Jansing reports. Lets get right to it. At this hour, did they plan for that to happen . Stunned reactions on capitol hill, when a key witness called by republicans says the Current Evidence doesnt support impeaching the president. The mattress defense, bob menendez faces his colleagues for the First Time Since allegations of bribes and gold bars. Can he convince any of them that he doesnt need to resign . Trumping the debate, the republican front runner skips the stage and says he could cross names off his vip list. And the candidates spend more time fighting each other than fighting to bridge the gap with donald trump. Our nbc News Reporters are following all of the latest developments. We begin with ken dilanian at the surprise testimony today at the Biden Impeachment Inquiry. What happened . Reporter well, chris, the republican star witness, Constitutional Law Professor jonathan turley, a frequent guest on fox news perhaps didnt deliver the kind of testimony that the republicans were looking for. He was pretty restrained, actually. What he essentially said was theres a lot of smoke here. Theres some troubling conduct by hunter biden. Theres some emails that suggest his father may have been aware of his Business Dealings, but there isnt enough evidence to actually bring articles of impeachment. Take a listen to jonathan turley. The Shortening Intervals between impeachments should be a cause of concern and circumspection for all the members on both sides. This is a question of an Impeachment Inquiry. It is not a vote on articles of impeachment. In fact, i do not believe that the Current Evidence would support articles of impeachment. That is something that an inquiry has to establish. But i also do believe that the house has passed the threshold for an Impeachment Inquiry into the conduct of President Biden. Reporter so what we have seen for the last several hours are the republicans repeating a series of allegations, more than allegations, facts that they have unearthed about Hunter BidensBusiness Dealings over the last several months with subpoenas and other kinds of requests that paint a troubling picture of Hunter Biden Selling what the democrats acknowledge was the illusion of access to his father, but they have presented no hard evidence that suggests that President Biden profited from this in any way. And democrats are growing increasingly frustrated. Take a listen to representative maxwell frost. This Fake Impeachment is based on desperate political calculation, not any evidence. And mr. Chairman, you say this hearing is to establish the basis for this fake sham impeachment hearing, but these witnesses are not giving us any basis or giving us any evidence or any solutions. They are giving us i reclaim my time. I have to stop. Thats not what you just said. These witnesses are not giving any answers, theyre just asking more questions. Reporter and he was making the point that none of the four witnesses there today are fact witnesses. They dont have any original information. Theyre merely commenting on the information unearthed by republicans, and largely what they have said is theres a lot of smoke here and it should be investigated but none of them have said that any of this evidence merits impeaching the president of the United States, chris. Ken dilanian, thank you. Well, for the First Time Since his indictment, senator bob menendez spoke directly to a group of his democratic colleagues today. Nbcs ali vitali is on the hill for us. So a lot of these democrats, and some of them havent called yet for menendezs resignation have said they were waiting to hear from him. What do we know about whats gone on inside that room . Reporter look, you know it had to be a tough room there, chris, because while its not every democratic senator calling for menendezs resignation, it is the large part of that. More than half of the caucus has called for him to step down in the aftermath of this indictment. Menendez, though, is continuing to double down on his stance that hes not going anywhere, that he will beat these charges, and that when its all said done, he will remain the senior senator from new jersey. That seems to be a message thats similar to what we would have expected him to deliver in that room, though in catching up with him in the immediate moments after he exited, he seems to say the message hes brought to colleagues is going to stay for his colleagues alone. This is what our reporting captured. I have for 18 years, and theyll be looking forward to. Reporter that footage from our great Intern Laurie who caught up with the senator as he was leaving that lunch, what he says there is fact and also a subtle threat there. Yes, menendez has been a steady democratic vote, but its also a reference to the extremely tight margins that Senate Democrats have to control the senate chamber. Its a reminder that, yes, they need his vote, even if he were to resign, though, i do think its important for us to keep in mind the democratic governor of new jersey would likely appoint a democrat to fill in seat. Its not like the Balance Of Power would change. Never the less, Menendez Reminding of why they need him, at least while hes still in the building. Ali vitali, thank you for that. President trump meantime skipped last nights debate to make a play for michigans Working Class voters in the middle of an auto strike. Nbcs Maggie Vespa Is Reporting from wayne, michigan, where workers continue to picket outside a ford plant. What are they telling you about the visit by the former president . Reporter yeah, so chris, they