a couple of moments ago. Republicans willingness to break with the president on this represents a remarkable contrast with their unwillingness to criticize his efforts to interfere in the 2020 election. The international and bipartisan condemnation over the president s decision in syria comes amid warnings that it could lead to an isis resurgence and the slaughter of our kurdish allies in the region. Joining me now with the latest is courtney koobi w ochlt ochlk. He said he consulted with his joint chiefs and consulted with everybody in making this decision. Did he . Do we know who he spoke with . We know he has been speaking about this with u. S. Military and with the turkish leadership for months, this idea of a u. S. Withdrawal. Weve been hearing from president erdogan for months now that he wants the Turkish Military to move into northern syria. There certainly has been a dialog dialogue, ongoing dialogue on this issue for some time, katy. The big question is what exactly happened in the last 24 to 48 hours that led to the decision and led to this, you know, Early Morning decision today that with u. S. Troops moving away from the border with turkey and at least for now, if not for good, suspending the joint u. S. Turk patrols and observation posts that the u. S. And the turks had gone in together on militarily up along the border . What is the reaction right now within the pentagon or amongst our kurdish allies . So, you know, the kurds, specifically i spoke to the head of the sdf earlier this afternoon. And hes disappointed. Hes really calling on President Trump and the American Public to recognize the potential danger if, in fact, turkey does move in to northern syria, what thats going to mean. Hes warning about the fact that Syrian Democratic forces not all in that area will move to that area to try to stop a turkish, potential turkish invasion and to protect the Syrian Democratic sources and their families, many of whom who live in that area. And then there are second and third world effects of that kind of movement throughout other parts of the country. Number one, the sdf will no longer be going after isis fighters, who are still in many parts of the country, particularly in the east, northeast and along the border with iraq and second, the detention mission that the Syrian Democratic forces have had for several years now. They will, for all intents and purposes abandon that, so they can go and focus on the fight at hand, which will be the fight against turkey. That means that theres the potential for thousands of isis fighters who are now held in detention in syria to be set free in the syrian countryside. One other question, theres reporting out there that turkey might already be on the move. The president has said in the tweet. We talked about this at 2 00 and im still now trying to figure it out at 5 00. I have stated strongly before, just to reiterate, if turkey does anything that i, in my great and unmatched wisdom he actually said this or wrote this on twitter consider to be off limits, i will totally destroy and obliterate the economy of turkey. Ive done that before. Do they know what the president s line is here, what he would consider to be off limits . Does turkey know what he considers to be off limits . No. I think there is an assumption, maybe an informed speculation from the military people im speaking to about this that a more moderate response or maybe even what President Trump would consider an acceptable response would be to go in, clear out what turkey would consider a safe zone along the border with syria and so many miles inside of syria. But that anything beyond that, President Trump might consider unacceptable. The problem with that theory is that the Turkish Military, an actual Ground Invasion more than just fearing things across the border, which the turks have done. An actual Ground Invasion would lead to a massive Syrian Democratic response and ultimately it would be what the u. S. Would consider a major combat operation. Well, that would mean all u. S. Troops would leave syria and for all intents and purposes, you know, thats a major response. I just dont know if thats what he would consider a major response, katy. Courtney kube. One of the top senate democras s on the intelligence committee. Senator from delaware. Thank you, katy. Sorry about that. He mentioned pulling the troops out again today. What do you say for the people who voted for him, who agree with this decision . How do you explain to them the stakes and why you believe this would be a bad decision . The president made a lot of campaign promises, and many of them were bad. Withdrawing abruptly from syria without consulting our allies, leaving the kurds, who fought alongside us, to defeat isis, naked in the face of an assault from turkey and potentially leading to the release of thousands of hardened isis fighters who would then both revive isis within syria and potentially go and attack a wide range of our allies throughout europe is a simply terrible idea. The best way to explain this is that former secretary of defense, a former fourstar general in the United States marine corps, secretary jim mattis resoigned in protest whe trump tried to pull this exact maneuver several months ago, had a long