Shipment of aept tank missiles trump countered with these words, i would like you to do us a favor though. Were learning of the danger the president s own conversation posed. In speaking to white house officials the whistleblower says they were deeply disturbed by what had transpired on that phone call. They told me there was already a discussion going on with white house lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood they had witnessed the president abusing his office for personal gain. Thats the white house people. And then the whistleblower learned its senior white house officials had intervened to lock down all records of the phone call especially the official word for word transcript they hid. The complaint says the officials were directed by house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system, which was then loaded into a separate Electronic System that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information. So the people around the president knew his conduct in that phone call was wrong and used National Security protocols to hide it. The complaint reveals additional potential evidence of the president s efforts to leverage through ukraine. Two months before trumps july conversation with president zelensky, officials told the whistleblower it was made clear to them that the president did not want to meet mr. Zelensky until he saw how zelensky chose to act in office. Additionally the officials told me that a phone call would depend on whether, catch this, zelensky showed willingness to play ball with trump. Play ball with trump. Across town at the white house nbc reports theres rising anxiety, unease and concern that the whistleblowers allegation could seriously wupd thound thi president. Im joined by u. S. Senator and Kamala Harris and questioned the director of National IntelligenceJoseph Maguire and the intelligence Inspector General michael atkinson. Senator, we know about the quid pro quo, we know about the president saying if you want your javelin missile, the antitank missiles, if you want them to keep the russians from invading your country more, help me with this stuff i need to get on biden. And now today we find out basically the term was if you dont play ball you cant even get on the phone with our president. Heres how i feel about it. Donald trump even when he was running for office told us who he is. He told us if i shoot somebody on fifth avenue, i will get away with it. Hes a lawless president , he literally is. He believes obviously hes above the law, hes beyond reproach, that he can do anything and get away with anything. And this is yet another and serious examples about this fact, and its outrageous. It is outrageous that on top of everything else, on top of everything bob mueller told us in that investigation, that hes on the phone with yet again a Foreign Government attempting to influence the election for the president of the United States, and in that process not only understanding that the job of commander in chief of the United States of america should be to defend and protect us against all enemies foreign and domestic. But this president , donald trump, does not understand his job and frankly this is why for so many reasons that the process of impeachment should begin. Is this guy running a criminal enterprise in the white house . Is this a racket, a rico violation . Its certainly a racket and well see in terms how the evidence plays out. But it certainly reeks of corruption. It reeks of selfservice. It reeks of a president who is not truthful. He is lawless, and he is running an administration that reeks of corruption. Yes. The reason i bring that up is youre the prosecutor, you know all the dirty stuff that goes on in business. I hear about the rackets where in the old days of the 30s the mob controlled i. C. E. , so they could extort any money. If they controlled cement, if you want cement, youve got to talk to them. Its like trump says you want military aid, youve got to talk to me. Youve got to go through me. And this is understanding integrity of the United States and us as a people. Its all about selfservice. The guy is scared because he knows that he is going to be defeated in this election. He is desperate, and so his natural behavior that is about lawlessness, it has now blossomed into having a conversation with a foreign head of state in front of many people who have taken an oath to defend the constitution of the United States where he is bartering u. S. Aid to support a democracy over what he wants in terms of an investigation into one of his political rivals. Hes no better than any other dictator when it comes to using the resources of the people and in the name of the people for selfaggranddizement and for benefit, personal benefit. The report in the whistleblower complaint that not only did he conduct this extortionist move against the head of ukraine, but these people around trump, but they did was they took the verbatim word for word transcript and buried it somewhere in some sort of catacomb used for very sensitive top secret information. And thats called a coverup. And you are right, my career as a prosecutor in a court i would be arguing that this is evidence of consciousness of guilt. This is evidence of knowing that what happened in that phone call was wrong, it violates ethical rules, it violates the law, it violates the position of trust that the president should hold. And i ran the second Largest Department of justice in the United States, second only to the United