Commitment to investigate the 2016 election and the bidens. In other words, there was a quid pro quo and ukraine knew it. Sondland made those changes to his testimony yesterday, on the same day that House Democrats began releasing closed door testimony to the public. In a threepage declaration, sondland says by the beginning of september 19 and in the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, i presumed that the aid suspension had become linked to the proposed anticorruption statement. That explicitly included the 2016 election and Hunter Bidens company, burisma. He goes on to say, quote, i now recall speaking individually with the zelensky aide that Rudy Giuliani met with in madrid, mr. Yermak, where i said that resumption of u. S. Aid would likely not occur until ukraine provided the public anticorruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks. Again, remember, one of the talking points from the white house has been if ukraine didnt know the aid was being withheld, how could it be a quid pro quo. This now says ukraine knew. Investigators released sondlands testimony along with that of kurt volker and the Text Messages that volker released last month included that the president wanted no quid pro quo. Now, sondland later testified that he was just repeating what the president had told him. And in his new declaration, sondland says his memory was, quote, refreshed after reviewing Opening Statements given by taylor and tim morrison, the former white house advisor on russia and European Affairs who testified late last week. Joining me now, msnbc correspondent Garrett Haake on capitol hill, nbc News White House correspondent Hallie Jackson at the white house. So let me start with you, garrett. Whats amazing to me is that we had some hints that Gordon Sondland wanted to change his testimony almost as soon as bill taylor had testified. We had gotten reports he was reviewing his testimony. What i found interesting is that he apparently made all of these changes effective yesterday, not sooner. Do we have more details on how all this came about . Well, he didnt have a ton of time. We know sondland has back here last week reviewing his testimony and the testimony of morrison was just towards the ending of last week. So, yes, the letter from his attorney was dated yesterday. It got to the committee yesterday. Adam schiff announced yesterday that sondland and kurt volkers testimonies would be coming out today. Its not clear to me what came first, the schiff notice that, hey, this is coming out tomorrow or the attorneys letter. Ive reached out to the attorney and the committee and neither side will comment on the exact timing of that, whether sondland knew that he had a deadline by the end of the day to get this in or whether this was something they had been working on through the weekend to try to clear up. But throughout sondlands testimony notwithstanding this apendi appendix that was added, hes got a lot of memory problems. Theres the exchange with yovanovitch about whether she should tweet support for President Trump which he doesnt remember. Theres several other meetings and conversations he claims to not remember. And he admits the night before his deposition he talked with rick perry, another would be witness to all of this, to refresh his memory. So theres a number of issues with sondlands testimony that still remain here despite that appendix. And hes going to make quite the public perhaps witness at some point. Garrett, tell me about everybody else today who didnt show up for depositions. We kind of knew that was going to happen. What updates do you have on that . Not a lot. A couple of nsc officials today were the highlights. The rest of the officials this week read like a list of people who House Democrats want to be able to say they called, want to be able to say they invited. Theres an advisor to Vice President mike pence who they added late in the game to try to testify on friday. Theres perry, theres bolton. Theres a number of these officials who would be great gets for democrats but who are unlikely Mick Mulvaney added today as an invity, but unlikely to cross the firewall at the white house but could be in the lack of their appearance still useful for democrats in saying, look, we knew there were 40 witnesses, we invited or subpoenaed all 40 on the only 30 showed. These are ten elements to add to our obstruction article of impeachment when they get that far. And we are going to have more transcripts tomorrow we assume. Are they going to go two witnesses at a time . Is that the goal here . The committee isnt talking about the specifics of what theyll release tomorrow, but its clear they are crafting a narrative. They are using the release of these transcripts as a way to tell this story, much to the frustration, by the way, of republicans on the committee who have complained they would like to see these things released all at once. If yesterday you got the introduction of Rudy Giuliani meddling around the edges of ukraine policy, in the two depositions released today, his name comes up more than 400 times combined. So giuliani becomes a central figure in the depositions today. I suspect we will see that kind of story telling continue in the depositions that come out tomorrow. Let me go down to the other side of pennsylvania avenue. Hallie jackson, im going to put up on screen here Stephanie Grish grishams statement so we can start with that and go from there. Both transcripts released today show there is even less evidence for the illegitimate impeachment sham than previously thought. Ambassador sondland clearly states that he did not know and still does not know when, why or by whom the aid was suspended. He also said that he presumed there was a link to the aid but cannot identify any solid source for that assumption. No amount of salacious mediabiased headlines, which are clearly designed to influence the narrative, change the fact that the president has done nothing wrong. Clearly the white house is upset that Gordon Sondland has messed up an important talking point that they wanted. Which is if ukraine didnt know the aid was being held up, how can you call that a quid pro quo. Sondland has changed his story. That was like a fivedaylong talking point. I dont think youll see the resurgence of that. The