robert: president trump confronts impchment and history. >> our founders' vision of a republic is under thr that is why today as speaker of the house i solemnly and sadly open the debate on the impeachment of the presidentf the united states. robert: president trump is impeached. triggering politicalar in the house. i will fighthis on process which has been deplorable. robert: on the mpaign trail. >> nancy pelosi's hoe democrats he planted themselves with an eternal mark of shame. and it's a disgrace. robert: and in the senate -- >> this particular house of representatives has l its partisan rage create a toxic new precedent that will echo well into the future.

>> leader mcconnell is plotting the most rushed and most unfair impeachment trial in modern history. robert: next. announcer: this is "washington week." funding is provided by -- >> before we talk about you investments, what's new? >> well, audrey is expecti. >> twins >> grandparents. zpwhrfrttle we want to put money asideor them so change in plans. >> all right. let's see what we can adjust. >> we would be closer to the twins. >> change in plans. >> ok. >> mom, are youainting again? >> you can sell these. >> let me guess. change in plans? >> at fidelity, aha of the an. announcer: degsalunding is provided by -- additional funding is provideby -- koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation. committed to bridging culral differences in our communities.

the corporation for public broadcasting and by coributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.th k you. once again, from washington, moderator rober costa. robert: good evening. the house of represeatives impeached president trump on wednesday, december 18, on charges of abuse o a power obstruction of congress. party leaders held their caucuses togethe just a few democrats broke ranks and no republicans vot to impeach the president. the republican-controlled senate is now poised to hold a trial that will determine whether the stays i office. but speaker nancy pelosi so has delayed sending the articles rser as senate lea negotiate the terms. the key sticking point is this, whether senaterajority lea mitch mcconnell will allow icstimony from trump administration ols who defied subpoenas during the

house inquiry. >> the president of the united states should be tried and the question is now whether senator mcconnell will allow a fair trial in the senate. whether the majority leader will allow a trial that involves witnesses and testimony and documents. >> we cannot name managers until we see what the process side.the sene and i would hope that thatill be soon. robert: for the moment, leader mcconnell isn't making any promises. and congress is on recess until early january. this week, mcconnell casthe pending trial as a political exercise. >> i'm not an impartial juror. this is a political proce't. there i anything judicial about it. impeachment is a political decision. the house made a partisan political decision to impeach. i would anticipate we will have a largelyut partisanme in the senate. i'm not impartial about this at all. robert: joie tonight, to

look ahead to that trial and to back at this hc week are molly ball, national political correspondent for "time" magazine. ayesha rascoe, white house reporter for n.p.r. jerry seib, executive washingtonditor for "the wall street journal." and philip rucker, white housea bure chief for "the washington post." molly, your book on the speaker, pelosi by mollyi ball, an't wait to read it and doesn't come out for a few months but you've been stud egg her and reporting on her -- studying her and reporting on her. why is she holding up the >> what she has said is what she said in the clip. she needs to see what the senate process i before she can decideho from the house to manage this. but this really was notin some that a lot of people saw coming. and having studied her, i know she often has a trick up her slee but she never telegraphs it in advance.s so this kind of a surprise move. it was something some partisans

had been speculating about. but hadn't got an whole lot of traction until she did it. and you know, now that both the house and senate are out for a coup of weeks, she's going to reaction to this is and what the public's reaction to this is. i think-the-conveniently timed -- i think it's conveniently timed to create space for both sides to stew a little bit and see wre the hom i because you know, she believes -- you know, the most importan word in the speaker vocabulary is leverage. leverage in this situation. because the president wants a trial to in his -- in his ew exonerate him. andy mcconnell has actua you know laughed at this idea. he said you don't have any because we don't want to do this anyway. so, you know, you make us not do something we don't want to do, that's fine. but we know that the white house, the president does want a trial. and so -- so she does have little b leverage and we'll see whether she gets any response. bert: phil, what kind of

trial does president trump want at this point and molly said the white house could be stewing. is president trump stewing and in that situation, this pause, uld he actually end up saying to democrats, i'll provide some more documents and more witnesses? >> president trump's been stewing for three years. so he's -- he's always stewing. but especially about this because as molly said he wants the tri. wants to be exonerated but not just to be exonerated and acquitted. technically in the senate, but he wants defenders to come forward and put on a show and defendim for his conduct. he also wants republicans in the senate to drag forwardan democr give of them a taste of what he feels like he side.enced on the house so he wants chairman adam schiff from the house to be dragd before the senate and questioned by republican senators. wants hunter biden, the forme vice president's son, brought forward into the senate. there's back and forth negotiatio going on right now between the white hou and leader america connell and his office about these witnesses

