Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20191217

Lisa page left the fbi last year. She has said very little publicly since then, but now she is ready to talk. Shes going to be here exclusively tomorrow. This will be her First Television interview since she left the fbi. I have a lot to ask her. Lisa page, here, exclusively, tomorrow night. Well see you again then. Time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, rachel. And tonight isabel bueso is going to join us. Youll be home in time to see this. Because thanks to your reporting and the reporting of others that she has been granted officially from the Trump Administration the right to remain in this country for her lifesaving medical treatment. So the good news is how were going to end the hour tonight. Excellent. Im looking forward to that. Rachel, when you talked about the polls, the fox poll about impeachment, a couple numbers were fascinating. Obviously the 50 in favor and removal in the fox poll. And then theres the 54 who were in favor of just impeachment and not removal. Whats so interesting about that is those people recognizing there is a difference, that these are two different decision levels with different thresholds of proof. And, in fact, in American History there has never, ever been a president who was impeached in the house and removed by the senate. It has never happened. And so to know that people are talking about this will be a failed impeachment effort if the senate acquits, the only thing weve ever had in American History is the house impeaching a president. A senate has never removed. I think the public is much more capable of divining the differences than most politicians treat them. The other number was the 60 . 60 who believe that its inappropriate to ask Foreign Countries for help against your political rivals. And only 24 think its appropriate. So can the impeachment trial move that 60 from inappropriate to something stronger than inappropriate . Yes, and the way that it gets fleshed out in the house, i had Eric Swalwell tonight talking about the length of that debate and how long theyre going to go until they get the floor vote down. The question of how substantive thats going to be and how compelling it will be as a public matter, thats potentially going to be important in terms of the way the public views this process. If the senate doesnt pick up what theyre going to do, theyre part of trial part of this until january, thats a ways off and things happen fast. I feel like this is a live, stillevolving issue. And my favorite thing that you said, 11 00 a. M. Rules committee at 11 00 a. M. , finally a civilized hour. I can also tape it for you if you need to go later. Thank you, rachel. Thanks, lawrence. History has been marching steadily toward impeachment for the last 90 days, and this week it is sprinting toward impeachment with a vote tomorrow in the rules committee and a vote on the house floor on impeaching the president of the United States. Along this road to impeachment we have seen many things that weve never seen before, including the attorney general william barr publicly contradicting his Inspector Generals investigation of the origins of the Mueller Investigation. The Inspector General found there was no political prejudice in the launch of that investigation, and the one person who has held the job of fbi director and the job of cia director and who calls himself a friend of William Barrs is now very disappointed in what he has heard from william barr, and he has said so publicly. 95yearold former fbi and former cia director William Webster is speaking up in defense of the fbi as the president continues to attack the fbi and as the attorney general continues to publicly undermine the work of the fbi and the Justice Department prosecutors. For analysis of all of that and the evaluation of the evidence in the impeachment case against donald trump, we will be joined tonight for the first time by former federal prosecutor andrew weissman, who was one of the top prosecutors hired by Robert Mueller to conduct the Mueller Investigation and contribute to the mueller report. And we are saving our good news of the night for the end of the hour as i told rachel when isabel bueso will share her joy, continuing to receive lifesaving treatment where she can continue to participate in studies that will save the lives of others. She got the Christmas Present shes been hoping for, the legal right to remain in the United States. Youll be hearing from her at the end of this hour. We are now in the sprint phase of impeachment history, just 48 hours away from President Donald Trump becoming the third president in history to be impeached. Getting to that historic vote by the house of representatives on wednesday is a twostep process that begins tomorrow in the House Rules Committee. Everything that goes to the house floor in the house of representatives for a vote passes through the House Rules Committee on its way to the house floor. Each bill going to the house floor gets its own set of rules. The rules committee attaches a set of rules to everything that goes to the house floor for a vote. That set of rules establishes how long the debate will be, for one thing, what kind of amendments, if any, will be allowed. The rules for wednesdays debate on two articles of impeachment will be whatever rules Committee Chairman jim mcgovern in consultation with House Speaker nancy pelosi decides what those rules will be. Republicans will probably make some noise tomorrow in the rules committee, but the rules for the impeachment articles will pass the committee and the articles of impeachment will go to the floor of the house. Accompanying the articles of impeachment now in the house of representatives is a 658page report on the evidence in the impeachment inquiry written