statement from Stephanie Grisham should surprise nobody who has watched the way that this white house has conducted what you could call its strategy of defiance here. Neither will what im about to tell you. There had been a question, you heard garrett question Mick Mulvaney on capitol hill later this week being requested. Hes not going show up, thats according to another press secretary here at the white house, hogan gidley. I want to read this to you. Hes telling us past democrats and republican administrations would not be inclined to permit senior advisers to the president to participate in such a ridiculous partisan illegitimate proceeding and neither is this one. If you had bet dollars to doughnuts that mulvaney wasnt going to show, you would be awash in either dollars or doughnuts. There was never the expectation that he would suddenly begin cooperating with the house investigation after we have seen the white house take this tack of working on Administration Officials, letting them know that they should not appear. Now, what you have seen are some state Department Career diplomats, people in that area, defy the white house and show up over these past couple of weeks as garrett well knows. That is changing this week. You have people that are much closer to President Trump, much closer to, for example, mulvaney. Mulvane, himself and others who are closer with the president who are saying, no, no, were not going defy the white house. When you talk about Gordon Sondland, this is a tough needle to thread because this was a guy that was a onetime trump donor. He was picked by the administration to be in this role. And so if as the white house potentially tries to distance themselves from the eu ambassador, its going to be a tricky puzzle for them. It is, and i dont know how theyre going to pull that off. Garrett haake and Hallie Jackson kicking off the day. Thank you both. With me now ambassador michael mcfaul, former ambassador to russia, now an Nbc News International affairs analyst. So the story is now whats interesting about Gordon Sondlands decision is all he does is essentially back up bill taylors testimony and back up the testimony of others. It reinforces the narrative that we thought was out there, and now the white house is missing a key important talking point, which is ukraine never knew. Clearly ukraine knew. Thats right, and i think i agree completely that thats what this is. Two of the three amigos, i would say, i would also add mr. Volker, ambassador volkers testimony, they dont like going along with this, quote unquote, drug deal as the nsc advisor john bolton called it but they do it because they think it advances u. S. ukrainian relations. Its clear as day there was a quid pro quo. I also want to keep reminding everyone, chuck, even if there wasnt the holdup of military assistance, the ask to help the president in his reelection efforts in and of itself is also using the Public Office for private gain. So remember that. I know it adds even more to it that they held up this military assistance, but that is also true. You know, mike, one of the other talking points i hear is, well, he didnt do anything illegal. My response always is, well, i think there were some things we didnt think we had to pass a law for because there was only one person youd be passing the law to deal with, one entity. But what would you say to that because i can tell you that is the new republican talking point, whether its lingd s lindsey graham, tom cole. Well, i dont know if hes technically committed a crime. How would you answer that . Well, im also not a lawyer, im not a constitutional lawyer, but i did work at the white house. I worked in the state department. One of the first days on the job at the white house, maybe it was the first day, was i was read into whats called the hatch act. And we were told by our Legal Advisers that you cannot use your Public Office, you cant even use your nsc email to do anything that has to do with elections. You had to be very careful about that. By the way, chuck, i have the same rules here at stanford. I cant use my stanford email to go out and help a candidate for an election. So maybe the hatch act doesnt apply to the president of the United States, i dont know that. But most certainly it is wrong and most certainly it is something that every u. S. Government official knows is wrong. No, but i do believe its not. I mean thats been part of the issue of the executive branch is that it applies to everybody but the two elected officials at the top, right . All of these the compliance that cabinet officials have to do, the president and the Vice President dont. Now, the president can sign an executive order saying it applies to them, but thats a whole other story. Let me ask you this. Who else would know when youre now doing this, youve got sondland knowing this. Were in this sort of two tracks of ukrainian diplomacy. If you were telling House Democrats, where else would you want to go that you havent heard from . Who else would you want to hear from that we havent had a chance to hear from that we might actually hear from and might be willing to testify . You just added a separate clause. Of course i want to hear from the Vice President and i really want to hear from secretary pompeo. I dont think we will hear from either. Well, but hopefully the press will keep pressing him. Hopefully well keep getting to this. I just find it he seems like a i dont know secretary pompeo personally, but i have friends who do. Hes a smart man. He knows that theres no server thats been stolen away. And then when he says things, and he keeps you know, he implies that he was in on this deal. I would like him to fess up one way or the other, which side of this are you on . Was this wrong but not impeachable . If he said that, that would be an advance on the story in and of itself. And on Rudy Giuliani, he seems to be the one in the most legal jeopardy. Hes the one that there may be plenty of laws they can find that he broke even whether its the lobbying laws about not filing, if he ended up acting like a foreign lobbyist in a way that he wasnt. But what would you what would you be pursuing with giuliani . What laws do you believe outside of the lobbying laws that they could get him on, what else could he have broken . First i just