say they see some merit in some of the comments that the former president gave at that nonunion autobody plant in detroit. He spoke for an hour to a crowd of 300. It contained some uaw members in the crowd, about a handful of which told our team they are members on strike. The president used the bulk of the time to go after the former president , going after the current president , joe biden, and his push to electric vehicles, which former President Trump says he believes will chill union jobs. The white house has repeatedly refuted that. People on the picket lines, that is a concern for them. Theyre concerned about the longterm job security when it comes to electric vehicles. That is something theyre negotiating with on the big three. We talk about Job Security Stipulations in the contract talks. Thats a lot of what were referring to. We will note, one of a handful of times the president mentioned his gop rival, if we want to call them that, although you pointed out the numbers maybe dont support that label was when he was talking about sort of Potential Job Prospects for those who were on the debate stage across the country. This was a key moment, take a listen. You know, were competing with the job candidates, theyre all running for a job. No, theyre all job candidates. They want to be in the theyll do anything. Secretary of something. They even say vp. Does anybody see any vp in the group . I dont think so. Reporter so there was that moment that as you can imagine didnt resonate with a lot of members on the picket lines, and there was another moment where the president said he, from what he has seen of the picketers, what he heard from the demands, i dont think youre picketing the right things. A lot of members saw merit in the comments about the electric vehicle, and they didnt like the moment they were getting lectured by the former president about their demands, what they were picketing for, and some of them their Strike Platform was being used as a platform for general politics. A lot of people telling us they want to ignore the political circus, and they just want to focus on getting a deal with the big three. Chris. Maggie vespa, thank you. Lets go to california now where the republican candidates not named trump were angling for a breakout moment at the debate. Nbcs dasha burns was following that for us. A couple of candidates werent afraid to attack the former president. By and large that was not the preponderance of them. Reporter Chris Christie went after former President Trump. Thats of course not new. Its a core tenet of his campaign and his message, but also Florida Governor ron desantis took some swings at former President Trump, which is new in that he typically responds with some criticism of former President Trump when asked but doesnt necessarily come out swinging like he did last night. Take a listen and well talk on the other side. The former president , you know, hes missing in action tonight. Hes had a lot to say about that. He should be here explaining his comments to try to say that pro life protections are somehow a terrible thing. I want him to look into the eyes and tell people who have been fighting this fight for a long time. I tell you, donald, i know youre watching. You cant help yourself. I know youre watching, okay, and youre not here tonight. Not because of polls and not because of your indictments, youre not here today because youre afraid of being on the stage and defending your record. Youre ducking these things, and let me tell you whats going to happen, you keep doing that, no one up here is going to donald trump anymore, were going to call you donald duck. Reporter yeah, he definitely had that line in his back pocket, but look, the question for Florida Governor ron desantis, we have been talking, chris, for months that he needs to find his footing when it comes to how hes going to handle trump. He seems to be doing it now. Is it too late. For months now, he has been walking this fine line, trying not to alienate that maga base. Trying to chip away at some of those trump voters. That clearly has not been working. Hes sort of been alienating moderates in the meantime, so now he seems to be changing his strategy a little bit, but, again, is it coming a little too late . Well have to see in the coming weeks and months, chris. Dasha burns, thank you. Insults and infighting at the second gop president ial debate without much talk about a strategy to take on the man who wasnt on the stage. The one question no one wanted to answer when were back in 60 seconds. K in 60 seconds. Megawatts of power, rails and open road, and essential services of every kind. All running on countless invisible networks, making it a prime target for cyberattacks. But the same aipowered security that protects all of google also defends the systems running americas infrastructure. For these services. For the 336 million of us living here. They slept on me for 15 years. Things i collected, pollen, dust, dander. All that time they could have protected me with an allerease mattress protector. It wouldve been soft and blocked 99. 