According to witnesses that we spoke with, saying almost immediately dozens of rescuers out with long poles poking into the avalanche, dogs, sniffing trying to find bodies and thankfully no reports of additional missing persons. The sun has gone down and the rescue operation has stopped for the moment. Two people are in the hospital. Four people rescued but did not have to go to the hospital but this is one of the big worries that families especially families with young kids not necessarily experienced professional skiers, may not have all the avalanche Protection Equipment or etven te training but something to worry about going skiing this season. The dpa news agency said that heavy snow made for dangerous conditions and other avalanches in the alps today. How worried are authorities today and are they closed down some of the ski areas . Thats exactly right. As conditions change, thats always the big worry, if a lot of heavy snow comes in, this slope was closed immediately after the accident happened. People we saw in the early videos skiing down on the slope but the direct area closed. At a different avalanche in austria, an unbelievable story of survival. A christmas miracle, the rescuers are calling it. A 26yearold skier caught under an avalanche, survived for five hours in an air pocket and wearing a beacon and thats one of the many things that experts say if you go in the back country, be prepared so check the forecast. Talk to local who is may know the ski conditions better than you and try to wear a beacon that will beep if you are, in fact, buried. Ive covered stories of the rescue crews spoeecifically clained theyre remarkable but those beacons are critical. Thank you for that. Back stateside, President Trump is on a bit of a twitter tear over impeachment. Late last night and again today going after democrats in general and nancy pelosi in particular and he complained that the impeachment scam makes it much more difficult to deal with foreign leaders calling Congressional Democrats vicious, liars and hypocrites. The president s frustration as the trial in the Senate Remains in limbo with pelosi hanging on to the articles for an eighth day now until she says she knows what the senate trial will look like. Leader mcconnell who said he does not plan to be impartial is calling for a twotier process. Alaska senator murkowski is not happy with mcconnells strategy and urged fellow senators to enter the proceedings with an open mind. For me to prejudge and say theres nothing there or on the other hand he should be impeached yesterday, thats wrong. In my view, thats wrong. Joining me now, reporter covering the white house and washington Daniel Lipman and former counsel to the House Judiciary Committee in the nixon impeachment michael con way. Good to see both of you. Daniel, how many republicans are you hearing privately on board with senator murkowski . What influence might that have if not on removing the president from office on allowing witnesses which is as we said still very much up in the air . I think you look at those p typical moderate group, collins, romney, maybe the senator from colorado Corey Gardner facing a tough reelection next year. And these are all people who are responding to voter concerns that the senate have an impartial trial and concerned of comments from the majority leader but its hard for us to see how mcconnell can totally reverse himself and say, well, actually, im going to hold a totally impartial trial and were going to have a fair trial to weigh the democratic concerns and President Trumps. In an oped for cnbc, john ellis argues the best strategy for democrats is to never send articles to the senate. Quote, pelosis job is to guide to advantage. It is not a 4848 issue. Health care is an advantage. Shoring shoring up Social Security is an advantage. Gun control is an advantage. She want it is house of representatives especially the republican members debating those issues because every time house members do it helps her partys cause. So, michael, can pelosi hold on to the articles indefinitely . Republicans say the president wasnt impeached without a trial. He was impeached and legally she holds on to them as long as she wants. I think the American Public finds that to be unfair. Robert mueller in his report that we have sometimes forget about put a footnote saying the reason he could not determine whether the president had obstructed justice was that the president would be unfair because the president would have no opportunity to confront and attempt to refute the charges. Thats the same thing that would happen here if Speaker Pelosi chose never to send the articles to the senate. I think shell send them. Shes just playing a game right now to see what the trial would look like and i think that ultimately there will be sent there and i think ultimately Mitch Mcconnell is under a lot of pressure to have some witnesses because the very republican moderate senators that were just alluded to will have a hard time saying i want to close my eyes, close my ears, i dont want to hear the evidence. If a vote comes up to hear witnesses they will be hard pressed not to vote in favor of witnesses. Daniel, lets make sure people understand where we are right now with this trial. Earlier in the week Mitch Mcconnell laid out his plan for a senate trial. Here he is on fox on monday. Look, what we need to do is to listen to the arguments, have a written questioning period and then decide whether we need witnesses or not. All im asking of schumer is treat trump the same way as clinton. We had a procedure