want to keep underscoring how crazy and kooky this is. Reading ambassador sondlands testimony, he says we think the state department should be in charge of u. S. ukrainian relations, not the private lawyer of the president of the United States. Its crazy. You know, the lawyer is supposed to be defending the president , why is he involved in u. S. ukrainian relations . By the way, even the state department shouldnt be involved in investigating corruption in ukraine. Thats the job of the department of justice. We have people that do that. But what for me is most interesting in terms of the future is i just dont im not quite convinced that mr. Giuliani and his two side kicks were just interested in fighting corruption. Im interested in what were their material things that they were pursuing. Theres been some innuendo, theres been some hints at that. I want to know why giuliani was being paid by his lieutenants to do this kind of work. I suspect there is a material financial gain that they were seeking to achieve. Thats what i would like to know next. And its under apparently one of them has decided they would like to perhaps cooperate a little bit more with the federal government. I think that was mr. Parnas. If that happens not good news for mr. Giuliani. Who knows. Who knows. Again ive said if you started a Company Called fraud guarantee, i dont know as mr. Parnas did, i dont know if youre ever going to be credible. If the company you started was fraud guarantee. Ambassador mcfaul, as always, sir, thank you very much. Joining me now to unpack all of this today, Betsy Woodruff swan, michael steele, former rnc chairman, and ruth marcus, also an msnbc contributor. Well, betsy, the weirdest thing about the Gordon Sondland today, is it was the most predictable thing to happen. He was setting this up. When he went back to review the transcript. And everything you read about this guy, he clearly, oh, my god, what have i gotten myself into. This was painfully obvious this was going to happen. Still it happening is a big blow to the president. And its also, to state the obvious, a big problem for sondlands testimony because it indicates that maybe if other people jog his memories in the right way, some of those other i dont recall answers might turn into, oh, well, now you mention it, maybe i know more than i did. The fact that he now has copped to telling the ukrainians that they needed to open these investigations in order to get military aid. Is he the one to tell the ukrainians that . I dont know. I think its very likely volker might have told them that. Im fairly confident perry didnt say anything like that to the ukrainians. Sondland is one of the ones that interfaced with them the most. I think the black box is whether giuliani told them that and his relationships with senior people in kiev. Ruth. I think one of the most interesting things about this sondland revising and extending his remarks is its an explanation of why you want to do these depositions behind closed doors, why its important to get people on the record, to have their testimony unaffected by what other people testify to, because if others if he knew going in that others had testified, he would have shaded his how others had testified, he would shade his testimony differently. I want to say one really quick thing about whether you need to have a crime to have an impeachable offense, having covered a previous no, wait. No, there isnt one. But it is a pr strategy. Theres two arguments that were hearing. One is, well, wheres the crime. You know, when the framers wrote the constitution, they didnt say there wasnt a federal criminal code so there were no crimes to refer to. So done with that. And the second is this isnt serious. I thought our friend did a very good job of explaining why this is really serious to use your political office, hatch act or no hatch act, to use your Public Office for political gains. Michael steele, i know that the elected republican i mean let me do we have mark meadows in here, guys . Lets do i think its an on camera statement. Let me play mark meadows for you, because well, youll see. Mr. Sondland made pretty clear at this meeting between the ukrainians and the president was conditioned on working with Rudy Giuliani, who was pushing for these investigations. Why is that not a quid pro quo . Well, my understanding is, is that that was his understanding, but any time that he actually talked directly to the president , so we have that on ambassador volkers testimony, obviously on ambassador sondlands testimony as well. Any time there was direct conversations with the president , there was no linkage. That didnt look like a guy that was comfortable. Full confidence that the story hes telling is going to know the truth tomorrow because the story could change. Yeah, the story could change. The fact of the matter is whenever these members come out to the cameras and reporters like betsy and others with their head down, you know the conversation is not going to go the way they want it to. Its that sort of i cant look directly in your eye because they know the narrative theyre trying to propose and push out to the American People is for just one person, because everything else, every other component of that narrative speaks against the very thing that theyre standing there saying. And thats the truth that they cant overcome. And yet none of this seems to yet penetrate the elected republicans on capitol hill, mostly because, you know, they see their primary poll numbers. Part of the problem is that democrats have to get a handful of big new facts before they get republicans to flip of the and what we have today with sondlands sort of memory recall is certainly a new fact, but its not going to be big enough to get republicans to change their minds. One thing to keep an eye on Going Forward as more of these transcripts come out is to bookmark the sondland transcript from conversations with folks close to the process over the last couple of weeks, one thing weve been hearing over and over is that future or witnesses that came after sondland may have contradicted him on a handful of issues. So if thats the case and new transcripts emerge pushing back against what he claimed, its possible well hear from him again. By the way, the committee seems more than happy to