because mcconnell has been opposed to having vnses and thinks it's toois and trump has long wanted some and we'll see over the holidays whether they can findib some equum. robert: well, i think the revvingy thing for theaker here is that she as in many of these cases had aas bit of a dide in her own caucus. liberal democrats would like to stretch this out hoping that maybe they will force some testimony by white house officials wich would be new page in this whole drama. or that at a minimum they create this impression that the senate trial wi be a sham, whatepublicans sd the hou impeachment process was. but there are moderates in the , democratic cau0 of tm, who come from districts that president trump won in016 who would just as soon get this over with. go to the senate, see i to the end, have the outcome that we all know is coming, which would be a vindication of some kind them move on to their 2020 t elections talking about other things. so i think the speaker has competing interests she's trying to balance and that's not easy in this case. robert: and there seem to be competing interests on the

republican side as we've been talking about. leader mcconnell has dismissed witnesses so far. the white use is thinking about calling chairman schiff and hunter biden. where does this end up, ayesha, based on your reporting well, you know, what was interesting this week is talking to people in the white house when these articles were held up, the idea was like oh, this makes nancy pelosi look so bad. this gives into the idea that this was all political, why if this is such an urgent threat were not send them over? but then you have the presidentt send that t that says he wants a trial immediately. and so you can see why she probably does want to hold up a bit. i think what you're going to see and what i'm sure what senator mcconnell will be convince president, that it is not in his interests to ave these witnesses come forwar and that when -- if you try to call hunter biden, all these other people, thatou this go badly for the white house and that they will try to defend him and they are making

the case and i think that's probably why you have mcconnell coming out saying he's not impartial and lindsey graham and all these people being very defensive of the president no because theyhe needs to hear that. and that's what he wants. give in on this having ant to witnesses. robert: it mae be up to some of these senators, theer mes, senator murkowski, senator collins, senator romney and others on the fence on the democratic side like senator jonesf alabama who are you watching as they set the rules for this senate they need a 51 vote threshold comes to witnesses. ule when it >> yeah. i mean all of the ones that you just named i think arebeoing to - if there are swing votes. but what you see senator mcconnell really telegraphingt is he doeshink there is such a thing as a swing vot made u i think by saying d is that so frequently and so definitively, he's trying in a right? make that the reali if he can convince his own caucus that this isarhere they going, that this is essentially a fait accompli,

then i think he feels he's minimizing the waffling that some of those moderates might feel. but as you said, there are some moderates in the caucus who may at some pointave cold feet about this. but we saw in the white house, house republicans, even the e house republicans who have had questions about president trump's conduct, in the end, fell in line and were convinced by the president's defenses. robert: and we're talking about the party staying in line. president trump has certainly reveled in t g.o.p.'s continued support for him on several fronts. and mostly bacd a $1.4 trillion spending deal which easily passed bothhambers and his revised north american trade agreement in a house vote impeachment which he note noted at a rally in michigan. president trump: we got every single republican voted fors so we h 198, 229, 198, didn't lose one republican vote. the republican party has never been so affronted.

but they've never been so united as they are right now. ever. robert: as the president wielded his power, speaker pelosi was able to hold her conference together even moderate democrats in battleground states such as elysa slotkin of michigan. >> the president did something different than what president nixo d and president clinton did and president johnson, many, many years ago did. and he gave the word to his administration to not produ any documents, to not respond to any subpoenas and to n appear. robert: what kept people, house members lilya slotkin, with speaker pelosi on this critical vote? >> well,nk i the impeachment process is kind of tribalization of politics in the u.s. where everybody in each party puts on the home jersey, the blue jersey or thee redy and goes out on the fold and plays for the team regardless of the circumstances and regardless of what their misgivings might be. this is true in both parties. it's interesting tor remem

that when president trump began his presidential campaign in 2015, he almost ran as an independent. he had to -- disdain for the represent party and no regard for the republican establishment and was hated by the republican establishment. and now here we are 3 1/2 years later that entire party is behind him. that what happens in american politi right now. you get behind your team and you stay therer you get punished fro within your own party. that's true in the democratic republican party and i think that's the process we're seeing play out right now. robert: talng about the g.o.p., what explains them going along with the protectionist tilting trade deal, the newsmca and new taversion of navoing with the trillion dollar spending deal and sticking with the president on impeachment? >> just as jerry said, this is a tribal moment in pditics. all of those republicans in the house know that if they turn on trump especially on impeachment, they're going to get a primary challenger the next day. they're goingo have a har time raising money. they're going to have the

