Exactly . We have all of it as the 11th hour gets under way on a friday night. Good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 1,051 of this trump administration, and tonight the Trump White House is taking a pass on taking part in at least the next portion, the next phase of the impeachment process. As you may know on monday, the House Judiciary Committee led by new york democrat jerry nadler will hold a public hearing, this time on the evidence against President Trump. At 5 00 p. M. Eastern time today, to the surprise of no one really, the white house signaled it will not be taking part in mondays session or any other proceedings in the house. In a letter to the chairman, the white House Counsel said the inquiry is, quote, completely baseless and has violated basic principles of due process and fundamental fairness, adding, you should end this inquiry now and not waste even more time with additional hearings. The white house also signaled it is gearing up for the longer fight ahead. If theyre going to do this, if the democrats want this fight, its something the president is willing to have. So we have that. The New York Times notes the decision to not take part in the house inquiry, quote, clears the way for house committees to debate and approve impeachment articles as soon as next week, allowing a vote by the full house by december 20th. The time legislative day of the year. And it all but ensures that the president s defense will not be heard before early january when the senate is expected to gbegi a trial. The president is counting on the Republican Senate to supply ammunition for a counterattack if, as expected, the house votes to impeach him. But earlier today on this network, one democratic east coast senator suggested there could be a few republican defectors when it comes to supporting trump. Have you spoken to a single republican colleague in the senate who is even considering voting for impeachment . Yes. You have . Yes. Okay. Would you like to name him or her . No. How many . Its a small list on one hand. On the other hand, adam schiff, the house intel chairman, is shepherding the actual investigation, and he told the new yorkers susan glasser, a Senate Proceeding could be even more productive, saying, quote, there may very well be a great body of evidence at the trial thats not available to us today. He did not elaborate. Today we learned three republican senators there they are are now starting their own inquiry into ukraine just as the president wants. Again the Conspiracy Theory regarding ukrainian involvement in our election is disinformation. It was floated by the russians, and now of course some of our own politicians are repeating it. The russians were, of course, blamed for our election interference, and the russians, lets not forget, are at war with ukraine. Rudy giuliani was in ukraine this week and said this about his latest efforts there. All i can tell you is that i am doing today, all day and all night maybe, what ive been doing for a year and a half. Im representing my client as a lawyer. I am first i had to prove that he wasnt involved in russian collusion, and i obtained all of this information, including the information on joe biden over a year ago. I am not involved in the 2020 election. That is democratic garbage. What im involved in is defending my client, who is innocent, against false charges. So thats the news from rudy. There are a couple of other events to keep an eye on next week. Monday ukraines president zelensky meets with Vladimir Putin in paris. It will be their first meeting, something to look forward to. And the Washington Post reports next week, putins foreign minister, sergey lavrov, will be in washington for his first visit to the u. S. Since that now infamous Oval Office Meeting with trump in 2017. It is unclear if lavrov will have the pleasure of seeing the president this time. He is scheduled to meet with secretary of state mike pompeo. Also on monday, were expecting the justice departments inspector generals report into the fbi russia investigation, and no one is more eager to see that document than the president. I hope they now go and take a look at the oranges, the oranges of the investigation, the beginnings of that investigation. They were spying in my campaign and it went right up to the top and Everybody Knows it, and now were going to find out. I think its possibly the biggest scandal in political history in this country, maybe beyond political. Bigger than watergate as far as im concerned. Im hearing the report is very powerful. I hear theres a lot of devastating things in that report. I think its going to be a very big thing and well see what happens. The white house got one new sign that the economy appears to be immune from the crises swirling around it. The United States added 266,000 jobs in the month of november. The Unemployment Rate is at a 50year low at 3. 5 . The 21st consecutive month with a rate of 4 or lower. Even so, the president s Approval Rating in three big important states in the 2020 race is still underwater, and political types are paying a lot of attention to this. Notably the latest Morning Consult poll has a 55 disapproval for trump in the states of iowa, wisconsin, and michigan. The warnings all around, its early yet. Hear for our leadoff discussion at t at, susan page, Melanie Zanona and annie karni. Great to have you all onboard. Susan, id like to begin with you. Is the white house wrong to take a pass on this round of the process . Well, it is at odds with how previous president s have behaved when theyre facing impeachment inquiries. Both president clinton and president nixon had their lawyers actively participating in Judiciary Committee deliberations at that time. Of course President Trump has often taken his own path