The newly impeached 45th president is now in florida for the christmas break, and in an air force hangar prior to taking off, he and the first lady employed Home Field Advantage at Andrews Air Force base and attended an event designed to highlight his role as commander in chief to end the most turbulent week of his administration by any standard. As a military crowd looked on, he signed the National Defense authorization act. As the president flew south, new reporting tonight about an issue central in his impeachment, military aid to ukraine. The Washington Post reports the Trump Administration demanded that a portion of yearend spending legislation that referenced ukraine be removed. The post reports it this way. Senior Trump Administration officials in recent days threatened a president ial veto that could have led to a Government Shutdown if House Democrats refused to drop language requiring prompt release of future military aid for ukraine. The report goes on to say, the language ultimately was indeed left out of the spending package that was signed tonight. While that issue may be resolved, a standoff continues in the capitol over a senate trial for the president who has now been impeached by the house. The speaker, nancy pelosi, says the house is waiting to send impeachment articles to the senate until there is clarity on the rules of the senate trial. She wants to know if there will be witnesses, and of course she and the other democrats are hoping that republicans get pressured into calling witnesses like one john bolton. Today the speaker responded to these comments from Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. Speaker pelosi suggested that House Democrats may be too afraid, too afraid to even transmit their shoddy work product to the senate. While Speaker Pelosi told politico, quote, fear is never a word used with me. You should know right away, im never afraid and im rarely surprised. Meanwhile, white House CounselPat Cipollone and White House Legislative Affairs director there on the right, eric euland, who was great in groundhog day, were on capitol hill today for a walkthrough to prepare for a senate trial. The two met with Senate Majority leader in his office. Last week mcconnell said he was coordinating the senate trial with the white House Counsel. Indeed he is. Today the majority leader says he has no meetings scheduled with cipollone over the christmas break. Meanwhile the New York Times has new report tonight on how the president has been handling impeachment. The times reports that by thursday morning trump was eager for information, watching tv for clues about what pelosi might be up to, quote, almost as soon as pelosi said she might delay sending the articles of impeachment over to the senate, mr. Trump started surveying advisers about what it could mean. Why do you think shes doing that, he asked one person after another. The times also reports before the president was impeached, quote, some of mr. Trumps advisers tried to convince him and themselves that Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not have the votes and might not even bring the articles of impeachment to the floor, despite warnings from the white house director of legislative affairs, mr. Euland, that the votes were there. When it comes to who the president has been listening to about ukraine, the Washington Post reports that after speaking with putin in july of 17 in hamburg, germany, including a meeting with no american interpreter present, just the other team, trump grew more insistent that ukraine had worked to defeat him in 2016. According to officials who spoke anonymously to the post, quote, the president s intense resistance to the assessment of u. S. Intelligence agencies that russia indeed systematically interfered in our 2016 campaign, and the blame he cast instead on a rival country led many of his advisers to think that putin himself helped spur the idea of ukraines culpability. One former senior white house official said trump even said so explicitly at one point, saying he knew ukraine was the real culprit because, quote, putin told me. The post also says intelligence officials told lawmakers that Russian Security services played a key role in spreading the false claim, the Conspiracy Theory that ukraine meddled in our 2016 election somehow. Its a lot to take on. And here with our leadoff Discussion Panel with us on a friday night, susan page, Washington Bureau chief for usa today who notably is currently at work on a biography of nancy pelosi. Lonnie chan, Research Fellow at the hoover institution, former president ial Campaign Adviser to both the rubio and romney efforts. And jeremy bash, former chief of staff at cia and the pentagon, and former chief counsel to the house intel committee. Good evening and welcome to you all. Susan, what do you make of this pelosi method, this pelosi strategy thats been called impeach and hold, which every day its under way keeps the president from that acquittal he so badly wants. It was a little bit of surprise on wednesday night right after the Impeachment Vote when Speaker Pelosi raised the possibility that she might do this. But it does keep for democrats maybe their only big piece of leverage when it comes to the Senate Majority leader, to try to force him to make a deal on what the rules are going to be for the senate trial. I think that democrats in general