Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20191031

Feingold of wisconsin will tell us what it was like to sit in judgement of a member of his own party, president clinton. At the end of this hour hell tell us how he balanced partisan pressure against his sworn duty as a juror in a president ial impeachment trial. We begin tonight with the increasing pace of witnesses testifying to the impeachment inquiry as more witnesses get added to the deposition schedule every day. John bolton will not testify voluntarily. Thats what his lawyer said today in response to a letter from the house impeachment investigative committees requesting john boltons voluntary appearance of the deposition next thursday, november 7th, at 9 30 a. M. John boltons lawyer, charles cooper, told nbc news, quote, bolton is not willing to appear voluntarily. And then the lawyer added, i stand ready at all times to accept service of a subpoena on his behalf. But that same attorney, charles cooper, represents Charles Cupperman who was subpoenaed by the impeachment inquiry, and that lawyer then brought an unprecedented lawsuit to ask a court to clarify whether his client should obey a lawful subpoena or obey the president s demand not to testify even though his client no longer works in government. Donald trumps no longer his boss. He is a private citizen just like john bolton. And the president of the United States has no Legal Authority to issue an order to a private citizen. But all private citizens are subject to subpoena. And so the lawsuit that john boltons lawyer has already brought on behalf of one of his clients to avoid testifying to the impeachment inquiry is another unprecedented, frivolous legal maneuver thrown in the path of the impeachment inquiry. The first hearing on that lawsuit is tomorrow. Attorney charles coopers clients are eventually going to be ordered by judges to testify to the impeachment inquiry. And so john bolton is eventually going to have to tell his story under oath in public after first possibly submitting to a closed door deposition. And the big reason john bolton has for not wanting to do that, the big disincentive john bolton has about testifying publicly is the financial incentive he has to say all of his most colorful and most condemning stories about donald trump for his book, his big book which he is reportedly already working on. And the value of that book increases as long as john bolton can hold on to his trump secrets, which also means that the value of that book declines if john bolton is forced to reveal some of those secrets publicly in testimony to the impeachment inquiry and long before he can publish his book. So it seems unlikely that john bolton will show up for his deposition next thursday. Even if hes hit with a subpoena in the meantime. In addition to requesting testimony from john bolton the impeachment inquiry has sent requests for testimony to John Eisenberg, the top lawyer for the National Security counsel and michael ellis, asking them for appear for depositions monday. Fiona hill, President Trumps former top russia aide on the National Security council testified earlier this mont she met with John Eisenberg twice at john boltons urging after she was worried about Rudy Giulianis involvement in the trumpukraine issue. Calling him a hand grenade whos going to blow everybody up, which is exactly what Rudy Giuliani apparently has done. Lieutenant colonel Alexander Vindman told the impeachment inquiry yesterday that he twice reported his concerns about President Trumps dealings with ukraine including the president s july 25th phone call with the president of ukraine. Two Current State Department officials, Christopher Anderson, and Catherine Croft, testified in under oath depositions to the impeachment inquiry today. Christopher anderson served as the ukraine expert advising former special envoy to ukraine kirk volker. Christopher anderson was followed in that job by Catherine Croft. Christopher anderson, according to his Opening Statement, told house investigators that Rudy Giuliani prevented the Trump Administration from strengthening cooperation with ukraine. Christopher anderson described a meeting he had with john bolton on the topic of having senior white house officials engage more with ukraine. John bolton identified an obstacle to better engagement with ukraine. He cautioned that mr. Giuliani was a key voice with the president on ukraine which could be an obstacle to increased white house engagement. According to Catherine Crofts Opening Statement she first learned of the Trump White Houses plan to hold up Ukrainian Military assistance to ukraine during a july 18th office of budget and Management Meeting and she listened in by videoconference. An omb official told the group that white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has placed what she called an informal hold on the aid to ukraine. Catherine croft testified that the reason given then for the hold on ukraine, the hold on ukraine aide was that the order came at the direction of the president. Catherine croft testified under subpoena today according to an official working on the impeachment inquiry in light of an attempt by the white house and state department to direct Catherine Croft not to appear for her scheduled deposition. Nbc news has learned more about Lieutenant Colonel vindmans deposition yesterday. Nbc news is reporting colonel