Craig melvin will also be holding it down tomorrow. Good to see you, hallie jackson. Craig mel bin msnbc headquarters in new york city. Bracing for more, after the historic day on capitol hill, democrats and republicans are taking a break today before diving back into the public phase of the Impeachment Inquiry, as hallie just mentioned there. That will resume tomorrow. Were going to break down all the Key Developments from day one. Well also look at what we can expect from both sides tomorrow. Also ahead, a member of the community conducting these hearings, congressman Eric Swalwell will join me with reaction to everything that we heard and the strategy for tomorrow. You are looking live inside the New Hampshire statehouse where any moment now former Massachusetts GovernorDeval Patrick plans to make it official. He will be adding his name to that already crowded field of democratic contenders. What hes saying about his decision and the new questions
that his candidacy is raising about the entire field. Well get to that in a moment. Theres a lot happening on this thursday morning. Joining me from capitol hill jake sherman. Jake, of course, Senior Writer for politico. Hes also an msnbc political analyst. And here with me onset kristen welker, White House Correspondent for nbc news. Mr. Sherman, well start with you there at the capitol. Any moment now we expect to hear from the speaker of the house nancy pelosi. What do you suspect her message is going to be today and what will the things we learn in the hearing mean for democrats moving forward . Reporter democrats think they had a blockbuster day. Theres evidence they did move the ball forward. This phone call between Gordon Sondland and President Trump in a restaurant in kiev raising concerns than an aide heard about the investigations was the big revelation. We anticipate pelosi will talk
about that and the process overall. Remember, eight more days of hearings. Tomorrow marie yovanovitch, former ambassador to ukraine, that will be the hearing tomorrow, what were focused on for the next 24 to 36 hours. What republicans and democrats will try to do. Democrats will try to paint a perfect picture of an ambassador ousted for political purposes and republicans will try to muddy the water like they did yesterday. What they did yesterday, they didnt challenge the overall arc of the story, they challenged the particulars and how people found information that they did try to confuse the issue. I think thats the strategy Going Forward for republicans according to the ones i talked to on capitol hill. Ms. Welker, any word this morning on whether the president plans to change his defense or the administration plans to reconsider the defense theyve used so far . I dont think so. I think jake hit the nail on the head. Youre going to continue to hear
from the president , some of his allying on capitol hill, look, all these people are speaking from secondhand knowledge. President trump for his part calling what happened yesterday basically a snooze, and you have some solve his aides now inside the white house saying its a nothing burger. The reality is when you dig A Little Deeper and talk to some Administration Officials, they acknowledge they were caught off guard by the newly revealed phone call. They say thats the wildcard. What is Gordon Sondland going to say about this phone call we learned about yesterday which the staffer says the staffer overheard someone speaking to President Trump and he was putting the focus on the investigations into biden in particular. More so even than the ukraine policy. That gets to the heart of why the democrats are holding this Impeachment Inquiry in the first place. The president also, craig, really trying to strike a note of, look, i am staying focused on my job, remaining president ial. He had the joint News Conference with the president of turkey
yesterday. Later today hes going to be on the road. Hes going to be campaigning in louisiana. His allies, his aides think thats one of his strongest places, out in front of people, energizing his base. Thats what hes going to stay focused on. Jake sherman, are you still with me, buddy . I lost jake. Kristen, this strategy moving forward, do you get a sense that both sides were pleased with how yesterday went . I think the white house is trying to make that argument, and theyre making the argument for this reason, craig wait a second, kristen. Nancy pelosi talking about the impeachment. Lets listen. State department, none of us have come to this job to impeach a president. We come to work in the most bipartisan way possible, find our Common Ground where we can, stand our ground where we cannot. Yesterday you heard an appointment of the president speak in very Uncertain Terms, a courageous public servant. The devastating testimony corroborated evidence of bribery uncovered in the inquiry and the president abused power and violated his oath by threatening to withhold military aid. The white house needing an exchange for an investigation into his political rival. A clear attempt of the president to give himself the advantage in the 2020 election. Doing so, said to the president , jeopardize our jashl security, jeopardize our electoral system, violate your oath of office. I salute Chairman Schiff for the states manship that he brought, the democrats for showing great patriotism and professionalism with which they are conducting the proceedings. Im very proud of them. I said to the members at the beginning of the day yesterday, when we take the oath to protect and defend the constitution, we agree and we become custodians on a constitution. The constitution, brilliance