and pelosi in particular were alarmed when Mitch Mcconnell said that he did not see his role as that of an impartial juror but one who would see that the president was acquitted. This lent uncertainty to the process thats ahead. We know that the president wants this trial to happen, he wants to get acquitted, he thinks thats important. Actually i think that Speaker Pelosi also would like to have this off the plate, that if hes going to get this acquittal which we think he will, probably, from the republicancontrolled senate, she would like that to happen so democrats can go back to talking about things like health care. Its not really a delay for another two weeks because congress is out of town, nothing is going to happen until january 6th in any case. Lonnie, do any republicans that you know take this pelosi strategic move seriously . Not really. I mean, i think the challenge for Speaker Pelosi is ultimately shes probably going to have to send this impeachment over to the senate. The question is not if but when. So i think a lot of people are puzzled by what the end game is. They say you dont take the hostage unless youre prepared to hurt the hostage. In this case it seems to me Speaker Pelosi is probably not prepared in any way, shape, or form to hold this process from going forward, precisely as susan said, because she would much rather democrats move on to an agenda i think thats going to be much more compelling as they seek control of the congress and control of the white house in 2020. So its unlikely in my mind that the end engage here is anything other than this going over to the senate with the rules that Mitch Mcconnell is going to put in place, because mcconnell has indicated hes not interested in budging, he doesnt see the need to budge. And so this trial is going to go forward in precisely the way that mcconnell and the republicans want it to. I want to return to that very topic in just a second. Jeremy, first off, did the white house step in it again with these bad ukraine optics in the funding bill, and is it just bad optics or is your fear that it masks something very real . Oh, what congress tried to do, brian, in the legislation is require that the white house release future aid to ukraine and the white house amazingly insisted that provision be dropped, ostensibly because they claim the president had the sole power to meter out that aid. It appears the president continues to want to hold military aid over the head of the ukrainians until he can get the ukrainians to do what he wants. In some very real senses, this issue, which of course the president was impeached on, is now continues to be a live issue. And jeremy, as a reminder for our viewers, who does it help if ukraine doesnt get the military aid or is in threat of losing it . So much evidence came out during the hearings, russia is the beneficiary when the u. S. Withholds aid because ukraine uses that aid to repel russia. Susan, this is the Morning Consult poll, 54 want people to call witnesses, 27 no. What do you make of the public migration, and its been a quick one, theres polling with even higher approval numbers, the public migration on this question in just the space of a few days. I think americans have firm views on what they think ought to happen to President Trump. But americans in general are in favor of a fair trial. And i think that the idea that the senate rules are not going to amount to a fair trial is a powerful argument to make. I take lanhees point that in the end Speaker Pelosi will probably send these articles of impeachment to the senate. She could put kind of a squeeze on mcconnell to defend rules that may not seem fair to a lot of americans, 71 of americans who say we would like to hear from witnesses. Lanhee, as promised, tell me how republican senators, especially those who are up and vulnerable, but certainly those who are more middle of the road, tell me how theyre going to hear, who wants to hear from john bolton, conservative Foreign Policy icon, and then say, no, no thanks, were good . Yeah, i mean, this is the dilemma of, frankly, a lot of these republicans who have tight elections next year as well as those more moderate or those who might be inclined to disagree with President Trump every once in a while. Weve come to a point in this conversation where it is even difficult for these republicans to say we ought to have a process that allows for people to hear from these witnesses, or to go even farther and say, you know, President Trump did something improper here, whether its impeachable is another question. That would seem to be the ground that these republicans who are electorally vulnerable want to get to. President trump and other republicans in the senate wont let them get there. This is a real challenge for susan collins, thom tillis of north carolina, cory gardner of colorado, theyre going to find themselves in a challenging spot here as this situation migrates to the senate. Jeremy bash, what danger does it pose to our society to hear public officials, elected officials, republicans at that, repeating what are straight up russian propaganda talking points, a Conspiracy Theory about ukrainian involvement in our election . Well, these are right out of the russian covert action or active measures as the Russian Federation likes to refer to them, playbook. This is the way the Russian Intelligence Services tried