According to internal emails from the center for public integrity, order to suspend aide came from a political appointee, michael duffey. He told the pentagon to hold off on additional he said i appreciate you keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction. The timing of the order, 90 minutes after the call raises new issues about using foreign aid to pressure ukraine. A Senior Administration official tells new york times, quote, timing of the email was coincidental. But michael duffeys role has long been under scrutiny because authority over ukraine was given to duffey, political appointee over career officials at the omb. He was blocked from testifying in the house impeachment inquiry. Minutes ago, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer cited duffeys emails to push republicans to allow witnesses at the president s trial. What happened over the weekend with duffeys emails made public has only bolstered the case that documents should be produced and witnesses testify. If everything was on the up and up, if the call was perfect, as President Trump said, why does one of his top aides who is a political appointee say lets keep it hush hush. I am joined by heidi presley, and jonathan swan, and former congresswoman during watergate. Going to heidi on this. Tell us what this tells us as a missing piece of the puzzle, the fact this guy, mike duffey, was the one that said no more money for ukraine. It is critical because he pushed aside the person who is responsible for writing the notes. That person testified, mark sandy, that he was very bothered that he was forced to write this note saying he was going to have to put a hold on this. He also testified that two officials quit because they were concerned. One was a legal guy that said this might be a violation of the federal impoundment act, the president has to explain to congress when he inexplicably decides to hold back money thats been appropriated. To the time line, i want to make this clear. You have the president asking for the investigation. 90 minutes later, you have the formal hold that had been under discussion within the administration that this was for all intents and purposes the formal hold. Chris, a day later, you have Gordon Sondland pulling zelenskys deputy into a private meeting, throwing out embassy officials, note takers, and heard loudly on a cell phone consummating the deal, telling trump, yeah, he is going to do it, he will do anything you ask. Within 48 hour time frame you have the ask, you have the hold, and you have an agreement to the investigation. Those are firsthand facts. When i worked in politics, i learned more about politics. You have followup people, followup guys and women. Their job is to follow up what the principal decides. Usually they do it instinctively. The boss says no more money for ukraine, they make sure they get no more money. What would happen at a trial, at a real trial in the senate if we have a real trial, this kind of chain of command, custody, order from the president would be delineated. You would watch and say it is 7 00 in the morning, this happened at 9 00, this happened at 10 00. You would have a clear line. Doesnt work that way in the Trump Administration. How do people followup. I will tell you how it looks having covered this administration closely for the whole time it existed. Trump will say things in meetings like we should cut off money to the ukrainians. He doesnt put it in a sentence so we can get leverage for x, thats not how he talks. Often what happens is people around him dont want to execute it, often White House Counsels Office thinks it is a bad idea, maybe it is i am not saying it happened in this case, this exact thing, but generally speaking trump says stuff like that, often people around him have that reaction. The office of management and budget as we have reported is this island of yes men. We actually wrote a piece called trumps yes men. Theyre the office when trump has an idea and lawyers say no, you cant do it, they say yes, we can. How do they get from he is on the phone with zelensky, he says i want you to do us a favor though. How did that get to the omb. Thats why we need documentation to come out. These documents didnt come out because the Trump Administration decided we can have them, they were forced through freedom of information act that also includes many blacked out emails. We dont have exactly an explanation because all of the witnesses and all of the paper documentation is being blocked. But one of the witnesses that testified before the Intelligence Committee also said that he overheard an unidentified omb official saying the president ordered this. These are the things that would come out. If it works the way you say, if it is like that, rhetoric, then it isnt covered by executive privilege. There is no conveyance of an order. This is the kind of thing if we have in january a real trial, witnesses come in, tell us what happened with the president , how do they go about, prosecutors come from the house, adam schiff, he is the head of the prosecution team. We believe he squeezed a foreign leader to get dirt for his own personal gain. Heres how it happens. They bring in witnesses. That would include, russ vote and mike duffey, and he will bring in each of the people, this led to this, led to this, this is how the president squeezed off money. Your thoughts. Are we going to get a trial like that with the republicans running the show there with 53 votes . I think the process, what nancy pelosi did slowed things down so