Geoff ben it starts us off. Geoff, we heard this morning from Chuck Schumer on this network, he wants Mick Mulvaney, john bolton to be witnesses in the Senate Impeachment trial. I want to play for you what senator schumer had to say. I hope some of my republican colleagues will say in all fairness, we ought to hear these people. Theres not a single reason that has been given why the four witnesses weve asked for while the documents weve asked for, should not be presented. I dont know what theyll say. Maybe theyll be exculpatory to President Trump. But to not have them is to engage in a coverup. Thats really interesting. Talk with me the reaction youre hearing from folks and your sources on the hill. Reporter Chuck Schumer is laying out his cards, putting them on the table and making clear how he thinks this trial should go. And the timing here is key because Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate Majority leader has said a couple of things that are of grave concern to democrats. One, he said that hes working in total coordination with the white house, which democrats see as undermining the integrity of the process. But hes also signalled that he wants to see a senate trial that is as quick and imminently forgettable as possible. So its the process that hes more or less envisioned would have house managers or prosecutors laying out the case, you would have a rebuttal from the white house. And then at that point the senators would make some determination that theyve heard enough and then vote. So without having any witnesses come forward. Chuck schumer is saying thats not good enough. That would not constitute a fair trial. And hes also saying to republicans, if you believe what youve been saying these past two or three months that the process has been rushed, that its not relied enough on first hand witnesses, hes saying to the republicans now is the time to settle the score. Now is the time to bring forward the testimony from folks like Mick Mulvaney and john bolton. Who by the way, through his attorney, bolton has said that he has more information to present that is material, that is relevant to this case. So before we can get to a senate trial, the house of course has to finish its work and we are now in the final stretch. So late last night you had the House Judiciary Committee issuing a report that sflaexpla articles of impeachment and it says President Trump has realized the framers worst nightmare, he has abused his power in soliciting and pressurering a foreign nation by sabotaging a political opponent and endorsing a debunked Conspiracy Theory promoted by our adversary, russia. Heres what we know in terms of next steps. Tomorrow you have the rules Committee Meeting to establish the ground rules, the rules for the floor debate that will happen on wednesday. The debate on wednesday then tees up a vote by the full house. Youve got the house adjourning later this week on friday and then all of this sets in motion a senate trial to begin sometime in early 2020. Right now were tracking potentially the second full week of january, hallie. So geoff, youve laid out sort of whats next in the house. Weve got the Judiciary Committee report overnight because the house has to finish its work. So kristen, to you, i know from conversations with all of our sources over in and around the white house, they are preparing for a senate trial. Is there any universe, are we living on any planet where the white house will say, john bolton, Mick Mulvaney, go ahead and be witnesses . Reporter it sure doesnt seem that at this point, hallie. Bottom line, they have blocked all of these requests so far in the house as geoff says, accusing democrats of engaging in a process thats been unfair from the start. And so theres no indication that they would comply with that sort of a request. Now, remember what President Trump wants to see. He wants to see adam schiff testify, he wants the whistleblower to testify. He wants the bidens to testify, also likely very unlikely as well. This is what Stephanie Grisham had to say to Chuck Schumer sad, hallie, tweeting at him, let us hope that fairness will prevail, a laughable quote from senator Chuck Schumer this morning after the dems release an impeachment report in the middle of the night, thankfully, the people of this country continue to see the partisan sham that this is. This was President Trump, hallie, the impeachment hoax is the greatest con job in the history of american politics. The Fake News Media and the Democratic Party are working overtime to make life for the United Republican Party and all it stands for as difficult as possible. The president and his allies right now focused on the senate trial in close coordination with Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell on how specifically it is going to be carried out. Now, of course that has opened republican senators up to criticism that they are not being fair and impartial. Senator Lindsay Graham over the weekend saying hes already made up his mind. So the partisan battle lines could not be drawn any firmer, hallie. And worth noting the politics of all of this. President trump doesnt like the stain that the word impeachment carries from an historically context, but he understands the politics of this. He is fundraising off of this already. His campaign touting the fact that they raised 10 million last week, touting trade meals and the usmca. Touting the fact that theyve reached a phase one trade deal with china. So he is going to take this out on the campaign trail