Bipartisan, very separate track. Indicted senator bob menendez facing democratic colleagues with overwhelmingly calling for his resignation, one day after he and his wife pleaded not guilty in court. Good day, everyone. Im Andrea MitchellIn Washington where House Republicans are taking their Impeachment Inquiry against President Biden to the next level. With todays combative Oversight Committee hearing on capitol hill. For nine months republican lawmakers have tried to establish a connection between Hunter BidensBusiness Dealings and the president. They have not proved any direct evidence so far that then vice President Biden profited off his sons work. Joining me now ali vitali, ken dilanian, mike memoli, and former fbi general counsel andrew weissmann. Ken, give us the latest on the substance today, including highlights from the witnesses. Reporter House Democrats are acknowledging that hunter biden essentially sold what they call the illusion of access to his father and based on his family name was paid millions of dollars, including from foreign sources, which can be troubling to a lot of people. What even the republican Star Witnesses here have asserted is that they do not see any evidence that implicates joe biden. In fact, that would merit articles of impeachment. Listen to a professor, a frequent guest on fox news and a star witness here at this hearing. This is a question of an Impeachment Inquiry. It is not a vote on articles of impeachment. In fact, i do not believe that the Current Evidence would support articles of impeachment. Thats something an inquiry has to establish. I also do believe that the house has passed the threshold for an Impeachment Inquiry into the conduct of President Biden. Reporter what they are saying is theres enough smoke here that merits an investigation. The democratic witness, a constitutional law professor, said this is an abuse of the impeachment process. Its not designed as oversight, unless you have evidence against the president of the United States, he testified. You shouldnt about conducting an Impeachment Inquiry. As a viewer here, just watching along, theres some interesting information being put forth that raises questions, for example, about the prosecution of hunter biden and whether individuals inside that case made decisions that appear to have gone easy on hunter biden. By the way, it was during the Trump Justice Department that some of the decisions were taken. There really isnt an allegation that President Biden played any role in that. Theres interesting information being drawn out, none of which leads or points to any criminal wrongdoing by the president. Ali vitali, what was the reaction to the professors comments in the room . They counted on him as being a conservative witness. He was a witness against the impeachment of donald trump at the first impeachment. Reporter yeah, thats exactly right. Of course, a mainstay on fox news, which carried much of the impeachment claims as fact. According to one of the democratic members that i spoke to in the room, he felt that around him among republicans, there were palpable surprise at the way that he was if equivocating, then going against the idea this was sufficient for an impeachable offense. Contrast what he said, which was frankly measured, the idea that theres enough smoke, as ken said, for an inquiry, but certainly no smoking gun to impeach President Biden at this point. I think that thats an important note. You contrast that with what the Oversight Committee chairman said, which is that he would be ready to vote for impeachment right now. Of course, it makes sense he would say that. He is the one leading the charge on these investigations. But really for him to say that gives democrats something to seize on, gives viewers potential pause about the point of this investigation. I asked the judiciary chairman jim jordan in the last few minutes what he thought about this. He continued to stand by turley as someone who is a rare expert on these cases, someone who they will lean on, but certainly, the idea that there were republican members surprised by the way that he testified here really does go to show that this is not necessarily the perfect narrative that they were hoping to set at the outset of the Impeachment Inquiry, which is in the words of the chairmen, for the American Public to see what they have been able to gather and collect. But its also meant to convince some reluctant members of the republican conference that there is enough here to go from an Impeachment Inquiry to a fullon impeachment. Andrew weissmann, we know in the past, inquiries lead to impeachments. There have been no instances that i can think of other than richard nixon, and he resigned to avoid the impeachment vote. After hearing all of the House Republican talking points from those investigations, how far away are they from producing direct actual evidence that you think could legally hurt President Biden . This is one where obviously this is not a court of law. This is a political sort of pretrial. This may be something where they are sort of afraid for what they asked for which is as ali said making this all public could really hurt them, because the public views this which i think