David jollys over here selling books, too. I just bought my copy. Its got a bestseller icon next to it so well add that, too. Its a bestseller. So go get it if you dont have it yet. My thanks to everyone who was here for the hour. Karine, ben, david, ron. Most of all, to you for watching. That does it for our hour. Mtp daily with the Fabulous Katy Tur In For Chuck starts now. Welcome to monday. Its meet the press daily. Good evening. Im katy tur into new york in for chuck todd. The houses Impeachment Inquiry is accelerating as attempts to defend the president seem to be growing more extreme. After weeks of denying a quid pro quo with ukraine, President Trump and some Senate Republicans are now trying to justify one. Perhaps, a sign of just how much evidence a piling up and how far republicans are willing to go to defend the president. Today, we got even more evidence. House investigators have begun releasing transcripts of their depositions, both paving the way for public hearings and rebutting gop complaints about closedoor proceedings. In one of those transcripts, u. S. s former ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch, testified about fearing for her job. She also detailed how some ukrainian officials were worried about basically being used as an arm of the trump campaign. The Committee Also released the transcript from the deposition with michael mckinley, who was Secretary Of State mike pompeos Senior Advisor. Mckinley told House Investigators he quit over the State Department being hijacked for political purposes. The president , meanwhile, is falsely claiming that the transcripti transcripts being released have been manipulated. Hes also escalating his attacks on the whistleblower, demanding they come forward based on his false claims that their account is wrong. Hes also smearing one of his own National Security advisors and all of this is happening as four white house officials today Defied Subpoenas to testify. There is a lot going on. So let us get the latest from our team of reporters. Jeff bennett is on capitol hill. And Hallie Jackson is at the white house along with Josh Lederman who is in our washington bureau. He recently returned from a reporting trip in ukraine. Jeff bepnnett, lets start with you. Today, a Couple Transcripts were released. How are republicans responding to these transcripts . Are they so claiming that these this testimony is being released selectively . You you are hearing that. Jim jordan, who is on the House Oversight committee, raised a number of questions about why these two transcripts today and why are we getting the ones from sondland and volker tomorrow . House democrats, for their part, havent really given us a good answer as to why they have chosen to release transcripts on given days. But, yes, jordan is he is among those House Republicans who have seemed to settled on there was no Quid Pro Quo Line that you hear President Trump making from The Other Side of pennsylvania avenue. But there are those Senate Republicans who are settling on this different message, which is that, yes, there was a quid pro quo. It, however, was not effective. It was not illegal. So their argument seems to be that it was inappropriate what the president did but it was not wholly impeachable. And the reason youre seeing that, you know, huge difference in messaging, its all coming in the absence of a of a, you know, concerted message and strategy from the white house, katy. So Senate Republicans are sayi saying one thing. House republicans saying another. These transcripts are coming out. Do you expect at some point as the transcripts come out and as more evidence is being released, jeff, more evidence that that witnesses say there was a quid prokwo prokwoe, but no its not a big deal . Yeah. Its its hard to tell really where this Talking Point will take us. I mean, weve seen it evolve really from the beginning when the when the whistleblower complaint first came out was to suggest that the whistleblower complaint was all based on hearsay. And as witness after witness has really corroborated the whistleblower complaint, youve heard republicans then attack the process. Saying that this should happen in public. Well, now, since the house has voted on, you know, a resolution to authorize and to formalize this Impeachment Inquiry as this now moves into public view at some point, what youre seeing from some republicans is to try to undercut the voracity and the credibility of some of the witnesses. So, you know, its hard to tell really where it will take us. Certainly, House Democrats are making the point and theyve made this point all along that quid pro quo or no quid pro quo, what the president did was illegal they say and impeachable. It is illegal for any u. S. Citizen to solicit anything of value from a Foreign National in connection to an election. And they say that this, you know, damaging information that President Trump so goes the theory of the democratic case, that President Trump leaned on his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to manufacture, that was a thing of value. And that is why theyre moving forward with impeachment. What theyve been doing for the last month Behind Closed Doors is a private Factfinding Mission really. Trying to piece together how this call happened in large part of a coordinated effort. It was not just the call in isolation House Democrats say. There was a lot of prep work on the front end and a lot of followup work on the back end. Katy. And, josh, one of the gops arguments is that the actions of the president are okay because ukraine never investigated the bidens. There was no pro quo. The president said no pro quo at some point. You were just in ukraine. I know youve been reporting on this. What have you found on whether the ukrainians knew about this and how much pressure they were feeling . Yeah. So the the end part of that argument that you were describing has shifted a few times from what republicans have been saying, katy. Because at first, remember it was, well, it couldnt have been quid pro quo because they didnt know the aid had been held up or why. And now, it is well, maybe they did know or did know why but the aid was ultimately given to them anyway, which is the new line that weve been hearing from kelly ann conway. But look, talking to folks from ukraine, they were much less concerned about sort of what