the American People have a good idea now of whats happening, about the coverup that started from the get go, and that is continuing to this point. It is quite clear from the polls that American People want the facts to come out. Trump says hes innocent. Trump said it was a perfect phone call. Trump said no pressure. So all of the people that could prove that should come forward and testify. But he says no. Now the American People are beginning to understand that. That could have a major impact on what the senate does. I think the interesting thing about that email is that the president said oh, there was no pressure on the phone call, but that phone call was kind of the iron fist in the velvet glove, email is when the glove comes off, you see the iron fist that was there all the time. In other words, this was the bullying, this was the coercion. This was the duress to force ukraine to get involved in u. S. Elections and tip the balance in trumps favor. Elizabeth, how do you stop the lying. Sounds like the president himself said it is a coincidence it happened within 90 minutes, cutting off money, saying i want you to do a favor, 90 minutes later, gets no money. The spigot is turned off. Probably somebody not in the no wont be charged with perjury to say thats a coincidence. A lying pack of whatever, how do you stop them all from lying, threat of going to prison. First of all, you need the documents, too, thats the other important thing. Chuck schumer called for that sensibly and remarkably as well because the documents, all this stuff was done through email or a lot of it. The documents would show that. Those have to be turned over. You cannot have this coverup, which is whats going on here now. That would be a disaster for the country, a tragedy for the senate and tragedy for our democracy. Im glad to hear documents that seemed formal in the 1960s are being replaced by email. People may not write formal business letters, they deal by email. The house and senate are deadlocked. During congressional recess looking forward, Speaker Pelosi weighs whether to delay transmitting those articles of impeachment when she comes back from recess on the 7th. Pelosi tweeted the house cannot choose impeachment managers until we know what sort of trial the senate will conduct. President trump his own witnesses and documents from the house and American People on phony complaints about the house process. What is his excuse now. Thats the speaker talking today. Minutes later, the president tweeted pelosi gives us the most unfair trial in the history of the United States congress, now shes crying for fairness in the senate and breaking all rules while doing so. She lost congress once, she will lose again. Typical below the belt punch than he usually delivers. Who is winning that standoff . Anybody thats paying attention knows that the president s whole argument parroted by Mitch Mcconnell is he wasnt getting due process in the house. Now that everything, which wasnt true, they got their fact witnesses, all of the fact witnesses they requested they got, they didnt get people like hunter biden who have no knowledge. Now that things move to the senate, this is their chance to control everything. Now were being told no witnesses. So what Speaker Pelosi is doing here reflects the fact that she knows once the articles are sent over, democrats lose a lot of leverage because they have to depend on the mercy of two to three sympathetic republicans who would have to agree with them to dig in their heels and say we want witnesses and we want those witnesses. So a week after new years, who is winning . Can they both sustain the standoff, both pelosi and mcconnell . Trump has what Richard Nixon could only have dreamt about. He has a totally loyal and unified Republican Party. I see people put up polls, 50 want him impeached. Thats true. Zero republicans want him impeached at the moment. I cant name one. Maybe one in the senate. Heres her game. 70 of americans want witnesses, think the witnesses should testify, including 64 senate republicans. Let me tell you what pelosis strategy is, im not saying she will win and get the witnesses, what i am saying is shes drawing it out so the public knows full well that these witnesses are blocked. Is the Pressure Point people like mitt romney, Pressure Point susan collins, cory gardner . Might flip over. I am not saying it will happen. Susan collins was angry at what schumer did, saying theyre going to the press with the letter. I dont see this. New York Magazine today released an interview with rudy giuliani, conducted after his return from ukraine. In it, the president s lawyer rudy goes off. He says former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch is controlled by george soros. He put all four ambassadors there. He is employing the fbi agents. The reporter added i told him that he sounded crazy, he insisted he wasnt. Giuliani then said dont tell me i am antisemitic. I am more of a jew than soros is. He weighed on investigation into his Business Activity saying if they think i committed a crime, they are out of their minds. I have been doing this for 50 years. I know how to not commit crimes. He said if it is an aggressive case, he would be more confident with me. Elizabeth, this is one joyful ride of crazy from the idea of him appearing in the senate is looney tunes. The idea that i cant remind myself of the nuts in the bag of his. Soros in a Republican Administration named these ambassadors . How is that done . The fact that he is more jewish than soros, he is