if he is acquitted, which is what at this point seems to be the expected outcome. Geoff and kristen off to a very busy monday morning. Thanks to you both. Were lucky to be joined by three people with a unique perspective on all of this. Three former house lawmakers, new yorks joe crawly served as chair of the House Democratic congress, liz holtz man was on the Judiciary Committee during watergate and a republican from florida with us as well. Thanks to all of you. Im wondering, and ill start with you because youre sitting with me in person. Senator schumer is asking not just for witnesses to testify, but for a number of or things as he opens negotiations today with senator mcconnell. Is he asking for too much . No, i think you start out asking for everything and trying to whittle down the art of the deal . Its part of the art of the deal and the emphasis is on the witnesses, from my perspective, is that its to demonstrate not the lack of cooperation, but the zero cooperation that this white house will have with not only the house representatives, but now with the United States senate as well. So to really fully emphasize the lack of cooperation and obstruction of justice and the obstruction of congress. Im curious on your end, before we even get to the senate trial youve got to get through the house piece of this. When you get to the senate trial, youve got prosecutors, aka house managers, members of congress and there is a push from freshmen democrats to have justin a mash be one of the impeachment managers for the house. Would that be a smart strategy . It seems that Speaker Pelosi is not super into that idea. What do you make of it . Well, in some ways its consistent with what the speaker has been saying that this process should be nonpartisan or bipartisan by including justin amash, who was a republican just until a few weeks ago. It could give the case a little bit more credibility, at least an air of nonpartisanship. But i certainly dont think that Speaker Pelosi will go that way. I think Speaker Pelosi will go with the members who she trusts the most. We saw that when she gave the Intelligence Committee this task, adam schiff and her are very close. She wanted him to control the process as long as possible and her choice of prosecutors, youre going to see a similar line of thinking. When you look at where the American Public is, we have been now covering these hearings on this network over on nbc for, what, about a month now at this point. Look at the polling numbers here, congressman holtzman, because they are still frankly pretty stable from a month ago. Yet the bottom line is the top line. You still have half the country who thinks President Trump should be impeached and removed from office. I have heard it both ways from members of both parties when you ask does it matter that the needle does not seem to be moving on the polling numbers here, and i wonder where you are on this question. Does it matter or not . Well, first of all, the fox news poll is pretty inditing of the president. Half of people think he should be impeached. Half of the people want him out of office and only 41 of the American People want him in office. So lets just stop and pause and think about that. But i think in the end, this is not just a matter of polls. Not all the American People have had the chance to listen to all of the testimony, to absorb it, to study the constitution. So its a lot of material to digest for them. I think in part people are expecting the congress to present this in a way that makes it clear and understandable. Thats really the task here. And thats why it seems to me so important that we get the documents and we get those witnesses who talked to the president who are in a position to know firsthand what was in his mind and to get the documents. Remember the president took what i consider to be a sledgehammer to the constitution when he said to the house your impeachment inquiry isnt right, im going to judge whether its right or not as president of the United States and so im not going to cooperate. How would we ever have impeachment if the president , whoever the president is, can decide what kind of inquiry theres going to be . Can a person who is a criminal pick the prosecutors . Go ahead, congressman. Hallie, on that point. I do think that House Democrats are open to some criticisms in terms of how they have rushed this process. It is definitely true that the country would benefit, and perhaps House Democrats could build a greater consensus in the country for their position if we heard from some of these other witnesses. But the position of House Democrats is that they dont have time to go to court. They dont want to dedicate the time to doing that. So there are consequences to trying to rush through this process and we know Speaker Pelosi was sensitive about proceeding in this sense a few months ago. She really didnt want to do impeachment until she had no other choice. Now hes trying to make it as expeditious as possible because she doesnt want her swing district members to be accused of only focusing on impeachment. Theyre not talking about several days, but months and months. Thats exactly right. I think youre talking about Courts Holding up this process for months. And to hear that argument that theyre rushing through this, the white house is not cooperating. Theyre not giving the information. What is interesting to me, too, and Kristen Welker brought this up. And you guys probably have heard it at this point. The sound from Lindsay Graham. The remarks