let sondland continue to revise. Sure. Sometimes you would say, oh, its an opportunity to prosecute him. Well, who is going to prosecute him exactly . I do not think this Justice Department is going to leap you mean criminal referral for lying to congress . Correct. But the more he turns himself into a witness that simply bolsters your other witnesses and takes away whatever little bricks he had in defense of the president , the better off they are. So come on, come back, read your testimony, keep going. I think we should not lose sight also of the real outrage of failing to hear from Administration Officials who have clearly relevant testimony to give here. Imagine watergate without testimony from nixon Administration Officials. It took a while to get that testimony. Sometimes this goes back to the calendar problem democrats have. They could use more time here to essentially let the court i mean i think theyre filling their time pretty well this week, releasing transcripts, building a list of people not cooperating. They have got to be able to do both at the same time, but this is a problem that they have. Its a huge problem, but theres also a huge problem of the White House Press secretary dismissing this as sham impeachment proceedings. What is sham about it . If there was a question about whether there were adequate procedures Going Forward, we now have procedures. Explain to me what the difference is between the procedures that govern clinton and nixon and these procedures. So its a simple just dismissal the procedures are John Boehners processes an procedures that he put in place. So the very thing that these republicans are railing against, the rules per se, are the rules that they put in place. The democrats are just following it. Which makes all of this sham conversation a sham. But not just a sham, its an outrage. And were probably going to deal with this more later, but betsy, i dont disagree with you, if the democrats could find shiny new facts that really like, whoa, you know, type of thing, and i think john bolton testimony, if it he has the star power to change things. If i were the president , id be nervous about that. Hes a big enough name that could capture the imagination. But this is a Republican Party thats more and more devoted. I mean the polls showing as the country becomes more concerned about the president s behavior, republicans are becoming less. And the republican strategy going into november 2020 of course is to galvanize the people who already support trump. Thats all they want to do. Rather than persuading folks about him. Everything about the way republicans have responded with this impeachment process makes total sense if you think about it that way. Michael, they have made the decision theyre all in. Oh, yeah. Theyre all going off a cliff together if indeed the president leads them off a cliff. Put a bow on that, thats exactly what the situation is. This is about two things, one is protecting the president and holding the senate. And so Mitch Mcconnell has his marching orders and hes pursuing that approach. The house did what they needed to do. They all stood arm in arm in the well of the house and said were not budging. But the question ultimately for the party is how does the country perceive this and perceive republicans right now and how does it translate next year . Does anybody care that were never going to be able to legitimately govern again if 50 of the country doesnt believe the other 50 . That to me thats the test of the question of who we are right now. And those republicans that are knowingly exploiting the cynicism of the public of their public on the press, theyre the ones a democrat in the house acting like trump. The professional manipulators here in washington know exactly what theyre doing. Betsy, michael and ruth, stick around. Up next, if its tuesday, somebody is voting somewhere. Theres a lot of somewheres today and a lot of voting. I did it. This year all politics is national. Sorry, tip. Impeachment politics, it gets even more nationally, if thats possible. Its the first real test of voters right now in three states, just one year from the big day in 2020. I thought i was managing my moderate to severe Crohns Disease. Then i realized something was missing. Me. My symptoms were keeping me from being there. So, i talked to my doctor and learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of Crohns Disease after trying other medications. And the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. Walkabout wednesdays are back get a sirloin or chicken on the barbie, fries, and a draft beer or cocacola all for just 10. 99. Hurry in wednesdays are for outback. Outback steakhouse. Aussie rules. Wednesdays are for outback. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance, hmm. Exactly. So you only pay for what you need. Nice. But, uh. Whats up with your. Partner . Not again. Limu thats your reflection. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty wat t. Rowe price, hundreds of our experts go beyond the numbers to examine Investment Opportunities firsthand. Like a biotech firm that engineers a patients own cells to fight cancer. This is strategic investing. Because your investments deserve the full story. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. When you rent from national. Its kind of like playing your own version of best ball. Because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if its a better car class than the one you reserved. So no matter what, youre guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] vo go national. Go like a pro. See what i did there . Welcome back. Turning now from the big news on impeachment to the politics of impeachment, which gets its first significant test with voters tonight. It could bail out a couple of republicans who were struggling a week ago. In the next few hours polls will close in virginia, kentucky and mississippi. All politics is national these days. The president or the issue of impeachment has been featured prominently in many of these races across these states, particularly in the last ten days. So the results tonight can tell us a lot about the president s support, his ability to survive impeachment or even possibly win reelection. The most interesting race tonight is perhaps in kentucky where