i'll be co-hosting with our colleagues. starts at 4:00 p.m. eastern. and i'm going to talk to adam lambert. we may be able to show some of that right here on the beat tomorrow as well. "hardball" with chris matthews is up next. whistling impeachment. let's play hardball. good evening, i'm chris matthews on capitol hill where the case for impeachment escalated today as the whistle-blower's report landed like a bombshell. the complaint released today portrays a white house that recognized the president's wrongdoing and covered it up. it centers on trump's attempt to extort a u.s. ally for dirt on joe biden, a shakedown delivered in his july phone conversation with ukrainian president zelensky. white house notes of that call showed when he asked for a

shipment of aept tank missiles trump countered with these words, i would like you to do us a favor though. we're learning of the danger the president's own conversation posed. in speaking to white house officials the whistle-blower says they were deeply disturbed by what had transpired on that phone call. they told me there was already a discussion going on with white house lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood they had witnessed the president abusing his office for personal gain. that's the white house people. and then the whistle-blower learned its senior white house officials had intervened to lock down all records of the phone call especially the official word for word transcript they hid. the complaint says the officials were directed by house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system, which was then loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information. so the people around the president knew his conduct in that phone call was wrong and

used national security protocols to hide it. the complaint reveals additional potential evidence of the president's efforts to leverage through ukraine. two months before trump's july conversation with president zelensky, officials told the whistle-blower it was made clear to them that the president did not want to meet mr. zelensky until he saw how zelensky chose to act in office. additionally the officials told me that a phone call would depend on whether, catch this, zelensky showed willingness to play ball with trump. play ball with trump. across town at the white house nbc reports there's rising anxiety, unease and concern that the whistle-blower's allegation could seriously wupd thound thi president. i'm joined by u.s. senator and kamala harris and questioned the director of national

intelligence joseph maguire and the intelligence inspector general michael atkinson. senator, we know about the quid pro quo, we know about the president saying if you want your javelin missile, the anti-tank missiles, if you want them to keep the russians from invading your country more, help me with this stuff i need to get on biden. and now today we find out basically the term was if you don't play ball you can't even get on the phone with our president. >> here's how i feel about it. donald trump even when he was running for office told us who he is. he told us if i shoot somebody on fifth avenue, i will get away with it. he's a lawless president, he literally is. he believes obviously he's above the law, he's beyond reproach, that he can do anything and get away with anything. and this is yet another and serious examples about this fact, and it's outrageous.

it is outrageous that on top of everything else, on top of everything bob mueller told us in that investigation, that he's on the phone with yet again a foreign government attempting to influence the election for the president of the united states, and in that process not only understanding that the job of commander in chief of the united states of america should be to defend and protect us against all enemies foreign and domestic. but this president, donald trump, does not understand his job and frankly this is why for so many reasons that the process of impeachment should begin. >> is this guy running a criminal enterprise in the white house? is this a racket, a rico violation? >> it's certainly a racket and we'll see in terms how the evidence plays out. but it certainly reeks of corruption. it reeks of self-service. it reeks of a president who is not truthful. he is lawless, and he is running

an administration that reeks of corruption. yes. >> the reason i bring that up is you're the prosecutor, you know all the dirty stuff that goes on in business. i hear about the rackets where in the old days of the '30s the mob controlled i.c.e., so they could extort any money. if they controlled cement, if you want cement, you've got to talk to them. it's like trump says you want military aid, you've got to talk to me. >> you've got to go through me. and this is understanding integrity of the united states and us as a people. it's all about self-service. the guy is scared because he knows that he is going to be defeated in this election. he is desperate, and so his natural behavior that is about lawlessness, it has now blossomed into having a

conversation with a foreign head of state in front of many people who have taken an oath to defend the constitution of the united states where he is bartering u.s. aid to support a democracy over what he wants in terms of an investigation into one of his political rivals. he's no better than any other dictator when it comes to using the resources of the people and in the name of the people for self-aggranddizement and for benefit, personal benefit. >> the report in the whistle-blower complaint that not only did he conduct this extortionist move against the head of ukraine, but these people around trump, but they did was they took the verbatim word for word transcript and buried it somewhere in some sort of catacomb used for very sensitive top secret information. >> and that's called a cover-up. and you are right, my career as

a prosecutor in a court i would be arguing that this is evidence of consciousness of guilt. this is evidence of knowing that what happened in that phone call was wrong, it violates ethical rules, it violates the law, it violates the position of trust that the president should hold. and i ran the second largest department of justice in the united states, second only to the united states department of justice. this is completely by every act that this president has done including this one, an attack not only on our democracy but our system of justice. >> what did you think of joseph maguire, the acting director of national intelligence today? i watched the early performance which was on tv this morning, public testimony. he kept saying i went to the white house to get the approval whether it was released or not.