jewish, what does he mean . I dont have any other explanation. Terrible question to put to you. How crazy. I think giuliani is losing it. I think maybe thats his appeal to the president because hes become a kook at best. To say he is more jewish than a jew, really. Hitler wasnt going to send him to a concentration camp, thats for sure. Youre picking a point here. Just kidding. What do you make about the whole crazy. Where do i start here. That he was going to be the president s lawyer in the senate, if we have a trial. I am personally aggrieved. Rudy giuliani used to always talk to me, he blanked me out. Now he is drinking bloody marys with olivia nuzi at new York Magazine. He loves ink. Happy new year, mr. Mayor, americas mayor, formerly known as americas mayor. Great reporting. Thank you. Congratulations on your year, jonathan. Biggest jew at the table. Let me think. Yeah. Thank you so much, elizabeth, happy new year to you, happy holidays to everybody here. Facing impeachment, President Trump is stoking rage to fire up the base, pushing the argument it is us against them. Doesnt worry about the facts. Fact he has a person saying facts dont matter. What do you hear from that . But at the top of the fbi you have dirty cops, deep state sabotage, 18 angry democrat prosecutors, these were all put in there to destroy us. Sounds pretty scary, doesnt it . The iowa caucus is around the corner. The democratic race is wide open. Were going to see a foet hepho. Can biden turn his people out on a cold night in iowa or will it be mayor Pete Buttigiegs moment . Much more to get to tonight. Stick with us. Much more to get to tonight. Stick with us. Everything your trip needs, for everyone you love. Expedia. For everyone you love. I am totally blind. And non24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442142424. Work so hard give it everything you got strength of a lioness tough as a knot rocking the stage and we never gonna stop all strength, no sweat. Just in case you forgot all strength. No sweat secret. All strength. No sweat. Each of you is a fighter on the frontlines of defending our way of life, but we are in a battle of survival of this nation. Theyre waging war on the values and principles that have always defined america. Theyre trying to silence, censor that doesnt have their ideology. That was President Trump over the weekend speaking at a conference of conservative high school and college students. The president talks the same to all his rallies for older people, stoking anger to energize the base, especially now that he lives with the reality every morning he gets up, i am an impeached person. He knows that now. Associated press describes it using us versus them language, and the Reelection Campaign is not using it as conduct but referendum how democrats regard him and his supporters. In other words, it is against the deplorables. Heading into 2020, the first president to seek reelection after being impeached. Not heard of from lawmakers. Total loyalty from his party. The president dmanlds complete fealty. And as the impeachment hearings show, he has largely attained it. Could impeachment help the president in 2020 as trump claimed . The president s favorite morning show, fox friends spoke to voters in michigan. Here is how one incredibly thinking resident framed it. Does impeachment help or hurt trump in 2020 . I think it will help him among people that dont care about facts. I love it. It will help them among people that dont care about facts. Thats a trump supporter talking. People that dont care about facts. Joined by congresswoman donna edwards, columnist for the washington post, and rick tower. I have to go to you, rick, these are your people out there. Seriously. This is a republican woman i believe saying people dont care about facts. Which side are you on is the only question that maltetters, matter what comes out in the trial to get joe biden or hunter biden, doesnt matter now. All that matters are you a trumpite or not. I liken it to team sports. Say youre in a stadium, the jumbo tron represents truth, you can see the ref made a call, half the stadium thinks it is a great call, half the stadium thinks it is a terrible call, depending which team youre on. Everybody saw the call and that the players stepped out of bounds, they know what the truth is. But this is not pass interference, always a judgment call. I cant tell what it is sometimes, you have your arms through the other guys arms, moving around the face, somehow didnt interfere with the ability to catch. If you find out the president of the United States traded Public Office for personal gain, you know the definition of that. Except we have a media echo chamber. You can wake up from one ideology, left or right, and listen to your point of view all day long, never hear the other side. It is like listening, like if i switch from fox to msnbc sometimes, it is like two different universes. But it is like turning the pillow over, the cool side you like, right . Just kidding. They stick with the same side of the pillow. What good does it do to have conversation, in the 84 Reelection Campaign of Ronald Reagan, he was getting old, people worried, had a bad performance in the first debate with walter mondale, and lee atwater, mr. Scary guy of the Republican Party said if reagan loses the second one, people say he is not up to the job, just go crazy, use our bool ee hoo to spread the word. Are you on reagan or the lefties on the other side. Seems like that was the plan. Dont let them think, follow debates or trials, say