to deflect. Think about it, your enemy is coming at you so what the enemy does is says, oh, were not the ones attacking, its these other people, the ukrainians who are attacking you. Its designed precisely to have us drop our defenses so every time the president or any of his allies say no, it was the ukrainians who attacked us in 2016, not the russians, in essence were rendering ourselves defenseless. And susan page, youll reserve a chapter on this strategy, the pelosi versus mcconnell tba, the fight thats going on now . Yeah, well, you know, shes never afraid and shes rarely surprised. So i heard. To susan page, lanhee chen, jeremy bash, thank you all, happy holidays to you all, we greatly appreciate you coming on, as always. The president fires back after a scathing editorial that reveals something of a split perhaps in evangelical support. And later, the continued legal question surrounding the president s tv lawyer, that guy, and his two pals, lev and igor, as the 11th hour is just Getting Started on this friday night, looking at the west wing. As a struggling actor,. I need all the breaks that i can get. At liberty butchumal cut. Liberty biberty cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. I am all about livi g joyfully. Hello. The united explorer card hooks me up. Getting more for getting away. Rewarded going new places and tasting new flavors. Rewarded traveling lighter. Rewarded. Haha, boom getting settled. Rewarded. Learn more at the explorer card dot com. And get. Rewarded you have power over pain, so the whole world looks different. The unbeatable strength of advil. What pain . Yeah. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Con Liberty Mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. Only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. People say, frankly, how can you defend him when hes lived such a sordid life . I never said he was the best example of the christian faith. He defends the faith. And i appreciate that. Christian evangelist franklin graham, son of billy graham, found himself defending trump today this time after the publication christianity today, by the way founded by his father, ran an oped with this headline, trump should be removed from office. It goes on to describe trumps actions regarding ukraine as not only a violation of the constitution, more importantly, it is profoundly immoral. The president attacks the evangelical publication calling it very progress and saying the fact is no president has ever done what ive done for evangelicals or religion itself. Then he said, i wont be reading et again. Perhaps he was referring to ct, christianity today. Et would be entertainment tonight or perhaps phone home. Franklin graham added, my father billy graham would not agree with their opinion piece, in fact he would be very disappointed. Earlier on this network the man who wrote the piece responded to the evangelical fealty to donald trump. A lot of my conservative friend, they continue to support him for those reasons, saying we dont like his behavior, we dont like his morals, but hes doing these good things. Theyre doing the balancing thing. And its my judgment in the last couple of weeks that that balancing no longer works. With us to talk about all of it tonight, anita kumar, White House Correspondent for politico, and rick wilson, author of the forthcoming book running against the devil due out next month. Hes also the cofounder of the lincoln project, a super pac created by conservatives with the aim of defeating trump and trumpism. Good evening and welcome to you both. Anita, what got the president so worked up about this, what he calls et, what a lot of people call ct, christianity today . There were a lot of people who were surprised that he went after them so forcefully. This is a publication that doesnt have all that many subscribers. It was a little bit surprising. What im hearing is partly its, lets face it, hes a little bit upset this week about the Impeachment Vote, but its more than that. Obviously evangelicals are a huge part of his base. You cant lose any part of that base for his next election. And there is some fear there that this could catch fire and others could, you know, agree. It doesnt appear that thats happening. But i think that the president was quite concerned about that. One of the Silver Linings of this really bad week that he had was that he kept all the republicans in the house in line. That was very important to him. There was no break at all. And i think that he is very much feeling like he needs to keep everybody in line for the reelection. And thats very important to him at this point in time. I think it was a combination of things that he was really feeling the pressure from this editorial. Rick wilson, fact check us on two things. Number one, when do you think the last time was when the president curled up with a copy of christianity today . Question two, its always dangerous when we use demographic groups to lump peoples together who are diverse within their category. Sure. When we say he loved saying the evangelicals, what percentage do you think are of a mind as this editorial . Well, i think that what i can observe, and im not an evangelical so im sort of on the outside looking in, but from what ive observed from their statements about why they support trump, what ive seen if focus groups and what ive seen in a lot of the