Biden and Bernie Sanders separated by twotenths of a percent. Elizabeth warren is in third, and joe biden still fourth with just under 16 . I had a chance to sit down with mayor pete yesterday and we talked about what this win, perceived win in iowa means for his candidacy. Heres what he said. We are 48 hours into the process of proving, not talking, but proving that we can turn out voters and win against our competitors. The next chance to prove it is in New Hampshire, then nevada, then South Carolina. I think by the time you get to South Carolina, i no longer have to defend the idea that a Campaign Like mine can be competitive in the first place. More with mayor pete throughout the hour. We have another huge story to get to this morning, the senate vote to acquit President Trump on both articles of impeachment. We hear from the president at noon today, he will address the Impeachment Vote. As we speak, the president is at the National Prayer breakfast where the decision is clearly on his mind. The president made a very important point to hold up this mornings papers after he was introduced. In fact, the senate vote is making headlines all over the nation. The president s acquittal ends a process going on more than four months. But it didnt go exactly as the white house had planned, thats because utah senator mitt romney crossed party lines and voted to convict the president on abuse of power, explained his decision in an emotional speech on the floor. I swore an oath before god to exercise impartial justice. I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who i am. Were i to ignore the evidence that has been presented and disregard what i believe my oath and the constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would i fear expose my character to historys rebuke and the censure of my own conscience. Never before. Romney is the first senator in United States history to vote to remove a president from his own political party. He is the only republican in the house or senate to vote in favor of articles of impeachment. His decision sparked outrage among some trump allies, the president s son don jr. Demanded that romney be kicked out of the party, but republican lawmakers specifically oversight leader Mitch Mcconnell said mitt romney is not going anywhere. Senator romney on the whole has been supportive of what we have been trying to accomplish in the year he has been there, i think this is a mistake. I disagree with it. On the other hand, we have a lot more votes to cast between now and november and im going to need his support on a variety of things that are important to the president and to the country. Lets get into it. Kelly odonnell at the white house, Geoff Bennett on capitol hill. The president is speaking at noon, what are we getting, a touchdown dance . Reporter it will be a statement of victory, surrounded by members of the Republican Party and lawmakers and his legal team. It showed when you played the clip from a short time ago at the National Prayer breakfast where speakers were talking about loving ones enemies and forgiveness, the president chose to pick up the newspapers, and it has to be said, he always ridicules and criticizes the media but embraced that headline to quietly and quite loudly in his demonstration send a message before the prayerful gathering, annual event in washington that is bipartisan, this message that he was acquitted. On the matter of romney, one of the things well be watching is how much the president is prepared to turn the page and how much he wants to turn up the heat on mitt romney. As you pointed out, theres been criticism of romney, also a desire for the white house to move beyond impeachment, embrace acquittal, shining a light on romney can take sort of the attention back to impeachment itself. Steph . How does the senate move on, geoff. What happens next . Reporter the Senate Majority leader held a press conference after the senate vote and was focused on moving forward. Wouldnt focus on questions about the substantive matter at hand, the case against President Trump. He said we voted, it is in the rearview mirror. He wanted a Senate Majority trial fast and forgettable, delivered on half that. The trial was certainly fast, less than three full weeks, but hardly forgettable with mitt romney delivering a top to bottom rebuke of President Trump on the first article of impeachment, and three centrist democrats republicans hoped to pick off, manchin, jones, sinema sticking with them on conviction votes. He is already back and focused on what he says is his top priority, confirming judges. He teed up five more nominations on conservative judges, steph. Thank you. Lets go deeper. Loni chen, and phil rucker, carol lensing. Pulitzer prize winning writers for the washington post. Get your copy, it is number one on the New York Times list. And welcome to you all. You woke up earliest, you know senator romney the best, you are described behind the brains of his policy positions in 2008 and 2012. Did yesterdays decision surprise you . I wouldnt say they surprise me. I have known mitt romney a long time, known him to be a man of conscience that believes deeply in his role. Right now, his role was as a juror to do impartial justice. He said that many times. He held true to that. He knew he would get heat for this. Everyone knows that. He will continue to get heat for it, but is prepared for it. I think he made the decision that he believed to be best. I guess i wasnt surprised he followed his conscience, the actual vote itself was a surprise to many, but certainly the idea that he would do what he thought was right was