Focus On Process News Today

Dealing begins. its the sausage making that we so often hear about. therell be lots of amendments that republicans oppose. none we expect to pass. >> this is the last chance for the republicans who are on this committee to make the cases they did late into the night last night that this process and really they almost entirely did focus on process. we have to keep, you know, sort of reminding about that. that this process, they dont think is right. and that this is, you know, just a -- you know -...

Call didnt happen. what republicans say instead is democrats have wanted to impeach the president from the beginning. whats wrong with that argument? >> because its not true. listen. thats the kind of argument they make about process or any other kind of a distraction or deflection point of view instead of dealing with the substance of it all. ive heard very few republicans throughout the course of all of this actually defend the presidents behavior. in fact, mostly they deny it. and as a conseq...

Impeachment against president trump accusing him of abusing his power and obstructing congress. by the end of today, lawmakers on that committee will vote to send the articles to the full house of representatives for this significant vote to impeach the president. >> the republicans obviously not happy about it. they havent so much talked about the facts as theyve railed against the process. and you can expect much the same today. republicans will offer as many amendments as they can to drag out...

And those we anticipate, of course, will be struck down, voted on one by one. each of the members will have a chance to talk up to five minutes about those amendments that they introduce. and then finally what will happen, the committee will vote on those articles of impeachment. very much expected that they will pass out of committee and then be sent onto the full house as early as next tuesday. john and alisyn, when do we expect the process to end? we do know theres a congressional ball tonigh...

This done quickly and dont have the circus that the president has wanted with all these different kinds of witnesses. what are you hearing in. >> well, john, remember theres an important fact there which is there are not currently 51 votes in the senate to approve the witnesses that would go along with what you just described as the circus that the white house would want. i think they look at it as a chance to make their case. ted cruz, senator from texas, was part of a meeting at the white hous...

>> reporter: good morning, john. this is the last time were going to be in this beautiful house chamber. the next step will be before the house. democrats and republicans on the senate judiciary committee. they want this to go as quickly as possible. youre right the house judiciary committee is going to be making history here as they continue the debate and the amendment process of these two articles of impeachment. heres how its going to work. first it will start with a formal introduction. the...

Youre talking about, jo, but it seems the republicans are more interested in making it in the meantime a battle about the process, whether or not enough is being done to call their witnesses and whether its unfair to the president. why were hearing that discussion and pushing out the factual discussion is there is a fundamental disagreement between the president and many of his republican defenders about the facts here. remember the presidents mantra on this is that his phone call was a quote pe...

Wrongdoing to come forward without fear of retribution and the act is that they should be protected. there are witnesses who have come forward that corroborate those facts, and they have been the subject of scrutiny in those depositions and the hearings that will take place this week. the republicans and democrats have had equal time to question the witnesses. i know there is a focus on process. but i would hope at some point in time the focus of this investigation and the focus of the charge th...

Lawrence, thank you so much. its good to see you. >> good to see you. thank you. i want to bring in former u.s. congresswoman from new york, elizabeth holzman who voted to impeach richard nixon. also with me, jake sherman, senior writer for politico and msnbc political analyst. look, jake, the big impeachment question you pose for democrats is in politico playbook this morning. how do they keep the momentum going. so whats the answer? >> thats a question for them. its going to be a big challen...

This is soviet style rules. >> soviet style rules, norm, i mean, a little bit of hyperbole? this is playing for the camera, because this is critical to moving forward, or is this how republicans really view this? >> soviet style rule, first of all that means that john boehner must have been a czar because these were the rules put in place when republicans were in the majority. but whats pretty clear is, they have no substantive case to make for donald trump. after what weve seen with the phone c...