Transcripts For MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams 20191115

Consequences of elections. All of it as the 11th hour gets underway on a thursday t night. Good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 1,029 of the trump administration. A day between this weeks public impeachment hearings, the president flew to the friendly confines of a trump rally tonight in louisiana, while there is word of a new witness ready to break ranks and go against the white house order to remain silent and defy congressional subpoenas in this impeachment inquiry. The Washington Post reports that mark sandy, a career employee over at the office of management and budget, will appear in a closed door session with lawmakers on saturday if subpoenaed. This has been confirmed by nbc news. B the post writes that he would be the first omb employee to testify in the inquiry after omb acting director russell t. Vogt and two other political appointees at the agency defied congressional subpoenas to appear. Sandy could provide insight into the process by which some 400 million in military and security aid to ukraine was held up. They go on to add, he was among the career staffers who raised questions about the holdup on the aid. Well, this comes ahead of the Second Public hearing in this investigation, of course, which begins in less than 12 hours now. Tomorrow, 9 00 a. M. , the former ambassador to ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, will appear before the house intel committee. She was abruptly removed from her post earlier this year. And while it is not unusual in that line of work for ambassadors to be recalled, in her closeddoor testimony, she told impeachment investigators there was,he quote, a Concerted Campaign against me, and that the department had been under pressure from the h president t remove me since the summer of 2018. She said a senior ukrainian official, quote, told me i really needed to watch my back. She also testified to having powerful adversaries working against her in ukraine. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his ginowindicted associates l and igor. At yesterdays hearing, top diplomats george kent and william taylor, who replaced yovanovitch, by the way, describe the effort to oust her. Over the course of 2018 and 2019, i became increasingly aware ofbe an effort by Rudy Giuliani and foothers, includin his associates lev parnas and igor fruman, to run a campaign to smear ambassador yovanovitch and other officials at the embassyr in kiev. Formerss ambassador yovanovih has been treated poorly, caught in a weapon of political machinations in kivon and in washington. Bloomberg news reports tonight that giuliani is now under scrutiny from federal prosecutors in manhattan for possible Campaign Finance violations and a failure to register as a foreign agent. Tomorrow, house investigators willow hear from another key witness, david holmes. We justs, learned his name yesterday. He is the guy who apparently overheard trump on a cell phone call with the Eu Ambassador in a restaurant inas kiev. He is scheduled to testify in closed session tomorrow. The Associated Press reports thate a second u. S. Official w also able to hear the president on that cell phone call. Nbc news has not spoken to anyone whopo has confirmed that particular bit of reporting. Next week, witnesses with firsthand knowledge of trumps conduct will testify publicly, including lieutenant colonely, alexander vindman, who was on that july 25th call, the aforementioned ambassador gordon sondland, and dr. Fiona hill, who took part in several meetings at the heart of this investigation. House t speaker Nancy Pelosis still being very cautious about steps beyond these hearings and whether well see actual articles of impeachment drawn up, but today she did use the word bribery to describe the evidence against the president , and she took no prisoners when it came to the defense spread by trump and his republican allies. And if the president has something that is exculpatory mr. President , that means, if you have anything that shows your innocence ny then he shod make that known, and thats part of the inquiry. Given that republicans have been arguing that yesterdays witnesses only heard things secondhand, im wondering if you think it would be worth waiting for those who have heard things firsthand, like john bolton and mick mulvaney, to testify vacheryl, cheryl, dont fall into the secondhand stuff, really. That is such a fraudulent proposition put forth by the republicans. They know it, and thats why theyre talking about process rather than the substance of what we have heard. I just wont even dignify what theyre disaying. Well, there is also this. This is substance, but its the visual kind. Just before the president left the white house, cameras and reporters observed an animated conversation with his attorney general w barr in the oval offi. Shortly after that, ap photographers caught barr talking with white House Counsel pat cipollone. Here for a leadoff conversation of all of it, Philip Ruckers here with us inph new york, the pulitzer prizewinning White House Bureau chief for the Washington Post. In washington, tamara keith, White House Correspondent for npr, and peter baker, chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times and coauthor of the recent and timely book, impeachment an american history. Good evening and welcome to you all. Phil, id like to begin with you. Ame what does mark sandy bring to the investigation, bring to the conversation . Remind us the omb role in this story. Yeah, so markb sandy, brian is a career official at the office of management and budget, which means hes not a political appointee of president ol trump