Transcripts For MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams 20191012

Trump administration now. Yet again we have breaking news tonight. Yet again it pertains to the president s lawyer and allaround side kick Rudy Giuliani. Rudy is under investigation by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of new york, in effect the Justice Department Manhattan Office where he himself once served as u. S. Attorney. The feds are investigating whether President Trumps personal lawyer broke lobbying laws in the deals in the ukraine and are examining mr. Giulianis efforts to undermine the American Ambassador to ukraine. Mr. Giuliani said federal prosecutors had no grounds to charge him with foreign lobbying disclosure violations because he was acting on behalf of mr. Trump not the prosecutor when he collected the information on mrs. Yovanovitch and others. Members of Congress Heard more than nine hours of damning testimony from that former ambassador considered such a critical witness in the democrats theory. Marie yovanovitch is a 33 year ambassador. She served in 7 different countries, three as ambassador. In her prepared statement he wrote that the deputy of secretary of state told her there had been a Concerted Campaign against me and that the department had been under pressure from the president to remove me. As rudys criticism of her, she wrote i do not know mr. Giulianis motives for attacking me. Context may believe that corruption was stymied by anticorruption in ukraine. She adds we see the state department hollowed out from within. Yovanovitch was pushed out as giuliani looked into the questions about the bidens. Today the president was asked about the former ambassador. Did you put pressure to have her fired . She may be a wonderful woman i dont know her. She may be very much a wonderful woman. If you remember the phone call i had with the president , the new president , he didnt speak favorably. I just dont know her. She may be a wonderful woman. But trump did bring up yovanovitch on that july 25 phone call with the president of ukraine. He is quoted in the document handed out by the white house as saying the former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad news and the people she was dealing with in the ukraine were bad news so i just want to let you know that. He added shes going to go through some things. House intel chairman adam schiff praised the ambassador tonight. I think shes a courageous example for others, and i think all the members were extraordinarily impressed with her testimony today. We will continue with other witnesses, not withstanding the administrations consistent efforts to obstruct our investigation. Now, more diplomats are going to be heading to capitol hill next week to testify in the impeachment inquiry. Fiona hill considered a hawk. She is scheduled to be there on monday. And trump donor Gordon Sondland who was rewarded with his efforts to title ambassador to the eu says hes going to testify thursday after the white house, youll recall, blocked his testimony earlier in the week. For a second night in a row, trump was front and center at a campaign rally, this one in lake charles, louisiana, tonight. He yet again tore into the impeachment inquiry and a heads up as you may know, hes now regularly swearing at public events. The radical democrats policies are crazy, their politicians are corrupt, their candidates are terrible, and they know they cant win an election, so theyre pursuing an illegal, invalid and unconstitutional bullshit impeachment. Presuming he will use different language for his speech before evangelical christians tomorrow in washington. Yes, by the way, there was a departure from the trump cabinet tonight. But thats going to have to wait for our next segment. Its the kind of friday night were having around here. And for that, lets turn to our lead off Discussion Panel in a moment. First we are joined on the phone by michael schmidt, Pulitzer Prize winning washington correspondent for the new york times. Among those breaking the giuliani story tonight. Michael, obviously the headline is a former u. S. Attorney is under federal investigation. More than that, a former mayor of new york and close friend of our president. But how serious a charge would this be . Well, as youre pointing out its pretty unusual. This is the same office where giuliani rose to prominence in the 1980s, catapulting him to becoming mayor of new york city. So, it is that office, the most Aggressive Office in the country, the one with the most talented prosecutors in the country that is going after this issue here. Now, how serious is it . Look, cases are often difficult to make, but the problem is that once you head down one path you can often find other things. Giuliani has been very public about his ties to ukraine. And that has probably given prosecutors a lot of insight into where they should examine. But at the same time, its just yet another distraction for the president and we should note the second time that one of his lawyers had found himself under investigation by that office since he became president. You slipped in a term of art there called this a fara case. Can you tell the folks what that stands for . These are lobbying laws that are designed to prevent foreigners from influencing the United States, from using americans to push what they would like us to do within this country. So, in this case, were ukrainians trying to use mr. Giuliani to impact american policy. Did ukrainians want to have the United States ambassador to kiev removed . Why was that ambassador remove and how is giuliani using his authority . If you think about a typical presidency and i realize that may