resident tweeting attacks at them. they're -- they could potentially have the president going after them in rallies in their home districts. they live in fear of the president turning his political machine against them. becae he has donehat before. it's the reason -- one of the reasons why bob corker resigned from theate two years ago, one of the reasons why jeff flake didn't run for re-electio in arizona last year. president trump has such extra sord control over t republican party -- extraordinary control over the reb party. >> moderate senators still time to be challenged in a primary in the rublican party in vote happens. s before this >> exactly. >> they kw that. robert: they're all still pretty quiet at the capitol and keep saying they're going to be jurors. talk about president trump this week, he gave that -- he wrote that letter to speaker pelosi.ea >> robert: you called it phil a window into his soul. iaw it as a political rally on paper. and you also had this rally in michigan as he's being impeached in the house. what was this week politically and personally for president

trump? >> well, this week for president trump w probably in many ws kind his nightmare for the presidency. e didn't want to be impeached, righ like this is -- this is -- robert: against his brand? >> against h brand. he can't really sell impeachment but they're trying a bit. but like this was something that he -- he wants to be an exceptional president. he wantso be the best president there has ever been. and now this week he is an impeached president. and so i think that tha -- what you saw was him reacting to that. and lashing out about that really. i mean, he had that two-hour rally in --ga in mic that was one of his longest rallies -- robert: was it also a snapshot of what we'reoing tee in 2020, grievance politics? >> oh, i think that was going to happen without a doubt. but i think you'll see it on steroids. and he was already very worked up. even befor impeachment came down down the pike you saw him tweeting more and just getting more vicious the way he was

tweeting about the squad over the summer or the he tweeted about elijah cummings. this was something that had been -- he had beenn going i a more personal direction and a more grievance direction like for a very long time. robert: butpeer pelosi doesn't appear to be running on 2020 message her for democrats. she's working with president trump on the usmcand the spending deal and prescription drug prices. what does that tell you about the democratic approac next year's campaign season? >> she is obsessed with sending the message that the democrats are about governing. and remember, she resisteim achment for a very long time. the better part of a year, she held out against a lot of members of her caucus who felt that the president deserved to be impeached, that it was aon constitu imperative for the democratic party. and she held them off and held off ff and held th until the ukraine situation was so compelling that it moved the caucus almost unanimously and she went along with i but she really -- her belief is

that democrats won the house because they ran on issues and they ignored trump. and so even though i think you would have to say that the backlash to trump and the counter mobilization against trump was a huge part of the political dynamic in 2018, you had all of the democratic ndidates were on the same playbook. they were talking about health care. they were talki about jobs and wages. and so obviously it will be a different story in 2020 when trump is on the ballot and there is a democratic candidate mleading thesage. but she believes very strongly that those issues are s going to be what drives the electorate in 2020. and the polling data that she and the other democrats in the house are looking at is backing this up. it's saying that this is pretty much a wash e impeachment thing. it has prey much leveled out in terms of public opinion. and about where trump approval rating is. and by the time the election rolls around, this won't be whate're talking about. robert: jerry, you wrote recently about prime minister johnson in england. we've seen a new model for right wing politics. populism andt bigger governm

spending. the republicans pop lifts supporting the trillion dollar spending deal. you saworisohnson support the n.h.s. and other spending over in the u.k. >> yeah. no. pulism and nationasm have won the day and that's really what conservative politics has become. and in that version of conservative politics, you simply don't quore about fiscal austerity. that's not the formula. the formula is don't worry about the deficit. your base is more working class. they depend on government programs. so fund tse programs. boris johnson is promising to now. t in britain right donald trump promised that from 2015 on. i'm not going to cut social security a not going to cut medicare and never talks about the budget deficit which is a trillion dollars a year now. becausehat's not what populist politics is about. robert: an p phil, tsident when he looks at his own party, he sees his own power and popularity with the g.o.p.'s core voters. but he's giving them what they want on judges. yosee some grumbling on the right, theod op-ed in

christianity today and influential evangelical billy graham sayresident ate trump is out of line and should be removed from office. spending bill, judges, and the range of other issues, they're getting what they want eve i they don't totally approve of his conduct. >> exactly. and it's one of the reasonsth the president has been so deliberate and the vice president, too. pence, abo checking these boxes with the base about pushing the judges and making that a priority for three years now. and all sorts of othe issues becaus they're trying to ho them tight heading into the next cpaign. robert: on thursday neat our colleagues at the p.b.s. "newshour" and politico hosted south bend mayor pete buttigieg faced scrutiny from his rivals such as senator elizabeth warren of massachuset. >>he mayor just recently had a fundraiser that was held in a cave full of crystals and served $900 bottle wine.

