This since the news broke this morning. Hi. Jeffrey epstein as we know had been placed on suicide watch nearly three weeks ago now after he was found in his jail cell with marks on his neck. Were not able to confirm whether he was still on suicide watch whens with a found when he was found this morning. Sources say that he hanged himself, but we have not been able to confirm that detail. We know he was found unresponsive in his cell around 6 30 this morning and despite life saving efforts both at the prison and a downtown hospital epstein was pronounced dead. The question will now become, who let this happen and how did it happen . Someone in federal custody, especially someone on suicide watch should be under constant surveillance and not be allowed to have any items use today harm yourself. We spoke with an expert who says the prisons only obligated to give clothing to inmates who they think could use the clothing for selfharm not to mention bed sheets, shoe laces and sharp objects.
Rights. All of this as the the 11th hour gets under way on a tuesday evening. Good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york, day 985 of the trump administration. Here is our president from justice tonight. And we, quote, as i learn more and more each day, i come to the kwkz what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a coup intended to take away the power of the people, their vote, their freedoms, their second amendment, religion, and godgiven rights as a citizenship of the United States of america. It appears the ukraine story has broken through and is causing some real early damage. The second note came tonight from the Associated Press following up on the president s comments there by reminding its rewards, quote, a coup is usually defined as a sudden violent and illegal seizure of government power. The impeachment process is laid out in the u. S. Constitution. Be that as it may, and undeterred by definition, its something our president invokes regula
House. Were looking at the president s party as well, how republicans are trying to defend their leader with what our First Read Team calls a weak hand. As one of their former colleagues says its time to put their principles over their careers. Also, what does all of this mean for joe biden . The president s allies are trying to transfer the heat onto the former vice president. So is his Campaign Ready to handle that pressure . Well dig into that in just a bit. But we start at the center of this storm, the tension between the Trump Administration and lawmakers. Nbcs hans nichols is at the white house. Nbcs Geoff Bennett is on capitol hill. Mr. Nichols, ill start with you, sir, the president has been tweeting almost nonstop on this issue, nearly 30 tweets, or retweets on this topic in just the last 24 hours. Nbcs got some new reporting on how the white house plans to try and handle all of this. What are you hearing . Well, its just a plan, at this point, craig, and we dont know if its b
President s twitter account, you just look at the very dramatic i would say radical shift in Public Opinion toward impeachment just over the past five or six days, it is stunning. And that matters to the president. The majority of americans say they approve of Congressional Democrats push to impeach President Trump. 55 said theyd back House Democrats impeachment inquiry into trump according to a new cbs news poll. 45 said they do not approve of the poll. This follows the poll last week that showed 15 point swing in favor of impeachment while npr favored impeachment inquiry than opposed it. This matters in a lot of ways, because he watches Public Opinion in some ways seemingly first before anything else, but it could move the meter. Thats actually all the president did. Remember early in the campaign the entire justification of his campaign was joe bidens justification, i can win, im in first place in the polls. Jonathan, you just look at the shifts, and we can go back even to the begin
Mark zuckerberg and his harshest critics. What lawmakers want to know now. As gun reform legislation hits another wall, activists and 2020 democrats arent slowing down. Msnbc is teaming up with two prominent gun safety groups for a president ial forum on gun safety reform. Our big announcement coming up in just a few moments. Right now, behind closed doors on the hill, a laerg on an urgent concern about a conversation that the president had with a foreign leader. That conversation was so troubling, apparently torques an intelligence official that they filed a whistleblower complaint. Here is where things stand at this hour. Former u. S. Intelligence official familiar with the matter told nbc news President Trump spoke by phone to a world leader over the summer and made a promise. We do not know what the promise was. We do not know who the foreign leader is. By law congress is supposed to be notified of a complaint like this one. But the acting director of National Intelligence didnt do