youre on our side, fight these people. It is true, but also still true that a very slim majority of people still believe that he should have been impeached and 51 by some polls said he should be removed. That is true, but people are in their camps. Whats striking to me is right now in the debate about whether pelosi will turn over the articles to the senate, most people believe there should be facts and witnesses and testimony and all of that in front of the senate. So i do think you still have folks there, even on trumps side has say you know what, theres a fairness question. Is it going to move four or five republican senators . You know what, it is not going to move enough to remove him but could move enough, a handful, that are involved. So we get a trial then . I think there will be a trial. Real one with witnesses . I think maybe there will be witnesses. Thats a great question. Do you think republicans, do you think susan collins, cory gardner, mitt romney, could they join the 47 democrats and come up to 50. Why would they do that. If the president had a perfect call, he will send people over to say he had a perfect call. What we know now is 17 witnesses, most of them if not all trump appointees, they were all trumps people. And all of them gave information that trump didnt like. So the complaint was here we are, we are not getting the witnesses, better hurry up, not have witnesses, we know what theyre going to say. He could put on mick mulvaney, this guy duffey, theyre all going to hurt him. And theyll be under oath. About loyalty, i worked for many politicians, there is an expectation of loyalty. But we dont expect people to debase themselves as mark short did, the training tape this weekend on how to humiliate yourself for your guy. Like when you say it is okay to make fun of a dead guy because in his closing days, sounded like the reality show mentality crept in. Nobody refers to some last days of their life as their closing days. This is a language thats been it is i think trump talks like that because then he expects everybody to fall in line behind him so, you know, were not going to move a lot of people, but im counting on five. This is trump going crazy in a bizarre rant during a speech to conservative kids this weekend. President trump went on the attack against Wind Turbines. I never understood wind. I know windmills very much, studied it better than anybody, it is very expensive. Theyre made in china and germany mostly. Very few made here, almost none. But theyre manufactured, tremendous if youre into this, tremendous fumes, gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know, we have a world, right . So the world is tiny compared to the universe. If you own a house with a vision of some of these monsters, your house is worth 50 of the price. Theyre noisy, they kill the birds. You want to see a bird graveyard, you just go, a bird graveyard. Not the first time the president has gone after wind energy. Earlier this year, the president claimed that noise from Wind Turbines causes cancer. Fact checked, it doesnt. Donna, we talked about facts. Quoted that woman from michigan that said facts dont matter, this president is the worlds greatest authority on birds and on wind energy, how cancer is caused. Dont people say we dont need wacky . Some other universe we would be lacking at this guy. This isnt funny. He is in front of a group of young people basically making stuff up. And what he said there was completely made up. There is not a single bit of scientific or fact based evidence behind what he described. The people can see Wind Turbines are like windmills, as old as modern civilization, we had windmills and they didnt kill anybody. The concern about birds is ridiculous. Youre staying with us. Were going to talk politics. Already been talking politics. A photo finish i think in iowa. You cant predict what will happen in a month and a half now. Talking iowa, it is coming at us. Be right back. Wa, it is coming us be right back. Tom steyer im tom steyer, and i approve this message. Climate is the number one priority. I would declare a state of emergency on day one. Congress has never passed an important climate bill, ever. This is a problem which continues to get worse. Ive spent a decade fighting and beating oil companies, stopping pipelines, stopping fossil fuel plants, ensuring clean energy across the country. How are we going to pull this country together . We take on the biggest challenge in history, we save the world and we do it together. Sini wasnt sure. Clot was another around the corner . Or could things go a different way . I wanted to help protect myself. My doctor recommended eliquis. Eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot. Almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didnt experience another, and eliquis has significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. 