Make donald trump the first president in the United States history to be impeached twice. Andrea, unlike last time, todays expected Impeachment Vote will be bipartisan. Thats because a growing number of republicans have already defected, including the number three republican in the house, liz cheney, also the most powerful republican in the senate, Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell reportedly pleased about the impeachment. Privately, backing kasie hunt said sending up white smoke, if you will. Thats right. We have our team of reporters and analysts standing by, including our panel for the next 60 minutes. Claire mccaskill, michael steele, both msnbc political analysts, chuck rosenberg, senior fbi official joins us as well. We want to start on capitol hill with Leigh Ann Caldwell who can take us through what we are seeing. We are in the middle of a procedural vote on this motion by republicans to set up a commission effectively to look at what they describe as the failures of the election. Thats expected to fail. Obviously, the vote has not been gavelled. Then we hit a second procedural vote. Thats the one to finish up the debate about the debate and move on to sort of the meat and potatoes, the substance of impeachment. Do you have that right . Reporter you have it absolutely right. This vote that they are taking thats taking place, its going to take a while. Thats because of covid safety precautions that are in place and also because members are allowed to vote been proxy. Every time a member show th mem votes by proxy, their representative has to stand up. It could take an hour. The second vote is on what they call the rule of the debate regarding the impeachment article. Its a common procedural tactic that has to happen. It could give us a signal on where republicans stand, where lawmakers stand on this article of impeachment. We know that five republicans have already come out in support of impeimpeachment, publically declaring their stance, including liz cheney, the number three member of the House Republican conference. She is widely speculated to be the first woman speaker of the house. Shes a rising star within the party. She also has those deep, deep roots into the old establishment Republican Party. She is showing this is exemplifying a deep divide that is taking place in the Republican Party right now. She has separated herself from House Republican leader Kevin Mccarthy who has not come out very strongly at all publically admonishing the president or distancing himself from the president. He said in a private phone call that the president bears some blame but he has not said that yet publically. Its going to be interesting to see if he takes to the floor today and what position he will take during this impeachment debate. Leigh ann caldwell, thank you very much. With us now, congressman eric swalwell, democrat from california. There are ahandful of republicans, but importantly liz cheney how many republicans do you think are considering switching sides . For the sake of the country, hopefully more would be better. Having Republican Leadership on board shows that this is a unity impeachment, telling the country that we will seek to protect you by removing the individual who incited an attack on the capitol. Congressman, its Hallie Jackson here. You are laying out your argument for why the president should by impeached for an unprecedented second time. There are those we heard this argument this morning from some republicans, although as we noted, last hour, republicans handed over the rest of their time, something you very rarely see in a situation like this. The argument that this is a rushed process effectively. How do you respond to those arguments that this is, in the eyes of some republicans, going a little out of bounds here in order to impeach this president for time number two . I will tell you about a rushed process. Just a week ago i was sitting on the house floor as we were counting electoral ballots and i was watching on my phone the mob that the president had sent over to the Capitol Breach six perimeters. Then i heard screaming and smashing on the house floor. I was told to take out a gas mask and i was told to duck under a chair in case gunfire came into the chamber. Then i listened to the chaplain offer a prayer to the members and the staff for their safety as this mob the president sent was attacking the capitol. That was a rushed process. We have to move at the clip of the president s chaos. Thats what we are doing here today. Congressman swalwell, craig melvin here. I want to ask you about democratic colleague of yours a few hours ago shared this, i guess, report, if you will, that there are republicans that he has spoken with who are open to the idea of impeachment, maybe even a couple of dozen in the house, but they are concerned about their own personal safety, concerned that if they vote to impeach the president , they could, in fact, be fearing for their lives. Is that a sentiment you have heard from republicans as well . It is a sentiment i have heard. Who wants to live in fear . Who wants to live in a fear in a country as free as ours . Living in fear like that only enables the president , it inspires his supporters to believe they can do this again, and there are plots do this again. You have to stand up to the bully. I understand the fear, but i dont think the fear should guide decision making. On this idea of safety and security there at the capitol, we heard from one of your colleagues over the last 18 hours or so talking about what she viewed as a recon mission, if you will, the day before the january 6th attack on the capitol, led in part by some of your fellow members of congress. We heard something similar. She didnt go as far from congresswoman demings. I didnt see that. But they are two individuals with military and Law Enforcement credentials of the highest integrity. I hope we