States department of justice. This is completely by every act that this president has done including this one, an attack not only on our democracy but our system of justice. What did you think of Joseph Maguire, the acting director of National Intelligence today . I watched the early performance which was on tv this morning, public testimony. He kept saying i went to the white house to get the approval whether it was released or not. It seemed to be he was in a position of asking the people being complained about, the president and his people, whether it was okay to put it out or not. What did you make of the whole well, i cant talk about we did listen to in a classified setting, but there was clearly an attempt to cover up and the investigation needs to continue. He continues here with his coverup. Earlier today President Trump told staff from the United States mission to the United NationsCareer Foreign Service employees, career people that the whistleblower was, quote, almost a spy. And person revealed the president s behavior to the whistleblower was treasonous. He then made a startling reference to punishing the individual. The l. A. Times was provided with a recording of the video. Heres part of what the president said. Theyre almost a spy. I want to know who is the person who gave the whistleblower the information . Because thats close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, right . The spies and treason. We used to handle it a little differently than we do now. Hes talking about the chair. Hes talking about the rosenbergs. Thats what he seems to be talking about. He sounds like a criminal, chris. Who snitched . Who gave up the goods . Lets find out who gave up the goods on us and make sure theres a consequence and its serious and let that be a lesson to everybody else. And it sounds like its straight out of some bad drama, but the fact is this is the president of the United States, and the concern that i have is that we have created a system for whistleblowers to come forward because we want people to be trance parent about the abuses in our government. And weve created laws that say we will protect them, and it should be the president of the United States above all who says that we welcome and well always protect people who are fighting for the integrity of our democracy. Well, the complaint the whistleblower highlights that during his or her call the president s call with the ukrainian president the president implicated his own attorney general in the scandal bill barr, which shows trump repeatedly urged the ukrainian president to speak to william barr about the investigations trump was pushing. And while barr is denying any involvement, it was Barrs Justice Department that advised the director of National Intelligence not to pass along the complaint to congress. So he was covering up. And were also learning the Justice Department decided not to investigate the concerns raised by the whistleblower complaint saying there was not sufficient cause to launch an investigation. It seems to me the president has replaced the normal government with two or three people, giuliani and bill barr not operating has the head of the department but as his personal lawyer. We saw that when attorney general barr delayed in sharing the mueller report, mischaracterized it, let that mischaracterization stand before actually sharing it with the american people. And lets talk about so the attorney general of the United States who seems to think that hes the president s personal lawyer instead of the peoples lawyer, lets also talk about Rudy Giuliani. Well, hes got two here looking out for him. Im actually calling on the i. G. And state department to actually investigate and figure out who in the state department was in cahoots or facilitating giulianis interactions with ukrainian officials, who was giving him if they gave him any kind of intelligence, and who facilitated Rudy Giuliani, the personal lawyer of the president to conduct himself as though he is an emissary for the United States. And the other thing, chris, the new York Bar Association needs to investigate youll yawny and probably disbar him. Let me ask you about your vote because the way you talk and a lot of people talk, the high crime is in front of us now. We see it. It was an extortionist effort he selfadmitted it. Is it done . Should they just go to a vote in the house the next couple of weeks and get this done with . There should be a process in which the investigation is conducted and facts are presented and then let there be a finding. This is what we do weeks or months . I think that, listen, i would like that it be weeks. It has to be quickly. I think thats what the speaker wants. Thank you so much. Well keep covering your president ial campaign. Good luck in iowa. Im moving to iowa. Youre raising the stakes in iowa. By the way, director Joseph Maguires dramatic public testimony for the House Intelligence Committee, heres a bit of it. I believe the whistleblower is operating in good faith. I think the whistleblower did the right thing. I think he followed the law every step of the way. Thats something the president , donald trump, does not want to hear but he just heard it. Im going to talk to two Congress People who questioned maguire today on the significance of what was revealed by the whistleblower. Plus where does this go next and how long will it the house to vote on impeachment . Weve got much more to get to tonight as you can see live from the capitol. Stay with us. T as you can see lm the capitol. 