be hard to imagine right now. But in a typical presidency, its hard to see a lawyer for the president also being entangled with Foreign Governments and foreign business men and such. But that is the situation that giuliani finds himself in. And to the average federal prosecutor, it probably looks a bit curious just from the outside. Last question as i know you were able to join us by telephone. How was it that pompeos name came up in this today . Its specifically on this story, pompeos name did not come up. There was no indication that they were that this is anything to do with pompeo. And, you know, obviously the removal of the ambassador though is something that happened at the state department, that ambassador as you pointed out was up on capitol hill today testifying. But what was the true motivation behind why the ambassador was removed . Its similar to the question about the aid. What was the true motivation for why the administration withheld. We have a preview of next these are the questions that have been here less than a month. Thank you for calling in. Were here for a leadoff discussion. Frank siglusi. And veteran federal prosecutor and former u. S. Attorney, Barbara Mcquade here with us in our new york studios. Due to hometown advantage, barbara you get to go first. How sensitive a business is it for the Southern District of new york, the Justice Departments office in new york often called the sovereign district of new york because of their power, how sensitive is it to look into a guy like rudy . And do you think theyre looking into other things as well . It is unprecedented i think for a former u. S. Attorney to be investigated by his or her former office. Im sure it is considered a matter of very significant magnitude in that office. But they wouldnt undertake it if they didnt believe there were potentially serious violations of the law. Mike schmidt mentioned the Foreign Agency registration act which means accepting money from a Foreign Government to lobby american politicians. That is some of the allegations of these two associates in the indictment that was filed yesterday. And so if he was implicated in that, he could be charged as well. One really interesting thing is there have been people talking about President Trump throwing Rudy Giuliani under the bus. We could see at some point Rudy Giuliani throwing President Trump under the bus. He said today he was acting with authority of the president of the United States. He is going to have an opportunity if he is charged to flip and tell what he knows. If its the president of the United States putting him up to these things, that could be a serious matter. As the commercial says he knows a thing or two because hes seen a thing or two. Frank, what do you assume about the role of surveillance in this case, in this story, and very possibly in the life and devices of one Rudy Giuliani . Well, as barbara alluded to, you adopt have a u. S. Attorneys office going after a former attorney and their former boss without them having solid predication to do so. When i read the indictment on rudys two associates, i see a level of details, quotes, attributions to the Foreign National number one, times, places, filings that seem to indicate there might be court authorized wiretaps in this case. And if thats the case, then its possible that Rudy Giuliani was intercepted inadvertently, not that he was the target necessarily, but that he was picked up on electronic surveillance. If thats the case, he needs to be much more careful than hes been today. The statement that he made to mike schmidt in response to mikes article as barbara said that i wasnt working for the ukrainians, i was working for trump. That kind of thing is going to be held up against what they have on tape if they have it, what they have from human sources. And as is usually the case when rudy opens his mouth, he may have defended himself a fara charge but certainly threw trump under the bus saying i was working at the direction of president of the United States. Thats a problem. Of course, frank, it also means we can get ready for more charges of spying, no doubt. Hey, phil, i want to play for you what trump said prior to departing for louisiana. Well talk about it on the other side. [ inaudible question ] well, i dont know. I havent spoken to rudy. I spoke to him yesterday briefly. Hes a very good attorney and he has been my attorney, yeah, sure. Any echos of anything familiar there that the president has ever said about perhaps any other lawyers in his orbit . Yeah, brian. Weve seen this time and time again with the president where somebody gets into a scandal or hot water of any kind he tries to distance himself from them. After Paul Manafort was indicted in the russia investigation, we heard from the president that Paul Manafort barely knew him, hardly worked on my Campaign Even though he was the campaign chairman. Very short period of time. Exactly. And Rudy Giuliani has been a friend, a close associate of Donald Trumps for decades now. They are friendly from new york that predates trumps political campaign. Of course rudy was his side kick throughout the campaign in 2016 and has been his most prominent defender on television and one of his lead lawyers for two years now. So, you know, thats an interesting distancing we saw at the white house there. Its notable by the way that President Trump said that giuliani has been by lawyer, not giuliani is my lawyer. We should note also that giuliani told reporters tonight that he does remain the president s personal attorney and that his status with the president has not changed. Barb, youre our resident former fed. Help us out on a matter of law. Ambassador yovanovitch goes