understand if there was an inside job, whether it was members or staff or anyone working at the capitol who helped these attackers better navigate the capitol, that is going to be investigated. With just 160 some odd hours until the inauguration and multiple plots to attack the capitol, we have to remove the greatest threat right now, and democracy, and thats the president. Two things that stood out as well, the fact that while you were in lockdown, some republican members refused to wear masks and were political and laughing about this suggestion and that now you have several members who believe that they were infected during those many hours being locked down during the siege with members refusing to wear masks as well as the fact that some republican members were objecting to the security. What is being done about that . The speaker is very concerned about health and public safety. Shes trying to ratchet up ways to protect members. I got my negative test back last night. That was the first time that i was really sweating what the result will be. We have done everything to try and follow the guidance we tell others to follow. We were put in an impossible position last week when we were put into a room with hundreds of other members, where dozens on the republican side would not wear their masks. When we asked them to wear masks, laughed at us. Its predictable that people are testing positive now. We had just survived this common experience of being attacked, nearly killed, and you would think after that the last thing you would do would be to take an action that could kill somebody else around you. Its really just the height of selfishness. Its not what we should do when the country needs unity. Eric swalwell, thank you. Appreciate your time. I want to bring in our panel now. Claire mccaskill is with us. So is chuck rosenberg, michael steele, former chair of the rnc. Mr. Rosenberg, let me start with you. One of the chief arguments as you know against impeachment has been theres simply not enough time. Here we are a week away from the inauguration of joe biden. Theres, of course, the holiday on monday. What say you to that argument that theres not enough time to impeach, then convict President Trump . I have a couple of things to say to that. Theres enough time. It requires that the house and the senate move a little more quickly. Second, those who drafted our constitution didnt include a clause that said that a president can be removed for committing high crimes and misdemeanors unless time is running out. No such thing. I guess they could have put in that clause. The notion is that if a president is dangerous to the republic, and this president is, then he ought to be impeached and removed. I would point out its my analogy. But its like somebody driving drunk for four years who gets pulled over as they are a block away from their home and tries to convince the cop that everything is okay because i almost made it back to my living room. Thats not the way it works. What the president did last week was unforgivable. It was heinous conduct, despicable, disgusting. The constitution permits his removal if the house and senate see fit. I hope they do. Because thats what ought to happen here. Claire, i want to first of all play for you some remarkable accusations from the two house members we have been alluding to and get your reaction on the other side. I think we dont have that tape yet. We will get to that in a minute. Want to ask you about Mitch Mcconnell, from your long experience in the senate and your knowledge of Mitch Mcconnell, how do you read all of these signals he is sending through background notes in the New York Times and other media, what is he about to do . Is he looking to stretch this out and looking for cover . Listen, what Mitch Mcconnell did yesterday was not a whisper. It was a foghorn. It was a loud, amplified message to every republican senator and beyond that he is done. I dont know what will happen. Nobody, i think, is lobbying for votes or whipping votes to try to protect this president. The interesting thing will be what he does in terms of how quickly the senate takes this up. We will see his cards fairly quickly. As soon as the house impeaches, they will send it down. Then they have an opportunity, Mitch Mcconnell and chuck schumer, to bring it immediately to the floor, to bring the senate back. They could work all weekend. By the way, there would be some really symmetry or symbolism of the Senate Voting on conviction next monday, on Martin Luther king day, after he would saw confederate flags. I think Martin Luther king would approve of the Senate Working on the day that honors him in terms of convicting donald trump of high crimes and misdemeanors. We were talking with rich lowery earlier today. This describes the idea of the president willfully making statements that encourage the lawlessness, riots we saw at the capitol. Some people hear that and think, the president literally said, if you dont fight like hell, you are not going to have a country anymore, a statement that was cited in the article as well. How do you see that . I get the lega semantics. The country is fixated on the actions. The country saw what happened. The country heard the president , as you just relayed, express the words, lets go to the capitol. The reality of it is, if the republicans want to play sort of the legal kind of semantics, well, how do we know it was willful, how do we know it was that, thats not how the country is looking at this. Thats not how they should look at this. This is prima facie. Its very cleared on on its face. You cannot mistake what happened. You can connect all the dots, hallie. Thats what Mitch Mcconnell and thats what liz cheney and so many other republicans who are coming out have done. I think going on that hook is not going to be a helpful argument to make when you are confronted by your constituents back home. Why did you