conversation with president erdogan of turkey and abruptly announced the withdrawal of troops. It was after a sustained push by many of us, both democrats and republicans, that President Trump reversed himself on that bad decision. We have a very narrow window to try to accomplish that again today, katy, and why your seeing strong pushback from nikki haley, senator graham, majority leader mcconnell, and many of us in the Democratic Caucus who think keeping a Small Holding force in place to prevent the collapse of the kurdish allies, who we fought alongside, is a good investment in the security and stability of syria. As you said, the president has been pulled back multiple times before. Defense secretary mattis resigned over this. Why do you think he keeps going back to this decision . I dont know. But what is most concerning here, frankly, katy, is that he seems to be able to be lul elulo be into making bad decisions. President erdogan has made a number of bad decisions, buying an s400 air Defense System from russia, despite our strong opposition expressed by many in congress and in our military, and in our diplomatic core. So, erdogan is obsessed with fighting the kurds. He is not obsessed with fighting isis. And the outcome of this decision by President Trump, if fully implemented, would be to benefit russia and iran on the ground in syria, and lead to the question, why would anyone fight alongside us in the future if we so abruptly abandon them in the face of their sworn enemy . This this particular case, the turks. Nikki haley has pushed back against this, Lindsey Graham has pushed back against this, Mitch Mcconnell has pushed back against this. Thats right. Would you expect the president to change his mind . If he does not, what does the Senate Foreign Relations Committee do . In terms of a threatened action on sanctions or hearings or bipartisan demand for briefing. There isnt a clear plan right now. A number of senators on both sides of the aisle, i know, have been talking today, been participating in some conversations. I think it is urgent that President Trump and Senior Leaders in his administration get the message that this is a bad idea. Both tactically and strategic strategically. If a dedicated american like jim mattis chose to resign in protest over this decision before, i am hopeful that folks of both party also weigh in with the white house and with secretary pompeo and say this is a terrible idea and shubd reversed promptly. I want to turn to 2020 politics briefly. Youre a close ally of Vice President biden. New york times has reporting out that theres some displeasure in his democratic allies in the way he has pushed back against President Trump in the face of the president s attacks against him and regarding his son, hunter. Whats your take on that . Do you think he should be more forceful . Can you tell us what youre advising him, if you are . Former Vice President joe biden has been very forceful. If you read his editorial in the Washington Post this weekend it calls out President Trump directly for smearing, for attacking both joe biden and his family. And says that joe wont stand for this. He wont allow the kinds of baseless attacks on Hillary Clinton that drove down her campaign to be made against him. And, frankly, he says he will focus on dealing with the issues facing americas families, whether its reducing Prescription Drug prices, fighting the opioid epidemic, or combating Climate Change that he will stay focused on the real issues that matter to americas families in this election even as President Trump continues and has been doing it even today, his unwarrantied and uncalled for attacks on joe biden and his family. Katy, this latest challenge with syria and with our National Security caused by President Trumps abrupt decision to abandon our occurredish all is is exactly why i think joe biden would make the strongest next best president of the United States, his decades in Foreign Policy, National Security, his reliance on advice from senior advisers, diplomatic and military is why i think he would be a far stronger president for the United States and for working in close concert with our allies. Senator chris coons. Thank you very much. Ahead, new 2020 poll numbers that could have the president particularly nervous. Rtpaicular we would walk on the sidewalk all around the wind blows we would only hold on to let go blow a kiss into the sun we need someone to lean on blow a kiss into the sun we needed somebody to lean on all we need is someone to lean on try eucerin advanced dry srepair lotion. It helps stop dryness from recurring by going beyond ceramides with natural moisturizing factors found in skin eucerin advanced repair lotion for healthier looking skin. To Severe Plaque Psoriasis get clearer. And tremfya® was proven superior to humira® in providing significantly clearer skin. Dont use if youre allergic to tremfya®. Tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Tremfya®. 