vindman told house impeachment investigators on tuesday that a white house meeting between President Donald Trump and ukrainian president zelensky as well as nearly 400 million on security and military aid was contingent on ukrainian officials carrying out investigations in burisma, the bidens, the 2016 election and crowdstrike, nbc news has learned. Colonel vindman said in his Opening Statement i did not think it was proper to demand a Foreign Government investigate a u. S. Citizen, and i was worried about the implications for the ukraine. According to nbc news two sources familiar with the testimony say that colonel vindman later went further than his Opening Statement by drawing a direct line between the deliverables for ukraine and the multiple investigations. Leading off our discussion tonight are democratic congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of illinois. Hes a member of the House Oversight committee and the House Intelligence Committee. He attended the depositions of both Christopher Anderson and Catherine Croft today. Also joining us Jill Winebanks, and evelyn farkas, a Deputy Assistant secretary of defense in the Obama Administration and a former staff member on the House Foreign Affairs committee. She served on the staff of the Senate Armed Services committee for seven years. She knows Catherine Croft who testified today, and evelyn is an msnbc National Security analyst. Congressman, first of all, to todays depositions. Did they deepen your understanding of what has been happening in the administration on ukraine and in what way did they do that . Thanks for having me on, lawrence. I think its fair to say that they fleshed out further kind of the evidence supporting the whistleblowers allegations and the scheme to basically pressure the ukrainians to initiate bogus investigations of the president s domestic rivals in return for aid and potentially a white house meeting as well. And so i cant comment on the specifics of the testimony, but these individuals, you know, made statements that were completely consistent with others narratives and their testimony as well. And so what can you tell us about tim morrison and the report tonight he has resigned. Hes scheduled to testify tomorrow. Well, i think thats i think more of a reason that i hope that he will show up tomorrow because he will no longer be within the president s employ. And hell be in some you could say hes a private citizen at that point. And, you know, who knows . Maybe hell even have some documents with him. Im not sure about that. But the point is that i think that cutting ties with the administration makes it less likely that the president could compel him not to show or not to produce documents of his own. And congressman, the there seems to be a more rapid pace now for scheduling these things. We watched the house of representatives, for example, in effect negotiate to schedule Robert Muellers testimony for months. The negotiation took months. Right, right, right. It was then scheduled for more than a month in advance of when it was announced. Were now learning today that john boltons told we want you to come in seven days from now. It seems like this pace is something that we havent seen before. No, we havent, and its a parade of career public Civil Servants. I call them a parade of patriots, quite frankly. People who are putting their necks on the line, they hire their own attorneys so theyre coming in at their own expense. Theyre basically coming forward out of conviction to tell the truth. And to tell the truth about misconduct that they witnessed. They are incredibly commendable and just yesterday you talked about colonel vindman. Theres a gentleman who is currently in the National Security council, currently in the white house, and he came forward today or yesterday to testify. Again, a very compelling witness just like for instance mr. Taylor, ambassador taylor from last week. And Jill Winebanks i want to bring you in on this legal question. The most absurd thing ive seen develop her legally in relation to the committees action is john boltons lawyer on behalf of another client asking a court to clarify what should we do here . We have a subpoena from congress and yet the president is telling my client not to testify. The client is a private citizen. I cant think of a more ridiculous thing to bring to a judge. And nothing like that ever happened in the watergate. There wasnt anybody who went to a judge and said do i obey a congressional subpoena, im a private citizen, or do i list listen to the president on what to do on this . No, it never happened in watergate and it shouldnt be happening now because the answer is obvious, that a subpoena trumps no pun intended trumps anything else. They have a legitimate right, and of course the Court Opinions now have been very clear that the congress is conducting a legitimate, lawful, constitutionally mandated impeachment inquiry, and even without the vote which will now happen and im sure will pass, but even without that it was totally legitimate, and they should be allowed to use the subpoena power and people come in and they testify and theyre in contempt if they dont follow the subpoena. So its very hard to get a court to issue whats called a declaratory judgment because theres not really an issue. Theres no real fight going on. And you have to have two opposing sides to get the courts to rule. But