Important ones those sitting on the day us today or frankly those watching the hearings. Zach johnson julie that. Many times so you cant judge a prison with struction until the corps weighed in on those disputes you agree with that. And i dont i do actually respect and agree with what alex said though and ill say that i think that if this information had been presented say 20 or 30 years ago and you have covered a lot of president s a lot of presidencies i think there would be actually unanimity both on the diocese and within the American Public that what happened was in peach a bowl but things have changed and sort of this sense of what a fact is and this ability to obfuscate this ability to have ecosystems within the media sphere of really changed a lot of that and so i dont i. Believe that the country would be divided on what actually happened if we were just able to take a couple steps back in time but where we are now i think its very difficult so i completely agree with alex that i dont think that anybodys minds were changed this week during the hearing but i also believe that it doesnt change the underlying fact that what the president has done since the beginning of his presidency is terror at the fabric of the presidency and all norms and really walk up to the boundaries of the law has been challenge repeatedly in the courts and is lost on a lot of his and his administrations actions and i think the democrats are going to move forward with an impeachment that ultimately die in the senate. Does assume obvious one strom said do me a favor. Once and that ill use the was trying to do actions an amount of. No i dont think thats obvious for a couple of reasons number one and this is one that was acknowledged not only today by some of the experts but is been widely discussed. President s all president s not just President Trump not just republican president s all president s have incredibly wide latitude in how they conduct their interactions with foreign leaders its why generally speaking we dont have a lot of examples of those conversations that take place between world leaders. Look certainly the president intent matters how was received the matters all of those things matter those are factual questions that can be debated but ultimately have to be voted on in this case by people in the house and the senate this is not as obvious as everyone in america watch something happen and said yep he punched him in the face and then well go from there there is debate as there often is not just i think driven by partisan grounds but on a genuinely factual basis i also think the idea and this came up earlier in response. About whether or not the president should be charge of the direction of congress. Whether he can before courts rule look the president has a right both in this process and other processes to defend himself to exert various privileges if the courts do rule that either the administration has to produce witnesses or testimony and the president refuses then we have a genuine constitutional crisis and congress could come forward at that to argue that he can be impeached now for asserting those privileges seems unrealistic an unfair zagg general 41. 00 said impeachment is whatever the house says it is do you gree with that. Well i think the constitution gives a significant amount of latitude to the house for exactly this and doesnt really specify what meets that that threshold and i think that historically the reason weve only had 3 president s come this far is shows that theyve been very judicious and i think that the house has been judicious they have a constitutional oversight role theyre actually conducting that role thats appropriate and if nothing else i think that there should be agreement across the country that they should not just have that role but that this also ensures that future president s that maybe act in a certain way this helps set a standard of what that constitutional oversight role should be but it is true at the end of the day it doesnt really prescribe what those elements are and this in my respects in many respects its almost like probable cause on the actual beyond a reasonable doubt is what would happen in the senate so i think has he met that standard thats worthwhile of sending this to a full trial i think the answer that is is clearly yes i think in the trial component of the senate though some of the points that alex is bringing up i dont necessarily agree with them i think that those are the points that will be made up by the republican side to justify an acquittal. Of the sort of including the mullah report in this. Well theres a political angle to that answer and then. There is a process answer obviously any of the information that was contained in the miller report of me associated testimony from director mueller and others can certainly be used in that process. Again the normal rules of evidence do not apply this is an. Traditional courtroom under the federal rules of civil procedure so absolutely some of those could come up the challenge politically speaking is again i dont think thats going to move a lot of hearts and minds or vode switches ultimately the goal here or number one number 2 i think the general public reaction to most of that information was not as impactful as many who were in support of mr millers testimony in that hearing more so i think theres a thats a tough political call and at the end of the day this is a political process. For the 218 people who will have to vote to move forward but if they believe that they need that information to effectively present their case against the president i think they can do so still get to the underlying question its one thing to use information from the report it to another to try and use and make public some of the underlying grand jury information which would normally be protected zax was you gives you for a minute i know you knew you know come. Through well what do you make of her leaving the race. Im not think its unfortunate i think that here we are now