research, that line they used, hes doing what we want, hes giving us these worldly results politically that we could not achieve by the power of our gospel or our ministry, so hes giving us these judges, hes giving us this sort of revenge culture against people that they feel threatened, the hegemony of evangelical protestantism. I think theyre going to stick with him. I think a lot of them are going to look at anything he does, frankly, i mean, brian, i dont want to put too fine a point about this, a lot of people have talked about trumpism as a political cult, but we may be seeing a schism in christianity, of populist trumpist christianity, he would be happy to lead this new church on his own, because his ego is that big, that overweening. I think a large number of those evangelicals who supported him in 2016 will stick with him, in spite of the passion and correctness of this article today. Over on the other side of the aisle, rick, what did you make of the democrats and the discussion of purity testing and wine caves last night, and it came as it did 24 hours after impeachment, seven democrats onstage, and without the kind of purity testing we saw last night, simple question is, how else are they going to thin the herd . Well, the herd is going to thin itself. I think weve seen this sort of rise and fall of Elizabeth Warren as the competitive frontrunner to take on joe biden. I think the field is sort of biden and that static group just beneath him, three or four, with klobuchar making a bit of a move here in the clubhouse turn. So, you know, i think were looking at a field thats kind of, you know, you come out of that debate last night, who do you want to be in that debate, you want to be joe biden, he had the best possible night he could have there. You had warren and buttigieg going after each other hammer and tongs. But against, i think theres a broader thing that a lot of the lower tier people in the field missed last night, that is this referendum on trump. The election is about trump. So fighting about which democrat donors have a wine cave does not sell the idea that youre the most competitive person to go after donald trump. The whole furious whine about oh, the billionaires, a fundraiser in a cave, it doesnt seem to be a way youre going to communicate to people im going to go out and take a stick to donald trump in a few months. Anita kumar, we look for your byline around here and couldnt help but notice the headline on your piece, family feud, trump still grumbling about witnessfree impeachment trial. Tell us what you know. Weve heard the president say he is fine with going along with no witnesses at the senate trial. Remember, thats what Mitch Mcconnell and the Senate Leaders want, they want this to be quick as possible, no witnesses, and thats why nancy pelosi is upset, she wants it to be more of a fair trial with witnesses. Well, the president has been telling lots of people, friends, supporters, that he wants there to be witnesses, he wants a big splashy trial. He wants the whistleblower called. And even though he has said ill go along with whatever Mitch Mcconnell wants, he really still wants that. He thinks that if he has the whistleblower and he has other people testifying, that he will that the American Public will see that he did nothing wrong and hell be exonerated. This is not about merely getting acquitted, its everybody to see that he didnt do anything wrong. He also thinks that will embarrass democrats. As a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. At liberty butchumal cut. Liberty biberty cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Thouwhich is Breast Cancer metastthat has spreadcer, to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. Ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr her2 metastatic Breast Cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. Ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. 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In his errorfilled sixpage letter to Speaker Pelosi, the president wrote this week, quote, you tied the impeachment effort directly to the completely discredited russia hoax, declaring twice that all roads lead to putin, when you know that is an abject lie. But today the conservatives over at the bulwark wrote this. Quote, everyone knows that President Trump takes his talking points from fox. But did you ever wonder who youd find if you looked upstream . Its russia. Its always russia. This network almost singlehandedly reported on possible falsifications by crowdstrike. Where is the server . It was taken by somebody that i guess its crowdstrike. Where is the server from the dnc . While he was Vice President , joe is actually helping his son who is on the board for a Ukrainian Natural Gas Company burisma at the time. And joe bragged that he got the prosecutor general fired. Hunter biden has no visible qualifications whatsoever. No experience, energy, oil, gas. What did hunter biden do for the money . Ah, the networks, ah, russia today. Back with us, anita kumar and rick wilson. Rick, why isnt it more distasteful, why isnt it straight up disgraceful to hear Republican Office holders using talking points that are translated from the original russian . Well, the biggest factor there is the trumpism requires a total lack of shame. These guys have embraced trumpism with a gusto that is truly remarkable. And