i think they did a good job of phrasing it, and maybe the court will say this is ridiculous, you have to of course abide by a subpoena. And i think they will. Evelyn, you know some of these witnesses. Yeah. What is your sense of how this evidence is developing now . I think its really interesting, lawrence, because of course theres been an acceleration of witnesses. We cant even keep their names straight. I mean i can because i know all of them personally i have a list here. Its a very long list. But the point is these are all hardworking professionals. Catherine croft who came forward today and testified, she knows ukraine inside out. Lets pause over this. Shes a current federal government employee. Shes in the state department, shes on the payroll, and she got her subpoena. She went. There was no confusion about what to do. She doesnt care what pompeo says or what trump says. But part of it is i think because shes a Civil Servant she has a sense of duty. Really ambassador yovanovitch remember she was the first one to go. She was the senior one. What id heard from inside the department was that she wanted to stay in the government so that she could do that, so she could look out for other people. I dont know, i havent corroborated it with lots of people, but my sense was from people ive talked to that she felt responsible she understands the gump as a model what to do in testifying even when youre working in the government. Shes senior, she has her pension. She can afford lets say financially and otherwise to put her leg out there a little bit, and thats actually then that emboldened a lot of others. Bill taylor is in the same situation as she is. More senior. Can afford to take the risk. Catherine croft has a great career ahead of her. For her to make a misstep without that cover would have been a big risk. I want to pause on tim morrison because i worked with him and we talked about him actually you and i. You asked me whether he would testify. He worked for a long time in congress. He worked for Matt Thornberry whos retiring. With the house Armed Services committee. I suspect he left he was a political appointee. I think he left the white house so he could speak more frankly, so he could testify. Thats my bet. You know, policy wise a lot of democrats probably would want to say negative things because they didnt like the things that he worked hard to advocate, antiarms control, et cetera, but as a colleague i worked hard with him and my sense is he understands his constitutional obligations. Jill, what do you make of the pace that congressman krishnamoorthi tells us has picked up . I think its a natural reaction to the fact the evidence is mounting so fast and its like pieces of jigsaw coming together and fitting well now. The evidence is so strong its impossible for republicans to defend on the facts. The law is against them so you know you always say if the law is against you, argue the facts. If the facts are against you, pound the table. Theres nothing left for them to do but to do that because the evidence and the law are so strong, and every one of the people you mentioned in your opening, fit together and make a unbelievably strong case. You cant just take the phone call out of context. Yes, the phone call on the face of it is really damning to the president. He said i need a favor, though. Theres no question that he was asking for something of value, which is an act violation, soliciting a bribe. Its a terrible thing to have done. It endangers our security. It endangers ukraines security. It helps only one person and thats putin and russia. It all goes back to russia. So its really getting to be strong but you need it in context where you say for months before that Rudy Giuliani was really trying to get them to make up an investigation, make up evidence that doesnt exist. Congressman, we got reports yesterday indicating republicans were trying to get the name of the whistleblower out of the colonel yesterday in his testimony even though he testified in his Opening Statement he doesnt know who the whistleblower is. What were their tactics today . Was it anything similar to that . Was it obstructionist or were they spectators today . I felt they were a little more subdued, quite frankly. I think at this point its been made clear by chairman schiff and also the counsel for the witnesses that theyre not going to allow for anybody to get them to intentionally or inadvertently release the names of any people that could be the whistleblowers. As you know the whistleblowers are protected under statute and regulations from being exposed. And we also know that President Trump and his allies in Congress Want to expose this whistleblower so that they can then retaliate against him or her. If that is done not only will it harm the whistleblower in question, but it will create a tremendous Chilling Effect for anyone else who wants to come forward with evidence of wrongdoing who might be in the rank and file of our government. The American People devised the whistleblower system for one reason alone, and that is they want rank and file people to come forward so they can get good government. And the reason why the Trump Administration wants to create this Chilling Effect is precisely to get people to avoid doing that. And we cant allow that to happen, so were not going to allow people to burn this whistleblower. Congressman, quickly before we go to the break, ive had two members of the committees in depositions who have said on this program they believe Gordon Sondland is coming very close to risking perjury charges based on what theyve seen in the direct contradictions of his testimony under oath by other witnesses. Do you share that sense that Gordon Sondland could be in legal jeopardy . I wouldnt say it that way. What i would say is that at least my impression of his testimony was that he wasnt able to recall a whole heck of a lot with regard to a lot of his encounters and conversations. And so that kind of lack of memory, selective amnesia and perhaps evasiveness are issues. But that being said, there are a lot of other data points now that we have with regard to conversations, meetings and so forth that help to fill in the picture. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Jill Winebanks, evelyn farkas, thank you for all starting us off tonight. And when we come back, donald trump faces impeachment but who else is in legal trouble in the impeachment inquiry . Will trump contributor turned ambassador Gordon Sondland face perjury charges . I will ask a House Intelligence Committee member who first suggested that possibility to us on this program last wreak. Thats next. Next. 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The San Francisco chronicle reports prop c is an audacious overreach, threatening to overturn the ban on flavored products approved by voters. Prop c means more kids vaping. Thats a dangerous idea. Vote no on juul. No on big tobacco. No on prop c. Donald trump is going to be impeached by the house of representatives and sent to trial in the United States senate. Rudy giuliani is under criminal investigation for his activities involving ukraine, and Gordon Sondland might be next. Last week on this program congressman peter welsh made news when he said Donald Trumps ambassador to the european union, Gordon Sondland, could face perjury charges. Is Gordon Sondland in danger of perjury charges for his testimony to your committee . I think he is. When he presented himself he was kind of a rich guy who bought an ambassadorship, and he pretended it was a good day for him, he got a job he wanted. But he was pretty naive he didnt know the real meeting was going on in the room next door. But of course the evidence is now coming out he was in fact a very active instrument to try to essentially assist giuliani in the effort to have this rogue foreign policy. So, yes, i think ambassador sondland has some reason to be worried about how his testimony is going to be evaluated when reviewed by potential prosecutors. That was right after Ambassador William Taylor testified in direct contradiction and yesterday got worse when Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman also testified in direct contradiction to Gordon Sondlands under oath testimony. Congressman Joaquin Castro tweeted, base on all the testimony so if, i believe ambassador sondland committed perjury. Last night on this program congressman Sean Patrick Maloney who was in the room yesterday said this. I think ambassador sondland ought to read his transcript very carefully, and he ought to see whether his recollection or whether his ability to answer in more complete ways has been enhanced, let me put it that way. I think ambassador sondland is at the heart of this thing, and he owes us truthful testimony, all of it. And that is in his own best interest. Joining us now a member of the house intelligence and oversight committees who has been in the room for these depositions. Democratic congressman peter welsh of vermont. Thank you very much for joining us again on this question. And lets just take a look at this evidence here on what could be the basis of a perjury charge against sondland. Based on what colonel vindman said yesterday. Heres colonel vindmans testimony in his Opening Statement, he said ambassador sondland started to speak about ukraine delivering specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with the president at which time ambassador bolton cut the meeting short. Following this meeting there was a scheduled debriefing during which ambassador sondland emphasized the importance that ukraine deliver the investigations into the 2016 election, the bidens and burisma. I stated to ambassador sondland that this that his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate biden and his son had nothing to do with National Security and that such investigations were not something the nsc was going to get involved in or push. Dr. Hill then entered the room and asserted to ambassador sondland that his statements were inappropriate. And Gordon Sondland apparently says that none of that happened. Hir heres what we have from Gordon Sondland in his Opening Statement. Under oath he said we have regular communications with the nsc about ukraine both before and after the july meeting and neither ambassador bolton, dr. Hill nor anyone else on the nsc staff ever expressed any concerns to me about our efforts our most importantly any concerns that we were acting improperly. Congressman welch, someones not telling the truth there. Well, thats right, and i think sondland has a lot of explaining today. But, you know, whats worth really pointing out is theres two categories of witnesses here. Theres the Political Class and i put sondland in that category and its pretty sordid. Its about being