Mexicans would pay for it, to use the money to take land away from farmers and ranchers on the border of the United States. How can any conservative support this guy . Senator, the definition of conservative has changed so fast in our lifetime its unbelievable. We need a dictionary to keep up with it. Senator michael bennet, democrat from colorado. Thank you, sir. Stay safe on the trail. Thats all we have for tonight. Well be back tomorrow with more meet the press daily. Ari melber is picking it up. Good evening to you. We begin here with Breaking News rocking washington. Moment of truth. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that is what faces the nation tonight. Right now as she stepped out and made this announcement just within the last hour. Im announcing the House Of Representatives moving forward with an official Impeachment Inquiry. Im directing our six committees to proceed with their
investigations under that umbrella of Impeachment Inquiry. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law. Many House Democrats already said they were conducting this exact Impeachment Inquiry, but never the Speaker Of The House, never like this, she is the one who decides if there will ever be a floor vote to impeach the president. Why not . Why now . Heres the speaker. This week the president happens admitted to asking the president of ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. The actions of the Trump Presidency revealed a dishonorable fact of the president s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our National Security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. And in moments republicans expected to come out and give their first major formal oncamera response to this news that the speaker made. We will monitor that and show any excerpts as warranted. We have a lot more reporting
and a fuller breakdown on where the Impeachment Charge is heading later in this show, but right now i want to get to the latest with msnbcs heidi przybyla, Michelle Goldberg and Jason Johnson and former federal prosecutor joyce vance. Heidi, what did Speaker Pelosi change with her announcement . According to a number of lawmakers who i talked to, ari, it was both messaging, and by putting all of these inquiries under a formal Impeachment Umbrella, as she put it, they believe and it is their legal theory that they will have greater access through the court system to documents and theyll be able to compel witnesses more easily. And it is also partly the messaging, ari. In that meeting im told by several members who attended she said that, look, this is not just a case of the president asking a foreign country to dig up dirt on their political opponent, on his political opponent, but to actually
manufacture evidence against him because the ukrainians have already disputed these charges at the highest level. In terms of this prosecutor was dismissed. So, heidi, your reporting this has been quite a day on the hill with the meetings and this dramatic announcement. The speaker was outlining why ukraine is different which many of her members already felt, which is that there was already impeachable conduct. She did outline this was a new level, in her words, corruption by the president. She also outlined a phone call today that she had with the president that was very interesting, ari. I got a readout on that. That the president actually said to nancy pelosi, hey, can we do something about this . Whistleblower complaint. Can we work something out . And she said, yes, you can tell your people to obey the law. So she quickly swatted that down and made it clear that it is full steam ahead. Now, it is unclear, though for our viewers, a little more contense on that. Youre reporting that the speaker and the president spoke today. Hes had a busy day at the u. N. , but youre saying that the pressure led to this call . Dont know what specifically set up the call, but we do know that there was a call between the two and in the call donald trump used language that weve heard him use before in terms of asking the speaker what we can do about this whistleblower complaint. How we can possibly work something out. Interesting. Let me she swatted that down, ari. Let me bring in Michelle Goldberg. Youve been writing and handicapping a lot of what the speakers been doing. I want to play sound of the speaker earlier today at one of her events talking about this ukraine issue specifically and why in her view is an abuse of power. Take a look. We had many other, shall we say, candidates for Impeachable Offense in terms of the constitution, but this one is the most understandable by the public. Your view of what the speaker did tonight. Well, first of all, im grateful and relieved, you know,
because ive been very critical of nancy pelosi on this show, in my column yesterday. I am so glad that she is finally on board and that somebody in this country has taken charge of holding the president accountable. But its interesting because when ive talked to people in the past about why shes been so reticent on impeachment, often theyve said the public isnt there. For proimpeachment people thats been very frustrating because its the job of Democratic Leaders to lead Public Opinion rather than follow it, but i do think something changes in that this is a much more this is something that you can say in a few sentences, right . You dont have to read this incredibly dense report to understand just how corrupt what trump tried to do is. Our whole panel stays. Lets listen in to republican Leader Mccarthy. Investigate something in the back when you cannot find any reason to impeach this president. This election is over. I realize 2016 did not turn out the way Speaker Pelosi wanted it to happen, but she cannot change