it seemed to be he was in a position of asking the people being complained about, the president and his people, whether it was okay to put it out or not. what did you make of the whole -- >> well, i can't talk about we did listen to in a classified setting, but there was clearly an attempt to cover up and the investigation needs to continue. >> he continues here with his cover-up. earlier today president trump told staff from the united states mission to the united nations career foreign service employees, career people that the whistle-blower was, quote, almost a spy. and person revealed the president's behavior to the whistle-blower was treasonous. he then made a startling reference to punishing the individual. the l.a. times was provided with a recording of the video. here's part of what the president said. >> they're almost a spy. i want to know who is the person who gave the whistle-blower the information? because that's close to a spy.

you know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, right? the spies and treason. we used to handle it a little differently than we do now. >> he's talking about the chair. he's talking about the rosenbergs. that's what he seems to be talking about. >> he sounds like a criminal, chris. who snitched? who gave up the goods? let's find out who gave up the goods on us and make sure there's a consequence and it's serious and let that be a lesson to everybody else. and it sounds like it's straight out of some bad drama, but the fact is this is the president of the united states, and the concern that i have is that we have created a system for whistle-blowers to come forward because we want people to be trance parent about the abuses in our government. and we've created laws that say we will protect them, and it should be the president of the united states above all who says that we welcome and we'll always

protect people who are fighting for the integrity of our democracy. >> well, the complaint the whistle-blower highlights that during his or her call -- the president's call with the ukrainian president the president implicated his own attorney general in the scandal bill barr, which shows trump repeatedly urged the ukrainian president to speak to william barr about the investigations trump was pushing. and while barr is denying any involvement, it was barr's justice department that advised the director of national intelligence not to pass along the complaint to congress. so he was covering up. and we're also learning the justice department decided not to investigate the concerns raised by the whistle-blower complaint saying there was not sufficient cause to launch an investigation. it seems to me the president has replaced the normal government with two or three people, giuliani and bill barr not operating has the head of the department but as his personal

lawyer. >> we saw that when attorney general barr delayed in sharing the mueller report, mischaracterized it, let that mischaracterization stand before actually sharing it with the american people. and let's talk about so the attorney general of the united states who seems to think that he's the president's personal lawyer instead of the people's lawyer, let's also talk about rudy giuliani. >> well, he's got two here looking out for him. >> i'm actually calling on the i.g. and state department to actually investigate and figure out who in the state department was in cahoots or facilitating giuliani's interactions with ukrainian officials, who was giving him if they gave him any kind of intelligence, and who facilitated rudy giuliani, the personal lawyer of the president to conduct himself as though he is an emissary for the united states. and the other thing, chris, the

new york bar association needs to investigate you'll yawny and probably disbar him. >> let me ask you about your vote because the way you talk and a lot of people talk, the high crime is in front of us now. we see it. it was an extortionist effort -- >> he self-admitted it. >> is it done? should they just go to a vote in the house the next couple of weeks and get this done with? >> there should be a process in which the investigation is conducted and facts are presented and then let there be a finding. this is what we do -- >> weeks or months? >> i think that, listen, i would like that it be weeks. it has to be quickly. >> i think that's what the speaker wants. thank you so much. we'll keep covering your presidential campaign. good luck in iowa. >> i'm moving to iowa. >> you're raising the stakes in iowa. by the way, director joseph maguire's dramatic public testimony for the house intelligence committee, here's a bit of it. >> i believe the whistle-blower is operating in good faith.

i think the whistle-blower did the right thing. i think he followed the law every step of the way. >> that's something the president, donald trump, does not want to hear but he just heard it. i'm going to talk to two congress people who questioned maguire today on the significance of what was revealed by the whistle-blower. plus where does this go next and how long will it the house to vote on impeachment? we've got much more to get to tonight as you can see live from the capitol. stay with us. t as you can see lm the capitol. stay with us performance comes in lots of flavors. there's the amped-up, over-tuned, feeding-frenzy-of sheet-metal-kind. and then there's performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. that's the kind lincoln's about. ♪

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and the facts are these. that the president of the united states in his actions in a telephone call with a head of state betrayed his oath of office, our national security, and the integrity of our elections. this is a cover-up. this is a cover-up.

