>> my thanks to most of all, thanks to you for watching. i will be back at 9:00 filling in for my friend, rachel maddow. >> chuck todd starts now with "mtv daily." >> welcome to thursday. it is "meet the press daily." i am chuck todd here in washington. i will say this lightly. let's be frank, the national nightmare is upon us. we begin tonight with a series admission of the president. republicans have been silent on what we have seen from the president. he called on two foreign governments to interfere in the

election by investigating on his 2020 rival. >> what are you hoping -- >> well, i would think if they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into biden. it is a simple answer. they should investigate the bidens because how does a company that's newly formed and all these companies that you look at and by the way like wise, china should start an investigation into the bidens because what happened in china is just about as bad as what happened with ukraine. so i would say president zelensky, if it were me, ill recommend they start an investigation into the bidens because nobody has any doubt that they were not crooked. that was the crooked deal 100%. >> so what you just heard is a public admission of the allegations of the heart of the

house impeachment inquiry and at the heart of the whistleblower's complaint. donald trump is using the power of his office to solicit appearance -- this is not hearsay or a whistleblower's complaint or a memorandum. you heard the president did it alone. and yet there has been virtually no condemnation for the president's party at all for this remark which was remarkable considering the president. the lasting damage it would do to our democracy. it is tough to say lightly. this is moment we are back. joining me, peter alexander, our white house correspondent, geoff bennett on capitol hill.

peter, i don't know if people understand the gravity of what the president did. the president answered jeff mason's question yesterday. he did so in a public way, is anybody inside that white house realize that the president essentially owned up to what is being investigated for? >> we had an opportunity to speak to a white house spokesperson. we said why is it proper for the president of the united states to call on china to investigate a domestic political rival, that spokesperson's response to us, no comment. to put this in simple terms right now facing an impeachment inquiry quietly urging a foreign leader to investigate joe biden, the president today publicly urged another foreign power to investigate joe biden. he only amplifies this issue that existed to this point. the backdrop of all this as it

relates to china, chuck, the chinese are in the middle of this trade war with president trump and in advance to those comments, he brought up china unprompted. >> is he connecting the two, peter? i got the impression he was essentially saying if you don't -- if you want a better deal for me on trade, you better help investigate joe biden. he seems to imply a quid pro quo. >> on ukraine, the quid pro quo that people are focusing on, hey, i am withholding military assistance, if you want more, i need you to investigate joe biden. the sentence that proceeded this was the president saying i have a lot of options on china but if they don't do what we want, we have tremendous power, chuck, the bottom line is -- it was a remarkable scene out there on the lawn. we were posing the questions to them. the question that jeff mason tried to get answered.

those we are hearing that he only made the situation much worse. >> and yet it does feel lik like -- does he believe that if he just says it publicly, it makes it seem less sinister? >> this is the third time in four years that the president has publicly sort of as now -- >> publicly lobbied. >> you are exactly right. >> russia of july of 2017, july of this year, that was a private call. he said it publicly that he wants ukraine help and calling on china to do it. you recognize during the russia's investigation, the president's argument was no collusion here. the eyes of his critics and the eyes of a lot of independent viewers right now is saying hey, i am in effect colluding for everybody to see. what are you going to do about it? >>. >> let me go over to geoff bennett. the loudest sound made today was the silence of any republican

condemnation of the president call on chinchina, of all count china who got a great track record on the rule of law to be an investigative body here. what kind of answers are you getting off the record? >> the same answer we are getting on the record, chuck. what you hear from republicans specifically on the impeachment issue is not a defense of the president's language or the rhetoric. what you hear is an attack of the process of the messenger. that is sort of instructive w. t in some cases killing his pl politic political component, i think one may only look further than the

different and divergent phase of lindsey graham and jeff flake. both men were senators when donald trump was elected. lindsey graham tweeted if donald trump were our nominee, we'll be destroyed and well deserved. after he was elected, lindsey graham became trump's best friend, his golfing partner and jeff flake was an opponent of his. jeff flake decided he could not win without cozying up to donald trump. that's the end of his career here in the senate. lindsey graham today, his approval number in the republicans party in south caroline have never been higher. we are not going to see anything different from republican lawmakers on how they respond to president trump. >> this is not a faction of the republican party now. it is the republican party as it is currently constructed with the leadership and the members it had.