trump did and whether he was trying to meddle and more on the actual outcome on the ground for them. The fact that theyre engaged in this really upsetting Military Conflict with russia, theyre trying to deescalate that. There are negotiations ongoing to try to get past that conflict. And the fact that they did not have these weapons on the timeline that they were expecting and this assistance to buy those weapons put them at a real disadvantage at a critical time. So thats been the focus weve heard on the ground in kiev. Four people, Hallie Jackson were supposed to testify today. Four witnesses refused to testify. John eisenberg, National Security council, Legal Advisor the person who is said to have moved the ukraine call to the more secure server. Michael ellis. Robert blair, Senior Advisor to Mick Mulvaney. And brian mccormick, Office Of Management And Budget official. How much pressure is the white house putting on these officials, these advisors, not to go testify in front of congress . And if the white house thinks that this was a perfect call, as the president has described it, why dont they want to let them testify . So keep in mind that the white house has already said here are the reasons why we dont want people who work for this administration to go and talk to members of congress. Theyve already laid out their legal arguments for this. And the four people that you mentioned, katy, as well as four other Administration Officials who are not expected to comply with subpoenas later on this week, including the energy secretary, by the way, these are not the same diplomats we saw who came and defied those white house orders over the last couple weeks, right . These are people who are much closer to President Trump, his inner circle, to Mick Mulvaney for example, the Office Of Management And Budget. These are agencies that are simply closer to the president. And frankly, i think these are people who feel more allied with the president at least at this point like obviously, for example, Secretary Perry who we expect not to show up later this week even though hes been summoned. So i do think that that this is a shift now from what weve seen from the last couple of weeks when people largely associated with the State Department were coming forward being praised by House Democrats for their sort of bravery, for their courage and conviction in coming and speaking with House Investigators. They had been subpoenaed. Versus what were seeing now, which are these Administration Officials who are saying, hey, we are not going to comply with congress. Instead, were going to comply with what the white house wants us to do. You have a couple people who seem to be saying theyre stuck in the middle. That includes former National Security advisor, former deputy National Security advisor, who has by the way filed a lawsuit to the judiciary now to say, hey, you tell me who i should listen to. Should it be congress . Or should it be the white house . But as for this argument that there is a vacuum in white house strategy and thats why youre seeing maybe these reports that Senate Republicans will start to acknowledge the quid pro quo, keep in mind a couple of things. The facts of this are not in question. There was a hold on this military aid to ukraine. That is just true. Nobody disputes that. That is not a Question Mark here. What is, is the reason why. And that is why i think youre starting to see the argument, increasingly from white house officials, hey, there can be no quid pro quo because ukraine t ultimately did receive the military aid money, which by the way is also true. You also have the argument now jeff talked about a second ago saying, hey, listen, even if there was a quid pro quo, its not impeachable. Its not illegal. I talked to one top democrat on one of the committees earlier today who said, hey, bring on that argument. If you want to litigate that argument to the American People that yeah, the president did this but we think its okay. We are happy to have that discussion. So i think that you are starting to see some democrats who are eager if the republicans are going to come around to that argument, to go ahead and do so already. I wonder how confident the white house feels with that argument that, yes, the money was released so there wasnt actually a favor for favor because the second favor never happened. The money was released a day after i believe or a couple days after the whistleblower report came out. So it was released after the white house was accused of not releasing it. Thats the timeline of that. Kelly ann conway was asked over the weekend about the timeline. She called it a coincidence or she just shrugged her shoulders basically. Said it could have been a coincidence. Chris wallace i think from fox news suggested that seems like a real big coincidence. Exactly. So im wondering if the white house is comfortable being able to convince Senate Republicans that the president is fully above board on this if it comes to the senate having to have a trial over impeachment. I know ive seen the president. Weve all seen him out with a number of House Republicans over the past week. Theyve brought him to the nationals game. He brought them to the ufc fight over the weekend. Are there any particular senators that the white house is concerned about . Is it someone like Susan Collins . Is it someone like Cory Gardener . Any of those people . I think i havent heard the name cory gardner as much as ive heard the name Susan Collins, right . Because the white house, the president s allies are looking at the same Political Landscape everybody else is. They know maybe this is going to be a tough vote for a couple senators but a couple republican senators wont change the game on this. And frankly, neither will it matter if maybe a democratic senator crosses a line and decide to vote with republicans if it does come to a senate trial. And again, that is still a couple of steps down the road. I think the white house is looking at this much like everyone else is. The president , yes, has courted House Republicans but i got to tell you theres some reporting out from bloomberg that guess who is on the plane as we speak right now with President Trump . Senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. Hes not an enemy of the president at all. The two have had their disagreements but they talk frequently. I do