Whopping 38 seconds of Senate Business. Senate will come to order. The clerk will read the communication to the senate. Washington, d. C. , december 26, 2019, to the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3 of the standing rules of the senate i hereby appoint the honorable john kennedy a senator from the state of the louisiana to perform the duties of the chair signed chuck grassly, president protemporary. Under the previous order the Senate Stands adjourned until 2 00 p. M. On monday, december 30th, 2019. Boom, and that was it. That was the entire senate workday. Senator kennedy gavels in, orders the reading of a letter that puts him in charge of the senate for today and then uses that power to immediately adjourn until next week. Not bad for a days work. I think my favorite part here, look at this right at the beginning look at the woman right in front of senator kennedy, shes a staffer. She motions to senator kennedy exactly when hes supposed to bang the gavel presumably so that the senate is gaveled in at the correct appointed time. Watch closely. She holds her hand up, watch this, there you go, hands up, wait for it, wait for it, okay, bang the gavel. Senate will come to order. The clerk will read the communication to the senate. All right, every workplace has its holiday traditions. Maybe you and your colleagues do a secret santa. In the senate they make one member hoof it back to washington occasionally to bang a gavel so that president s cannot sneak in any appointees while the senate is out of town. But one thing was slightly unusual today on capitol hill. Was that when senator kennedy faced his duties and he emerged from the Capitol Building in his holiday senate casual wear reporters were waiting to pepper him with questions. Because even though the capitol is sleepily right now, there is no pressing Senate Business about to happen today or tomorrow or even next week. All eyes are nevertheless on the senate because as soon as it does reconvene were expecting to start learning the contours of the impeachment trial for the president of the United States. The biggest unanswered question, the main point of contention between Senate RepublicanMajority Leader Mitch Mcconnell and the democratic minority leader is whether there will be any witnesses called. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has named four Top Administration officials that he would like to call as witnesses in the senate trial. And the democrats only need four republicans to join them to get what they want. Were going to have more in just a minute on the one republican senator who is signaling that she may not be in lock step with Mitch Mcconnell on this. But its worth putting a spotlight for a second on one republican one reason that Republican Senators May be so resistant to calling witnesses. The house took testimony from several witnesses youll recall in its impeachment hearings, and that testimony even from senior trump appointed officials really, really did not go well for the white house. Even if you did not personally find the testimony from those witnesses compelling, even if you didnt watch much of the testimony at all, just the fact of all these incredibly impressive, ipeckably credentialed Public Servants coming forward to tell the truth about what they witnessed was a powerful rebuke to a white house that has often seemed allergic to truthfulness. Take bill taylor. He was tapped by the administration, the Trump Administration to be the acting ambassador to ukraine after the president fired the previous ambassador for ostensibly standing in the way of trumps scheme to pressure the Ukrainian Government for political dirt. Once bill taylor took up his post in ukraine and came to learn about the president s scheme, he famously texted his diplomatic colleagues, quote, i think its crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with a political campaign. Now, bill taylor joined the Foreign Service under president reagan. He has served every president since, republican and democrat. He came out of retirement to take this post in ukraine only only after the secretary of state mike pompeo assured him that america would not falter in its strong support for ukraine against russia. And, again, regardless of the details of bill taylors testimony, which was damning for the president , if youre donald trump and youre trying not to get impeached bill taylor is not the guy you want testifying against you. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you for being here today. Ambassador taylor, what year did you graduate from west point . 1969. Was it the height of the vietnam war . The height was about that time. What was your class rank at west point . I was number 5. How many people in your class . 800. 800 cadets, you were number 5 . Yes, sir. So when youre top 1 of your class at west point you probably get your pick of assignments, but you picked the infantry. I did, sir. Yes, sir. You were Rifle Company commander. Sir . Whered you serve . In vietnam. Did you see combat in vietnam, sir . I did. Did you earn any comendations for that service . I was awarded the combat infantry badge which is the highest im proudest of. There was a bronze star, an air medal with v. Thats for valor, isnt it, sir . It is. On august 28th you find yourself in ukraine with the National Security advisor mr. Bolton, right . Yes, sir. And you convey to him your concerns. He tells you you should bring it up with the secretary of state. Yes, sir. Have you ever sent a cable like that . How many times in your career have you sent a cable directly to the secretary