peter alexander and geoff bennett, thank you both. i want to turn out to our presidential historian here, michael bescloh. i can't emphasize enough how much foreign appearance and foreign manipulation and paranoia about it frankly in philadelphia. the bases of so many things in our constitutions had to do with this issue of foreign interference. the emolument clause being the best example of this, can you shed more light on this? >> earlier on they were worried about that and i can tell you to tell history that they were worried that countries that did not want to see the united states exist very long may come

in and use their influence and make sure the united states was stra stranded. and so the founders and the framers of the constitution was nervous then. england would not necessarily invade the united states and win another war but they may use other means to get the victory they could not get on the battlefield to the point that early leaders were very nervous, george washington for instance. he fired one of his secretaries of state, randolph because he thought he was too close to the french. >> you had a book last year that came out, "president at war," you uncovered a fascinating nugget of the campaign. hubert humphrey was the foreign s assistant. it was offered foreign assistant

from the alignment. >> presidential candidate for years offered assistance by the soviets quietly and sometimes other countries and rejected it consistently. that's something that came up. richard nixon in 1968 took the initiative of being in communication with the south vietnamese and said i want you to drag your feet on a peace deal between the united states and the north vietnamese and if you do that, you will get a better deal from me. linda johnson was furious about that when he heard about it. >> what is your concern here now historically for the sort of the public itself when you se sesee see -- the president saying these new rules and this becomes the practice. >> that's what we are trying to get our arms around. >> we see what's happening in history before.

these periods of enormous change. i would say this is on the order of about five victory of change historically and we have seen in america life. the difference is what you were mentioning before, for instance, franklin roosevelt, we are not comparing it to the time of donald trump wanted to see big social change at the time of the new deal. he gets reelected, congress stood in his way because they did not particularly agree. same thing happened to lbj, 1965, another big landslide in congress. lbj said to his people, you may think i can do whatever i want for the next four years but my democrats and congress are going to begin to rebel because they may not agree of what i want to do and some of these swing districts may have to get reelected. that's what we are seeing. >> the two parties are both

monolith monolithic. >> true. it would be an anti-johnson faction. it was real. that's how you can get bipartisan consensus in a moment like this, correct? >> yes. you got republicans and the grass roots according to the polls loved donald trump. >> during the clinton impeachment. could dem -- and also attack impeachment and they were not punished in the primaries for it. republicans decided they're afraid of condemning the behavior even if they say for impeachment because it is 100% facility. >> that's where this is coming from. what you don't see is with fdr and lbj of their own party in congress saying i am for some of the things you are doing and not for others. >> a lot of people signed the

alarm of donald trump three years ago. today should be the moment speaking louder to folks. it is obviously not. maybe i am wrong but it does not feel like it is. is this a case that the wolf, we have been crying wolf for too long? >> no, it is a case of enormous support for trump and especially in the senate, very few people are going to get in the way of that. of all the things the framers did to restrain presidents and one they dependant on most of all is congress who say we disagree. >> the weakness of the legislative branch is self weakness. plenty of strengths if they want to use it. they just restrain themselves. >> not as long as donald trump dominates this party at the grass root. >> michael besschloss. >> thank you, sir. >> ahead, where does the impeachment inquiry go now?

kurt volker on the stand. we'll talk to the lawmaker who heard it firsthand. heard it firsthand 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. ♪ (door bell rings) it's ohey. this is amazing. with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, are you okay? even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts.

so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, control is possible. (avo) the russels travel to a different swim meet every saturday. but now... it's thursday. good thing they discovered gain flings, with oxi boost and febreze odor remover. smelling is believing and gain flings can hiyah karate stink too. gain flings. seriously good scent

and if you love gain flings, you gotta try the dish soap.