feel the white house is feeling very ready for this fight. Even if the president were to be impeached by the house, i think the sense that there is a likelihood of any removal is so far right now at least out of the realm of a possible outcome. That is not so much a concern. The concern right now is sort of fighting and we know that the white house is going to bring in, we think, at least one more person potentially to help work on some impeachment strategy messaging. The president s favorability is sky high. So hes got a lot of leverage over mitch mcconnell. Jeff bennett, the democrats have said all along that theyre confident that as more of this information comes out, theyre confident that theyre going to sway Public Opinion. Public opinion right now is split on terms of impeachment. Half think the president should be impeached and removed. About half. And half think, no, he should not be impeached and removed. What do they know or what are they expecting to happen that will change Public Opinion . Is it just public hearings . You tell me. It is the public hearings and i think some of the insurances they have from some of the people whove testified in private that when they are called back to testify in public, that they will do that. And that those hearings and this has to do with the resolution that they approved last week, House Democrats, the hearings will look different than any other House Intelligence or House Judiciary Committee hearing youve ever seen before. You will see the witnesses and you will also see the House Intelligence chairman adam schiff and the Top Republican on that Committee Devon Nunez in some cases have 45 minutes to question the witnesses. Split evenly on both sides. At a certain point, they will be able to defer to staffers. Those real subject Matter Experts who can question the witnesses and follow a line of inquiry. You wont see members splitting time. You know, five minutes here, five minutes there. Some members choosing to grandstand. Some members choosing to follow a line of inquiry that goes nowhere. You will see democrats build the case that they have been cobbling together in private for the last three to four weeks really. And also, it also has to do with the ways in which theyre releasing the transcripts. They are releasing the transcripts day after day to till the narrative that theyve been piecing together. So all of that really is is all a concerted effort to tell the case, to build the public case against President Trump. Josh, i want to look into yovanovitchs testimony a little more closely really quickly. She says she feared for her job. Look at this. She says, President Trump says shes going to go through some things. What do you understand that to mean . Thats a question she was asked. Yovanovitch says, i didnt know what it meant. I was very concerned. I still am. Question, do you feel threatened . Yovanovitch, yes. Yovanovitch, looking to hurt me in the u. S. I couldnt imagine what that was but you know now i see. Question, what do you see now . Yovanovitch, well that im no longer in ukraine. She also says that ukraine was being concerned about being used as a political pawn. Look at this. Question, you mention the issue of Ukraine Collusion versus russian collusion. Did the issue also come up in that conversation or others about giuliani and his Associates Interest in the bidens and burisma . Yovanovitch, yeah, i mean looking backward with a view to finding things that could possibly be damaging to a president ial run. Question, by joe biden . Yovanovitch, uhhuh. She was also told she needed to tweet praise of trump in order to save her job. She says, ambassador sondland said, you know, you need to go big or go home. You need to tweet out there that you support the president and that all these are lies and Everything Else and you know, so, you know, i mean obviously that was advice. It was advice that i did not see how i could implement in my role as an ambassador and as a Foreign Service officer. So there is a lot there, josh, and shes painting a pretty, from the outside, bleak picture of whats happening at the State Department. Yeah. And a lot of this hues really closely to the general narrative that had come out of the hearings already based on what had leaked out, what we and others have reported. Which House Democrats are using to say, look, for all the republicans arguing for the fact this is taking place in secret is allowing democrats to mischaracterize whats happening in a way to the president. Thats not true. Its fair. Everything coming out in the transcript basically matches what we had heard before. But whats new are some of these key details that bring some of that narrative to life. Like the fact that ambassador sondland was telling her she needed to tweet efusive praise for the president if she wanted to keep her jobment one other thing that came out of this transcript today i think you will siee a lot of focus from democrats on was that yovanovitch said she heard from the grapevine but pretty official sources that President Trump may have phoned in all the way back in january of this year to a meeting that giuliani was holding with the former Prosecutor General of ukraine. I expect that democrats will have to do a lot more questioning to get to whether thats actually true. But if it was, that would raise some serious questions about how early the president was involved in this. Jeff, hallie, and josh, guys thank you very much and as we mentioned earlier, House Democrats release their first transcripts from close door impeachment depositions today. But still have not announced any time table for public hearings even as we get closer to the 2020 elections. We are just 91 days out before the Iowa Caucuses by the way. But Top Democrats still say time is not a problem. When do public hearings begin . I think relatively soon. What does that mean . It sounds a lot like what we just heard Speaker Pelosi say, which was pretty vague. Youve only got, what, eight days before thanksgiving . No, we have we have not time is not constrainous. The truth and the facts are constrainous. We are going to move as soon as the facts and truth dictate what we have. Joining me now, massachusetts democratic congressman steven link. He h lynch. Congressman, thank you very much for being here. I do want to continue talking about timing and whether you plan on getting