History. What weve learned today is President Trump is livid about it. This afternoon he sent a sixpage hyperbolefilled screed. Our own nbc sources tell us President Trump was very involved in the drafting process of what is essentially a sixpage twitter rant. Weve got much more on this troubling letter in a moment. By the way, he signed it. None of his lawyers would sign it. That might be telling. It comes as lawmakers have been meeting all day to establish the rules governing tomorrows proceeds in the house. In this hearing, republicans have stuck to their arguments that theyve largely been issuing all along which is attacking the process while democratic congressman jamie raskin, pinchhitting to Judiciary Committee chairman jerry nadler who had a family emergency. We present you not just with high crimes and misdemeanors but a constitutional crime in progress, up to this very minute. Mayor giuliani, the president s private lawyer, fresh from his overseas travel, looking to rehabilitate once again the discredited conspiracy theories at the heart of the president s defense, admitted that he participated directly in the Smear Campaign to oust ambassador yovanovitch from her job. The president s continuing course of conduct constitutes a clear and present danger to democracy in america. We cannot allow this misconduct to pass. It would be a sellout of our constitution, our foreign policy, our national security, and our democracy. Now, what congressman raskin was referring to are two newlypublished on the record interviews with Rudy Giuliani, where he admits efforts to oust the u. S. Ambassador to ukraine were because he thought she would frustrate his efforts to get ukraine to launch investigations into the bidens that of course would personally benefit the president , and two, he admitted that he told this to the president who did what . Had her removed. Rudy giuliani has been the public narrator yet he is not among the list of witnesses that Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer demanded, part of a bitter back and forth between the two leaders. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell made it clear hes not interested in entertaining any democratic witness requests, at least right now. If the house plows ahead and this ends up here in the senate, we certainly do not need jurors to start brainstorming witness lists for the prosecution and demanding to lock them in before weve even heard opening arguments. An interesting were going to parse that statement there, but theres one way to listen to that, Mitch Mcconnell indicating that maybe hell entertain witness requests during the trial. Bottom line, were heading into unknown territory. The president is raging, thats not a price. Any hope that democrats had that the impeachment act itself would be a check on his behavior in 2020, well, thats gone as his lawyer plows ahead with efforts to go off into foreign lands to try and get foreign governments to investigate the president s political rivals and the republicans continue to defend his actions. Z glenn kirchner, michael steel, joel payne join me. Glenn, let me start with the president s letter today. It seems as if every time republicans have coalesced around a comfortable defense of the president , all he and Rudy Giuliani do is make it that much harder to stick by him if youre a skeptical supporter of the president. It felt like all his tweets in the last year in one letter. Abuse of power, war on american democracy, election nullification scheme, more due process was afforded to those accused in the salem witch trials. This letter, i guess it was simply its simply an instruction packet for his supporters on social media because there doesnt seem to be any point to this letter as far as the process is concerned. I agree with you, chuck, and yet i have seen letters like this many times before as a federal prosecutor. Is that right . Oh, i have. Whether i was prosecuting rico cases against some of the most notorious gang members in d. C. Or standalone murder cases, these letters would come in not infrequently prior to trial, and they would be filled with allegations that the fbi is framing me, the prosecutor is out to get me, im the victim here, dont believe anything they say. We took those letters in stride because we knew exactly what those letters meant. It meant we were dealing with somebody who was truly guilty of the offences with which he was charged and he was not feeling good about his prospects of winning at trial. The defendants who had a really good defense and they knew they had a good shot at beating the charges would just kind of sit back and would be quietly confident about their odds in court. This is like a desperate jailhouse letter from a guilty pretrial defendant. Well, whats odd about it, michael steel, is that he does it at a time when arguably he didnt need to be doing this. Right. And by the way, this president , whatever hes accused of, he projects and accuses the other of. I got this piece of projection which is truly rich, you are the ones interfering in americas elections, you are the ones subverting americas democracy, you are the ones obstructing justice, you are the ones bringing pain and suffering. Im rubber, youre glue, michael steel. When i worked on the hill, we had a phrase, member management. It meant the member wanted to do something pretty stupid and you came up with other strategies to divert them from doing the thing they really wanted to do and shouldnt. The president wants a kangaroo court, he wants a show trial, he wants the bidens, he wants a spectacl spectacle, and hes not going to get a spectacle in the senate trial. Hes not going to have the circus he wants. He wants to call people he wants to hear from, allowing him to send this letter, just blistering everyone, that really serves no purpose whatsoever. I know youre wellwired into the white house. Whats the thinking of the screed