And meeting with angry democrats. Engaged in nothing. And an agreement to push out the kurds hailed by the president. Great day for the kurds. Its really a great day for civil ag civilization. What we have done to the kurds will have a blood stain in history. And now here who ran syria policy for trump. And also the signature race. To have a plan for everything except this. Ill talk to maher buttigieg who had his aggressive debate yet. Join me for insight are dan balz, danielle plet ka, and Joshua Johnson of the daily b. We welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, longest running show in history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. This week we saw President Trump test the limit of his presidency gambling how much the public, the party and the world can stand at home. How much the public is ill with go to believe. Shortly after the staff said yes held back aid as part of quid pea q2, he had to revise his remarks saying there absolutely was no quid pro quo. On capitol hill what his party would except. They overwhelmingly condemned the president s abandonment of the kurds. Then after Vice President pence, the president called it a great day for civilization. And overseas as retired admiral wrote in an oped essay, if our promises are meaning less, how will our allies every trust us. Until fact, apparently there are limits. Last night he gave in to critics and reversed his decision to hold next years g at his resort. But despite cracks in washington, President Trumps Approval Rating remains so far as it has throughout other cry sisz in his presidency. And his base is showing its being tested yet. I took a lot of heat. Even from some of our congressman, even from some of our senators, but now they are all happy. But thats not true, after a week of damaging impeachment depositions, a much criticized seize fire in syria, and add mission of a quid pro quo in ukraine, the president s republican support in congress is showing signs of erosion. Ong monday, the president s former top adviser on russia testified that former security adviser john bolton called Rudy Giuliani a hand grenade that is going to blow everyone up. Describing giuliani deal as a drug deal. On wednesday 6460 a stinging bipartisan review. We see then effectively syria over to russia and turkey. That afternoon, the president exploded in a closed door white house meeting with democrats after comments from speaker nancy pelosi. I have concerns about all roads leading to putin, that seems to have angered the president. On thursday, the president a acting chief of staff mulvaney admitted what the president has long denied. There was no quid pro quo. But mulvaney said President Trump did hold up military aid to ukraine to pressure its president to assist in a Justice Department investigation into the 2016 election. Described it as a quid pro quo. We do that all the timei Foreign Policy. Just hours after confirming the quid pro quo, mulvaney walks it back in a statement there was absolutely no quid pro quo between ukraine yank military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election. Some have defended. But increasingly there is skepticism and now criticism. You dont hold up foreign aid that we had previously appropriated for a political initiative. And the socalled syria seize re predent announced it wanted at no cost. Rkey what what we have done to the kurds will stand as a blood stain in the annals of american history. They worn of cleansing and calls it a grave strategic mistake. While the majority of republicans continue to oppose impeachment, cracks are beginning to appear. Does this rise to the level of impeachment . I now believe it does. Very mindful of the fact that after watergate everyone said it was a witch hunt to get nixon. Turns out it wasnt. It was correct. Joining me now are news chief from Northern Syria and Stanford University former special envoy for the Global Coalition to defeat isis for both president s and trump. Welcome back to meet the press. Richard, let me start with you in Northern Syria. Yesterday president erdogan said in the speech about the pause, cease fire, whatever we cant to call this. If it works, it works. We will keep crushing the heads of the terrorists. I know youve been in touch with the commander on the ground there. In 48 hours is when this expires. Whats going to happen . Reporter well, the commander told me he fully expects that the violence is going to resume because the Kurdish Forces here led by the commander i spoke toen a the turkish government which brokered a deal with the United States dont agree on the terms. They are talking about two different things. Turkey says unless the kurds pull out of a very large area, they are going to restart the violence. But the kurdish commander says its a much smaller area that hes talking about. So they are set up to resume a collision course. And while this is happening, there is ethnic cleansing under way. That is a very, very big word, but it is the only word we are hearing right now. Already a quarter of a Million People have been forced to leave their homes. And the kurdish commander thinks once the turks restart this offensive, the rest of them will be forced out. You just heard that report from richard, i know youve been to syria, youve been to where richard is at right now. Ethnic cleansing is a strong phrase. Is there any other way to describe it though . Well, first, where richard is standing that is the heart of what used to be the isis caliphate. So i think its important to remember why its important and why we are there. This was the headquarters of isis, main supply routes which came from turkey when they were enslaving thousands of women, holding slave markets to trade them around with different fighters. Planning and plotting attacks against us here in the United States. And against our friends in europe. Thats why this is so important. Erdogan by his own