Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20191216 : vi

Doesnt have a full and fair trial what are you hiding, what are you hiding. And good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington. We start a critical week for President Trump and democrats, gearing up for a final vote on the house floor while passing critical legislation. The question for democrats and republicans, how is this all this going to play politically with swing voters, who will decide the 2020 election . One answer today from a key district in michigan whose freshman democrat Alyssa Slotkin declared in favor of impeachment today. I will be voting yes on obstruction of congress. Now, obviously i know and i can hear that this is a very controversial decision and i knew that. And all i can ask from the people who are listening is that while we may not agree, i hope you believe me when i tell you that i made this decision out of principle and out of a duty to protect and defend the constitution. Joining me now to sort all this out, this is happening in realtime guys, this is nbc news correspondent kristin welker, Ashley Parker and karen tomoti. Alyssa slotkin facing that live town hall meeting thats still going on right now hearing from the voters. We dont know whether this was prefabbed. We dont know whether this was involved because some of those signs looked like this was some kind of group effort. Lets talk about how tough this is for some of these democrats. This is what nancy pelosi was concerned about going all the way back. Krist kristen, you know the white house sb couis counting on bein to peel off some democrats in the house floor on wednesday and holding firm in the senate. Reporter thats right. That is the key focus of the white house right now as they look ahead tho to this o this ee on wednesday. They want to be able to peel off as Many Democrats as possible. So you had President Trump tweeting at the 30 or so democrats in swing districts and said their reelection prospects will be in jeopardy if they vote to impeach him. That comes as we got that news over the weekend that congressman Jeff Van Drew plans to switch parties from democrat to republican, a show of his opposition to the impeachment proceedings. President trump tweeting, talking about the fact that he has always been considered very smart. So the president is going to play that and every democratic defector as a victory for him. The white house is expecting republicans to hold firm to stand behind President Trump and not break with him. That will be yet another talking point for the president when he heads out onto the campaign trail. Its worth noting aroue ining t also very focused on the senate trial as well, trying to work in lock step with leader Mitch Mcconnell on how that is going to be carried out. We expect white House Counsel Pat Cipollone to be among those representing President Trump once that trial gets underway. Ashley, you were writing this weekend about the legislative agenda and how the holiday legislative tableau has emboldened trump. He has suggested that House Speaker nancy pelosi is embarrassed by the impeachment inquiry. He said he believes the trial in the Republican Controlled Senate where hes expected to be acquitted of the house charges could be beneficial to him and he sees impeachment as perhaps the best episode, the grand finale of a reality show presidency in the words of one longterm confidante who talked with trump. The president is conflicted on this. In part you see that with what hes saying about what he wants to see from a senate trial. On the one hand he has been convinced by mcconnell and other republicans that he wants a short trial. He understands its not necessarily good for him. On the other hand, hell talk about wanting a long trial tor talk about things that would create a long trial, talking about how many witnesses he would like to call, he would like to see Vice President biden and hunter biden and adam schiff testify. Theres been a flurry of legislative action and deals at the end of the year. Its not necessarily because of impeachment entirely but hes able to point to that saying hes getting stuff done. He said in the Oval Office Friday this is sad for the country but its good for me politically. Its unclear how true that is. The country is basically divided on partisan lines about impeachment. And we see this push pull and of course pelosi and the democrats are trying to sandwich the Impeachment Vote on wednesday in between getting things done on the trade deal on the canada mexico u. S. New nafta, if you will, as well as getting funding for the government done so there wont be a government shutdown. Both sides think those bipartisan successes are a victory and could perhaps be an antidote to the negative of impeachment. Meet the press talked to voters in grand rapids, notably a place where Hillary Clinton only went on the very last day before the election, way too late to turn michigan around. These voters in grand rapids reflected what some of the people in Alyssa Slotkins district are showing. I dont even care about it. Its just noise. Have you ever recorded a Football Game but found out the final score before you watched it and you just dont even care . You know its going to happen. The