the laws of this congress. She cannot unilaterally decide were in an Impeachment Inquiry. What she said today made difference of whats been going on. Its no different than what nadlers been trying to do. Its time to put the public before politics. Thank you. Mr. , speaker, are you afraid that youre on the wrong side of this . A Brief Statement from Leader Mccarthy there. Michelle, what we see there is pelosi has done Something Big enough that there is a need for the president to call her, for the House Minority republicans to respond, although they didnt say much in content. Right. As you were saying. Well, i think it was extremely striking how little they said to actually make an Affirmative Defense of trump. Similarly we had a unanimous vote today in the senate to on a motion to basically or a resolution saying that they should release this whistleblowers complaint. And so to be honest, im like a little bit flabbergasted by all
the Senate Republicans voting in favor of that, and im a little unsure about what the strategy is of coming out with such a tepid statement, not even in defense of the president , but asupposing nancy pelosi. I mean, it makes me wonder if they assume that Something Bigger is coming down the pike but i really just dont know. So, i mean, i think a lot of democrats are relieved that were finally at a moment because as the republicans are going to try and say, the democrats are relitigating 2016. And thats not the case. The democrats are finally saying there are so many egregious acts committed by this president and hes been aided and abetted by people in his party. This is now something where hes actively moving towards 2020. On such a big news night, i dont want to make light, but i dont remember Joe Biden Running in 2016. That is true. Right. As i understand it, one of the potential nominees no one knows whats going to happen and a member of the obama
administration and a contender to run against trump is the target of what if any other citizen would do could been an Illegal Campaign international conspiracy. Right. Which is what some democrats were concerned trump did in 2016 against hillary clinton. Trump pretty much assumes that biden will be the democratic nominee. So his conversations with ukraine, whether he thinks that, you know, the transcripts will show that hes completely absolved of this or not, are highly problematic. The whole panel stays. I am learning here as we are reporting this out that other Democratic Leaders, clyburn and steny hoyer, members of Nancy Pelosis leadership, have now formally jumped in and endorsed the Impeachment Probe. Jason johnson, i think we have a count somewhere that we can put up, but it is a count that has grown quite a bit from just 24 hours ago tonight. Your reaction to what you think it means that pelosi did . Because we havent heard from you yet. And these other members jumping in. Well, first, we start with the republicans. Mccarthy basically did, like, the congressional version of thats it, thats the tweet. He had nothing to say. He just had to put a statement out there because if he didnt the news story was going to completely overshadow anything republicans would try to say in the next 24 hours. Ari, what this says to me is something ive always doubted about pelosi but now we know its true, she can count and she can read a calender. She obviously has been behind the scenes all along saying, all right, look, i dont have the numbers, but when you see seven vulnerable democratic freshmen write an oped saying its time for impeachment, pelosi has clearly pocketed all the votes that she needs and now shes rolling this all slowly. Now, the question is simply a matter of were not worried if theres going to be a vote. Its a matter of when the vote is going to happen. We dont know if thats going to be in january, february or September Of 2020 and force a bunch of vulnerable senators on the republican side to vote for this president right before an election. And thats the big question. Did Speaker Pelosi tonight create an irreversible road towards a house floor vote on impeachment . And if so, that appreciatably increases the odds that President Trump will become one of the few president s in history to face impeachment. Right. Or did she leave herself on offramp. I was just talking to my control room. Some of its happening too fast to update our Impeachment Count. Many nights that hasnt been the case. Tonight the Impeachment Count growing so fast we dont have it up on the screen. Ive got two brandnew statements from Democratic Leaders telling us theyre jumping in. Right. So we are now with, jason, about 40 votes among the democrats or less to having the constitutionally required majority in the house to impeach the sitting president. Thats a big deal. Everyone stays, as promised, here about ten minutes into our broadcast. I want to dig in a little bit more as to what just happened. Washington on fire right now so lets go through what occurred in the last 24 hours. The democratic speaker backs an Impeachment Probe. The republican senator pushed for this whistleblower complaint. The president announced a cave to democratic demands. He claims hell release notes on the ukraine call. Congress waiting to see if he follows through with that