that he made over the weekend about how he has clearly made up his mind at this point. So theres a little bit of a trip down memory lane you can take not wujust with senator graham. I want to play for you what he said back during 1988 during the clinton impeachment and what hes saying now and i want to pause and show you something else. Heres senator graham. Members of the senate have said i understand everything there is about this case and i wont vote to impeach the president. Please allow the facts to do the talking. I have clearly made up my mind. Im not trying to hide the fact that i have disdain for the accusations and the process. So i dont need any witnesses. But then if youre going to look at how senator graham compares to senator graham then and now, youve got to look at senator schumer as well. Heres what he said in 1988 and today. A vote for Chuck Schumer is a vote not to impeach the president. Based on the present evidence, that is correct. The charges against the president that the house has put together are very serious and to say you wont look at the facts, look at the evidence, makes no sense. So just to put a pin on this. You had one republican back then saying its bad for people to have made up their minds, they should look at the facts. You had a democrat back then saying my mind is made up. Now you have the exact inverse. Chuck schumer responded and said different case, different circumstances, different facts. Is it appropriate, is it okay for some senators to make the point, hey, im not a sequester sequestered jurur, im looking at the case and i have my mind made up . I think its wrong for them to do it because senators take a special oath. The constitution requires that members of the senate take a special oath before they sit in judgment of the president. To me, that suggests that theyve got to have a clear conscience and a clear mind, an open mind. Look at the evidence, judge the facts and judge the law. When they make up their mind without the facts, without a presentation of both sides, then they are, i think, violating their oath of office and the oath for the impeachment. Congressman ka brel la, quickly to you. That reminds us of two things, why people dont trust politicians and were at a record low in terms of trust and confidence. And number two, all of this is ultimately a political process. This is not a court of law. This will be decided in the court of public opinion, which means that the final verdict will come in november of 2020. Chuck schumer was running for the senate at that time when he made that statement. He was. And he was running for the senate and he said the facts as we know it as of now. He said thats the vote. And again, he defended himself. He said different set of facts. Graham has completely flip flopped. And do you think its wrong for senators to make up their mine. I think to publicly say that. Lucky to have you. That was a great discussion. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate it. Weve got more coming up because we are live in two key districts. One a soon to be former democrat who wont vote for the president s impeachment, the other, a vulnerable democrat who is just now announcing she will. What those different decisions mean on the hill and on the trail. Plus an nbc news exclusive, President Trump looking to keep a key promise and pull more troops out of afghanistan. Weve got the timeline and fallout next. When you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it. Align naturally helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets, 24 7. So, where you go, the pro goes. Go with align, the pros in digestive health. Aveeno® with prebiotic striple oat complex balances skins microbiome. So skin looks like this and you feel like this. Aveeno® skin relief. Get skin healthy™ 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. For the holidays you cant beat home sweet home. We go the extra mile to bring your holidays home. Some things are too important to do yourself. Get customized security with 24 7 monitoring from xfinity home. Awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. Overseas and in the next hour or so the defense secretary is going to face some serious questions about what nbc news has been first to report, that the Trump Administration plans to withdraw about 4,000 troops from afghanistan as early as next week. Thats about a third of the Service Members currently stationed there. Were expecting to here from secretary esper on his flight back home from a trip overseas. Joining me is the author of the report, courtney kube. She covers military for us. And fourstar u. S. Admiral. General mccaffrey served on the National Security council. Courtney, you write the officials would not say when the drawndo drawn down would begin. Put the timing of this into context for us. Why now . So its not a surprise as wul know and President Trump has talked about how he wants to decrease the footprint in afghanistan dramatically, and even more specifically when he was in afghanistan recently, he, esper and scotty have all talked about the decrease and even putting a number on it, which is 8,400. Thats the number weve been hearing for several months. General miller has said he can go down to that without a big Operational Impact and they can continue the counterterror operations at that level. So thats not a surprise. What was surprising to carol lee and i was the timing and thats because the negotiator with the taliban, the special envoy, he just restarted official talks with the tal