Mayor pete moving ahead there. We have a South Carolina poll out today that shows joe biden once again doing extremely well there. This is such a fluid, exciting race on the democratic side. You see mayor pete jumping up, hes at 25 in iowa. And South Carolina, hes big in joe biden. Well get into that in a moment. But lets begin today kick off week two in public testimony in the impeachment probe. Well get into who will be testifying in a moment, but first latest abc news poll shows where americans are now on this issue. 70 , 70, think the president s actions with ukraine were wrong. Only 25 think they were not. Among those who think his actions were wrong, 51 think he should be impeach and removed from office. 6 think he should be impeached and not removed from office. And 13 think he should not be impeached or removed from office. And the new npr mayor rift poll out this more, 50 believe he should be impeached, 40 do not. 70 think its unacceptable for a president to acc ask a foreign leader to investigate a political opponent. 22 say its acceptable. 65 say now information that comes from the impeachment inquiry could not sway their position. 30 say it could. And 63 of people responding satis say theyre following the news fairly closely as opposed to 37 who say theyre not following closely or not at all. A lot of numbers, but basically 70 of the country think something is very wrong here. 70, 75 , which actually doesnt that undercut everything Donald Trumps been saying . Yes. Perfect call, perfect transcript. Not a transcript, but if it were a transcript, perfect transcript. The American People are speaking out in a way that they usually dont in these polls. And they are saying it is wrong for him to try to use his influence to start an investigation in a foreign country of a political opponent. Thats pretty straightforward. And theres nothing donald trump can tweet about or say in speeches that will change that one bit. Americans have decided their president let them down. Now the question is, whether its impeachable. And it may point to, elise, why you see the republican argument morphing to, yeah, i didnt love this. This wasnt great. I dont think as a general matter president s should trade political dirt for military aid but i dont think he should be removed from office. That seems to be where republicans have moved. Theres no credible, with all the witnesses weve heard, the witnesses well hear from today, theres mo more to say this thing didnt happen and theyre just saying on the republican side he shouldnt be removed from office for it. Youre seeing the strategy of the republican defense, phase one process argument, comblapla about the process which is always a loser because americans dont care about a process argument. They shifted to, two, oh, it wasnt first hand, its so far removed. Hear say. Third Lindsey Grahams new definition of whether hearsay evidence is admissible or not. That was fun for the Senate Judiciary chairman to hear him rewrite that. Lasted for a bit. And then you have one of the ambassadors aides in ukraine bring up well actually i was hanging out with Gordon Sondland in a restaurant in kiev and im just going to i always am trying to say im thinking skeeve now that we all pronounce it kiev. I know its kiev, but kiev is in the ukraine, all right. There you go. So youve got Gordon Sondland holding the phone out from his head because donald trump speaks to loud, which you might be able to testify to. Loud talker. Loud talker on the phone. And so now weve landed at the third line of defense, which is, yeah, this all might have happened but it really wasnt that big of a deal and we cant impeach in an election year, one more year, just vote him out of office. You know, if republicans have been smart from the very beginning, of course thats a big if, they would have just jumped to the end saying, yeah, its really bad what he did, really bad, but its not an Impeachable Offense. But, guy, weve gotten to the point where there is that drip, drip, drip day in and day out where republicans set up a straw man, it gets knocked down the next day. They set up another straw man, knocked down the next day. Americans have been seeing this over the past month now and its having a rhee impact in the president s approving ratings. You dig into the numbers every day as much as anybody in america about what this will mean politically in the 2020 races. Now, when you look at those numbers, im curious what you think about the 30 that say they can still be swayed about the impeachment evidence. Where is that going to play out in 2020, not just in the president ial race, but also in the senate and the house races . So interestingly enough, one of the most relevant things from the abc poll was the fact that 21 of americans said that they made their mind up about impeachment after the first week of hearings. And of those americans, 6 out of every 10 said they favored impeachment and removal from office. So here you have 1 out of every 5 americans saying they paid attention. And of those, 60 said they favored impeachment but impeachment and removal. I think its a troubling sign, and it rebuts this idea that the hearings didnt have enough pizzaz or they werent interesting enough. You know, 58 of americans say they are following the hearings somewhat or very closely. And, by the way, i expect some of the most combustible testimony is still yet to come. And weve seen that from the transcripts that have been released and certainly i think everybody is waiting for ambassador sondlands hearing because i think it will reveal much more about the nature of what happened in ukraine. Guys point about witnesses still to come, Lieutenant Colonel vindman today will be a powerful witness. Couple more powerful witnesses. But the numbers alone that weve been talking about here this morning, the 60 or 75 , whichever number with you pick in terms of people of lets impeach him and lets impeach him and remove him, thats done in the president who have flooded the field each and every day with lies. And people have fought through the lies and said, no, hes got to go. When you look at the fact they are not only saying impeach him but remove him when you get to the republicans argument, it doesnt rise to impeachable, he may have done it, the public has gone beyond that because they said remove him. Which means they say, yes, it is impeachable and removable. Thats one. I think, secondly, as youre right, when we see the real witnesses coming on this week that could really in my opinion put the nail in the coffin starting with today, going on to sondland, i think that those numbers will increase and put real pressure on the republicans facing reelection. I do think, though, that we may be misunderstanding Lindsey Graham when he says his hearsay, what he meant to say is the witnesses say they heard him say it on the speaker phone. It was hearsay, they heard him say it and i think they testified to that. Well even now thats the case, its lindseys new defense i think it was aristotle who said see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil. Hes covering he just does not want to know anything. Its really wont read the transcripts. Not gonna do it. Not gonna do it. So, willie, i do think its telling. One of the frustrating things for me, and i think for a lot of us this past week, is youve had people talking about how some people saying early on that these hearings werent compelling enough. I think there is compelling and thoughtful and important as any hearings weve in had in a very lopping time in washington, d. Long time in washington, d. C. But secondly, they say you know how its going to end. You never know how a trial is going to end. You never know how hearing like this is going to end. If that was the opinion back in late 72, 73, we never would have gotten to the tapes. Nixon would have never been forced to resign for his crimes. In this case are look at the polls, 70 of americans say what donald trump did is wrong. 70 . Only one in four think what he did was okay. That means all donalds lies, all of donalds tweets, all of donalds witness intimidation, all of donalds abuse of people who work for him, all of it is being ignored by a good chunk of his supporters. I mean, hes got like 40 two , 43 approval rating. 70 of americans say, donald, what you have done is wrong. Yeah. And that, i think, i think everybody should just hold their fire and we actually let the evidence play out before people make their declarations that nothings going to come of this. I guess the question is, what is the evidence that would turn lets take ron johnson for example. Some of these republican senators who are so far down the road with donald trump that ron johnson is sending out a letter yesterday beginning to attack the credibility of colonel vindman in preparation for todays testimony. What a sleazy move that is. Thats really gross. I always talk my father. My dad was a nixon guy. He always believed that everybody was out for nixon from the very beginning, since alger his. He supported nixon until just about the very end. But the tapes came out, and i always talk about this, i remember as a young kid having my dad watching my dad read the newspaper and say in this man has done half of what this says, then hes unfit to occupy any office. Hes a disgrace. So you never again, maybe theres no smoking gun. Maybe there are no tapes. Maybe people like ron johnson will never be moved. But if you were attacking an iraqi war hero, i really dont care what you think about anything. If youre putting if youre putting the defense of a corrupt man who has no respect for the president of the United States above the honor of an iraqi war hero who won a purple heart, a Lieutenant Colonel who still serves his country, then youre opinion is irrelevant to me and think to most good americans. But, again, we dont know what will turn them. Maybe nothing will. But we play it out, right . Well, see, weve been talking here this morning and you were just addressing it. Youre talking about the a lead of this story, the impeachment, the testimony, everything that the public is listening and absorbing. But theres a b lead that is just as critical. And id like to ask you about the b lead. And the brb lead is this. What happens to the Republican Party who have blindly defended this president when hes been morally repulsive, legally repulsive . What happens to the republicans on this committee, the Republican Party in general in the aftermath of this . Well, i mean, i think the reality is throughout this whole process what weve seen is that the Republican Party continues to move are the goal post for what is acceptable behavior. I dont think its going to be easy to retain or regain some sort of sense of code or honor inside the Republican Party. Look, they spent an entire year defending a president ial candidate that attacks a war hero from vietnam. They attacked gold star parents. They protected him the entire way through that campaign. So why would we expect them to behave any differently now that hes president of the United States . The senate has continually showed that they are a donald Trump Defense fund. They are not an independent branch of government. They basically take orders from this president , they do exactly what he wants them to do, and they do not care about the consequences, all because they think theyre going to get a couple of judges on the court, they think they can overturn roe v wade and drive down taxes for the very rich. All of this is in service of those things. They have shown and demonstrated, weve talked about this before, the way they deal with it they say behind closed doors republicans in the senate are very concerned. If the vote for impeachment was a secret vote. You dont get an award for honor and conduct because you decided do things differently publicly than behind closed doors. Im tired of them getting credit for all of the concern that they show about statements. The reality is, the Republican Party has lost any moral compass and theyve done it all in service of a man thats doing real harm to the country and our future. We have two witnesses scheduled today, four witnesses in total. Well be on air a little longer this morning to get into the first one at 9 00 eastern time. Top ukraine expert on the National Security council Alexander Vindman and top russia aide to Vice President mike pence, jennifer williams. Both officials are expected to challenge President Trumps claim that his july 25th phone call with the president of ukraine was, quote, perfect. Williams characterized it as politically motivated, unusual, and inappropriate. Vindman said he was so concerned that the call would undermine National Security he reported it to the nscs top lawyer. The president has attacked both witnesses as never trumpers but as we mentioned the latest attack on vindman is coming from senator ron johnson. In a letter to jim jordan and devin nunes dated yesterday he writes this. A significant number of bureaucrats and Staff Members within the executive branch have never accepted President Trump as legitimate and recent his unorthodoxed style and i trution on to his turf. They react by leak together press and participating in the ongoing effort sabotage his policies and if possible remove him from office. It is entirely possible that vindman fits this profile written by senator that is just so offensive. I mean, so offensive. Our former Republican Party, can you believe that . That he is this wisconsin senator, this republican senator from wisconsin is smearing a Lieutenant Colonel who who came to this country what . From the soviet union, i think. Yeah. Family escaped the soviet union. Has served honorably in our military. His sons served honorably in our military. An iraqi war hero. So this is lets just stop lets just stop at this moment. At this moment, whats today . Its november 19th, 2019, its 6 16 a. M. On the east coast. Lets just stop at this moment. Weve wondered how low the Republican Party would go, elise, our former party would go to defend donald trump. And i think i think were getting close here. We have a senator from wisconsin who is smearing an iraqi war veteran. An iraqi war hero. An iraqi war hero who won a purple heart. Thats how low weve gotten today. And iraq war hero who was so distinguished at his job he was detailed to the National Security council as a subject matter expert. Lets keep in mind the men and women who end up at the National Security council from the various agencies as so many republicans are defaming them as part of the, quote, deep state, it is prestigious. It is difficult. It is the pinnacle of a career in service to serve at the National Security council, to be on the Vice President s staff as a National Security adviser. These people are really well established and have strong credentials to even be in these positions. And, yes, you see where it doesnt matter what your service to your country has been, you can be literally wounded in battle right. And yet if you dont fall in line with the cult, you are a