That is that would be called obstruction of justice in courts. Thats obstruction of congress here and obstructing his own impeachment investigation and he just may not be smart enough to realize thats something he keeps inside his head. I dont think so. That was bad. You know, on sunday, adam schiff suggested the administration was withholding documents. On a wednesday, President Trump said, pretty much, yep. Good morning. Its thursday, january 23rd, this is morning joe. Along with us, National Security expert and author of the book the death of expertise, tom nichols and former u. S. Attorney and contributor Barbara Mcquade is with us. In a moment, well show you key moments of adam schiffs opening arguments. By most accounts a virtuoso performance that drew praise from all sides yesterday, even senator Lindsey Graham. It was a stunning recitation of the that weave together Donald Trumps abuses of power and obstruction of congress. That in a bit. Why dont we see what the American People are thinking about these proceeding, because you listen to republicans, they will tell you that this has just been Nancy Pelosis mishandled this. Adam schiffs mishandled. The American People are angry. This is going to help donald trump and help the republicans so much. Poll after poll after poll shows that to be a lie. We showed you the cnn poll a few days ago. 57 believe he abused po ed pow the office, about the same amount believe he obstructed the investigation, purposely obstructed the investigation. Almost seven in ten americans want to see relevant witnesses. All of those numbers proving that this impeachment and the truth coming with it, the proceedings, are hurting the president. Now direct evidence how its hurting him in headtohead matchups where democrats appear to be breezing past tdonald trup now. Joe biden, 53 . Michael bloomberg. Little mike, numbers against you, donald, hes big, bad Michael Bloomberg. Bernie sanders, 52 to 45 , and person he calls pocahontas, ahead of him by five percentage point. Mayor pete by 4 and Amy Klobuchar by three points and, again, i hear trumpists on tv, read trumpists in the paper and on twitter. Theyre all whistling past the graveyard suggesting that this impeachment proceeding could not be going better for donald trump, and yet the American People in poll after poll suggest just the opposite is true. This is bad news for donald trump. If you look at almost any poll in these headtohead matchups are people talk about the democratic race, the key element of it is, who can beat donald trump . Yes, they want to talk about cue issues but democrats want to win. Put up the graphic again. You see all the way down the line, five, six candidates who can make the electability argument. Peel say without evidence, really, Elizabeth Warren couldnt beat him head to head, she can make that case, john lemire, she can win. Pete buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bloomberg can make that case, joe biden, and democrats want to win, in the tag, more than anything. And Michael Bloomberg can make the case, we know this is not a National Referendum. We know that, but can make the case that, i can beat his president. It shows where the country is on evimpeachment. Weve seen the numbers be consistent. President trumps base, 40odd of supporters dont want this to happen. Think its a sham. Most, majority of American People want to see it play out. As much as the Trump Campaign makes an argument this is going to be good for them and excite their base and only time will tell if thats true, numbers now, consistent public polling suggests thats not the case. Cnn had a poll yesterday on the battleground states with these candidates an margins were closer, where this election will be decided. It goes to show you as much as we know or think we know what will be the virtual outcome of the trial in terms whether or not the president will be removed from congress, the political ramifications are yet to be determined. Theres a chance, even if acquitted in a week or so from now, longterm damage. And 60 to 70 of americans want to see a fair trial. When the president of the United States goes out as you said in the clip, weve got a bunch of documents we havent given them, saying were withholding evidence, those people say, wait a minute. Thats not a fair trial. Americans want at fair trial, impartial jurors and relevant witnesses, and Mitch Mcconnell and Lindsey Graham and the Republican Party have bragged openly they were not going to provide a fair trial to the American People. They werent going to be honest brokers. They werent doing to be impartial jurors, even though they raised their hand and swore a solemn oath that then would be and it is costing donald trump and the Republican Party right now. Before we get on to impeachment. An interesting monmouth poll came out in the democratic field nationwide and it shows joe biden up doing pretty well. He and sanders seem to be top of the polls now. Elizabeth warren 14 . Look at this. Michael bloomberg up four more Percentage Points since december. At 9 . Three points ahead, Pete Buttigieg nationally and fo4 points above is Amy Klobuchar. Seems familiar what people said about another new york millionaire, or billionaire, whatever donald trump is, back in the early stages of his campaign. Mike bloomberg, you know, not going to get past 3 . Not going to get past 4 . Looks like hes about to get in the double digits. Yeah. Doesnt have the celebrity donald trump had in 2016, and you could argue that