>> welcome back. it is a cover-up according to the testimony today from a whistle-blower. they didn't really make an attempt to cover up that conversation between the president of the united states and the president of ukraine. in fact, they cept it off in some sort of catacomb somewhere where we'll never see it again. the accounting which was provided by a whistle-blower in the intelligence community was corroborated by the inspector general and found to be credible and raised urge want concern, they say. and spent the past weeks to try to dirty up the whistle-blower. >> it's a partisan whistle-blower. they shouldn't even have information. it's just another political hack job. i just hear a partisan person meaning it comes out from another party. they say it was a very partisan

person, the whistle-blower. the so-called whistle-blower information. >> in his testimony to the house intelligence committee, the acting director of national intelligence joseph maguire defended the whistle-blower against these claims. >> i want to stress that i believe that the whistle-blower and the inspector general have acted in good faith throughout. i have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and followed the law. the decision and the recommendation by the inspector general, that in fact the allegation was credible. i think the whistle-blower did the right thing. >> you don't have any reason to accuse them of disloyalty to our country or suggest they're beholden to some other country? >> absolutely not. >> do you believe that the whistle-blower was spying on one of our intelligence agencies or spying on the president sph. >> as i said several times so far this morning, i believe the whistle-blower complied with the law and did everything they thought he or she thought was

responsible under the intelligence community, whistle-blower protection act. i would say the whistle-blower's complaint is in alignment with what was released yesterday by the president. >> joining me right now are two democratic members of the house intelligence committee who took part in that hearing today. let me go to mr. maloany on this one. do you think there's any question of the integrity of the whistle-blower at this point? >> no, i don't see any reason to question that. the complaint is very thorough and well documented. it matches very well, by the way, with the memo of the call. i think we have every reason to believe it's largely accurate, but we should check it out. >> is this a high crime the president of the united states extorting dirt on political opponents by holding up aid to a military ally? is it a high crime?

>> what is it is presidential extortion and an ongoing cover-up. how come the president didn't know or didn't care? this is the day after he got past mueller's testimony, and did he think oh, now that i got rid of that, now i'm done with that, get dirt for another country and goes i didn't get caught getting it from russia. >> it's a hands off to interference in the next election, and this time he's soliciting it and willing to smear a political opponent using military aid -- >> knowing he's being taped, knowing he's got people in this own government listening to what he's saying, and he seems to be the only one that didn't know or care he was breaking the law and creating a high crime. >> a leopard doesn't change its spots. it's a pattern of corruption. he did want learn his lesson from 2016 what the american should be offended by is he's

using their taxpayer money, our taxpayer money to benefit -- nobody would get away with this job if you try to use your employer's money to benefit himself. >> it looks like a racket. the mobster that controls the cement industry says you want to put that building up, you've got to talk to me. >> look what he said about the whistle-blower today. the director of national intelligence bent over backwards to say this person did it right, he's following the rules by the book. the president said he's a spy. the president said we used to deal with guys like that. >> he's going to rub them out. >> look, i don't know what that language is intended to do except chill others from coming forward because we know from the complaint that there's a dozen white house officials who are deeply disturbed by this and a bunch of other folks in the agencies. we want to hear from them, we want them to feel they can come forward with the truth.