selfserving, its about doing whatever the president s bidding is, its about making it up as you go along and about concealing what youre doing. And then there are the Civil Servant witnesses like the people today, like ambassador taylor. And its about duty. Those folks are inspiring. They are about teamwork, about Longterm Service of our country. And thats whats the inspiring part, but weve got the sordid. And i put sondland in that category, quite frankly. He bought an ambassadorship. He wanted to please the president. He had no longterm commitment to what the ukraine policy has traditionally been, even one buy john bolton supported to root out corruption in ukraine and defend it from foreign aggression. So sondland has got a lot of explaining to do, but he was clearly doing the bidding of the president. Now, we all know, it was Public Information that sondland was offered the standard opportunity in these situations to review the transcript of his deposition, to see if there was anything in there that he might want to try to correct. But there are some limitations on what youre allowed to correct in those review sessions, arent there . Well, there are. I mean you can correct if its not stated correctly you can correct it. Or if you misspoke you can say that. But i think changing your answer, day is night, that doesnt work so well. But well see. I mean, the bottom line here is its very clear that sondland was one of the three amigos, that he knew what the real ukraine policy was from the president , and that was essentially to get them to agree to do the investigation on the bidens. So he knew that even as he was working in the regular ranks of the ambassadorial class on the socalled longterm policy which people like ambassador taylor and even john bolton thought they were working on, corruption and thwarting russian aggression. And in the normal course of a situation like this, if you were going to refer that testimony for a perjury prosecution youd be sending it over to what is now William Barrs Justice Department. But the committee can wait until there is a new Justice Department after the next president ial election and send it over then. That might be something that Gordon Sondland isnt aware of. Well, its possible. And look, everybody is accountable. And everyone owes themselves to be brought to justice for whatever they may have done. But right now the focus obviously is on what was the president s policy. And the big question is can a president of the United States solicit aid for his campaign from a foreign power and in order to get that, with hold congressionally approved military aid . Thats really what the question is. So sondland for whatever he did, and i think he was doing the bidding of the president , was a sideshow, what really is at the heart of this is what was in that president ial call to president zelensky of ukraine. Congressman peter welch, thank you very much for joining us again. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up, it was a very bad day for donald trump in the United States senate. He had no defenders, zero defenders in a senate hearing. No republican defenders, and that could be a bad sign for Donald Trumps support in an impeachment trial in the senate. Limu emu doug and now for their service to the community, we present limu emu doug with this key to the city. 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You were aware that there were individuals and forces outside the state department seeking to smear ambassador yovanovitch, is that correct . I was. And seeking to remove her . I was. And did you know mr. Giuliani was one of those people . I believed he was, yes. What did you know about a shadow ukraine policy being carried out by Rudy Giuliani . My knowledge in the spring and summer of this year about any involvement of mr. Giuliani was in connection with a campaign against our ambassador to ukraine. Mr. Sullivan said he did not know until the whistleblowers complaint became public that donald trump was soliciting help from ukraine in his Reelection Campaign by asking them to investigate joe biden. In a very bad sign for donald trump, not one republican senator in that hearing today tried to defend Donald Trumps removal of the to ukraine at Rudy Giulianis urging. Not one trump defender in that room, a room full of senators who are going to be jurors in the impeachment trial of donald j. Trump in the United States senate. John heilemann will join our discussion next as we move even closer to the impeachment of President Trump. burke at farmers insurance, we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. Even a ernie lost rubber duckie . burke you mean this one . ernie rubber duckie cookie what about a broken cookie jar . burke again, cookie . cookie yeah. Me bad. grover yoooooow oh what about monsters having accidents . I am okay by the way burke depends. Did you cause the accident, grover . grover cause an accident . Maybe. bert how do you know all this stuff . burke just comes with experience. all muppets yup. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum when it comes to scent, helens motto is, the more the better. So, when she tried new gain scent blast detergent,. She loved it. Her son loves it, and her husband loves it, too. And the delivery woman . Awkward. Gain scent blast. Its our most intense scent. In matching fabric softener and scent beads too. Of millions of americans during the recession. So, my wife kat and i took action. We started a Nonprofit Community bank with a simple theory give people a fair deal and real economic power. Invest in the community, in businesses owned by women and people of color, in affordable housing. The difference between words and actions matters. Thats a lesson politicians in washington could use right now. Im tom steyer, and i approve this message. Good news, youre going to be seeing a lot more of barry burke. Barry burke is of course the counsel to the House Judiciary Committee who destroyed Cory Lewandowski in 30 uninterrupted minutes of questioning. My question to you, sir, is on National Television did you lie about your relationship to with the special counsel and whether they sought your interview . I dont know. Why did you lie about the president giving a message to the attorney general about the special counsels investigation . I dont recall that particular day and my mindset at the time so i couldnt answer that. Barry burke will get 45 minutes of uninterrupted questioning during the republican to the committee will get equal time according to a resolution passed in the House Rules Committee today that will be voted on the full house tomorrow establishing the rules and procedures of the impeachment inquiry committees. Joining our discussion now john heilemann, cohost and executive producer of showtimes the circus. Hes also an msnbc analyst. We saw two things today. That sailing through the committee, this new set of procedures empowering barry burke individually, but the concept of counsel asking the questions in the Committee Hearings and then we saw over on the senate side kind of a bad sign for donald trump with that controversy being dragged into a confirmation hearing about recalling the ambassador to ukraine, not one republican defender of the president there. Yeah, both bad signs for the president , lawrence, and id say first one, you know, the headline on whats happening on the impeachment front with House Democrats is they are serious this time. And i think, you know, its easy to say they would be serious. Its an impeachment hearing were heading into, its impeachment thats on the table. Its historic, et cetera, et cetera. But you and i have both seen where the desire for camera time overrides good sense of what would produce the most damning evidence and good politics. And in this case it looks like these House Democrats are serious enough theyre willing to say, hey, were going to let some lawyers do some lawyering here and step back from our needing to get camera time and try to make the most devastating argument you could make. And as you point out theres a lot of signs right now Senate Republicans are coming to grips with the seriousness of this situation and recognizing there are going to be some real political risks entailed if theyre going to stick by donald trump given the weight of the evidence thats now accumulated. Yeah, it seems the democrats learned from the certain amount of flailing around they did with the Mueller Report and how to deal with the Mueller Report, delays they got dragged into in trying to deal with the Mueller Report and then how some of those hearings went, and surely they were nancy pelosi was watching those hearings, just like the rest of us. Right. And knowing theres a better way. Well, and specifically you think about that lewandowski hearing. You played the sound appropriately that showed this lawyer who were now going to see a lot of in this impeachment process destroying lewandowski. Whats forgotten not that nancy pelosi has forgotten, is how bad that hearing was for rest of the day because the fact the House Democrats questioning him did such a bad job at it. That hearing that day was most of the day lewandowski not exactly running rings around the democrats but sort of mocking them and being able to filibuster and turn the thing into sort of a kind of piece of Performance Art until the very end when things got serious. And again, i think one of the things nancy pelosi did over the course of the time when she refrained from launching impeachment was kept her powder dry. Another was to really get a good gauge of Public Opinion and really wait for the right moment. But the last was to see who the strong players are for the Democratic Team and i think she knows exactly what shes doing going into this particular very very highstakes game. John heilemann, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Appreciate it. Thanks, lawrence. And when we come back well be joined by a senator who has taken that oath to be a juror in the impeachment trial of a president. At bayer, we create medicine that treats bleeding disorders like hemophilia. So victor can keep doing whats in his blood. At bayer, this is why we science. But she wanted someone who loves with the cats. Ng. So, we got griswalda. Dinners almost ready. But one thing we could both agree on was getting geico to help with our renters insurance. Yeah, switching and saving was really easy drink it all up. Good could have used a little salt. Visit geico. Com and see how easy saving on renters insurance can be. 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Tell your doctor if youve been somewhere fungal infections are common, or if youve had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Needles. Fine for some. But for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. Ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. An unjection™. 1,305 people have served as United States senators in our history. Only 154 of them have been jurors in impeachment trials of the president of the United States. Joining us now is one of those 154, former democratic senator from wisconsin Russ Feingold who was sworn in as a juror in the impeachment trial of president bill clinton. Senator feingold, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. Lawrence, its a pleasure. Thank you. Tell us about that moment where you had to take that additional oath beyond your oath of office as a senator, that oath that ends with i will do impartial justice according to the constitution and laws so help me god. Thats exactly what it says, and it really was an incredible experience because id just done a different oath earlier in the week, as you may remember, to start a second term as a United States senator, but this is a second oath. Its required by the constitution. Its the only other oath required than the other members of Congress Take and of course what the president takes. And its a different oath. We had a separate signing ceremony where we had to go up and each sign the book and each do this oath for impartial justice and, as you said, so help me god. To me it was a somber moment. In many ways the facts were sort of absurd, the process was bizarre. But at that moment when the chief justice came in and when the trial started, i think most of us took it very seriously this was something that had to be done according to the founders will. And what the founders wanted was for this process to be difficult but serious, in a dire situation such as the one were in right now. And i hope all senators will take it exactly that way. How much partisan pressure did you feel from your own party . How much partisan pressure did you feel in the room that the republicans were feeling in that Senate Chamber . Well, to be honest with you there was far too much partisan pressure on both sides. Even though senators were diligent and listened carefully to the information that was being presented on the floor of the senate, in the caucuses that were held there was tremendous pressure to just go along with the president or go against the president. And i thought that was, frankly, inappropriate. And i became the only democratic senator to vote to actually to hear the evidence, to actually see the depositions before i made a final decision about whether or not to convict the president. And i think thats exactly what should be done here. Both sides should believe that hearing the case, hearing the evidence is the only appropriate requirement to live up that someone does impartial justice. This is not a regular bill. This is not what we used to see out there, voterama with all the different issues trying to score points. This is something that goes way beyond this that involves the integrity of our country and in this case the National Security of our country. Senator, let me take you back to that moment just to explain to the audience. The very first thing or one of the very first things that happened in the Senate Chamber is there was a motion introduced to dismiss the case, and you were the only democrat who voted in favor of hearing the case at that point. Thats right. There were actually two weeks of very interesting argument, oral argument, introductory statements by the house managers the republicans coming in to prosecute the case against president clinton and then there was the defense of president clinton. But at the conclusion of that, senator byrd, in many ways the most distinguished senator in the body, he did move to dismiss the case, even though there were a number of depositions, including the deposition of Monica Lewinsky that was available to be taken and heard. And i thought we had to look at the evidence. And, of course, the republicans also wanted that. So we did it. In the end i thought it made the process better. I ultimately concluded they had not met their burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that president clinton had not obstructed justice. I believe ten republicans also voted not to convict him. I think everybody should be on guard if senator mcconnell tries to quickly dismiss the case, maybe even earlier than was attempted in the clinton case. The American People deserve a full trial if this occurs, and, frankly, the founders of our country basically required that a trial be held and that a vote be held on whether the president should be convicted or not and removed from ocffice. Thats a really important clarification about when the dismissal motion came. It came at the end of the presentation of the evidence in the case. As happens in a trial, its all the evidence has gone in and the defense counsel stands up and asks for directive verdict which is kind of the equivalent of what theyre asking for here. Right. Not on that first day and that is a huge distinction we have to watch. Former senator Russ Feingold, thank you very much for joining us tonight and come back. You bet. Thanks, lawrence. Well, the white house has to be operating at its very best, its very shapt during an impeachment inquiry. 