like susan collins, gardner, and mcsally, these folks have a lot of people in their states who don t love trump. they might be conservative. they might be independents. and it s directed at them. the question is will they say to their senators, you just can t go with mcconnell on this. if you do you re going to get punished not in a primary but in a general election where you need the independents and you need the swing voters to hang on to your seats. so that s directed mostly at people in those states. so people watching here from arizona, colorado, maine. they re the ones that are expected to they re the ones they hope will contact their senators and say don t vote with mcconnell, vote for a real, not a fake trial. let me read you this tweet from senator lindsey graham about the dynamic unfolding with nancy pelosi. he writes, stop playing games with the constitution. in our system you cannot be the speaker of the house and the senate majority leader at the same time. the se
with amon mowheldin filling in for lawrence. i was going to say ice is back with a brand new invention. take it away, friend. that was good. we have a lot to get to. today a new editorial hits, saying senate majority mitch mcconnell senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is a clear and present danger to the constitution. we re going to talk about that. and as the impeachment stalemate continues is there a chance moderate republicans will buck their leader and president trump in support of impeachment witnesses in the senate? also ahead, the show trial this saudi arabia for the murder of u.s. journalist, u.s.-based journalist jamal khashoggi. u.s. intelligence says the crown prince ordered the assassination. but today anyone close to the prince was cleared of wrongdoing. trump white house quickly followed with a statement of support for that verdict. the former u.s. ambassador to saudi arabia will be here as well. and later, one of the last word s favorite freshmen congresswomen
but we ve also seen a president who has gone rogue in connection with the impeachment proceedings. i don t think we have any reason to believe that he s going to be any more cooperative on dealing with the saudis. the one encouraging feature is that saud al qahtani, the crown prince s right-hand man in connection with this murder, has been sanctioned by the treasury department, as has his family. there are a couple of other saudis who have also been sanctioned. that is the only nugget that i think we have here. but i don t think congressman schiff has a very strong piece of leverage right now. it will be interesting to see if saud al qahtani now that he wasn t found guilty in that trial, if his name will be taken off the sanctions list here in the u.s. i think that s a possibility. it certainly is. all right. ambassador robert jordan. sir, thank you very much for joining us this evening. i appreciate your insights. thank you. my pleasure. up next, stephen miller s secret plan
as we celebrate the holidays, asylum seekers and their children are facing harsh winter conditions at camps along the u.s.-mexico border. there are multiple reports of migrant children shivering in freezing temperatures, their parents desperate to protect them as they wait in makeshift tent settlements. they are facing those conditions because of an immigration policy that has been pushed by president trump s senior adviser stephen miller. the remain in mexico policy is forcing over 60,000 asylum seekers to wait in dangerous conditions in mexico for a chance to apply for refugee status. stephen miller was also behind the separation of at least 2700 children from their parents. but stephen miller is not done. new reporting reveals a spying plan by stephen miller aimed at potentially deporting parents and relatives who provide their information when they try to get custody of their unaccompanied
testify. he wants him along with acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and former national security adviser john bolton. now, the white house called the timing a coincidence. but following those revelations senator schumer reiterated why those witnesses need to testify. what happened over the weekend with duffey s e-mails that were made public has only bolstered the case that documents should be produced and witnesses testify if everything was on the up and up. if the call was perfect, as president trump said, why does one of his top aides, who s a political appointee, say let s keep it hush-hush? chuck schumer also argued in favor of a fair trial with documents and witnesses in a letter to his senate colleagues today, writing, to oppose the admission of this evidence would be to turn a willfully blind eye to the facts and would clearly be at odds with the obligation of senators to do impartial justice according to the oath we will all take in the impeachment trial.