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He is at 41 , warren at 12 and sanders is at 10. No one else even cracks double digits. And in a hypothetical general election matchup, biden leads trump among wisconsin voters by almost 10 points. President trump won wisconsin by a very narrow margin in 2016. Those general election numbers could be concerning for white house, going into 2020. Coming up, Something Else concerning for the white house. The growing republican revolt on his Foreign Policy. S foreign poy you name it. The ford f150 will tow up to 13,200 pounds of it. honk i hear you sister. Thats why im partnering with cigna to remind you to go in for your annual checkup, and be open with your doctor about anything you feel physically and emotionally. But now cigna has a plan that can help everyone see stress differently. Just find a period of time to unwind. A location to destress. An activity to enjoy. Or the name of someone to talk to. To create a plan that works for you, visit cigna. Com mystressplan. Cigna. Together, all the way. Visit cigna. Com mystressplan. Plants capture co2. What if other kinds of plants captured it too . If these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. Carbon capture is Important Technology and experts agree. Thats why were working on ways to improve it. So plants. Can be a little more. Like plants. Must be hot out there, huh . Not especially. [ slurping continues ] what you drinking . Gasoline. Right, but i mean, whats in the cup . Gasoline. [ slurping ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. Welcome back. There is overwhelming evidence that the president abused his power by pressuring multiple foreign governments to interfere in the 2020 election and republicans today are speaking out but not about that. What does it say about the Republican Partys loyalties that theyre willing to break with the president on matters of mideast policy but not on matters arguably more fundamental to our democracy . Still with us, carol, ewe swrue adrian and matt, i have to know. What does it say . I dont think theres much strategy coming from the gop in terms of where there must be, though. If they feel comfortable breaking with him on syria but totally uncomfortable and terrified of breaking with him on this ukraine call and the 2020 election, whats that line . I guess its easier to paint the ukraine call as a democratic attack, media bias. Thats the pushback theyre using, despite the fact that if you look at the phone call, whatever weve been shown of it, there are real concerns there. When it comes to issues of National Security, i think that does appear to be an area that many republicans are really trying to make sure that they go down as being on the right side of this issue. Isnt this a matter of National Security as well, though . Robert mueller came out with a 400plus page report talking about Election Security and meddling and how russia did it. To say that ukraine is somehow responsible and take the heat off russia, isnt that a matter of National Security . I think if you are not quite. Trying to differentiate the line that theyre walking here, in trumps mind things about him, existential crises about him. When you look at syria or selling arms to saudi arabia after the khashoggi murder or sanction turkey for buying a missile Defense System, those are things that are very policy driven and theyre purely policy and theyre very you know, you couldnt have senator Lindsey Graham, for instance, one of the closest people to the president in congress, who is also a huge critic on things like syria. This is something he has been doing his entire career. He has been focused on the military, whether its afghanistan, iraq, syria. And so theres just a different space. I think thats why you see the difference. Does it mean the president doesnt care as much about policy but cares more about his ego . I think you make a great point. So many defenders of the president on impeachment coming out strongly against him on this, kevin mccarthy, liz cheney as well. Remember back this december, you talked about it with senator coons, he said were going to pull out all of our troops from syria. Huge condemnation from the gop as well. I think its a classic trump tactic to grab a shiny object and redirect the conversation. You think hes trying to distract from impeachment . May be pivoting toward syria when he was pivot away from it. Isnt that a wildly dangerous game to play . Theres already reports that turkey is on the move. Thats why a lot of gopers will come out and say what a bad idea this is. If youre on one side of impeachment and defending it and saying how its a bad strategy it will be interesting to see how republicans walk that line. What do you think . President trump has had a brain drain when it comes to experience National Security people, advisers in his administration. To the point that carol was making, yes, i guess you can sort of, in their minds, draw a distinction between ukraine and syria. I think they both are major National Security issues and i think a lot of democrats would agree with that and republicans to an extent, too. On this, i think thats where people are saying, my goodness, our national skrt here at home could be threatened. Our allies abroad could be threatened if we allow isis to continue to penetrate. And thats why i think theyre coming forward and saying, the transcript may be one thing. We might see that as politically motivated even though again i, as a democrat, disagree. But when it comes to Something Like