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Ends tuesday welcome back to hardball. Six weeks out from iowa, the caucuses there. Still dont know of a clear frontrunner. No one popped in the weeks leading up to the First Political test of 2020. The remaining 15 candidates have been canvassing the state, making the hard sell. Here they go. We have to heal this country. Our democracy is in trouble. Its not about me, this is about the country. I think as we look at this primary and what our choices are in this primary, it boils down to yes, the best ideas. I think we all know why it is imperative that we get a different white house. And i am meeting democrats, independents and republicans ready to make it happen. You want to make it about one guy in one office, it is a recipe for losing. We cant talk always about what were against, we need to talk about what were for and who were for. Heres how it looks according to real clear politics average. Mayor Pete Buttigieg has a small lead, 22 . Followed by bernie sanders, 20. He is holding up there, bernie is. Vice President Joe Biden 19, basically the same. And elizabeth warren, shes in 16. If you look at the top four, they were all bunched, all within two or three. Cant predict anything finer than that six weeks out. Set the tempo for what followed on super tuesday. Have some fun. It is christmas time. What do you think . Who is moving up . Who has the m. O. I think clearly coming out of the debate, buttigieg continues to demonstrate he has momentum. I was struck by joe bidens strength out of the debate and his numbers now. I think it is anybodys game in iowa. And it will be about who organizes their people to get to the caucus and caucus for them. It is an organizing game. Obama found that out. We could have a situation where we have a one, two, three that are different, one, two, three in all of the early states, then you go to super tuesday in the spring and i think it is up in the air. I think buttigieg coming out of the debate showed he could punch back. He showed he can handle it. Is he peaking to early, six weeks, theres oppo dumps to come. You brought it up earlier, one of bidens big liabilities is his age. I remember when Ronald Reagan had a problem with age, he would just go out, make fun of himself, tell jokes about himself, that ended that. If he would be self deprecating, it would work well for him. You take a shot at another candidate, the third candidate benefits from it. I notice warren went after buttigieg. Does that mean klobuchar picks up a few points . Usually you hurt the other opponent when you hit him or her. What do you think . Maybe, but klobuchar also hit attribu at buttigieg. Who came out was joe biden in that. He was going after him. A cold night in iowa, it is cold in february, i have been out there, it is really cold. You go out there at night, spend three hours with people you know or may not know. Tell them how to vote. Thats a unique person. Is that a biden person, is that person politically committed, go out, suffer the public exposure of how theyre going to vote . I think it falls more to progressive candidates. It is a commitment. Not like oh, im going to vote in the morning, take 15 or 20 minutes. You have to sit around an hour, listen to the speeches. I have given one. And they pass a basket around. Last question. You think youre the only one in the universe, everything is revery, dreaming, how much does the voter in iowa know that he or she is speaking for millions, tens of millions because theyre deciding basically which way this is going. Do they think like that, i am voting for the country . I dont think so. I talked to iowa voters, i have been at caucuses. I think people take their responsibility really seriously. They look at their state as having a national responsibility. But for them, it is personal. You know, it is a demonstration of a thing for a candidate, but not the only thing. You go to the New Hampshire primary, i have been in New Hampshire in a primary, too, you have to get your voters out when it is really cold. Buttigieg is gay and married. Everybody knows this. He wants us all to know this. A solid, honest guy that wants people to know what theyre getting. People say this might work in iowa in a democratic caucus, may well work. I think he is the frontrunner. What about the south, more traditional parts of the country. Are they thinking that way or are they saying no, i like this guy. Thats a good question. I dont know the answer. I dont think we will know the answer. All i know is iowa counts. Watched it in cases where theres a regional candidate. Youre on the way to winning the nomination, it is so powerful, a white state largely to be blunt, just is. But people have gone from iowa, then you go to New Hampshire but in the end, the iowa guy wins. Iowa counts. Anyway, thank you. Merry christmas to you both. Tom brokaw joins us to talk about his work covering the impeachment of president Richard Nixon, how that administrations approach to impeachment compares to the Trump Administrations. Big difference. Youll see that in a minute. Youre watching hardball. E. Youre watching hardball. I looove travel. Italy yaaaaass. With the united explorer card, i get rewarded wherever i go. Going out for a bite. Rewarded going new places. Rewarded anytime. Rewarded getting more for getting away. Rewarded learn more at the explorer card dot com. And get. Rewarded burke at farmers insurance, weve seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a threering fender bender. clown 1 sorry about that. clown 2 apologies. clown 1 . Didnt mean it. clown 3 whoops. stilts sorry clowns were sorry scary hey, were sorry [man screams] [scary screams] burke quite the circus. But we covered it. At farmers, we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum welcome back to hardball. The ukraine scandal driving President Trumps impeachment has drawn inevitable comparison to watergate. In president nixons case, looming impeachment and near certainty to being removed from office led him to resign before congress could act. There he goes. In june, President Trump said the big difference between he and president nixon is that he, trump, wouldnt quit. When you look