would be the correct way to view it so far, as theres no there there, to quote gertrude stein. I dont think this is useful. One of the things that happened this morning was that i think the republican questioning, frankly, Hurt Donald Trump in his case in the manhattan district attorneys office, because basically, the theory that the republicans have is this very strange theory of Campaign Finance violations. Thats exactly what the former president is accused of, with far greater direct evidence with the payments coming directly from the former president and the criminal allegation. Theres no direct evidence whatsoever, none, period, with respect to joe biden. I thought it was a very interesting take to go down that road to be trying to conjure evidence on that legal theory, because thats one that really hurts the former president. Andrew, one thing comes to mind, that they have the platform, they can amplify that, they have the megaphone, they have one Cable Network or more right now. Does it matter whether theres legal direct evidence, whether there is there there, if they can damage the president politically . Is that the point . I assume that is the point. You would hope there would be they would be tethered to the facts and the law, because this isnt a legal proceeding. Its under the constitution is supposed to be sort of a political trial. It isnt required. But its hard to imagine that this is anything more than trying to muddy the waters, to say so donald trump can say im not the only candidate who is running for office who has been impeached, that its just a political thing. For me, it was a political thing and for joe biden. The real difference is if you get people to actually focus on the evidence. Thats my stock and trade. Theres just, right now at least, a huge disparity in terms of the evidence presented with respect to donald trump, which led to four criminal cases, and with respect to what we are seeing so far with respect to joe biden. Mike memoli, the white house is handling this very gingerly, it seems to me. They have been avoiding any comment at all on Hunter Bidens legal difficulties. This merges the political with the hunter biden case, the case that fell apart in the delaware courtroom and led to the Special Counsel being appointed. Reporter thats exactly right. The white house is focused on the relationship of this hearing into President Bidens own conduct, not discussing at all what Hunter Bidens role is in this. This is a while house that is keen on talking at the moment about split screen moments. We are seeing two split screens from the white house today. The first that they are trying to draw our attention to is the split between what House Republicans in their view should be doing, working to avert a Government Shutdown, versus what they are doing with this hearing. Just as we were talking, i received the fifth nearly identical statement from a white house spokesperson since this hearing began noting the exact number of hours and minutes left until the shutdown and saying, nothing can distract this hearing from the impact that this shutdown could have. We are seeing the white house draw attention to nbcs polling showing a greater than 20 percentage point gap in the highly polarized times, between the number of americans who say they support, just under two in five support this impeachment, versus those who oppose it. Theres the other split screen we are going to be seeing as this hearing drags on into the afternoon, between this hearing and what President Biden is doing in arizona, giving a speech on democracy itself and showcasing, as you and i have seen, that relationship he had with a republican, senator john mccain. Also describing the maga republicans as extremists. He is going after them. Reporter thats exactly right. This is comments we have hear President Biden making in late, in closeddoor fundraisers. This is a highprofile opportunity for the president to say that not just is this an extreme movement, this maga movement, but if it were able to enact its agenda, it would alter our democracy itself. Strong words from the president. Thanks to all of you. Andrew, please stay close by. We will talk about a lot of legal issues coming up. House republicans pushing for deep spending cuts and fighting Senate Efforts to avoid a shutdown. Congressman bob good joining us next when Andrea Mitchell reports is back in 60 seconds. Stay with us. You are watching msnbc. Stay with us you are watching msnbc t . Huh. Two things at once. Two things at once two things at once. Ill have the. Two things at once, please. Now back to two things at once. Two things at once. Thats not two things at once. Moooom travis . Ask about getting this seasons covid19 shot when getting your flu shot. With two days to go, a small number of House Republicans continue to block a deal to avoid a Government Shutdown. The senate and house are sharply divided on how to proceed. Speaker mccarthy continues to call on President Biden to compromise on deeper cuts than were agreed to in july when they did the debt ceiling deal. So the president has no interest in meeting with them. Joining me now is bob good of virginia, House Freedom caucus member who serves on the Budget Committee. Its good to see you. Thanks very much for being with us. We appreciate it. Thank you. We are trying to understand. There are so many moving parts. You are right in the middle of it. You know it better than i how the house caucus, the Republican Caucus is divided. Trying to pass standalone spending bills, the Approachation Biapproach appropriation bills. The house is pushing for an extension. Its with deeper cuts than the president , the speaker, Senate Leadership agreed to in july. The white house and the senator not agreeing to that. Is the shutdown unavoidable now given how far apart the two sides are and how time is running out, to get anything passed . We are borrowing 200 billion a month. We are on track for a 2. 