by the staff of the House Judiciary Committee and submitted by chairman jerrold nadler. The report says President Trump has realized the framers worst nightmare. He has abused his power in soliciting and pressuring a vulnerable foreign nation to corrupt the next United States president ial election by sabotaging a political opponent and endorsing a debunked Conspiracy Theory promoted by our adversary, russia. President trump has done all of this for his own personal gain rather than for any legitimate reason and has compromised our National Security and democratic system in the process. The report says that the president s abuse of power is impeachable and is the kind of abuse of power the founders anticipated in writing the president ial impeachment clause in the constitution. The report says, to the founding generation, abuse of power was a specific, welldefined offense. It occurs when a president exercises the powers of his office to obtain an improper personal benefit while injuring and ignoring the national interest. The evidence shows that President Trump leveraged his office to solicit and pressure ukraine for a personal favor. This unquestionably constitutes an impeachable offense. This unquestionably constitutes an impeachable offense. To the founders, this kind of corruption was especially pernicious and plainly merited impeachment. The report says that President Trumps blocking of the duly authorized investigation, quote, was categorical, indiscriminate, and without precedent in American History. The Judiciary Committee believes congress cannot wait for the next election to allow voters to render a verdict on the president s misconduct. The report makes the case for taking action now this way. President trump has fallen into a pattern of behavior. This is not the first time he has solicited foreign interference in an election, been exposed, and attempted to obstruct the resulting investigation. He will almost certainly continue on this course. Indeed, in the same week that the committee considered these articles of impeachment, the president s private attorney was back in ukraine to promote the same sham investigations into the president s political rivals, and upon returning to the United States, rapidly made his way to the white house. We cannot rely on the next election as a remedy for president ial misconduct when the president is seeking to threaten the very integrity of that election. We must act immediately. We must act immediately. And so the rules committee will act tomorrow and the full house will act the next day with the impeachment of President Trump clearly on its way to the United States senate for trial, Senate Leader Chuck Schumer proposed a set of rules for that trial, and those rules are modeled on the last impeachment in the senate in 1999 when the trial of bill clinton lasted about five weeks. Assuming President Trump is impeached this week, senator schumer proposes that after the christmas break the United States senate begin the impeachment trial of donald trump in the senate on january 7th. Senator schumer is asking Mitch Mcconnell to agree that the senate should hear testimony from four witnesses, former National Security adviser john bolton, white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, Senior Adviser to mick mulvaney, robert blair, and Michael Duffey from the office of management and budget. To conduct a trial without relevant witnesses who havent been heard from, to just rehash the evidence presented in the house just doesnt make any sense. If leader mcconnell doesnt hold a full and fair trial, the American People will rightly ask, what are you, leader mcconnell, and what does President Trump hide . This afternoon Mitch Mcconnell responded, telling reporters, quote, well be getting together and well have more to say tomorrow. The only two democrats who voted in october against authorizing the house impeachment inquiry announced that they will vote against impeachment, as expected. One of those, congressman Jeff Van Drew of new jersey, actually spent the weekend speaking to republicans about switching parties. That provoked members of his staff to cosign a letter of resignation, saying, sadly, the congressmans decision to join the ranks of the Republican Party doesnt align with the values we brought to this job. As such, we can no longer in good conscience serve in the congressmans employ. The letter is cosigned by the newly unemployed but still principled members. Several freshman democratic members in the house who won seats last year in previously republican districts have announced their support for impeachment. Heres freshman democratic congresswoman elyssa slotkin making her dramatic announcement at a town hall in her Congressional District in michigan today. So i will be voting yes on obstruction of congress. [ cheers ] now, obviously i know and i can hear that this is a very controversial decision, and i knew that. All i can ask from the people who are listening is that while we may not agree, i hope you believe me when i tell you that i made this decision out of principle and out of a duty to protect and defend the constitution. I feel that in my bones, and i will stick to that regardless of what it does to me politically because this is bigger than politics. [ cheers ] leading off our discussion tonight, were lucky to have democratic congressman Hakeem Jeffries of new york. Also, andrew weissman, former fbi general counsel and former federal prosecutor, now an msnbc legal analyst. Congressman jeffries, let me begin with you. The five people i want to begin with are the five names of those staffers, those democratic staffers who resigned in protest, in protest of President Trumps policies, in protest of President Trumps misconduct which has led to this impeachment. When their member started talking