this done before 2020. There is a lot to do and if you dont mind, im just going to read off what we know so far and you tell me if were leaving something out. 11 other witness transcripts have yet to be released. Two are scheduled to be released tomorrow. I guess theyre going to come in pairs. For the coming days. Those additional close door testimony scheduled, some witnesses are ignoring that those subpoenas. Public testimony in the House Intelligence committee. Judiciary Committee Deliberation on potential articles. December ruling on Kupperman On Whether or not he has to appear before the committee. Full house vote on potential articles if it comes to that. And then of course it goes to the senate. Do you think this is going to happen before 2020 . Well, i think theres a range of possibilities. And there are some witnesses out there that are sort of on the bubble. I can think of National Security advisor bolton. He agre if he agreed to come forward, i think we would make accommodations for that. But i think that chairman schiff has indicated several weeks, you know, that could be a month. It could be a little bit less when we might get to public hearings. But again, the important thing is to have the evidence, to go forward with the best evidence and i think thats really the priority. I was down there today. We expected four witnesses to appear today. None of them did. Weve got some witnesses on for tomorrow. I think one of them might might attend. And then on wednesday, we have another witness that might attend. So that thats having some bearing on the timeframe. Some of it is is not readily within our control. Were also looking for documents that weve requested from the State Department. We actually know what the documents say because witnesses have described those documents verbally to us. But we still want to have that chain of custody. We want to have the documents delivered by by the witness to the State Department to the congress to effectuate any case that goes forward. Do you think the administration is trying to stall . And if they are, to what end . Oh, theyre definitely trying to stall. I think and and theyre trying to spin, right . As this goes forward. I think they see that, you know, the longer this goes on, sort of like the mueller report. People kept hearing, you know, dribs and drabs and then in the end, it sort of fizzled because the report said there was no collusion. Although, it didnt dismiss the possibility of obstruction. I think the story went on too long. In this case, i think the the the meaningful part of this will be when we get witnesses on the stand as was said earlier, we have a line of questioning for 45 minutes. These are very credible witnesses. Many of them, ambassador taylor, also Lieutenant Colonel vindman, very, very powerful testimony. And real patriots in my my my opinion. Why are the transcripts only being released in pairs . And why are we did we get mckinley and yovanovitch today when they were not the first witnesses . Well, they were among the group of first witnesses and i think they provide a context, especially yovanovitch. I think it provides a context to what was going on with with former mayor giuliani acting on behalf of the president. That whole the context of her threatened removal if she didnt get on board with with, you know, the program to defend the president s conduct. So i i think its important to lay out the context and the the more i think impactful testimony will come later. So are you are you saying youre basically building a case, an argument, by releasing the testimony in a certain order . I believe so, yeah. Yeah. Back in april, you told the Boston Harold the Radio Program that impeachment could hurt the democrats potentially. You said i think if we were to go through this bruising impeachment process in the house, i think wed have the votes but it will go to the senate and it will die there. I think at that point, if it is seen that the president has been exonerated, then the whole focus of the whole election period will be on impeachment rather than the merits of President Trump being elected. Or we go to a new candidate. So i think it could hurt us politically for those reasons. That was back in april. Obviously, that was about the mueller report. This is a different topic. Do you think its different now . I do. The difference is evidence, right . So back then, we had the mueller report. It was inconclusive. I believe the way it was rolled out. And and we had a a response from, i think, every single republican senator that that was not enough to impeach. In this case, we have the president s statement, which is which is pretty damning in itself. We have a lot of corroborating witnesses. We have people who were on the call. We have direct evidence. We have both testimony and documents. And then we had every single republican senator support the idea of an Impeachment Inquiry, which is which is much different than what we had in the first instance. Are you expecting there to be bipartisan, potentially bipartisan support for impeachment . Or potentially republicans who will vote to remove him . Because as of now, the scenario still reads the same where republicans vote to keep him in office. And then impeachment or failed removal could potentially be the number one topic in the 2020 election. Well, what i i am saying is that the difference here is direct evidence of the president s misconduct. His wrongdoing, his criminal activity. We did not have that before. So so youre right. We could we could prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt to those people who are open to the facts, and yet the Republican Senate could say, you know what, were not going to defend the constitution. Were not going to defend the rule of law. Were going to defend the president in his in his misconduct. That could happen. But i think there would be consequences for those senators if they broke their Oath Of Office and did not support and defend the constitution. Congressman steven lynch, congressman thank you very much and next up, deny, deflect, repeat. The Messaging Spin Cycle over quid pro quo goes into high gear. Plus, the problems piling up for President Trump, the latest National Polls are not looking good for him. And now, hes just suffered a big defeat in court over his taxes. I have moderate to severe pnow, theres skyrizi. Things are getting clearer, yeah i feel free to bare my skin yeah thats all me. Nothing and me go hand in hand nothing on my skin thats my new plan. Nothing is everything. Keep your skin clearer with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90 clearer skin at 4 months. Of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. And skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. 