"way too early" on this thursday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. what is the specific constitutional crime that you're investigating? >> well, we're having an inquiry, so we can do an investigation and get the production witnesses and -- >> what is the crime you're investigating? >> -- and documents. high crimes, misdemeanors and -- >> what are you investigating? >> look, once i get time, i will explain what we're looking at. >> wow. that has the real vibe of a kid who did not prepare for the class presentation. the book was not just about mice, but it also had men. >> that clip is the house republican agenda in a nutshell. >> that was also my high school career. >> yeah. >> in a nutshell. >> he's not lying. the lower chamber is moving forward with an impeachment inquiry despite presenting no evidence of any wrongdoing by the president. the vote came after hunter biden defied a subpoena from house republicans, challenging them to hold a public hearing for his testimony. we'll have much more from a bitter and partisan day on capitol hill. then there's this. >> if he's elected, the stock market will crash. >> that bell marks a new record high for the dow jones industrial average. going to close above 37,000 for the first time ever. >> i've got to say, willie, it's amazing that he said that, the stock market will crash. all-time record high yesterday. donald trump, at the same time, is saying joe biden has gotten us into a depression. the numbers are really strong across most of the sectors. you've got, actually, economists who had been predicting a recession saying that's not going to happen. we're going to have a smooth landing. we're going to also, most likely, have three interest rate cuts next year. this reminds me a lot of 1983, ronald reagan strapped with a very bad economy in 1983. his approval rating got as low as 35%. he averaged 41% approval ratings on gallup throughout 1983. that's about where joe biden is right now. you have, again, this economy zooming up, and it's going to follow. voters are going to again start feeling this more and telling pollsters this more. i got one thing that bothers me, willie, just one thing. you and i both know i can't use the word that i want to use. it begins with "d." i'll just say fellas. there are fellas driving around in convertibleporsches. you know what i'm saying. >> mm-hmm. >> they're driving around their convertible porsches. >> oh. >> they're pulling into their country clubs. they're getting out. they're having their caddies run up and get their bags. they're going out, going to the clubhouses, like, with their -- i don't know how much rolex watches cost. let's say $30,000 rolex watches that they first bought. they can't get through their conversations at, like, the grill, men's grill, because they keep looking -- i'm serious -- at their stock, the stock counters, to say how much money. i made $16,000 just in the time i sat down here. then they'll go out for 18 holes and bitch about how joe biden is a socialist who is ruining the economy. it happens nonstop. these d -- these d-guys. >> it's a french word, isn't it? >> i think it ends with an "e." they drive around their maseratis and porsches and their convertible mercedes. they talk about how horrible the economy is. they made millions and millions on joe biden's economy, some billions and billions, and they attack him as a socialist. it's just pure garbage. >> yeah, i know exactly the person you're talking about or the people you're talking about. i understand the word you're using. i had -- not to reveal too much, i've had that conversation with that person that you're describing just within the last week, as a matter of fact. >> wow. >> bringing up all the things that you just brought up. dow. "the wall street journal" is covered with stories about, yes, it looks like there will be a soft landing. now, we hope there won't be a recession. in fact, we're turning the corner to a place where rates will come down. people can get back into the housing market. hopefully rents are coming down. these are all positive indicators. what you've done is folded in the politics of this. yeah, yeah, biden, he's old, man. he may not even be on the ballot this year. you know, all the things, they run to different places. when you put together -- this is an amazing tweet from donald trump -- when you put together the politics with the economy, this was in 2019. then president trump tweeted this, you mean the stock market hit an all-time record high today and they're actually talking about impeachment? >> wow. >> will i ever be given credit for anything? wrote donald trump in 2019. there ya have it. you know what they say, there's a tweet for everyone, joe. >> there is. >> there is a tweet for everything. >> the new thing on fox is, joe biden hasn't accomplished anything. they just can't think of anything he has accomplished. that'll be the line. oh, god, don't even start on that. >> all biden accomplished is, well, more bipartisan legislation than any president since probably lbj, bipartisan legislation. and more job growth than any president in ages. he's doing better economically in every area except for donald trump, save inflation. that's because we came out of covid, and those numbers are going down now. again, it's crazy, these people that are rich as hell talking about, like, making hundreds of millions of dollars, making billions of dollars. they put on their little vests, and they go to conferences and they talk about how joe biden -- >> i still want to know the word. >> you know the word, dear. but they put on their little vests to hide their fat stomachs. they go out there, and they talk about how joe biden is, like, "oh, he sucks as a president. he's too old, and he's a socialist. he doesn't believe in people making money. the economy is wrecked." i hear this all the time. "joe biden is ruining america. he is ruining the economy." oh, he really? record highs, willie. record highs. you know what they're going to do today? they'll go out, and they're either going to buy, like, a portion of a partnership in a private jet today because they're making so much money, or they'll