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Color. Full of energy. Full of. Woo its fresh and filling. This bowl is full of good. So you can be too. Try a new baja or mediterranean warm grain bowl today. Panera food as it should be. And the facts are these. That the president of the United States in his actions in a telephone call with a head of state betrayed his oath of office, our National Security, and the integrity of our elections. This is a coverup. This is a coverup. Welcome back. It is a coverup according to the testimony today from a whistleblower. They didnt really make an attempt to cover up that conversation between the president of the United States and the president of ukraine. In fact, they cept it off in some sort of catacomb somewhere where well never see it again. The accounting which was provided by a whistleblower in the Intelligence Community was corroborated by the Inspector General and found to be credible and raised urge want concern, they say. And spent the past weeks to try to dirty up the whistleblower. Its a partisan whistleblower. They shouldnt even have information. Its just another political hack job. I just hear a partisan person meaning it comes out from another party. They say it was a very partisan person, the whistleblower. The socalled whistleblower information. In his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, the acting director of National IntelligenceJoseph Maguire defended the whistleblower against these claims. I want to stress that i believe that the whistleblower and the Inspector General have acted in good faith throughout. I have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and followed the law. The decision and the recommendation by the Inspector General, that in fact the allegation was credible. I think the whistleblower did the right thing. You dont have any reason to accuse them of disloyalty to our country or suggest theyre beholden to some other country . Absolutely not. Do you believe that the whistleblower was spying on one of our intelligence agencies or spying on the president sph. As i said several times so far this morning, i believe the whistleblower complied with the law and did everything they thought he or she thought was responsible under the Intelligence Community, whistleblower protection act. I would say the whistleblowers complaint is in alignment with what was released yesterday by the president. Joining me right now are two democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee who took part in that hearing today. Let me go to mr. Maloany on this one. Do you think theres any question of the integrity of the whistleblower at this point . No, i dont see any reason to question that. The complaint is very thorough and well documented. It matches very well, by the way, with the memo of the call. I think we have every reason to believe its largely accurate, but we should check it out. Is this a high crime the president of the United States extorting dirt on political opponents by holding up aid to a military ally . Is it a high crime . What is it is president ial extortion and an ongoing coverup. How come the president didnt know or didnt care . This is the day after he got past muellers testimony, and did he think oh, now that i got rid of that, now im done with that, get dirt for another country and goes i didnt get caught getting it from russia. Its a hands off to interference in the next election, and this time hes soliciting it and willing to smear a political opponent using military aid knowing hes being taped, knowing hes got people in this own government listening to what hes saying, and he seems to be the only one that didnt know or care he was breaking the law and creating a high crime. A leopard doesnt change its spots. Its a pattern of corruption. He did want learn his lesson from 2016 what the american should be offended by is hes using their taxpayer money, our taxpayer money to benefit nobody would get away with this job if you try to use your employers money to benefit himself. It looks like a racket. The mobster that controls the cement industry says you want to put that building up, youve got to talk to me. Look what he said about the whistleblower today. The director of National Intelligence bent over backwards to say this person did it right, hes following the rules by the book. The president said hes a spy. The president said we used to deal with guys like that. Hes going to rub them out. Look, i dont know what that language is intended to do except chill others from coming forward because we know from the complaint that theres a dozen white house officials who are deeply disturbed by this and a bunch of other folks in the agencies. We want to hear from them, we want them to feel they can come forward with the truth. Nancy pelosi, the speaker, shes been a resister to the process for months and then along the way she said something i thought was brilliant. She said hes going to impeach himself. Hes going to go do it in broad daylight and then well have him. He copped to the crime. He said he could shoot somebody on fifth avenue, were going to find out if thats true, and hes going to threaten execution with someone, and were going to find out is is that who we are as americans we would let this man in our great country get away with this. And we have the summary and we get the full verbatim word by word account theyre hiding that from us, there he is saying to the guy, okay, ive got something i want from you, though. Remember