to the republicans about switching parties. And what we see there is the principled resignation. The reason i wanted to put their names on the screen is the principled resignation is the thing we have not seen in the Trump Administration these three years, no matter how many lines donald trump has crossed. Yeah, thats been very unfortunate. What weve seen is that my republican colleagues continue to put party over principle, corruption in this case over the constitution and demagoguery over democracy. Thats been quite unfortunate. These five individuals have demonstrated principled public service. These are obviously individuals who agreed to staff Jeff Van Drew, who was elected as part of a historic Midterm Election with democrats ascending into the majority, committed to fighting for the people torque on things Like Health Care costs, as infrastructure, increasing pay for everyday americans, dealing with gun violence, and serve as a check and balance on an outofcontrol administration. Their principle, referring to their former boss, to go in a different direction and they made a selfless decision at a very difficult moment for our country and our democracy. Congressman, another tough decision were seeing made are these freshman democrats who took republican districts, who are stepping forward telling their former republican districts that they are voting to impeach the president. I know youve been very concerned over this last year, actually, including the last 90 days, about how difficult this process has been for them. What is your reaction to what youre seeing in their decisions . The class of 2018 is an Extraordinary Group of americans who stepped forward at a very vulnerable time for our democracy and decided that they were going to run for office having already done so much for the country and the National Security space as veterans, as doctors, as nurses, as educators, have come to congress to do the right thing on behalf of the people they were elected to represent. This is a very difficult decision for any member. Impeachment is a very serious, solemn, and sober moment. But when you layer on top of that, these are members from tough districts with constituents who have sharp opinions that differ on how to most appropriately hold this president accountable, yet theyve decided to elevate their oath of office, elevate their constitutional responsibility, be guided by their conscience, unlike many of my colleagues other side of the aisle and certainly unlike the president. Andrew weissman, given the two responsibilities, the one responsibility the house has, the other the senate has. Is it a reasonable proposition for a member of the house to say i havent decided on this evidence in a final judgment way, but i want to send it to the United States senate for trial. I believe theres enough evidence to send this to trial in the senate. That is responsible. The analogy would be taking a federal prosecutor and submitting something to a grand jury. The grand jury just decides whether theres probable cause for a charge. You dont have to have the grand jury find theres proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Thats for the trial jury. So you could imagine somebody in the house saying that. But in reality, what happens for a federal prosecutor is you would not ask a grand jury to vote an indictment unless you thought you could win because you wouldnt want to put somebody through that. But that is a slightly different context. There youre talking about someones life and liberty. You could leave it to the senate to make a determination about what they thought about the quantum proof and whether it was appropriate to go forward. Because there is no judicial review of the senates finding in this, the question of standard of proof is in effect up to each individual senator to say, heres the standard im using. Some might use proof beyond a reasonable doubt, some might use more likely than not. They can pick what it is. What do you think they should use as their standard of proof . So i agree that theres not a lot of law in this. This is new territory. I think its got to be something fairly close to beyond a reasonable doubt, even though youre not sending someone to jail as you would in a criminal case. Here were not talking about trump. Were talking about just the president in terms of what system do we want. I think even though there are other ramifications for the president , it does take the choice that americans have voted for and said this is no longer going to be the case. Were going to countermand what you voted for. So that should be a very high level of proof. I dont know the answer, but it should be something significantly high that this is not done cavalierly. High so that you can explain it to voters, in fact. Thats the other standard . Absolutely. Its not required as in a criminal case you would have to have a unanimous verdict. And here you dont. Its still high, but its not unanimous. So that actually is in favor of a high threshold in terms of proof because you dont have to convince all of the senators as you would if it was actually going to a jury. Congressman jeffries, will the president of the United States be impeached . Its my expectation that there will be a majority of the house of representatives that does conclude that the president should be impeached. The evidence is overwhelming. Its uncontroverted that donald trump pressured a Foreign Government to target an american citizen solely for political and personal gain at the same time withheld 390 million in military aid from a very vulnerable ukraine without justification. And as part of that scheme, effectively solicited foreign interference in the 2020 election. That strikes at the heart of the concern the Founding Fathers had, a, abuse of power, b, betrayal of the constitution, and c, corrupting our free and fair elections. The president s misbehavior implicated the trifecta of tenures the framers of the constitution had, and for that reason i shall he should be impeached and he will be impeached as of wednesday. Hakeem jeffries, andrew weissman, thank you for starting us off tonight. Looking back, the only person who has been both the director of the fbi and the director of the cia is now speaking out about donald trump and attorney general william barr, who he still calls a friend. Thats next. Smoking cold turkey. 