. i would think if they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into the biden. china should start an investigation into the bidens. what happened to china is just as bad as what happened with ukraine. >> welcome back, we wanted to play that sound for you again. we can't emphasize enough what a big deal it is that president trump from the white house's lawn was just urging foreign powers to investigate one of his chief political opponent and not just foreign power, china. now he's openly suggesting

another american rival to his bidding. joining me now, daniel plekus and our contributor. anna, there are two things that's happening here. one is the crying wolf. there has been people signing alarms for three years. not everybody was sending alarms at the same time but the perception is there were a lot of alarms. you are like oh, make the alarm louder. many are have made up their mind. so i get some of that. but today the disconnect just feels dark. >> an extended interview backing the president on this. >> danny, i mean it is like does

anybody see the consequences of supporting this action? >> well, i mean the problem is you are presenting it one way and other people see it. nancy employee spelosi will hav succumb to pressure. >> this is the crying wolf part. >> i imagine myself listening to the president today they are utterly horrified for the most pie cha part. let's hope. they don't want to engage in what they see as a partisan game that's going on that has one foregone collusion. >> it does seem to be a weird box -- are we polarize that everything is through the political prism. >> that's what trump wants. that's what he's trying to do the last few days making it

partisan and polarized and to get his supporters amped up by using terms like treason and spies and the way he's going after schiff. collusion on full display. abusive power on full display. so many of them were on the record of there is no collusion with russia. the guy just right in front of hundreds of millions of people asked for china to investigate joe biden and implied the trade deal and he dangled it. >> yes. it was china. >> no quid pro quo. he just says well, get the china deal. >> they're all on the record there. >> the other problem for them is they don't know what's around the corner. republicans have no idea -- >> let me show you today.

she's one that's trying not get caught hugging or trashing the president. she has tried to walk that line. take a listen today to this town hall exert. >> i could say yeah or nay, the president is going to say what the president is going to do. us as members of congress to continue working and remaining strong at the face of adversity. i don't care where it is or when it is, corruption is corruption. it should be combatted. >> okay, we'll move onto another question. >> what i am saying is we can't determine that yet. >> she could not accept the premise of the question probably for political reasons as well. >> every senator on their way out of recess have not read it

or did not want to talk about it. >> nine pages, it is a hard read. >> i think it was not just this. coming out of the hearing with kurt volker and we are trying to get back to the fact that there is nothing there, there. you had all these republicans walking out. >> the president went on the south lawn and made the whistleblower's complaint moved in some way, right? >> absolutely. he said what the whistleblower said. >> right? >> i am not trying explain -- i suspect and again i never know what donald trump is thinking. i suspect he's thinking to himself, these guys, hunter biden and justine soe biden, th crooks, they have been going to foreign countries and using their advantage to earn money.

farmers if you know this guy is a crook. you tell us, that's how he thinks about it. >> does it justify it? it does not make it appropriate for the president and does not make it something we should investigate. >> i got to put this one up. we talked about jeff flake. the comparison of lindsey graham and jeff flake. there is another one if you will recall which was about corkell. he was asked today. >> i would say to all of my friends on both sides of the aisle that i would say nothing. bob corker had a lot to say as a senator and he's chasing. >> part of it is whatever they say it is not going to be good for them.

it is what they should say or should condemn what the president said today. i thoug >> if she's going to tiptoe, she seems to want to tiptoe from the side of trump. >> they're worried. they're caught in the middle. i was surprised when mcconnell agree when he said he would have no choice but to have a trial. >> maybe i am missing something, he did not inject the partisan rhetoric there in terms of it is a witch hunt and nancy pelosi and democrats were just out. >> danny, did you pick up on that. >> we were over reading it. >> mitch mcconnell is a process guy. >> they're going to go on and do the trial. they'll dispense it quickly if

he wants to. >> considering what happened to the president and sort of to me how he made almost his impeachment guaranteed with the comments he made today. today seems to be the day that house republicans decide to come up with this effort to say oh, there is nothing here. >> the disconnect, are they aware their messaging does not work today? >> i feel corker has been all over the map on this. you saw kevin mccarthy struggled and clearly it has been jim jordan defending the president. they're backing the president and saying there is nothing there. >> of all day they came to the conclusion that in some way the president pulled the rug out from him. they're trying to say there is nothing to see here except the