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With nine grams of protein and twentyseven vitamins and minerals. Ensure, for strength and energy. At outback, steak oh no, its gone. Ck. Phew, its back with lobster mac cheese. Its gone again. Oh, its back with shrimp now steak lobster starting at only 15. 99. Hurry in before these three are gone again. Outback steakhouse. Thbecause with nband after thleague pass on xfinityr. You can watch the out of market games you want all season long. And with the allnew xfinity sports zone, you get Everything Nba All In One place even notifications about your favorite teams. Watch the dropped dimes, monster blocks, and showstopping dunks. Plus get instant access to your teams with the power of your voice. Thats simple, easy, awesome. Say Nba League Pass into your voice remote to upgrade for a great low price or go online today. Welcome back. As the Impeachment Inquiry accelerates, President Trumps defenses have been all over the place. Take a listen to the president yesterday careening from argument to argument while talking about his call with ukrainian president zelensky. And all of those many people that listened to the phone call, why didnt they have a problem with it . Because many people listened to calls. I know that. For instance, the Secretary Of State pompeo was on the call. Nobody had, with all of those people, very few people that i know came forward. And they only came forward when you asked. And some of them are nevertrumpers. Joining me now, nick, New York Times political reporter. And msnbc contributor, former advisor to the Hilary Clinton campaign. And msnbc contributor. Also, noah rothman, Commentary Magazine Associate Editor and also an msnbc contributor. You guys are all msnb contributors. Noah, the president s having a hard time deciding how he wants to defend himself. Does it matter . I mean, he always does pretty much the same thing. Yeah. So he seems really committed to this notion that the transcript exonerates him. That the only reason anybody would be confused about that is adam schiffs testimony, which i think we can all agree was pretty illadvised at this point because it gave the president some ammunition. But nevertheless, we we now have we probably would but we now have half a dozen other individuals, former members of the administration, coming out saying essentially everything in the whistleblower account has been confirmed. That we were privy to some of it. So his commitment to this whistleblower account being erroneous. But thats the way he sorry he always does things. He would do this in the campaign. Hes done it as hes been president as well. He said no i never said that. But you look at the tape and he said exactly that. And he says, no, no, look at the tape where i said exactly that. I didnt say that. And the message is not for persuadable voters. The message is for people already on his side. We all have one side of the story. Stick to one side of the story. Talk about persuadable voters. Half the country thinks he should be impeached and removed. Half does not. How does those numbers move . Look, its not about the numbers i think, right . Were talking about the facts of the case so far. What weve seen is impeachment has moved from a minority position to a near majority position in a matter of months because new facts emerged. So im not going to get ahead of like the voting public on this. I think i want to find out whats going on here. And what weve seen over and over again, its not just this one phone call and the president s attempt to make it about the one phone call. Its selftelling. Its an entire shadow Foreign Policy, which is conducted by his personal lawyer supposedly, giuliani. There is a huge number of facts now and evidence about this parallel Foreign Policy. It is the whole thing that is the problem for him, if not the one transcript. But i think, listen, if there was a wall over there where he was throwing things to see if it would stick, it would be covered in spaghetti. Theyre trying everything. They worked with robert mueller, why would they not try that same game plan again . To nicks point, i think we have a lot more facts that are damaging to the president than we did during the russia investigation, for example, because that was more convoluted. It took place over a longer period of time and it was looking backwards. Right now, were looking backwards only to july and were looking forwards because what he was trying to do is interfere in the next election. Thats the reason why you have to trigger impeachment because you cant rely on the integrity of the next election if the current president is cheating in that election. Or attempting to cheat in that election. And i think thats a story that the American People can understand. How damaging are the transcripts . I mean, theyre pretty damaging. It depends what youre referring to. The call . No, not the president s call. The transcripts of the deposition. Theyre damaging. You can tell by virtue of how the republicans have responded to them. Theyre getting closer to now i think something that resembles an intellectually honest approach to this, which is the president did it, its pretty bad. But is it impeachable . Is it worth removing the president . I dont think so. Were not there yet but theyre getting closer by admitting quid pro quo. Youre Hearing Republicans say yes there was quid pro quo but that happens all the time. The problem is the president is not allowing them to go down this course. The president is saying, no, no, no, there was no quid pro quo. Stick to the script. What would it take for republicans to say, god, this is too much for me . Hes crossed the line. Is there any line he cannot cross . Their own political fortunes being imperilled. So its only personal. Its transactional. So, yes, republicans look at their own bottom line, look at their political prospects, their prospects for reelection or primary challenges and say, yes, i cant afford to cross this line. The