the field is much more formidable than the one donald trump faced in 2016. Amazing what a quarter of a billion dollars already in advertising in states across the country, big states like california, new york, super tuesday states, obviously not playing at the beginning, but laying the groundwork to be sitting pretty well especially if the vote is fractured. One person wins New Hampshire, another iowa, another South Carolina. Sitting there making the case, the Democratic Party hasnt made up its mind. Here i am. I can beat donald trump. May not have the celebrity but way more money, some argue bugs trump and causes trump to focus on him, and thats only helpful to fuful to mike bloomb got the most powerful ads out there. And unlike donald trump, knows how to run things. That wouldnt be the end of the word. And Senate Impeachment trials are under way and democrats are laying out the case for President Trumps removal from office. A serious of speeches on the floor yesterday lead impeachment prosecutor adam schiff along with six other house impeachment managers argued that President Trump pressured ukraine in order to help him win reelection. Schiff warned senates if trump isnt held itable the damage to National Security could be longlasting. Here is some of his floor presentation. President trump withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to a Strategic Partner at war with russia to secure foreign help with his reelection, in other words, to cheat. His scheme was undertaken for a simple but corrupt reason to help him win reelection in 2020. But the affect of this scheme was to undermine or free and Fair Elections and put our National Security at risk. The president was the key player in the scheme. Everyone was in the loop. He directed the actions of his team. He personally asked a Foreign Government to investigate his opponent. These facts are not in dispute. Ultimately the question for you is whether the president s undisputed actions require the removal of the 45th president of the United States from office. I suggest to you today the only conclusion consistent with the facts of law, not just the law but the constitution, is clear as described by constitutional law experts testimony before the house, if this conduct is not impeachable, then nothing is. President trumps abuse of powers of his office undermine the integrity of our free and Fair Elections and compromised americas National Security. If we dont stand up to this peril today, we will write the history of ow decline with our own hand. If President Trump is not held to account we send the message to future president s, future congresseses and future generations that the os of the president it fairly can precedent over those of the nation. We have for generations been the shining city upon a hill that president reagan described. Americas not just a country but also an idea, but what worth is that idea if when tried we do not affirm the value that underpin it . What will those nascent democracies around the world conclude that democracy is not only difficult but maybe that its too difficult . Maybe that its impossible. And howho will come to fill the void when we leave that light upon a shining city is extinguished. If the president was fighting corruption, wanted them to pay more, why hide it from us . From the ukrainians, from the rest of the world . Why wouldnt he be proud to say to the United States, ill holding up this aid and im holding it up because im worried about corruption. Why wouldnt he . Because, of course, it wasnt true. And were to believe they felt no pressure . Folks, theyve at war theyre at war and theyre being told youre not getting 400 million in aid you need, unless you do what the president wants, and what the president wants are these two investigations. If you dont believe thats pressure, thats 400 million worth of pressure. Youve heard the other counsels say before, well, but they say they dont feel pressure. Like theyre going to admit they were being shaken down by the president of the United States. You think they feel pressure now . You should see what kind of pressure they feel if they admitted that. The president s counsel would love you to believe this is just about ukraine. You dont need to care about ukraine. Who cares about ukraine . How many can find ukraine on the map . Why should we care about ukraine . Well, we should care an ukraine. Theyre an ally of ours. If it matters to us, we should care about the fact that in 1994 when we asked them to give up their nike coluclear weapons in by the soviet union, they worried about proliferation. We said, hey, if you give them up because youre worried you dont want to because the russians might invade, we will help ensure your national integrity. We made that commitment. I hope we care about that. I hope we care about that, because they did give them up. You know what . Just what they feared took place. The russian s moved across thei border and they remain an occupied part of ukraine. Thats the word of america we gave. And were breaking that word. Why . For help with a Political Campaign. All right. Yeah. Something weve talked about on this show. Actually over the past couple of years, after the invasion of ukraine, after Vladimir Putin invaded ukraine. I remember jeffrey sax and others coming on, Richard Haass coming on saying we made a commitment to the ukrainians if they gave up their Nuclear Weapons we would protect their borders. Of course, we didnt do that. Now this president decides, again, hes