president reiterated with the president. >> they should all be asked whether or not they should agree what the president said. >> i know and i think this was clear example of that and mccarthy and mcconnell, whoever you want to name, all of them should be asked whether or not -- >> what's interesting here, i take it to the point. they all went on the record when trump said that to stephanopoulos when he said yeah, i will take it and a bunch of them said yeah, i would not take it. >> now, taking and asking for it on television are two different things. >> last word. >> it is wrong to ask for it. it is also wrong to go for a foreign country and use your position to slolicit money. >> people associate with the bidens. >> and totally debunk. >> he got paid $50,000 a month,

did he? >> do we want to bring in and eject the trump's family and how many conflicts? >> i think they should be called on such thing actually. >> that's a crazy excuse of what's happening here. >> i am going to pause there. coming up, rudy giuliani is delivering that package of documents to the u.s. state department. documents to the u.s department we get it. it's just the way things are. when you're under pressure to get the job done, it seems you have to accept the fact that some equipment will sit idle, or underutilized. but it doesn't have to be that way. that's why united rentals is combining equipment, data, safety and expertise to help your worksite perform better. united rentals.

a better worksite is here. at first slice pizza lovers everywhere meet o, that's good! frozen pizza one third of our classic crust is made with cauliflower but that's not stopping anyone o, that's good! doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacist-recommendeding? memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

wit looks like jill heading offe on an adventure. jill has entresto, a heart failure medicine that helps her heart so she can keep on doing what she loves. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. it helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body.

don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto, for heart failure. where to next? entrust your heart to entresto. wwithout it, i cannot write myl tremors wouldname.xtreme. i was diagnosed with parkinson's. i had to retire from law enforcement. it was devastating. one of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. for sixty years, aarp has been fighting for people like larry. and we won't stop. join us in fighting for what's right.

welcome back, we are learning more of that mysterious pact of clippings the state department handed over to congress yesterday. rudy giuliani tells nbc news that he gave mike pompeo a file of documents that contained allegations against joe biden. those documents appeared to be unproven and baseless allegations. joining me now is one of our news reporter, leanne caldwell. what kind of evidence and what do we know from the state department as to what they did with this packet? operation of resource packet from rudy giuliani? >> chuck, in this packet of rudy giuliani directly handed to

pompeo according to rudy giuliani was all the investigative work that rudy giuliani did with his narrative that rudy giuliani used to describe the bidens. it included interviews he conducted with two former general prosecutors in ukraine. one was ousted in 2015 and the other was ousted last month. what did the secretary of state do with this package once he received it. rudy giuliani dropped his work but was there an investigation? we don't yet know. who do pompeo give this information to? we don't know that either. there is a lot of questions that have been raised. democrats are extremely interested and senator mendez moments ago called for an inv t

investigation into this specifically. i don't understand the inspector general never pursued the origin of this. it is weird of what the inspector generals have don done -- do they sort of sat on this? the minute they turned over, it is like oh yeah, rudy giuliani did that. the inspector general could have found it out, no? >> we don't know what the inspector general thought about that. we are told that the ig did not give any claim on what he thought about the documents. he just presented them and said it was his duty. one thing that's interesting though that included in this package were about 20 pages of e-mails between state department officials who were raising alarm bells about this saying this fast a narrative. they were working to debunk this

narrative that was being put out there. >> the wall street journal wrote the story is that had rudy giuliani behind the ousters of the ambassador. it looks like with a simila similar -- it is a journal story, we'll take a look at it. it had a familiar ring to it. >> leigh anne caldwell. thank you. >> up next, he joins me next of what happened behind closed doors with kurt volker.

where people go to learn about their medicare options before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why...medicare part b doesn't pay for everything. this part is up to you. a medicare supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesn't. call unitedhealthcare insurance company today to request this free decision guide. and learn about the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. this type of plan lets you say "yes"

to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. do you accept medicare patients? i sure do! so call unitedhealthcare today and ask for your free decision guide. oh, and happy birthday... or retirement... in advance. at first slice pizza lovers everywhere meet o, that's good! frozen pizza one third of our classic crust is made with cauliflower but that's not stopping anyone o, that's good! let me tell you something, i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. learn how homeowners are strategically using a reverse mortgage loan to cover expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve your portfolio and so much more. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan, like any other.

big difference is how you pay it back. find out how reverse mortgages really work with aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage guide. with a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait, and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. discover the option that's best for you. call today and find out more. i'm proud to be a part of aag, i trust em, i think you can too. first of all, ambassador volker unbelievably knowledgeable of what was going on in ukraine. a true professional in our diplomatic core but not one thing he has said comports with any of the democrats impeachment narrative. not one thing.