beyond just giving social media supporters something to quote . One part of the screed that its important not to overlook, he says that people in the Faith Community are frustrated with pelosi for saying shes praying for President Trump and he basically alleges that shes lying when she makes those claims of religious faith. That very much highlights such a nasty thing. And it also highlights this friction that many religious conservative christians have with people like pelosi who are open and public about their faith but also politically very progressive. And it points to the extent to which white house advisers have sort of given purchase to this notion that on the right there actually is a marriage between faith and politics, that those things are inextricably linked and that when people arent part of that linkage, their faith is less legitimate. Joel, raskin was trying to make a case today that i think was sort of at the very least, maybe impeachment will serve as a check. But now theres a concern it may not check anything. Take a listen to what he had to say this morning. We can only ask what the 2020 election will be like, or indeed what any future election in america will be like if we just let this misconduct go and authorize and license president s to coerce, cajole, pressure, and entice foreign powers to enter our election campaigns on behalf of the president. Who will be invited in next . This is the democrat partys dilemma. I do think the rationale to go through with impeachment even though you know hes not going to get tossed out is to erect a guardrail and figure, hes not going to cross that line. But then he will, so then what . If youre a democrat, you cant allow the president to feel like he can act with impunity. And two, the base is looking at you. If democrats want to make sure their base understands theyre going to fight for the things they put them if power for, they have to show theyre willing to fight. I think its a catch22. I actually dont think most democrats are unhappy about that. I think nancy pelosi likes the fact that she was pressured into this. Remember, she was thoughtful about stepping into this impeachment morass to begin with. She didnt rush into it but was careful and kept her powder dry. This just in, jared golden, who is from the one Congressional District that voted for trump in the state of maine, the definition of a trump district that means something in 2020, is go to vote yes on abuse of power and no on obstruction, simply saying that in his mind on obstruction it didnt reach the threshold. Let me talk about Rudy Giuliani. Senate democrats arent asking for rudy to be one of the witnesses and frankly i understand why, its for the same reason i dont know if i want to invite Rudy Giuliani to do a television interview, which is are you giving a platform for a known misinformation abuser, if you will. And it doesnt matter, sort of, if he has gone past the ability to know truth from fiction, what do you do with a witness like him . You know, i guess you passively receive this ginnedup report that would probably be the product of fallen and disgraced ukrainian politicians and prosecutors and you file it in the circular file in congress. But, you know, i dont think Rudy Giuliani will let himself be placed under oath, because i really think after the question state your name, he would have a tough time being truthful and consistent with all the following questions. The other thing, chuck, he stands up and he seems to brag now about the fact that he got ambassador yovanovitch run out of her position. She was nothing but a good, strong, dedicated career public servant. And there were state Department Employees like ambassador yovanovitch who were involved in corruption and misconduct, thats something that the state department oig should take up. Thats something that the Criminal Division of the department of justice should take up. That is not something that Rudy Giuliani, president s personal tv lawyer, has any business involving himself in. By the way, we do need to remind people, this idea, donald trump sort of makes up the idea that he finds stuff, he has done this his entire life. The most infamous time he claimed his investigators had found things, which of course were bunk. Three weeks ago i thought he was born in this country. Now i have real doubts. I have people studying it and dont believe what theyre finding. You have people in hawaii, searching . Absolutely, and they cant believe what theyre finding. Probably true, they couldnt believe he was born in america, darn it. I think were all wondering why is giuliani sticking his head back up now. I think hes being set up for the fall guy. You still think that . I think hes very aware of that. Republicans on the House Committee are comfortable saying, i dont know whats going on with giuliani, the president has a lot of plausible deniability with giuliani, or he thinks he does. This is about giuliani protecting himself. There is probably not another National Politician who knows as acutely as trump does just how much political value there is in announcements about investigations. Trump knows, he learned that, he learned that, its part of the reason he got elected. He learned that from roy cohn, who manipulated and lied about stuff all the time. He became president because comey announced the continuation of the clinton investigation. Donald trump and innuendo are basically synonymous. Its his business model. Yes. But what happens, michael steel, to rob portman, pat toomey, when they see all the republicans from the house Judiciary Committee excuse me, the house intel committee, who praised ambassador yovanovitch and then you put up that interview last night by Rudy Giuliani and say, whos lying . This is the reason they want to keep the trial within tightlybound guardrails. If they talk about the facts that the house developed, theyre not overwhelming, in part