going to withhold military funding unless, of course, they help interfere with american elections. Particularly his election. I thought schiffs performance was a virtuoso performance yesterday. Im so used to seeing immediate ork creaimmediate mediocrity, this cuts through. Doesnt it . And made the case that resonates. One thing that struck me about the house laying out its case is that the narrative is so clear. Its not hard to follow. This isnt arcane. Theres not yes, the obligatory references to federal of 65 and things a lot of us havent studied this college. Hamilton got a lot of run yesterday. And recognized more and more. But to lay out this very clear narrative of an abuse of power specifically for personal gain that also injures the National Security and puts a friend at risk at the hands of the russians. I think this really drove home the case. And im wondering now if mcconnells, the the senate the republican senators before him that said were going to sweep this thing away and we dont really want to do that, i wonder if thats starting to backfire, because it looks bad now. I think that the case laid out by the democrats was so strong that the republicans who just want to sweep it away now i think are having trouble making that case. Barbara mcquade, adam schiff, former federal prosecutor argued before many jurors did that yesterday for several hours in front of the United States senate. I couldnt help but think as he laid it out very clearly, tom said, from start to finish, with evidence, with testimony that they played on the video screen, and told a pretty compelling and clear story, if you are a republican senator who is against the conviction of the president , or one whos considering still the possibility that you may convict the president , how could you sit and listen to that and ignore that something very clearly happened between the president and the president of ukraine and that there was, in fact, a quid pro quo and that the president did use congressionally approved money for his own personal gain, held it up . Well, adam schiff did masterfully what all prosecutor are trained to do, which is, not just to argue that the elements of a statute have been technically satisfied but to make the story come to life and explain to the jury why it matters. People dont want to feel like theyve convicted Somebody Just because, gotcha, theres a technical violation here, but that it matters that we have rules and laws for a reason, and what i thought adam schiff did prix will well, weaving the facts of the story and explaining why it runs so afoul of the values we share in america, and this much more pressing value of military aid to ukraine. Why its dangerous to us. Adam schiff and jason crow made it well. We gave aid to ukraine to fight russia here so we dont have to fight a war here. It isnt just about our ally ukraine and doing what we said we would do, valuing our commitments to get that kind of reciprocity from other allies around the world but protecting americans, protecting the National Security of us right here. If we allow russia to go unchecked in ukraine, then it is eventually going to end up at our doorstep. And schiffs passion shows how personal this is to him and how it should be to all of us, because this is about america. And america is all of us. And yesterdays opening arguments, congressman schiff also urged republican senators over there reluctance to subpoenaing documents, such as the notes from white house officials, from conversations they had about ukraine. Morrison says, ambassador sondland related no quid pro quo but president zelensky had to make the statement and had to want to dot it. No quid pro quo, but theres a quid pro quo. Now, there are notes that show this. Theres a written record of this. Theres a written record of what President Trump told ambassador sondland right after that call. Would you like to see that written record . Its called mr. Morris notes. Right there. No even plausible, arguable invented exconfuse for withholding these notes. Wouldnt you like to see them . In any courtroom in America Holding a fair trial, you would want to see contemporaneous notes. This senate should be no different. Demand those notes. Demand to see the truth. Were not afraid of those notes. We havent seen them. We havent seen them. Maybe those notes Say Something completely different. Maybe those notes say no quid pro quo. Maybe those notes say its a perfect call. Id like to see them. Im willing to trust ambassador taylors testimony and his recollection. Id like to see them. Id like to show them to you. Theyre yours for the asking. Jonathan, of course, republicans dont want to see it. Why . Because they know what those notes say. They know that the notes, like all the other information that has come out, implicates the president and proves that this drug deal was dirty and it started at the very top with donald j. Trump who has quite effectively obstructed justice and obstructed this investigation over the past several years. We think back to the mueller report. Ten examples of obstruction of justice. Seven eight of those, i would say, would land most people who werent president of the United States in a trial and in jail. Donald trump keeps obstructing investigations and keeps skating because republicans in the United States house and senate allow him to. The president tipped his hand in the clip we played saying we have the documents. We havent turned them over. Still obstruction. Whats happening here. The white hous