the states gubernatorial contest has been very competitive, pretty much from the day matt bevin unexpectedly became governor. The incumbent republican is a junior trumptype of candidate. Hes closing his campaign by unabashedly tying himself to the president. He rallied with the president last night who lashed out at the investigation. Today he had quite an exchange with my colleague, vaughn hillyard, when asked about his reelection strategy. Why nationalize this race so much and talk about President Trump so much . I dont know if you do you watch the news . Yeah, last night i saw a lot of your ads. Awesome. Do you watch the news other than political ads . Have you ever heard anything about President Trump anywhere in the last, i dont know, two, three, four, five years. And youre running for governor of kentucky. I am. But heres the irony. The fact that you ask why this is being nationalized and why people are talking about President Trump would indicate to me that you really have sort of maybe come out from under a rock because here in america, thats pretty topical every night. Talk to the average person. Ask the next 100 people who come in here if they care about this impeachment process, and they will tell you almost to a person that they do because they find it to be a charade. Its an absolute sham. Vaughn joins us now from kentucky at Election Night headquarters of a democratic gubernatorial candidate, andy beshear, the son of the former governor. All right, vaughn, all politics is national. We were talking about this and you had that exchange with him, bevins campaign, he has transformed himself into essentially a trump surrogate and it may have saved his reelection. Reporter yeah, and my followup question as that exchange that went on for a while, but my followup is youre not running for the house of representatives or the senate, youre running for governor. What impact do you have on impeachment . He came back and answered that he was focusing on donald trump because it works. Because this is a state where donald trump won in 2016, chuck, by 30 percentage points. If you look at the tv ads, just last night on the tv, essentially you see ads from the Bevin Campaign and the Republican Governors Association running ad after ad with donald trump narrating for matt bevin as well as ads tying Andrew Beshear to alexandria ocasiocortez and hillary clinton. When you look at this map, this is a 30percentage makeup that Steve Beshear is trying to make up in this case. He wanted to make this race about health care, local issues. Fill in the gaps here. Ive not seen any National Democrats. Does andy beshear talk about National Democrats . Not many have helped out. Its not what weve seen on the mississippi side of things but you havent seen a lot of National Democrats, have you . Reporter no, you havent seen any of the 2020 democratic president ial candidates here. Its kind of reminiscent of doug jones alabama run. I talked with steve this morning and said how would you compare your two campaigns and he said hes tried to focus on education, pension reform, jaukz and health care. Hes been trying to separate himself from the National Party. I talked to a source close to this campaign and looking at the turnout figures and putting a reality check on what this campaign will ultimately see at the ending of this night. What youre seeing from a donald trump turnout and matt bevin tying himself to donald trump, theyre seeing high turnout numbers over in the rural parts of this state. And thats where folks may not have been aware of coming out. By donald trump showing up, everybody across all the local markets of kentucky saw donald trump and were reminded to come out. So yes, you may close the gap over in the suburbs outside of cincinnati and Northern Kentucky or you may have a surge turnout in those blue corridors of lexington and louisville, but if donald trump was effectively able to help out matt bevin in these rural parts, again, 30 points is hard to make up. A strategist with the Republican Gubernatorial Campaign in mississippi said 62 of all local News Coverage in the last ten days has been trump rally related, so it tells you everything there. Vaughn hillyard on the ground for us in kentucky. Thank you. Were going to take a quick pause here and then were really going to break down how impeachment is playing in these key states. By the way, heres something to ponder. The death of local news is what contributes to all politics being national. If all politics are national, then bevin is right, its all about trump. Well be right back. About trump. Well be right back. Ce is to me. Yeah . So what do you see . I see an unbelievable opportunity. I see bestinclass platforms and education. I see awardwinning service, and a trade desk full of experts, available to answer your toughest questions. And i see it with zero commissions on online trades. I like what youre seeing. Its beautiful, isnt it . Yeah. Td ameritrade now offers zero commissions on online trades. You ever wish you werent a motaur . Sure. Sometimes i wish i had legs like you. Yeah, like a regular person. No. Still half bike half man, just the opposite. Oh, so the legs on the bottom and motorcycle on the top . Yeah. Yeah, i could see that. For those who were born to ride, theres progressive. We have some great new ideas that we want to present to you today. [son] who are you talking to . [son] that guys scary. The first item on the list is selecting a chairman for the. For the Advisory Board whats this . As well as use the remaining. Child care options run out. Lifetime Retirement Income from tiaa doesnt. Guaranteed monthly income for life. 