President trump. And its now ten days before the Senate Returns to capitol hill, presumably to take up impeachment. And yet, Speaker Pelosi says she wont send the articles of impeachment to the senate until she sees the details of a trial process. Meantime, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell and minority leader Chuck Schumer remain at odds over the terms of that trial. With no word of any negotiations resuming anytime soon. So for now, we are stuck exactly where weve been for more than a week. In an impeachment purgatory with a whole lot of unknowns. Will Speaker Pelosis strategy work . How quickly will a senate trial happen . Will we hear from witnesses who didnt testify in the house process . And how will all of this affect the president ial election . To help kick things off, im joined by former california senator barbara boxer, who was a juror in former president bill clintons impeachment trial nearly 21 years ago. She is now the host of the boxer podcast. And with me here in washington is anne gearan, Washington Post white house correspondent. Juanita toliver, campaign director. Thanks to all of you for being here. There are a lot of other places you could be on friday of a holiday week. But a grateful nation thanks you for being here. Senator boxer, first to you, as for this delay with Speaker Pelosi withholding the articles of impeachment, im told by sources familiar that the strategy, theres nothing nefarious here. What shes trying to do is shes trying to provide time and political cover for Chuck Schumer to work out a deal with Mitch Mcconnell. Democrats believe that if they had any leverage in this process, its at the start of the senate trial, not during it. And so before we distill the politics of all this, i want to draw on your experience. And help us understand how the dynamics of a senate trial will look very much unlike what weve seen transpire so far in the house. Absolutely. And i want to say what Speaker Pelosi has done is to shine the light where it belongs right now, which is on Mitch Mcconnell, who is the majority leader of the senate. And to just draw on my experience, i could tell you it is nothing like what i saw in the United States senate. In a very painful time for me, personally, and for especially women, democrats who were so disappointed in what had happened. It was an impeachment about lying about sex. It wasnt a trial about endangering the National Security of the country. Or obstructing congress. So it was very different. But what we had then was the majority leader, trent lott and the minority leader working hand in glove. Not as Mitch Mcconnell says hes working hand in glove with trumps lawyers. No. They worked hand in glove. And to prove the point, at the end of the whole process, ill never forget this. The two of them gave us mementos. A pin that showed we had kind of lived through this together. This is exactly what congresswoman Speaker Pelosi wants to do. Is to let people sit back for five minutes in this world where everythings so fast. And impress upon mcconnell hes doing the wrong thing. He needs to put country over party here. You make a great point because as i understand it, the Clinton White house wanted to dismiss with the senate trial. Make it seem some sort of partisan vendetta. But there were democratic senators, like yourself at the time, who wouldnt go along with that because they thought that what the president did was rep rehencible and they didnt want to be seen defending it. Contrast that with what we have today. There are very few republicans, you might count Lisa Murkowski perhaps given her latest comments. But there are very few republicans, no republicans i can think of besides her and potentially mitt romney who are possibly would be seen breaking with President Trump in this upcoming trial. Right. And and im so proud of senator murkowski. But remember, she said nothing about the gravity of the situation. She was just making a strong point that Mitch Mcconnell had said some disturbing things about, you know, hes like the foreman of the jury. Working with the defendant. This is in in real life, in the context of a courtroom, he would be off the jury. So i think its a very important point to note. That we, democrats, at the time were willing to go on the record saying what bill clinton did was wrong. He shouldnt have had these affairs. He shouldnt have lied about them. But at the end of the day, it didnt rise to, you know, a high crime and misdemeanor. We did go on the record. And these republicans are running around hiding under their desks. I have not heard any of them say maybe maybe mitt romney. A couple of them may have said they were disturbed by this. Disturbed is the word that they use. So it is so very, very different. And, you know, it it is true that it was 21 years ago. But in in the history books, thats not that long. We should be seeing mcconnell sitting down with Chuck Schumer. If you read the constitution, it says, the senate the senate has the sole power over the trial. It doesnt say the majority leader of the senate. It says the senate. Yeah. Anne gearan, Mitch Mcconnell has a couple constituencies he has to watch out for. He also has the republican in the white house who he has to keep content, at least to keep him out of the way so mcconnell can can run the strategy that he sees fit. Yeah. I mean, the second of those jobs is the more difficult one for him. The president has tweeted completely opposite things within a week about whether he wants a trial to go forward and whether he thinks a trial is legitimate. I mean, if youre Mitch Mcconnell, youve got