syria, that is where there are major, Major Concerns and knowing that there is essentially nobody left in the Trump Administration who has credibility on National Security. Thats where i think people are more concerned. Its also that just the team has changed so much that theres no one around the president now who internally is pushing back on these things. Mattis resigned. John bolton is gone. The last time the president tried to do Something Like this in december 2018, really pushed back. Congress and these lawmakers are sort of the only check thats really left there. And its been effective. You see the white house kind of shift what the president is trying to say, his twitter feed has been all over the place on this today. And you see that they and the reason being is that they can amass a vetoproof majority. Who is in does it matter who is in the nsc right now . The president has said he makes all the decisions. Do they have any authority in those briefings . You can give your advice, then the president will do what he wants to do. Not withstanding that authority, i wonder. We saw the president on twitter today him go back to the point i promised i was going to do this on the campaign. For him, since hes going back to these rallies and his promises kept, he wants to point to this. A lot of americans say good, we shouldnt be fighting these foreign wars. Thats why i voted for the president. Politic aal fault lines are very different than with ukraine. Democrats dont talk about Foreign Policy at all in their debates. Youre seeing very much a joint statement between two Republican House members and two Democratic House members. Political fault lines are drastically different with ukraine. Im interested to see how the democratic 2020 field responds to this and if at all uses it to their advantage. I think they have responded. A lot of kabd dates put out statements. House and democratic leadership has also put out statements. I think this will be an issue in the next debate. Maybe this is one Foreign Policy that breaks through. Theres a long time between the next debate and it might be gone by then. I dont want to move too quickly away from this republican seesaw that were seeing. We are going to defend him on syria or go against him on syria, but defend him on Everything Else. Look at these two things side by side. Liz cheney on impeachment. This is starting to seem like a political setup. On syria, withdrawing u. S. Forces is a catastrophic mistake. Marco rubio on impeach, i dont know that thats a real request for china to investigate biden. On syria, the trump sensation mass made a grave mistake. Does it give republicans more credibility or less credibility to be that different on two issues . Look, i think its irrelevant. Its two separate issues. You can debate the National Security pl implications of each. I dont see the fact that theyre coming out against a syrian policy on one and defend the president on impeachment on the other, quite frankly. On some level when they go back to their districts it allows them to push back on the narrative that trump has them in their hands for all reasons. They can say i did disagree with him on this. I did push back on this idea. For those voters who arent convinced that theyre thinking independently and not about their next election, this example probably isnt going to be enough. Carol, adrienne and matt, thank you very much. Well go inside the countrys deadliest wildfire in history and one of the films being featured at the meet the press Film Festival. This is a gripping documentary. Stay with us. Documentary stay with us it looks like jillf on an adventure. Jill has entresto, a Heart Failure medicine that helps her heart so she can keep on doing what she loves. 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The delicious taste of glucerna gives you the sweetness you crave while helping you manage your blood sugar. Glucerna. Everyday progress. Welcome back. It is an exciting day here. It is the third annual meet the press Film Festival with the american film institute. The Film Festival allows us to look at important policy issues in a whole different way than what we normally do in the daily show and on sundays. And one of those important issues is the climate crisis. It is such an urgent issue, we actually have two programs dedicated to climate at tonights Film Festival. I will be moderating one of those discussions in just a few hours, focusing on the catastrophic impact of wildfires and droughts. Heres a piece from one of the films, fire in paradise. Mass destruction. Extremely rapidfire spread. Resistant to control. I dont think were going to get out. Heavenly father, please help us. Were waiting five minutes, ten minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes. I dont want to die here and then it went completely black. And before i speak with him at the Film Festival tonight, im joined right here on set by the filmmaker of fire in paradise, dre cooper. I was sharing with you on the break and ill share with the audience as well, its a gripping film. It is a really difficult, really difficult to watch, and i mean that in the most highly complimentary way. Thank you. What were you intending to do . How did you decide to come up with the first