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. Matt bevin will defend your kentucky values. He loves his state. From an allout assault being waged on you from the extreme left, not good. I cant even imagine. How can you vote for somebody from the extreme left, you know . This guy, beshear, is a major lefty. You know that, right . Beshear doesnt represent you, he represents the washington swamp, and hes backed by the same people trying to overthrow the last election. Welcome back. That was President Trump last night trying to tie impeachment against him in washington to tonights Gubernatorial Race in kentucky. As we mentioned, the results of tonights elections in kentucky, mississippi and virginia will be viewed as the first meaningful test of impeachment politics with voters. Still with me betsy, michael and ruth. Heres the most important poll number and why i think it will save matt bevin. Support for impeachment and removal. The number went up overall to 49 , up 6 points since early october. But among republicans, the number of people in support of impeachment went not up, went down. So as the trend line went up, that went down, and ruth, what did vaughn say . Rural turnout is up. This i am convinced that were going to find out, and well see, but if the republicans sweep these three red state Gubernatorial Races, two tonight and the one, i think youll have nothing but impeachment to thank. That may be, though interestingly i spent some time on this. The most recent Washington Post abc poll, support for impeachment among republicans was 18 , which i thought was surprisingly high. It was just a snapshot. It was down from what it was. Well, we did not have an applestoapples comparison. We had asked in july whether you supported even an impeachment inquiry and that number among republicans was just 8. So it was 8 for a more moderate approach. 18 for removing him from office. So that may be an outlier but i thought it was interesting. Well see well get a glimpse tonight. Theres a lot of the post poll that people are wondering how it is with that 18point biden lead. Chuck, to your point if im a democratic operative and working at the dnc, im looking at tonight and looking at the numbers that you just shared and i would need to be concerned about how we approach this upcoming election. I dont like the whole bellwether thing. None of these are bellwethers, and that is important to note. Whats important to note, and ive been in this debate with lanny davis about polling versus the movement of people. Polling will not tell you what people will do. It just tells you what they think at the moment you ask them a question and that may not necessarily all be true. So what people do, the fact that theyre turning out in those suburban areas, theyll turn out in other places that you havent even thought they would turn out from, thats going to be an interesting sgletest. Let me put up a bevin super pac ad. President trump and Governor Bevin are making kentucky great again but socialists in washington want to impeachment trump and take us backward. Andy beshear is part of the resistance. He doesnt share our kentucky values. Defeat andy beshear. Its still possible beshear wins this race tonight. No one should discount it because bevin doesnt poll well. Hes been upside down for a while. But he was the canary in the coal mine in 15 that showed us, oh, boy, there is some anger out there. He won despite the republican establishment in kentucky not being in favor of him. I have talked to some democrats like michael has that is nervous. They cant localize a race anymore. Two things about this particular moment with bevin. First, he benefits not just from broad support from trump in kentucky but from actually having a personal rapport with the president. That relationship that the two of them have, which is close and friendly, is not as easily replicable in some of these other states. Mitch mcconnell, we have no idea if he did the same thing for mitch. By the way, bevin and mitch were not buddies. Remember, he ran against mitch. He called him a pain in the rear. The second point that i think is really important is not just the nationalization from the protrump perspective but from the antialexandria ocasiocortez perspective. Weve seen this earlier in this year with special elections where members of cortez, members of her squad have shown up in some of these ads. Clearly republicans think in some of these red states, red districts, they can capitalize on the prominence of these women to try to excite the republican base. Its a mirror image of virginia. Heres the other way and heres an ad that a Virginia Democratic Party ad hitting the republicans in a state senate race. Democrat john bell will stand up for our values. He wont back down to the gun lobby, to attacks on women, or to out of touch extremists like trump republican gary higgins. There you go, putting the hat on. So each side thinks this really works well in the other base, which is true to a point. In the other base but also in the other state. You do not see in kentucky the democrats running an ad anything like that. You might have some robo calls in very democratic areas. Targeted things. Correct. But not statewide tv ads. Virginia tonight, if democrats cant win at least one of those chambers if not both, this would be a real downer of an Election Night. It would be a downer. You know, the thing thats really amazing is we have a situation now where the president is in the middle of an impeachment proceeding and he is a political plus in some states. It will be interesting to see whether hes a political minus in states like virginia. Well, michael, there would be an easy way to test this. To me democrats winning kentucky would be this is a coin flip race the whole time. I think they should win it. They should win kentucky. Impeachment is the only reason they may not. Right. But if the democrats won mississippi and kentucky tonight, then our conversation tomorrow flips from to oh, my god, the republicans cant even win races in mississippi. Yeah. And by the way we always overcompensate, by the way. Were probably talking about it is a small slice of probably about 20,000 voters, 20,000 votes that will be the difference between impeachment is a plus and impeachment is a disaster. And what drives that, talking about that small margin, is because this is an offyear election, it really speaks to the whole point you raised about nationalizing the election. Thats the driver. I mean typically you would not see the National Play in an offyear election like this. Normally the party in power would be afraid of it. I dont want to get my hands dirty. In 2009, the last thing we were trying to do is nationalize with 70 barack obama sitting at the white house. So it does matter in that regard. And Congressional Republicans will be watching tonight really closely. Because if republicans have a strong showing, especially in virginia, if they can kind of shore up the