Political either way. And dont be surprised to show that the 64 of the republicans believe that these witnesses should testify. And a new theory floated by the president s legal team, and just released email shedding light on what happened after the president s controversial phone call, and plus this. And now, yall may be wondering how mr. Robinson can afford to live in the fancy neighborhood, but that is the word of the day. And 35 years later, Eddie Murphys historic return to saturday night live and the highlights as he reprised the iconic roles. And we begin with the battle of the impeachment trial, and new insight of the lawmakers of what comes next as the standoff of the democrats and the republicans intensifies, and spilling now into the holiday recess with pointed takes from both sides. I do think that she will transmit them to the senate. Those articles will come by. I talked to chuck shum ther wch week, and we know they will. And i have heard some constitutional scholars say that you are not impeached until you send the articles over and it is not a distinction worth arguing over, because we will send them over and hear this from the house manager and the president s counsel and i argue with the president s counsel for the first time they get to make their case and i believe we will do it in january. I believe this is a mistake for the speaker to continue to dwell on this issue. It has not worked out that well for them politically. And the conduct that we are talking about with President Trump has any parallel of the conduct of president obama or bush did, and the claim of the absolute immunity is unprecedented. She is focusing a spotlight on the need to have a fair trial in the United States senate, and it is especially necessary when you have Mitch Mcconnell, and senator mcconnell who you quoted earlier saying publicly that he is not going to be an impartial juror, even though that is what the oath will require, and even though what Speaker Pelosi is doing is to focus on the need of the fair trial, and the fair trial means that you get to call your witnesses. Every american knows that is what a trial is all about. And new documents released this weekend with critical details of the key components of the democrats case for impeachment, and they reveal emails of the office of management and budget and the pentagon regarding the military withheld funds to ukraine and one email sent less than two hours after the july 25th email between President Trump and ukrainian president zelensky. This morning an omb says it is reckless to tie the funding to the 25th call with the decision announced a week earlier. And this is what one white house official told chuck todd this morning. Can you explain the disparity of the july 18th proclamation and a july 25th email to the pentagon saying make sure that this freeze happens and by the way, keep it oun the down low. Step back one minute, chuck. This administration for what it has provided to ukraine and the Previous Administration sent blankets. Yes, a delay and nothing new in the timing, chuck, because there is a lot of emails back and forth about the timing of this. And hans nichols is following the president in florida for the holidays, and hans, with a welcome to you. And we heard mark short who was asked about this discrepancy and the time line of the 18th and the 25th of july and he did not get a direct answer, and is there any clarity on that . Well, the short version from the sunday shows is no. When you are looking at the body of the emails and 146 page, you see the back end of bureaucracy and what nobody has been able to explain is why on the 25th that email was sent from Michael Duffey after the phone call, and now they are saying it is coincidence, and so omb official is very clear that we are wrong to draw the inference, but the timing is a challenge when you are trying to explain this all. You know, when you are looking at the balance of the morning on all of the talk shows, what we have heard is a couple of things, and back and forth on dingle and one issue, and where the white house is on this time line is one, but the issue of a short or long trial, and when the trial is going to happen, it is clear that the Senate Democrats believe it is going to be taking place, and nancy pelosi is going to transmit the articles of impeachment, and they believe it is a political winner for them, and view reflected by the president s own press secretary. I wanted to make sure that people know, and we will get some reaction in a moment, but i wanted to make sure that people know that Michael Duffey, his title is associate director of National Programs of office and budget, and so you would think that he would know exactly what is going on and the purview of his purview of the timing of all of this. And this is what the reaction is that we are getting, hans. Okay. So this is all right. Sorry, i thought that we were going to hear some sound from the White House Press secretary on the matters of impeachment. I will paraphrase it for you, and she is basically saying that the democrats have overplayed the hand and how nancy pelosi has overplayed her hand in delays the transmission of the articles. You heard a hint of this last night from the president when he thought that it was good news for him that it was not sent over, and he mentioned it in his speech. One other word that i would focus on is in the shows that mark short used the word exoneration to talk about the president , and the exoneration is implying a longer trial with witnesses, and you mentioned Michael Duffey who is a political appointee, and his job to quarterback all of the money. And he is one of the officials that the house side wanted to hear from, but of course, they defied, and they defied the subpoenas and did not show up. And duffy is another one to be potentially called to clarify some of the matters. Alex. Hans nichols, sorry about the technicalities, and i am the one who started that snowball rolling, but thank you