and therefore, hes decided to defy the order, or the wishes, rather, from the white House Counsel and the president himself, trying to prevent all of these executive branch employees from testifying. He could provide Important Information to congress because the omb that was involved in stopping that aid, that 400 million in aid from flowing into ukraine. The aid eventually went to ukraine, but theretu was a dela. It was ordered, according to reporting by the president , set forth by mick mulvaney, the acting white house chief of staff and the omb director, and mr. Sandy, the omb staffer, could shed much more light and detailmo on the process inside that office for how that aid was stopped, what concerns were raised by w himself and other career employees at the time and what the system was for documentingfo that. Tamara, we should repeat, these witnesses that have come forward are about tose appear i these hearings are people who have given their depositions in closeddoor sessions attended by both parties. They are not limited in their testimony toit whats on the deposition. Indeed, mr. Taylor yesterday gave us new details we didnt know. What is yovanovitch likely able to add to the story tomorrow . S well, what she doesnt know a lot about is what happened after she left. So, she doesnt have a lot of visibility on that july 25th phone call, but she knows a lot about what happened leading up to her firing and the campaign that was led by Rudy Giuliani to have her ousted. At one point, even the president s son wasoi tweeting that she should be fired. Now, of course, the president has the right to fire any ambassador he wants, but she is somebody who was working with Civil Society groups. She was working to push back against corruption in ukraine. And so, she is a figure who has some insight into what was going on in ukraine and this sort of alternate channel, this side channel of Foreign Policy that was being led by Rudy Giuliani. Peter baker, meanwhile, this was thursday in ukraine, a nation involved in a military effort against russia, and it really wasnt until the two veteran diplomats yesterday spokera with empathy and passio about ukraine and the ukrainian people that we had had our attention focused back on that conflict and their ongoing trouble. You t tweeted out a photograph yesterday that id love you to describe, along with the verbiage that came with it. Yeah, right. Look, one thing that President Trump can rightly say, and his defenders made that pointsa yesterday, is that he did something that president obama didnt do to help ukraine he authorized lethal assistance, not just nonlethal assistance, not just night goggles and blankets and food and rations and so forth, but actual, you know, basically guns. And the biggest symbol of that are these javelin antitank weapons that he has been very proud ofat supplying. But what often gets missed in this conversation, as my colleague andrea kremer, whos based out there, has pointed out to us, is that javelins are not allowed under the u. S. Conditions to actually be used in the war. Theyre stored in a safe, secure location, not actually on the front lines. Instead, what the ukrainian soldiers have been doing is creating sort of fake javelins with empty ammunition boxes and straw and so forth to give the silhouette of what a javelin would look like in order to scare off potential russian tanks. So, even when went talk about t lethal assistance that President Trump has had, it comes with limits. It comes with, you know, loopholes andw, conditions on i that have not been asns useful the ukrainians as they would like. I think its a useful reminder of the struggle that goes on there. Phil rucker, ive never been successful in getting you to speculate wildly. Id love to hit one tonight. What do you think was going on in the Oval Office Late today . Marine one is idling, and its not quiet when it is. It is very clear your ride has arrived, if youre the president , but he stayed behind in the oval office. And heagain, all we saw was jesticulation and both men with his a. G. Talking in the oval office. Yeah, brian, to be a fly on that curved wall, right . Exactly, the wall with no corners. The truth is,no we really dot know what was being discussed in that moment, but there are a couple things to keep in mind about attorney general barr. Ab he is in the middle of personally overseeing this investigation into the investigation. Thats the probe that the Justice Department has launched into the origins of the russia investigation, something President Trump carese personay very deeply about. Perhaps that came up in the discussions. This is something that barr himself has traveled to several Foreign Countries to try to get totr the bottom of, and theres desire among thean president s conservative allies for a conclusion of that investigation to be reachedf sometime this fl as a way to kind of detract attention away from the impeachment awproceedings, as i that would be possible. And one thing to remember from a couple years earlier in the trump administration, this has happened before. There was that moment when the president was late to get on marine one and was in the oval office yellingth at don mcgahn, the white House Counsel, reince priebus, then chief of staff, steve bannon, the chief strategist. Its all documented in the mueller report. But it wasoche one of those rag that the president had about comey, about h the russia investigation. And so, this is not the first time weve seen a moment like this. The l bulletproof glass is s thick, it gives everything a green cast, and yet, we can still see often, especially given the lighting, whats going ongh inside the oval office. Tamara, so, were under way. These hearings