during the russia investigation the big question was was he doing the kremlins bidding, was he undermining our National Security, well, here what hes doing is absolutely assisting Vladimir Putins plan to dominate ukraine. Remember in the complaint theres some new information. He says, oh, i think the president of ukraine is going to strike a deal with vladimir putin. How does a mouse strike a deal with an elephant . Theyre half invaded, lost crimea, lost Eastern Ukraine already invaded by the russians and says youve got to make a deal with this guy. This is 10 of their military budget, they have troops in their country, the wolfs ought the door. And it undermines the security of europe. Hes also trying to exonerate russia. Hes asking them to look into evidence that would exonerate russias role. At the house hearing today congressman maloney you pressed Joseph Maguire why he would share the complaint with the white house and the department of justice run by the president s lawyer basically. Here goes. Lets watch. Did you think it was prudent to give a veto power over whether the congress saw this serious allegation of wrongdoing to the two people implicated by it . I have to work with the situation as it is congressman maloney, only the white house can determine or waive executive privilege. Theres no one else to go to. Didnt sound to good the way you questioned him. Oh, my goodness, this is the man in charge of the hen house and he goes to two foxes to ask him who should come in . And the when you think about how you just lost perspective on the forest and trees with that kind of decision, he should have threatened to quit or resign. Imagine calling a tip line and the person says im going to ask the person youre reporting about what i should do with this. Sounds like the mob. Up next, Rudy Giuliani says hes the hero of this whole piece, hero. More on giulianis outrageous claim next on hardball. Giulia claim next on hardball. I get it all the time. Have you lost weight . Of course i have ever since i started renting from national. Because national lets me lose the wait at the counter. And choose any car in the aisle. 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Theyre going after joe biden back then. Im joined by maya wily. And i use the godfather term here, the use of a wartime c consigliere who had a great reputation until now, here he is saying you give this guy dirt on biden who i think youve got to run against or else you wont have any defensive weapons because you didnt give me dirt. That is the fact of that conversation. Is essentially the way any prosecutor would read that exchange. And i think the fact that Rudy Giuliani started the prausds in april, remember, chris, what april was. We had the summary from william barr, really spinning the Robert Mueller probe report, and then in april its becoming public. We have the president then asking Rudy Giuliani to get engaged, there intermediaries start setting up his meetings and so the july 25th call was not the beginning of it. It was because donald trump himself as we know personally got engaged in whether or not military support not in the defensive sense was actually going to be delivered to ukraine. And backing that up, maya and david, was the whistleblowers statement that the deal was they wouldnt even get a phone call from the president until they said theyre going to play ball on getting dirt on trumps enemies. Congress did not vote that aid to ukraine, hundreds of millions of dollars to charity. Congress voted that aid because it believed selfdefense bayou crane was important to the National Security of the United States. So this an important legal story but its first and foremost a National Security story. If it was important ukraine defend itself, if americans were spending money to do that and donald trump said its second to my reelection, hes saying the National Defense of the country was second to my reelection. And he made that clear to the ukrainians saying the guy handling for me, my surrogate is going to be Rudy Giuliani. In fact hes mentioned 31 times in the whistleblower complaint. It goes into detail about his, giulianis efforts to dig up political dirt in ukraine. Giuliani blasted the whistleblower, of course, saying the complaint is nothing more than here say. However, the summary of trumps july 25th call released by the white house backs up many of the claims released by the whistleblower complaint. He was almost shouting when he said, devoted, it is impossible that the whistleblower is a hero and im not. And i will be the hero. These morons, when this is over, i will be the hero. Theres baghdad bob right there. What do you make of this . Giuliani claiming hes the hero of the piece . If you have to tell people youre a hero, youre not the hero. Its an unfortunate thing, but the reason we dont accept here say is because here say is often unreliable. When its corroborated, when its proven true it turns out it would be bad infaaccurate, i would be true. There are plenty of exceptions to hearsay at the same time because the question is about its probity, how much value it is. He actually has some potential legal liabilities here that he should be very concerned about. Because he is is a private citizen. Theres no office of Legal Counsel memorandum protecting him from indictment for Campaign Finance violations, so i think its not unusual that he would start to be start saying, wait, im the good guy. But also remember his interview with laura engram when she says why you, why