traitor. But this gets to what guy was just speaking to. The rest of the Republican Party. The rest of the republican members of the United States senate. Yeah. We have Lieutenant Colonel vindman, when he appears today in uniform, the top of his chest is a combat infantry badge that he wears. Thats the ultimate that you get if youre in service to the country because it means you risked taking a bullet for your country. You risked your life for your country, which he did. And now senator johnson from wisconsin speak the way hes speak about him, maligning him, smearing him. Where are the rest of republicans in the senate to stand up . I mean, all this talk when you speak to them, joe, you know this as well as anyone off the record they say this guys an embarrassment, he terrible. Speak up. Speak loudly. And they cant do it now. But of course they cant do it now, because remember, donald trump, a guy that got how many . Five deferments . Guy who claimed his dadly took him to a vip doctor to get him a bone spur deferment, and on the day that donald trump graduated from his ivy league college, it was 40 Young Americans died while this guy was playing tennis and golf and chasing women during college. And he, he and his republican sycophants spent years guiding us through 9 11, a man whos knees that were so bad he actually unlike donald trump who was working to get out of it, he had to rehab himself so he could go fight in vietnam, a guy who was a war hero in vietnam and did remarkable things on the battlefield and was awarded medals for that honor. I mean, this is the new Republican Party. You smear and slander the best among us. You smear and slander american heroes. You smear and lander gold star mothers. You smear and slander all those that have given their all to this country. All in the defense of a man who spent most of his life giving the democrats to Hillary Clinton eight times, like to i mean, i could go down the list, anthony weiner, elliot spencer, it goes on and on and on. This is really who theyre selling their soul for. Ill just never understand it. Now theyre smearing american war heroes. By the way, he went to a war that they voted for. Right. That they pushed america into. I think the big picture is also what you raised, and we need to stop at this moment and look at the fact that these people have said, dont believe anybody that be says anything against donald trump. You know, we realize you and i that have fought out here in the public space for a while, youre going to have people oppose you. So dont listen to an al sharpton, hes got to have an angle, theres got to be something in it from him. Dont listen to Joe Scarborough borrow, he comes from the south. But now you have a war hero who has said and done everything right and you start to malign him . So at what point does americans say anybody that zdisagrees wit you, no matter how many medals theyve had on their chest, no matter how much theyve served that country, if they disagree they are whatever you want to call them all on behalf a guy who you and i know had miraculous bone spurs that grew him two inches according to the last medical example, these are miracle bone spurs that just grow as he sits in that seat. And if you dont believe it you turn on today and watch the hearings as they talk about how this man can make deals and can risk National Security but he did it for your own good. Now send a dollar to my paypal account. Thats what were dealing with. Weve seen rogs like this befue before, you and i have. We have. Its amazing how these republicans in 2019, everything is defined around what donald trump says it is. They report balanced budgets, no more. Now the party of the Biggest National debt in the history of the republic. Theyre the part party of free trade, no more. They were the party that opposed socialism, no more. Now theyre applauding as donald trump is giving cruagriculturald industrial interests 16 billion. And we used to fight against russian aggression. No more. You invaded you cranukraine, ta rest of it. Its not even a real country. These are the sort of things no republican would ever allow a democrat to say such a thing. The Arms Services committee, served four terms. Fired one democrat if anybody heard one democrat say that over those four terms, they would have been eviscerated. Now donald trump says it, republicans are fine with it, that settles it. Thats just the conservative hypocrisy. How about the fact that theres a White Nationalist in Stephen Miller sitting at the hand of the president. Not a peep from republicans about that even though we saw 900 emails proving that. The thing i come back do with all these guys is what are you getting out of the deal . What is ron johnson getting out of putting his credibility and his represent pietation out there to slur this man, this colonel vindman whos won a purple heart in iraq . Hes not up for reelection until 2022. Do you think if you hang in long enough you will be the first person that donald trump is loyal to . That you will finally be the one that finally gets something out of the deal . No one ever gets anything out of the deal. You get pushed under the bus. Mike pompeo is finding that out this morning. Everyone learns eventually you try please the master, eventually he pushes you away. You get nothing out of the deal except giving up all of your credibility. No one ever has. Ever. Still ahead, that story about mike pompeo claims he supports men and women of the state department. Marie yovanovitch among others would disagree. That story just ahead. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Ead. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. Without it, i cannot write my name. I was diagnosed with parkinsons. I had to retire from law enforcement. It was devastating. One of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. Prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. For sixty years, aarp has been fighting for people like larry. And we wont stop. Join us in fighting for whats right. Audreys on it. Eating right . On it staying active . On it. Audrey thinks shes doing all she can to manage her type 2 diabetes and Heart Disease but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk . [sfx crash of Football Players colliding offcamera. ] maybe not. Jardiance is the number 1 prescribed pill in its class. Jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known Heart Disease. That means jardiance can help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. Plus, jardiance lowers a1c and it could help you lose some weight. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. A rare, but lifethreatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. Do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. Taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack . On it. With jardiance. Ask your doctor about jardiance. The type 2 diabetes pill thats on it. Learn more at jardiance. Com the type 2 diabetes pill thats on it. Im a regular in my neighborhood. Im a regular at my local coffee shop and my local barber shop. When you shop small you help support your community from after School Programs to the arts so become a regular, more regularly. Because for every dollar you spend at a Small Business, an average of 67 cents stays in the community. Join me and American Express on Small Business saturday, november 30th, and see how shopping small adds up. Is your business still settling for slow internet . Well time is money. Switch to comcast business now and get a great deal when you get fast, reliable internet. With a 30day moneyback guarantee, installation when it works for you, and 24 7 customer support. So what are you waiting for . Get this great deal when you sign up for fast, reliable internet. Call 18005016000 today. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Joe biden says that if elected he will not legalize marijuana federally because he thinks it might be a gateway drug. Thats correct, its a gateway drug to not getting the democratic nomination for president. So joe biden aes dominance South Carolina polls continues in the latest poll. The former Vice President is in first place with 33 of the support. Elizabeth warren and Bernie Sanders follow with 13 and 11 respectively. Mayor pete is in Single Digits with 6 along with tom steyer at 5 and andrew yang at 4 . And, guy, man, we are these its early. Well always say its early until i always think its early until its tw24 hours befe they election. But were starting to see this field form. Mayor pete coming on very strong in iowa. New hampshire is still a battle. But, man, joe biden is the teflon man, teflon joe . South carolina. He stays in the 40s there no matter what. Whats going on . Well, first of all, i think one of the most important things is we dont see other candidates eating into joe bidens lead among black voters in South Carolina. There are huge drastics within the Democratic Party as it relates to the caucus and primary season that i think are starting to show themselves. Although joe has stabilized in iowa and New Hampshire, both of those states are predominately white and they tend to be more liberal inside of the caucus and primary. Whereas, South Carolina is a much more diverse state. Dont forget we have the nevada caucus in between those. Think its reflective of where we see the race. The most important thing is that i think joe biden has stabilized his race. There was a lot of talk about his decline and whether he would have the money and whether his support would stick with him. Across all of these states weve seen him hold pretty strong in place over the last couple of weeks, which is really critical for him. But going back to your point, over 50 of primary and caucusgoers still say theyre open to changing their mind. Among second choice voters say theyre relatively even between all of these particular races. I still believe were going to see a lot of change, more change between now and the iowa caucus than we have so far this year. So we talk about it all the time, mike, black voters in South Carolina, 44 support joe biden. That remains the wall that mayor pete is going to have to break through if he wants to become the democratic nominee. Because South Carolina is extremely important because it actually, it is the demographic breakdown of what follows for the rest of the primaries. Especially a few days later on super tuesday when you yhave a lot of deep south states, texas. If joe biden hangs if for South Carolina and wins, say he wins it comfortably, super tuesday suddenly looks very good for him. You get 40 of democratic delegates award on that one day. As guy just pointed out, theres a real resilience in joe bidens strength out there. And it props him up, you know, his campaign was listed as dead, al, about a month ago, you know, kia, gone. But, no, hes still here, still strong . Certain aspects. One of the more interesting aspects out there, and its anecdotal thus far, is what is going on with Elizabeth Warren and her campaign since her explaining her health care plan, one the cost of it, and then well, maybe three years into my first term well get to it. That seems to have peaked some interest in taking a look at her among voters. I think when you get on the main stage and they put the lights on and you start really looking at them, thats the problem. I think that some people began looking at the coast of what she was proposing and went another way. On the other issue, though, with joe biden, what has been very interesting to me is that they none of the candidates have been able to sell black voters, according to the polls, on why they should leave joe biden. And that is demonstrated by he has maintained through all of the ups and koudowns eerthd poa polling, he still has all the black voters. Were having this big bereakfas and four or five of the candidates are coming, buttigieg is one of them, theyve got to give an argument to black americans. Why would they walk away from obamas Vice President and someone we know . The worst thing they can walk away from into this super tuesday is well, im the candidate that whites will vote for but blacks and browns dont want me. That is not a footage victory. Path to victory. Ill keep going, i wont talk about the Republican Party. Rev, so early on kamalas team, corys team thought they were going to do well in South Carolina, thought they were going to do well in the deep south because of the number of black voters in the democratic primary. Somebody told me very early on kamala had a pac10 sec strategy, going to win on the west coast, going to win in the deep south. Why why whats stopping kamala and cory from really making gains in South Carolina and across the deep south . I think that you cant take black votes for granted just because youre black. When i ran in 04, this was in the first election after 9 11, i had to struggle to get to double digits because you had to give a rationale as to why you were running. A lot of people assume black candidate youre going to win. Thats not true. Theyre not even in double digits in the polls. You have to address black issues, you have to do that because we have specific concerns, youve got to also show that i am who i am, authenticity. That im for real and that i can manage this country and be myself and im not repackaging myself. I think theyve tried to do that, but i dont think theyve successfully been able to communicate that to the voters. As the rev mentioned mayor buttigieg in this new poll, he has less than 1 support among black voters. Hes on the level of people that statistically dont even register for black voters. Hes got a problem going into South Carolina. Guy, let me ask you about usa, the new analysis you did updating spending on facebook and google ads compared to President Trump in this race. Tell us about it. I think theres been a lot of attention on the work that the Trump Campaign has been doing. They have spent tens of millions of dollars on raising money and selling pumpkinthemed mega hats and Plastic Straws and collecting emails. But a lot of that work hasnt been done in the battleground states. And thats really where weve been focusing. Over the past five months, priorities have outspent donald trump in wisconsin, florida, pennsylvania, michigan on turning out voters in the offyear elections. And weve seen them move since the 2016 election and we saw it a couple weeks ago in virginia and pennsylvania and kentucky. So its an area that were that were really focussed on while donald trump is raising money in california and illinois and new york online. And, you know, we want to make sure that democrats are focused on both turning out democratic voters who didnt participate in 2016 and to make sure were talking to suburban and exurban to build the strongest coalition possible. And thats why were committed online to make sure we have that coalition. We saw that trend in louisiana the other night as well. Always good to see you guys. Thank you so much. Come williing up, our next argues that if you compare kurt volkers testimony to that of other witnesses, it appears he may have lied to congress. Well explain next on morning joe. Congress. Well explain next on morning joe. Oh theres no place like home for the holidays. For the holidays you cant beat home sweet home. We go the extra mile to bring your holidays home. I didnt have to call 911. Help. And i didnt have to come get you. Because you didnt have another heart attack. Not today. You took our conversation about your chronic coronary Artery Disease to heart. Even with a stent procedure, your condition can get worse over time, and keep you at risk of blood clots. So you added xarelto®, to help keep you protected. Xarelto®, when taken with lowdose aspirin, is proven to further reduce the risk of blood clots that can cause heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death in people with chronic cad. Thats because while aspirin can help, it may not be enough to manage your risk of blood clots. In a clinical trial, almost 96 of people taking xarelto® did not have a cardiovascular event. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death. While taking, a spinal injection increases the risk of blood clots which may cause paralysis the inability to move. You may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. Enjoy every momentand help protect yourself from an unexpected one, like a cardiovascular event. Are you doing enough . Ask your doctor if its time for xarelto®. To learn more about cost and how janssen can help, visit xarelto. Com. I need all the breaks, that i can get. At liberty butchumal cut. Liberty biberty cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Clearly, clearly asking for personal favors and using United States assets as collateral is wrong. Theres just no two ways about it. Well, thats the former secretary of state. That wasnt hard, was it . No. He agrees with 70 of americans. 70 of that poll believed something bad here. In this afternoons hearing well hear from the special envoy to ukraine kurt volker as well as tim morrison, a former white house National Security official. Morrisons testimony would help to confirm trumps effort to orchestrate the quid pro quo with ukraine. He previously testified that Eu AmbassadorGordon Sondland had told the ukrainian official that military assistance probably would be unfrozen if the government announced investigations into democrats. Morrison also listened to trumps july 25th phone call with the president of ukraine and thought it could be damaging to u. S. ukraine relations. As for kurt volker, he was the first witness to testify in the impeachment probe. He denied participating in an effort to pressure ukraine, but Text Messages showed had he talked to ukrainian officials about launching investigations in exchange for a meeting with President Trump. According to the New York Times hes expected to tell lawmakers he did not realize others in trumps orbit were tying aid to investigations of democrats. He cant make that argument. Puts himself in knots there. I think he needs to refresh his recollection and take another shot at it. Because going halfway is not going to cut it. Making standing in front those cameras and raising his right hand will change his mind. We have ryan goodman here. He recently took an indepth look at some discrepancies between volkers previous testimony to other statements. What did you find in here because in morrison and volker we have two men who say they heard a quid pro quo effectively but didnt believe that that was an Impeachable Offense in the case of morrison. What did you find with volker . So volkers got a lot of vulnerability, not just his credibility, but looks like lying to congress. And there are 11 other officials that basically contradict his story. I think one of the greatest areas in which hes vulnerable is this july 10th meeting where sondland says we want you to investigate for you to get a white house meeting. Thats when bolton goes ballistic. Fiona hill testifies bolton doesnt want to be part of this drug deal. She said he was furious. And vindman as well, he says the same thing occurred, va biden and burisma was mentioned in this meeting the who else was . Kurt volker. And kurt volker didnt mention the july 10th meeting with congress. Then when they asked him about it in his deposition he says, oh, it was just a meeting that fell flat. It was a missed opportunity. And then they say specifically were investigations mentioned . And he says no. Hes in deep trouble on that one. Hes in deep trouble on another one. He says the idea of getting the ukrainians to make a statement was something that he, kurt volker, stopped that from happening in mid to late august. George kent says, no, it was going on after that because they were trying to get president zelensky in the cnn interview. Right. And that went well into late september. So hes got a number of things that are actually very concrete and contradicted by extraordinarily incredible witnesses on other side. So how does he clean this up . The deposition, the lawyer takes you out and the witness needs to and i comes back he comes cleans up the perjured testimony. Can he do something to clean it up so he doesnt end up going to jail like so many of Donald Trumps other associates . Its not going to be pretty because its hard to clean all of it up. Jails actually ugly. But how do you how does volker, if he doesnt want to have charges brought against him for lying to congress, how does he clean this up . I think the easiest way to be candid and very forthcoming and then he can try to excuse himself, but he has to be candid what lines up with everybody elses testimony. He can do a little bit of a Gordon Sondland move, which is to say now my memory being refreshed by seeing what others have testified to, so now i now can tell you, yes, there was a quid pro quo. I hadnt thought of it before, now i think of it. He can also say, ive also just greater visibility. Now that everybody has testified, i can see what else is going on, i now know that this was connected. Yeah. But even thats a little bit troubling for him. It doesnt get him ought the way out. But i think it will satisfy congress. He needs to cooperate. Let me ask you about volker because i know a good number of people who have worked with him and like him very much and are surprised to see him in this position. What i had always thought of volker reading through this process, not regarding the lying to congress, but just in general, trying to push this along because he knew how important it was for ukraine to get the aid. And that was his goal. He wanted putin pushed back. And so he was willing to play fast and loose to get that done. Does that line up with the volker that you know . Kurt volker had an impeccable he really had a great reputation during the bush administration. And my first initial read was that kurt volker was just trying to placate rudy, was just trying to deal with the nonsense that came with all of the donald trump package in order to actually achieve a Foreign Policy deliverable. But now he really is in a pickle. Because if im going to testify today, my first prioritys going to be to clean up the discrepancies. And yet republicans seem to have this hope that kurt volker is going to vindicate donald trump and strengthen Donald Trumps case. And do you see the likelihood of that . Of kurt volker presenting information that is favorable to the republican calls here . I think its very hard. And i totally agree with joe, i think thats what he was up to. He was trying to stabilize the situation with ukraine and therefore hes kind of like working with the ukrainians, lets just try to meet Donald Trumps demands and then everything can come back into place. But i think he has to be forthcoming. Its overwhelming evidence against him. I just dont see how he actually ends up helping the republicans. If he tries to stick to his former testimony, i think he also undermines the republican position because it will crumble. He has no credibility with the former testimony. Theres just so many data points and specific information that contradicts what he told congress originally. And, you know, just to refresh ourselves, hes the first witness that went before congress so he didnt know what was coming. Thats why i think he left himself so vulnerable, potentially thats why did he it. And now with Everything Else that we have and all of the testimony being public, i dont see how if he tries to stick with what he said originally, it wont work. And had those Text Messages came out, willie. Yeah. He was exposed. It was all out there. Sondland was exposed, everybody was exposed. As ryan said, volker has testified the effort to get ukraine to make an announcement about the investigations ended in midaugust. We know that interview was on the books for cnn was in midseptember and canceled only when the whistleblower report came out. A lot of holes in his testimony. Well see if he stands by it today around 2 00. Coming up on morning joe, theres no reporting that undercuts the claim from the president s defenders that ukraines president never felt pressured to investigate the bidens. Remember President Trump saying zero pressure . Theres a problem with that. Well tell you about it next. Its a lie . What a shock k. Any comments doug . Yeah. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Only pay for what you need with Liberty Mutual. Con Liberty Mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. Only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liber y experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Tmobiles newest most powerful signal is here. Experience it with the amazing, new iphone 11. And right now, tmobile has the best deal on iphone. Get 4 lines of unlimited with 4 iphone 11 included for only 35 a line. Rowithout the Commission Fees and account minimums. So, you can start investing wherever you are even on the bus. Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. [woman] with my shark, i deep clean messes like this, this, and even this. But i dont have to clean this, because the selfcleaning brush roll removes hair while i clean. [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself. Welcome back to morning joe. Cloudy day here in new york city. Beautiful, look at that. That is chamber of commerce day in the big apple. Yes, yes. Thats that kind of day. Thats pretty. Back up you know what it was in new york city . A good night last night. A great night. Youve had some good beatles come true moments. Your interview with ringo last week. And last night moderating a panel at the paley center across the street here about the 50th anniversary of abby road. Good, good, the people at the paley center were very kind to invite me over there. So we interviewed peter brown who was to my right there. But peter brown was the beatles he said he was their personal assistant, peter brown. But he was so much more than that. He was a member of the family. He was best man at johns wedding, best man at pauls wedding. Peter asher, the great peter asher next to him, of course, who is a remarkable recording artist, a good friend of Paul Mccartneys from the very beginning. They told incredible stories about the beatles, incredible stories about abby road and 1969. We also have max weinberg. Max was great. And rob, rolling stone, hes sort of Rolling Stones expert. And there we were doing what ever band wants to do, follow the beatles. That was a lot of fun. Did you play beatles songs . Yeah. What we did was what we did was since peter brown was there we played and i told them i could never do that because im a baptist and i go, christ, you know what i need, as john lennon said, in america you cant say christ unless youre wearing a collar. But peter brown gave me, you know, gave me permission do it. Thats a lot of pressure, though, playing beatles songs from the guys who created the beat zblls here beatles. I said this is all sing along. So i required them to sing asblo along. It was very cool. Theyre great history. Just like ringo, the best part is, wonderful, wonderful guys. It is okay to meet your heroes sometimes. It is. Especially in this case. Same with ringo, wonderful, you know. Paul was nice when i met him for five seconds. I passed out, of course. But, yeah, theyre nice guys, which is pretty incredible. Theyve been torn to shreds for 50 years by people. Yeah. Cant walk down the street. I just you know, as i get older i want to apologize to their children. I just want i say on behalf of the billions of beatles fans, i apologize to you. Because its just what a burden. Everythings so exciteding, win cant walk across the street. And Paul Mccartney carries himself in a way thats generous with everybody and reaches out. Yeah. I heard a story from a guy who was a producer on colbert show. Hes playing on our show, im going to go out and talk to him. Paul mccartney says take my cell phone number, ive got to go out and he was like what . And he called him and they talked for 30 minutes. Pauls a decent guy. I met him and hes just a straight nice guy. You can always tell, actually, cant you . Weve learned it here too, you can always tell who had good parents. Absolutely. Im dead serious. You can tell who had good parents and taught everybody, doesnt matter who you are, treat people well. Yes. Amen to that. Coming up on morning joe, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are sharpening the rhetoric as we prepare for more public testimony in the impeachment probe. As the New York Times put it, quid pro quo is out, extortion and bribery are in. We will talk to congresswoman and vice chair of the Democratic CaucusKatherine Clark about that ahead on morning joe. Were back in one minute. That ahead on morning joe. Were back in one minute. [spokeswoman] meet the ninja foodi Pressure Cooker, the best of pressure cooking and air frying now in one pot, and with tendercrisp technology, you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The ninja foodi Pressure Cooker, the Pressure Cooker that crisps. State department is fully supportive of not only what weve done but our ukraine policy moving forward. But no defense your employees . I always defend the employees. Its the greatest Diplomatic Court in the world. Proud of the team. Im curious if you think ambassador taylor has been effective in that policy and if hes going to remain in his job or if the president has lost confidence in him. State department is doing a fantastic job. Think weve deliver in a way that the Obama Administration has not delivered on ukraine. And when ambassador yovanovitch was on the hill on friday the president made a tweet saying that everywhere she went turned bad. Is that an assessment you agree with . I dont have anything else to say about the democrats impeachment proceeding. So he didnt learn that at west point, willie. I mean, you have a talk about leaving everybody behind, its just what he did. He spoke in generalities and was more concerned defending the president who threatened a member of his team than actually defending a member of his team. Yeah. We heard from ambassador