at past impeachments, whether it was president clinton or president nixon never got there, he left, i dont leave. Theres a big dirchfference. I dont leave. Nixon said the same a year before he resigned speaking to staff in july of 1973, he dismissed the prospect he would ever resign before the end of his term. I was rather amused by some very well intentioned people who thought that perhaps the burdens of the office and, you know, some of the rather rough assaults that any man in this office gets from time to time brings on an illness, and that after going through such an illness that i might get so tired that i would consider either slowing down or even some suggested resigning. Anyone that suggests that, thats just plain poppy cock. Were staying on the job until we get the job done. My colleague, tom brokaw covered Richard Nixons impeachment for nbc news and has his own thoughts on comparison between nixon and donald trump. My interview with tom brokaw is next. Youre watching hardball. Brok next youre watching hardball. Well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. Its an allinone that absorbs dirt and grime deep inside. And it helps prevent streaks and haze. Stop cleaning. Start swiffering motor . Nope. Not motor . Its pronounced motaur. 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History shows Andrew Johnson gave up everything that the Congress Asked him for when he was the subject of impeachment inquiry. So mr. President , i ask you this, arent your statements to that matter historically inaccurate or at least misleading. Mr. Brokaw, it is true as you say the only other president who was exposed to an impeachment inquiry was Andrew Johnson. Insofar as confidential, that principle stands. White house correspondent tom brokaw of nbc news asking president Richard Nixon how he could withhold material from congress during an impeachment inquiry. And just as were seeing today with President Trump, nixons defiance of congressional subpoenas to one of the three articles of impeachment brought against him, nixon resigned before being formally charged. All part of a new book, the fall of Richard Nixon by tom brokaw, highlighting his observations from the watergate era. I am joined by nbcs tom brokaw. Glad to be here. Remember you were in washington on the front of the national archives, says the past is prolog. How much is watergate like or unlike what we have been through this fall . Theres significant differences. First of all, got to remember, by the time i asked him that question, his principles were on the way to prison, there was contempt within the white house, including from the president to try to cover up everything. So the evidence was much harder at that point, much more obvious to everyone. Now it has become this kind of game, he said, she said. Thats not what we meant kind of thing. So i think thats the difference. And the same time, the conduct of donald trump versus conduct of president nixon, nixon was always aware of being president ial and the way he spokane the way he responded to me there. Trump plays from the gutter frankly. Ready, draw, shoot, whatever you need to do. So its a different time. Its also a different time in terms of, chris, what people have access to because of social media. Thats a huge difference because everybody can tune in, see whats going on, you dont know whether it is authentic or not what youre reading, people are fiddling with it constantly, were much more divided country now than then. Back then, ill ask you, three branches of government worked well together by summer of 74, the most damning tape against nixon, june 23rd tape where he was asking the cia basically to interfere with the fbi investigation, clear case, that was delivered to the congress and country. Right now, seems like the courts are not playing that role. Everything is slowed down to the point were not getting the evidence. And were not getting the evidence. The other thing is that everybody is operating on separate islands. Theres no cooperation across agencies and across departments of government. The other very important part of it, the Republican Party at that time did not speak out in a way theyre speaking out now. Most of them stayed quietly in their offices and took in the evidence that was coming in on a daily basis. They didnt get out there and show their sharp elbows, say this is outrageous how the president is being treated. They wanted things. I remember senator scott from pennsylvania. Hugh scott. Somebody you know very well. When they came out with the transcripts that had been edited at that point, there was so much stuff that was still left over even after the editing, he almost threw up. He wrote a letter to his fellow republicans saying i cannot support this. And now we have a president who talks out loud like he spoke this private with the expletives. Exactly right. You mentioned in your book while speaking about the poor quality of the recordings picked up by the white house taping system, Richard Nixon joked he wished he never had a taping system at all inside the white house. Here it goes. As far as those particular recordings are concerned, the reason that you have heard that there are difficulties in hearing them is that the system itself was not a sophisticated system, and i just wish wed have had a better system. I frankly wish we hadnt had a system at all. Then i wouldnt have to answer this question. This isnt a reporters question. Its a commentators question. Suppose we never got those tape. Would nixon have been forced from