would the state department send you to ukraine, and he says im Donald Trumps defense attorney, doubling down on the fact that he is there because he is trying to support and help this president , not as present as the man. This is a corrupt act because its using public office, his authority using military aid, defending itself basically through its existential dpisance right now and hes saying ill give it to you if you give me my dirt. Hundreds of ukrainians have died, tens of thousands are refugees. This is not just a crisis, this is big shooting war on the european continent with real people losing their lives. Explain the javelin war and why its important. Because the you cranians have been outgunned, their system is not cohesive, there are important internal divisions. It tights tanks. And it fights tanks. Were used to that growing up in the 50s and 60s. Whether its hungary or whatever, were used to tanks coming in and were used to people blowing up the tanks. Theres another aspect of National Security embedded in that call summary were learning more about which is that notion why does he want these servers that are supposed to be in ukraine, well its a Conspiracy Theory. How would hillarys servers show up in the Conspiracy Theory is about the dncs not being hacked. That was if you remember the beginning. It showed a picture of jack kennedy behind a curtain like 50 years after hes dead, kennedy alive in poland. Thank you. With the majority of house members onboard with an impeachment proceeding, i think its more now how quickly will things move . Will democrats strike while the iron is hot . Strike while the iron is hot, dont push this off to 50,000 more hearings. Youre watching hardball. 50, more hearings. You wreatching hardball. Man ive been diagnosed with agerelated macular degeneration, which could lead to vision loss. So today i made a plan with my doctor, which includes preservision. Because its my vision, my love of the game, my open road, my little artist. Vo only Preservision Areds 2 contains the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of moderate to advanced amd progression. 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So why not use that appreciation for anything you need maybe its some home repairs, or updates to make it more comfortable so you can stay in the place you love. Its a viable effective way to support your other investments long into the future, and another way aag is working to make your retireme. Better. Dont wait. Get your info kit now the consensus in our caucus is that our focus now is on this allegation, were seeing the evidence of it. This is the focus of the moment because this is the charge. All of the other worth as it relates to abuse of power, ignoring subpoenas of government, of congress, abuse of contempt of congress by him, those things will be considered later, but right now were in investigating the inquiry stage. Welcome back to hardball. That was House Speaker nancy pelosi of course earlier today confirming the focus of the impeachment inquiry thats proceeding right now into President Trump will be allegations laid out in the whistleblower complaint, and now 223 democrats and one independent have now expressed support for some sort of impeachment action. Doesnt necessarily mean they vote up or down to impeach the president yet, but i think theyre heading there. Speaker pelosi says she doesnt center a deadline to complete the impeachment inquiry, but the house has just 29 days, however, still in session this year between now and december 12th. Im joined now by democratic congresswoman maxine waters, of course. Shes so wellknown, chairman of the House Financial Services committee. Madam chairwoman youre one of six chairs now. I guess the question of can the Congress Meet the goal of striking while the iron is hot while the country is focused on this with the ukrainians and the deal for dirt. Im so pleased leader pelosi has taken charge and shes finalized the impeachment inquiry, and im extremely optimistic we can get it done. Do you believe in focusing on ukraine, the whistleblowers complaint, the evidence we now have he was trying to deal out Foreign Military aid in exchange for political dirt . I think that has to be an important part of what we do, and whether that is all that we do or is that the focus with other things, it remains to be seen. We have to discuss that. The Six Committee chairs will be getting together with the speaker, and well decide what the impeachment resolution should include, it will be then forwarded to the Judiciary Committee. Tell me what you have in your mind now of how you have six chairs, youre one of them, all been working on stuff the president s done wrong, probably unethical and worse, impeachable. How do you condense that to perhaps one or two articles, did you guys, together, you chairs put that together or would the Judiciary Committee decide now, the idea is that we will get together, we will put on the table everything we know, everything were doing that we think would be good and important and substptive for an impeachment resolution, and well come to some consensus, some conclusion about it, and then itll be forwarded to the Judiciary Committee. I did work up here for a while to know how the game is played and i mean a game with high personal stakewise ts with country but it comes to numbers. Can you get 218 votes out of the house . Oh, absolutely were there. Really for an article of impeachment . Yes. Youre getting into my questions here. Lets