>> welcome back, republicans coming out of the closed door deposition, there is nothing to see there but really did not provide any examples. lawmakers from three house committee questioned that former envoy kurt volker. "the washington post" is now reporting volker told house investigators he tried to warn rudy giuliani about getting involved with ukraine. volker tried to caution rudy giuliani, former top pros kuecus were unreliable. joining me now were one of the few lawmakers, congressman, welcome back to the show. some people are going to think you are the only guy working in congress during this recess. >> in fairness of everybody, i

represent a local district. >> yes, you do. >> it is easy for me. >> when you are on recess, you are right here. let me ask about what we heard from mr. volker today. did you find him to be a compelling witness and what did you learn? >> i hate to disappoint you and your millions of fans. this was a classified briefing. i can't talk about the specifics of what went on in there other than to say the presentations you saw from jim jordan was quite -- time will come to that statement. >> you heard that from him and so he said this. you know he's throwing something out there saying and without any support, you are saying he's wrong without any support. what are we supposed to do as viewers? >> let's set aside that particular interview so everybody can take a look at where we are right now. >> the impeachment, the

investigation launched nine or ten days ago as a full-time effort when we learn from the whistleblower's report that the president of the united states essentially shaken down the president of ukraine for political dirt on biden and hold off in military money in congress. and inactive conflict right now with russia. they covered the whole thing up. the president is essentially admitted that and today the president repeated the exact same conduct when he invited both ukraine and china to go out and unleash prosecutors and investigators. >> let me pause you there, congressman. it is funny you are investigating the whistleblower's complaint and what the whistleblower alleged that the president did. the president just said, just

said essentially in an open hearing in the white house's lawn. he admitted to what the whistleblower accused him of doing or accused him of wanting the ukrainian government to do. what do you need to investigate now? >> well, i am with you on this. one o f the confusing things of president trump is the crimes or the high crimes are hiding in plain site for everyone to see. yeah, i told my kids that if you put on a disguise and you rob a bank in the middle of the night, that's bank robbery. if you ta i can tke the disguisd you rob the bank in the middle of the day, it is still bank robbery. you are still committing the crime. so the president can't sell out our election and our national security and our constitution by bringing other national state actors into our elections. that's what he was accused of in

2016. that's what he's now doing and essentially bragging about it in 2020. i don't think there is much more investigation that neileds to te place and in some sense we are standing on ceremony to cross the t's and dot all of the i's, we know what he did and they have been in the business to try to cover up the last crime. he then just came riepght out a did it again. >> let me go back to mr. volker. were you able to ask every question that needed to be asked or need to come back? >> i was not there for the entirety of the briefing. the interview may still be taken place right now. i had some other business to attend to. totally apart of what was taken place in that room. it is very clear that donald trump with his private lawyer rudy giuliani was conducting a

kind of shadow foreign policy where rudy giuliani was doing around the world and the united states selling this propaganda theory that embodied inside the documents that we saw yesterday which consider tucked into a fake white house envelope that had trump hotel dividers in them. basically what it was was an attempt to set up the bidens and the ambassador. they have not been able to sell it to any real prosecutors. so by rudy giuliani really thought there was criminal activity there. they could have gone to the department of justice, they know people at the department of justice, they did not do that. they gave it to pompeo who gave it to his counsel and the inspector general. they did not do anything. nobody prosecuted anything. the ukrainians people looked at it no, you are going after the