house will vote articles of impeachment, the senate will probably acquit. Its already baked in so its just not interesting. Our apologies. Mike whitmer from grand rapids michigan. Is that part of the problem for democrats going into this that they dont know they have the votes in the senate, that theres going to be an acquittal . We have seen support for impeachment rise dramatically since july as these revelations about the president s efforts to pressure ukraine became public. But its not going to move much further. Were living in a 5050 country and the country is deeply divided. Nobody really is going to budge on that. Then you see these numbers. Vulnerable members like Alyssa Slotkin, to her credit this is her fifth town hall since she announced in september that she supported the opening of an impeachment investigation. These members of congress that nancy pelosi is so concerned about, they are going to have to explain this vote to their constituents but she also wants to make sure that is not the only thing they have to talk to the people who voted for them about. And to kristin welker, we have a new oped online today from the new york times. It will be in the print edition tomorrow, we understand. This is from william webster, the only person in history whos been both fbi and cia head, republican appointed for decades, before that a federal judge. He writes in this new oped and we hope to be talking to him later today, i know firsthand the professionalism of the men and women of the fbi. The aspersions cast upon them by the president and attorney general william barr are troubling in the extreme. Calling fbi professionals scum, as the president did, is a slur against people who risk their lives to keep us safe. Mr. Barrs charges of bias within the fbi made without providing any evidence and in direct dispute of the findings of the nonpartisan Inspector General whose conflicting and doing damage on this important institution. I know from having talked to judge webster that it was that rally in hershey, pennsylvania, where the president called the fbi scum that put him over the edge and inspired him to write this. Reporter and the findings of the Inspector General, of course, were that there were mistakes made but that the investigation into the russia probe was not launched based for political reasons. Now, President Trump has seized on those mistakes that were made and hes talked about it not only in hershey, pennsylvania, but on twitter and continued to do so over the weekend particularly after former fbi director james comey on fox news over the weekend acknowledged those mistakes and took responsibility for them, at the same time under scored the fact that the ultimate findings were that the investigation was launched appropriately. So i think what we can expect is for President Trump that type of backlash that you see there in that oped is unlikely to deter him from taking aim at the fbi. This is something he did before he took office, something he did in the early days of his administration. It continues to this day and i dont anticipate that thats going to change. Of course he continues to push toward that other report la launched by attorney general bill barr with john durham expected to release his findings in the coming months. I want to draw everyones attention to a tweet in secretary of state mike pompeo. He has tweeted a pleasure hosting Foreign Affairs policy Board Members for dinner last night in advance of our third Plenary Meeting this year. Their feedback is critical to execution of a Foreign Policy that best serves the American Peoples interest. I want to draw all of our attention to the picture. For those of you listening on xm radio and cant see the picture, it is a very impressive looking group of white gentlemen. I say that we have had three women serving as secretaries of state in both political parties. We have had enumerable women throughout the government and the private sector. How do we have a Foreign Policy Advisory Board at the state department in this day and age that is all white and all male . Well, i would draw your attention back to i believe it was your retweet of secretary pompeos tweet where you noted that what was missing was half of the population, which is women. And thats not even to mention no people of color. This is a white house that has struggled to have diversity represented in the upper echelons on the administration, in the cabinet, in senior advisors. So i think when you see that tone set from the president , it trickles down and we get images and more importantly than the images the actual makeup of a group like were seeing with secretary pompeo. I do think their cluelessness about the images that they tout is really striking. This immediately reminds me of that instantly iconic picture of nancy pelosi standing up at the table with President Trump that he sent out assuming this was going to be to his benefit. There was a real backlash. Its just profoundly interesting, especially at a time when mike pompeo has this weekend relaunched his personal non state Department Twitter account which could be signaling he is intending to move into the political sphere more openly even though there have been reports that hes done it privately already. There is that open senate seat in kansas. I do think that 50 of the voters in kansas are probably women. Thank you all so much. Coming up, stand by your man. Even before the president s senate trial starts, Top Republicans say they will not vote to convict him. And who will save your soul . The president thought he could move south Koreas Capital city. D move south Koreas Capital city. Before we talk about taxsmart investing, whats new . Audreys expecting. Twins wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. 