>> nancy pelosi, the speaker, she's been a resister to the process for months and then along the way she said something i thought was brilliant. she said he's going to impeach himself. he's going to go do it in broad daylight and then we'll have him. >> he copped to the crime. he said he could shoot somebody on fifth avenue, we're going to find out if that's true, and he's going to threaten execution with someone, and we're going to find out is is that who we are as americans we would let this man in our great country get away with this. >> and we have the summary and we get the full verbatim word by word account they're hiding that from us, there he is saying to the guy, okay, i've got something i want from you, though. >> remember during the russia investigation the big question was was he doing the kremlin's bidding, was he undermining our

national security, well, here what he's doing is absolutely assisting vladimir putin's plan to dominate ukraine. remember in the complaint there's some new information. he says, oh, i think the president of ukraine is going to strike a deal with vladimir putin. >> how does a mouse strike a deal with an elephant? they're half invaded, lost crimea, lost eastern ukraine already invaded by the russians and says you've got to make a deal with this guy. >> this is 10% of their military budget, they have troops in their country, the wolf's ought the door. and it undermines the security of europe. >> he's also trying to exonerate russia. he's asking them to look into evidence that would exonerate russia's role. >> at the house hearing today congressman maloney you pressed joseph maguire why he would

share the complaint with the white house and the department of justice run by the president's lawyer basically. here goes. let's watch. >> did you think it was prudent to give a veto power over whether the congress saw this serious allegation of wrongdoing to the two people implicated by it? >> i have to work with the situation as it is congressman maloney, only the white house can determine or waive executive privilege. there's no one else to go to. >> didn't sound to good the way you questioned him. >> oh, my goodness, this is the man in charge of the hen house and he goes to two foxes to ask him who should come in? and the when you think about how you just lost perspective on the forest and trees with that kind of decision, he should have threatened to quit or resign. >> imagine calling a tip line and the person says i'm going to ask the person you're reporting about what i should do with this.

>> sounds like the mob. up next, rudy giuliani says he's the hero of this whole piece, hero. more on giuliani's outrageous claim next on "hardball." giulia claim next on "hardball. i get it all the time. "have you lost weight?" of course i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro. why fingerstick when you can scan? with the freestyle libre 14 day system just scan the sensor with your reader, iphone or android and manage your diabetes. with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose levels any time, without fingersticks. ask your doctor to write a prescription for the

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welcome back to "hardball." today's release of the whistle-blower complaint shows the lens president trump was willing to go to strong arm a foreign government to help him

politically. and while the whistle-blower focused on the july 25th phone call, new reporting indicates it was not the first time president trump tried to push his dirt digger rudy giuliani onto the ukrainian president. "the new york times" reports just hours after president zelensky's victory on april 21st, president trump placed a congratulateory call to him and, quote, urged mr. zelensky to cooperate, actually coordinate with mr. giuliani and pursue investigations of corruption, according to people familiar with the call. they're going after joe biden back then. i'm joined by maya wily. and i use the godfather term here, the use of a wartime c consigliere who had a great reputation until now, here he is saying you give this guy dirt on

biden who i think you've got to run against or else you won't have any defensive weapons because you didn't give me dirt. that is the fact of that conversation. >> is essentially the way any prosecutor would read that exchange. and i think the fact that rudy giuliani started the prausds in april, remember, chris, what april was. we had the summary from william barr, really spinning the robert mueller probe report, and then in april it's becoming public. we have the president then asking rudy giuliani to get engaged, there intermediaries start setting up his meetings and so the july 25th call was not the beginning of it. it was because donald trump himself as we know personally got engaged in whether or not military support not in the

defensive sense was actually going to be delivered to ukraine. >> and backing that up, maya and david, was the whistle-blower's statement that the deal was they wouldn't even get a phone call from the president until they said they're going to play ball on getting dirt on trump's enemies. >> congress did not vote that aid to ukraine, hundreds of millions of dollars to charity. congress voted that aid because it believed self-defense bayou crane was important to the national security of the united states. so this an important legal story but it's first and foremost a national security story. if it was important ukraine defend itself, if americans were spending money to do that and donald trump said it's second to my re-election, he's saying the national defense of the country was second to my re-election. >> and he made that clear to the ukrainians saying the guy handling for me, my surrogate is going to be rudy giuliani.