the democratic race in many respects right and many respects actually been shaped and i cant see another candidate actually breaking through in the top 4 so i think marabou to judge and Vice President biden and senator sanders and warren really are the 4 that will end up moving forward as it goes i think that she is both a star for the Democratic Party moving forward shes obviously very popular within our my home state here of california i do think though that her campaign struggled to articulate exactly what it was her positions were and i think that the authenticity component of say even senator sanders whether you agree with him or dont know i think that most of the country actually wouldnt actually gruesome his positions you know people thats what people wanted to see and she had some inconsistent positions on health care and some other elements that i think really didnt help her when she got out of the gate because she started with great fanfare i think that that fanfare will stick with her as she moves for the Democratic Party but i think its unfortunate losing her voice in this primary challenge the public didnt with the Democratic Candidates do you see of the most well heres how i look at this process at the end of the day if you are running against an incumbent president in order to beat them youre going to have to the fundamental game here is not convincing a bunch of republicans to suddenly vote for the democrat you really competing over some independents and swing voters who last time switched over and voted with President Trump so the question to me is which of these candidates for the democrats can most effectively speak to them based on a whole lot of factors if i was a democrat activist looking at this field i would probably lean towards joe biden obviously a proven well known record if you like joe biden you know everything about him if you dont the same thing i do think that the resolution that has to take place this is fundamental challenge and republicans have seen this is well we saw this when. Reagan 1st ran when conservatives were pushing back against a more water moderate wing of the party and you see that here and at the end of the day the question is whether or not they want the candidate that has the chance to most effectively appeal to some of these voters in places like wisconsin and pennsylvania i think scranton joe would certainly argue thats him i think he certainly has a better chance of doing that then Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and mayor pete was certainly an interesting candidate there were some issues there the fact that you can fit the entire population of this town into a moderately sized football stadium maybe convince some people that maybe hes not quite ready to be president so well see zach who do you save. I think that some points that alex raise are spot on this entire election will be decided by just a couple Percentage Points of people in about 6 states in the country and youll see a couple 1000000000. 00 spent to convince them to vote the same way they did in 2012 in 2008 if youre on my side of the same way they did in 16 if youre on the republican side i think that Vice President biden and mayor but a judge have that ability the one point that i raise about marabou to judges i heard almost verbatim argument made against barack obama in 2008 just a couple years out of the Illinois State senate didnt have any Foreign Policy experience was too inexperienced to lead all of those things didnt end up panning out in that election as he won overwhelmingly so i wouldnt write off marabou to judge i think hes got a better shot than some of the republicans are giving them. Today and it was great talking with you both thanks larry thank you larry as well the more politicking right after this. Aeroflot russian and lights. You know world of big partisan movies a lot of things and conspiracy its time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that Mainstream Media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the bath shouting past each other its time for Critical Thinking its time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now were watching closely watching the hawks. Aeroflot russian airlines. The European Unions tendency to believe that is and only represents europe has long been a major gripe for russia but as the e. U. Experiences significant internal difficulties it is starting to reassess what it is and what it stands for what does that process mean for the countries sharing the continent with. One of the bag balakian we now welcome to the program old friend bill press Progressive Political commentator host of the. Cast the bill press and he joins us from washington d. C. Well talk about nato in a moment but what do you make of what happened that the committee hearings. When they seem to question the whole constitution now of the of an teacher you know larry hi its good to see you again i this got to say i was a little annoyed because so many people were complaining that this hearing today was a hearing in the Judiciary Committee the 1st one with afford lawyers was boring well you know the this is not like we get out the popcorn for a great big action movie right i mean this is serious stuff this is. Only the 4th time in our history out of 45. 