stand with the successionist, with the insurrectionist, why didnt you stand with the country . You dont want to say because i couldnt show it was willful. Thats not the argument you want to take. Michael, senator, stand by for a moment. We want to turn now to the number three democrat in the house, House Majority whip congressman James Clyburn from the great state of south carolina. Congressman, lets play devils advocate for a second. Senator joe manchin, he has said that impeachment is illadvised. We are seven days away from the inauguration of joe biden. Make the argument that impeaching the president and convicting the president somehow moves america forward. Thank you very much for having me. I think its the first time i have seen you since the loss of your brother. I offer my condolences. Look, we are good buddies. I mean that. We do these shows together. We interact together here in this building. But we dont always agree on everything. Thats the way it is. I disagree with him on that. I do believe that when anything as egregious as this takes place, its incumbent upon us as legislators, as people who have the responsibility to be a check on this executive, we have to do our jobs. I think its very clear that this president has violated his oath of office in a way that no president before him has ever done. We have to do our jobs. Conviction is up to somebody else. Thats not our job. Our job is to lay out the facts for the American People, take it to a vote and impeach, which is no more than an indictment. Then he will go to trial and let those people do their work. He is a part of that effort. So we will see what happens when the facts are unveiled as they put him on trial in the senate. Congressman clyburn, Andrea Mitchell here. I wanted to talk to you about your role of chair of the inaugural. You have expressed concerns about security and scaling further back. I want to ask you about that. The president elect said it will take place on the west front as planned. Is it still safe enough, do you believe, to have that ceremony out front . I know the parade will not be happening as we have imagine and all the things that have been anticipated. What about the Outdoor Events that are so traditional, the military review on the east front, were those things still possible . Do you think those should be done do them in a bunker if necessary, just get him sworn in. The know the president elect has a prerogative of making that determination. We as members of the inaugural committee will carry out his wishes. I, for one, would much rather see it done inside for security purposes, in the rotunda, or in the hall of the house, for that matter. But if he prefers to follow tradition here, im sure the men and women in uniform, the washington, d. C. Police force, the Capitol Police officers, they are going to do what they can to protect him. I really believe we will have a different outcome last week if all of these entities had been engaged in a process as they are now. I do feel that they are going to do their jobs. They will keep him and the Vice President elect protected. A point that some people say that there is a symbol of resilience of having it on west front, that you are telling the world that we cannot be intimidated by the thugs and rioters who invaded. We cant be. I was one of the first to say to the speaker, lets get back into the capitol last week because i think that we have to demonstrate the resiliency of the this country. You just cant express it. I think we came back in the building, we went on with our business, we demonstrated to the American People that thugs, irrespective where they get their direction from or from who, that we are going to do the countrys business and do it in such a way that the American People can be proud of their country. Congressman, its Hallie Jackson. You were one of the voices that suggested perhaps waiting, delaying on sending the article of impeachment if it passes over to the senate so as not to distract, if you will, from president elect bidens first 100 days of office. We heard from leader hoyer that it looks like the article will be sent immediately if it passes the house. Do you no longer have the concern about an impeachment trial being a distraction in the start of future president bidens tenure . I still have that concern. The question is whether or not we will get cooperation from the senate for it not to be a distraction. It seems as if the last 24 hours, we have heard from the majority and the soon to be minority leader, that he will move this forward so that we can get out of the way of the new administration. Irrespective what we are trying to do to clean up the current administration, theres a new president , a new Vice President , a new government. People want us to respond to their dreams and aspirations. They want us to get beyond the pandemic. We cant get beyond the pandemic having a trial. We have to put in place a new administrative effort to get beyond this pandemic. We have to put in place those things that are necessary to help people move forward with recreating this economy in such a way that we can all move forward together. I dont want to see us boged down with the trial. If the majority leader will keep his word and move forward, this can be done and we can have the vote to expel from office on monday. Congressman James Clyburn of south carolina. Thank you very much for your time and what i know is a very busy morning and day for you. I appreciate. President trump is on the brink of being the first president to be impeached twice. This time, for incitement of insurrection, a week after the siege on the capitol. I want to bring in monica alba. You and i have been talking with our sources. Im told the president is still, even as recently as the last day or so, musing about the possibility of a selfpardon, to give you a sense of where his head is at, entrenched in his defiance at this p