in fact he's mentioned 31 times in the whistle-blower complaint. it goes into detail about his, giuliani's efforts to dig up political dirt in ukraine. giuliani blasted the whistle-blower, of course, saying the complaint is nothing more than here say. however, the summary of trump's july 25th call released by the white house backs up many of the claims released by the whistle-blower complaint. he was almost shouting when he said, devoted, it is impossible that the whistle-blower is a hero and i'm not. and i will be the hero. these morons, when this is over, i will be the hero. there's baghdad bob right there. what do you make of this? giuliani claiming he's the hero of the piece? >> if you have to tell people you're a hero, you're not the hero. it's an unfortunate thing, but the reason we don't accept here say is because here say is often unreliable. when it's corroborated, when it's proven true -- it turns out

it would be bad infaaccurate, i would be true. >> there are plenty of exceptions to hearsay at the same time because the question is about its probity, how much value it is. he actually has some potential legal liabilities here that he should be very concerned about. because he is is a private citizen. there's no office of legal counsel memorandum protecting him from indictment for campaign finance violations, so i think it's not unusual that he would start to be start saying, wait, i'm the good guy. but also remember his interview with laura engram when she says why you, why would the state department send you to ukraine, and he says i'm donald trump's defense attorney, doubling down on the fact that he is there because he is trying to support and help this president, not as present as the man.

>> this is a corrupt act because it's using public office, his authority using military aid, defending itself basically through its existential dpisance right now and he's saying i'll give it to you if you give me my dirt. >> hundreds of ukrainians have died, tens of thousands are refugees. this is not just a crisis, this is big shooting war on the european continent with real people losing their lives. >> explain the javelin war and why it's important. >> because the you cranians have been outgunned, their system is not cohesive, there are important internal divisions. >> it tights tanks. >> and it fights tanks. >> we're used to that growing up in the '50s and 60s. whether it's hungary or whatever, we're used to tanks

coming in and we're used to people blowing up the tanks. >> there's another aspect of national security embedded in that call summary we're learning more about which is that notion why does he want these servers that are supposed to be in ukraine, well it's a conspiracy theory. >> how would hillary's servers show up in -- >> the conspiracy theory is about the dnc's not being hacked. that was if you remember the beginning. >> it showed a picture of jack kennedy behind a curtain like 50 years after he's dead, kennedy alive in poland. thank you. with the majority of house members onboard with an impeachment proceeding, i think it's more now how quickly will things move? will democrats strike while the iron is hot? strike while the iron is hot,

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the consensus in our caucus is that our focus now is on this allegation, we're seeing the evidence of it. this is the focus of the moment because this is the charge. all of the other worth as it relates to abuse of power, ignoring subpoenas of government, of congress, abuse of -- contempt of congress by him, those things will be considered later, but right now we're in investigating the inquiry stage. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was house speaker nancy pelosi of course earlier today confirming the focus of the impeachment inquiry that's proceeding right now into president trump will be

allegations laid out in the whistle-blower complaint, and now 223 democrats and one independent have now expressed support for some sort of impeachment action. doesn't necessarily mean they vote up or down to impeach the president yet, but i think they're heading there. speaker pelosi says she doesn't center a deadline to complete the impeachment inquiry, but the house has just 29 days, however, still in session this year between now and december 12th. i'm joined now by democratic congresswoman maxine waters, of course. she's so well-known, chairman of the house financial services committee. madam chairwoman you're one of six chairs now. i guess the question of can the congress meet the goal of striking while the iron is hot while the country is focused on this with the ukrainians and the deal for dirt. >> i'm so pleased leader pelosi has taken charge and she's

finalized the impeachment inquiry, and i'm extremely optimistic we can get it done. >> do you believe in focusing on ukraine, the whistle-blower's complaint, the evidence we now have he was trying to deal out foreign military aid in exchange for political dirt? >> i think that has to be an important part of what we do, and whether that is all that we do or is that the focus with other things, it remains to be seen. we have to discuss that. the six committee chairs will be getting together with the speaker, and we'll decide what the impeachment resolution should include, it will be then forwarded to the judiciary committee. >> tell me what you have in your mind now of how -- you have six chairs, you're one of them, all been working on stuff the president's done wrong, probably unethical and worse, impeachable. how do you condense that to perhaps one or two articles, did you guys, together, you chairs put that together or would the

judiciary committee decide -- >> now, the idea is that we will get together, we will put on the table everything we know, everything we're doing that we think would be good and important and substptive for an impeachment resolution, and we'll come to some consensus, some conclusion about it, and then it'll be forwarded to the judiciary committee. >> i did work up here for a while to know how the game is played and i mean a game with high personal stakewise ts with country but it comes to numbers. can you get 218 votes out of the house? >> oh, absolutely we're there. >> really for an article of impeachment? >> yes. >> you're getting into my questions here. let's talk about this, what do you make the fact the national security counsel went to such an effort to hide the president's phone call that they took the word by word account of it electronically and buried it in some top secret system where