voters have to basically say to their republican lawmakers i dont want him in office any longer. By the way, this is not something unsupported. Look at the Battleground States Polling on impeachment. Nationally, yeah, a majority is getting closer to supporting this. A majority begins to look like trumps job approval nationally. In Battleground States, the notion of the inquiry is true that impeaching and removing this president isnt popular is not true. Does this negatively affect the 2020 election . Democrats . Is it going to down their messages . I actually dont know. The thing that is surprising to me is that were all talking about impeachment but on the trail, it does not come up with the candidates, with the voters. And perhaps its not their chief concern or perhaps they think its just happening over in d. C. And they can focus on other things. But its not entirely clear to me if, in fact, they dont care about it. Or if, in fact, theyre angry about it. And thats the big question for democrats. They see impeachment or the Impeachment Drive as a distraction from everyday concerns or just a different track for washington to be on right now. Dont you think, though, that it would show up more at town halls for congressional members that are going home to their districts versus like 2020 folks on the trail . Just because the house members, for example, they have a direct impact on what is actually going to happen here because they get to vote on whatever articles of impeachment get drafted. So i do think that to your point that its not something thats come up. That is a little bit surprising actually. Given the fact that the resistance was so energized since the first day of his presidency, the day after his swearing in. How did democrats on the trail, should they be talking about this . How do they wade in effectively on the question of impeachment . I think they need to focus not on the technicality of how many votes, whether or not which articles or anything like that. They need to stay in the lane of this is really about corruption and criminality. So to the notion that republicans are looking at their personal political fortunes and saying this doesnt rise to the level where i should care or condemn it in any way, thats not patriotic. We just went through two years where we established that it is a crime to ask a Foreign Government for help in an election. Michael cohens sitting in a jail because he did that. And so to say now that my personal political fortunes outweigh crimes committed by the president , potentially, right . Were still looking at all the evidence. But he released a Transcript Summary that essentially was a confession, katy. So i think the American People are taking this seriously because at the heart of this matter, not just the integrity of the upcoming election, but also our National Security going back to the shadow Foreign Policy point. Let me ask you a question about question that mark meadows did of yovanovitch. Its not getting a lot of attention you by think its interesting. Meadows asked where did you get that name from . Yovanovitch says despite my posting in ukraine, im actually half russian and its a russian nickname. Asking her about her nickname. Mr. Meadows immediately yields back. He also asks her to spell nayem. Does that ring a bell . And she says Mustafa Nayem . And he says, im sorry im not ukrainian. And she says, neither am i. It just seems like an odd its odd. What was he trying to do there . Well, we can look into some more nefarious motives. I think americans are not necessarily familiar with a very common practice in the Eastern Europe part of the world. What have you. This is how people refer to each other in that part of the world. But he was perhaps i mean i think think i know what youre getting at. Perhaps suggest that your allegiances arent with the united states. And the only reason we would reach that conclusion by Tv Commentators we should say. This was not adopted by the but nevertheless, probably because that approach was tested on cable news, landed with a spectacular thud, and nobody adopted it. This does smell like that. But im hesitant to to say that thats what this was because it is so crass. Noah, nick, and zelena, you guys are sticking around. Dont go anywhere. Up next, new reporting that one of those indicted Ukrainian Americans with ties to rudy giuliani is willing to cooperate with the Impeachment Inquiry. What that could mean for the legal fight. Stay with us. T could mean for te legal fight. 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One of Rudy Giulianis ukrainian American Associates charged with Campaign Finance violations is now prepared to cooperate with impeachment investigators. The attorney for lev parnas says his client is ready to comply with requests for records and testimony. Parnas and igor fruman are accused of Helping Giuliani Dig Up Dirt on joe biden. With me now is a former u. S. Assistant attorney for the Southern District of new york. Now an msnbc legal analyst. So on first glance, what do you make of parnas being willing to cooperate . Well, its interesting. Its intriguing. I think we have to see what cooperate means. I mean, theres theres some other sort of background to this that i think is relevant. One is apparently parnas at some point dropped his lawyer john dowd, who has a connection to manafort and the president. And he now has a lawyer, joseph bondy, who, you know, has done criminal cases in the Southern District of new york for a long time. I had cases with him. Or against him. So, you know, its possible. Though, i dont want to get peoples hopes up that parnas is more fully cooperating. Maybe in the Southern District of new york. And that this is sort of an effort to show that hes being cooperative. The Southern District wouldnt make it a requirement that he cooperate with congress. But it would sort of be expected that he wouldnt just defy a subpoena, a lawful subpoena, which this is if he wanted to cooperate in the Southern District also. So i think we have to see what it means. But it certainly is reason, you know, it makes your eyes go like this. And and i want to see what it means. Let me ask you about the statement from bondy. Parnass attorney. Its very carefully worded. We will honor and not avoid the committees request to the extent they are legally proper while scrupulously protecting