Coverage. The houses impeachment investigation is about to move into the open. It is day 38 of the impeachment inquiry and here is what is happening. Today the house voted to formally authorize a new phase in the impeachment inquiry and lawmakers stayed largely in their partisan lanes. Here are the impeachment rules of the road that todays resolution establishes. Democrats can begin public hearings and release transcripts of depositions that have already happened. Speaker nancy pelosi said the moern people deserve to hear the evidence. I dont know why the republicans are afraid of the truth. When we have a president who says article 2 says i can do whatever i want that is in de defiance of the separation of powers. Thats not what our constitution says. So what is at stake is our democracy. What are we fighting for . Defending our democracy for the people. Todays resolution allows certain republicans to call their own witnesses as long as the majority approves. Will they act in good fai
Go and testify . And why do we go and testify . And the white house clearly believed and mike pompeo and the state department clearly believed, oh, well just tell people theyre not going and that will be enough. And faced with a youre not going versus a lawful congressional subpoena that you need to go, a lot of people particularly people who are not hyperpartisans who were just doing their job, are deciding this assertion from the white house is bullpucky, and ultimately that will be material in how the courts adjudicate whether not that instruction in from the white house means no anything in the face of a real subpoena. But watching david hale turn up today, colonel vindman, watching yovanovitch and now watching williams tomorrow, its a fascinating cast. Tc so theres an interesting passage in taylors deposition transcripts about exactly this, and its one of those things that the republicans really i focused on the republican testimony, rachel, the republican questioning because ther
Good evening, rachel. And you have to wonder about Jennifer Williams testifying. One reason to do it could be that what she believes she has to say would be helpful to mike pence. Thats one possibility. Sure. Other possibilities include she just doesnt want to deal with the kind of legal fees that she might be incurring by trying to steer her way around testifying and running up billable hours with an expensive washington law firm. I think one of the most fascinating stories were going to get, when, i dont know a year from now, whenever. This decision, a decision by people who got with these requests and these subpoenas, that decision of do we fight it, do we go to work, and why do we go and testify . And the white house clearly believed and mike pompeo and the state department clearly believed and that will be enough, and faced with youre not going versus a lawful congressional subpoena that you need to go, a lot of people particularly people who are not hyperpartisans who were just d
White house when she stood up to President Trump in the room. Unscripted moment that was provoked by the situation. And its just something that it feels like only she can do this. Yes. It was an indelible moment. As a catholic seeing her invoke her catholic faith at the apex of that was a heartstopping thing. It is all there. She delivers those moments like no one ive seen in washington. Thank you, rachel. Today in New Hampshire, Pete Buttigieg something. Hours later, reporters asked him about it again. And he changed what he had to say, but he did not correct what was wrong. What was very, very wrong in his first statement today. Were going to take some time at the end of this hour to show you all of that because at the heart of that story is a very important political lie, a political lie that has been told by republicans for generations. Well, as i was just saying to rachel, nancy pelosi did it again today. It was that moment where she stood up to donald trump. It was unscripted. It
Good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Im Steve Kornacki in for brian williams. Day 1,079 of the Trump Administration. Tensions in the middle east are dramatically higher tonight after yesterdays u. S. Air strike that killed iranian general Qasem Soleimani. The United States is on a heightened state of alert in the region, and there are concerns in washington about the potential for war with iran. There is also word tonight from an Iraqi Security official to nbc news that a second u. S. Air strike was carried out in iraq several hours ago. According to the official, the attack took place north of baghdad and targeted irani iranianbacked Shiite Militia leaders. There are reports that six people were killed. Our own Richard Engel points out that shiite demonstrations are planned in baghdad where it is already saturday morning right now, and he warns those events could countturn violent. As to the timing, Senior State Department officials tell soleimani h