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. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or lifethreatening allergic and skin reactions. Decrease alcohol use. Use caution driving or operating machinery. Tell your doctor if youve had Mental Health problems. The most common side effect is nausea. Talk to your doctor about chantix. May your holidays glow bright the most common side effect is nausea. And all your dreams take flight. Lease the c 300 sedan for just 399 a month at the mercedesbenz winter event. Hurry in today. Who doesnt love a deal . I do. Check out the united explorer card. Savin on this savin on this savin in here. Rewarded learn more at the explorer card dot com. Some things are too important to do yourself. Get customized security with 24 7 monitoring from xfinity home. Awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. The fbi and the cia are, quote, under assault from too many people whose job it should be to protect them. Those are the words from the only person in history who has served as both the director of the fbi and the director of the cia. William webster was a federal judge in 1978. He served in that role until president Ronald Reagan chose him in 1987 as the cia director, a position that he continued to hold under president george h. W. Bush. William webster now chairs the Homeland Security advisory council. He now writes, i know firsthand the professionalism of the men and women and the fbi, the aspersions cast upon them by the president and my longtime friend, attorney general william p. Barr, are troubling in the extreme, calling fbi professionals scum as the president did is a slur against people who risk their lives to keep us safe. Mr. Barrs charges of bias within the fbi made without providing any evidence and in direct dispute of the findings of the nonpartisan Inspector General, risk inflicting enduring damage on this critically important institution. This afternoon Andrea Mitchell asked William Webster why he decided to speak up. Its not something i want to do, but something i feel compelled to do because American People are asking now whats happening to our government, whats happening to the people that we trusted and need to trust, why is all this stuff going on . And i tried to raise that question because it does affect the ability of organizations like the fbi that we love and cherish, and the cia thats done so much together, intelligence for us, it affects their ability to do their job and their willingness to do their job, and it shouldnt be. Its not american. Its not our way of life. And its not the rule of law. You can watch more of andreas interview with William Webster tomorrow at 12 00 noon. Joining our discussion now, former fbi assistant director for counterintelligence, frank figliuzzi. Hes an msnbc National Security analyst. Andrew weissman is the former fbi general counsel, msnbc legal analyst. Frank, your reaction to William Webster finally speaking out on this. Lawrence, when somebody like William Webster speaks, which he doesnt do often anymore, America Needs to listen. When he says this isnt american, this isnt the rule of law, we need to listen. I think if you read his oped in the new york times, youll see his reference to whats coming down the road, where this could be headed. So i want people to understand, this isnt about a thinskinned group of fbi folks who cant take criticism. Fbi agents get bashed and beaten and shot at. They can take the criticism. What pops out at me out of the editorial is webster saying this isnt so much about where we are right now, but about where this is headed. He talks about perhaps losing the independence and neutrality of the fbi. Thats a dangerous place to be when we see a president hinting at thinking about removing the current fbi director. We have an attorney general criticizing an ig report saying the fbi is spying on a campaign. You know where thats going based on hints and clues were getting . Thats going to a political person running the fbi and a political person in the attorney general telling the fbi what to do or not to do. Thats what i think mr. Webster is really concerned about. Andrew weissman, in the Mueller Investigation you in that team lived through what William Webster is arguing against here, this kind of attack on fbi agents, attack on federal prosecutors. One of the things that struck me about the impeachment hearings is the one thing donald trump could not do, which he did with your team almost every day, he could not threaten to fire Eric Swalwell or adam schiff as he was doing throughout the Mueller Investigation. What is the effect of that kind of attack from the president of the United States on federal investigators . I think youre seeing it because you see the corrosive power that he has because you can see just whats happened with the change of white House Counsel going from mcgahn to cipollone and the letter that he signed is really not what you expect from the white House Counsel. You might expect that from his personal counsel. And then youve seen the change from attorney general sessions to attorney general barr. And former director webster i thought was really poignant in attacking not just what the president s doing, but also what the attorney general is doing. To follow