9 of dust, dirt, and allergens. Allerease for a clean, healthy nights sleep. Salonpas, makers of powerful Pain Relief Patches for 89 years. Believes in continuous improvement. Like rounded corners that resist peeling, with an array of active ingredients. And sizes to relieve your pain. Salonpas. Its good medicine. Now to the judgment of the voters to see in the coming days and weeks whether the second gop debate put any of them in a position to really challenge donald trump. The two hours was heavy on personal insults and people talking over each other, and then there was the fight to get the sound bite of the night. I have a radical idea for the Republican Party. We need to win elections. And part of how we win elections is reaching the next generation of Young Americans where they are. This is infuriating because tiktok is one of the most dangerous Social Media Apps that we could have. Yes, it is. And what youve got, honestly every time i hear you, i feel a little bit dumber for what you say. Youre wanting kids to get on this social media thats dangerous for all of us. You were in business with the chinese and gave hunter biden 5 million, we cant trust you. So what did voters think, and where does the race go from here . Lets bring in nbcs shaquille brewster, and mike murphy, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst, and cohost of The Hacks On Tap podcast with david axelrod, good to see you guys. You watched the debate with voters in wisconsin, what was their take away . Yes, these were the same group of voters i talked to after the first debate. It was new faces but selfdescribed conservative voters, all voted for trump in 2020 and said they would support him again. After last nights debate, there was interest in some of the other candidates who were on stage last night. I want you to listen to some of our conversations right after last nights debate. At the very end when dana pe reno asked who youre going to vote off the island, he took control of the situation and turned it around. That showed to me a lot of leadership. I came in like desantis. Vivek ramaswamy and tim scott. Now what are you thinking. The same three. Safety is important to me, abroad and at home. The people i would feel safest with would be desantis, number one, and i would say, i cant believe im saying this but Chris Christie, number two. And then, three, i like doug burgum. There was a lot of frustration over the candidates talking over one another. They couldnt hear what was going on, and they wanted to hear more information and learn more about these candidates. There was also interest in some of the lower polling candidates like Chris Christie and doug burgum, when i asked who won the debate, separate from their personal feelings, who did they believe won the debate, there was no clear answer, chris, and that suggests to me that last nights debate didnt fundamentally shift the dynamics of the race, where they know that the person who wasnt on stage last night is the one whos currently dominating the republican primary. Yeah, and i mentioned this going in, mike. One of the things you want to do is have that moment, right, that gets replayed where, you know, its kind of the moment of the night. Alternatively, there are more cringe worthy moments which arguably folks may have had. In this case, speaking about education, lets listen. When you have the president of the United States sleeping with a member of the Teachers Union, there is no chance that you could take the stranglehold away from the Teachers Union every day. By way of full disclosure, you mentioned the president s situation, my wife isnt a member of the Teachers Union, but i got to admit, ive been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years, and full disclosure. Okay. Mike, im going to let you grade that exchange and the debate as a whole. Well, i dont think former Vice President pence is looking at a big standup career, he ought to stay out of the laugh factory. Theres always one of these things, where adlib or the staff writes a bad joke, christie had a whopper of a bad joke with the donald duck line, the build up was fine. If we step back and look at the debate, a lot of the analysis is missing the point, and i come from the Point Of View of a Campaign Hack actually running these campaigns. Every time donald trump chickens out of a debate, he gives somebody else an opportunity to become a star. In the last debate, it was nikki haley Whose Campaign was in real trouble. Now in private polling, shes moved up to a pretty good second place in iowa and New Hampshire, which is what the campaign is about. You know, these National Polls measure a National Primary that doesnt exist. This is about delegates picked in a series of contests, and donald trump is a lot more vulnerable in the polling in iowa and New Hampshire. At the very beginning f the process for them. It seems like forever to us and other places. The second point is two weeks ago in tallahassee, there was a death watch on Ron Desantiss campaign. He was improved enough last night that i think that will go away and land him in the all important iowa caucus and New Hampshire primaries. While trump is still the favorite, the front runner, theres a lot going on in the early states, and the candidates who are competitive there, i might add, scott, i think he had an okay night, better than before, theyre becoming more competitive. Theres a cbs poll but the clock is ticking, mike, how much time do they have . The primaries were very late. Time is always a resource you cant make more of. But at this time in, say, 2015, my old buddy john mccain was dead in the water at this time before the 2008 contest. Trump did not have a lock at this time. The front runner in iowa was scott walker in the early polls. Primaries moved late. The real season that counts, things really start moving around thanksgiving. Weve got to wait and see, and i think these debates are an opportunity for those contenders to talk to those voters and grow a little bit. And so far thats slowly