people. >> do you plan on calling christopher wray to find out what the fbi did with it? >> i don't know the scope or the oversight committee. >> i understand that. do you think that's a relevant piece of information that you need to know? >> well, look, the fact that they have this information for many months and there has been no prosecution, i think testimonies us everything that we need to know. what we need to know about the president is right out there in plain view, he tried to shake down using the full foreign policy and military power of the united states, foreign ally in order to extract dirt on the political opponent and that's an absolute portrayal of the office. >> you guys hoped to have more of depositions this week, some of them got rescheduled. what's the schedule look like for next week. are you expecting some of these

department employees mentioned in the whistleblower's report or not? >> i believe chairman schiff and cummings have full complement of witnesses that we are going to be talking to on a daily bases. in next week. >> there is no recess taken place with the impeachment. when the full congress comes back in a couple of weeks, we'll be close to knowing what needs to be done in order to complete the investigation. >> all right, congressman raskin, as you said right here of the local congressional district of maryland, thank you for coming out and sharing your view. >> appreciate it. >> the bernie sanders's mystery. the latest on his condition. what may it mean for his campaign going forward? or f his campaign going forward motor? nope.

not motor? it's pronounced "motaur." for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. for those who were born to ride, at first slice pizza lovers everywhere meet o, that's good! frozen pizza one third of our classic crust is made with cauliflower but that's not stopping anyone o, that's good!

i felt i couldn't be at my best for my family. in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured and left those doubts behind. i faced reminders of my hep c every day. but in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured. even hanging with friends i worried about my hep c. but in only 8 weeks with mavyret, i was cured. mavyret is the only 8-week cure for all common types of hep c. before starting mavyret your doctor will test if you've had hepatitis b which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b, a liver or kidney transplant, other liver problems, hiv-1, or other medical conditions, and all medicines you take including herbal supplements. don't take mavyret with atazanavir or rifampin, or if you've had certain liver problems. common side effects include headache and tiredness. with hep c behind me, i feel free... ...fearless... ...and there's no looking back, because i am cured. talk to your doctor about mavyret.

through the at&t network, edge-to-edge intelligence gives you the power to see every corner of your growing business. from managing inventory... to detecting and preventing threats... to scaling up your production. giving you a nice big edge over your competition. that's the power of edge-to-edge intelligence. here's the thing about managing for your business.s when you've got public clouds, and private clouds, and hybrid clouds- things can get a bit cloudy for you.

but now, there's the dell technologies cloud, powered by vmware. a single hub for a consistent operating experience across all your clouds. that should clear things up. welcome back. it feels like the democratic presidential race gotten a real shake up. the president is calling china to investigate on joe biden. another one of the top contenders, bernie sanders in a heart procedure. with me now is shaquil

shaquill brewster. shaq, at one point today and we decided a simple question, do we know where bernie sanders is physically? where he's located? and nobody on the campaign would confirm for you his location. walk us through how the campaign has communicated all of this with bernie's health. >> you're right. we didn't know where he was, his condition, we didn't know if he was still in the hospital. the campaign wasn't giving us that information earlier today. that was cleared up with a statement from his wife. what we did know was that jane sanders yesterday travelled from the east coast to the west coast to the vegas area to be with senator sanders after his medical procedure. she put out this statement. the key in the statement was there was no need for any additional procedures. the doctors were happy with the progress that senator sanders was making but she also said

bernie was up and about, spent most of the day up and talking to staff. and telling his supporters and people in the media no reason to worry. the campaign has been releasing press releases. they've been talking about their surrogates, for example. even though they weren't giving updates on his medical situation. they were still trying to have the -- put on the front they were active and the operation was still working. >> the communication to the campaign staff, it seemed like campaign staff didn't know what was happening. was it a case perhaps it was the sanders family was keeping things close? >> it seemed like that. the staff, it seems like, did not want to go beyond that statement. even when you had conversations with people, they want repeat what came out in the initial statement from yesterday. this clearly caught many people

by surprise. this was a candidate active and busy on the campaign trail, stuffs a lot of events in his time. i was with him in new hampshire at the beginning of the week. so the fact he was having this ailment, wasn't something they were talking about. we saw the video at the grass roots fund-raiser in vegas, he was leaning on the podium and asked for a chair, that's unusual for him. even when there's chairs available he's usually standing up and engaging with people. let's step back, doug. two weeks ago, we were like, boy, this race is narrowing fast, we have two and a half front runners, do you put bernie in there now. everything was looking at a show down between biden and warren. but something has happening with those three. we wake up now, have no idea what impeachment is going to do.