up with what frank is talking about, the danger here is if you dont have an independent department of justice and independent fbi, that means it is subject to the political process. Do we really want to live in a society where we are now a Banana Republic . Everything we have fought to have ukraine not be is what we will become because it means the president or the attorney general can just go after political opponents. And that really is the end of the rule of law. Thats what i think he was talking about. Frank, director webster actually managed to squeeze in a reference to Rudy Giuliani here, whos not a Government Official but he i think correctly sees him as part of the trump barr operation, this critical front that he needs to stand up against. Well, he speaks to rudy because he knows rudy. Thats the special nature of this oped. Hes talking about william barr because he knows william barr. Hes talking about Rudy Giuliani because he knows him. What does he say about rudy . Hes disappointed. Hes disappointed in a man whos become something that we cant figure out anymore and has bought in to all of this nonsense that could lead to deep trouble for the rule of law. Im glad William Webster spoke out. I hope americans listen, and i hope the right americans listen who are on the fence wondering whether theres damage being done that we need to stop in progress. William barr also sorry, webster found fault with attorney general barrs criticism of the Inspector Generals report. He says that the attorney general criticized the Inspector Generals report, and the claim that the fbi investigation was based on a completely bogus narrative. Those were William Barrs words. He then goes on to list the findings of the Mueller Investigation and, andrew weissman, that is something i dont think anyone could have anticipated, that there would be an attorney general publicly arguing against the findings of an Inspector Generals report. And doing so with no evidence whatsoever. The other thing thats just remarkable is if you look at the time period that is covered by the Inspector Generals report, there are things that happened during the Obama Administration and there are things that happened during the Trump Administration. You have the attorney general, the current attorney general saying, you know, i dont think they followed the attorney general guidelines. Those are his guidelines. I dont see him changing them. So for him to pretend this is something that happened under somebody elses watch, thats not true. Also talking about the carter page fisa. That happened under the Trump Administration too. So hes not taking responsibility. Andrew weissman, frank figliuzzi, thank you both very much for joining us. I really appreciate it. When we come back, donald trump doesnt want anyone to find out what he says to Vladimir Putin, but a trumpappointed federal judge has sided with litigants who are fighting to get the records, the translators notes of those conversations. The head of that organization leading that legal fight will join us. And with just one week of Christmas Shopping left, we want to remind you about kids in need of desks. Go to lastworddesks. Msnbc. Com. 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A trumpappointed judge ruled against donald trump in a hugely important case last week that is about nothing less than about what donald trump and Vladimir Putin talk about when donald trump thinks no one else is listening. After his first meeting with Vladimir Putin in july of 2017, donald trump seized the notes of his interpreter. Those were the only written record other than the russian record of the meeting which Vladimir Putin has. And the problem for President Trump is his translators notes dont belong to him and they dont belong to the translator. They belong to you, which is to say they belong to the American Government under the federal records act, which requires the translators notes to be kept in the custody of the state department. Our next guest filed a lawsuit against secretary of state mike pompeo, who is supposed to be one of the legal custodians of those notes. That lawsuit seeks to produce those notes. A federal judge in washington, d. C. , trevor mcfadden, who was appointed by donald trump, ruled against donald trump and mike pompeo, who attempted to have that lawsuit dismissed. Judge mcfadden ruled they can proceed with the lawsuit and have the case go to trial. He actually gave mike pompeo a january 10th date to file a written response to the lawsuit. Meanwhile, russian state media cannot resist depicting what it considers russias power over donald trump. Russian tv aired a segment entitled puppet master and agent how to understand lavrovs meeting with trump. Thats actually what they called their segment. That was after donald trump met with Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office Last week and Russian Media is now rerunning video of fox news segments showing sympathy for russia in its war with ukraine. After this break well consider what donald trump might have been worried about when he seized his translators notes after his conversation with Vladimir Putin. 