00 president s that history the president has faced impeachment its the 3rd only the 3rd to go all the way to impeachment hearings were talking about the constitution were talking about the letter of the law its like sitting in a court room right its not an action movie its a serious procedure and i so i thought that that these lawyer the 4 of them i thought did a very very good job of presenting their case i was particularly struck by the. Law professor from North Carolina who said that 2 things one if this isnt an Impeachable Offense what is and 2 he said that Donald Trumps actions are worse than any other president including the 3 president s that did face an impeachment inquiry. So i thought that was pretty serious stuff i thought they made a pretty strong case it was fascinating to hear them talk about Alexander Hamilton and madison and what morris said at the meeting. What they were but they even went back to england to the origins of the impeachment law and some of the early cases that were brought. And i thought they they really laid it out that the. This is a long established process that yes we elect their leader but that doesnt mean the leader can do anything he or she wants while theyre in office there is some you know release valve if you will where the people can stand up and say no you went too far in this case youre out. Ok trump left nato. Reports that in the closed at the summit he did not threaten the nations about a test summits only this is grievances about defense spending but lets germany what did you make of that whole nato thing you know 1st of all i must say. My maybe my own Conspiracy Theory is that the president whos not a big fan of nato as we know i think they scheduled this trip because they wanted the split screen effect of donald trump in london while the democrats were during the impeachment hearings i think that was that was that was the whole purpose behind it but i was actually you know it typical disruptive style over there some of the things he said calling Justin Trudeau 2 faced and kind of suggesting that. Welcome isis fighters to france you know he likes to stir it up but he did this time show more support for nato i thought than hes done before yeah he was pushing people to pay more but by the way he should right they all should pay their fair share. But he recognized the importance of nato which i got to say as a democrat is a hell of a lot better than the way he started remember when he questioned whether we should even can continue nato warningly hes moved beyond that in a video caught on tape yeah trampas trudeaus pretty critical of trump well you know yeah he was he was sort of making fun of the fact i think the trump shows up late for meeting sometimes and he showed up particularly late for this one meeting because he held one of his impromptu news conferences before he went to this meeting with whomever he was me i think my crawl. I dont think that was really an anti trump i mean look we all do that kind of stuff larry i remember being at a. Bill clinton event when bill clinton showed up an hour and a half late for his nose as he was always late you know that he was playing golf that day and he came in like he just walked off or go off course but you know. Frankly put bill is trump still the leader of the free world and the american presidency is what is trump i do not think so i think the leader of the free world today is still. With her fading and soon out of office that my new micro is stepping into that role and i think its i think its something all americans ought to be concerned about republican or democrat i think we want to be seen rightfully so as a leader of the free world and you know george w. Bush was bill clinton was broke obama was a people dont have that respect for donald trump hes just too erratic in his Foreign Policy and hes turned against some of our best allies and embraced some of our biggest enemies how the heck did we get in trouble with canada yeah of all people right. If you noticed he started out with a sort of a bromance right with Justin Trudeau just like he started out with a bromance with emanuel marc wrong larry i was at the white house when were cranking for the 1st visit with trump and im telling you the 2 of them it was like they didnt get a hotel room right. And yet now both of them they have that both of them are at odds hes at odds with both of them i dont get a cat like canada should be our strong ally it is our strong ally and i think its just silly to pick a fight with canada things political what did you make is come out pulling out. I was sorry to see her go tell the truth you know as a fellow californian. She was our candidate in the race but you know i think i dont think she has anything to be ashamed of i think she she didnt do or self any harm i think she did herself a lot of good she made a good impression around the country you know she ran a fairly Good Campaign not Strong Enough obviously but i think she established most of all i think she established herself as a real force in the Democratic Party look i think the future for camel iris she could be the Vice President ial nominee she could be the next attorney general of the United States she could be not this time around but the next time around the democratic nominee for president she is a real force i think she established herself as a real force how did she drop so fast. I think 2 things one. In between that you know she was great at the debates in between in between the debates when she went out on the campaign trail you know she didnt really have a really solid message about heres what i will do heres what im for like Elizabeth Warren for example right you may not agree with her on everything but you know what shes for she for that wealth actually is getting rid of all student debt issue breaking up the big banks right i mean shes out there you know what shes for you know bernie as for you never really sure what kind of a horse was for number one number 2 it came down to the money i mean it its getting to the point right now closer to iowa where you need a real lot of money for those ground operation then iowa New Hampshire and South Carolina and she didnt have it id say i give her credit for knowing when it was time to to pull the plug too often candidates dont recognize reality and they drag things on like better or work did to the point where was embarrassing she knew she didnt have it she made the decision she got out is still bidens to lose. I think so and. I think the fact that she is one more of in the middle lane that dropped out that if anybody benefits from this i believe its its joe biden just pure arithmetic the fewer people who are competing for that center lane the better off it is for for joe biden. Or those who