impeachment almost from day one and they re saying that as an example of the democratic party hate for the president. what is your response to that charge from republicans? well, first of all, you have to understand that they have not put up any credible defense for the president. they cannot defend him on the fact that he called the ukrainian president in an attempt to bribe him into finding dirt on biden and creating this phony investigation. and so they have to come up with all kind of made-up reasons why i and others would like to have seen the president impeached even earlier. i started to pay attention to this president when he was running in the primary election. the way he treated his own colleagues, the name calling, the business of talking about grabbing women by their private parts. the fact that he obviously paid hush money to cohen, his lawyer,
you can t throw that around minimum. and i think that is significant because on the senate side with so many other initiatives and bills, it s a stack growing on mitch mcconnell s desk of things he won t move. the democrats have showed we can walk and chew gum. we can focus on a potential constitutional crisis, potential crimes from the president and yet keep the government functioning and moving forward. so to that point, let me follow up and ask you as well similarly. was this an attempt also by democrats to kind of undercut the arguments that some republicans have been making that they just hate the president and they wanted to remove him, that they can t even work with him, can t give him any so-called victories on issues like trade and the budget? well, they are trying to make a case that they can walk and chew gum. it has been something that republicans have pushed back against when the democrats started this inquiry, even before they started it saying that this was a vendett
he s trying to be careless or carefree about it? one thing we know about president trump is that he is certainly preoccupied by impeachment. let s not forget that he has started using impeachment as a rallying cry for his base of supporters back before the 2018 midterms, as a way to tell his supporters that they had to go out and vote for house republicans because if not it would be their fault that he got impeached. no matter what his public posturing is saying, he has been worried about this for some time. president trump will say what he wants to say. it doesn t matter if he doesn t feel like he s being impeached. the fact remains that he was impeached and was the third president in the history of the united states to be impeached. he can posture in tweets, mar-a-lago, in rallies to his base supporters. the facts remain that he is an impeached president. that will go down in his legacy and political obituary for years to come. what do you make of mitch
speaker. david, let me come back to you really quickly and just get your thoughts about the broader picture here in washington from the republican party. what is the strategy going forward? do you think that they want to try and get this president a swift acquittal regardless of whether it is substantial or meaningful? but fast? or do you think they want to actually take their time and try to exonerate him so he is buoyied by that support? i don t think there is much appetite in the u.s. senate for a lengthy trial chalked full of witnesses. this goes against not just what pelosi and chuck schumer may want to see. it goes against what the president initially wanted to see who has witnesses that he wanted the republicans to call. but mitch mcconnell has managed this such that he s explained to the white house why a lengthy trial with witnesses would not be in the president s interest, certainly would not be in the interest of senate republicans, from mcconnell s point of view. so, what
you can imagine, was a major point of contention. the party is torn between single-payer system and more moderate candidates who are pushing to build on the foundation of the affordable care act. but the aca seems to be on increasingly shaky ground. a federal appeals court in new orleans founded that unconstitutional. chief washington correspondent for kaiser health news julie. great to have you with us. obviously this topic of health care featured heavily in the last debate as it has been on the campaign trail. but i want to start with that debate over how realistic medicare for all is. where do you fall on that? well, you know, congress has been working all year to do something about surprise medical bills. these are out of network bills that people get when they go to an in-network hospital but they get care from a doctor who is not in their network. the president wants to do this republicans, democrats, they haven t even been able to