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Stop dancing around the pain that keeps you up again, and again. Advil pm silences pain, and you sleep the whole night. Advil pm nbc news is reporting that acting white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney first learned about the u. S. Military raid against al baghdadi after the operation was already under way. Mulvaney was at his home in South Carolina on saturday when the president tweeted something very big has just happened, exclamation point. And mulvaney was then briefed on the raid later that evening. Here is what the white house chief of staff is supposed to be doing in those situations. Theres white house chief of staff bill daly standing right there in the situation room. With president obama. Politico is reporting that Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman testified on tuesday that he was excluded from debriefing President Trump on ukraine because a former aide to republican congressman devon announ nunes, who had joined the white house staff, had convinced the president that he was the National Security adviser instead of colonel vindman. Testified that he was told this directly by his boss at the time, nsc senior director for u. S. And Russian Foreign affairs, fiona hill. Hill told vindman that she and National Security adviser john bolton thought it best to exclude vindman from the debriefing to avoid an uncomfortable situation, he said. Joining our discussion now is chris whipple. He literally wrote the book on how a white house is supposed to be run. It is called the gatekeepers how the white house chiefs of staff define every presidency. Except Mick Mulvaney, apparently, chris, at this point. Trump has had some has had the worst relationships with white house chiefs of staff ever. This is a fascinating level, what we saw this weekend where let him go home and not even tell him whats happening. Yeah, let me just begin by conceding what weve been trying to tell me for a long time, lawrence, which is the subtitle of my book, how white house chiefs define every presidency, is no longer operative. As ron ziggler used to say. Only donald trump defines his presidency. In the process what weve seen over the last week is that hes defined the chief of staff out of existence. I mean, Mick Mulvaney had no authority to begin with, never tried to assert the authority that he should have, but now hes the invisible man in South Carolina during one of the critical National Security operations of the presidency. So we truly have a situation where there are no guardrails. No grownups. And the inmate is running the asylum. To the point that there is someone Walking Around in the building who donald trump thinks is the ukraine expert and is not the ukraine expert. Thats an incredible story. Yeah. The politico story today. And so here its classic trump. Hes essentially got a choice. He can be briefed by the guy with the chest full of medals, harvard educated, fluent in russian and ukrainian, the experts on ukraine, or he can be briefed by this guy from nunes Office Wearing a tin foil hat who pursues these ridiculous conspiracy theories. Guess who he chooses . Naturally he goes with the tin foil hat guy, and this speaks to this astonishing obsession of trump with the 2016 election. And i think, look, weve had delusional president s before. Richard nixon was convinced there was something in a safe in the Brookings Institution and told haldeman to go blow the safe. It was a figment of his imagination. Nothing compared to Donald Trumps. By the way, they just didnt do it. They did break into watergate, but they did not break into brookings. Thats one that haldeman decided not to do, but it pails in comparison to this obsession that trump has with 2016. I agree with tom bossert, his maybe still ally who said this is trumps white whale. This could be the thing that really brings him down. And if it does, no chief of staff will be around to talk about it. How much time does Mick Mulvaney have with this title, which apparently is all he has is the title . Well, again, the title is symptomatic of the fact that there is no functioning white house chief of staff right now. And therefore i dont think trump is in any hurry to replace him. He clearly has no interest. In a chief of staff. Hes unchained. Unbound. Were all seeing the results of letting trump be trump. And the the mulvaney holding on to the omb job at the same time, wasnt that mulvaneys way of saying i know this chief of staff thing cannot possibly work . I cant imagine what the motivation was, but its clearly you know, clearly this is just a the most dysfunctional white house weve ever seen. More dysfunctional by the day. And its unclear whos in charge of what. Is Jared Kushner the white house chief of staff . Is ivanka . Is anybody really performing that function . I dont think so. Chris whipple, lets figure out a new subtitle after the show tonight. Stick around at the desk and work on it. That is tonights last word. The 11th hour with Brian Williams starts now. Appears likely to result in articles of impeachment. In that same capitol again today more witnesses, more testimony about a shadow foreign policy, apparently run by a former new york city mayor in support of the president s darkest suspicions about ukraine. And now a big sought after name has been invited to testify. With each name that comes forward, many of them career Public Servants who feel compelled to tell the truth. Well talk to a longtime gop veteran tonight about how a politics of this is getting tough for the president s party