yovanovitch who felt threatened physically but also her job felt threatened and she made appeals to the state department, never heard anything back, particularly from secretary pompeo. And by the way, we asked the question what are these people getting out of this. Yeah. Nbc reporting yesterday that donald trump has called mike pompeo in and said effectively get a hold of your people, all these people testified. How did you let this happen to me . How did you put bill taylor in place . These people are bad for me, wheres your loyalty . Theres a rift between pompeo and President Trump according to nbc reporting and yet pompeo is going back in for more bites at the apple to please President Trump. And this is the sort of thing, donald trump, the man doesnt understand government. The man doesnt i mean, the idiocy of him attack the secretary of state for not being able to control career diplomats who actually are professionals who actually have to play it by the book. Its just like Jeff Sessions, were all laughing at Jeff Sessions for completely humiliating themselves this past week. I dont know a lawyer in america that would not have recused themselves were they under the same circumstance that Jeff Sessions found himself in in early 2017. He had no choice. Funny how mike pompeo thinks that his fate will ultimately be different than Jeff Sessions too. When you look at how donald trump is now trying to throw mike pompeo under the bus for hiring and empowering Career State Department officials, it seems like his he is not going to be able to avoid the same fate as everyone else who attaches themselves with loyalty, unquestioning of donald trump. Im reminded that pretty early on in the Trump Administration donald trump was asked by fox news about different ambassador posts. And at the time we didnt have an ambassador to south korea, when was important since he kept egging on kim jongun. And donald trump said we dont know ambassadors in all these different posts, i can do everything. And i think donald trump genuinely believes that he doesnt need to have Anyone Around the world send itting to americas interests. Theyve always believed that, willie will willie. Theyve always believed that and its caused a mess. Donald trump embarrassed by kim jongun yesterday. He thinks can he run the country unilaterally. We have the New York Times column writing mike pompeo last in his class from west point in integrity. He has just violated one of the cardinal rules in military ethics and command. You look out for your soldiers. You dont leave your wounded on the battlefield. You certainly dont stand mute who you know a jeanne juniuniors being shot in the back. I can only assume pomp failed or skipped them all when you observe his could ywardly slimy behavior. I would never want to be in a trench with that man. Attention all people, watch your own backs. Trump, the cowardly bully is he probably would have backed down if pompeo showed some sunshinwo. But he did not attempt that because he wants to run for president after President Trump. He took an oath to defend and protect donald j. Trump and pompeos own future political career above all else, and thats exactly what hes been doing. Shame on him. Thats tom friedman of the New York Times. We have pompeo doing that and ron johnson yesterday decided to attack an iraqi war veteran. To slime an iraqi war veteran in defense of donald trump. And in defense of doing something that 70 of americans now say was wrong. Yeah, theres not much left to republicans to do in the messaging front. I mean, the easy answer here is to say that the logical rational answer for republicans is to say this happened, its pretty bad, is but it worth impeaching this president from office . I dont think so. The president argued this didnt happen. American grand strategy . Europe remains unchanged. Our objections are a europe free and at peace. But his Actions Betray that objective. What Marie Yovanovitch alleged is disturbing. Its a Smear Campaign with the complicit ci complicity of the state department. Thats chilling. Its a twoway street. Why would state Department Officials put their necks out if they know that theyre going to be left out to dry . Noah races an importaises an point. I read the transcript about the ambassador discussing what happened when it was released of her testimony. But then there was something just so powerful about the ambassador standing up and describing what it was like. She had literally given an award to a ukrainian anticorruption activist who had had acid thrown on her. I believe eventually died. Yes. And then she gets the call in the middle of the night saying you need to come home, it is not safe for you. And its because of our own government that ambassador yovanovitch is not safe in ukraine. And what does donald trump say to the ukrainian president about the ambassador . Bad news. Shes bad news and we have things planned for her. What was the shes going to go through some things. Shes going to go through some things. Right. With this as a backdrop, its beyond extraordinary. Its horrifying on a certain level. In some ways, even keel is Chuck Rosenberg on this network received pompeo, that he was a coward, that he lacked courage, that he had turned his back on what he had learned at west point. What we see here in some ways, joe, is were at the bottom of leadership in our country on so many different levels. Weve been there for a while, havent we . Weve been there for a while. We just keep getting lower, dont we . We see donald trump going lower and lower. Again, at this point, i think everybodys saying we know who donald trump is. Donald trump does not surprise us anymore. He is a man without who has a rotted moral core. He say man who will go as low as he needs to go to win. I stopped being shocked by donald trump about six months ago. It is the republicans that still have the capacity to just shock me to my core that they will trash an iraqi war hero in defense of this man who coward in front of an exkgb agent, who coward before White Supremacists in charlottesville, did not want to offend them and had david duke saying how inspired he was by Donald Trumps actions in charlottesville. This is who ron johnson and the Republican Party is defending. Its almost as if Donald Trumps a super power, to use a marvel, is his ability to reyoull have the character of folks who are around him. As soon as you get around him, you have to make a choice. You have to make a decision. Who am i . Who am i . What are my values . Because he immediately reveals the level of ones integrity, decency and courage. And what we see all the time, what weve seen over and over again, hes surrounded by a bunch of feckless sycophants. We knew trump or ten, 11 years, willie i think you were here that morning, muscle band came out and i immediately said. Thats it. This was like early december 2015, i said, listen, ive known the guy for a decade, but this sounds a lot like germany 1933. I could never vote for the man. Boom, that was it. Never vote for the man. Never considered it once after that. And its so strange, there were so many people like Lindsey Graham who were still opposed to him. And actually the worst he got, the more they moved his direction because the more he he got closer to power. Yeah. Its an old its just shocking. Its an Old Washington story about being attracted to power. But im not convinced, tom friedman makes the argument that mike pompeos behaving this way because he wants to be president someday and he doesnt want to ali alienate the trump voters. Does becoming president mean you have to act dishonorably . Nikki haley thinks it does. Or do American People respect honor . I give American People more credit than that. Lets talk about nikki haley for a second. Ive always respected nikki, but she actually said on cbs this past week that donald trump doesnt lie. Thats just wham i supposed to do with that . What am i supposed to could with that . Shes put you in a terrible position. No, no, she hasnt, she doesnt care what i have to say. Let me muput it a different way what are you supposed to do with that . Same with pompeo, who by the way, when pompeo was in congress, kind of liked the guy. You know why . Because the beat on him the buzz about him was the same with me, which is dont even bother whipping them because theyre going to vote the way they want to vote. Tom stopped whipping me after about three months. He just came up to me, look, youre going to vote the way you want to vote. Yeah, i am. That was pompeos reputation. I had such high hopes for him because he was his own man in congress. Yeah. Same here. I generally, if i were to guess, and it is just a guess, the assumption that republicans who are looking to oppose trump are making is that the Republican Base will not want to repudiate donald trump. But nor are they going to necessarily want to emulate donald trump. So you have to strike a very tender balance and thats the balance that nikki haley is taking if she were to come out and say i disapprove of this policy or this other policy, it gives somebody more ammunition in the future to say you repudiated donald trump when you needed him most, your disloyalty is disqualifying. You have to look at the number of republicans who are behaving along the same lines as nikki haley. Its a fine line were walking, which can be justice offputting in the moment. But it will serve nikki well in the future the look at how the Republican Party reveres Richard Nixon to this day. For his presidency. Not the impeachment, they will take Donald Trumps presidency in whole, which means impeachment in one bucket and all the other good accomplishes that they like in the other and theyll be able to make that distinction. Well, willie, the house impeachment investigators released a transcript from last fridays session . Yeah, another important witness. The closeddoor deposition from state Department Official david holmes. Hes the man who overheard the july 26th cell phone call between u. S. Ambassador to the European UnionGordon Sondland and President Trump when holmes joined sondland at a restaurant in kiev. According to the transcript, homes told by the way, can we have a real here, its kiev, all right . Thank you. Everybody, its ekiev. Im going to give you nevada. So well say nftevada. And if you come on the set and you want to a miami, it means you, there in the 50s and thats pretty cool. If you want to a miami, thats cool. But its still kiev on the morning joe. Were holding on ton kiev here. Aid cording to t according to the transcript that was released, sondland said was going to call President Trump to give him an update. He placed a call on his mobile phone and i heard him announce himself several times along the lines of Gordon Sondland holding for the president. Holmes explained that while ambassador sondlands phone was not on speaker phone, i could hear the president s voice through the earpiece of the phone. The president s voice the president s voice was very loud and recognizable, testified holmes. And ambassador sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time presumably because of the loud volume. Holmes testified that he heard sondland tell trump that he was in ukraine and he went on to state that president zelensky, quote unquote, loves your ass. Holmes said he then heard President Trump ask, quote, so hes going to do the investigation, unquote . Ambassador sondland replies, hes going to do it adding that president zelensky will, quote, do anything you ask him to. Holmes also told investigators that he then took the opportunity to ask ambassador sondland for his candid impression of the president s views on ukraine, in particular holmes asked sondland if it was true that the president did not give a blank about ukraine. And sondland agreed with that. Holmes said, quote, sondland stated that the president only cares about, quote unquote, big stuff, which meant big stuff that benefits the president like the biden investigation that Rudy Giuliani was pushing. Holmes said was added to the list of witnesses who will now testify publicly in the house impeachment inquiry and is scheduled to testify publicly on thursday. Lets bring in White House Correspondent for pbs news hour, yamiche. Good to see you this morning. I guess the defense and i guess probably hearing from jim jordan if my guess is right, is that this remains hearsay, that this was secondhand from david holmes, that he heard it through the phone, how could you have heard it, you werent on the phone, it wasnt on speaker phone. What other defense could possibly be put forward here . Well, ive been counting republican defenses and theyre up to at least 14 to 15 ways that theyve tried to really show loyalty to President Trump. And weve had to be nimble or adjust or change their defenses as theyre doing this because the president continues to do things and they continue to learn about the president s behavior and have to really continue to change their message. But i think in this case theyre going to say two things. One is that theyre going to say its hearsay and he wasnt on the phone with the president , that it was loud and maybe he overheard the conversation wrong. The second thing that this going to say is that this investigation wasnt putting undue pressure on ukraine. Republicans have been saying and the president of ukraine is saying he didnt feel pressured. There are a lot of republicans who will say this is how Foreign Policy works. You ask for something, foreign governments do something and then you reward them with military aid. The issue hoere is the thing tht theyre asking for is something to help President Trump politically rather than to further u. S. National security. But i think its going to be very interesting when david holmes testifies, but think whats going to be more interesting this week, even Gordon Sondland testifies. Because there are some people who think Gordon Sondland is going to realize that he went a little too far and possibly say, look, i was just doing whatever the president told me to do. Theres some republicans who want to make the case that Gordon Sondland went a bit too far and was out of realm of what President Trump was hoping he would do. Willie, theyve already proven, have they not, we already have testimony that the ukrainians felt pressure, right . Yes. Yes. That the ukrainians felt pressure that they didnt want to do this, they didnt want to become embroiled in u. S. Domestic politics but they knew they were forced to do it if they wanted the aid. Another lie, they didnt even know about the military aid. Thanned up bei that ended up being a lie as well. At the joint press conference with zelensky and President Trump, he got zelensky to say i felt no pressure. Even zelensky says no pressure. The Associated Press has reporting that shows otherwise. Democrats may have evidence to contradict republican arguments that ukraines president never felt pressured to investigate the bidens, two people with knowledge of the matter telling the Associated Press officials at the