power that they have there, its going to send a message that impeachment might not be penetrating broadly with the electorate in the same way that folks in sort of the Washington Echo Chamber think it does. Or its penetrating but not in the way they want it to penetrate. Exactly. Which is maybe even scary. But again, its amazing. A handful of votes will dictate tomorrow mornings narrative betsy, michael and ruth, thank you very much. Up ahead, the president s insistence to unmask the whistleblower and why im asking the same question over and over and over again. Ng ago 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 tech so you think this chip is nothing to worry about . Well at safelite, we know sooner or later every chip will crack. These friends were on a trip when their windshield got chipped. So they scheduled at safelite. Com. They didnt have to change their plans or worry about a thing. Ill see you all in a little bit. And i fixed it right away with a strong repair they can trust. Plus, with most insurance a safelite repair is no cost to you. Customer really . tech being there whenever you need us thats another safelite advantage. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Through the at t network, edgetoedge intelligence gives you the power to see every corner of your growing business. From using feedback to innovate. To introducing products faster. To managing website inventory. And network bandwidth. Giving you a nice big edge over your competition. Thats the power of edgetoedge intelligence. 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. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. At humana, we believe your healthcare should evolve with you. And part of that evolution means choosing the right medicare plan for you. Humana can help. With original medicare, youre covered for hospital stays and Doctor Office visits, but youll have to pay a deductible for each. A Medicare Supplement plan can cover your deductibles and coinsurance, but you may pay higher premiums and still not get Prescription Drug coverage. But with an allinone humana Medicare Advantage plan, you could get all that coverage plus part d Prescription Drug benefits. You get all this coverage for as low as a 0 monthly plan premium in many areas. And humana has a Large Network of doctors and hospitals, so call or go online today. Find out if your doctor is part of the Humana Network and get your free decision guide. Discover how an allinone humana Medicare Advantage plan could save you money. There is no obligation, so call or go online right now. Welcome back. Tonight im obsessed with the same thing the president is obsessed with but not for the same reason. I started hearing about the whistleblower. You havent heard about the whistleblower. The whistleblower. This crazy whistleblower. The whistleblower. The socalled whistleblower. Wheres the whistleblower . Thats what the president and many of his supporters really want to talk about. Let me ask you whats more important, what happened on the president s call with the ukrainian president or who made it public . Especially when you consider all the other people corroborating the whistleblowers claims are under oath. And therein lies the president s true political talent. The art of distraction and manipulation. The tactics are not hard to spot. Thats why its sometimes frustrating to watch, because if you know what to look for, its right there. Step one, come up with a message thats quick and punchy and dont let the facts get in the way. All they have is a whistleblower whos disappeared. Where is he . Hes gone. Then they have a second whistleblower. The second whistleblower has got oh, where is he . He disappeared. Step two, he already did it there, repeat that message. And then just repeat it some more just to repeat it. The whistleblower seems to have disappeared. Seems to have disappeared. The whistleblower, he disappeared. And i also wonder what happened to the second whistleblower. Where is the second whistleblower . If they all disappeared everybody sort of disappeared. Of course step three is get your friends to repeat this message as well. The whistleblower. Who is this person . An anonymous whistleblower who has a bias against the president. This whistleblower . Whistleblower. Im not like that whistleblower. Hearsay. Socalled whistleblower. We call it a whistleblower but its really more an anonymous informant. I even think thats a stretch of a term. The president of the United States is the whistleblower. And suddenly a whole bunch of Trump Supporters are focused on something thats totally irrelevant, not what the president did, what he did in the leadup to the call, what he did after the call, but who claims he did it . Wheres the whistleblower . Its not magic, people, its just linguistic misdirection. But how much longer will it keep working with so many people . Eop . To james, from james. Thats just what i wanted. Is this a new buick . I secret santaed myself. I shouldnt have. But i have been very good this year. I love it. I love it. This year, turn black friday into buick friday, all month long. Current eligible nongm owners and lessees get 20 below msrp on most of these 2019 buick models. But how much longer will it keep c gimme one minute. And ill tell you some important things to know about medicare. First, it doesnt pay for everything. Say this pizza is your part b medical expenses. This much about 80 medicare will pay for. Whats left is on you. Thats where an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company comes in. This type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesnt. These are the only plans to carry the aarp endorsement for meeting their high standards of quality and service. So call Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company today and ask for your free decision guide. With this type of plan, youll have the freedom to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. And when you travel, your plan will go with you anywhere in the country. Whew call unitedhealthcare today and ask for your free decision guide. Call unitedhealthcare today i need all the breaks i can get. Line . Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Thats a lot of words. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Welcome back. While democrats are attempting tonight to win the governors mansions in two states carried by President Trump, theres just one candidate in the democratic president ial field whos done that before and hes not among the frontrunners right now. Joining me is president ial candidate steve bullock. Governor bullock, welcome back to the show. Chuck, its great to be with you tonight. Its an election day, two red states, kentucky and mississippi. Louisiana will be in a couple of weeks, virginia obviously a blue state. But it is and im sure youre probably trying to figure this out. Theres no demand for any democrats to help democrats in those two states. If anything, you have jim hood down in mississippi who wont even confirm that barack obama did a robo call for him today. Im not quite sure whats going on in my campaign all the time. I mean is it this bad to be a democrat in montana . It hasnt been that bad to be a democrat in montana, when i can win reelection when trump wins by 20. But this is part of the point. Do you think you can do it again . Yes, i do. Things have changed. Actually theres a montana poll that had me beating trump in montana by four points. Okay. And i think thats one of the challenges we have as a party right now. Theres a lot of states that are saying we dont even wanti the connection with the National Party. Then we need to have a National Party that can connect with people in red and purple states as much as we can the blue states. What does not mean the party on one hand. Do you need to sell progressive politics better in red states . Is the party moving too far too quickly on cultural issues . Isnt part of the problem you cant really equivocate these days. There isnt a lot of room for it because unfortunately, or fortunately, all politics is national. You cant have a montana message, a kentucky message and a florida message anymore. Yeah, but you can actually have a message that bridges some of these divides along the way, that recognizes that twothirds of the people in this country dont have a college degree. We have to be helping them. Recognizing that everybody ought to have affordable, Accessible Health care but that doesnt mean taking away health care from 156 million people. We are now 90 days out from the iowa caucuses. I think folks are now really starting to focus on who can actually win the places that we need to win. If we run up the sloevotes by another 2 million in california, its not going make a difference. Let me ask you about your candidacy. As much as you cant get on the debate stage and this stuff, at what point does this become futile to you . I think iowa. You know, look you want to get through iowa. You want to see this iowa has always been the great sorting hat that takes this big field and narrows it down. I think that will be the same case this time. I think most folks yeah, some watch the debates. Thats not whats going to define it. And i guess im not telling any deep secret because other campaigns are starting to invest more into iowa as well. It does seem as if the type of message youre preaching is a message Pete Buttigieg is breaching, is a message joe biden is preaching too. How do you make room for yourself . I think that, yeah, as the only one that actually won in a trump state thats been able to bridge divides and get meaningful, progressive things done. As we get into this and well just go up on television starting tomorrow in iowa. I think as people actually start looking at what the one real question is this election, i mean i hear from more single issue voters than any other time. What is it . Its beating donald trump. And we actually have to be able to win back places that we lost if were going to be able to do it. Has medicare for all somehow become a litmus test for different people . Meaning they see it sort of like its either a litmus test to be a progressive democrat or a litmus test to say thats a bridge too far . I think it is a litmus test for some people for sure, but i dont think its one that can win back places like michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. I think if you even look at senator warren is talking about spending 2. 6 trillion a year in new spending. What, our overall federal spend is 4 million even though we raise 2 trillion . Why are you using a republican talking point . Thats how shes trying to shame people like yourself, pete, others that are hitting her on this. And actually being able to deal with the here and now of peoples lives. Obamacare was not a republican talking point. It was actually the greatest expansion of health care that we had had since medicare. So any time somebody turns around and says i actually have to live in a world where i have to get things done. I think this town has become a place where speeches are the substitute for actually doing things. And from the perspective of how do we actually impact peoples lives without turning off a whole lot of folks, i dont think those are republican talking points, those are whats grounded in reality of this country, and this country expects us to bridge divides and get things done. I am running up against the clock so ill have to leave it there. Governor steve bullock, governor from montana, a red state. How bad of a hit tonight if the party cant win one of these two Gubernatorial Races . I think it will just show we need somebody at the top of the ticket that can help in places like that. Steve bullock, i will leave it there. Thats all we have tonight. Well be back tomorrow. The beat with ari melber starts right now. Good evening, ari. Good evening, chuck. We begin the beat with breaking news. New bombshell testimony in the impeachment probe out tonight. A trump ally telling congress, listen closely, there was a bribery plot and also telling congress there was a bribery quid pro quo. And also telling congress, u. S. Funds, taxpayer dollars, were withheld from ukraine to get the political investigation that donald trump wanted. Let me stop right here. If youre thinking this sounds like a turning point, it is. And thats as much about the who as the what, because this damning, breaking news bombshell testimony against trump that im telling you about is coming tonight from a trump loyalist, or at least he was a loyalist in the eyes of everyone at the white house until today. Trump ambas