buy a lamborghini and they'll, like, drive down, you know, some westchester main street going 80 miles an hour for 2 seconds and then have to go to a stoplight. then they'll rev their engine at the stoplight. then they'll go 80 miles an hour for another 4 seconds, then they'll stop, you know, and they'll have their trump 2024 bumper sticker, talking about how joe biden is a socialist. then they'll get in a wreck because they're going to be looking at how much money they're making per minute because of the economy that joe biden has salvaged from donald trump. >> it's okay. they can buy another one. >> that's all i have to say. with joe, willie, and me, we have the host of "way too early" -- >> they irritate me. >> at "politico," -- i don't know what they are. >> you know, mika. >> i don't. help me. >> they're around any country club. watch them go in with their lamborghinis or porsches. >> but i -- i mean, i know what you're talking about. i've definitely met the type, but i don't know what the word -- oh. i got it. >> mika. >> there we go. >> jonathan lemire. former director of communications to president obama, jennifer palmieri. the co-host of "how to win 2024" with claire mccaskill. u.s. national editor at "the financial times," ed luce is with us. nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali. louis told me the word. i got it. >> exactly. this has happened. >> i got it. >> this has happened before. jen, you know, people wonder why joe biden remains pretty calm about this while democrats across washington, d.c., in america wet their bed. he knows where the economy is. he knows where the economy is going. he knows there is a very long way to go. 1983, you know, where ronald reagan is, where joe biden was, reagan's approval rating got to as low as 35%. why? a recession. he averaged 41% in 1983, the year before his election that he won 49 states. we're not saying joe biden is going to win 49 states because there is, of course, the construct, the media construct that's enabled people to go out, tell lies about joe biden, and make money off of it. they'll keep telling lies about joe biden. they'll keep making money off of it. let them make their money. let them lie. joe biden, if the economy keeps going the way it's going, with three rate cuts next year, that's favorable. >> i mean, this is not one good jobs report or one good report on inflation going down. this is what has kept the ceiling on, particularly for consumers, you know, average americans pay attention to interest rates. they understand what that means. they understand the implication that has on being able to buy a house or sell a house. knowing that going into 2024 that the plan is to lower the rates three times, i feel like that sort of takes the lid off of people having -- >> yes. >> -- this overhang, that overhang of concern that there might be a recession, that interest rates will continue to . if that is gone, i really do think, you know, the administration can go full bore ahead in making the argument that the plan is working. >> right. >> people can start to come down from this state of anxiety that people have been in since covid of what's the next terrible thing with some certainty. >> yeah. >> you know, i mean, that is a very big deal. to end the year knowing that that's what's coming next year, you know, i wouldn't expect to see massive jumps in approval ratings the next week, but that portends a good glide path for next year. >> yeah, for sure. instead of it just being one report that comes out, a piece of data that stands alone, it's an overall direction. steve rattner is going to join us later in the show. will he be at the western wall? we shall see. >> southwest wall. we have two hot wars for the president to navigate on the world stage. and the republican-controlled house voted to authorize its impeachment inquiry into president biden despite failing to provide any evidence of wrongdoing by the president. the vote was strictly along party lines yesterday with all 221 republicans voting yes. all 212 democrats voting no. republicans say the move will grant them the ability to better enforce their subpoenas in the courts. house oversight chair, republican james comer, has accused hunter biden and other biden family members of engaging in, quote, shady business practices. but, as we said, has yet to reveal any evidence of wrongdoing or influence peddling by the president himself. so here is what several house democrats said ahead of the vote. >> the biden impeachment investigation isn't a whodunit. it's a what is it? it's like an agatha christie novel where the mystery is, what's the crime? >> i think if we give him enough time, he's going to prove that hunter biden is joe biden's son. >> we're here today not because of any wrongdoing by president biden but because donald trump wants revenge. >> so the republicans leading the impeachment inquiry insisted they are driven by efforts to uphold the constitution, but this week, some have let it slip that their true intentions are politicly motivated. take a listen. >> what are you hoping to gain from an impeachment inquiry? >> donald j. trump 2024, baby. >> can you identify any actual policy decisions that joe biden has made in response to getting paid for those policy changes? >> well, we'll have to -- that will be part of the investigation. >> facts haven't taken me to that point where i can say that the president's guilty of anything. >> president biden must be really frustrated. he is dragging trump through the courts. trump is rising and surging in the polls. >> you know, this other issue of whether joe biden was involved in his son's business dealing that i think the american people are looking at, as well. all that together is why you see the numbers where they're at. >> this has been, i think, the most transparent political -- or conventional investigation since i've been in congress. >> yeah. >> oh, my gosh. >> willie, the most political since he's been in congress. i asked alex -- >> he did not deliver. >> -- to give us "green acres" arnold the pig there at the end, but he wouldn't do it. >> that's bad producing. we love alex, but you have to get