not a surprise to me. I want to share what politico writes. They say in the case of mitt romney, he is not like anybody else, he is a union cocorn. He doesnt need a job after politics, doesnt care if the president likes him. He is the only guy can vote against trump and get away with it. Well, theres a lot of truth that he is in unique position. Thats the case. His station in life, he has done a lot in his life in career and business and politics. The nominee of the party for the presidency. He has lost the president ial election. He understands the depths of how bad politics can get. He is done a lot in his political career. He said this was the hardest decision to make, certainly the hardest in politics in public life, and he took this on very seriously, listening to the evidence, thinking about what his vote would mean, and he took the whole thing extremely seriously. Carol, do you buy that mitt romney was the only one who could make a position like that . How is Lamar Alexander that different . We cant be inside Lamar Alexanders head, but it was striking to me, the rebuke of history that romney cited, it is stirring emotionally to think your judgment will come with time. More senior people you would think are having that same internal dialogue, those about to retire especially. The other thing thats ironic about this moment is don jr. Telling everybody in the world that romney should be expelled from the party when his own father hasnt been a republican for more than a hot minute. And privately made fun of republicans and said he would be able to win in that party because they were easy to convince. It is compelling to me that this man decided he has to make this judgment, now he is on the outs of a party he has more claim to than donald trump. Or did. Arent we in the party of trump at this point . Thats exactly right. I think that this is a historic moment. Very few of us can remember names of senators from the 1800s, one name you remember is edmond ross who was the one republican who voted against impeachment and as a result lost his seat, but is remembered today. I think what mitt romney was doing is making that appeal to history, the sense that this is larger than this moment. The other thing that was touching was appeal to his faith, the idea that theres something higher up there than the political circumstances he finds himself in. That was i think an extraordinary moment, implicit rebuke to what the Republican Party has become today. Play a part of Chris Wallace with senator romney yesterday. You realize this is war. Donald trump will never forgive you for this. Theres a hymn thats sung in my church, old protestant hymn, do what is right, let the consequence follow. I know in my heart im doing whats right. I understand theres going to be enormous consequence. Phil, you just finished a book all about the president , the way he behaves, the way his mind works. Yes. Carol and i found in our reporting theres zero tolerance for the president for any act of betrayal, personal betrayal or political betrayal, and thats what he will view mitt romney as having done. What we have seen with President Trump over the three years is when anybody betrays him or crosses him or offends him in the slightest, he seeks vindication, retribution, he can be nasty, vicious, he is probably not going to stop pawing at mitt romney until the day he leaves the oval office and maybe continue after that. This is as Chris Wallace said a declaration of war, i assume thats how trump will take it. When Mitch Mcconnell says were moving on from here, mitt romney has nothing to worry about, is that the case . Mitch mcconnell is ever the practical strategic maestro. What he is thinking about is delivering what he wants to deliver. As he said to President Trump privately as my colleague at the washington post, i know the Senate Better than anybody thats advising you, mr. President , and indeed, he does need this other vote. He is sending a signal to romney, i need you, i want you. Whether that actually gets delivered, well see. Another thing thats really interesting about this moment is romney went further than even democrats. House democrats were debating whether or not to charge the president with a crime, and the other day romney said what he did was illegal, not unconstitutionally illegal, statutorily illegal. And thats pretty bold. Can you speech to senator romneys relationship with Mitch Mcconnell . I think they have Good Relationship, and i think Mitch Mcconnell was absolutely right yesterday whenaid the focus is on the next vote. I think a lot of people in the senate understand that now that the impeachment situation is over, theyre going back to doing business. And for Mitch Mcconnell, that meant confirming judges, trying to move the president s agenda forward. Even senator romney said i vote with the president 80 of the time. That was something meant to demonstrate and show going forward, he is going to evaluate each vote, each policy priority through the same lens he evaluated the vote on impeachment. That may be difficult for people to understand. The reality is he will support judges that are constitution alyce, he will support the policy agenda where it alliance with his own. I think they have a Good Relationship and i think it will be fine going forward. What does going back to business look like . This is 2020. If the president is ticked off with you, so is the entire conservative media universe. Thats true. Lets not forget what goes around comes around. Donald trump had some words for john mccain during his 2016 campaign and who was it who sunk trumps signature legislative effort