That retweet i mentioned at the top some conservative believes is the whistleblower has led to federal law. Led by senator Chuck Schumer over when impeachment will move from the house to the senate. Are you concerned pelosi will hold up the articles of impeachment indefinitely . Well, my poll numbers are the highest theyve ever been. Our fundraising in the Republican Party is the highest its ever been. She hates the Republican Party. She hates all the people that voted for me and the Republican Party. Clarifying comments he made to the editorial board. If he were to be subpoenaed to testify at an impeachment trial, he would not appear. You have to be able to have some knowledge whether or not he committed the officials he is accused of committing. I have no firsthand knowledge. My point is there will be no basis to an event that i could not have any impact on. A local person who had no idea what went on. As you point out, you dont think you have any relevant facts to bring to the matter. Ill read from a few tweets. He said in my 40 years of public life i always complied with the lawful order, cooperated with legitimate oversight requests. Im just not going to pretend there is any basis for my testimony in the impeachment trial. Garrett haake, let me start with you. We have this period when we dont know whats going to happen, when this trial is going to begin. In that vacuum, all of this starts to swirl once again. We are seeing the debate who might be a witness, who might be called to testify. The reality is the witness that is likely to play out, any four senators will decide whether there will be witnesses and 51 to decide who will be called. Theres an outside chance biden coulcalled. Republicans argued from the beginning here if you take the trump line that this was purely concern about corruption in ukraine, the bidens will potentially know something about it. The question is really are there 51 votes to appear at a Senate Impeachment trial. The answer is probably not. Does this become part of the horse trading democrats and republicans might have to do as they get into an actual trial. Will we want joe biden, mick mulvaney. Maybe there are back room deals that can many into this. Say your piece. Theyre not going to call me. Lets talk about health care. And move on. Right now we are stuck in this impeachment purgatory waiting to see what can be hashed out january 6th. Your synonym for purgatory is limbo. We are in this period when all of that seems to have stopped much we dont have a lot of new information on what happens next. I hate to say it but we are still in limbo. They are gone for a twoweek holiday recess. Well be back the first full week in january. So we really dont know. Senator Mitch Mcconnell and senator Chuck Schumer, the leaders need to gettogether to try and come up with a plan governing the parameters of the trial. If they cant do that, then it will be up to 51 senators to vote in some kind of resolution. 51 being the majority. Now, the question is will all the republicans go along . There are 53 republicans in the senate. So Mitch Mcconnell can afford to lose only a few of them if he wants to maintain control over and we are already seeing some republican what, maneuvering or dissent in the form of senator Lisa Murkowski of alaska who said she is concerned the way senator mcconnell is going about planning the trial in conjunction with the white house. So the bottom line is congress is gone for the holiday recess. We dont know how this trial will play out. And stay tuned until 2020 when we are going to find out. Stay tuned. Shermichael singleton, what do you make from what the senator of alaska had to say . Mild rebuke. And i think Mitch Mcconnell more than likely will give room pore some republicans who may find themselves in vulnerable reelection races next year to have those soft and mild rebukes. Sit not guaranteed they will vote that is in a way that is not beneficial to the president. I dont think Mitch Mcconnell, republicans or trump want witnesses. Politically, its not in his interest. I would advise him not to have witnesses. You want to rush this thing as quickly as you possibly can. Now, as far as ethics of this, he probably should have witnesses, right . Two different dynamics here. Do you want to follow the process thoroughly where you do hear from people with direct firsthand accounts of what occurred . Or look at the politics and say its not in the president s interest, lets try to rush this thing. I think the republicans will go with the latter of the two if they can. Are the means by which we get some sense of thinking during this holiday break is twitter. He doesnt have a lot of events. Hes spending his time in florida. He retweeted the name of somebody purported to be the whistleblower. This was a technical fluke. The tweet was up. Then it was down. A lot of news speculated that he took down the retweet. Twitter says there was a glitch in the system about it appearing, yet it remains there. Him playing around with this. As i said at the top of the show, people say he is violating the law but encroaching on what is anonymity for a whistleblower like we have. Well, first of all, aside from putting that individual in actual physical danger, because it does, it undermines our processes and institutions in the government. I can tell you this is from my government training. I was in the government for 12 years. When i saw this news, i went to cnn and there was an article that linked to something that i guess whatever article he originally posted. I couldnt click on it. I said, no, im not going to fuel this. I dont want to know this persons name. I cant. Its wrong. And i know that sounds crazy. Im out of government now. But thats our training. Its