on almost everything. It does leave democrats a path to talk without him countering, without the white house itself countering the narrative theyre going to lay out for a while until the senate trial in january. On the other hand, the republicans Congressional Republicans have been so solidly behind the president so far that they have carried his case. It is different from how other president s have behaved, though, thats clear. Annie karni, i know not everyone in trump world is thoroughly psyched about rudys travel plans this time of year. Are they as psyched about the strategy Going Forward, the plan of koucounterattack as we know tonight . Well, they really want to get to the senate trial because they think they have a much bigger chance of putting forth a counterproposal here. Weve seen these three gop senators already making the argument, trying to reinvestigate ukraines involvement in the 2016 election. We see trying to call witnesses like alexander chalupa, a former dnc operative who is accused of meddling in the ukrainian working with the ukrainians to meddle in the election. Talking about calling people like the whistleblower and adam schiff. These are dramatic moments that are not necessarily going to happen, but are trying to mount a counteroffensive. They think that the senate trial, where they have backing from Senate Republicans and they really know the outcome here, that theyre not going to convict the president , is a better Playing Field than in the house. Thats what we saw in Pat Cipollones letter today, and thats basically what weve seen since the beginning of this process weeks ago. Mel, lets pick right up on that point. As long as the phrase cooler heads in the senate is not an oxymor oxymoron, if cooler heads in the senate prevail, then none of these witnesses on the wish list from pelosi to either of the two bidens to schiff is going to materialize at the trial though it wont be lacking for action. Is everyone straight up and down just referring to the senate trial as the president s firewall still . That is the thinking on capitol hill right now. But theyre going to be sorely disappointed if theyre expecting the senate gop to follow the hardline tactics weve seen in the house. Number one, gop leaders have made Crystal Clear that they dont want this to turn into a circus. You have to keep in mind Mitch Mcconnell is defending a tough map. There are a number of vulnerable republicans up for reelection. And in their minds, they need to have a thoughtful and serious trial in order to be able to cast this historic vote on impeachment. And the other thing to keep in mind is math. Its a simple math problem. Republicans can only lose three republicans for any procedural maneuvers they want to do, any witnesses they want to haul in. Already from the senators i was talking to this week, there are a number of them already pouring cold water on a lot of the ideas weve heard floated from the president himself. Even though they are absolutely committed to defending him, its probably not going to be in the style that trump and his congressional house allies want to see. Susan page, lets talk about nancy pelosi. In terms of Democratic House leadership, she is second only to mr. Rayburn as they called him. Of course he was richly rewarded with an Office Building and then some. It now can be told you are writing the book on nancy pelosi. Share with our audience what the introduction to this chapter of her life might be. Well, this is, i think, the chapter that all the preceding chapters were preparation for. You know, shes had this very long career. She not necessarily planned to still be in office at this point as things turned out, she is not only in power but in power. She has control of this democratic caucus. The complaints and the gripes that you heard during the last campaign, the promises of some new democratic members of congress that they wouldnt vote for her, you dont hear that anymore. She has the trust of this caucus and control of this caucus. She is calling the shots, the broad shots when it comes to how democrats will proceed on impeachment. And she has made it pretty clear that she wants a narrow process that gets done by the end of this year, that it gets sent to the senate to do whatever it is theyre going to do with it. And by doing that, in her view, the house will have done its duty in saying that the pressure on ukraine to investigate the president s political rivals was improper and deserving of impeachment regardless of whether the senate goes along with a conviction that would remove him from office. And, melanie, lets pick up right there. Are the democrats worried about defections in the house, in their own ranks . I think i can think of at least one or two at this early date. House Democratic Leaders have said were not going to whip this. Were not going to try to force members into impeachment. But at the same they are very cognizant of the fact they cant afford to lose many defections and they also dont want republicans to seize on that and say, look how Many Democrats arent even voting for impeachment. This is a bipartisan vote against impeachment. So its going to be a challenge for pelosi and her leadership team. They need to be able to craft these articles of impeachment in a way that can attract the most number of democrats. We still dont know if theyre going to include the mueller findings in the Mueller Report if the articles f theyre going to keep it focused narrowly on ukraine. Annie karni, its time we talk about rudy. Jeremy bash earlier this week agreed that rudys travels are redefining chutzpah. We can all agree to that. But what about things like surveillance, the area of the world where hes been working and digging and talking this week. His communications back to the United