leaders of both parties from both houses set to attend. a lot of questions, however, about whether this is substance or just show on the part of the white house to understand why you need to understand the last 24 hours. yesterday afternoon democrats along with republicans accepted the white house invitation. hours later, however, the white house issued a statement saying the democratic plan was, quote, a nonstarter. this morning the white house suddenly said it would invite tv and print press into a cabinet meeting. it s basically a big public event for the president just before democrats arrive at the white house. also, it brings back memories of that white house meeting three weeks ago that devolved into a big public fight, and all of it just one more reason why democrats enter this meeting cautious about putting too much weight on this olive branch. let s start with our nbc reporters hans nichols at the white house and garrett haake on capitol hill. hans, so many more q
the objective? apparently to snuff out the leading spokes people for the views of the democratic party. it was an attack on reporters and on democracy itself. people will say you can t blame the president for something a person did. that is true. the president didn t grind up the shards of glass to maim and can kill. but he did something else. you dehumanized those who dare to question his conduct. based on race and religion and political party. and it has the potential to lead from what we saw happen yesterday and we don t even know if it s over. so before we dive sdoo discussion and analysis, we want to set up exactly what went down yesterday. it was a chaotic day yesterday. former president barack obama, hillary clinton, eric holder, former cia director john brennen at cnn, congresswoman maxine waters and billionaire philanthropist george soros targeted by bombs. debbie wasserman schultz was listed as a bogus return address. a pipe bomb like the one found in the mailbox
wasting time and trying to have a do-over of the 2016 presidential election. so we are expecting to hear from speaker pelosi and democratic leadership in moments. both are facing new pressure to start the impeachment proceedings. our team of reporters is here with the latest reaction and today s big story. let s start in washington, d.c. leeann caldwell and geoff bennett for us. we re expecting to hear from the leaders of the house shortly. if nancy pelosi we ll see if nancy pelosi has more to say on this issue of impeachment moving forward. but she did seem to crack the door open a little more on the subject even if she is at odds with you you addition arjudicia nadler. and so one thing that republicans are saying is that the mueller testimony yesterday was an ending point in this investigation. democrats meanwhile are united on one point and that is that it is definitely not that, not the ending point. there is some reporting out there that says that jerry nadler the
new scorched earth offensive against the impeachment investigation, and house democrats strike back with a new subpoena for a key witness. tonight the white house notified speaker pelosi and three house committee chairmen, took them eight pages to do it, that they have no intention of cooperating with the inquiry. the administration s letter signed by pat cipollone accuses the democrats of seeking to overturn the results of the 2016 election. it calls the investigation constitutionally invalid and a violation of due process, and it argues that the president cannot permit his administration to participate in this partisan inquiry under these circumstances. the administration s letter asks speaker pelosi to abandon the impeachment inquiry, but stopped short of demanding a vote by the full house. not long ago, the speaker responded, writing, quote, the white house should be warned that continued efforts to hide the truth of the president s abuse of power from the american people