2 trillion deficit. Senate democrats are refusing to address spending. They are refusing to address the border crisis. We are suffering under the 1. 7 trillion omnibus passed by all democrats in the house and senate. Unfortunately, a complicit number of Liberal Republicans who joined on. It was projected we would have a 1. 7 trillion deficit. Instead, its 2. 2 trillion. House republicans are united in cutting the spending, addressing border security. The democrats in the senate refuse to go along. We are passing spending bills, trying to break precedent over the last 20 years of failure by congress to do that. I call on Senate Democrats and senate republicans, for that matter, to join us in cutting spending, addressing the fiscal situation and securing our border. You are right about spending. The fact is, there was an agreement in july that was supposed to have settled all of this. It was negotiated by all four parties representing the branchs, including the speaker. To go back on that and relitigate it is one issue. Separately, Senator Cornyn points out according to every budget experts, it costs more to shut the government down than you are saving, because of higher interest rates, because of the way the money is going to pile up, the compounding of interest. You are actually costing the Taxpayers Money by holding out rather than agreeing to a shortterm deal and then negotiating a compromise. The fact is, a 200 billion monthly deficit, 33 trillion in national debt, projected to reach 35, 36 trillion at the current pace by the end of this congress. We are causing inflation. Interest rates are up. The American People cant afford housing, groceries, utilities because of the massive inflation. Its going to get worse. We cannot do what congress has been doing for decades. The republican majority ran on fiscal responsibility. The American People elected us to implement those policies. This is our opportunity to meet the moment, to rise to the occasion, to hold the white house accountable. Republicans are united in doing that. We are talking past each other on the Budget Numbers. We will not agree on that. Let me ask you about the fact that with 48 hours to go, how can you justify the impeachment, the time being spent on this, by members who could otherwise be devoting their time to coming up with a solution here . Simple. The president should be impeached on the border invasion in addition to the Biden Crime Family, the evidence thats being confirmed and verified, investigated. The Oversight Committee doesnt work on the appropriations process or the budget. I serve on the Budget Committee and the Leadership Team for the House Freedom caucus. Im focused on the budget battle. I dont have responsibility with the impeachment. We have dozens of committees. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We owe it to the American People to investigate the most corrupt president in the country. He lied to the American People in the last election to secure their vote. Thats been proven. They changed the narrative. They no longer say he didnt know about his sons Business Dealings. Well, he wasnt officially in business. We have emails. We have text messages. We have audio recordings. We have eyewitness testimony. We have travel and visitoverwhe. We should impeach him for the biden family crime activities. To call it the Biden Crime Family without evidence you have accusations you are lying there. You are being dishonest to say theres no evidence. This is evidence that would be admissible in any case when you have texts, you have emails, testimony, when you have visit history, those things. Not true. Thats evidence. You can debate the evidence and whether you think it proves beyond a reasonable doubt. But thats what the Oversight Committee is doing with the Impeachment Inquiry. A good deal of it was from when he was not in office. It was after he left office from 2017, 2018. He was the sitting Vice President. It was from when he was sitting Vice President. Thats not what the House Ways And Means chairman presented. He lied during the debate. He said he didnt know anything about his sons Business Dealings. We know thats false. These are accusations. It may be uncomfortable for defenders look you, but its false. Im not a defender. Im trying to call the facts as we see them and know them at this time, sir. Evidence is presented. Evidence is contradicted. Do you question the impeachment when they set the bar low and tried to impeach President Trump based