before the committees for nine hours talking about ukraine. At the invitation of the house of representatives. What if the evidence she shares, the statements she commits intersect with a federal investigation even though it was house sponsored, who does that information get to belong to . How does that work . Typically both organizations will share information with each other. There is nothing to prevent the Southern District of new york of separately interviewing her and gathering that information or requesting the transcript from her testimony today. Where it gets tricky is when one wants to give immunity to a witness because it can impact the other. We saw that in the case of oliver north where congress immunized oliver north and that scuttled his testimony in his criminal case. They have to work carefully together and one hopes the lawyers are talking to each other if they want to go down those parallel tracks. Frank what about the people watching who would be within their rights to say you guys, i thought the whole story, i thought the original sin was russias involvement in our election. All im hearing is ukraine . Well, understand something, that this is the bright shiny object that the administration wants us to focus on instead of russia. They want us to think that ukraine was behind all of the wrong doing, all of the conspiracy to mess with the election and thats what this is all about. Heres the truth. Russias come up again even in the ukrainian investigation because the two guys arrested that are associates of rudys of course were tied up with Foreign National number one. Foreign National Number one is russian. This is russian money flowing into the 2018 election and or state elections. So, this hasnt stopped at all, and its the 2018 election. And theres no sign of it stopping because the president has dismantled the very body thats supposed to monitor this, the federal election commission, fec, doesnt even have a bit of members to sit and provide monitoring for the next election. Phil rucker, help me out with one more thing. In the news room tonight getting ready to go on the air, i thought i heard the president Say Something in louisiana. We played it back. He did indeed Say Something in louisiana that im going to play for you now. And were going to defeat socialism and put a man on the face of the moon. Phil, whos going to tell him . Brian, weve already put a man on the moon. A dozen of them. But this gets yeah. This gets to the president S Space Force priority which is something hes very proud of and likes to talk about and is a big hit at the rallies. But, you know, everybody any student of American History or anybody who lived through that period of america know that is we put a man on the moon. 12 of them. Total of 24 feet Walking Around the moon. It was unbelievable. I remember it. Just thought we could use that at the end of our first segment on a long friday night after a long weekend. Our thanks to our first round of guest, phil, frank, barbara, and michael for joining us earlier coming up, another trump cabinet vacancy tonight. We have the late report on that and the possible replacement list. Plus the increasing concerns over the return of isis. Guess why. And the danger our own special forces are in with turkey on the attack following the green light from trump. And later the insiders who are starting to speak up now as a former u. S. Ambassador, a career civil servant, 33 year veteran lays down a marker of her own today bravely in washington. The 11th hour as we say just Getting Started on yet another eventful friday night. Your business can do a lot in 10 minutes. Like make a big sale. Surprise and delight a customer. Or come up with the winning idea. And 10 minutes is all you need to finally give your business the Internet Technology it really needs. Well prove it. Give us 10 minutes. If we cant offer you faster speed or better savings than your current internet service, well give you 300 dollars for your time. Call now to get your comcast business 10 minute advantage and take your business beyond. Comcast business. Beyond fast. This busy friday night of news saw yet another Trump Administration staff shake up. The president announcing on twitter, as its done now, that kevin mcleanen who had been the acting Homeland Security secretary since april and the fourth person to serve in that job is now out. Quote, we have worked well together with border crossings being way down. Kevin now wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector. We knew the end was near when last week mcleanen spoke candidly, what i dont have control over is the tone, the message, the public face and approach of the department in an increasingly polarized time. And said, thats uncomfortable as the accountable senior figure. Joining us to tonight to talk about his resignation, julia ainsley. Julia, is it true that acting secretary mcaleenan is looking to spend more time with his family. Its true he resigned and it shouldnt be a big surprise. A few things to note about Kevin Mcaleenan, he is somebody who served under the obama administration, long time civil servant. Then promoted to a political position. He lost control because of the tone because he is someone who focused on the push factors, the reasons people were leaving central america. But he should not be seen as a moderate. This is someone who wrote the memo that justified family separation in 2018 and this year as acting secretary has overseen the toughest immigration policies on asylum which forced Asylum Seekers to go back into mexico as they wait for their court hearings. Hes seeing this. Kevin mcaleenan is leaving in part because he lost control of the message. He