talk about this, what do you make the fact the National Security counsel went to such an effort to hide the president s phone call that they took the word by word account of it electronically and buried it in some top secret system where nobody can get to it . Well, you know, were dealing with a bunch of crooks in the white house. We have the president whos dishonest, has lied, who has done all kinds of things we never expected of anybody who would serve in that high office so im not shocked or surprised by anything they would do. We have an administration that is undermining our democracy, that has aligned itself with putin and the oligarchs and the kremlin, who have had secret meetings, who will not condemn putin. Yes, whats he got on him i know what you were getting ready to say. This guy seems to dance through he jumps through the hoops whenever the guy has got something. Knowing he undermined our election system, knowing that has been absolutely identified as work that was done by russia or by Intelligence Community, and he still will not condemn him, but more than that, this would be going toward doing the same kinds of things in the 2020 election tat w election that was done in the last president ial election. He was on the road to talking about how do we undermine the elections again to ensure he gets elected . Every time i see those two guys together the president and putin, putin has this weird smirk like he owns him. Well, he knows something. Thank you so very much. Up next, are we past the point of hoping Congressional Republicans will put loyalty to country ahead of loyalty to donald trump . Can they stick with this president in the face of such a blatant abuse of power . What do you think . Back in a moment. Power what dyoo u think . Back in a moment man 1 vo proof of less joint pain woman 1 oc this is my body of proof. And clearer skin. 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A modern approach to wealth management. [horn honks] man this is what i feel like when i wear regular shoes, cramped and uncomfortable. We can arrange a little upgrade. Which is why i wear skechers. Wide fit shoes. They have extra room throughout. Theyre like a luxury ride for my feet. Try skechers wide fit shoes. Ive read the complaint and ive read the transcript of the conversation with the president and the president of ukraine. Concerning that conversation i want to say, president , this is not okay. That conversation is not okay, and i think its disappointing to the American Public when they read the transcript. Welcome back to hardball. That was republican congressman with a somewhat mild condemnation of President Trumps conversation with the president of ukraine. His critical comment made him a notable exception, however, from his republican colleagues on the Intel Committee at todays hearing with the acting director of National Intelligence. Immediately after the release, by the way, of that explosive whistleblower complaint President Trump tweeted in all caps, of course, the democrats are trying to destroy the Republican Party and all that it stands for, stick together, play their game and fight hard, republican, our country is at stake. Well, the president later deleted that tweet, but there was some tiny cracks, however, emerging in the president s gop firewall. Another Intel Committee, republican retiring texas congressman heard tweeted theres a lot in the whistleblower complaint that is concerning. The first step is to talk to the whistleblower. Yesterday two republican senators utah emphasis mitt romney and nebraskas ben sasse openly called the complaint by the whistleblower troubling. Im joined by michael steele, and robert costa, National Political reporter for the washington post. We always learn from myth and sloganeering that democrats fall in love and republicans fall in line. But why do they stay in line . Because were very good at the line. Why do you guys circle the wagon so quickly . Until you can show theres been a detrimental breach in that line meaning theres evidence, information, behavior, something that will cause a crack, theyre going to hold it. Wait a minute, we have that. We have the president of the United States well, chris, we dont have that yet. You have two documents that have been put out, and i think to congressman hurds point, i think that line should have been broken a long time ago. The white house documenting showed the president of the United States responded to a call for defensive weapons and tanks and missiles with gimme dirt. Im trying to give you an explanation why the line holds and what we have so far and i think congressman hurd is right, they want to talk to the whistleblower. Because the whistleblower is technically in reality could cause that break. The whistleblower simply told us about a conversation im saying that individual is in front of those members, chris when that individual is in front of those members, thats the moment of the crack. The senate conversation has been muted today. They came out, they werent coming out in the same form as a devin nunes. Just a thought. You get up in the morning and your wife says its snowing outside, you go outside and its snowing, it doesnt matter what she said, its snowing. Weve got the transcript of the conversation. You got part of a transcript from the white house. That was not a reflection of 30 minutes of conversation. Okay, robert, you see the problem. I was outside the House Chamber tonight talking to some of these top allies for President Trump, loyal