think about who comes to that. >> according to forbes magazine i'm the only personhi on stage who's not a millionaire or a billionaire. so if -- [applause] this is important. this is theroem with issuing purity tests. you cannot yourself pass. robert: ayesha a. night of fire ht of fear n works out in california. what exchange did that tell us about the democratic race and in particular mayor buttigieg and his place in this contest? >> well i showed that buttigieg is the one who out in front and that's why they're going after him right? elizabeth warren is going after him because he is a threat to her. and so -- but it also showed that the dangers of that. she went after him. even though she is trying to take this high ground of saying that she's not getting these -- she's not courting these big dollar donors like he is, he pointed out that she brought campaign and that she is

tually -- she has more money and all of these things that she is trying to set this purity tes and that he is actually the one that is just -- he's not focused on jset meeting t demands. he's focused on doing what he has to do to win thisn. elect and so that -- that's what he did. i don't know whether that --fe like it came out as a wash for really the both of them. i don't know if either one of them really distinguished themselv. i do think amy klobuchar wn she was going after i buttigieg think she did stand out and was able to kind of point out some very key tngs thnef the key things that he says is that he can win in the midwest and she's o pointing you -- you're a mayor. robert: phil, when you talk to your white house sourc s behind thnes and you're trying to get a read on vice president biden's pformance they see them as fading or steady? >> they see him as fading. they were very worried about biden at th onset. and frankly that's onef the reasons why president trump is this impeachment mess and trump has remained fixated on

biden because he continues toid see as a threat. but the people working for trump, his political advisors are increasingly of the belief at biden may not be the democratic nominee. they've been thinking a lot about warren lately. they're keeping an eye o buttigie who they ha not totally fegged out how to run against. -- figured outow to r against. bloomberg remains a threat and biden could be nominee but not the singularocus he was at the outset of the democratic primary race. robert: >>my i think klobuchar is the candidate who had the best night at the debate and the potential to sneak in the back do in iowa. and she's a problem in terms of profileorhe president. a moderate woman from the upper indurial midwest, the precise part of the country that the president needs to win again to win a second term. m not saying she's going to win iowa or the nomination but i'm saying it's a very fluid field right now. and there are three people trying to walk through the same door out of iowa. amy klobuchar, elizabeth warren and pete buttigieg. that's why they were going after each other at the debate this week. robert: and senator warren for

months has often stayed in her lane f on her message. yet took on mayor buttigieg d why sheo that and where is she in this race? >> well, i think - k yw, she went through -- we saw her poll numbers really nosedive when she was caught up on the health care issue and really a hard time getting out of. ad but what she realized and you see it where she's been on the stump attacking mike bloomberg veggssely, she has realized that she can go back to that populist message that about basically class warfare and that is something that -- that's a message tha she's good at. that's a message she is comftable with and substantive message and the is bone of her agenda whi an anti-corruption agenda and very much about getting money out of politics and very much about giving access to people who don't always have access to politicians. she talks about this selfie line and not selfies. robert: what do u mean not really selfies? b ause she's not taking them. if you take it >> the point is trying to run a

left populist campaign as isan berniers and let's not forget that he's still pretty high up there in the polls, too. so --t robert: t so true. senator sanders you look at almost every poll, he's up there. not necessary leading. but it's -- is he a serious contender for this nominaon, came close to being a serious -- he was a serious contender in2016? >> he is certainly a contender. and certainly his supporters will let you know that the l fee he's not getting the attention that he deserves. i think we will have to see what happens in iowa and ether he can coovend -- whether he can pick up some momentum. he has momentum. but whether h translates that into support where it matters in these caucuses and in -- oorobert: when you at th stage, and senator sanrs alked about the issue of race, the democratic party facing a challenge when people of color not making it on stage for the debate. how a they grappling with that in terms of the field? issue.hink it's a serious

eally when they were asked about questions on race yesterday, i mean, you can tell even wh the questions that when sanders was asked about race, a lot of that he just kind of went back to, you know, health care, and he's going to make sure everybody gets a fair shake, i think -- and he even said aone point, yes, i'm a white male. i think that that messaging can be difficult if you're trying to reach out to your base and lot of your bases not white.a and so i don't know that theat demohave really figured out how to address that. robert: you mentioned mayor bloomberg. he wasn't on stage. but he is spending a boatload of money television advertising. and he's inching up in national polling. where is his campaign moving? >> you know, bob, hs focused on the second round o voting. so you start in iowa and new hampshire. south carolina and nevada, those f firstr early states. and bloomberg is banking

literally that he can spend mo y in the states to come after that. california, texas, big states where it costss of millions of dollars to run a credible campaign. and clobber the field there and rack up delegates and become a force by t time the of the things he' banking on ne is the fields still fluid coming out of those four early states. so you might have a klobuchar win iowa and might have a bernie sanders win new hampshire. and you might have a biden win south carolina. and then who the leader, bloomberg comes in with this money. robert: it's going to be quite a january, a february, a senate trial, potentially. we'll see ifhose articles go over. and then a presidential race. stick with us. but thanks now or sharing your evening with us. we have to leave it there. and make sure to check out our "washington week" extra. we will continue this discussion on t debate. it airs live on our social media and is later posted on our. websi i'm robert costa. enjoy the holidays.

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