very much. And joining me is Josh Gerstein whi writer for politico, and natalie, welcome. What stands out to you on the impeachment . Well, what it shows to me is the maneuvering that was set up behind the scenes of the showdown between the president and officials within his administration. I mean, remember it appears that almost everybody that had anything to do with this, whether it was office of management and budget or the National Security council or at the pentagon or the state department is in favor of having this aid release and so whatever explanations the white house may give for the time, it is extraordinary curious to have that email written as you said within a few hours of the president s conversation. I just until i hear more about it would have to assume that there is some linkage between the two thing, and there are hints in the emails that there are very high level discussions going on, and sometimes when people say very high level at the very top levels in the government, they mean the highest level. For sure. But, look, josh, the phone call with the ukrainian president is the backbone of this impeachment proceedings and anything new of what you have seen or learned that adds to the narrative of what exactly happened here and does it change it in any way . Well, what it does show is that as we were discussing in terms of getting more evidence and more witnesses that there may in fact be more information to be had here, and that there are people like mr. Duffy, and Michael Duffey and Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff who have some indication of what took place here, and frankly, a strange trial if they dont testify. And as hans is alluding to how the president is going to say that he is exonerated after a trial like that, i dont know. But that said, alex, i think that a sort of the foreshortened trial is what we will have. It seems there is no appetite especially among the moderate republicans for dragging it out in the senate, and maybe not that much appetite among some democrats for dragging it out as well. So, i am thinking because of the president ial campaign se on and the primary, and the caucuses coming up, and so maybe the senate trial is going to be almost a flash in the pan. And yet, the president wants to have the fireworks in the trial interestingly at odds with republicans including Mitch Mcconnell. And claudia, with respect to the time, and according to mark short he says nothing new about the timing of the request, and is he right . Actually, this is pretty unprecedented what House Speaker nancy pelosi is doing right now which is withholding these articles, and we should note it is tied to the naming of the house managers the Prosecution Team who will present the case before the senate s and until they are named, those articles are not going to be transmit and with the house on recess, they wont meet until january 7th, and that is the earliest that the house managers could be name and trigger the start of the senate trial. And look, she wants to iron out all of the contours of the senate trial, and what if she does not like what she hear, and does that mean, that she will with hold until she gets what she want, and can she do that . She could theoretically, and they have signaled that is not the plan. But right now, they are using this time to try and negotiate these concessions, but it is possible that the senate doesnt offer up any concessions. They have been quite blunt about their plans to hold the quick trial that will exonerate this president. So it is going to be a tough situation when she doesnt if that happens get concessions, then she may have to move these without those. And what is your thought on the concessions, josh. Does Speaker Pelosi get some or not or does she have to hand it over . How long does she stall . I dont think that shell get many. She may have some leverage here if it is realistic to think that she would sit on the articles indefinitely, but i dont think it is realistic, and i think that senator mcconnell knows that this is not realistic either. Thinking of the democrats who have a painful vote, and some moderate districts or the trump leaning districts or to every last one of them virtually with one or two exceptions to vote for the articles and having said it was the constitutional duty to do so and they had to take a solemn process to take seriously to hold the articles back would not sit well withand they will remain silent, but it is not extending much beyond the date in january that you gave. And claudia, what about the white houses argument that the president is technically not impeached because of this impasse . Well, that is getting into a technical argument that he has not been impeached because the articles have not been transmitted, but in this day and age, everybody saw the votes and the articles approved and in their mind, he has been impeached, but it is an argument to be used until they are transmitted. Thank you, both. Happy holidays as well. And fresh take to Eddie Murphys return to saturday night live, and you want to stay tuned for that. Nd you wano stay tuned for that. Im your curious cat, and you know what they say about curiosity. Itll ruin your house. So get allstate and be better protected from mayhem, like meow. Spread a little love today spread a little love myy way spread a Little Something to remember philadelphia cream cheese. Made with fresh milk and real cream makes your recipes their holiday favourites. The holidays are made with philly. We because its made withan, plants. Their holiday favourites. We switched to tide purclean, it gets stains out of his pants. Tide purclean, they dont put phosphates in. No dyes or chlorine its gentle on my skin. Tide purclean, it has nothing to hide. Its made with plants and has the cleaning strength of tide. The first plantbased detergent with the cleaning power of tide. Looking around here i see tablets, laptops, printers, smartphones. Theyre all connected to the internet. Theyre all connected. Can your network handle all those devices . Sometimes. Comcast business runs on the nations largest gigspeed network. So you can get the bandwidth you need to power all of your devices at peak performance. If all of my devices could have that kind of speed, i would be dancing get started with secure 35megabit internet and one voice line for just 64. 