approved 1000. Schumer voted for it. Open arguments, a written question period and then based upon that deciding what witnesses to call. So daniel, whats the democratic response to that if thats the way the trial was handled for clinton and in fact, schumer voted for it . The democratic response is essentially these are the president s people. Mick mulvaney, robert blair, Michael Duffy whose emails stopping the aid 90 minutes after that ukraine phone call released recently and john bolton who was the president s former National Security adviser and turned almost into a critic now, if the democrats argue systematic to hear from the president s people they will be able to clarify this and why are republicans so concerned and so worried about having the people testify in person instead of these canned written answers that democrats are worried about . We know that the president epa h and his supporters relit gaiting essentially what happened in the house side. Rudy giuliani tweeted just this afternoon, removing a president less than a year before an election must only occur if his remaining in office damages the nation. Where is that written . Its not written anywhere. But actually, it fits in with what the democrats in the house said. They said they had to expedite the investigation because there was a clear and present danger to the fairness of the 2020 election. So really, Rudy Giulianis test the democrats met that test but nowhere in the constitution. In the clinton impeachment in the report of the House Judiciary Committee by the republicans they tried to address the argument that impeachment was overthrowing an election and they said, the republicans said, it is not because the party that was elected, the Republican Party in this case, would still be in office even if the president were removed so i think the white house will marshal every argument they can but a lot of them are very, very weak. We talked, daniel, of possible republican defections but what about democrats . Mcconnell seems toened kate without naming names of one or two. He must be talking about joe manchin . Doug jones . Yeah. I think democrats are not going to have this be a kind of a loyalty test in the house of representatives. This is not Something Like the in the house of lords where they force you to vote for your party system or your partys position and so democrats know that their senators and their congressmen, they have needs back home that they have to answer to. Yeah. I guess if you asked almost any democrat if your choice is between maybe having a few people go away from the democratic sort of side but that preserves the possibility of taking control of the senate its not a hard decision for them, right . Yeah. And they also, they understand that theyre not going to pressure their Party Members like republicans did in the house to prevent even people like Francis Rooney or will hurd from defecting. Its a partisan process and they dont want to make it more so by forcing the members to toe the line. Good to see both of you guys. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Trump hotels have been taking a hit but the Trump Organization found a way to offset those losses. Well take a look at a strategy that may call into question one of the president s often repeated claims about how being president is costing him big money. Plus, the Incredible Campaign spending of candidates bloomberg and steyer. What it means for the democratic field and politics as we know it. Youre watching msnbc. Female anchor its 6 39, time for news update 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. I need all the breaks, that i can get. At liberty butchumal cut. Liberty biberty cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Too many afterparties. New neutrogena® bright boost with dullnessfighting neoglucosamine. Boosts cell turnover by 10 times for instantly brighter skin. Bright boost neutrogena®. You have a brother in [the second battalion . Yes sir. Theyre walking into a trap. Your orders are to deliver a message bloomberg. Ng. Come on theres only one way this war ends. Last man standing. Here, it all starts withello hi . How can i help . A data plan for everyone. Everyone . Everyone. Lets send to everyone wifi up there . Uhh. Sure, why not . Howd he get out . a camera might figure it out. That was easy glad i could help. At xfinity, were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. So come ask, shop, discover at your local xfinity store today. Its something we have heard repeatedly from President Trump, the move to 1600 pennsylvania avenue cost him a fortune. This thing is costing me a fortune being president. Its probably costing me from 3 billion to 5 billion for the privilege. If youre wealthy it doesnt matter. I want to do a great job. Combination of loss and opportunity, probably itll cost me 3 billion to 5 billion to be president. Without his tax returns it is impossible to know for sure exactly what the Financial Impact is but new reporting from the New York Times reports that the Trump CommercialReal Estate Holdings are driving steady revenues with 572 million. Real estate added 17 million while hotels and branding deals fell off by about the same amount. The buildings keeping things afloat are commercial sky scrapers like 1290 in manhattan. The name isnt above the door but the organization owns a 30 stake. Joining me is steve eater of the New York Times washington time. You analyzed the documents. Right. What were you able to determine about the Overall Health of the Trump Organization . It is difficult because