a pretty narrow line to walk there. But, you know, mcconnell, i think, is does not have a particularly difficult job ahead of him in terms of party, you know, reigning in anybody, party loyalty. Its been interesting to me that he hasnt come down like a ton of bricks on Lisa Murkowski, whose criticism was directly pointed at him. Yeah. When when she told nbc affiliate in alaska, i think, a day ago that, you know, she didnt like the fact that mcconnell was essentially calling the cards already. Saying that he would work with the white house and that he believes the president is, essentially, innocent. That this isnt going to be a trial in in the usual sense. That offended her on a on a process level. And as senator boxer pointed out, she didnt go and i think you pointed out she didnt go a step further and say that she, you know, is considering voting, you know, against the president , against mcconnell. And if thats the the you know, the greatest, you know, foot out of the tent. Doesnt take a lot. Right . Mcconnells job is going to be terribly difficult when we finally get to a trial in january. Hopefully. Right . Yeah. I want to weigh in on that because the conventional thinking, this is what democrats are hoping for. Is that there will be at least four republicans who will either have a crisis of conscience or who are up for reelection and it will be in their political best interests to work with democrats. And thats how Chuck Schumer turns his 47 to 51. And then he is in the drivers seat and he gets the trial he wants. But are there really, though . Are there four republicans that are going to come out . Im not going to say no yet. The reason why is because 71 of americans want to hear from witnesses. 55 of americans are now supportive of removing trump from office. And theres been a nosedive in people directly, explicitly opposed to his removal from office. They want to get the facts. They want to get the details. And the more you have mcconnell saying forget facts, forget details, i am aligning myself with trump and the white house on this every step of the way. Thats really turning off americans who are looking for those facts. Looking for those witnesses. Who trump has said, no, yall arent gonna come forward. So instead of prioritizing the truth, Mitch Mcconnell is rushing forward with exonerating trump with no foundation. Yeah. And michael, as you know, its all of these republicans now who privately have all these misgivings and theres all this behind the scenes hammering about President Trump. Who cares what they say privately . It matters what they say publicly. And right now, for the most part, theyre lining up behind the president. I think as it pertains to strategy here, if i was the majority leader, i would allow senators to do whats in their best political interest. I mean, you talked about in the opening of the show his number one duty is to preserve his majority by any means necessary. And that means you have to give room to individuals, like murkowski, like Susan Collins out of maine, to perhaps have a public mild rebuke. Senator boxer spoke about 21 years ago how republicans and democrats cooperated with each other. The beautiful thing about that was they actually had trust with one another. Republicans trusted democrats. You know, vice versa. The issue now is neither side trusts the other. And its really difficult to try to cooperate or find some level of agreement on anything when you automatically presume the other side is out for bad. Out for wrong. And so from my perspective, i think it would be foolish for mcconnell to completely tout the line of the president. I think he has to be very, very careful here. You look at the numbers across the country right now. And some of those senators who are running in very vulnerable states, you are seeing a huge increase in enthusiasm and excitement among democraticleaning voters. That would concern me because in some of those states, the pool of voters for those republicans to pull from is completely limited in comparison to some of their democratic potential running mates. You have a far more Diverse Group of voters. So you have to watch those things, jeff. And i think the majority leader is going to do so. And in doing so, i expect him to say if you have to be somewhat critical, im going to give you the room to do so. Yeah. Juanita and senator boxer, im going to put this question to both of you. The strategist and the practitioner. There is this asymmetry in our politics, right . Where democrats there is an expectation that democrats are intellectually honest and that theyre like, theyre honest, consistency to their honesty. That republicans just dont necessarily have to put up with. Right . Its just its just its just the way it is. And so the reason i say that is because already youre hearing from republicans make the point Speaker Pelosi said impeaching President Trump was imperative. It had to happen urgently. And yet, shes withholding articles of impeachment for an additional two or three weeks. What happened . Turn it around. Democrats should focus on the fact that mcconnell has still not put forward any rules or procedures for how this trial will proceed in a manner that is not rigged. In a manner that does not already exonerate trump. Thats going to be really focused on the facts and getting the truth out to americans. Because thats whats missing here right now. We have mcconnell essentially stonewalling the public from knowing the realities from the people closest to trump. The people who would have the latest information and the direct understanding of how he interacted with ukraine. How