in 2017, it was john mccain. So look for mitt romney to do the same. I have to interrupt you. The president is now speaking about impeachment. Ill be discussing that a little bit later at the white house. Were joined today by two people whose faith inspires us all, our amazing wonderful friend. Were going back to that in a moment before we cut in there. He was speaking about speaker pelosi. Going to share that in a moment. I want to go back to you, one of your colleagues maureen dowd wrote that the president will be unrepenitent, unleash. What does that look like . Exactly what you can think. This is the president s best political week, sets him up for potential win in november. But lets also remember that second terms for president s are usually very fraught terms, and given the president s behavior, if he end up losing the senate and still doesnt have the house, you can see this happen again, another impeachment effort. I dont know, i read your book, it feels pretty unleashed. Long time since President Trump had a leash on him. What we have seen through three years of his presidency, every time he escapes accountability or escapes punishment for actions that others deem wrong as in the Mueller Investigation with obstructing justice, as we see now, he becomes more unshackled, he becomes freer, he field embolden, listens to his own gut more than his advisers. At this point it is a presidency of one. Donald trump calls the shots, makes the decisions, other people go along. Haeblt it been a presidency he won since elected, we watched him on the campaign trail. I think the president keeps his own counsel in a lot of ways, we have seen it over and over again. I think for that reason it will be interesting to see a lot of advisers would love him to be the discipline president that gave the state of the union address, that focused on the economy, that focused on the issues he knows conservative voters care about. We have to see if that actually happens or not going forward. We have that sound. The president at the National Prayer breakfast talking impeachment, going after democrats. My family, our great country, and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people. They have done Everything Possible to destroy us and by so doing very badly hurt our nation. They know what theyre doing is wrong, but they put themselves far ahead of our great country. Weeks ago and again yesterday, courageous republican politicians and leaders had the wisdom, fortitude, and strength to do what everyone knows was right. I dont like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do i like people who say i pray for you when they know that thats not so. He is talking about speaker pelosi. Whats your reaction to that . My instant reaction, this sounds like the preface for a vindictive moment in this presidency. My instant reaction, i was whispering to you, it reminded me of erdogan after the failed coup. I dont want to go that far but there was that tone of nastiness, that was a frightening moment on the television there. Carol, part of the president s core base of white evangelicals who are willing to look past countless indiscretions on the part of our president because of policies that are in line with their faith. How can he possibly make this argument . I think it is particularly chilling to hear him say that about mitt romney who i think everybody in the country looks at, whether they agree with him or not, and knows that he genuinely was choosing a faith option. It couldnt have been more genuine, what he said. It is funny, not funny to hear the president say he is using it to justify it. As for evangelicals, look at the things theyve looked past, the access hollywood moment, when the president is on a candidate, on live tape, talking about grabbing women because he can, because he is famous, grabbing them by the genitals. Times he paid hush money and lied about extra marital affairs, when he makes fun of different religious faiths, it is striking, really striking. We shouldnt also elect a let a president reframe. They decided not to remove him from office to acquit him, that didnt mean they were blessing what he did or saying what he did is proper. A number of republican senators issued statements saying the president , what he did with ukraine was wrong, conduct was improper, inappropriate. He seems to be revising the narrative in his own remarks, but we should remember what the republican senators said. Arent the senators allowing him to do that if they dont speak up now . Absolutely. And i agree with you partially, some of them said what he did was wrong. But for too many, they agreed with the view the phone call was perfect. It is not acquittal, it is vindication. Lanhee, your reaction . Look, you know, for senator romney, the decision he made was clearly motivated by what he believed to be right, and that was a strong faith component to that. Others will surely question it. Those that support the president will question it. For senator romney, the only thing matters is he was secure in his own decision. Thats all that matters to him. Thank you all. Straight ahead, the latest results from iowa. Were waiting on 3 to be reported. And small sliver margin will determine the winner. Next, more of my interview with mayor Pete Buttigieg where i ask him if he is ready for what appears to be a two man race. And later, a brand new poll released this morning, contradicting the president s state of the union message, the deep divide among americans that say the Trump Presidency made them better off. F. Cut. Liberty mu. Line . Cut. 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