because administration witnesses didnt testify, but they can make the case that the house fell short and it does not rise to the level of conviction. Glenn, would you want Rudy Giuliani to testify or not . Not in my defense. I would love to crossexamine him if he were an adverse witness, that would be great. But i do not think youre going to see anybody ask him to raise his right hand, swear an oath to tell the truth, and then start answering questions. I still got to think that at some point the Justice Department says, hang on there, were in the middle of something with him and thats when this stuff starts getting really interesting. Glenn kirchner, thank you, sir, for your expertise. Betg betsy, joel, and michael, you guys get to stick around. Coming up, what the consequences are if the president is acquitted. Impeachment could be a make or break decision for democrats from swing districts. Ill talk to one democrat who is voting for impeachment even if it might cost her her seat. Your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrows attack. If you fail we will lose sixteen hundred men. Your brother among them. We need to keep moving. Come on theres only one way this war ends. Last man standing. In america, the zip code youre born in can determine your future. But no matter what neighborhood you grow up in, the y creates opportunities for all. For a better us, donate to your local y today. For a better us, wh fake gagging noises its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. Well, audreys expecting. Twins grandparents we want to put money aside for them, so. Change in plans. Alright, lets see what we can adjust. Wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. Okay. Mom, are you painting again . You could sell these. Lemme guess, change in plans . At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. As Speaker Pelosi herself once said, it says the houses obligation to, quote, build an ironclad case to act. Thats Speaker Pelosi. Its the houses obligation to build an ironclad case to act, end quote. If they fail, they fail. Its not the senates job to leap into the breach and search desperately for ways to get to guilty. Welcome back. That was senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell this morning, the same Mitch Mcconnell who said publicly just days ago that hes coordinating with the White House Counsels Office on the pending Senate Impeachment trial. And after rejecting the democrats request to have four witnesses at the senate trial, he says he does not see himself as an impartial juror. Joining me now, another juror, in effect, in that trial, senator Sherrod Brown of ohio. Senator, i know youre a history buff like i am. Whats your impression of what the founders how the founders thought the senate would view itself when it came to being a juror . Im not easily shocked by Mitch Mcconnell. Almost everything hes done in his i mean, almost nothing hes done in his career has really shocked me. This one, i remember watching, my wife and i were connie and i were watching tv and saw it. I was incredulous because he knows better than that. He doesnt have respect for the institution, although you would think the majority leader of the u. S. Senate would. But there is increasing talk that he should recuse himself from this trial when we are supposed to sit there and judge the evidence. My biases, we all have them towards President Trump, people know what i think of him, i know what my friends think of him. Thats really immaterial. I sit there, im not a lawyer, chuck, but i sit there and listen to the prosecution, the house managers, listen to the president s defense. I make up my mind based only on the evidence and my questions and what comes out of the trial, not on my preconceptions and preconceived notions. All right, but senator but i understand you know what i mean, most of us look at this and think put it this way. Theres been three members of congress who disappeared with their party on impeachment. Two felt they had to leave their party in order to survive. That tells you how polarized we are, does it not . It does, but for the person thats one of the leaders of the trial to just say im not an unbiased juror, all of us should be open maybe trump will bring witnesses. Maybe hell bring mulvaney, maybe hell bring bolton forward, maybe hell change minds. I need to be at least open to that. Jurors are supposed to listen, not decide ahead of time. Im amazed how Mitch Mcconnell has demeaned the representative form of government we have by the way hes acted. It really is a Pretty Amazing spectacle when the leader of the senate does this. If you cant agree on a set of rules that you think would at least create a fair Playing Field for some presentation of the evidence, i dont know if you can call a trial with no witnesses a trial, but a presentation of the evidence, are democrats better off not seeing this trial happen . Does a trial that doesnt really have witnesses, that acquits the president , is that really, considering how he might take acquittal, is that a good idea for the republic . I think its not a good idea for the republic that the trial moves quickly and looks like a sham. Its not up to the democrats to aud all of a sudden pull it back. If the house passes impeachment articles tomorrow, we have a duty to do this, just like they think they have a duty to come forward. When you see the evidence here, and republicans arent willing to bring in witnesses . You hear the republicans saying they only criticize the process, theyre not defending the president s actions per se. Then they turn around and say this is all hearsay evidence. But theyre not allowing people who were in the room, who heard when saw the president , theyre not allowing them to testify. So thats the sham part of this. Theres going to be enough people in the public this occurs to that understand this, that its going to backfire on them politicall