like you said you cant see everything. Based on Financial Disclosures and documents we gath eered for this, the real e state properties have quietly sort of been the backbone or steadying force for the trump portfolio in the president ial and Campaign Years with other headwinds and see steadying by the sort of unknown properties. What is interesting to me among many things that are interesting in this article is that these big commercial properties are largely in new york and san francisco. You wept to san francisco. Do the people that work there two liberal bastions realize that he is making money off the building where they were . I didnt get the sense they did. Either they sort of knew it and putt it out of mind. The name isnt there. Not walking under the lettering with a couple of the buildings so its not much of a presence to you or you didnt know at all. That was the other thing that surprised some people. Is it a steph too far to say that the trump brand is worse for business if the name is there in big lotteetters . It is a good question. It seems to be it depends on where you are. Where you are in the country, some of the we have done some reporting on the elect ral map aligns with branding or doesnt align with branding. Theres also just factors as president theres, you know, a self imposed ethics that brought deals in the work off the table. To be fair, to look at whether or not the president lost billions and a lot of folks disputd disputed that, an argument for his says the brand is damaged or more likely there are a lot of deals that i could have done that we cant do now. I think thats part of it, for sure. When you look at what the Trump Organization was like over the last decade, before the political years, there was International Growth and interest in international and that new deals of International Company with an international dealings, you know, have restrictions on those now and the business has certainly changed in the president ial years. Looking at the hotel side of it, the part clearly hit in many cases, guests seem to have ended up at the properties almost by accident. Comparing, for example, peak Holiday Season pricing, the least expensive room at doral 194 a night. While two comparable resorts nearby at 309 a night and 538 a night. Is it clear whether or not this is a permanent damaging of his named properties . Whats interesting about that, again, to me, i think you point it out in the article is that the brand was that youre associated with luxury not sort of a i dont want to say bottom basement but cheaper than other comparable luxury properties. Miami, florida. And, you know, a property that the trumps put a lot of money into developing, really important to the finances, the performance of the property and versus competitors what they see the reduced rates and thats something thats certainly going to be a big question Going Forward is the degree the properties rebound for the trumps. Democrats have been fighting for a long time and issues in the court about releasing his income tax returns. What could you not learn . A lot of people wouldnt know what the statements are that you looked at. What are they and how are they different from the tax returns . What would you learn if those are ever released . For this kind of story what we worked with is the top line number, revenues, money coming into the businesses and what you will see on a Financial Disclosure report or forms given to banks and types of documents to look at related to loans. So for the taxes you would have a better chance to see things more of like how much money is being made which is a big difference, more of a bottom line. We shall see. Thank you so much for coming on. Appreciate it. Up next, joe bidens appeal to moderate republicans. Well look at how much that matters to democrats with the reporter that broke the story. You are watching msnbc. Everything your trip needs for everyone you love. Expedia. Yeah. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Con Liberty Mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. Only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Itreat them all as if, they are hot and energized. Stay away from any downed wire, call 911 and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. We are now just 39 days out from the democratic Iowa Caucuses as voters in the state, a majority of them, say even if they have a first choice now they could change their minds. Aural though the partys field of contenders is shrinking, it is the progressives versus moderates and niktd report suggests a growing group of but i would vote for joe biden republicans in iowa and of particular interest to democrats. Joining me now the New York Times reporter that wrote that story, and have you counted how many miles you traveled in the last year . I try not to. Okay. I have seen this. I think its fascinating and the lead really sucks people in because the way you put it, the voters at campaign evens for biden arent just shopping for themselves. What are they shopping for . Over and over at Biden Campaign events over the last month or two, i have heard voters talk about how the candidate would play with them and their priorities but a republican fatherinlaw or their dad or their neighbor or a colleague. It really speaks to a broader theme in the party, just how obsessed democratic voters are with the question of how do they defeat donald trump and over and over we hear about republican relatives are a consideration for the voters. You also write, quote, some democrats warning not to obsess over the