the idea that theyre taking these talking points directly from russian propaganda, 25 years ago would have been grounds for expulsion from congress, certainly from the gop. And 50 years ago they would have slapped you in prison. These guys have decided that to probate trump, theyre going to protect the guy who runs trumps life from the home office in moscow and theyre going to emulate the sort of agitprop style that russia is dumping on us. Theyve got a bunch of semidisgraced exconservative journalists who are putting the pretence of an english or american accent on russian propaganda. Anita, the most newlyminted republican in the land, a gentleman from my home state called jeff van drew, he was previously a democrat. He had kind of a conversion ceremony in the oval office this week. Well play a little bit of that and talk to you about it after that. I believe that this is just a better fit for me. You have my undying support. Thank you. Thank you very much. And always. And by the way, same way. Im endorsing him. Okay . Were endorsing him. Okay, anita. So he used the magic two words, undying support. But lets say youre a republican in south jersey with an eye toward running for congress, defeating, or so you thought, the incumbent democrat named van drew. Hes been a republican long enough to have a cup of coffee. And the president further goes on to endorse him. Thats not going to go over well. It isnt. But remember, congressman van drew was right there for President Trump, and, you know, on october 31st when this impeachment inquiry first started, he voted against moving forward. And the president and the House Minority leader Kevin Mccarthy went after him right away, thinking there might be room for him to move into the republican party. Look, you know, people that are going to break with the president cant if youre a republican, you have to be with the president. If youre a democrat, you had to be voting that way on impeachment. Its just a very partisan time right now. As you saw, there were only a few democrats who broke with the Democratic Party. The president had all republicans on his side, so that was important for him to invite him to the oval office and to greet him. I saw mike pence was also there. He said welcome to the republican party. So, you know, theyre welcoming him, and to anyone else who wanted to run, this is the guy theyre supporting now. Rick, because i follow you on social media, i know the back story of the bandage i couldnt help but see on your forehead. Its rather remarkable that someone watching you on television saw something, got in touch with you, and take the story over there on the behalf of our viewers. A twitter friend who is a Board Certified dermatologist was watching you in high res and youve got a basal cancer cell on the side of your head and you might want to go have it looked at tomorrow. I did. They said yep, were doing this right now. So they whacked a bit of it off here and a bit of it off there. And the lesson that have is sometimes twitter is actually a force for good in the world. And the second lesson is, see a dermatologist, get checked. Skin cancer is imminently treatable when caught early, so a good thing. All right. Well have you a good long time anyway. To anita and rick, thank you both for coming on tonight, happy holidays to both of you, we appreciate it. Coming up, what the president s daughter ivanka thinks about her dads tv lawyer friend, when we come back. As a struggling actor,hen. I need all the breaks that i can get. At liberty butchumal cut. Liberty biberty cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. You have fastacting power over pain, so the whole world looks different. The unbeatable strength and speed of advil liquigels. What pain . For your worst sore throat pain, try Vicks Vapocool drops. Its not candy, its powerful relief. Ahhh vaporize sore throat pain with Vicks Vapocool drops and try new vapocool spray. Little things can be a big deal. Psoriasis, thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with. 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Was his actions in ukraine and the investigation and his continued claim that he is working on behalf of your father on these projects, and its created a lot of news and new storylines that the white house has had to respond to, that have only complicated in many ways moving on. Thats your assessment. So i dont know that i want to validate that comment. It is what it is. And the minute she said that right there, it got us to thinking we had heard that somewhere before. Its what it is. What what is . Its what it is. Lets bring in someone who can answer some of the legal questions surrounding the president s personal lawyer, former u. S. Attorney joyce vance who spent a quarter industry as a federal prosecutor. Joyce, do you draw any inference from ivankas answer that may shed light on the tonnage of legal jeopardy rudy may be looking at . So i thought it was a very interesting answer, because it wasnt an answer at all. And here we have the president s daughter, we should always stop and pause and sort of take a moment to appreciate the fact that this is the best advice that the president of the United States gets, not from a career professional, but from a woman who is completely unqualified to be working in the white house, and that shes talking about what appears to be the president