mr. Parnass privileges, including that of the Fifth Amendment. What does legally proper mean . Is it legally proper to you and me . Or legally proper to the president . Right. Exactly. Well, thats why im saying lets keep our expectations reasonable for now and see what cooperate means because he could take the same position that many of the president s close, you know, advisors and people have taken. Saying, oh no, this is not a lawful subpoena as the president says because, you know, the impeachment is all a hoax argument. I im not sure that thats whats going on here, though, because why would he have changed course . And also, you know, the fact that he mentions obviously parnas does have a real Fifth Amendment right. That is a real thing. He is an indicted defendant. Hes got to be careful. But it does make me think that maybe there is some real overlap, as weve sort of suspected but will have to see, between the Southern District case which we havent yet seen it in the Southern District. Right now, thats just about Campaign Finance and the Impeachment Inquiry. If there is some interplay and that is now you know, for bondy to be saying, okay, the Fifth Amendment might be implicated here, well, is he implicated because there is more overlap than we can see right now between impeachment and the Southern District of new york . Really quickly on documents, theres always been this question of who is paying Rudy Giuliani. Are those documents that potentially he might have in his possession . Absolutely. I mean, one of the Big Questions here is, you know, how did how and why did Rudy Giuliani get 500,000 from, you know, Fraud Guarantee or whatever its called . You know, why were they paying him . Who was representing who . And where did the money come from . Right . Parnas is this guy who apparently couldnt pay his own debts but he could pay 500,000 to giuliani . That is the milliondollar question. Very intriguing. Meme, come back and tell us what happens next. Explain it all to us as you have been doing now for everything legal for the past year and a half. Thank you very much. Ahead, President Trump may survive impeachment but he may not survive the election. Weve got new polls showing 2020 trouble potentially for President Trump. S showing 2020 trouble potentially for President Trump. Woman 1 oc this is my body of proof. Man 1 vo proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. Man 2 vo proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis. Woman 2 vo . With humira. Woman 3 vo humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the number one prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. Avo humira can lower your ability to fight infections. 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Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. I wish i could shake your hand. Granted. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. To earn j. D. Power chevdependability awards. Across cars. Trucks. And suvs. Four years in a row. Since more than 32,000 real people. Just like me. And me. And me. Took the survey that decided these awards. It was only right that you hear the good news from real people. Like us. Im daniel. Im casey. Im julio. Only chevy has earned j. D. Power dependability awards across cars, trucks and suvs. Four years in a row. Lashmakes every Lash Fullyrom maybsensational. Ork. Our fanning brush volumizes every kind of lash. For a sensational fullfan effect. Lash sensational. Only from maybelline new york. Tonight in 2020 vision, our new national nbc Wall Street Journal poll shows trouble for President Trump. In head to head match ups, trump joe biden and Elizabeth Warren by nearly ten points. Biden leads 5041 while warren leads 5042. Perhaps more troubling for trump, 46 of registered voters say theyre already certain to vote against him. Versus the 34 who say theyre certain to vote for him. Despite this National Lead for democrats, the Battleground States are showing a much tighter race. Trump continues to remain highly competitive in six Battleground States that went red in 2016. And are most likely to decide his reelection in 2020. Michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, florida, arizona, and north carolina. According to a new poll, across those six key states, biden is running even with donald trump in michigan. Up slightly in four states and trailing in north carolina. Sanders is pretty much deadlocked with the president in those states. And Warren Trails Trump by an average of two points. So this race is very hit in the very places it matters most. Lets bring back our panel. Nick, zerlina, and noah rothman. So guys, wow. National poll. State poll. State polls show a much better picture for the president. Forget the National Polls. How did he win in 2016 . How did this unpopular candidate win . You thread the needle. Everyone saying it was a black swan. They cant do it again. Well, guess what . He could do it again potentially and is going to enter the general election with a huge financial advantage and tech advantage over the democrats. Let me ask you this. It is november 2019. The president is in the middle of an Impeachment Inquiry. Terrible testimony is coming out that shows that he claims that he asked for a quid pro quo with ukraine. Arguably, hes in a very bad spot. But these polls dont show him in a very bad spot. If you were a democrat right now, would you be super nervous . I mean, if you were a democrat running for office i should say. Yeah, i maiwas like im not particularly nervous. But i think theres always a point in a campaign where you freak out. This might be one of those moments where democratic campaigns independently are freaking out a little bit and thats a good thing because you should never wake up, ever, on a campaign against donald trump or anyone else and think that you have it in the bag. And im not saying we did that in 2016 but what i do think is that you should look at what tog not just to not Pay Attention to the National Polls, but even to sort of tune out some of these State Tracking Polls in the sense that i think that there is a theres something happening right now, not just in the media, but also in the democratic side where were asking a question that is just completely based on the wrong premises, and the premise is basically how do we win back those voters who voted for donald trump, who voted for