office . Im not sure. I dont i really dont know. You have to remember, however, that before we got to that moment, people, his principal advisers, johner licks erhlicks going to president. Bob halderman was going to prison. His former law partner was going to prison. The president himself might have been able to avoid it. By the way, that speech that he was making there, it was to newspaper editor, and he was trying to defend the idea that he not paid a full compliment of income taxes, and it was at that speech that he looked at the p camera and said the American People deserve to know whether their president is a crook. I am not a crook. And when you talk about a headline, that was it. Never forgot it. You later interviewed nixon at the dedication of his president ial library in 1990 asking him about the geopolitical situation at the end of the cold war. Lets watch that. Mr. President , let me ask you about the current situation. The world has changed enormously in the last year and a half. The germans are now striking deals with the soviet union. The japanese are about to provide massive aid to the chinese. Is there a dang that the United States is being dealt out of the first great deals of the cold war era . Neither germany nor japan is a super power in the total sense. Neither has nuclear weapons, neither will ever acquire them. The United States is the only true super power, and the United States is needed in asia and in europe at this time. Let me ask you another philosophical question since you wrote the book. You stuck your neck out on this one. Nixon was really focused on Foreign Policy. He was an intellectual about that. He really took pride in his knowledge of the world, his ability to do a tour for an hour without notes. Did he have to end up . Well never be able to figure him out completely, what motivated him, why he was so insecure about who he was. He did have a genius about the big picture, the sweeping issues that had to do with Foreign Policy and with the global contests between the United States and the soviet union, and when i look at that, i remember that very, very well. I thought thats where he was comfortable. He ran for governor of california and lost, but he said at the end privately i had to talk about all the damn things that had to do with drugs. I didnt care about that. I wanted to get to Foreign Policy. Thats who he was. By the way, your mood right now is exactly what this book is about. I wouldnt say its uplifting, but its joyful because of your love of the system and how it could be and this is a good holiday read actually. Buy this book, because you can read it and its a page turner. Those of you who have had trouble with tur gent books over this year. It tells a sad story but a story about our country. Tom brokaw, author of the fall of nixon. Youre watching hardball. Wat. You know it, right . But i dont have to, with always discreet. I couldnt believe the difference. Its less bulky. And it really protects. Watch this. The super absorbent core turns liquid and odor to gel, and locks it away. So i have nothing to hide. Always discreet. For bladder leaks. Male anchor . An update on the cat who captured our hearts. Female anchor how often should you clean your fridge . Stay tuned to find out. Male anchor beats the odds at the box office to become a rare nonfranchise hit. You can give help and hope to those in need. On normal nights here in washington, we bring you a member of congress from what we call the will rogers site in the capitol building. If you look to the left of our guest on those nights, youll see him will rogers standing in bronze lookingcowboy, comedian, writer, every man. When asked his political affiliation, he said rather solemnly i am not a member of any organized political party. Im a democrat. I say tonight here that a current leader of that democr Democratic Party has proved the great will rogers wrong. She did it last week uniting the democrats in the house of representatives to pass the impeachment of donald trump uniting the democrats, thats a phrase to write history around. How many times before have we seen the party of Thomas Jefferson divided against ipts . I can remember how in 1968, the war forces refused to back Hubert Humphrey and gave us Richard Nixon. The disappointed ted kennedy supporters failed to gather around carter and gave us reagan or failed to go all out for Hillary Clinton and gave us donald trump. Behind either a nominee of the left or even one of the center left. It may take one of those Party Leaders of lore to bring the democrats together come next summer in order to beat trump. It could take a real unifier, someone like nancy pelosi. It cockeduld take nancy pelosi. Thats hardball for now. Thanks for being with us. Have a Merry Christmas and a happy hanukkah, and mr. President you better watch out because santa claus is coming to town, and he knows whos been good or bad. All in with chris hayes starts now. Good evening from new york, im chris hayes. Weve got a big show tonight including some serious impeachment developments were going to get to in just a minute. Reverend William Barber is here to talk about evangelical support for the president and what it really looks like. Theres more on the firestorm over a Trump Campaign official caught on tape talking about, apparently admitting to voter suppression, and tonight new reporting on stephen millers secret plan to skirt the law and increase deportations. We begin tonight with impeachment. Its been five d
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