doesnt like having the political role when he used to have one that was more operational. But this also has to do with the inner workings of the white house. He was someone seen on the side of Jared Kushner and kushner really saw him as an ally during the Government Shutdown earlier this year but an ally he did not win over with Stephen Miller. We know Stephen Miller rules at the white house. Short list to replace him . Well, the short list is one name so far at the top which is ken kuchinelli. Hes the acting director of u. S. Citizenship and immigration services. Before he was named for that job, trump floated his name as immigration czar, a new job he was going to make up for ken who is very vocal who goes beyond what Kevin Mcaleenan would do and bring in more extreme positions and policies to that role. Weve seen him over the summer talk about i. C. E. Raids. He was pushing for that even though he had no role with i. C. E. Immigration and customs enforcement. He wanted to be more involved and pushed for more extreme things the whole way. Hes someone very vocal on cable news. He goes on fox very often, and thats something that the president sees as a value and attribute in the person he wants to name to oversee this large Law Enforcement agency. Whenever his name comes up we find it irresistible not to run the pictures of him on the floor. He wasnt always protrump. He dramatically through his credentials on the floor and stomped out. He went to cnn as a guy they would go to who would never say anything about the president almost campaigning for the job he may be on the precipice of tonight. Julia ainsley covers this for us. Shes been kind enough to stay up and report on that. Mr. Rucker and figliuzzi remain. Phil rucker, people are seeing two parallel, never to cross tracts. One of a kind of recklessness and another of these encroaching investigations that all of them together could be an actual threat to the life blood of this administration. Yeah. Thats exactly right, brian. And there are a couple of things that are really interesting at the moment that weve seen in the last couple of days because earlier this week the white house put out a memo, a legal memo, to the house basically declaring war on this impeachment investigation saying that the white house would Block Administration officials from testifying, block the sort of memos and other documents that the house investigators are seeking and stymie this investigation at every turn. And yet today we saw the former ambassador to ukraine testify at length and in a really stunning account of what is happening inside the state department. Next week were going to hear from fiona hill, President Trumps former russia policy adviser. Were also going to hear from that ambassador to the eu sondland. They are doing so in open defiance of the white houses orders. It shows the limitations of the white house and the president in corralling this process which seems to be expanding every day. Frank figliuzzi, explain this for us. Syria is a mess, there was a report today u. S. Special operators might have been targeted, were fired upon it was reported perhaps because their retreat has not been fast enough after the trump green light to turkey. This was a tweet today from brett mcgurk, the former special president ial envoy to the coalition to defeat isis. He writes trump signed an authorization to impose sanctions but that no sanctions have been imposed. This is meaningless nonsense. 100,000 people are already displaced and u. S. Soldiers are being fired upon. Whats the bar for sanctions . Frank, the question for you, what is going on . Well, brian, were missing something here. There is no logical reason for the president approving turkeys incursion into syria and abandoning our allies in the form of the kurds. And now as you just reported, now we see u. S. Troops actually endangered by turkish incoming fire. How many u. S. Soldiers will have to get injured . How many kurds will have to die . How many isis fighters will have to escape and make their way out of syria to pose a real present threat to us before some red line is crossed where these socalled sanctions actually kick in . Were missing the motivation for the president to do this and allow turkey to do it. Its like telling someone i approve of you blowing the doors off a prison as long as the guards dont get hurt and the inmates dont escape. It doesnt work that way. These sanctions are a warning that rings hollow. And im very concerned about a possible resurgence of isis. To frank, to phil, and julia before that, our thanks for hanging around tonight and taking our questions. Coming up for us, another legal setback in the president s battle to Keep Congress from looking at his finances when we come back. 9. 95 at my age . 9. 95 . No way. 9. 95 . Thats impossible. Hi, im jonathan, a manager here at Colonial Penn Life Insurance company, to tell you it is possible. If youre age 50 to 85, you can get Life Insurance with options starting at just 9. 95 a month. Okay, jonathan, im listening. Tell me more. Just 9. 