nobody can get to it? >> well, you know, we're dealing with a bunch of crooks in the white house. we have the president who's dishonest, has lied, who has done all kinds of things we never expected of anybody who would serve in that high office so i'm not shocked or surprised by anything they would do. we have an administration that is undermining our democracy, that has aligned itself with putin and the oligarchs and the kremlin, who have had secret meetings, who will not condemn putin. yes, what's he got on him -- i know what you were getting ready to say. >> this guy seems to dance through -- he jumps through the hoops whenever the guy has got something. >> knowing he undermined our election system, knowing that has been absolutely identified as work that was done by russia or by intelligence community, and he still will not condemn him, but more than that, this would be going toward doing the same kinds of things in the 2020

election tat w election that was done in the last presidential election. he was on the road to talking about how do we undermine the elections again to ensure he gets elected? >> every time i see those two guys together the president and putin, putin has this weird smirk like he owns him. >> well, he knows something. thank you so very much. up next, are we past the point of hoping congressional republicans will put loyalty to country ahead of loyalty to donald trump? can they stick with this president in the face of such a blatant abuse of power? what do you think? back in a moment. power what dyoo u think? back in a moment

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they have extra room throughout. they're like a luxury ride for my feet. try skechers wide fit shoes. i've read the complaint and i've read the transcript of the conversation with the president and the president of ukraine. concerning that conversation i want to say, president, this is not okay. that conversation is not okay, and i think it's disappointing to the american public when they read the transcript. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was republican congressman with a somewhat mild condemnation of president trump's conversation with the president of ukraine. his critical comment made him a notable exception, however, from his republican colleagues on the intel committee at today's hearing with the acting director of national intelligence. immediately after the release, by the way, of that explosive whistle-blower complaint

president trump tweeted in all caps, of course, the democrats are trying to destroy the republican party and all that it stands for, stick together, play their game and fight hard, republican, our country is at stake. well, the president later deleted that tweet, but there was some tiny cracks, however, emerging in the president's gop firewall. another intel committee, republican retiring texas congressman heard tweeted there's a lot in the whistle-blower complaint that is concerning. the first step is to talk to the whistle-blower. yesterday two republican senators utah emphasis mitt romney and nebraska's ben sasse openly called the complaint by the whistle-blower troubling. i'm joined by michael steele, and robert costa, national political reporter for "the washington post." we always learn from myth and sloganeering that democrats fall in love and republicans fall in

line. but why do they stay in line? >> because we're very good at the line. >> why do you guys circle the wagon so quickly? >> until you can show there's been a detrimental breach in that line meaning there's evidence, information, behavior, something that will cause a crack, they're going to hold it. >> wait a minute, we have that. we have the president of the united states -- >> well, chris, we don't have that yet. you have two documents that have been put out, and i think to congressman hurd's point, i think that line should have been broken a long time ago. >> the white house documenting showed the president of the united states responded to a call for defensive weapons and tanks and missiles with gimme dirt. >> i'm trying to give you an explanation why the line holds and what we have so far and i think congressman hurd is right, they want to talk to the whistleblower. because the whistle-blower is

technically in reality could cause that break. >> the whistle-blower simply told us about a conversation -- >> i'm saying that individual is in front of those members, chris -- when that individual is in front of those members, that's the moment of the crack. the senate conversation has been muted today. they came out, they weren't coming out in the same form as a devin nunes. just a thought. >> you get up in the morning and your wife says it's snowing outside, you go outside and it's snowing, it doesn't matter what she said, it's snowing. we've got the transcript of the conversation. >> you got part of a transcript from the white house. that was not a reflection of 30 minutes of conversation. >> okay, robert, you see the problem. >> i was outside the house chamber tonight talking to some of these top allies for president trump, loyal soldiers like mark meadows, they are fully in line with president trump. >> thank you. >> they say he has the political capital. they also say the democrats are overstepping their bounds, and so that's the argument they're

