47. on the committees. all of them have access to the closed-door depositions. 11 of them chose to protest for the cameras rather than go in there and do their jobs. they could have been asking questions. they could have been learning about what the witness said. instead they decided to take part in a stunt. so why are republicans in full-on stunt mode? is the can he. well, the facts. the evidence. they tell a story that they don t want you to hear. so it s a shiny object over here. there s a shiny object over there. because they don t want you to hear the substance, the facts, the evidence. a senior republican source telling cnn that bill taylor s explosive opening statement this week is reverberating in the gop, saying it points to quid pro quo. it sure does.
want total transparency here? do they really want public hearings? if they did, they wouldn t be relying on stunts like storming the deposition yesterday on capitol hill. you know how i always say don t fall for the opey-dope, that wasn t about transparency. after all let me tell you why. after all, there are 47 republicans on the three committees conducting the impeachment inquiry, 47 on the committee. all of them have access to the closed-door depositions. 11 of them chose to protest for the cameras rather than go in there and do their jobs. they could have been asking questions, they could have been blerng what the witness said. instead they decided to take part in a stunt. so why are republicans in full on stunt mode is the question? well, the facts. the evidence. they tell a story that they
that s it for tonight. i ll be back tomorrow with more meet the press daily. it s the beat with ari melber. it s great to be here, chuck. thank you very much. good evening to everyone watching from home. we re here in washington on a wild day that continues to reverberate right now. let s begin with a number. three. it took exactly three minutes for the president to storm out of a meeting with congressional leaders claiming he could not discuss infrastructure policy unless congress halted its work overseeing the executive branch. democrat say president trump entered in full stunt mode. refusing to shake any hands and then turned his angry departure into a chance to lash out in public going to the rose garden to release a live tweet storm. vowing to shut down the government until democrats finished the investigation. this clash is full of theater to be sure. but it s theater against a substantive back drop.