obama, how do we get them back, right . And that is a false premise. Im not saying that youre not going try to get some of those voters back, but there was a 7 dropoff in black turnout from 2012 to 2016. Those people will vote for you, but you got give them a reason. The question is not do i want to vote for trump or this democrat, its do i want to vote or stay home. Its a good point. Donald trumps also trying to get new voters. Are there new voters to get . I mean, what theyre doing with their campaign is theyre harvesting anyones data who interacting with the campaign and theyre trying to find people who might be sympathetic. Are there more trump voters than they already have . That sounds like a really good campaign. Thats what you want to do. You want to activate the voters who already turn out. Low propensity voters are a risky bet. A lot are making the pledge i can turn out voters whoa dont normally turn out for elections where biden is saying i can win by doing what barack obama did, pennsylvania, michigan, thats it. That was a function of his victories, particularly in the first state, in iowa, he turned out the young voters that dont ever heard up. That democrats should be scared of and twothirds of voters who said i turned out, voted for democrats in 2018 and im going vote to reelect the president. Trump voters who voted for democrats last year are going to vote for trump again this year. Those voters got what they wanted. They got a check on this presidency in the congress. They got it. Now what democrats have to give them is the Kitchen Table issues that democrats gave them in 2018. Impeachment and removal from office is an abstract concept. Its not something thats likely, and voters have priced that in. Theyre not dumb. What they want to hear from democrats is something that registers with them. What are they going to do in this term. So are democrats doing that . I think the key question is whether the party has tethered itself to proposals on medicare, immigration and taxes that will allow them to win the presidency. I dont know the answer. Politics and things in politics do change. But between those polls and polls of actually Policy Prescriptions that are in the field, thing is a real chance that democrats have taken a big risk, Warren And Sanders in attaching themselves to ideas that most voters dont like. And the way they win elections is oppose things that voters like. Is biden looking at the poll and saying this is the argument we need to make to the American Public . Yes, but biden should not sit back and say im in first, im saying in first and its fine. You still dont have the guaranteed turnout of the black vote youre going to need not just to win the primary, but also to win the general election. I think no one should be sitting at home and thinking they have it in the bag. If youre not waking up and thinking every single day did i give a black person a reason to show up on election day . If youre not thinking that before you leave your house to go into hq, youre doing it wrong. Zerlina maxwell, as always, thank you very much. You too, nick confessore, and noah. Dont miss the next democratic debate hosted by msnbc and the washington post, all ladies, debate moderators. Its Coming Up November 20th live from Tyler Perry Studios in atlanta, georgia, and you can watch it right here on msnbc. Ahead, the battle against California Wildfires and President Trump fanning the flames of the controversy. When you look at the world, what do you see . We see patterns. Relationships. When you use location technology, you can see where things happen, before they happen. With esri location technology, you can see what others cant. We chose eleanor. It was greatgrandmas name. So were in this little town near salerno and everyone has dads eyebrows. Help your family discover their unique story, with a gift from ancestry. Help your family discover their unique story, hey allergy muddlers. Achoo . Do your sneezes turn heads . Try zyrtec. It starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Zyrtec muddle no more. Its an honor to tell you that [ applause ] thank you. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. I love you only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. 25 cent boneless wings at applebees. Born to be wild. Born to be wild. Get em while theyre hot. Hey allergy muddlers. Achoo . Do your sneezes turn heads . Try zyrtec. It starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Zyrtec muddle no more. Welcome back. There is cautious optimism this evening in californias battle against the latest wildfires ravaging the state. Many of those fires are now contained, but experts warn that the state will remain at risk for more fires this week, with hot and dry conditions in the forecast. But this weekend, with nearly 100,000 acres burned and thousands of california residents forced from their homes, President Trump lashed out at californias democratic governor and threatened to pull federal aid for battling wildfires, tweeting every year as the fires rage and california burns, it is the same thing, and then he comes to the federal government for help. No more. Get your act together, governor. The president doubled down on that criticism a short time later. You got fires eating away at california every year because management is so bad. The governor doesnt know. He is like a child. He doesnt know what he is doing. And ive been telling this for two years. Theyve got to take care of it. Every year its always california. Never its rarely somebody else or some place else. President trumps criticism omits that the federal government controls more than half of the 33 million acres of forest in california, or that many of the most destructive fires this year have not been forest fires but wildfires, believed to have been started by utility equipment, or that most Scientists Say Climate Change is at least a contributing factor in why these wildfires are getting more and more severe. Governor gavin newsom tweeted this response to the president s attack. You dont believe in Climate Change. You are excused from this conversation. Oh, and by the way, today was the fist day it was possible for the Trump Administration to start the withdrawal from the paris climate agreement, and today they did just that. Thats all for tonight. Chuck will be back tomorrow with more meet the press daily