person account . Well, you know, my partner zack and i went to paradise just about a week and a half or so after the fire, and we werent quite sure how the whole story would sort of lay itself out, but in talking to folks from paradise, it was pretty clear that they had one thing on their mind and it was processing and trying to talk through what they went through on that day. And so as much as we thought maybe this will be a film about the recovery, it became clear that it had to be a film about that day and what these people went through. And you go through the day and by minutes in some cases. You start early in the morning, and you interview people who were just getting up and going about their day and then suddenly realizing that oh, no, we got to evacuate. And talk to me about the speed with which this fire broke out and how quickly people realize that suddenly theyre not just going to school, theyre going to be running for their lives. And that was the thing. It happened so fast. You know, the winds were really, really high the night before. Pg e had their robocalls going through warning people they may shut off the power if winds reached above 50 miles an hour. It was just below that threshold, so they didnt turn off the power. But that morning, i think the first call came in around 6 30 in the morning. And within 45 minutes, it was spreading super, super fast. So fast that they were unable to properly warn people. People just had to kind of see the smoke and know for themselves that this isnt good and we should probably get out. What was the hardest story for you to tell . You know, we interviewed over 25 people for this film. We spoke to each person for sometimes two hours at a time. So i sat through about 50 plus hours of, you know, interviews with people. In the film we tell the story of about six people and what they went through. And they were all hard. They were all difficult. I think hearing the story of two teachers who, you know, were there at their school in the morning waiting for kids to be picked up. Parents had come back as quicklied a they could once they heard what had happened, but there was, you know, 20 plus kids that were left at the school. And so two teachers got on a bus with 22 students, and tried for six hours to get out. At each turn they faced at times walls of flames. And at one point, they gathered around together, and they prayed, and they prayed that they would die of smoke inhalation and not from the flames. And thats a really tough thing to do. And so i think hearing that, that was definitely one of the more difficult stories. Thats definitely hard to watch. But not hard to watch in a way that i think people should not watch it. I mean, the message youre telling in this story through these eyewitness accounts and through these harrowing tales of survival, youre trying to make a point at the end. And the point you make at the end is that these fires, this campfire, the fires that preceded it in the past year, ten years in california have been getting bigger. Theyve been getting stronger. Theyve been moving faster, and that its not normal and its now ridiculous to say that everything is unprecedented because suddenly all of them are like this. Yeah. So we worked closely with a fire captain from cal fire, and he tells the story. He says look, ive been doing this about 30 years. Ive had two careers. I had a career for about 22, 23 years, and then ive had the career of the last seven years. And its been night and day different. He has seen fires that are unimaginable. And he attributes it to Climate Change . Absolutely. The changing weather patterns have completely changed the way that these fires behave. And, you know, theyre seeing things theyve never seen before. Drea cooper, i look forward to the screening tonight. If youre in the d. C. Area, please come join us. And if you cant make it, though, there is a special digital showcase of the festival on line and on demand. A number of the Film Festival films are streaming for the next month on nbcnews. Com and all other nbc streaming platforms. Well be right back. Ack. Ack. 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Say Nhl Center Ice into your voice remote to check out a free preview. Dont miss out. That is all for tonight. Chuck will be back tomorrow with more meet the press daily, and you can catch me tomorrow afternoon every weekday as well at 2 00 p. M. Eastern right here on msnbc. The beat with ari melber starts right now. Ari, youre so far away. And yet so close . Well, in camera speak, yes. But not in physical distance. Metaphysical distance . Metaphysical distance a whole universe. I feel close to you in going through these news days together. I think you should take it away now. Done. And lay it out for the American Public. I always follow my orders. Katy tur, always good to see you. Thanks, ari. Thanks to you at home joining us right now. This is a special edition of the beat because were tracking this growing ukraine scandal and the impeachment probe. And we begin with another sign that this one is different. What a difference one weekend makes. You know, americans went home friday with Trumps White House in kind of a freefall over those explosive allegations that had uncorked this impeachment