95 a month for Colonial Penns number one most popular whole Life Insurance plan. There are no Health Questions to answer and there are no medical exams to take. Your acceptance is guaranteed. Guaranteed acceptance . I like guarantees. Keep going. And with this plan, your rate is locked in for your lifetime, so it will never go up. Sounds good to me, but at my age, i need the security of knowing it wont get cancelled as i get older. This is Lifetime Coverage as long as you pay your premiums. It can never be cancelled, call now for free information. Youll also get this free beneficiary planner. Use this valuable guide to record your Important Information and give helpful direction about your final wishes to your loved ones. And its yours free. Its our way of saying thank you just for calling. So call now. Another blow to the president s efforts to conceal his finances. Well get through this. For among other things his tax returns. Congress is demanding to see eight years of trumps financial records as part of an investigation into whether the president has broken any laws. Trumps lawyers try to argue congress doesnt have a right to those documents because they lack a legislative purpose. But the d. C. Circuit court knocked down that argument. Contrary to the president s arguments, the committee possesses authority under both the house rules and the constitution to issue the subpoena. The committee was engaged in a legitimate legislative investigation. Trump will almost certainly appeal the ruling. Here to talk about all of it tonight, Josh Gerstein for politico and barbara mcwade is still around to take more questions. Barbara, this is a statute that allows the house to do this. This is going to be tough to fight, but the folks watching tonight i am guessing have two questions. How long would an appeal take . Is this going to take forever . And should the liberals get all excited and hot and bothered that this means that americans are going to be able to file through the president s former tax returns . Yeah, so a couple of things. Number one, i think that President Trumps strategy will be to stall and drag this out as long as possible. I think the ruling itself on the merits is not surprising. But the next thing he could do is to ask the Circuit Court of appeals to reconsider on bank with the full bench. So, that would be the next step. And then take it to the Supreme Court, try and kick it to next term, so maybe delaying a decision until after the 2020 election. So, that clearly is part of the strategy. The other question about does this mean the public will get to see these things . Not necessarily. It will go to the committee for their consideration. Their purpose is to consider whether the ethics in Government Act needs to be amended in any way. That doesnt necessarily mean these will be shared with the public, but they will get to see them. As we discussed earlier, sometimes when you see evidence of one thing, it can lead to questions about other things and could lead to other investigations. As the court said today, just because they are seeking something for a legislative purpose does not prevent them from using it for some other purpose such as impeachment. Josh, i dont know if youre able to express a judgment on this, but do you think democrats have put too much time and hope and worry into this . Is this a shiny object in relation to the larger impeachment inquiry which on its own seems to have legitimate steam now . Well, it strikes me, brian, as it could be sort of an overtaken by events situation. You talked about the russia inquiry which seems in some respects to be sort of fading into their rearview mirror. And even these debates about trumps taxes dont seem quite as urgent as they did just a month or so ago before we had this whole ukraine mess on the radar screen. And the fortitude it seems to have given to nancy pelosi to move forward with a fairly explicit impeachment inquiry. So, i think youre right. It might be that theres too much time invested in this. And it could be that the house decides to move forward with impeachment before it has the answers in many of these lawsuits that are now pending in the courts. Josh, let the folks know who are watching how it is that the Manhattan District Attorney came in late with their own claim to the president s finances . How does that claim different from the other . Well, i think thats a moore direct effort to get his tax returns. This d. C. Circuit case is really about his Accounting Records and possibly doesnt cover his tax returns. It might just be some of his financial documents. Thats just another effort in new york to take another route to try to get at trumps taxes uses a state grand jury subpoena and a judge, a federal judge up in new york city earlier in the week rejected the president s efforts on that front. Thatll go to another federal Appeals Court in about ten days for them to hear arguments on it. So, you have things moving in different realms. And frankly the odds are that in at least one of these cases the president is going to lose, maybe in all of them, and itll have to go to the Supreme Court to see if they can give him a stay or if the majority he has there is willing to give him a stay that will hold this issue at bay as barbara says possibly through the election. Lets say i just made you justice mcwade. Could you make an argument that the American Public has any kind of inherent or legitimate right to see the president s finances . Or has it become just a defacto part of American Life over the last few president ial cycles that our candidates have been willing to share them publicly . Yeah, you know, as a matter of public policy, i think the American People like to see president ial tax returns. But courts are in the business of deciding laws. They decide whether something is required by statute or whether theres a constitutional protection there. And thats the end of their job. Their job is to interpret the laws that are on the books. So, it would really require the passage of a new law to require, instead of just this norm and this expectation that weve had since the 1970s, that the president s share their tax returns with the public so we can understand the sources of their income. Lets get congress off their recess first before we try to exert too much here. Two of the