s equally unqualified lawyer, someone who if anything has dragged him into impeachment rather than protecting him. But i was struck by the fact that she would neither disavow rudy as her fathers lawyer or do anything to encourage that assumption that he was working for him. It was remarkable for its studied failure to answer the question. You are familiar with this legal arrangement, less so we civilians, this has to do with rudy and one of his two nowfamous wing men, and a joint Defense Agreement. If we have the text. There we go. Mr. Giuliani said that his and mr. Frumans legal teams entered into an agreement about two months ago allowing them to share information. So, joyce, this is igor fruman. What do you think this is all about . Right, so this is a joint Defense Agreement. Weve seen this before. There was actually some reporting, ironically it was Rudy Giuliani who let it slip, that during the mueller investigation, the president was involved in a joint Defense Agreement that let them talk with other potential subjects or targets of the investigation. And thats what a joint Defense Agreement is for. Its for people who believe that theyre about to be indicted, probably in a conspiracy together, and it lets them share information without taking that information outside of the Attorney Client privilege. The information is still protected while theyre sharing it. They can coordinate on a defense strategy. They can learn what people are telling prosecutors. This is what you do when you think that youre going to be indicted. And this is what Rudy Giuliani, the president s lawyer, is doing. Joyce, you have said that delay is the democrats best friend, on the subject of impeachment. It does indeed, in addition to the builtin delay, congress isnt back until the 6th of january, lets call this a holiday coolingoff period, why do you think delay is the democrats best friend . The constant trajectory of the Trump Administration has been for Bad Information to continue to drop over time. You know, we hear a story, it sounds like something thats questionable. If you stick around for 72 hours, more information comes to light. There always seems to be someone in the white house who is willing to talk, or as in this case, the whistleblower who comes forward. So there are a lot of i think we always call them known unknowables in this situation. For instance, all of these witnesses who the president has kept from testifying. We dont know precisely what they would say, but brian, i think you and i both assume that its not good for the president or he would have trotted them out to testify immediately. So perhaps some of that information comes forward. In the meantime perhaps john bolton begins to tell his story. Perhaps documents that the president has scrupulously withheld from congress begin to come forward. I think as time goes forward, more information comes out in a dripdripdrip fashion, and its never good information for the president. Does it influence folks in the senate . Does it lead to more votes to remove the president . You know, that seems unlikely at this point, but you never know until it happens. Always make us think, as you have tonight. Wishing you happy holidays to you and your family, joyce, thank you so much for coming on. You too, brian. Coming up for us, after a tense week, the president accepts an invitation from the speaker of the house. Wields a mighty gavel. 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Rewarded getting more for getting away. Rewarded learn more at the explorer card dot com. And get. Rewarded here, it all starts withello hi . How can i help . A data plan for everyone. Everyone . Everyone. Lets send to everyone wifi up there . Uhh. Sure, why not . Howd he get out . a camera might figure it out. That was easy glad i could help. At xfinity, were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. So come ask, shop, discover at your local xfinity store today. Bill Clintons Campaign to save his presidency officially began today. But tonight it Takes Center Stage as he delivers his seventh state of the Union Address. The late, great gwen ifill reporting the story back then. For the second time in modern u. S. History, a president will deliver a state of the Union Address under the cloud of impeachment. Just two days after the house vote to impeach, Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited donald trump to address a joint session of congress on the 4th of february. It could happen in the midst of a senate trial. Either way, it will be an arresting visual like this one. We are pleased to be joined once again by our friend and president ial historian and prolific author michael beschloss. His latest work, perfect for any history buff on your gift list, president s of war the epic story from 1807 to modern times. Michael, thank you very much for coming on. If this president were in receive mode, what could he learn about bill clintons state of the Union Address in 99 . One thing he could learn is that clinton made a big effort, and you remember this very well because you were covering him the whole time, clinton made this big effort to come part meant lies, americans dont have to always be reminded of it. And you saw that discipline in his state of the Union Address which did take place during that impeachment trial. The address was an hour and 18 minutes long. He never mentioned