he maneuvered things within the white house, as well as omb to withhold aid. And then ultimately release it, right . Youre missing the biggest actors here and thats what mcconnell is looking to stonewall and obstruct. How do democrats keep this momentum . First, i want to talk about Speaker Pelosi. Anyone with a heartbeat and a pulse knows she did not want to go down this road. So for the republicans to say, oh, all she wanted is impeachment. She really didnt. She she didnt do it until trump, as she said, selfimpeached with what he did in terms of the ukraine president and shaking him down to get dirt on joe biden. That was just a bridge too far. So then she did move forward. And she moved forward, i think, in a way that made a lot of sense. And now, shes withholding the articles so that we can all focus on the rules, as your guest said, of this trial. Now, theres two things that govern this trial. One, the constitution, which as you noted, is very terse on the subject. But there are also rules of the senate that got laid down. And its very clear that theres house managers. And they present their case. The president can present his case in person or through his counsel. And then theres deliberations. And the question of whether there ought to be witnesses. Its pretty straightforward. If mcconnell doesnt like those rules, he can try to overturn them. But it takes 67 votes. So i think his job, in his hes got to see if hes got a solid 51 votes to dismiss the charg charges at any point during the trial or to exonerate at the end of the trial and whether he can hold back the desire for witnesses. And i would love to see the Democrats Press hard for more witnesses. As one of y70 of the people want more witnesses. You know, where is john bolton . Where are where is don mcgahn . Where are others . So lets see how it goes. I think its going to be very interesting. And last point id make is that mcconnells taking heat from his own state. Hes had a couple editorials harshly against his the way hes proceeding. And his Approval Rating is pretty low. And i have to say this. Hes got a good opponent. So its interesting. Former senator barbara boxer. Thanks for your time. Great to see you as always. Ahead, President Trump isnt taking a holiday from his twitter feed. How he is trying to take control of the narrative with impeachment trial looming. And later, hes been defended and praised by President Trump but some of Eddie Gallaghers platoon members tell a very different story. The disturbing accounts about the former navy s. E. A. L. Accused of war crimes. Mes. Tart my heart by motley crue truck honks wheels screeching clapping sound of can hitting bag and bowl clapping always there in crunch time. 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. Im part of a community of problem solvers. We make ideas grow. From an everyday solution. To one that can take on a bigger challenge. From packaging tape. To tape that can bond materials to buildings. And planes. One idea can unlock a breadth of solutions. At 3m, we are solving problems that improve lives. And you know what they aisay about curiosity. Itll ruin your house. So get allstate and be better protected from mayhem, like meow. President trump is keeping up his string of twitter attacks on democrats over this holiday week. Including calling impeachment a hoax, accusing House Speaker nancy pelosi of trying to rig the trial, and blasting out protrump commentary from his favorite network, fox news. The ongoing twitter tirade, of course, comes as the rules for the senate trial and the trial itself are in limbo. With Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell and minority leader Chuck Schumer locked in a standoff. Democrats insist any trial must include witnesses. Specifically, the president s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former National Security advisor, john bolton, who the administration blocked from testifying in the house investigation. Here now is democratic congressman Jerry Connolly of virginia. He serves on the oversight and Foreign Affairs committees. So when Congress Comes back this first full week of january, what are the next steps in this impeachment process . Well, depending on what happens in the senate, the house will transmit articles of impeachment and name impeachment managers. That first week you think . Well, if if certain conditions, i think, are met. I dont speak for the speaker. But i think one of the reasons for withholding the articles of impeachment is, a, to provide some space for schumer and mcconnell to work out rules similar to the rules that trent lott and dashel worked out in the previous impeachment. But secondly, to get some clarification on just how impartial the Senate Majority leader and republican colleagues in the senate are prepared to be. They take an oath. A separate oath for impeachment. Promising, under oath, to be impartial jurors. Its the only time the senate takes a second oath other than that oath of office itself. That has to be taken seriously. It cant be trivialized. And i think, correctly, the speaker is deeply disturbed. Most of us are by some of the statements coming from republican members of the senate. Especially, the majority leader himself. Yeah. Before Congress Went on break, the House Speaker held a press conference. I was there. And she said she wasnt going to name the house managers. Those lawmakers who, effectively, prosecute the case on the senate floor, before she knew what the senate trial would look like. Its logical. It makes sense. The general doesnt send the army to the battlefield until she knows what the batt