very best with us on a friday night. Josh gerstein and bash bra mcwade. The latest what happened, the former ambassador to ukraine told her story to congress with reporters following all of it. I just sat through eight my mom washes the dishes. Before she puts them in the dishwasher. So what does the dishwasher do . Cascade platinum does the work for you, prewashing and removing stuckon foods, the first time. Wow, thats clean cascade platinum. I just sat through eight hours that went like a new york second. It was that amazing, that powerful, that impactful and just feel very fortunate to have been there. Thats a strong reaction there to any kind of testimony on capitol ill had. Fact is he was talking about the former ukrainian ambassadors testimony today. Marie yovanovitch deep disappointment and dismayed and warning we are seeing the state department attacked and hollowed out from within. Andrew back with us, congressional reporter for politico. Welcome to you both. Andrew, ill start with you. What was the generally the reaction, what we got to see was her prepared for delivery Opening Statement. But when you see a member of Congress Like that, yes hes a democrat. Yes they have a side in this. Again, it gets your attention. It was a very strong reaction. This was a break through moment for House Democrats in their impeachment inquiry from start to finish. Her Opening Statement really truly was a top to bottom scathing rebuke, not just of donald trump and of Rudy Giuliani but of these efforts more broadly to undermine faith and trust in american institutions. She said bluntly that countries like russia, for example, and china and north korea and iran love when that happens and allows them an avenue to undermine u. S. Foreign policy in that way. So, its really unprecedented for someone like her who has really been shunning the limelight since she was forced out of her roll in may to come out like this and to do it in a way in which she was essentially defying the Trump Administration which said she should not be testifying. She had asked for a friendly subpoena which would give her Legal Recourse to do this. She wanted to show up. She wanted to tell her story. Thats why you saw that reaction from congressman heck. John, not a week goes by we dont quote Carl Bernstein for having said republicans were the hero of watergate. Do you think were seeing a plot line change in real time now that may result in us someday hearing that the insider who is chose to step forward and speak were perhaps the heroes of this story wherever it takes us . I certainly were moving in that direction, brian, in terms of getting to the truth of what happened inside this administration, what happened outside the administration in terms of Rudy Giuliani, the president s lawyer, in terms of the ukrainians who were american ukrainian born americans who were aest ared yesterday. What weve got is a situation now where people who doesnt want the white house to talk are going to capitol hill. We saw the white house counsels letter saying the administration is not going to participate in this. Yet we have the former ambassador to the ukraine testifying. We have Gordon Sondland next week supposedly ready to testify. This is not going to hold. More and more people are going to talk. There are people who are no longer members of the administration who are going to talk. And its happening behind closed doors right now, but this will all come out in public at some point. The house will move forward. If there are articles of impeachment on the house floor, and everyone expects that at some point, you will see it all laid out in detail. If theres a trial in the senate, and i think that will happen, you will have a prosecution essentially and a defense. So, now, john you just took me into the next thing i wanted to ask you, the democrats continue by any standard its inarguable from where we sit to lag so badly in messaging meaning the president gets a free shot, free media, free sound broadcast out on all the networks unanswered every day. That has been true. Its still true. But are the democrats feeling their power in the noncommunications realm . Its really odd, brian. At this point i think they kind of are. I believe they think that they are simply gathering evidence at this point, that the president is not dealing in a situation where the facts, where the evidence, where the law is on his side, where every day there are revelations either through the House Committee or through the Southern District of new york or through the news media that are bad for the president that reveal more of the story behind what we saw in the partial transcript the white house revealed from that call. And ultimately thats building a case for them. And you know, what were also seeing is the people who are coming out to defend the white house are sort of the all stars of the conservative, you know, trump ecochamber right now. The people that are rushing to the cameras, rushing to the microphones are the usual suspects. When members of congress reconvene next week, thats the real test. When you see House Republicans and Senate Republicans come back, is it more than the jim jordans, the mark meadows, matt gates to come out to talk to the camera. Is it a broader set of people . Are we going to hear more from the mitt romneys and rob portmans who say what the president did was not good, what the president did was bad, and are somewhat reserving judgment at this point . Are we going to hear a lot of republicans saying im not ready to commit to anything . Dy that sits in judgment of this. Ive got a headline, trump predicts senators will quash say. His allies arent so sure. Is the new liberal great