impeachment or trial, and he actually calls on the speaker for bipartisanship and civility, something im not sure that were going to see from President Trump whenever this happens. Michael, i know youve been asked about this, but in the president s relation with what has become the Trump Republican Party have we ever before seen this kind of fealty . Supplication, this kind of obedience in what is much more of a cult than a Political Party . I think the republicans have a loyalty to President Trump that a lot of other republican president s would have envied very much. It is something i think weve never seen before. Do you think the party in the posttrump years, and they will come eventually is capable like a supernova that blows up reforming, relearning what its core is, and perhaps reforming more in the model of what it was until a few years back. Parties evolve in time. As you know very well the Democratic Party of the 1920s was the southern party, was the party with very different views from the Democratic Party of today. So, theres no reason in it couldnt follow that precedent. But the way things look today, its almost hard to imagine, isnt it . Yes, it is. You have written about some great house speakers who have served our country. Talk for a bit about the nancy pelosi we saw in action this week and Nancy Pelosis likely place in american history. Well, not only of course is the first female speaker but as speaker who was very strong and consequential serving twice. And i think one thing that you can see is exactly what were seeing right now which is that many other speakers would have said the articles of impeachment have been passed. Its time to ship them off to the senate. Theres every sign that she thinks that its the moment not only to do that but to use perhaps a delay in sending it or a threat not to send them at all though i cant imagine that that would happen, in order to get greater assurances of the senate of the kind of trial that she would like to see. Thats what strong speakers in history have done. We could also see another bit of history get made here, and that is that heretofore no president has ever been on a ballot postimpeachment. Thats right. So, you know, were trying to look at history and say what can we see that would predict what were going to see during the next little bit less than a year until the election. And theres nothing in history that can show us. We have never seen a President Campaign under the incue bus of impeachment. And thats why that state of the union for President Trump this year or this next year is going to be so interesting because i dont think were going to see clintonian restraint. Can you imagine donald trump giving a state of the union and never mentioning impeachment . We may see something that is more along the lines of that sixpage letter that he wrote to nancy pelosi. It does boggle the mind. Michael, happy holidays to you and your family from all of us here. Thanks. Same here, brian. Thank you for coming on. Coming up for us, why the spy business between two super powers has been in rare full view just these past couple of days. Any comments doug . Yeah. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Con Liberty Mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. Only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. So chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. 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First, there was this, a sharpeyed aviation buff and flight tracker saw an unusual flight pattern, tight circles out over the atlantic. As explained by these superb military blogger tyler roogaway was a e 6b, retrofitted tricked all white 707 loaded with science and listening devices and transmitters. Its an american set of eyes and ears and a rare midair refuelable command post. And when it communicates with our Nuclear Submarines below the surface of the ocean, it can spool out two antennas behind it. One of them is five miles long made of wire, and it flies behind the plane. It is a remarkable piece of engineering which is probably how the russians regard their own spy ship which has been prowling off our coastline along the coast of South Carolina and georgia. It is full of surveillance and communications gear. And our coast guard has declared it to be operating in an unsafe manner out in the atlantic. Its making erratic moves. Its not responding to radio contact. And its not running with lights on in low visibility conditions. And mariners in the area have been warned to keep a sharp look out and use extreme caution. And of course it got us to wondering if there might not be a relationship between the spy ship and the spy plane, two pieces in a cat and mouse game that goes on 24 7, 365 days a year which brings our week here to a close. That is our broadcast for this friday night. Thank you so very much for being here with this. Have a good weekend. Good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. Turn around. Face away from me. And lie down on the ground. Put your hands behind your back. Do it now. The Emergency Response team is deployed when a mentally ill inmate soils his cell and refuses orders. Do not resist do not resist fall on the ground, he stomps me right in the face. Vicious assault sends another inmate to the hospital. That dude [ bleep ] me up bad. 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