Decide because theyre not going to get the witnesses, theyre not going to get the documents. Manu is checking for us, manu raju up there to see when the chief justice is going to get in there and get seated because thats going to be the actual official start. What is the word for me and erin . Reporter well, i just had a chance to talk to several republicans who are actually not going nearly as far as Lamar Alexander did, the tennessee republican, criticizing the president s conduct, but said it was not impeachable. I talked to several who said they believe the president did not do anything wrong, including James Langford of oklahoma, and also marsha blackburn, she said, i asked her if the president did anything inappropriate, she didnt quite say, but didnt criticize the president. While we hear some republicans take the line, starting later today when theyre able to make floor speeches that the president acted inappropriately, but did not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemean
And there sis revelations that he exaggerated stories from a iraq mission, and the network calling it wrong and inappropriate for someone in brians position. And now joining us is cnns senior media correspondent, and dan abrams founder of mediaite and frank sesno and the bureau chief and now the director of media and Public Relations at Georgetown University and i want to e begin with brian selter and how did we get here . Suspension without pay . I dont know. Because i have never seen anything like it. And it started with Brian Williams starting with an apology of misremembering something, and he said that an rpg struck his helicopter and he said that did not happen, and then he started with an apology, and it was not adequate, because it started with more questions than answers, and started a crisis inside of the network. The network believes they can calm the storm by suspending him b , but the morale is so low, and this is the worst period for nbc news. And i heard from one staffer
Part of the continuing coverup that we have seen as it relates to the white house trying to gloss over the wrongdoing that clearly has taken place as it relates to the president s abuse of power. One of the things the white house and the president has trumpeted is they released this transcript of the call. The president called it an exact transcript. It was never not. It was never advertised on its face. It was a rough transcript. If theyre trying to keep things from the public, how much of that should be a focus of your investigation . Well, the focus will continue to be on what we know took place. The rough transcript confirms that donald trump pressured a Foreign Government to target an american citizen for political gain and thereby solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election. That right there is textbook abuse of power, particularly because at the same moment, 391 million in military and Security Assistance to the ukraine that was allocated by congress on a bipartisan basis
Let up any time soon. Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Happy to have you back. Thank you very much. And he wont be one of those president ial candidates whos tied down as a juror in the trump impeachment trial in the United States senate if thats what january is all about. Seriously just the impeachment hearings right now in the house are already stacked up against, for example, the democratic debate next wednesday which is going to have two impeachment hearings that day. Its going to be nuts, man. Americas going to watch the hearing, and then theyre going to watch you moderate that debate. Thats the way its going to work. Kill me now. We have so much ground to cover on this historic first day of public hearings in the impeachment investigation. We will consider the historical import of it all at the end of this hour with two Pulitzer Prizewinners covering their third president ial impeachment investigation. We will get former acting solicitorgeneral neal ckattial
Of public hearings in the impeachment investigation. We will consider the historical import of it all at the end of this hour with two Pulitzer Prizewinners covering their third president ial impeachment investigation. We will get former acting solicitorgeneral neal kattials invaluable legal analysis of today as hearing and we will be joined by john brennan when we learned that the president of the United States accepted a cell phone call from a restaurant in ukraine where the president s voice could be overheard in that restaurant during that wildly unsecure phone call. We begin tonight with the first televised testimony in the impeachment investigation, which included the stunning news of the president s voice being overheard on that cellphone in that restaurant in ukraine. Toward the end of his long and detailed Opening Statement today Ambassador William Taylor delivered hugely Important Information that was not included in his testimony to the committee in a closed door deposition