white hope that republican senators are going to suddenly have an attack of conscious . As of this moment right now, it is a pipe dream to think that they can secure a conviction of donald trump in the senate and for him to be thrown out. What we have seen from the summer until now is that public polling in terms of support for impeachment has been steadily rising. It lagged around the 30s all summer when democrats were struggling to sustain momentum during the mueller report. Over the last couple of weeks since pelosi wrapped her arms around the impeachment inquiry in a more formal manner, youve seen support jump into the 50s and 60s in some polls. Ive heard democrats say all along there may come a point when it is no longer politically advantageous, politically expedient for republicans to remain in Donald Trumps corner. That is the point you could potentially see a turning point that as you say liberals have been waiting for for this entire time. But again i dont see that happens any time soon or at least not with the current facts we have right now. Obviously House Democrats are in the evidence collection phase which is very important right now. There havent been public hearings which is something republicans have been talking about in terms of their angst about the process about this. You cant have impeachment unless all the evidence is aired in public. So, we have to see these witness Interview Transcripts at some points, full Text Messages like the ones we got last week. So, that stuff all has to come out in order for that bipartisan support to build for this before we can even have a discussion about that. Two guys in the game sharing reporting on that. We appreciate it very much. Coming up, a look at the stacked week awaiting all of us next week in washington. We have a preview of next week in washington. A propensity to not include the fiona hill monday. Ambassador sonland can answer. Flew from brussels to washington. He says he will comply with a subpoena. 9. 95 at my age . 9. 95 . No way. 9. 95 . Thats impossible. Hi, im jonathan, a manager here at Colonial Penn Life Insurance company, to tell you it is possible. If youre age 50 to 85, you can get Life Insurance with options starting at just 9. 95 a month. Okay, jonathan, im listening. Tell me more. Just 9. 95 a month for Colonial Penns number one most popular whole Life Insurance plan. There are no Health Questions to answer and there are no medical exams to take. Your acceptance is guaranteed. Guaranteed acceptance . I like guarantees. Keep going. And with this plan, your rate is locked in for your lifetime, so it will never go up. Sounds good to me, but at my age, i need the security of knowing it wont get cancelled as i get older. This is Lifetime Coverage as long as you pay your premiums. It can never be cancelled, call now for free information. Youll also get this free beneficiary planner. Use this valuable guide to record your Important Information and give helpful direction about your final wishes to your loved ones. And its yours free. Its our way of saying thank you just for calling. So call now. Even in our currently polarized nation, it is my hope that facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive. Im shepherd smith, fox news, new york. The last thing before we go tonight, man, that was the shot heard around the media world. And just like that, shepherd smith, the pride of mississippi excuse me and a fox news staple, see how choked up i am over this. He headed for the elevator. When it was done, when he signed off, fox then cut to neil cavuto who was stunned and forced to react on live television. Well, like you, im a little stunned and a little heart broken. I dont know what to say. Trying to compile my thoughts, too, neil. I walked on to do the hit and suddenly got hit by a subway train. Shepherd smiths afternoon broadcast was an island of truth telling in the age of trump at a time when his employer and so many of his colleagues have moved hard right. And the age and the idea of trump. That meant he was left to speak truth to power. Its crazy what were watching every day. It is absolutely crazy. He keeps repeating ridiculous throwaway lines that are not true at all and sort of avoiding this issue of russia as if were some kind of fools for asking the questions. Journalists are not the enemies of the people. He decries fake news that isnt and disseminates fake news that is. Fake china pays the tariffs, the wall is going up, russia probe is a witch hunt. You need an id to buy serial. Noise from windmills causes cancer. It is endless. How to put this, fox is hardly the only cable news outfit with a daytime personality that differs from prime time. Yes, tongues were wagging today over the fact that william barr met with Rupert Murdoch yesterday. But the decision was sheps alone. While it was a surprise, he had planned it for today. He cant work anywhere else for a while, but at age 55, with his integrity intact, he has an open lane ahead of him. It should also be said, because these days it counts for a lot, shep smith is a nice guy. He has a lot of friends in this business and even more admirers. Where our modest outfit is concerned, thats our broadcast for this friday night and this week. Thank you for being here with us. Have a good weekend from nbc news headquarters in new york. Amber was the angel of death. She would come around when somebody was going to die. They called it Angels Landing, a special place for a chosen few. We were all having meals together. There was lots of parties. You were the little girl who got a horse for your birthday . I got three horses. But Angels Landing was plagued by accidents. She fell and hit her head and drowned