90 per month. Call today. Comcast business. Beyond fast. I think it is a mistake on the speakers part. This has looked pretty political in a way that is sort of the icing political cake where at the end the speaker still cant let go of this as an issue to try to wring the last vestige of politics out of. And this is roy blount giving his assessment of Nancy Pelosis delay of getting the article of impeachment to the senate. And now, joining now to talk about the delay, and thank you for joining ous on this sunday. And it is Mitch Mcconnell will do whatever he wants, but for the democrats it is about swaying the political sentiment, and so from senator blount, is he right, is this all political . No, i dont think so. I think that the speaker is right to want to know exactly what the process is going to be in the senate before she sends over the articles. I think that the pressure is also on the president , because as you know the president wants total absolute exoneration in all caps, and he is counting on this, and he wants it to happen quickly through a, what i would consider a rigged trial, but, if he cant get it quickly, that is a problem. And so hopefully, that is going to put a little bit of pressure on mcconnell, and mcconnell in turn is going to hopefully going to have to work out some processes with the counter part Chuck Schumer to come up with a trial that is wor thithy of thee in the constitution. And if the democrats believe it is going to happen soon, and Mitch Mcconnell still controls the senate, what is the point of the delay if there is not a senate trial. Is that even a possibility, withholding the articles of impeachment so that there is no senate trial . I dont see that. I dont see us doing what Mitch Mcconnell may have done to president obama with regard to the Certain Supreme Court vacancy in waiting for the next senate and marek garland, yes. And i dont believe it is going to be coming over to the senate in short order, but waiting a couple of days makes sense. And congressman, if it is all about the witnesses, where is the Tipping Point as being, because it would seem that the president and Mitch Mcconnell are on opposite ends of this argument. It would seem that the president , you know, falls in line with the democrats ironically in wanting to call witnesses. Very interesting. I think that my belief is that there is a certain number of witnesses called and maybe a certain number for each side, and i think that it is only prudent that we do so. You brought up in the previous segment the fact that we have new information about this email sent following the phone call which raises the question of why, you know, conditionality was imposed even after supposedly a hold was placed on july 18th. And one question mark that comes up is did the president not hear from president zelensky the answer to the question that he posed on the phone call that he was hoping for. In that he was hoping that president zelensky would say that he was going to announce investigations of biden, and then when he didnt, somebody instructed that the hold be placed on the aid, again. So it is all of the more reason why we need the witnesses. But, those witnesses, and i mean specifically, if the democrats get say bolton and mulvaney who they want to come testify, in all fairness then, does it mean that they can be called, the republicans could call schiff, biden, even the whistleblower as they have wanted to . I mean, if one side gets what they want, and doesnt the other side get what they want . I think that it has to go toward who actually possesses the information about the impeachment of the president. Their agenda which includes impeaching adam schiff has nothing to do with the proceedings at hand, and the articles at hand. So i think that within reason, yes, they should be able to call some witnesses, but they cant go off and start pursuing these crazy conspiracy theories about ukraine interfering in the 2016 election and not russia for instance. For instance is right. And now, i wanted to talk about the emails released from the pentagon with more details of the white household to ukraine and what is the main take away, congressman, and is there anything new in terms of the information to fill in the gaps, and we are looking at the page, and lots of redactions, but from what you have been able to gleam from them, is there anything new . Yes, i thought, as many of us did that there was a hold on july 18th or at least announced on july 18th in an interagency phone call meaning that the Defense Department and the state department and other interested actors were informed by the office of management and budget that a hold was placed on aid to ukraine. Now, to learn that actually a phone call or an email was made after this phone call relatively soon thereafter and within a couple of hours raises the question of why. Was the preliminary hold only in hold until the phone call at which time the president was seeking an answer to the question about whether zelensky was going to actually order the investigations or announce investigations, and when he didnt provide the information that trump sought, did they then impose the conditionality again, and those are the questions to come up and all of the more reasons that we need witnesses and documents. Another group of documents that we need is the documents in Mick Mulvaneys investigation, because in the emails remember at the press conference he said that military assistance was conditioned on at least an announcement of the investigation into the 2016 server conspiracy theory. Yes, he said a quid pro quo. He said it was a quid pro quo.