u. S. Embassy in kiev, including then ambassador Marie Yovanovitch were told in early may that president zelensky was seeking advice on how to navigate the difficult position he was in. Early may, remember the call was in late july. Those two individuals said zelensky was concerned President Trump and his associates were pressing him to take action that would affect the 2020 president ial race. State Department Officials in kiev and washington reportedly were briefed on zelenskys concern at least three times and notes summarizing his worries were circulated within the department. Were going to seep thos tho arent we . Yes. They show u. S. Officials were aware that zelensky was feeling pressure to vieft biden even though the ukrainian leader late denied it in that News Conference with President Trump in september. The white house gets zelensky to go on camera and say i felt no pressure. Documents show completely otherwise. Why do they keep lying . Its like having a bunch of fiveyearolds that have knocked over the cookie jar and youre asking theyre all lying to you and its on the floor, were going to find out. Ive got 12 video cameras in this kitchen. Im going i mean, all of this is as they say in the good book. It will be what is whispered in our will be shout from the mountain tops. Like these everything that was said we are going to read. Shouldnt these people that are testifying understand that its all its throughout the state department . No one can hide this. And if they lie, well, they may have a cell mate who has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back. You do get the appearance of a coverup is hard to ignore here, and thats also one of the reasons why this is so politically damaging. But had is all not consequence free. Its not like were playing in the sandbox that only we see and its all domestic politics. The consequences of this will be felt and americas position will deteriorate. When the ambassadors to the European Union says that this new elected head of ukraine, very little domestic position will do anything we want him to do, what does that do to his domestic position . What does that do to his position vis a vis european negotiations or russia . Were undermining this ally were trying to cultivate in these depositions and its only going to get worse. Were undermining him. And, eddie, under mining a guy who many people believed would be the most reformed mine mind in ukraine, in a country thats been under attack by Vladimir Putin, also a country that our president says isnt really a country. Whats revealed in the process is that Donald Trumps selfinterest trumps the interest of the country. So to sell arms for dirt reveals that at the end of the day donald trump is for donald trump. And he happens to just simply reside at the white house. And we need to understand that for what it is. He had a lot of people helping him along the way. But, there are people who are willing to show that they did not help him along the way and a few of them will be testifying today. Still ahead, house Speaker Nancy Pelosi sharpening the focus of the second round of impeachment testimony in the house. Katherine clark is standing by. She joins us next on morning joe. K is standing by. She joins us next on morning joe. When did you see the sign . When i needed to jumpstart sales. Build attendance for an event. Help people find their way. Fastsigns designed new directional signage. And got them back on track. Get started at fastsigns. Com. And my lack of impulse control, is about to become your problem. Ahh no, come on. I saw you eating poop earlier. Hey my focus is on the road, and thats saving me cash with drivewise. Whos the dummy now . Whoof whoof so get allstate where good drivers save 40 for avoiding mayhem, like me. Sorry hes a baby im a regular in my neighborhood. Im a regular at my local coffee shop and my local barber shop. When you shop small you help support your community from after School Programs to the arts so become a regular, more regularly. Because for every dollar you spend at a Small Business, an average of 67 cents stays in the community. Join me and American Express on Small Business saturday, november 30th, and see how shopping small adds up. Theres a company thats talked than me jd power. People 448,134 to be exact. They answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. And when they were done, chevy earned more j. D. Power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. So on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say thank you, real people. Youre welcome. Were gonna need a bigger room. Why fingerstick when you can scan . With the freestyle libre 14 day system just scan the sensor with your reader, iphone or android and manage your diabetes. With the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose levels any time, without fingersticks. Ask your doctor to write a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. She joins us next on morning she joins us next on morning learn more at freestylelibre. Us its how we bring real hope to our Cancer Patients like viola. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her team at ctca created a Personalized Care plan that treated her cancer and strengthened her spirit. So viola could focus on her future. Their future. This is how we inspire hope. This is how we heal. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Appointments available now. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Lashmakes every lash fullyrom maybsensational. Ork. Our fanning brush volumizes every kind of lash. For a sensational fullfan effect. Lash sensational. Only from maybelline new york. Wthats why xfinity hasu made taking your internetself. And tv with you a breeze. Really . Yup. You can transfer your Service Online in about a minute. You can do that . Yeah. And with twohour Service Appointment windows, its all on your schedule. Awesome. So while moving may still come with its share of headaches. No kidding. Were doing all we can to make moving simple, easy, awesome. Go to xfinity. Com moving to get started. Live picture of the United States capitol. 7 26 in the morning in washington. The impeachment inquiry resumes about 90 minutes from now. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a memo to democratic colleagues yesterday in which she sharpened the focus of the impeachment probe in President Trumps actions involving ukraine as, quote, extortion and bribery. Pelosi said the facts are uncontested in her words, as trump abused his power for his own personal political benefit at the expense of our National Security interests. The House Speaker went on to argue that it would be, quote, dangerous to leave trumps fate to voters next year because the president is, quote, jeopardizing the ining at the gretty of the 2020 elections. Joining us now, vice chair of the house Democratic CaucusKatherine Clark of massachusetts. Congresswoman, good to see you. It sounds a lot like nancy pelosi is saying there you need to vote for impeachment. You need to vote yes on impeachment and that he must be convicted by democrats. In other words, saying we cant even let this get to the 2020 president ial election. How did you read that memo . I think that nancy pelosi has been consistent. Lets put the facts before the American People. And the facts that weve heard are alarming. They show broad corruption from this president that does impact the integrity of the 2020 election. We have known from the beginning that this whistleblower complaint demanded urgency. And that is how we are acting, putting those facts before the American People trying to get to the truth. And it becomes almost like an iceberg. We can see the president s actions on the surface, we know that he doesnt believe in telling the truth, we know that he works for himself. But what the testimony has shown us is that the iceberg is far bigger than we can see. And it is that vast corruption that we are trying to address and get to the bottom of and put those facts before americans so they can make a decision. So, congresswoman, youre saying the American People and members of Congress Need to weight evidence. But if you read this memo from speaker pelosi, she says it is dangerous to leave trumps fate to voters next year. Isnt that telling you you must vote yes on impeachment at this point already . We have made no decisions about how this impeachment process ultimately will play out. But i can tell you that we are concerned. When you see ambassador yovanovitch talking about how worried and concerned she has become, the very threats to her. Were seeing career diplomat after career diplomat come and tell us and we have to take heed at what is at stake for our democracy. What is at stake for our constitution. And the picture theyre painting is a stark one and a dangerous one. And i think that what the speaker is trying to highlight is that we have to Pay Attention to this. We cant just tune this out. This is going to fundamentals of who we are as an American People of what kind of democracy were going fight for. And the abuse of power that is being set forth before us is really breathtaking. Congressman, ja yamiche has a question for you. Good morning. My question to you is this a packed schedule. Ive heard from some republicans who think that the schedule has too many people on too days and people are going for overwhelmed by the information theyve heard this week. But ive heard from democrats that this is a calendar about moving in an expeditious way. What you to make of how this calendar was set up and what are you trying to tell the American People with all these people this week . You know, the republicans have a new argument every day about why this isnt working for them because they dont have facts to contest. And i think that it is important that we do move with urgency. We do have an election less than a year away. We need to make sure that we are putting out exactly what happened, the abuse of power, the betrayal of our National Security, the attack on the integrity of our 2020 election. You cra ukraine isnt a country that far away that many people would have a hard time pointing out on a map. Its showing us the corruption that exists in our own government. And those threats to our democracy are real. We have to move with urgency on this because we are beginning to see the picture of how dangerous this president and his administration is. How we have a state department that has sold out its own diplomats. That we have a secretary of state of energy who went over to ukraine and tried to get contracts for his own political donors. The stories, the narrative keeps coming out. And it is one that is pointing to the true danger that not only our constitution and fundamental values are, but really how this government operates and how we will continue to be an international partner. Congresswoman clark, you made the argument earlier, the statement earlier that the republicans have invoked several different arguments. One of those arguments have been about the whistleblower, that the whistleblower should come forward. What do you make of that particular line of argument from your colleagues across the aisle about the process and about this particular investigation . So the whistleblower did what whistleblowers are supposed to do. Be able to come forward and talk about corruption or misdeeds while protecting their identity so they dont lose their job or have other bad things happen to them, as the president promised with ambassador yovanovitch. And everything about that whistleblower complaint has been corroborated by multiple witnesses. This is just another technique to bully, to intimidate people from coming forward. Because this administration has tried to put barrier and blockade after blockade to getting to the truth, to getting this information into the public. And they know that that is starting to crumble with people who arent partisan but are here to stand or our country and who are leading with patriotism. Congresswoman, you saw that word bribery in the speakers text there, the washington, d. C. Reported last week that that language was widely adopted by the caucus only after some polling was done with focus groups in battleground house districts which found that it generated the most traction around voters. Does it attorney you that poll testing messages around this could cheapen the process and politicize what is a dispassionate process . We dont need polls to tell us whats right and whats wrong. And what we have seen, the portrait that is being painted of the attacks from this president and those who are complicit with him against what we stand for as a country is is really shocking. And whatever the legal terms that we may use, bribery, extortion, they all are about an abuse of power and a betrayal of the American People and this president s oath of office. All right. Vice chair of the house Democratic Caucus congresswoman Katherine Clark, thanks for your time this morning. We appreciate it. Coming up next on morning joe, the Trump Administration is planning another immigration crackdown with a new rule that targets Asylum Seekers. Julia ainsley joins us with that new reporting next. Julia ainsley joins us with that new reporting next. Imagine a disease is caused by too much of a bad protein, but a Company Develops a way to actually attack it. What drew me to Capital Allocation in Health Sciences was the potential to help many people through investments that help fund medical innovation. My team and i often choose to invest at the very early stages of human trials. Investing lets me use everything ive learned as a doctor to help make a positive impact. So thats why i go beyond the numbers. Tmobiles newest most powerful signal is here. Experience it with the amazing, new iphone 11. And right now, tmobile has the best deal on iphone. Get 4 lines of unlimited with 4 iphone 11 included for only 35 a line. Nongmo, made with naturally sundown vitamins are all sourced colors and flavors and are gluten dairy free. Theyre all clean. All the time. Even if sometimes were not. Sundown vitamins. All clean. All the time. Wwithout it, i cannot write myl tremors wouldname. Xtreme. I was diagnosed with parkinsons. I had to retire from law enforcement. It was devastating. One of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. Prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. For sixty years, aarp has been fighting for people like larry. And we wont stop. Join us in fighting for whats right. This seat sits at the center of the arena. This seat is for those who never get snowed in or washed out. Those with the urge to plow, and carve and climb. Who prefer momentum over gravity. But this seat is not for spectators. Is your business still settling for slow internet . Well time is money. Switch to comcast business now and get a great deal when you get fast, reliable internet. With a 30day moneyback guarantee, installation when it works for you, and 24 7 customer support. So what are you waiting for . Get this great deal when you sign up for fast, reliable internet. Call 18005016000 today. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Welcome back to morning joe. Trump administrations preparing to publish a rule that would send migrants to pass through guatemala, el salvador back to the states. It would allow the authorities to determine whether the three agreements that the u. S. Has signed with those countries hay applies to the immigrants they vet. If they do, Asylum Seekers could be fast tracked for deportation back to guatemala, el salvador or honor dore trous climb asylum there. Joining us now, julia ainsley. Jew julia, reporting as always from the border. Tell us about this new idea. Is it a new idea and, if so, how different is it from what weve seen in the past . Its not a new idea but this is the first time we could see it in action. The outgoing former secretary of dhs spent the summer working on these deals with these three Central American countries. But every time one would come out we would say okay now what . Are with you going to send Asylum Seekers back to these countries . Because as we know these countries are not set up, they dont have the Legal Systems and theyre not safe enough to really be a safe harbor for Asylum Seekers that are passing through them. Now they are codifying this and you a rule in the federal register that theyll publish today that will now allow them, allow asylum officers and Immigration Judges to determine whether or not Asylum Seekers dont need a bar here and should be spent e sent back. The bar here they would have to clear is to claim that they would fear torture if they actually returned under the categories against torture. But asylum is not enough. If they come here and claim what they call credible fear, this is the bar for asylum, they could be sent back. The country theyre focusing on now is guatemala. As we understand from our reporting, as of last week, there were still dhs official who didnt know how this would work out. Now you have a rule coming out today saying they will be fast tracked, put back on fleeplanes guatemala. The question is where and how it will be set up to help people start processing asylum sees in these countries . Bas as we know, the countries they are fleeing are now the ones theyll be sent back to. Its just that they wont be sent back to their home countries, theyll be sent back to countries they simply passed through on their way to the United States. This is eddie glaude. Im having a difficult time understanding this policy in the context of the email scandal of Stephen Miller. Theres a sense in which immigration policy coming out of the Trump White House has been tied to Stephen Miller who has been revealed to be a White Nationalist, in my view. How, then, do we square this particular or separate this particular issue from how we understand Stephen Millers ideology around immigration . Its hard to separate. If you think about Stephen Miller being someone who is so close to this president and someone who has been handpick the people who come in at the top of the department of Homeland Security, it is hard to separate the policies that are being published and pushed this time by the department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department from Stephen Miller. A lot of people are up in arms. I even talked to career officials, people who have served under republicans and democrats at the department of Homeland Security who are throwing up their arms and saying, people will die as a result of this. And for some reason, those voices arent the ones being heard right now. Julia, is this policy universally applicable . Does it apply to Eastern European mai migrants or chinese migrants or only these triangle states . It only applies to those coming through the trying an the states. That really goes back to the point this is the population that the administration wants to target. They see Asylum Seekers from Central America as their biggest problem and they want to do anything that will deter them from coming here. So theyve just been throwing rule after rule at this group trying to figure out what can make it through courts and what they can do to deter them. So essentially right now anyone who is coming from el salvador or honduras, would be sent back to guatemala. If youre someone who flies in from an Eastern European state, if youre someone fleeing persecution or violence in the middle east, this doesnt apply to you. This is only Central Americans arriving at our southwest boarder. Julia, the Trump Administration has had a mixed record at best when it comes to immigration policies, starting actually the first week of the white house. Whats the whats the likelihood that this rule will make it through the courts and be ruled constitutional . Thats a great question. I started asking some of the lawyers yesterday who have been at the forefront of challenging Trump Administration policies on immigration. And it looks like a lot of people are in a wait and see mode. They have to see how exactly this is implemented before they can go and file in federal court. Weve seen a lot of times they wait until the first person is deported. But at this point, joe, it looks like they are ready to do this as soon as they publish. Its just a matter of whether or not these people are treated fairly, wether or not they go back to a place where they can get food and proper access to asylum. Yes, there could be court hearings, there could be an injunction, they could put an emergency stay on that would hold off the bulk of the implementation. But it could also mean it is after your first 100, 200 people are sent back to a country that they dont know to claim asylum in a country that doesnt have processes in place to protect them. All right. You can read julias full story at nbcnews. Com. Thanks so much. Thank you. Coming up this morning, President Trump tweets see ya soon to north Korean Leader kim jongun and essentially gets the door slammed in his face. The latest on possible talks ahead on morning joe. Sweet. Ahead on morning joe. Sweet. contemplative synth music [narrator] forget about vacuuming for up to a month. Shark iq robot deepcleans and empties itself into a base you can empty once a month. And unlike standard robots that bounce around, it cleans row by row. If its not a shark, its just a robot. Lashmakes every lash fullyrom maybsensational. Ork. Our fanning brush volumizes every kind of lash. For a sensational fullfan effect. Lash sensational. Only from maybelline new york. I didnt have to call 911. Help. And i didnt have to come get you. Because you didnt have another heart attack. Not today. You took our conversation about your chronic coronary Artery Disease to heart. Even with a stent procedure, your condition can get worse over time, and keep you at risk of blood clots. So you added xarelto®, to help keep you protected. Xarelto®, when taken with lowdose aspirin, is proven to further reduce the risk of blood clots that can cause heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death in people with chronic cad. Thats because while aspirin can help, it may not be enough to manage your risk of blood clots. In a clinical trial, almost 96 of people taking xarelto® did not have a cardiovascular event. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death. While taking, a spinal injection increases the risk of blood clots which may cause paralysis the inability to move. You may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. Enjoy every momentand help protect yourself from an unexpected one, like a cardiovascular event. Are you doing enough . Ask your doctor if its time for xarelto®. To learn more about cost and how janssen can help, visit xarelto. Com. So last week north korean state media went after former Vice President joe biden describing him as a, quote, rabid dog. Wow. President trump i wouldnt say defended him but he talked about biden in a tweet this past sunday writing, quote, mr. Chairman, joe biden may be sleepy and very slow, but is he not a rabid dog. Hes actually somewhat better than that. But i am only one that can get you where you have to be. You should act quickly, and get the deal done. You see soon, wrote the president. What a time to be alive. To which north korea essentially said no thank you. A Senior Adviser to north koreas leader called another potential meeting fruitless and saying were no longer interested in such talks that bring nothing to us as weve got nothing in return, we will no longer gift the u. S. President with something he can brag about. Noah. Thats awesome. There was a time when the north koreans would beg american president s for meetings. They get what they wanted. Everybody said, donald, dont give them all they want is the meeting. Dont give them the meeting up front. Thought he knew better than everybody and, once again, was proven wrong. When this whole process started in 2017, kim jongun had never been abroad. His first trip before the first meeting to beijing was a big moment for everybody in the International Affairs community who were watching whether or no whether or not there would be stability at home. He has been to b beijing, singapore. He got the legitimacy and recognition he wanted and they were processing fuel, testing new engines, making bombs, and making a show in trying to make an effort to denuclearize. They got everything they wanted and the president got very little and he should recognize that he has been taken and show a little frustration with the north koreans and i think it would go a long way to express some frustration by how he was used. Made a fool of. Pompeo goes to visit, and kim jongun wont even see him and he snubbed pompeo and now they snub the president of the United States and mock him. Just like erdogan. He is killed kurds again. Putin gets what he wants. It is constant. This guy is the worst negotiator ever. And because there is so much going on we didnt even cover that erdogan that brought back that letter. He needed to tell that to the turkish public to show that he is a strong man and he got his bump. What was really fascinating in that press conference was his effort to impugn democrats, whoever briefed erdogan on the president s grooeievances did a really good job, and they showed them. They go back to their home countries, turkey or kim jongun mocking the president of the United States now, and they under cut his position and prove once again that this is a weak foolish president when it comes to Foreign Policy. It seems that foreign leaders have learned that President Trump is about his personality and it is about pleasing him in the moment and questioning able to go back to their Foreign Countries and Going Forward with the policy that best helps that country. I was there when president erdogan was asked specifically about that letter that he basically ignored. He said dont be a tough guy. The letter that we thought was maybe even a hoax. And he sidestepped the question and praised the fact that he was great leader and doing a great job than president obama, and the president of turkey said i can ignore him as long as i praise him. As long as for the moment when im in the white house i can let him know im on his side and loyal to him. They all do what they want to do. And again you look how america has been weakened in the middle east. You look how putin was streng strengthenned in the middle east. You look at how they were strengthenned in ukraine. For him, for a man two believes the collapse of the soviet union was the greatest political tragedy saw the outbreak of world war i and ii. For putin to think that, his number one goal is to regain ukraine. Russia is closer to that goal than they could have ever been without donald trump. It is hard to see anything that donald trump has dope as it pertains to rush russia. There is two intersecting things. We have known since the 2016 election is a series of folks around trump that reject the post World War Two consensus. The second thing is donald trump believes that only he can fix it. Youre being too easy on trump. This is more than just a world view about the boast world war ii consensus. He is actively helping Vladimir Putin in helsinki, in syria, in ukraine. There is nothing that Vladimir Putin wants to hear more than an american commander and chief saying ukraine is not a real country. From the end of the day were from the south, they are playing him like a cheap fiddle. Some of the people around the president that are conventional republicans have convinced him to seize territory, expel ambassadors, and give them javelin missiles. Hopefully the republicans, you know who they can thank for those missiles going to ukraine . The whistleblower. Think about it, if the whistleblower had not have outed the president he would not have sent him along. It is amazing this is a badly kept secret in washington. Someone told us in early august, you need to look into the fact that the president is withholding military aid until they investigate biden. And the pillar of the white house and republican defense and we will hear it against this morning, is well they got the aid, they got at aid after the con was exposed. Maybe the president should give the whistleblower the president ial medal of freedom. That feels unlikely right now. It would be good investigation. It would be great television, and you have lets end where we started this hour. You now have republicans that are attacking a man who easterneasterrned a purple heart in iraq. And not in the deep chat rooms, it is in congress. Still ahead. The president calls them without evidence never trumpers. Democrats call them the next two witnesses. Well lay out what to expect in that hearing room about one hour from now. From now we present limu emu doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] its an honor to tell you that Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. And now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Nongmo, made with naturally sundown vitamins are all sourced colors and flavors and are gluten dairy free. Theyre all clean. All the time. Even if sometimes were not. Sundown vitamins. All clean. All the time. Still, if youre a republican, you only have two mores on a secret mission. The whistleblowers account, notes from the call in was he mentions the bidens multiple times. The president s chief of staff confessing on tv. Rudy giuliani im sorry that is not enough to convict. It is tuesday, november the 19th and with us we have mike barnacal. We have elise jordan, and reverend al sharpton and guy cecil and mika is out on assignment this morning, but really so much to talk about. And still thinking about iowa. We have mayor pete moving ahead there. A South Carolina poll out today that shows joe biden once again doing extremely well there. This is such a fluid exciting race on the democratic side. Yea, mayor pete jumping up, she havi he is having a lot of trouble with africanamerican voters. This is another week of the impeachment testimonies as well. 70 think the president s actions with ukraine were wrong. Only 25 think they were not. Among those that think his actions were wrong, 51 think he should be impeached and removed from office. And in the new npr poll out this morning, 50 belief the president should impeached, 43 do not. 70 think it is unacceptable for a president to ask a foreign lead tore investigate a political opponent. 