of state . Once. This time. Yes, sir. In 50 years . Rifle company dont send cables but yes, sir. Bill taylor testified on the very first day of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry, and you can see why impeachment investigators wanted americans to hear from him. Decades of military and diplomatic experience to his name, served under several republican president s, tried to sound the alarm when he thought he saw American Foreign policy being undermined on the ground in ukraine. Heres the thing. One week from today bill taylor is out of a job. The wall street journal was first to report that secretary of state mike pompeo ordered that taylor clear out his desk because pompeo is coming to visit ukraine on january 3rd. Quote, mr. Taylor is planning on leaving the country on january 2nd and had understood that mr. Pompeo wanted to avoid being photographed with him while visiting ukraine. The daily beast further reported pompeo is in fact going to avoid the American Embassy in kiev all together and just take meetings at his hotel. Wouldnt want to go to the embassy and get any bill taylor cooties. This is the same mike pompeo who dragged bill taylor out of retirement, but giving him personal assurances that strong support for ukraine would remain american policy. That is the policy bill taylor stood up for. And now mike pompeo wont even be seen in the same country with him. The decisions by taylor and other impeachment witnesses to go public have not been without consequences. Not just for the president and for the country but for themselves. In the Washington Post greg miller and greg jaffy paint a sobering picture how things have gone for Government Employees who have dared to speak up about the president s extortion scheme. Lieutenant colonel Alexander Vindman the top advisor on ukraine at the National Security counsel he was on the infamous july 25th call between ukraine and the president. He was so alarmed that he alerted the white house lawyers. Now, vindman still works at the white house but as the post puts it, quote, vindman who was born in ukraine moved to the United States with his family at age 3 and earned a purple heart in the war in iraq, has been taunted by trump, cast as disloyal by the president s allies and falsely accused of plotting with the whistleblower to undermine the president. The former top russia advisor at the white house fiona hill also testified in the impeachment hearings about her attempts to block the Pressure Campaign that she saw being carried out against the new Ukrainian Government. The post reports that hill, quote, has endured obscene phone calls to her home phone according to people familiar with the matter and vicious assaults from far right media. Alex jones, the conspiracy mongerer who operates the info wars website devoted much of his broadcast the day after her testimony to smears against hill. For hill the attacks were a continuation of an astonishing level of hostility she witnessed during the two years she served in the white house. Trump loyalists drafted internal enemies list, coworkers were purged, nsc security teams logged hundreds of external threats against hill and other officials all fueled by a steady stream of far right smears. For months hill arrived at work nearly each day to find venomous messages left on her work phone by a caller from florida. The same woman called hill at home several times frightening her young daughter. And remember the whistleblower who triggered the house investigation . Well, since being outed by right wing media and several republican lawmakers he, quote, continues to work on issues relating to russia and ukraine. But when threats against him spike often seemingly spurred by president ial tweets, he is driven to and from work by Armed Security officers. The post concludes, quote, three years into trumps presidency the list of perceived enemies continues to expand. For decades the gop cast itself as the champion of the fbi, cia, pentagon and other National Security institutions. But over the past three years republicans have repeatedly turned on those agencies casting, quote, unelected bureaucrats as the true villains of the impeachment scandal. Joining me now is greg miller, National Security reporter for the Washington Post and the lead author on that piece i have quoted so extensively from. Good to see you tonight. Thank you for joining us. You wrote about what has happened to some of the career officials who have been swept up in this impeachment. What effect is it having on the Foreign Service itself and on the career Civil Servants who make the government run . I think its hard to know the full extent of the damage this is causing, and it may be something we dont really come to grasp fully for another generation or so. I mean, recruiting numbers for the state department have been down the last couple of years. Morale at the state department is near alltime lows or at least lows in terms of recent historical standards. But, you know, the environment inside the government right now in many of these places is so toxic and so hostile in a way i just dont think the broader public fully comprehends what has been unleashed here. Our purpose to release this story was to document what it was like to live through that firsthand day after day after day. Right, and history has shown us whistle blowers always have a tough time or people who come out against either their companies or the government often have a tough time before history writes them into the noble characters that they are. But i want to ask you about something you wrote in your piece. You