not right. Its not fair. Honestly, it makes him look bad. But it doesnt make him look bad in front of his base. This gets me to Speaker Pelosi, that plays into list base. Biden is right to say i dont have anything to offer to this. Im not the right witness. It will be nothing more than a political distraction for his campaign certainly. But at the same time they Speaker Pelosi needs to be very careful to make this the least partisan exercise as possible. Whats happening amongst the committees. It will move from the house to the senate. Is it still going to consume a lot of time . The short answer is no. A couple things are happening simultaneously. Pelosi is playing with house money. It will never start before january 6th anyway. She can say shes holding them or sending them. It doesnt really change. So the degree that it unnerves the president or might force the president to push Mitch Mcconnell in the direction democrats want him to go, this is all sort of house money for democrats until january 6th. Meanwhile, youve got court cases that are still outstanding, which could affect the trial. Or how the Judiciary Committee proceeds. There were questions about don mcgahn. Those have been outstanding for eight months. They are awaiting court decisions. John boltons charles kupperman. Yeah. There are separate investigative efforts that could be ongoing in the Intelligence Committee based on other information we might still learn about ukraine. Oh, by the way, theres federal criminal proceedings against Rudy Giulianis associates that could provide more information for impeachment trial down the line. So there are a bunch of gears turning simultaneously which informs the pelosi decision to say we can sit on our hands for two weeks and not affect this and just see how much Additional Information shakes out. You raised the spectre of a second impeachment. The council for the house saying that could happen. If as garrett says, we get more information, new evidence, they could pursue this once again. Well, it could happen. Frankly, id be surprised if it did happen. If you look how the first impeachment played out, a lot of democrats were very nervous about this, radio it . It took Speaker Pelosi a long time to come around. It took moderate democrats like slotkin a long time to come around. They want to focus on the Kitchen Table issues, health care and jobs and the economy that got them to washington in the first place. Frankly, i would be pretty surprised if in the runup to the 2020 election we went ahead with this whole exercise all over again. Honestly, i think democrats wanted to vote this impeachment and move on. And thats pretty much what we have seen them do. As you saw in the last week of the session, not only did they take the Impeachment Vote but they approved the trade agreement, passed spending bills. Great to talk to you. Thank you very much. Happy new year. Great to see you. Happy new year. The big fight that could pave the way to retake the house. Politics for men and women running for seats in the u. S. Senate. But first a show of force in the persian gulf from russia, china and iran. What that means for the u. S. T never bothered me. Until i found out what it actually was. Dust mite droppings eeeeeww dead skin cells gross so now, i grab my swiffer sweeper and heavyduty dusters. Duster extends to three feet to get all that gross stuff gotcha and for that nasty dust on my floors, my sweepers on it. The textured cloths grab and hold dirt and hair no matter where dust bunnies hide. No more heebie jeebies. Phew. Glad i stopped cleaning and started swiffering. How did you know . Mom. That was taken at the farm. It was in this small little village. In connemara . Right connemara it is. Honestly, we went there oh, oh look at that look at that. The wait is over. Tmobile is lighting up 5g nationwide. While some 5g signals go only blocks, tmobile 5g goes miles. Beyond the big cities to the small towns. To the people. Now, millions of americans can have access to 5g on tmobile. And this is just the beginning. Tmobile, the first and only nationwide 5g network. Some things are too important to do yourself. Get customized security with 24 7 monitoring from xfinity home. Awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. This is up. Im david gura. Iran in the spotlight again this morning. This time for holding a fourday naval drill with russia and china in the indian ocean for the first time. Irans military leader speaking on state television they are not just about improving readiness. Hosting the powerst our relations have reached a meaningful point and may have an international impact. Such a gift to the iranian army for no reason. I find this entire thing fascinating from a National Security perspective. At first it doesnt make a lot of sense for the chinese and russians to engage in such a public drill with irans army. It doesnt make sense for their business goals globally. That doesnt make sense. It concerns me for a number of reasons. There are only two reasons. Given it is not in russia and chinas interest, only two reasons they could have done this. First, give the finger to the United States and say we also are a force to be reckoned with in this region. You are not the only power of influence here. So thats the first. The second is that they may or may not believe that iran is the side to place their bets on. That iran is the gaining force of the region. If they have to pick a sign they will go with the iranians. They are not arabs. It is very different. Although they are going to continue to try to explain their influence, they will not succeed in the end. So this is concerning because at the end of the day, were in a situation now globally in an us versus them type