22 think it is acceptable. 65 say new information that comes from the impeachment inquiry say it could not. And 63 say they are following it closely or fairly closely compared to 37 of people who say their not following it closely or not at all. Yeah, 70 or 75 . Doesnt that under cut everything he is saying. Perfect call. If it were a transcript, a perfect transcript. And theyre saying it is wrong for him to try to use his influence to start an investigation in a foreign country of a political opponent. That is pretty straightforward and there is nothing that donald trump can tweet about that will change that one bit. Americans decided their president let them down. And the republican argument is morphing to yeah, i didnt love this. I dont think as a general matter the president should trade political dirt and military aid, but i dont think that he should be proved from office. There is no credible with all of the witnesses we heard from, there is no way any more to say this thing didnt and that it was okay. People are just saying i dont think he should be removed from office for it. You have seen the evolution of the strategy for the defense. Phase one, process argument. It is always a loser. Americans dont care about a process argument. They shifted to two oh, well it wasnt firsthand, it was hearsay. Lindsay grahams new definition of whether or not hearsay evidence is admissible or not. And then you have an aid in you cre ukraine saying i was hanging out with Gordon Sondland in kiev. Kiev is in the ukraine. Okay. This all might have happened, but it wasnt that big of a deal. But we cant impeach in an election year. Just vote him out of office. If republicans had been smart from the very beginning. That is a big if, they would have jumped to the end and said it is really bad what he did. It is not an Impeachable Offense, but flow is a drip drip drip. Day in and day out. Set up a straw man, it gets knocked down the next day. Americans have been seeing this in the past month now and it is having a real impact in the president s approval ratings. You dig into the numbers every day as much as everybody in america about what it will mean in the 2020 races. Im curious what you think about the 30 that think they can still be swayed by the impeachment evidence. Where will that play out not just in the president ial race but in the senate and the house races. Interestingly enough one of the most relevant things from the abc poll was the fact that 2 1 of americans made their mind up after the first week of hearings. And six out of ten said they y favored impeachment. And of those, 60 said they favored impeachment and removal. I think this is a troubling sign. And i think it rebuts the hearting that they were not interesting enough. They say theyre following the hearings somewhat or very closely. And i expect some of the most combustible testimony is still yet to come. And we that from the transcripts yet to come, and i think it will hear more about the nature of what happened in ukraine. Guys point about witnesses still to come, Lieutenant Colonel vindman today is a powerful witness. But the numbers alone, the 60 or the 75 in terms of people lets impeach mement him, lets remove him. An enormous amount of people fought through the lies and they say no, he has to go. When you look at the fact that theyre saying impeachment and remove him, saying it doesnt rise to impeachable, they have gone beyond that. They say yes it is impeachable and removable. I think eyoure right as we see the real witnesses coming on this week that could put the nail in the coffin starting on today and going on with sondland, i think the numbers will increase. I do think though that we may be misunderstandi ining lindsey gh. He meant to say that the witnesses heard him say it. And i think they testified to that. That is now the case, you know it is lindseys new defense, see no evil, hear now evil, say no evil. He just does not want to know anything. Well read the transcripts, well hear the testimony so willy one of the frustrating things is people were saying early on that these hearings were not compelling enough. And i think theyre as compelling and thoughtful as we have had in a long time. But secondly, people say oh, you know, we doe nknow how it is goo end. You never know how hearings like this are going to end. Nixon would not have been forced to reside for his crimes. 70 of americans say what trump did is wrong. Only one in four think what he did was okay. That means all of donalds lies, tweets, witness intimidation, all of it is being ignored by a good chunk of his supporters. He has like a 43 approval rating. 70 say what you have done is wrong. I think everyone should just hold their fire and we let the evidence play out before people make their declarations that nothing will come of this. I guess the question is what is the evidence that would turn, let take ron johnson for example. Some of the republican senators so far down the road with donald trump that ron johnson is sending out a letter beginning to attack the credibility of colonel vindman. And what a sleazy move that is. My dad was a nixon guy. He always believed that everybody was out for nixon from the very beginning. He believed they were against nixon for vietnam. They were against nixon for just about anything. And he supported nixon until just about the very end. The tapes came out and i remember talking about my dad reached newspaper and say if this man has done half of what this says, he is unfit to occupy any office, he is a disgrace. Aga aga again, maybe there is no smoking gun, maybe there is no tapes. If you were attacking an iraqy war hero, i dont care what you think about anything. If youre putting the defense of a corrupt man who has no respect for the president of the United States above the honor of an ir iraqi war hero, who still serves his country, i think youre still another round of testimony is going to kick off just a short time from now. A preview next on morning joe. Like job. When he was diagnosed with cancer, his team at ctca created a Personalized Care plan to treat his cancer and side effects. So job could continue to work and stay strong for his family. This is how we inspire hope. This is how we heal. We love you, daddy. Good night. I love you guys. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Appointments available now. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. [narrator] forget about vacuuming for up to a month. Shark iq robot deepcleans and empties itself into a base you can empty once a month. And unlike standard robots that bounce around, it cleans row by row. If its not a shark, its just a robot. With Retirement Planning and advice for what you need today and tomorrow. Because when youre with fidelity, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. Because when youre with fidelity, most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. woman but to businesses, were a reliable partner. We Keep Companies ready for whats next. man we weave security into their business. Virtualize their operations. woman and build ai customer experiences. We also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. Like 5g. Almost all the fortune 500 partner with us. woman when it comes to digital transformation. Verizon keeps business ready. Hour 36 in the stakeout. As soon as the homeowners arrive, well inform them that Liberty Mutual customizes home insurance, so theyll only pay for what they need. Your turn to keep watch, limu. Wake me up if you see anything. [ snoring ] [ loud squawking and siren blaring ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Lashmakes every lash fullyrom maybsensational. Ork. Our fanning brush volumizes every kind of lash. For a sensational fullfan effect. Lash sensational. Only from maybelline new york. Investment opportunities beyfirsthand, like biotech. Ne because your investments deserve the full story. T. Rowe price invest with confidence. Lets talk about what were going to see today. Two hearings, four witnesses in total. Well be on air a little longer this morning to get into the first up with. Two officials were on the phone call to smart the impeachment inquiry. Alexander vindman and jennifer williams. Both officials are expected to challenge President Trumps claim that the phone call with the president of ukraine was perfect. Ms. Williams said that it was inappropriate. The president attacked both witnesses out any evidence as every trumpers, but as we mention the latest attack on vindman is coming from republican senator ron johnson. In a letter to jim jordan and devin nunez dated yesterday, senator johnson says a significant number of bureaucrats and Staff Members have never accepted President Trump as legitimate and they dont like his style. They continue to sabotage his policies and try to remove him from office. It is entirely possible that vindman fits this profile. That is just so offensive. Our former Republican Party, can you believe that . That this wisconsin senator, a republican senator from wisconsin, is smearing a Lieutenant Colonel who has served honorably. And lets just stop at this moment, and this moment and what is today. November 19th. We have wondered how low the Republican Party would go, our former party would go, to defend donald trump, and i think were getting close here. We have a senator from wisconsin who is smearing an iraqi war veteran. An iraqi war hero that won a purple heart. That is how low we got today. And an iraqi war hero that was so distinguished that he was detailed to the National Security council as a subject matter expert. Lets keep in mind the men and women that end up at the National Security council from the various agencies, as so many republicans are defaming them as part of the deep state. It is presee tgious, it is the k of a career. These people are really well established and have strong credentials to be in these positions. You can be literally wounded in battle and yet you are suddenly, if you dont fall in line with the cult youre a trader. Coming up, new polling suggesting that South Carolina is joe bidens to lose. Well dig into his support in that state next on morning joe. The calming scent of lavender by downy infusions calm. Laundry isnt done until its done with downy. When i needed to create a better visitor experience. Improve our workflow. Attract new customers. Thats when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics. Yeah, and now business is rolling in. Get started at fastsigns. Com. Lashmakes every lash fullyrom maybsensational. Ork. Our fanning brush volumizes every kind of lash. For a sensational fullfan effect. Lash sensational. Only from maybelline new york. Danafarber Cancer Institute discovered the pdl1 pathway. Pdl1. They changed how the world fights cancer. Blocking the pdl1 protein, lets the immune system attack, attack, attack cancer. Pdl1 transformed, revolutionized, immunotherapy. Pdl1 saved my life. Saved my life. Saved my life. What we do here at danafaber, changes lives everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Joe biden says he will not federally legalize marijuana. Joe bidens lead continues. He is in first place with 33 of the support, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders follow with 13 and 11 , and mayor pete is in Single Digits with 6 . Andrew yang at 4 . Guy, man were it is early, well always say it is early i always think it is early until it is 24 hours before any election, but were certainly starting to see this field form. Mayor pete coming on very strong in iowa. Nac New Hampshire sill undecided, but joe biden is teflon joe in South Carolina. Up with of the most important things is we dont see other candidates really eating into the lead among black voters. There are huge demographic c casams. Both of those states are predominantly white and they tend to be more liberal on the side of the caucus and primary and South Carolina is more diverse, and we have the nevada caucus between those. The most important thing i think is that joe biden has stabilized his race. There was talk about his decline, would he have the money and the support stick with him, but we have seen him hold pretty strong in place which was critical for him, but over 50 of caucus and primary goers say theyre open to changing their mind. The next four are rerelatively even for these races. I still think we will see more change between now and the iowa caucus. Black voters in South Carolina, 44 support for joe biden, that will be a wall that mayor pete will have to breakthrough. South carolina is very port. It is the demographic break down. Especially later on super tuesday when you have deep south states. You have texas, i mean, if joe biden hangs in for South Carolina and wins, say he wins it comfortably, super tuesday suddenly looks very good for him and you get 40 of democratic delegates awarded on that one day. As guy just pointed out, there is a real resilience in joe bidens strength out there. And it props him up, his campaign was listed as dead. About a month ago. But he is still here, still strong, and still strong in certain aspects. One of the more interesting aspects out there is what is going on with Elizabeth Warren and her campaign. Since her double forylook at he. I think once they get on stage and you put the lights on and start really looking at them, i think peopthat is the problem. People looked at the cost and they came up with another issue. None of the candidates have within able to sell back voters on why they should leave joe biden and that is demonstrated by him maintaining all of the ups and downs in the other polling. The solid support among black americans. This wednesday night when we have the debate live on msnbc, we have breakfast and four or five coming, they have to give an argument to black america. Why would they go and walk away from Barack ObamasVice President and someone that we know. And obviously that argument has not held. They have not been addressed. The worst thing they can walk away from and into this super tuesday is that while im the candidate that whites vote for but blacks and browns will not vote for me. Were just minutes away now from special coverage from the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Morning joe and that testimony begins in just a moment. And ty begins in just a moment. That life of the party look walk it off look one more mile look reply all look own your look. With fewer lines. Theres only one botox® cosmetic. Its the only one. Fda approved. To temporarily make frown lines. Crows feet. And forehead lines. Look better. The effects of botox® cosmetic, may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a lifethreatening condition. Do not receive botox® cosmetic if you have a skin