say, quote, some of the responsibility for the mounting Collateral Damage falls on career officials and political appointees who took jobs in the administration despite deep objections to the president s view. These officials hoped they could steer the unconventional president who has an affinity for autocrats and aversion towards allies. There are a lot of people who joined the government at the beginning of this term who stayed in government having been career people saying we can keep this ship from going off course. When you say they bear responsibility, what do you mean . Well, i think we felt it was important to acknowledge in our story that these are people who made decisions to work for an administration led by a president whos views and conduct many of them actually find abhorrent. This is ultimate delima of the trump led government ware going through now. When they find people to come on any level of expertise say russia or crimea or very consequential matters of National Security who have views that correspondent to the president its really difficult. So in case after case after case you have people coming agreeing to take jobs out of a sense of duty. And one of the things we point out in the story is trump now has turned on these people. Hes repeatedly called them nevertrumpers when in fact they are are the opposite. They agreed to join this administration and take jobs others refused to take at some personal cost. But them being so out of sync with the president on his policy agenda has created and fed this internal friction that were writing about. Your description of whats going on with fiona hill makes it hard to understand how she continues to be able to come in and do her job every day. Vindman same thing, Lieutenant Colonel vindman. Are they actually able to do their jobs under this sort of pressure and with this sort of isolation . I mean, as i keep a moment ago i used the word duty, and i think that is a very meaningful word for people like Lieutenant Colonel vindman who continues to go to work at the white house each and every day and to do what is supposed to be his job. Now, i mean what happens with his work product is an entire other question. This is somebody whos there to help manage policy on ukraine. And he is there writing reports and analytic papers and things like this that dont go anywhere near the president. I think its just astonishing hes been in that job for such a long time, never spoken a word with President Trump, never had any interaction with him except for the president to taunt him and insult him in public. For your piece you also spoke with steve bannon, the president s former chief strategist, whos called for the, quote, deconstruction of the Administrative State. Do you get theres a plan in the administration to undermine what they call the deep state or the Administrative State . You know, thats a great question and i think it probably goes too far say theres an actual coherent plan under way and its because you have all these different agendas. We spoke with bannon in part because when he came in as President Trumps principle advisers early on in the white house this was his declared war on the establishment. He wanted the mass removals of Public Officials from all ranks of government. President trump never really has a lot of hostility towards the government, towards the cia and fbi, but he doesnt think in those sort of ideological terms the way bannon does, and so bannon ended up being purged at one point. What i think is most startling now is the fact that much of the Republican Party has now embraced this aspect of trumpism where its no longer as it was early in the trump presidency. You had him attacking these institutions, and then you would have republican defenders out there like now deceased senator john mccain. I mean, the entire Republican Party has embraced this idea of talking these institutions to protect trumps presidency, and that has really thrown things off balance in our democracy. Remarkable story, great reporting. Greg miller is National Security reporter for the Washington Post. Thank you for your time tonight. We mentioned earlier that all eyes are now on the sent as the new year approaches because that of course is where the president s impeachment trial will ultimately be held. If Senate Democrats are going to get the Trump Administration witnesses they want for that trial, they need four republicans to join them in the rule making phase of this, not to oust the president. Now, they are said to be looking particularly to republican senators like Lisa Murkowski of alaska and Susan Collins of maine who have but their party in the past and now senator murkowski has set the political world abuzz in her interview. While sharply critical how House Democrats have run the impeachment she also says shes, quote, disturbed by comments from Mitch Mcconnell that republicans are working hand in glove with the white house on the impeachment trial. And she made a point of touting her independence. One of the things that i enjoy about my friend senator collins is shes a very independent woman. She has been in the congress for for many years and very smart. She makes her mind up independently as do i. If it means that i am viewed as one who looks openly and critically at every issue in front of me rather than acting as it rubber stamp for my party or my president , im totally good with that. I am totally, totally good with that. Joining us now jonathan allen, Nbc News National Political reporter. Good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Lets put this in perspective. Lets just step