are a given, and they continue tomorrow. Weve been led to believe theres no war room, per se, in this white house. But has anything about the reaction machine changed in these intervening 24 hours . Well, they have certainly amped up their communications, the white house has, has amped up their communications to their surrogates, both sort of in the broader conservative community and then also on capitol hill. So, although they are not sending talking points to the pressin particularly there he been a few little bits but there has been a steady stream of information sent to the president s surrogates. And it was interesting during the hearing, President Trump was not doing his usual playbyplay and television criticism. He was busy with president erdogan. So, it will be interesting to see in a day with a lessheavy schedule tomorrow whether the president is watching the hearing and commenting on it or if hes going to continue the tack of just retweeting allies who are saying things that he likes. Peter baker, the coverage on the righthand side of the ledger has already gotten personal tonight. Mr. Hannity said that, apparently, during the yovanovitch deposition, she was moved to tears. He wondered if the same thing would happen, perhaps even on cue, at tomorrows hearing. Your News Analysis piece tonight has an incredible driveby takedown of ambassador taylor by the president s former lawyer. Yeah, it does. Most of the republicans yesterday tried not to go after ambassador taylor in a personal way. He obviously came across with a great deal of gravitas and credibility. As there wasnt any effort to tear him down in the way that the president has torn down other witnesses. But i did get in touch with john dowd just to see what he had to say, the president s former lawyer. Si hes never one ton shy. And he referred to ambassador taylor as im forgetting the exact words you probably have them in front of you, but basically a im being told in my ear, pitiful, insubordinate what . With no trustworthy information. Yeah, exactly. And thats what im sure President Trump and some of the people around him actually think, but they were trying very carefully not to go there yesterday. John dowd gave voice to what they were thinking. This is somebody whos part of the deep state in their view, somebody whos part of the conspiracy to take down the president , who doesnt actually have any firsthand knowledge. Its hard to make that case in public. They tried instead to focus on the issue of the secondhand quality of his testimony, and it was my colleague, sheryl stoleberg, you showed asking Speaker Pelosi about s it. She mayr want to brush off tha question, butnt its a legitima question. If ambassador taylor didnt heaa the president say these things, then does it factor into how much weight to give his testimony . It would obviously be moree useful to the democrats to hear itth from somebody like john bolton orm mick mulvaney, who actually are in the oval office every iday, or at least was in the case of john bolton before he was pushed out or left to his ownt accord, depending on who u believe. On but they havent been able to get those two. Theyre refusing to testify. Doesnt look like the democrats are willing to wait for any kind of court action to compel them. They think they have enough tot go with what theyve got, and they may be right for a partyline vote. But it probably wont change any republican minds. And the corollary to your point, peter, is that the argument for hearsay probably has aea time limit, a timer on before that runsme out. Ourre thanks to our big three returning veterans for starting us off g tonight, Philip Rucker tamara keith, peter baker. Greatly appreciate it, gang. Coming up for y us, Speaker Pelosi today uses that word bribery againstat the president. Well ask a former federal prosecutor her take on the democrats case thus far against trump. And later, with a stroke of a pen, another candidate has entered the 2020 race. Lets be honest here, it wasnt suffering from a shortage of democrats. Now they have two baseball teams worth. The 11th hour just Getting Started onst this thursday evening. In sight of the Washington Monument. Evening. In sight of the Washington Monument turn on my tv and boom, its got all my favorite shows right there. I wish my Trading Platform worked like that. Well have you tried thinkorswim . This is totally customizable, so you focus only on what you want. Okay, its got screeners and watchlists. And you can even see how your predictions might affect the value of the stocks youre interested in. Now this is what im talking about. Yeah, itll free up more time for your. Uh, true crime shows . British baking competitions. Hm. Didnt peg you for a crumpet guy. Focus on what matters to you with thinkorswim. Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal. What President Trump has done on the record in terms of acting to advantage a foreign power to help him in his own election and of the obstruction of information about that, the coverup, makes what nixon did look almost small. Almost small. The first impeachment hearing in a generation is now history. The second comes up tomorrow morning. Today the speaker gave trumps crime a name, as she sees it. The devastating testimony corroborated evidence of bribery uncovered in the inquiry and that the president abused power and violated his oath by threatening to withhold military aid in a white house meeting in exchange for an investigation into his political rival. Bribery. And that is in the constitution attached to the impeachment proceedings. Nick fandos of the New York Times points out the speakers explicit allegation of bribery, a misdeed identified in the constitution as an impeachable