of world. And the last time we had it in the cold war, it just doesnt work for anybody. I would say the u. S. , what they need to do, is do well to partner with our allies better, President Trump. And us show a united front and the russian and chinese, this decision will bite them in the end. We have a statement from the u. S. Giving the Financial Times a statement saying iran should think twice about conducting joint naval exercises and it should concern all nations with an interest in safeguarding freedom of navigation in the region. I think it is interesting. To something you just mentioned about china and their economic interests, which we are seeing spreading throughout africa, our own backyard, brazil. They are Building Partnerships all over the middle east with the chinese Stateowned Bank which i think is very intriguing. While they are laying a foundation for the economics, you are now seeing china position itself more so militarily, more aggressively, more in the face of the United States. Whats intriguing to me about this, as the u. S. Policy of President Trump has sort of been to recede from our global position, you see china in many ways step up and saying china is the future maybe as we head into the next decade. That is something that is obviously not in the interest of the United States. When you think about russia under putin. Russia for a long time, specifically under putin, has always wanted to see a return to russian greatness. I think partnering with china, sort of taking irans back here repositions russia in a unique way i havent seen at least in a decade, arguably. This is something we need to pay a lot of attention to. I dont think we are. Right. I think china will arguably have an edge over the United States in the next 10 years and thats not something that is in our interest. Are being a drill like this, you heard the Remarkable Exchange about this Christmas Gift from north korea. To what degree is congress able to do anything about it. Here you have two leaders that the president has tried very hard to improve his own personal relationships with in xi and putin. Working with the regime that the president has been a traditional Foreign Policy policy hawk on iran. It may come from john bolton, other places. How does he respond to this and how do republicans in the u. S. Senate respond to it . Republicans in the senate traditional Foreign Policy hawks, tom cotton, Mitch Mcconnells to a lesser degree, these are three serious geo political rivals working in concert. The statement doesnt mention russia or china. What do you do when your allies are in bed with your enemies . Lastly, about this access between iran and russia, they note after this concludes on monday, zarif will meet with sergey lavrov, his counterpart, there. The Russian Partnership doesnt concern me as much. They obviously have some coordination there. The military inclement to the iranians. I had the same idea of the axis of evil. When i was in government working, one of the things we often saw when we sanctioned actors, nefarious actors would Work Together. It is common to see iranians, syrians and North KoreansWork Together for their business interests or banking because they c they count on each other. But to see iran with russia and china lends iran a whole other level of power. China doesnt need this at all. China buys iranian oil. But iran depends on them to do that. China doesnt need it. It doesnt make any sense. Its extra concerning because when you see partnerships like that, zarif going to moscow, again, thats not as new. But if you see china being more involved. Thats right. What they are doing in africa, selling sufls surveillance in technology. The war over jerry mannedering escalates. Key states in the south are being contested. Being contested. grandson wow. grandfather that was me, seventy years ago. vo some things are worth preserving. You can choose the National Park foundation to get two hundred and fifty dollars from subaru when you get a new subaru, like the all new outback. vo 2 get 0. 9 on a new outback during the subaru share the love event. thud crash grunting whistle play it cool and escape heartburn fast with tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Tum tututum tums cooling sensation. At tmobile, were lighting up 5g, and when you buy a samsung note 10 5g, you get one free. Plus you can experience it on the nations largest 5g network. So do this. On that. With us. Buy a samsung note 10 5g and get one free when you add a line. The zip code youre born into can determine your future. Your school. Your job. Your dreams. Your problems. indistinct shouting but at the y, we create opportunities for everyone, no matter who you are or where youre from. For a better us, donate to your local y today. For a better us, itreat them all as if, they are hot and energized. Stay away from any downed wire, call 911 and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. This is up. Im david gura. As we gear up for the upcoming election, redistricting will have new implications. The next census is around the corner. This is incredibly important in the south in particular. Texas and North Carolina it is expecting both parties will try to redraw Congressional Districts to their advantage. The Supreme Court declined to interve intervene. They said it is up to states. They halted a North Carolina law which requires voters to show a voter i. D. The pro director of the advancement project joins us. Help us understand this moment. Jergerrymandering is not knew. Redistricting is not either. What about this particular moment in time and whats at stake . Well, this is a moment where we are ready to have an allout voting war. We get close to an election. There are a lot of effort