terms, i think we have to listen to what hes saying. Hes saying that he is planning a safe zone and he has agreement with President Trump which runs 450 kilometers by 30 kilometers which is the entire river all the way to iraq. And he will then repopulate that zone with 2 Million People. And he claims this has been agreed to with the United States. U. S. Officials describe it as a much far more narrow area. And i think kurdish fighters will begin to pull out of that area, but then to be replaced by Turkish Backed extremist groups. Another reason why this is a real strategic da da back cal ends, that is where the fate of the kurds, other areas in this strip that are majority christian, and the fate of those areas unfortunately as we are evacuating our bases and feeding all of our influence, will be decided by president putin of russia. Richard engle, the defense secretary announced earlier today on his way to i believe hes headed to in afghanistan, he announced these troops are not coming home. Theyll be moved from syria to iraq, which actually already has some republicans who actually supported the withdrawal going whats the point of this now if you are not even bringing them home, sending them to iraq. What are they zbrog to be doing doing in iraq . Reporter well currently continue to fight against isis. But effectively what they are going to do is leave that you are old friends the kurds 2 Million People who supported them who did not attack them in Northern Syria, leaving them to a broad end campaign of ethnic cleansing. Now, bret was just talking about these extremist groups. They are fundamental to this entire equation. Because there are about 10,000 of them according to kurdish and u. S. Firofficials who are now operating within the government. Its not just that the nato country is assaulting has pause now, will soon assault again in 48 hours, it seems very likely this area. They are using about 10,000 extremist fighters going house to house, killing people, terrifying peopl putting out videos threatening to behead people, that is why so many people are running for their lives heading toward regime areas, heading toward the iraq border, heading anywhere they can because they are afraid theyll be slaughtered. What is syria fleur . Is it a full fledged country . Is it being carved up . Is turkey annexing a piece of it . What is the future of syria here . Well, its always been one of the most complex situations. And the situation President Trump inherited actually was on the road to some stability. And we executed a plan. And i served two years in his administration in which we defeated the physical isis caliphate and stabilized a third of syria. The rest of syria, most of it is under the control of the assad regime. And northwest syria, another serious problem, thats where the 0 p sigs is, but also the dominant home for al qaeda in syria largest in the word. So kind of in these dwree zones. The zone in the northeast was pretty stable. And we had it about 2,000 american troops. It was peaceful. I used to go in there every couple months. Really when this started to get harder when President Trump in december a flounsed he wanted to leave entirely. He then somewhat reversed that but cut the force arbitrarily by 50 and that sent a message to you will a the other players in the region here to putin, to erdogan, to assad, that the americans want to leave. It also significantly decreased our leverage and influence to manage the situation. Sot happened on october 6 in this phone call the president threw all of our leverage out the window. So now im afraid the future of syria will be determined by actors quite hostile to our interests. That includes, iran, erdogan and putting 1,000 troops in western iraq is good because we want to help the iraqis but its not going to make a significant difference. Okay. One final point. Leaving syria gives so many to our add ver ar sversaries, and president sent troops since may, so he cant tell they are getting troops out when hes sending 14 times the amount back into the region. And excellent point to end on there. The special envoy that was essentially in charge of the isis policy for president s obama and trump. Richardening zbel in Northern Syria. If as always, stay safe out there. And also joining us now left the Republican Party shortly after reading Robert Muellers report. He does back impeachment. Congressman, thanks for joining meet the press. Thanks for having me on. I want to start with the syrian position. You have a stand when it comes to Foreign Policy and you seem to be caught in your own principles. You voted for the president. On the other hand you were uncomfortable. Expla inthis conundrum for you. Thats right. We never had congressional approval for the mission. I think the president should have withdrawn troops long ago. But when you withdraw troops you have to plan ahead of time how to handle it. And he could have prepared in advance for the obvious consequences. He certainly knew what turkey would do. Then he acted surprised they are coming in and committing acts of violence. I think you dont wait until after with drawing the troops to make a plan to go pressure turkey to ease up and then call for a cease fire. What can be done now . I know where you are philosophically. But what do you think we should do now . I think its really difficult to put it all back together. You cant i think return the troops into the combat zone. Int dohink thats feasible right nowment and i defer to military experts on that. But certainly if you are going to put troops in harms way, you should get congressional approval and go back to congress and ask for approval from the American People. The president has talked about this as sort of, hey, hes fulfilling a promise. That he made that troops need to come home. Do you believe people in michigan that voted for him will view this move as a sense of fulfilling a promise that hes