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. Liberty. Ey mr. Jones find great gifts for everyone on your list this holiday, everybody. With low prices and Free Shipping on millions of items at amazon. Seaonly abreva cany to help sget rid of it in. As little as 2 1 2 days when used at the first sign. Abreva starts to work immediately to block the virus and protect healthy cells. Abreva acts on it. So you can too. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. For the holidays you cant beat home sweet home. We go the extra mile to bring your holidays home. Some things are too important to do yourself. Get customized security with 24 7 monitoring from xfinity home. Awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. Welcome back. Republicans are pushing for a speedy impeachment trial in the senate but democratic leader Chuck Schumer is warning not so fast. In a letter to majority leader Mitch Mcconnell schumer asked for the testimony of key Trump Officials who have so far refused to appear before the house, including john bolton, Mick Mulvaney and mike pompeo. Earlier schumer defended his request. There is not a single reason that has been given why the four witnesses weve asked for, why the documents weve asked for should not be presented. I dont know what theyll say. Maybe theyll be exculpatory to President Trump but to not have them is to engage in a coverup. And the American People will ask of President Trump and people like Mitch Mcconnell, if he doesnt have a full and fair trial, what are you heiding. Joining me from capitol hill nbcs jeff bennett and eugene scott, political reporter for the Washington Post. To your first, jeff, Mitch Mcconnell has the votes, 51 votes most likely. We so far he thinks hes got 51 votes among the republicans. Hes got 53 republicans to cut off those witness requests. Reporter yeah. Well and Chuck Schumer apparently thinks he doesnt. Thats why hes written this letter addressed and named to Mitch Mcconnell but you can bet hes addressing that letter that handful of moderate and potentially Vulnerable Senate republicans including Lisa Murkowski and mitt romney. Schumer is making the point that if these republicans want to commit to a real trial and uphold the dignity of the senate, republicans can join with him in calling for a serious trial. Im told privately that Mitch Mcconnell has expressed support for a quick two week trial. The majority of the senators at that point would have heard enough to make a determination of up or down. You have Chuck Schumer saying no, we want a real trial with witnesses. So john bolton, who through his attorney late last month said that there is more information, that bolton knows of conversations and meetings that hadnt been discussed that are relevant to this ukraine scandal. And then of course Mick Mulvaney. Who can forget he signalled President Trump was guilty of the things hes accused. Then mulvaney went beyond that and said politics always has a role to play in Foreign Policy and we should all, to use his quote, get over it. Thats before he tried to take it back a day later, of course. Thats the marker that Chuck Schumer is drawing here. Of course hes going up against republican control in the senate and the Judiciary Committee chair, Lindsey Graham. This is what he had to say on face the nation. I am clearly made up my mind. Im not trying to hide the fact that i whave disdain for the accusations and the process. So i dont need any witnesses. So the president says he wants those individuals to testify. Why are you opposed . I would tell the president if somebodys ready to quit you, id sort of get out of the way. What cards does schumer have to play . It seems like theres not much he can do because people like senator graham have said theyve made up their minds without hearing from witnesses. I think thats a sound bite youre going to hear lots of Democrats Use moving forward, letting americans know that so many republicans, most of the republicans in congress and in senate are going to side with the president regardless of what he does and what he says that could put Americas National security interests in a tough space. That could be concerning to voters. Just to play devils advocate for a moment, the republicans are saying theyve made up their mind and theyre going to acquit. Democrats are saying, well, were the jurors and we havent made up our mind. Can you imagine democratic senators, especially those who are candidates for president really being open minded about this . Absolutely not, because for them they have already seen enough and heard enough. What theyre trying to do is let the American People, who perhaps have not been watching every hour of this like we have, get as much information as possible before a