offense, was significant, even as ms. Pelosi said that no final decision had been made on whether to impeach mr. Trump. It suggested that democrats are increasingly working to put a name to the president s alleged wrongdoing and moving toward a more specific set of charges that could be codified in articles of impeachment in the coming weeks. Back with us tonight is barrett berger, a former assistant u. S. Attorney with both the Eastern District of new york and the Southern District of new york. Barrett, please expand for us on why is it significant, why is it important to label this bribery . So, i think nancy pelosi was very specific in calling this bribery for two reasons. The first is that, unlike quid pro quo, bribery is something that most people understand, especially people who have children right, exactly. We all sort of have a general understanding of that. But the second reason is that this is one of those delineated things in the constitution that is a basis for impeachment, along with treason, along with high crimes and misdemeanors. Bribery is specifically identified. So, much like other prosecutors do, what shes doing here is really marrying up the facts in the law. Shes saying, these are the facts, and this is the law that we would think they would go with. This is the specific basis for which these could lead to impeachment. And remind us what subset of the case ambassador, former a. Ambassador yovanovitch can speak to and fit into it. Yeah, so, she really expands the timeline. As you discussed earlier in the program, she doesnt have much knowledge about what happened in the call. What she can talk about is sort of what happened before that. She can show that this was part of a broader picture, that she was really the target of this Smear Campaign by giuliani and others that were part of this irregular Foreign Policy chain that we heard about. Thats a euphemism if ive ever heard one. Exactly. Not outlandish, just irregular. But she can really talk about what she thought was the issue and why she felt that she was being removed. Im glad you mentioned Rudy Giuliani. I have something for you from the guardian. In a telephone interview with the guardian, in response to a question about whether he was nervous that trump might throw him under a bus in the impeachment crisis, giuliani said with a slight laugh, im not, but i do have a very, very good insurance, so if he does, all my hospital bills will be paid. Giulianis lawyer, robert costello, who was on the call then, interjected, hes joking. I know because ive talked to your fellow former prosecutors at the Southern District of new york, rudys picture as former u. S. Attorney remains on the wall there prominently so. They are the investigating arm in this case. How much jeopardy does he face as of right now tonight . I think if the Southern District of new york is looking into you, youre facing a lot of jeopardy. Its never a good day if the prosecutors from the Southern District start bigging through a case to see if there is evidence against you. Now, we heard reporting earlier that at least one of giulianis former associates, lev parnas, may be cooperating. If hes cooperating, that could be devastating for giuliani. Because again, to get a Cooperation Agreement in the Southern District of new york, you have to testify about all of the misdeeds of people that you know. And if lev parnas is cooperating, that would probably include everything he knows about giuliani, everything he knows about this entire ukraine scandal. Dan goldman, a fellow graduate of the Southern District of new york, was the civilian attorney doing the questioning yesterday. We have every reason to believe hell be there tomorrow. Im assuming you believe that the insertion of civilian lawyers is good for pacing and factgathering, and to get it away from filibustering potentially members of congress. Absolutely. And dan really led a master class the other day in how to do an effective examination. I thought he handled it just perfectly. I mean, look, they had the benefit of having deposition transcripts, so it was a friendly witness. Its obviously a little bit more difficult if its a hostile witness. But he did a great job of not only elicited the facts, but of really showing why they were important, of showing how this was not just a bad phone call, but really a National Security threat. I think if they can keep up that side of the narrative, of really driving home why not only the senate should care about this, but the house should care about this, but why the public should care about this and how this is a threat to the united states, i think that will be continuing in the right direction. Always a pleasure to have you, berit berger. Thank you so much. Coming up, nikki haley has made a lot of glowing statements of late about President Trump, and now her kindness seems, in fact, to extend to Rudy Giuliani, when we come back. D t giuliani, when we come back. 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Call healthmarkets before the december 15th enrollment deadline to see if you qualify for 0 premiums. Call the number on your screen now. Beyond the routine checkups. Beyond the notsoroutine cases. Comcast business is helping doctors provide care in whole new ways. All working with a new generation of technologies powered by our gigspeed network. Because beyond technology. There is human ingenuity. Every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected. To do the extraordinary. Take your business beyond. In fairness, this irregular channel of diplomacy, its not as outlandish as it could be, is that correct . Its not as outlandish as it could be. It might be irregular, but its certainly not outlandish. There is a phrase that pays. That was one argument the republican counsel tried to make in that effort to defend the president from impeachment. You can judge its effectiveness for yourself. With us tonight to talk about all things political, veteran journalist Jason Johnson, politics editor at the root and rick wilson, republican strategist, soon to be following up on his first book everything trump touches dies with his new work running against the devil due out in early 2020. Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Rick, the president said tonight republicans have never been more united. Is that what you saw watching the hearing yesterday . Well, look, i think what i saw watching the hearing yesterday was republicans who were in a state of edgy panic, and they were trying to talk faster and louder in hopes of trying to allied past the fact that those two witnesses sat there and laid out a timeline, a calendar, additional facts, additional witnesses. This was not a good day for those folks. And no matter how many times, you know, Jimbo Baggins gets up there and dances around like a crazy little leprechaun, its not going to shake the fact that the facts are against donald trump and the timeline is against donald trump and the witnesses are against donald trump, and that was day one. They had a bad day on day one. I dont think its going to get much better as we go forward. Jason, the democrats with day one in the books, we have learned they can schedule witnesses and conduct questioning. Yes. When will you have confirmation that they have indeed found the right messaging, that with all we have lived through with mueller, 400plus pages, this is the story to tell, this is the story people can understand, because at the heart of it is a phone call . So, this is were going to find over the next couple days if nancy pelosi and adam schiff are joe torre, if theyre good managers, if they can set up the lineup properly with the witnesses. And i think they did a good job. This first day, you had two people who, as you said, they set the timeline, they were very clear. They werent flustered. They didnt allow jim jordan or anyone else to ask them sort of strange questions that got them off the line. And i think the republicans werent unified. They didnt seem to have a coherent strategy other than do you follow all the conspiracy theories that we know about on reddit . So, i think the democrats did a very, very good job. This is not going to be a knockout punch situation. Thats not whats going to happen. No. What they need to do is not screw up and lay out the story, because the American Public already seems to be in favor of impeachment. They just dont want to blow that sort of enthusiasm. Let me follow up on that. Do you think this hearsay line of argument is catching on, and do you think it has a time limit on it. I dont think hearsay works because youve got too many people talking about the same story, right . It doesnt look, everybody out there whos watching this, the people who are at home my grandmother, grandparents, everybody like that, theyve watched law order. They know the difference between hearsay and what seems like a credible witness. And these people all come across as credible. Until someone blows up, until someone has that sam waterson moment where they get angry on the stage, everyone watching this right now is going to say, well, these people seem credible, weve been hearing about the story, and so far, republicans havent given us an alternative story to make us think this impeachment doesnt make sense. Thats the weakness i saw on tuesday. Rick, this is nikki haley tonight on cnn on the topic of Rudy Giuliani. Was it appropriate, based on everything you experienced in the world of diplomacy, for Rudy Giuliani, the president s personal lawyer, someone who had no security clearances, to be engaged in what was being described as this shadow diplomacy . During my time at the united nations, i never saw rudy engaged in that way. It is best practice if you have a special envoy to handle certain areas, and we do that all the time. I think they should have named him the special envoy so that everyone within the administration knew what his role was. So, instead of former mayor of new york, special envoy Rudy Giuliani rick, is that the roseiest possible reading of the situation rudy is in . Question two, what is going on, do you think, with nikki haley . You know, i think nikkis missing one of those profound rules in life the rats are supposed to jump off of the sinking ship, rather than on the sinking ship. And so, tonight, she gambled more of her credibility away by essentially, you know, by essentially putting her arms around Rudy Giuliani, a guy who is already being dragged out behind the barn because theyre done with him. The trump people are trying to cut him loose. The republicans in congress are going to try to blame this whole thing on rudy when it comes down to it. You know, thats their lastditch scenario. And so, now shes basically praising rudy at a moment where his stock has fallen so far with trump personally and with the trump world that its only a matter of time before he was just a coffee boy, a volunteer. We barely knew him. Rudy who . Jason, yovanovitch tomorrow. Give us a bit of a preview. We tried to point out at the top of the broadcast, we recall ambassadors all the time. Right. Rarely do they say they feel threatened in their personal lives. Rarely does one of the locals say to them, watch your back. Right. When shes saying, i felt threatened, i dont even know why the president was talking about me, this is going to be the emotional punch. We got the story first. Now were hearing people felt threatened, people felt concerned. People