infection. Side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow, eyelid drooping, and eyelid swelling. Tell your doctor about your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. So, give that just saw a puppy look. And whatever that look is. Look like you. With fewer lines. See results at botoxcosmetic. Com this was just moments ago, Lieutenant Colonel alex vindman. He will testify in about 25 minutes from now. You see the right side picture is that committee room. Joining me now is the coauthor of the play book. Heidi pryzbola and clint watts. We talked about how dispi dispicable is that ron johnson has attacked vindman, and he got that position because of his experience. Yeah, there is a riff in the government right now. People after the benefit of the doubt saying whyished and suppos that we all took. And i think eyoure seeing this pretty consistently now. With the d. O. D. , the nsc, look at the fbi. They have been decimated by the mueller investigation. Now there is a chrwhistleblowe. If you look at these, the state dlpt be almo department will be almost destroyed. It has all been pushed under the bus, and now you have other elected officials jumping in and doubling down. We have seen the military, though. We have seen state Department Public officials, Foreign Service officials, stand up and be counted and do the right thing. When the white house is telling them they cant testify, theyre coming and testifying so the people can hear them. And you know, we there is no doubt that barr, pompeo, they have dishonored this country. But there are are some people that stood up to be counted and we should take note of that, and they continue to stand up and be counted. So, joe, the state department is hollowed out, the department of justice has low moral. In terms of being honorable and integri integrity, who represented that in the past few weeks, career departments, the department of army announced this morning that it would move colonel vindman and his family to a military base if necessary if they felt their security was endangered by these attacks against them. Who are the people doing this . Who is ron johnson doing this . The taxpayer investment in these people, ivindman has been doing an entire career. He went to get his masters degree so he could become an expert, whose interests are being served and last week kent and taylor are bot up there and being challenged repeatedly by falsehoods, and these people served 30 plus years to their countries and this is essentially how their career is coming to an end. And it is not cheap to go testify. You apt lawyer, your own interest producttected and you put under a huge microscope, it is a big deal. And we have seen people like devin nunez and jim jordan subtlely and in some ways not so subtlely go after witnesses. What will it look like as they have devin nunez trying to cut away at the credibility of a man that just arrived in his uniform as he testified . I would say you havent seen anything yet because the entire strategy is to discredit vindman. To use peoples words against him. Not only ron johnson has been critical, but throughout the testimony there have been subtle criticisms. And i think you will see that come to the surface throughout this entire day. They will try to paint him as someone not fit to serve in the white house. Never accepted President Trumps mission. Was always doubtful of his credibility as a president. I think what you will show, my reporting will show that he will use peoples words against him, and that will be the centerpiece in what they expect will be a strong witness for the democratic witness. So they will try too jump all over him, and he was on this call, so he does have firsthand knowledge. And you will see them, despite the uniform, the career in public service, try to slag him as much as they can to tear down his credibility. Boy that will help their reputation, wont it . Absolutely not. It is really insane how far off the cliff this party has done for donald trump, attacking an american war hero. Lets talk about today, set the scene for us today. A lot of people are looking at ambassador sondland. All right, this is the week when the American People will learn everything that they have to know. That will go for investigate break and then congress will come back and decide what to do about it. Three of the four witnesses are firsthand witnesses to that phone call. We heard a lot from republicans about hearsay, no, they were on the phone call, what they heard they believe is inappropriate. You will hear them recount that and then you will hear from the republicans star witness. And it will be fascinating to watch tim morrison be a star witness when he will back up the key assertions of the democratic case. Number one Gordon Sondland nfls y was in ukraine with the direction of President Trump. And number two, contrary to what Gordon Sondland said, he informs constant contact. Tim morrison said it was several times and sondland bragged about being able to call the president when ever he wanted to. He also said that sondland told a top official that the aid was conditioned. So lets remind everybody today that Mick Mulvaney acknowledged all of this on Live Television weeks ago. Another witness that im looking at is laura cooper who is going to be testifying tomorrow who will be overshadowed by Gordon Sondland, but she will testify that the aid was never at risk. The aid was very much at risk. That the president had blown through a lot of interagency deadlines and she was warning omb saying look, please youre putting 100 million at risk and the only reason the ukrainians got that aid, because the president ignored all of those warnings, is because congress acted. There was a stopgap funding bill. This is critical because this speaks to lives. Lives were at risk and this aid very possibly would not have been disbursed and it was all ignored by the white house. Were just over 15 minutes away from the testimonying beginning. Were going to fit in one more break as we continue our conversation with our panel. Ari is going to join us as well. We will start our special coverage in just over 15 minutes from now. And we have the current attempts to influence the 2020 election. Keep it on morning joe. Election keep it on morning joe oh theres no place like home for the holidays. For the holidays you cant beat home sweet home. We go the extra mile to bring your holidays home. Im a regular in my neighborhood. Im a regular at my local coffee shop and my local barber shop. When you shop small you help support your community from after School Programs to the arts so become a regular, more regularly. Because for every dollar you spend at a Small Business, an average of 67 cents stays in the community. Join me and American Express on Small Business saturday, november 30th, and see how shopping small adds up. Im a verizon engineer, and im part of the Team Building the most powerful 5g experience for america. Its 5g ultra wideband for massive capacity and ultrafast speeds. Almost 2 gigs here in minneapolis. Thats 25 times faster than todays network in new york city. So people from midtown manhattan to downtown denver can experience what our 5g can deliver. woman and if verizon 5g can deliver performance like this in these places. Its pretty crazy. Just imagine what it can do for you. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. I wish i could shake your hand. Granted. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Lashmakes every lash fullyrom maybsensational. Ork. Our fanning brush volumizes every kind of lash. For a sensational fullfan effect. Lash sensational. Only from maybelline new york. Every year, our analysts visit thousands of companies, in a multitude of countries, where we get to know the people that drive a companys growth and gain new perspectives. Thats why we go beyond the numbers. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. We have pictures now of jennifer williams. And he have testify in front of the intelligence committee. Clint, lets talk about some of your research and ties into this and what the news outlets say, and what russian state made ya is saying about the candidates, and the quote you is that joe biden 2020 is the Hillary Clinton of 2016. We started off tracking a lot of soebl media influence. Now there is just too much influence out there, and we did positive, anythingtive, and neutral. So any time you like at russian media, about 70 of the comments will be neutral. That is not that different from u. S. Need ya outlets. They have overt bias, theyre framing the situation with the stories. Are you confident that we have done enough to protect ourselves and our electoral system. There has been a remarkable amount done, but what has not been fixed is the elected leaders. Meaning that dhs has do a lot of support. The facebook and twitter fight right now. Its because we dont have the honest adds about for digital advertising. This whole hearing is about trying to in a nip late the election. Do we want the fbi involved in trying to Police Foreign influence again . They have been destroyed through three years of the muller investigation. The last gab is what are the norms and standards. Lets put the chart back up, biden overwhelmingly trashed by the russians, they are lining up with trump again. Curious, tulsi gabbard, why is it that she got a favorable mention to the russians. It is fairly extraordinary. Tulsi gabbard says everything that russia wants to hear a candidate say. We were watching the Islamic State falling. She is an army officer saying the u. S. Should withdraw. From the krim lins perspective they want her to get out there that they should restreet from the world stage. Theyre doing what they did last time. They creating a formula and theyre picking the candidates they know that the Trump Administration, the Trump Campaign is focusing on driving a wedge between black voters and democrats. The next installment is about the president himself. The next got the most mentions. They dont always like him, they love candidate trump but they dont like ahead of state trump. You can see the Committee Members entering the hall now, lets go to ari melbur. Were just having another day of the impeachment inquiry with two witnesses, what do you expect to see here out of the gate . It will be the shotgun that starts the weeks hearings it more firsthand accounts of vindman having been an eyewitness to the call. And more out the career people that were pushed out of the way are getting a chance to speak. Last week was a lot of hearing from people who were basically on the side these were the diplomats that were pushed aside. And this week and i think for a lot of regular americans, a shadow Foreign Policy and the references, they dont mean much, and theyre right in the target of the offense. And what were going to hear this week is why they want people out of the way. There was an enlisted goal, a goal of extorting help for the election. Yeah, what is the goal of the democratic leadership this week . I think very clearly theyre trying to continue to build this narrative and they have a very strong trio of people today. All of them have firsthand information here, and we have not heard a lot about the firsthand accounting of what rudy was up to. And volker will be able to provide that. They are making the government run. And he heard his political rival in joe biden, and the corruption. And sondland is very important tomorrow. He is very important for republicans and democrats resting on what he heard, what he said, what he was involved with, the alleged security mishaps, so the most critical week for democrats as they build this narrative, they want to turn the channel, confuse information, that is what they consider a win. They want to turn the channel. Republicans have not done anything for the hardships, we saw aid was held up, there is baseline information that we know here and that is what democrats are hanging their hats on. What is. Doug democrats want this week. He was one of the first witnesses to testify, and frankly he did not come completely clean. He had to amend his testimony and said there was a quid pro quo and then we hear from another witness to his phone calls with President Trump that oh, in fact he was discussing the aid on the phone directly with President Trump and that was overheard by aids and contrary to what republicans were saying is that this plot was never carried through, this aid that will testify on wednesday saying he did get the ukrainians to cry uncle and say okay, were going to do it but it fell through. So today you will hear the star witness. He is saying that sondland had the blessing of trump do be conducting all of this. When sondland comes before the committee tomorrow, the message from the democrats will be dont save the president , save yourself. Tell us everything that you know, how often were you in contact with the president , what was the president pushing for, because even volker who may have problems with conflicting system will also be pressed to acknowledge that this was all coming from the president by all accounts. And really, himself, he knew what it was what the president wanted and he was trying to push for it, too. Ari, the attention will be in li lieutenant vindman, but next to him is jennifer williams. He said he never heard of her. She works for Vice President pence, so what will be the criticism of this witness for republicans today . As you say, it doesnt mat who are she informed about, but they have fact witnesses. I do think the republicans best efforts have been to poke little holes or maybe that this was not a grand conspiracy or a turn of events or a classic fall guy strategy that it was coming up from giuliani and not down. I think the problem is the holes that viewers that have been watching our coverage is that there is more than one set of corroboration. It is not really he said he said. There is written corroboration, there is what the individuals have said about what the president of course the rose garden confession. And then you have all of these emails, where you Mick Mulvaney on email chains again with the president saying the goal was the investigation, that was the purpose of the call. So people on the call are saying their view of what transpired, and the Security Officials looked so unusual and and the democrats are looking to see if theyre under oath to robert mueller. In his take home forms that his lawyers filled out for him. Yes, and it just continues and the Court Battles involving tax returns, chief Justice Roberts provided a stay for a few days which was really people overplayed that yesterday. That was administrative decision, but a lot coming at this president. A lot coming at this president , and i think a lot coming at the Republican Party this morning. Ari, the testimony of colonel vindman, the crossexamination will be interesting to see how far they go in trying to demean vindman in front of a national tv audience. I think that is a precarious place for them and if you want to put aside the obvious ethics of it,