tomorrow. This wave of House Democrats weve been reporting in real time, new members in the last ten minutes since we came on the air, jumping in to back a trump Impeachment Probe for the first time. Last night as i was mentioning, we had 136 democrats supporting impeachment. That number now is over 180. Those numbers are snowballing as the panelists were just discussing, thanks to some people in freshmen and swing districts with National Security backgrounds who came out with this rare joint Public Statement backing impeachment. These new members of the impeachment caucus are basically moderates and holdouts. These are the democrats who were holding back after the Mueller Report, holding back an bob mueller testified to congress. That was exactly two months ago today, but say they are moved by the reports that trump abused his power and his control over Taxpayer Funds to use it as a Bargaining Chip within that scandal. Trump has now admitted to key parts of this, including that financial pressure. Here it was just this morning. Very important, i want other countries to put up money. I think its unfair that we put up the money. Then people called me they said, oh, let it go and i let it go, but we paid the money. The money was paid. As pelosi pushes House Democrats demanding this full whistleblower complaint, more evidence and answers from Donald Trumps intel chief who testifies thursday. Meanwhile, adam schiff says today hes working with this whistleblowers lawyer to get them to testify, and as mentioned, the Senate Unanimously passed a resolution that the complaint must be given over to the intel committees. If it sounds like a lots happening at once in response to Donald Trumps violation of the rules and in some cases law, thats because it is. And it also shows how postmueller donald trump may have felt momentarily like he was in some sort of clear. Because it was right after mueller testified that he dialed up foreign leaders for what is basically a new attempted collusion Plot Flagrantly defying the rule of law and then now perhaps bizarrely confessing in public. So were seethiing this all com together. To, yes, all people who are often seen as the conscience of the modern democratic party. Take a look at a statesman and civil rights icon. If you havent seen this yet, john lewis now saying enough is enough. I believe, i truly believe the time to begin Impeachment Proceedings against this president has come. To delay or to do otherwise would betray the foundation of our democracy. Christina, where does that idealism fit into what has been such a hardknuckle political battle . Well, i think that so many people in this country dont want impeachment, we dont want to think that someone who has taken an oath to protect the entire nation would actually do things to work against our best
interests, and, you know, john lewis is obviously a great civil rights icon, but hes also not someone who goes into a battle who is not prepared and hasnt really thought about these things. We know that hes a patriot. We know that he loves this nation and i think it pains him to actually have to say that donald trump has done these things and we have to move forward with this. But, i mean, if we are, you know, in this civil rights vein then i say impeachment now, impeachment tomorrow, impeachment forever, if thats going to be the case because this president has clearly shown us that he cares about himself and his businesses more than he cares about the nation and the good will of the american people. Joyce vance is also with us. Federal prosecutor that weve come to rely on and who we should mention, as we often do, was sought by the house to testify on this very issue. Appreciate you being a part of this and your patience tonight. I give you an open swing. Everything weve heard thus far, including these new democrats just this hour jumping in. As well as the constitutional significance of the ukraine
scandal being about what President Trump did in Office Rather than in some cases earlier questions about acts before he became president. You know, that is an incredibly important point, ari. For so many people the mueller investigation, the russia investigation was very difficult to grasp. Both because the legal charges were a little bit confusing. They were complex. But also because the conduct happened when President Trump was still candidate trump. Now were talking about misconduct that he committed while sitting in the oval office. Withholding congressional funds. Trying to get ukraine to deliver the goods on a political opponent in exchange for that aid. And thats something that i think people can comprehend easily. As weve heard some of the politicians say tonight, impeachment has both a political component and a legal one and its important for the country to be able to come along with congress. There have been complaints that maybe congress should have been leading, but the reality here is
that now trump has committed something, as you pointed out, on the eve of the release of the Mueller Report and bob muellers testimony when perhaps you would think he would have learned a lesson. He was presented as someone who is politically naive, who didnt understand this sort of conduct involving foreign nations in elections was wrong, and yet he trod right back the same direction. Thats som