in the country, in the ukraine, were like we dont even know whats going on, whats dangerous here. This is something where like Rudy Giuliani and all of these other individuals come into play. Look, it doesnt matter if he was named special envoy, you dont put your ankle breaker on staff, right . So, everyone knew that trump had a lot of people operating in these sort of irregular channels, and she speaks to how those irregular channels made regular, longterm servicepeople feel uncomfortable, and thats going to be the story that americans take with them over the weekend. Right. Both of these gentlemen have agreed to stay with us over this break. Coming up, however, a new england democrat born in chicago who works at mitt romneys old company. Yes, its complicated, and this man just made the democratic race more complicated. His story, the rest of the day in politics when we come back. I. I love that the party has moved to the left. I love that we are the party of the woke. I believe that we also have to be the party of the still waking. Former twoterm Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick made a lastminute entry in the 2020 race today. He announced his campaign in a video this morning before heading over to New Hampshire to file the paperwork for the firstinthenation primary. This brings, for those playing our home game, the democratic field back up to 18 on your bingo card while we wait to see if former new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg ultimately gets on board. Still with us tonight are Jason Johnson and rick wilson. Jason, Deval Patrick, born in south chicago, mostly raised by a single mom, scholarship kid to an east coast prep school, harvard, harvard law. Some corporate law, Justice Department civil rights division, twoterm governor of massachusetts. Now, however, he is at a company we associate with one mitt romney called bain capital. Before you answer, he was asked about bain capital. Lets run his answer and well talk about best Campaign Practices with our friend jason. There is a place for private equity in the private economy. There is a place for business in our lives. But it is also true that capitalism generally has a lot to answer for. That is so. And we need to be able to confront that, and thats exactly the work ive been doing at bain capital. Handicap his entry just hours old so far, if you will. This is the worst barack obama mitt romney remix that he could ever release on his debut day. I mean, you know, the bain capital, but the south side of chicago. You cant say that this is a party of the woke and then Start Talking about how you work in this private equity firm. These things dont make sense. But those arent the only mistakes that hes made. He doesnt have a message. He doesnt have a lane. He appears to be coming in at the same time that a lot of the activists in the Democratic Party believe that billionaires and millionaires are worried about Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, so he looks like hes coming in to sort of be a spoiler for them. He didnt even buy the proper domain name for his campaign website, so it got bought by one of his political enemies in boston who is now putting up posts and stories that insult him. Then there are scandals about his foreclosure, his behavior with his exbrotherinlaw. This is the worst rollout over. I dont know what hes thinking and i dont know that hes going to be able to make that much of a difference, let alone get into the debate in december. Wow rick wilson, a lot to react to there. First to you, does his entry into the race presuppose a biden collapse . I think what it actually does is probably helps biden a bit in New Hampshire, because hes you know, hes the local another local, regional candidate, so he ends up diluting, i think, bernie and warren a little bit in New Hampshire and maybe gives biden a chance to, you know so, if biden loses New Hampshire, as most people anticipate, its not going to be as bad. It will be sort of a diluted loss. But i think jasons right on point, this rollout was i mean, did they just decide over the weekend . Did they get lit up at a poker game and decide, hey, lets run for president for a prank . This was not well done. And at this point, youve got to have your business together if youre going to get into the race this late, or youd better have a lot of zeros in your Bank Account Like Mike Bloomberg does. This was not a successful day for him. I dont think he survives very long in this contest. Well, jason, since bloombergs name was just invoked, what lane were talking about devals lane. What lane does Mike Bloomberg see for himself, especially since hes saying, ill see you all after the first couple of primaries . Yeah. I think Mike Bloomberg, its that same kind of coffee clutch primary of im sitting around with my wealthy friends and we dont like who were seeing on intelligence and theyre saying, i bet you i could do that. Thats what happened with Howard Schultz and see how successful hes been. Yeah. This is the problem, you cant be the former governor you cant be the former champion of stop and frisk and then say that the first primary youre going to get into is alabama, where a large portion of the primary voters are going to be africanamerican. I dont know what hes thinking. Hes probably wasting his money, just like tom steyer. But what it speaks to is this the difference between what sometimes the democratic elites think and how the voters are behaving, because satisfaction with the democratic fields actually very high amongst voters, but it seems like the elite donors are somehow dissatisfied with it, and thats a disconnect that i think both candidates in jumping into the race now are demonstrating