bringing troops home from the middle east . I think there are people who support the president who believes things he says. But its pretty clear he is not bringing home the troops. Hes moving them to other parts of the middle east. He tweetded about that this morning. The troops, he said words versus actions. Right. Hes moving troops back into high rack. Hes moving other troops into saudi arabia and hes using our forces almost as mercenaries, who are going to go in. And as long as saudi arabia pays us some money its good to go. What happened to the American People having their voices heard through their representatives in congress . We should make those decisions in congress. And, frankly, weve been in the middle east for way too long. Weve been in afghanistan for obviously way too long. And we should bring people home. If there was a vote right now in congress to decide its time to open an impeachment inquiry, and i know there is still a debate, how many of your former republican colleagues do you think after this weeks actions might actually vote with the democrats on that . I think maybe one or two. We may have heard one of them in there with francis turny. But realistically politics drives this. And they represented every two years. And frankly a lot of the republicans will be worried about primaries. And they think the president is popular within the primary elector y electorate and he is. In order to stick tour principles, thats why you left the party, you probably would have been voted out, right . I dont think sochlt i was comfortable stick to go my principles regardless. And i built up enough representation in my district. They know im independent and know what ill do what i said on the campaign trail. But you left the party anyway. Yes, but ive been frustrated for a long time with the party system. With the way washington works. Ive been frustrated with the top down approach to everything in washington where a few leaders dictate everything to everyone. Whether its the president of the United States or the speaker of the house or the Senate Majority leader. We need to open things up zbin. All right. How can you do that . Im curious, you left the party, what has that meant . Does Kevin Mccarthy still talk to you . Not in a nice way. Do you feel as if you could be effective . Yes, i can be more effective. Why . I can reach people on the other side of the aisle that i couldnt reach before. But have you been rejected by your former members . No. Actually, they are less frustrated in many ways. Because when you are a republican and break from the party, they treat it like youve abandoned the family or something on a particular issue. So i can be more effective because the people in my former party are more respectful of my decisions now. They are more accepting of the fact that im going to vary from their views on a whole bunch of issues. And then peoplen 0 the other side of the aisle will be more accepting of me because they dont think im just going along with the republicans. Stt house the most effective place for you to make your political arguments these days . Or is the senate or running the presidency a better place . I think im very effective in the house. I think my constituents want an independent congressman. My support in the distrikct has been great as a ipd. But we do need people running for national office. I dont think the current Democrat Field is sufficient. They are all over 70 years old. The president is over 70 years old. I think there is a large segment of the population that is not represented in the top candidates on either side of the aisle. And thats something i think about. Are you concerned what would happen if the president survived impeachment . Meaning the house impeaches him and the senate a quits . Im more concerned about what happens if we dont go forward with impeachment. I think congress is so neglected checks and balances. And over the years the executive branch has become so powerful. And we need to restore that power in congress. We need to restore separation of powers. And, yeah, there are consequences to finding him not guilty in the senate. But there are consequences to not holding him accountable in the house. I guess the fear, and ive heard this, he will think, boy, im untouchable now. Hell think that anyway. Heres a guy thinks nothing matters. Everything he does is applauded by people that are afraid of had imfrankly. I dont think hes that concerned about it. What is it that you think that voters in michigan saw in him versus . Was it about him or do you think it was about Hillary Clinton . I think it was a little bit of both. In my neck of the woods on the west side 69 state, he wasnt Hillary Clinton. T neither was but i do think that hillary, you know, upset a lot of people in the midwest. That she did not connect with them in a way. And she certainly connected with people in the northeast and on the west coast, but in places like the midwest she didnt really connect. And people were drawn to donald trump because they thought she wasnt kebting. 100 you are running for congress or could you still run for another office . No, i wouldnt say 100 of anything. Right. But there has been talk about a libertarian president ial . Im running for congress but i keep things open and wouldnt rule anything out. Thanks for coming on and good to be here on meet the press. Appreciate it. When we come when you look at the world, what do you see . Where others see chaos, we see patterns. Connections. Relationships. When you use location technology, you can see where things happen, before they happen. With esri location technology, you can see what others cant. But allstate helps you. With drivewise. Feedback that helps you drive safer. And that can lower your cost now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . When i was diagnosed with ms, the firstwas my family. Ht about i came home and cried. But, as ive seen my d