the biden campaign is trying to figure out how to handle this moment. the bernie campaign is more up in the air. >> there is no front runner. biden by virtue in his standings in the national polls you have to say is still a front runner but when you look at new hampshire and iowa, warren has surged there. i expect her to have a good fund-raising quarter. i think we're headed for a collision course between i think the warren campaign and the biden campaign. >> do you still believe that? it feels like the biden campaign has a lot of other issues to deal with. >> eventually they'll be debating pretty soon on the stage. i think bernie's campaign was slipping before this. they had a great quarter. i think you have to applaud them for raising $25 million, 1.4 million donations, really flexed their muscles there. if you look at the other dynamics of the race, he's been

falling back. >> ana, if we weren't in the middle of the impeachment, two things would be true right now, the sanders thing would get more coverage and would be a bit more problematic, i think the sanders campaign has to figure out how to share more, part of it may be bernie, nobody likes to share their health, i get the personal. the second is the die ben fund-raising number, 50 million, bernie with 25, pete buttigieg is sitting at 19, joe biden couldn't -- my god, donald trump is basically trying to risk his presidency targeting him. it's a head scratcher. >> it's upsetting they haven't been able to use the online donations on this attack. the president is coming after me personally, my family. i think there was an enthusiasm gap that the press has been covering for weeks if not month -- >> this is a silo of enthusiasm

problems. >> sure. every time the president does this, his supporters go crazy, he'll say we raised millions of dollars because the democrats have been attacking me. biden hasn't been able to do that. they're going beyond the story just being iowa, new hampshire. >> they're going up with a big tv ad, too. >> i saw that. danny, the sanders campaign i think thinks it can get through this. >> you and i were talking bill bradley i think had a heart pal paation, had to get -- it put a wet blanket on the momentum. >> in the battle of the elderly that is the front runner set, bernie sanders does seem the most old, he is the most old. i think this can't put hurt him. he needs to be out there in the conversation. that's what weird about joe biden, by the way. trump is the one talking about joe biden. joe biden seems to have

disappeared from the scene. >> you know this, they don't want to talk on trump's terms, i get that. >> that's not fair. he gave a powerful speech yesterday about trump. so i think that's a -- they've been giving him a little bit of hard -- i don't agree with that. >> he's out there and not raising money or he's not out there. >> the third quarter is always hard to raise money. >> thank you all. i'm running a little late. we'll be right back. m running a. we'll be right back. struggling i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchemel... cut. liberty mu... line? cut. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. cut. liberty m... am i allowed to riff? what if i come out of the water? liberty biberty... cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

it's just the way things are. when you're under pressure to get the job done, it seems you have to accept the fact that some equipment will sit idle, or underutilized. but it doesn't have to be that way. that's why united rentals is combining equipment, data, safety and expertise to help your worksite perform better. united rentals. a better worksite is here. to the wait did frowe just win-ners. prouders everyone uses their phone differently. that's why xfinity mobile let's you design your own data. now you can share it between lines. mix with unlimited, and switch it up at anytime so you only pay for what you need. it's a different kind of wireless network designed to save you money. save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill. plus get $250 back when you buy an eligible phone. call, click, or visit a store today.

that's all we have for tonight we'll be back for tomorrow with more "meet the press" daily. the beat with andrew mccari mel right now. >> we're uncovering everything in the impeachment inquiry and probe. democrats warn this is part of a brazen effort to normalize the abuses of power and more on the breaking story of vice president pence's ukraine problem. and you know about our friend tony schwartz, he is here later this hour. we begin with the sitting president of the united states asking a foreign country to target his domestic rival. in 2016, president was then a candidate and he did that as everyone now remembers with russia. this year, as president, he secretly did it with ukraine. and today, right in the middle of some of thet