they dont understand. Rick wilson, that is true. I have heard some democrats who are not at all happy to see bloombergs name in this race say, imagine what his money could buy, imagine how his money could change the fate and fortune of the Democratic Party. Because heres a guy who, like it or not, has changed life in america incrementally. Public smoking bans. He has largely credited with starting that in new york. Mmhmm. Look, if Michael Bloomberg you know, a guy who is worth roughly 60 billion, is dedicated to removing donald trump from office, he will stop this foolish idea of running for president. He will put 1 billion into Voter Registration in florida, ohio, wisconsin, pennsylvania, michigan, minnesota, he will go up on the air in the states hurt by the trade war with ads that talk about how Donald Trumps promises were broken to the folks, the farmers and manufacturers in the united states, and nuke him until he glows. He will go out there and he will do digital stuff, he will go out and do a Data Science Program for the democratic candidate. He will go out there and raise money from other people. Thats what he wants if you want to get rid of trump, has how to do it if youre a billionaire, not having a vanity project that will buy guys a few extra ferraris or beach houses, but rather, something that has a meaningful political impact. So jason, if you listen to the republicans, the democrats are coming for your guns, theyre certainly coming for your money. Bloombergs coming for any large sugary drinks in your house. What is going on right now, in your view, inside the Democratic Party . Whats happening in the Democratic Party is this sort of fear that they always have, that maybe weve gone too far. And they dont seem to want to listen to what the public is actually saying. Even Deval Patrick, when he says, look, this is the party of the woke. 40 of the democratic primary voters obviously want progressive change because they want Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. That seem to be where the country is going. I dont think democrats understand that they actually won the popular vote last time, that any democrat they could run a cheese sandwich. Theyve got a 3 million vote lead. All you have to do is run and be a candidate of conviction. But rather than trying to play the middle, which is whats happening sometimes with biden, which is whats happening with patrick and bloomberg, you have people who dont want to realize that the country wants change. Donald trump was change. The democrats need to have a change candidate, not someone whos going to run down the middle and try and make people feel comfortable. Its not what this country wants anymore. Rick wilson, last question. When you and i have talked, you have a kind of ma rose theory about how much of the election and the electorate state by state. Sure. Is already baked, in your view. Look, there are 35 states in this country where, god love them, but the election is already decided. We know how alabama is going to vote in the general election. We know how california is going to vote in the general election. Those 35 states are done. The swing states that were going to fight this thing out in, between 6 and 15, in the broadest sense, those states are much more complicated than, you know, most people give them credit for, but they are not hard to the left. You know, minnesota is probably one of the most blue of all the swing states, but theyre not like oregon or massachusetts. Wisconsin and michigan, they have a lot of blue areas, but they are not super woke. Florida, god knows i mean, everything north of i4 is basically we look at alabama as being too liberal. And so, these states are complicated. These guys cannot go in here with this, you know, National Message that works great in california and hope to win in these swing states. I mean, georgias on the line for the democrats. They could pick georgia up this year, but theyre not going to pick it up by saying things like were taking away all your private Health Insurance, which i know republican polestelsters right now are dancing in the street because that message scares the hell out of people who would otherwise probably vote democratic in this election cycle. Two friends of this broadcast who really know what theyre talking about named Jason Johnson and rick wilson. Gentlemen, thank you both. And coming up for us, we dont know what it says about our country that it has happened again today. Ed again today. danny let me get this straight. After a long day of hard work. You have to do more work . vo automatically sort your expenses and save over 40 hours a month. danny every day youre nearly fried to a crisp, professionally vo you earned it, were here to make sure you get it. Quickbooks. Backing you. Theres been another School Shooting in our country. Three killed and two others wounded after a teenage gunman opened fire at Saugus High School in santa clarita, california. First shots happened around 7 30 a. M. And the whole thing took 16 seconds from the first shot to turning the gun on himself. Surveillance video captured images of him pulling a handgun from his backpack and then opening fire. The first officer to respond was a detective who had just dropped off his own child at that school. It was the gunmans 16th birthday. He was taken to the hospital in grave condition. When asked today about stalled Gun Legislation thats already been passed by the house, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina blamed impeachment, just as the attorney general did yesterday. Theres been another School Shooting in california. Yeah, terrible. Whats the latest in terms of negotiations . You know, were kind of stuck, i think. Impeachment