the "green acres" clip in there. they've been doing this a long time. when the congressman from texas says, "all i can say is trump 2024, baby," there it is. that's the point of the exercise. somehow, to dent in some way joe biden, though they've shown no evidence of it at all. as democrats, in the conversation leading up to the vote pointed out yesterday, to put this side by side with what donald trump did, what he was impeached for, and what those republicans have ignored or defended, it really -- they've sort of lost the high ground when they're trying to talk about impeachment and defending the constitution. we got the party line vote, ali. the impeachment will go forward. where does this go? >> they continue investigating. i mean, the other quiet part out loud about all of this, and as you usually do, you pull the exact clips that i think are the most important about this debate, specifically troy saying, "trump 2024." republicans have used their ability to wield the gavel from the very moment they eventually chose a speaker back in january to play sort of counterpuncher and chief defender of former president trump at each turn, whether it is alvin bragg in manhattan, whether it is letitia james, all of these various investigations into trump. house republicans through judiciary, oversight, or whatever committee have always sought to sort of back up trump and try to muddy the waters. so this is yet another instance of that. in terms of where it goes next, these investigations have been going on for the entirety of the year. the reason that i've been told from republicans who are involved in this is that they want to move it forward to an impeachment inquiry so they can officially say they're in the impeachment phase and have more juice to enforce the subpoenasy defending those in court, fine. i've been in briefings with the key committee chairman. what are the high crimes and misdemeanors? when the congressman was asking, what are the high crimes and misdemeanors, and no one can put a fine point on what that is -- the clip you showed at the top of the show -- it's because each chairman is pointing to a different piece of this saying that's the high crime and misdemeanor, a. b, they don't have evidence for one yet. that's where this whole thing breaks down. it was surprising for me that they had full, unanimous republican support yesterday to open the inquiry. my understanding was that at least one republican congressman was leaning no, at least before he got on the house floor yesterday. now, they are all marching in lockstep toward this. that breaks down when you try to move toward an actual impeachment, though. that's where you start running into problems if you're republicans. >> let's be clear, there has been no evidence yet presented, ed luce, none whatsoever. this is about donald trump next year not wanting to be the only candidate on the ballot who has been impeached. this is trying to level the playing field. this is trying to tarnish president biden's reputation. we can take republicans at their word as to what they're trying to do. now, white house officials i speak to, let's be clear, no white house wants to go through this an impeachment inquiry and certainly not an impeachment if we go down that road. it's a drain on resources and time. it's a drain on just when they could be doing other things, and we know how full the president's plate is, even before he launches his full re-election campaign. are voters going to see this, see there is no there there, and could this be a political gift for the white house? or will bit a drag on president biden's re-election chances? >> you're right, there is no there there. if you go back to the original allegations when he was vice president, biden asked the ukrainian government to fire its chief anti-corruption prosecution, and, somehow, that was a pay for play. this was something the entire international community were asking for, including the international monetary fund, which was conditioning its aid to ukraine on it getting rid of a corrupt anti-corruption prosecutor. what biden was doing was trying to, along with the european union, he was trying to get ukraine to be less corrupt. this is being presented as the exact opposite. whether that kind of detail -- you know, mud is going to stick with some people. whether that kind of detail, you know, will come through when it is being presented so forcefully, you know, i guess depends on who you are and which channel you're watching. the fact that there is no there there probably doesn't bother the likes of jim jordan. i think representative mcgovern got it right when he said, when trump asks them to jump, they say, "how high?" they're now jumping for trump. this is his retribution, and it's a pr, very cynical, pr-driven attempt to besmirch biden without any evidence. >> forgive me for repeating the question we ask all too often, but what do our european allies, what do our nato allies, what do our enemies think of a country that has a chamber, a house chamber that tells the israelis to go to hell, they're not going to fund them, tells ukraine to go to hell, they're not going to fund them, but they do have time, they do have time to move forward with a bogus impeachment inquiry that they even admit is formless? >> i think in terms of this impeachment inquiry, almost no attention will be paid to it. it's seen as bogus. >> yeah. >> it's seen as a charade. there is enormous amount of attention being paid to what could happen in 2024. not just, you know, amongst our allies, but, you know, we're in ukraine. ukraine is life and death, what happens in 2024. of course, it's life and death what's happening now, whether they get renewed funding and american supplies to defend from another putin winter onslaught. >> all right. still ahead, a deadly day for israeli soldiers in the war with hamas. it comes as the country's prime minister continues to reject calls from global leaders for any sort of cease-fire. plus, we have brand-new polling on a potential head-to-head matchup between president biden and donald trump across seven swing states. 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