of our founders to create a republic. A system of checks and balances, three coequal branches of government, separation of powers, each a check and balance on the other. As custodians of the constitution, we must be defenders of our democracy. Our democracy depends on that republic and not a monarchy, article ii that says i can do whatever i want. Again, with that responsibility, we go forward sadly, prayerfully, with a heavy heart because its not what we came here to do but we must uphold our oath of office. Questions. We hear it said routinely and of course its true that impeachment is a political process, not a legal one. Yet as we can observe, many of it we have counsels, depositions, subpoenas, this was made clear yesterday by Chairman Schiff when he reminded the minority that he would do everything necessary to ensure the legal rights of the whistleblower to observe anonymity. Right. In this political setting. So i wonder if you could explain to the American People why the legal rights of the whistleblower should prevail in this political setting over those of President Trump who should ordinarily enjoy a right to confront his accuser. Let me just say this. I will say to you, mr. Republican talking points, what i said to the president of the united states. When you talk about the whistleblower, youre coming into my wheelhouse. I have more experience in intelligence than anybody in congress, 25 years as top democrat, exof fish i dont as speaker and leader. I was there when we wrote the whistleblower laws. The whistleblower is there to speak truth to power and have protection for doing that and any retribution or how im coming the a whistleblower undermines our ability to hear truth about power. I will defend the rights of the whistleblower vehemently. The president can come if he has a case to make, does he want to come speak, does he want to present in writing or speak to the committee about what might be exculpatory for him . He has that right to do that. Nobody, nobody, president the president is not above the law. The president will be held accountable, and nobody has a right to endanger whistleblowers. Thats the system i will defend, and the American People, the American People understand that. You talked about bribery a second ago. Thats a very serious charge. Talking latin around here, e pluribus um numb, quid pro quo, bribery, bribery. That is in the constitution attached to the impeachment proceedings. What was the bribe here . The bribe is to grant or withhold Military Assistance in return for a Public Statement of a fake investigation into the elections. Thats bribery. Looking at an article of impeachment we dont know that. We havent even made a decision to impeach. Thats what the inquiry is about. When the committees decide that, they will decide what the articles are. But i am saying that what the president has admitted to and said its perfect, i say its perfectly wrong. Its bribery. You talked in the past about the importance being along on the idea of impeachment and bringing the public along. Do you think yesterday the witnesses, it was effective in convincing the public this is a worthwhile thing to do . Look, first and foremost, we have a responsibility to honor our oath of office, to protect and defend the constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. That is our responsibility. The clarity for the public to understand what is there wasnt as clear in my view when you say Obstruction Of Justice, Obstruction Of Justice, Obstruction Of Justice 11 times in the mueller report. That is justification enough for inquiring into an impeachment. This has a story, a narrative about the president threatening to grant or withhold certain privileges, certain Military Assistance, voted on by the congress to ukraine which is in our National Interest to do so because they were fighting the russians. Theyve already lost over 11,000, 12,000, 13,000 people fighting the russians. Thats why i say city hall roads lead to putin. Putin benefited from our not holding up that Military Assistance. Putin benefited by the action taken by the president visavis syria and turkey because they wanted a stronger stronghold in the middle east and the president gave them that. Putin benefited from the president s comments about
uncertainty about our uncertain from nato. The list goes on. I wont even go into the elections, joust those three because theyre the three i have mentioned to the president when i said, with you, mr. President , all roads lead to putin. You havent decided whether to move forward. That will be up to the committees to decide. Do you believe yesterdays testimony moved the needle for democrats more towards impeachment . This isnt about for democrats. This is for the American People. This is about patriotism. Its not about politics, democrats, republicans. Its not about anything political. Its about patriotism. Its about honoring our oaths of office and to uphold the constitution, and the Constitution Spells out what our responsibilities and what our penalties are. Yesterday i think i do believe the truth will set us free. And so the truth coming from the president s own appointee, the president s own appointee, describing bribery and threatening in the course of it, threatening the identity of the whistleblower is just shameful behavior. I wanted to ask you, usmca is eminent. How do you think aflcio is poised to respond if the bill is going to be considered well, we have shared values with the aflcio and believe the growth of our economy is blessed with more participation from collective bargaining, workplace safety, all of thatment so i think we will have well see what the implementation is, what