has sucked all the energy out of this place, and thats too bad. But yeah, i cant tell you the latest. Is there any bandwidth within the senate and the white house . There is from me. Im dying to do something about this and a bunch of other things. Now, during the Clinton Presidency in the 90s and during his own impeachment inquiry, Congress Found a way to pass a bill requiring background checks and an assault weapons ban. Today on cnn, the former president was asked what President Trump should do. You got hired to do a job. You dont get the days back you blow off. Every day is an opportunity to make something good happen, and i would say ive got lawyers and staff people handling this impeachment inquiry, and they should just have at it. Meanwhile, im going to work for the american people. Thats what i would do. Washington post says this is at least the seventh shooting at a u. S. School this year, according to the post analysis. More than 233,000 schoolchildren have been exposed to gun violence in their schools since the shooting at Columbine High School in colorado in 99. Another break coming up. We will meet americas newest federal judge. Hes never tried a case in court. He could now be on the bench for the next half century. Bench for the next half century. Deadline is only days away. With so many changes, do you know if your plan is still the right fit . Having the wrong plan may cost you thousands of dollars out of pocket, and thats why i love healthmarkets, your Insurance Marketplace. With their new fitscore, they compare thousands of plans from National Insurance companies to find the right medicare plan that fits you. Call or visit healthmarkets to find your fitscore today. In minutes, you can find out if your current plan is the right fit or if theres another one that can get you extra coverage or help save you money. Best of all, their service is completely free. Does your plan have 0 copays, 0 deductibles, and 0 premiums . If not, maybe its not the right fit. Does it include dental and vision coverage . Well, if not, maybe its not the right fit. How about hearing aid, glasses and gym memberships at no additional cost . Maybe there is a better fit for you. Call healthmarkets now or visit healthmarkets. Com for your free fitscore. We can instantly compare thousands of medicare plans with all of these benefits and more, including plans that may let you keep your doctor and save money. With the annual medicare enrollment deadline coming, dont waste another minute not knowing if you have the right medicare fit. For this free service go to healthmarkets. Com or call right now. Having helped enroll people in millions of policies with an a Customer Satisfaction rating, you can trust healthmarkets. Dont assume that your plan is still the right fit. The Healthmarkets Fitscore makes it easy to find the right medicare plan for you. Healthmarkets doesnt just work for one insurance company, they work to help you and they do it all for free. Your Insurance Marketplace. Healthmarkets. There may be medicare benefits and savings youre missing out on. Only healthmarkets has the free fitscore. Call before the deadline. Last thing before we go tonight. The latest installment in our occasional series of reports called elections have consequences. Short of sending u. S. Troops into battle, the most awesome power of the presidency is the ability to reshape the judiciary, the supreme court, federal judges. Thats how president s get to change American Society for generations after theyve come and gone. And this much trump understands, perhaps in part because his sister was a federal judge. Here is the president from last week. We have confirmed 157 judges to follow the constitution as written. Mitch mcconnell has made federal judges his priority, and so, just today, the u. S. Senate voted to confirm steven menoshi. It was partyline vote except for susan collins, who voted no. Menoshi has never tried a case, never conducted a federal argument. He takes the seat previously held by thurgood marshall. At his hearing, menoshi was hammered on everything from race to islamophobia to education to lgbtq and womens rights and choice and his own lack of transparency. Counselor, youre really a smart guy, but i wish youd be more forthcoming. This isnt supposed to be a game. Ive worked on immigration matters but cant speak further about that. And you cant so you cant tell us anything about what you did, so we cannot learn anything about what your positions are. But it would be inappropriate to start weighing in on but it is appropriate for you to seek this nomination. Democrats are fuming, but powerless. Chuck schumer called menoshi one of the most contemptible nominees before the senate in all his time there. Democrats know to prevent this in the future, they would need to elect a new president and or flip the u. S. Senate. Steven menoshi is 40 years old. He has now been appointed to the federal bench for the rest of his adult life. That is our broadcast for this thursday night. Thank you so much for being here with us. Goodnight from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Its the second round of public impeachment hearings, and this morning it will be former ambassador to the ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch testifying before lawmakers. Shes expected to lay out exactly how she was the victim of a Smear Campaign by allies of President Trump. And on the eve of todays testimony, President Trump was holding a Campaign Rally in louisiana, where he suggested the impeachment is taking a toll on his family. Plus, another School Shooting in america. Officials say a teenaged gunman old fire at a California High School killing two students and wounding three