soldiers like mark meadows, they are fully in line with President Trump. Thank you. They say he has the political capital. They also say the democrats are overstepping their bounds, and so thats the argument theyre making. Kevin mccarthy, a smart guy continue to fall in line behind President Trump tonight. When asked about impeachment, lets watch. What in this case rises to impeachment . This is a president of the United States that had a conversation with a leader in another country. And when you read the transcript, tell me one thing in there thats impeachable, but tell me this, the speaker of the house moved for impeachment against the rules without having the full body vote for it without one bit of evidence. You know, i guess im having a problem here communing with you, to me it jumps out at me, high crime when i see a president who has unique authority and power over u. S. Foreign military aid, which we use to help our allies so that were safe ourselves. We know why we give military aid, to help ourselves. We fight a country thats on the front line against the russians and we say theyre invading your country, grabbed a big part of it already, were going to stop those tanks from taking your country. And our president says ive got a favor i want from you, though, help me get some dirt on my opponents. Thats what he said. Hows that not impeachable . I think it is. But you asked me a specific question about why the members in that building behaved the way they behave, and im telling you as robert reinforced in his conversation, theyre thinking theyve got until you can show something this isnt 1973, 1974, theres a conservative Republican Party, theres a whole group on the outside thats coming to the barricades for this president , and thats what the republicans on capitol hill are looking at. Theres no larry hogan, sr. In that building right now going to say to the president of the United States, sir does this come down to the question the fights more important than the facts . Because a very serious question that theyre so angry, so resentful of the democratic liberal establishment in this country that they see has been running this country for years, they so resent it, theyre willing to back trump, right or wrong . I think you just nailed it. Yeah, thats that french phrase, yeah thats that moment right there for them. Thats what this fight is about. The partisanship has eclipsed the politics. The partisanship defines everything, and right now this is a fight to create the falynx around the president do or die. When i was roaming around the senate today a lot of senators when i wept up to them with the notebook and recorder they said, no thanks, havent read the full complaint, havent read the letter. Toomey said that on sunday. If youre in a swing state, collins up in maine, she tells me i dont want to comment because i could be a juror in the trial in the senate. So theyre all coming up with remarks that take them away from having to get in the fight. By the way, jumping ahead do you think the senate would like to skip the vote . Constitutionally, dont they have to have a trial . Theres been talk to skip it. Theyre going to have to vote . They do want to vote . They dont want to vote especially if youre up for reelection in 2020. Right now your reporting was in the senate today, im hearing from people that they do think they have to do in weeks. They cant put it off for months. I agree. Ive heard that, too. Because this has been so narrowly focused by the two documents released so far and the evidence there, this moment clarifies for a lot of democrats, some of the republicans as has been reported i think you may be able to comment on this that, you know, privately folks are saying if you could do a blind vote in the senate where you did want have to put your name if were going to have a vote to impeach in the house, is it more likely its going to happen in 2019, 2020 or never . I think it has to happen now, 19. Sooner or later if Speaker Pelosi gets that impeachment. I think an article on this one on ukraine makes the most sense and theyll have it in a couple of weeks. Hardball back in a moment. F w. Hardball back in a moment. Actually went to law school, so i called him. He didnt call me back if your exex exboyfriend isnt a lawyer, call legalzoom and well connect you with an attorney. Legalzoom. Where life meets legal. Oh, wow. You two are going to have such a great trip. Thanks to you, we will. This is why voya helps reach todays goals. All while helping you to and through retirement. Can you help with these . Were more of the plan, invest and protect kind of help. Voya. Helping you to and through retirement. Discomfort instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders, try the cooling, soothing relief of preparation h, because your derriere deserves expert care. Preparation h. Get comfortable with it. Classical Music playing throughout but super poligrip gives him a tight seal. 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Its hard to imagine a more serious set of allegations than those contained in the complaint. Tonight new bombshell allegations against the president. This is coverup. This is coverup. New details alleging that white house, the state department and the department of justice were covering up for the president , and the brand new road map for impeachment hearings laid out in the whistleblowers complaint. Plus. I want to know whos the person who gave the whistleblower the president caught on tape mulling revenge. You