that is and the enforcement is. I think it will be a value that is shared by our friends in b labor as well as the democrats in the congress. So were in a good place. As i say, i want this to be a template for Future Trade Agreements so that the work we put in here will not only have a benefit in the u. S. mexico canada agreement, but for the globalization discussion in general. So what well have to do is, as soon as we come to conclusion, is to have the implementing language written, and we have an idea of what that would be. So i think were id like to see us get it done this year. That would be my goal. I dont imagine it would take much more in the senate to pass. Some of our legislation will pass this year, but we dont know what happens in the senate. I would hope that they would move quickly with this. You say the house has not decided whether to pursue impeachment yet. But when we see the hearing yesterday, a lot of questions about impeachment, you talk about three disticket things, bribery, abuse of power, things regarding articles of impeachment. Why would the public not think that the house is dead set on a course to impeach the president when all this milieu is going on. All this milieu is seeking the truth, called an inquiry. If the president has something that is exculpatory mr. President , that means if you have anything that shows your innocence, then he should make that known and thats part of the inquiry. So far we havent seen that, but we welcome in. Thats what an inquiry is about. Do you think theres a way, considering all the hearings and depositions that theres any way the house could not impeach, with all this work, regardless . Perhaps you have not heard me
when i have said this is something we do with a heavy heart. This is very prayerful, because impeaching is a divisive thing in our country. Its hard. The place that our country is now, its time a where when president nixon walked out of the white house. It wasnt there even two weeks before he left, it wasnt there, until the other shoe fell and he walked out the door. By the way, 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 Ability Thout Th coverup makes what nixon did look almost small, almost small. But again, an inquiry is an
inquiry, and people come in and you hear what they have to say. Next week some of the republican suggestions of witnesses will come in, and well hear what they have to say. But this is not something you take lightly and you make a decision as you go along. One last question. Yes, sir. When these hearings are still going on, im curious whats been the working relationship with the white house . Have they been involved in this process, walking and chewing gum at the same time . Im not a gum shewer, but i do eat a lot of chocolate as i walk around here. Obviously the president the house senate, democrats, republicans and the white house will have to come to an
agreement. Left to our own devices, the appropriators, they come from the culture of appropriations and intelligence as forged in the congress, both places that by and large when i first started, they were not particularly partisan. But left to their own devices, the appropriators know how to get their job done. Without going into detail, were moving in a direction because we do not want a shut doudown of government. We prefer not to have a continuing resolution. We have to make some decisions as we move forward. The white house is going to sign off when you say the white house, you mean the administration . Lets just say the administration. And whoever they may designate at the table. Madam speaker, 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 firsthand like john bolton and Mick Mulvaney to testify cheryl, cheryl, cheryl, dont fall into the secondhand stuff, really. That is such a fraudulent proposition put forth by the republicans. That is such a fraudulent propositi proposition. They know it. Thats why theyre talking about process rather than the substance of what we have heard. I just wont even dignify what theyre saying in that regard. I just wont. [ Inaudible Question ]. We are engaged in what the constitution charges the congress to do, to make its decisions. We are not here to be manipulated by the Obstruction Of Justice of the administration. On the one hand they say that it is secondhand. On the other hand it obstructs all the people they consider to
have firsthand knowledge from testifying, obstruction of congress, obstruction of just e justice. Back to hr we have been listening and watching speaker of the house nancy pelosi talk about yesterdays public phase of the Impeachment Inquiry, the speaker there talking about the somber, prayerful mood, also making it clear in no Uncertain Terms she did feel like the witnesses yesterday spoke to an abuse of power by the president and corroborated evidence of bribery. Meanwhile, in the past few minutes, a scene that we have seen unfortunately play out far too many times in this country, students leaving their high school. Many of these students with their hands in the air. Bottom right, someone leaving that high school on a stretcher. There has been another School Shooting, this time in santa
clarita, california. This is the scene at Saugus High School. Were told so far there are seven victims, seven people, at least seven have been shot, conditions unknown. We are monitoring this quite closely. Andrew blankenstein is standing by. One of our producers there, nbc Investigative Producer for us. Andrew, what more can you tell us . Reporter well, we know that obviously there was a shooting this morning. We know there