States with the guy he calls his client, who also happens to be the president of the United States. Well, one thing that rudy said in the clip you just played is that hes always had one clear role, which is defending his client. And one thing that rudy has not had throughout this chapter in his life is one clear role. The white house has never view him really as trumps lawyer. They viewed him as a freelancing spokesman and longtime friend. Theyve long wanted him out of trumps circle, but trump has kept him in. Then he has his own business interests that hes pursuing in different parts of the world. This insistence that hes always been acting on behalf of this one client is simply not accurate and its certainly to see rudy flying to ukraine at this stage of the story, when he is central to it, is i mean jeremy put it great. Only rudy would have that chutzpah to go there and continue on as if hes not at the center of this maelstrom himself. Well see when trump really pulls the cord on him completely or if rudy is simply at this point too close and has been too close for too long for him to do that. Melanie, whats the backup plan if this i. G. Report fizzles when matched against the hopes and dreams of the gop . Ignore it and move on . It sounds like it will fizzle. I think there be something for everyone in this report. But all eyes are going to be on william barr after this to see what he does and whether hes going to be willing to accept the findings of that report. Much obliged to our big three on a friday night. We greatly appreciate you coming on and helping us out. Coming up for us, our next guest goes there. He says any of his fellow republicans who are willing to protect a president by embracing conspiracy theories is guilty of treason. And later, it is a new unauthorized biography of a formidable and enigmatic immigrant who just happens to be our nations first lady. The author is here with us tonight to talk about Melania Trump as the 11th hour is just Getting Started on this friday evening. Ive lived the ugly politics of the Republican Party. I regret some of those campaigns i was a part of. But i dont understand why republicans who know better, republicans with security clearances who know how brutal putin is, who knows that he murders dissidents and poisons former i dont know why richard burr and rob portman and people with brains and knowledge go along with it. I get the republican base. I dont get why republicans who know better go along with it. Nicolle wallace in this very studio this afternoon. The state of the Republican Party under donald trump also comes in for a brutal analysis in a new piece in Rolling Stone written by rick wilson. Its titled the traitors among us. The author writes this. America is in the midst of a treason boom right now and more than a few people in trumps immediate orbit and trump himself richly and actually deserve the title of traitor. As the impeachment hearings have worn on and as evidence of the complete moral collapse of the Republican Party has become more and more evident, it has become quite obvious there really are traitors among us. For his part, of course, here are a few examples of what the president considers treason. This was a fake witch hunt, and it should never be allowed to happen to another president again. This was treason. This was high crimes. The conversation was perfect. Unless you heard the adam schiff version where he made up my conversation. He actually made it up. It should be criminal. It should be treasonous. The whistleblower is a disgrace to our country. He should be sued and maybe for treason. Maybe for treason. Back with us, the aforementioned rick wilson, republican strategist and author, who is following up on his first book with his new work running against the devil due out just next month. Rick, traitor and treason are tough words as you well know. Make your case. They are. Brian, the president started by devaluing these words, applying them to folks who had served our military, served our country, served our Intelligence Community for months and months before this. I kept wondering to myself where is the line hell not cross when it comes to accusing other people of treason. Then i looked at the people who enable him, the people who are supporting him in the face of what is obviously an ongoing intelligence warfare effort by Vladimir Putin, that they have now embraced and all their running interference for donald trump and part and parcel of that. Theyre using talking points that come out of Vladimir Putin propaganda shops. I think the word treason, when it applies, you got to call it. I think a lot of these people are betraying their country, betraying the oath they swore when they entered office and betraying the values that made this country what it actually is. Part of that was recognizing when enemies are trying to interfere in our elections and our democracy, and ive called it. This article has had a terrible reaction with the magas so i think ive struck a pretty solid nerve. Given your personal history with the party and all the thought time that goes into all the writing you do, give us the answer of how the gop got here. They went from law and order classically russiahating, russiadespising party to this kind of collection of public supplicants. How did this happen . They have abandoned as i describe it in the article, the complete moral collapse of the Republican Party is coincident to and caused by donald trump. Trumps love of russia, his love of putin, his love of authoritarian strongmen, they look at him as something beyond anything w anything we could have imagined. They love him more than any other republican or any other president ever. That cultlike devotion to trump leaves the elected members of the party to engage in behavior th