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You may have gingivitis. When you brush, and the clock could be ticking towards bad breath, receding gums, and possibly. Tooth loss. Help turn back the clock on gingivitis with parodontax. Leave bleeding gums behind. Parodontax. Thats ensure max protein, with high protein and 1 gram sugar. Its a situp, banana bend at the waist im tryin keep it up. Youll get there. Whoahoahoa 30 grams of protein, and one gram of sugar. Ensure max protein. Donald trump reportedly seized his translators notes after his first conversation with Vladimir Putin. But of course russia has notes of that conversation and all of Donald Trumps conversations with Vladimir Putin. And last week Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov publicly humiliated trump and the Trump Administration by offering to make those notes public and claiming that the Trump Administration is refusing to agree to allow russia to make public the notes of the conversations between Vladimir Putin and donald trump. Translator we suggested to our colleagues that in order to dispel all suspicions that are baseless, let us publish this closed channel correspondence starting from october 2016 till november 2017 so it would all become very clear to many people. However, regrettably, this administration refuses to do so. Joining us is austin evers, the executive director of the organization of american oversight. He previously served as senior counsel in the state department and oversight and transparency matters. Austin, its your lawsuit that is chasing the translators notes of the putin trump conversations, but theres lavrov basically offering you the russian notes of the conversations. But the Trump Administration is not agreeing to that. No. Its absurd and its actually rather striking that maybe thats a good deal for the American Public that we should rely on probable russian propaganda to find out what our president said to Vladimir Putin. The bottom line is when the president snatched those notes from his translator, he not only violated all sorts of norms for how president s should act, he also violated the law. Our lawsuit with our group called Democracy Forward tries to get those notes back in the custody of the state department. So hopefully they can be ultimately produced to the public and we can check what the president s saying. Do you have any indication that the notes, the trump translated version of the notes still exist . We just dont know. Theres been a lot of rumor and speculation in the media, which is actually what triggered our lawsuit, realizing that the president had snatched those notes. The bottom line that were looking for is some answers on what happened to them. Were they destroyed . Are they something the state department could recover . If so, the law requires them to do that. The deadline that the state department has in january will require them to give some of those details to us and to the public so we can take the next steps and force some transparency. Ill point something out. Donald trump thought the ukraine call was perfect and he published it and now hes getting impeached for it. What has to be in those notes that caused him to snatch them from the translator immediately . And now two years later we still dont know what he said. Thats such a good point. He had the presence of mind based on something that was said in that conversation that no one should ever know what was in that conversation. You compare that to the ukraine conversation where he also knew people were listening, and he still went ahead and said these things that are now impeachable. It really, really draws a lot of attention to it. We need to know what he said. Nancy pelosi is right. This always keeps coming back to russia and Vladimir Putin. Theres been too much secrecy around it. And so groups like american oversight, Democracy Forward, and i Hope Congress will keep their eye on this because even after we sprint through this impeachment process, theres a tidal wave of accountability behind this president and we have to keep fighting to expose it. Austin evers, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you. When we come back, isabel bueso will be our last guest of this hour. She was issued a death sentence by donald trump when donald trump ordered her deportation, sent her a deportation notice. Shes here getting lifesaving medical treatment. Isabel bueso will join us in tonights last word. Ord. music if you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. 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And our life depends on it. That was isabel bueso testifying for her life in the house of representatives after the Trump Administration threatened to deport her by revoking her legal right to remain in the United States for lifesaving medical treatment and issuing her a deportation order. Isabel was one of many people in this country for lifesaving treatment who received letters from the Trump Administration ordering their deportation. When the boston globe, and the new york times, and Rachel Maddow started reporting on this story, the Trump Administration was forced under public pressure to stop threatening isabel bueso and others with deportation. But no one knew what would happen next. As her doctor told us on this program, deporting isabel would be a death sentence because she could not receive medical treatment she needed outside of the United States. Four months after isabel bueso received an official deportation notice from the Trump Administration, she has finally received a Christmas Present shes been waiting for. In a letter dated december 6th, u. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services wrote to isabel, quote, this is to advise you effective august 14th, 2019, you have been granted deferred action for a period of two years. The action will expire on august 13th, 2021. After the break, she will join us to talk about what this means for her. Thats next. Thats next. Hat. With us. Buy a samsung note 10 5g and get one free when you add a line. Everything your trip needs for everyone you love. Expedia. For everyone you love. children playing dog barking Music Building experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. I cant believe it. 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Ive heard a lot of excuses to avoid screening for colon cancer. Im not worried. It doesnt run in my family. I can do it next year. No rush. Cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92 of colon cancers. You just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab. Theres no excuse for waiting. Get screened. Ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. Covered by medicare and most major insurers. I still feel that there are so many questions that has not been answered. I feel like im still in the limbo with not really clear direction of where this is going. Its been im really overwhelmed. I dont feel 100 safe that, you know, im stable, but i hope that soon we can get a solution. That was isabel bueso with rachel in september after the Trump Administration said they would not enforce the deportation order they sent to isabel but they also would not clarify her legal status in this country to receive lifesaving medical treatment. But last week, isabel bueso finally got that in writing from the Trump Administration and shes now legally allowed to remain in this country for medical treatment for two more years. And im very happy to say that joining us now is isabel bueso. Isabel, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Im glad youre still here. Im glad youre still in this country. And that you have this good news. The letter that i have here saying that you now have legal deferred action status for another two years. This will be bringing you up to august 13th, 2021. What was it like to finally get that letter saying you are here, youre safe, for two years . Well, hi, lawrence. Very nice to meet you, and thank you for having me. As you mentioned, i finally received a letter that ive been waiting for so long, for months, and im just really happy and i feel really relieved and im really happy, different emotions going on through my head this past few weeks, but im really, really happy. And it was a very difficult road to get here. You had to testify to congress. You met both democrats and republicans when you testified to congress about your situation. How important do you think it was that you were able to tell this story directly to congress in a hearing . Well, i feel like, you know, going back a little bit, i mean, this was unexpected for me to go through. I never imagined, you know, go and testify to, you know, share my story, but i knew that i had to use my voice, you know, and say, you know, the problem and, you know, share my story because i knew that what was happening in a moment was just really unfair and scary and overwhelm, so, so, and i feel like it helped, you know, it helped because im sure there are other families going through the same situation with fear and overwhelm and im really happy i was able to use my voice and share my story and testify. And, you know, just say, you know, the situation, you know, but im really happy with the good news and hopefully other families can get some answer really soon. And in your letter, it also says that you are eligible to apply for another extension for two years as this one is moving toward the end of its term. Is this the kind of letter that you used to get routinely . Yeah. Yeah. Every two years, we got that same letter that we were good for two years and then after those two years then you have to apply again. It has been the routine. And so does it feel like this has now been restored to the way it was . Do you feel confident that in two years from now, in 2021, that youll be able to routinely get this extended . I thought about, like, whats going to happen in two years, but, you know, i feel like sharing my story, you know, in d. C. In september, the situation about the status, medical deferred action. My hope is in two years hopefully theyre going to come up with a better solution. I really do hope that i dont have to go through this again because this it was really stressful and overwhelm for me and my family and im sure for other families, so im hoping and praying that things will get better. Well, isabel, i want to thank you also on behalf of all of the families of and the patients, the other patients out there, who have mps6, this rare disease, that youve participated in the research with dr. Harmarts that has helped those other patients. That was a very important part of your story that you havent just been here being helped by the special medical treatment youre able to get only here, but you have helped other patients by being part of the studies and the advances for this disease that has been so difficult for people to deal with, and i just wanted to thank you on their behalf for what youve done. Yeah. Yeah. Im really happy, you know, to help, you know, the Mps Community and participate in more Clinical Trials so they can do more research and everything. And dr. Harmarts and im really blessed and grateful that whatever thing i do to help them in the Clinical Trials, so im really, really blessed. Thank you so much for having me and to share this story along with rachel, i really truly appreciate it, and this is like the best Christmas Present for me and happy holidays. Thank you, isabel. Really appreciate it. The heroic isabel bueso gets tonights last word. The 11th hour with brian the 11th hour with Brian Williams starts now. Tonight, a big week for impeachment begins and while its historic for the presidency, theres a whole lot riding on this process, including the targeted House Democrats who won in districts that trump carried and who are deciding to vote yes knowing it could mean their jobs. Well show you one such member of congress and hear what happened when she announced her decision. Plus, the Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer is out with a list of witnesses he wants to see at the Senate Impeachment trial. Late reaction from a bigname republican. And an insider look at the men with stars on their shoulders. The men donald trump has called my generals. We look at a new book that chronicles their misgivid