making. >> kevin mccarthy, a smart guy continue to fall in line behind president trump tonight. when asked about impeachment, let's watch. >> what in this case rises to impeachment? this is a president of the united states that had a conversation with a leader in another country. and when you read the transcript, tell me one thing in there that's impeachable, but tell me this, the speaker of the house moved for impeachment against the rules without having the full body vote for it without one bit of evidence. >> you know, i guess i'm having a problem here communing with you, to me it jumps out at me, high crime when i see a president who has unique authority and power over u.s. foreign military aid, which we use to help our allies so that we're safe ourselves. we know why we give military aid, to help ourselves. we fight a country that's on the front line against the russians

and we say they're invading your country, grabbed a big part of it already, we're going to stop those tanks from taking your country. and our president says i've got a favor i want from you, though, help me get some dirt on my opponents. that's what he said. how's that not impeachable? >> i think it is. but you asked me a specific question about why the members in that building behaved the way they behave, and i'm telling you as robert reinforced in his conversation, they're thinking they've got -- until you can show something -- >> this isn't 1973, 1974, there's a conservative republican party, there's a whole group on the outside that's coming to the barricades for this president, and that's what the republicans on capitol hill are looking at. >> there's no larry hogan, sr. in that building right now going to say to the president of the united states, sir --

>> does this come down to the question the fight's more important than the facts? because a very serious question that they're so angry, so resentful of the democratic liberal establishment in this country that they see has been running this country for years, they so resent it, they're willing to back trump, right or wrong? >> i think you just nailed it. yeah, that's that french phrase, yeah that's that moment right there for them. that's what this fight is about. the partisanship has eclipsed the politics. the partisanship defines everything, and right now this is a fight to create the falynx around the president do or die. >> when i was roaming around the senate today a lot of senators when i wept up to them with the notebook and recorder they said, no thanks, haven't read the full complaint, haven't read the letter. >> toomey said that on sunday. >> if you're in a swing state, collins up in maine, she tells me i don't want to comment

because i could be a juror in the trial in the senate. so they're all coming up with remarks that take them away from having to get in the fight. >> by the way, jumping ahead do you think the senate would like to skip the vote? >> constitutionally, don't they have to have a trial? >> there's been talk to skip it. they're going to have to vote? they do want to vote? >> they don't want to vote especially if you're up for re-election in 2020. >> right now your reporting was in the senate today, i'm hearing from people that they do think they have to do in weeks. they can't put it off for months. >> i agree. i've heard that, too. because this has been so narrowly focused by the two documents released so far and the evidence there, this moment clarifies for a lot of democrats, some of the republicans as has been reported i think you may be able to comment on this that, you know, privately folks are saying if you could do a blind vote in the senate where you did want have to put your name -- >> if we're going to have a vote to impeach in the house, is it more likely it's going to happen

in 2019, 2020 or never? >> i think it has to happen now, '19. >> sooner or later if speaker pelosi gets that impeachment. >> i think an article on this one on ukraine makes the most sense and they'll have it in a couple of weeks. "hardball" back in a moment. f w. "hardball" back in a moment. actually went to law school, so i called him. he didn't call me back! if your ex-ex- ex-boyfriend isn't a lawyer, call legalzoom and we'll connect you with an attorney. legalzoom. where life meets legal. oh, wow. you two are going to have such a great trip. thanks to you, we will. this is why voya helps reach today's goals... ...all while helping you to and through retirement. can you help with these? we're more of the plan, invest and protect kind of help... voya. helping you to and through retirement. discomfort instead of using aloe, or baby wipes, or powders, try the cooling, soothing relief of preparation h, because your derriere deserves expert care. preparation h. get comfortable with it.

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state with msnbc throughout the night and in the days ahead for the latest developments on

the trump ukraine scandal and the likelihood of impeachment. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> no person in this country is beyond all possible doubt the -- >> that's way it should be, but i'm trying to figure out if that's the way it is as a practical fact. >> the full whistle-blower report is out. >> it's hard to imagine a more serious set of allegations than those contained in the complaint. >> tonight new bombshell allegations against the president. >> this is cover-up. this is cover-up. >> new details alleging that white house, the state department and the department of justice were covering up for the president, and the brand new road map for impeachment hearings laid out in the whistle-blower's complaint. >> plus. >> i want to know who's the person who gave the whistle-blower -- the president caught on tape mulling revenge. >> you