say im tearing they have Peter Brock Obama not much time in his office young not well known but coming up on. I think the a stronger comparison was to camelot harris and barack obama right because she was. Mixed race africanamerican and jamaican but like barack obama had only been in the senate a couple of years in the senate like barack obama. And i think thats what was her thinking that she could recreate that barack obama marriage. Magic im sorry i dont like people to judge i think hes a strong candidate but i dont think hes an expert rock obama and by the way you know if the one the one witness and put a judge his campaign is that hes not connecting with africanamerican voters hes trying. Hasnt worked and joe biden has because of his past history in delaware and also with barack obama will emerge well america elected gave president. I would hope so. I and i you know you know let me honest i honestly think so today larry ive been surprised pleasantly surprised that i havent heard anybody anybody and democrat or republican go after people to judge because hes gay i dont even hear it talked about and i think thats very healthy i think that shows americas grown up a lot and i hope that means that people would not vote against him because he happens to be a gay man in the National Elections what were down to is 5 or 6 states will decide it right i think so yeah up right. And so youve got and the key states look its california its new york its texas obviously but then youve got across the midwest or across the rest of the socalled rust belt its going to be wisconsin pennsylvania michigan illinois had those 4 so maybe are up to 5 or 6. But those are the key states those are the states where hillary lost by a total of only 77000. 00 votes but she lost those states which democrats need to win and i think the key for democrats is which democratic nominee which of these candidates can go in with a good strong blue collar populist message to get working them class democrats back to the Democratic Party those working class democrats who left the party to go to vote for donald trump who can get them back in michigan illinois wisconsin and pennsylvania before he was President Donald Trump told me he was in favor of the popular vote. Are you in favor of a popular vote you mean getting rid of the Electoral College yeah absolutely i think its such it belongs in the Smithsonian Museum look if theres anything sacred it seems to me that we could all should all be able to agree on is that whoever gets the most votes wins the election that should have that should be the case now and i think its appalling that in this young century weve already had 2 president s elected or you know who ended up being president because without winning the popular vote that the American People did not choose to be the president of the United States george w. Bush and donald trump they both happen to republicans i dont care was republican or democrat my position has always been the Electoral College. Is an anachronism and we have to get and we have to get rid of it just simply one man one person one vote and whoever gets the most votes wins the election bill thanks is always great to see you spending time we covered a lot of time a lot of territory there larry good for us and thank you audience for joining me on this edition of politicking remember you can join the conversation on my Facebook Page or tweet me at kings things and dont forget to use the politicking hash tag thats all for this edition of politicking. Aeroflot russian and lights. In a world of big partisan movies lot and conspiracy its time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that Mainstream Media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the bats and shouting past each other its time for Critical Thinking its time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now were watching closely watching the hawks. Aeroflot russian and lions. Ok in the special case something we can dangle says is that a minute of. The film that also the they also. Use on to hold dont think in russian. Think was over forget it. Part of your book come about through a complete brochure we have mostly of some of the models from. Russian outlets eligibility for the International Competitions is at stake this includes events like the Tokyo Olympics and the fee for world cup in qatar if i am in the early as last year we will just not hear where you come in you know just as it was 4 years ago in moscow antidoping plavix at the center of the scandal so who tampered with the duping samples database and one does greegor you want to give have to do with it and you know shes stupid because we start the ball as i mean you could not come with us but when that used to push on that we should use it by text books me emotions actually dont do so the pollution addition of. All the yen the euro the dollar they all refer to each other and theyre all going deeper and deeper into debt so theres no basic there or there theres no so theres no way to measure the dead against something that is could be considered money remember j. P. Morgan said only gold is money Everything Else is credit or debt ok so without that there is no way to measure that debt and theres no at the moment you know my my view is that this is leading to a neo feudalism poor you have just a few private equity firms owing 98 percent of all the assets and everyone elses living as service on that for getting back to the dark ages. Last france is crippled by a nationwide strike over pension reform plans with protests in the capital descending into violence. Russian foreign minister. Rejects germanys claims that moscow has not been cooperating with an investigation into the murder of a georgian citizen in berlin. And twitter faces fresh censorship accusations after a change to its terms of service leaves its affairs a shadow better. Make sure to catch our next on world news update with kevin and thats next hour but 1st it is time for the kaiser report right here in argentina stay with us