here she is with the president and of course kelly o. handling it with her signature grace and pressing on. that does it for our hour. thanks for watching. "mtp daily" with chuck todd starts now. ♪ welcome to friday "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd in washington where the evidence now is piling up against the president and the white house's battle with the house's impeachment inquiry is also escalating. we have a lot of major developments to get to. we're going to dive right in. the evidence against the president right now is starting to look overwhelming. we have newly released text messages from state department officials suggesting a possible quid pro quo involving the president of ukraine including one career diplomat sounding the alarm in this text.

as i said on the phone, i think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign. we have one of the top republican senators on the issue of ukraine ron johnson now saying he was told there was a quid pro quo and he confronted the president about it. we have newly obtained testimony from the recent u.s. envoy to ukraine debunking the president's conspiracy theories specifically on joe biden. quote, the suggestion that he would be influenced in his duties as vice president by money for his son simply has no credibility to me. said president trump's former special envoy to ukraine. that testimony also revealed the degree to which rudy giuliani was peddling those conspiracy theories at the highest levels of our government. i even mentioned the intel committee's testimony today on the whistle-blower complaint itself and the handling of it which is largely irrelevant now because of all of other evidence we have. that was the allegation. we now have the evidence that supports everything in that complaint and then some.

and we now have presidential communications, public statements, call notes, state department text messages, the official testimony. all of it paints this damning portrait of this president abusing his power. this is not a circumstantial case. this is evidence. this is straightforward. let's get to the latest of what we're learning this afternoon. i have ken dilanian, hallie jackson, geoff bennett. and jeff, i should start with you since that's where we had new testimony today. apparently more on his handling of the whistle-blower complaint than perhaps his initial investigation to sort of confirm some of those allegations. what more did you learn?

>> and the reason why michael atkinson is important here is because he is the one who deemed the whistle-blower complaint to be credible and urgent. and remember, the reason in large part why this came to light is because after the acting dni went to the white house council's office and to the justice department to see if that phone call between president trump and president zelensky was covered by executive privilege, that delayed the transmission of that complaint to congress. that was supposed to happen within seven days. and it was atkinson who then flagged congress and said there was this issue that could not be resolved. that is in large part how the house intelligence committee first learned of this complaint. adam schiff has said that today's hearing was aimed at learning more about how he handled the complaint, how he sought to corroborate details within it. i spoke with congressman jackie spear but about an hour ago and asked her if atkinson went beyond that to speak to the near substance of the complaint. she said yes and she also says that he made a compelling case. so it could be that democrats

are looking to see how or whether the white house sought to cover up evidence of this call and they could be in a position to draw up a new article of impeachment on this particular issue of congressional obstruction, chuck. >> and also the timeline of the actions of when the whistle-blower complaint was put forward to congress is actually part of the text messages that were released as well there. let me move to the white house. hallie jackson. the white house both -- both the white house and i think the vice president has received the first subpoena for some records. and we know the white house is preparing a response to what is likely to be subpoenas soon for more records. they have a way of fighting back. walk us through it, hallie. >> i'll share this for you for the first time on our air here. i just got off a conversation with an administration official who tells me it is not likely or looking less likely, i should say, that that letter will go

over to the house speaker today just given the time functionality of it. it could come any minute, but at this point, it has not been sent so far. again, this is that letter that says we are not going to comply with any of your document requests until you take a formal impeachment vote to start the impeachment inquiry on the house floor. that's what we've been hearing behind the scenes and have reported out privately for days now. publicly, though, that is going to be the white house's posture. you are already seeing that. you mentioned that the vice president now has the first document request aimed at his office. we are now hearing from his team saying this is not a serious request. their argument is that this is just another attempt by -- in the words of the vice president's press secretary -- the do-nothing democrats to get information and sort of pushed what has become the overall strategy if you can call it that of saying, hey. democrats, why aren't going going on with other issues? >> what do you think they gain

by trying to force a vote on impeachment? it puts everybody on the record. republicans and democrats. why do you think that's a great strategy for their side? >> they want the democrats to go on record on this. they think that that could be politically advantageous. the other piece of it is this gives them an avenue to say and i hear it a lot in conversations with officials in and around this trump white house which is the fake impeachment inquiry. it's not real. all nancy pelosi did was issue a press conference. they haven't even taken this formal vote. that is why i think you're going to see this reflected in the letter to the house speaker. i put the word strategy in air quotes, chuck, because there are people around the president who want a strategy, who actually have a strategy. they're pitching him on a strategy. as our colleagues would say it today, it's hard to have a war room without a reliabilile warr. they don't have one in president trump. >> let me move to ken delaney.

we seemed to learn something new today. that is we already knew the inspector general had to -- but there appears to be a second criminal referral and this is by the cia's justice. explain that one. >> my colleague julia ainslie and i are looking at how this was handled within the government. it gets lost in this before he file z i had complaint, he went to the general council of the cia. because he's a cia employee. and she did some investigating of the allegations and she consulted with the white house. she then got on the phone with a top lawyer in the national security department and she made

what she considered to be a criminal referral under memorandum of how crimes are to be reported. what that means -- >> so what crime? >> well, it's not entirely clear, but it wasn't about campaign finance. she knew about the call with ukraine and this person had alleged that president trump had pressured the ukrainian leader. this criminal referral went over to doj. it's not clear what they did with it. and doj is taking the position it was never in writing. but the other part of our story, chuck, is taking a look at why the justice department declined to open up a criminal investigation while considering only the campaign finance issue and no other statute. because many former prosecutors are telling us that's not how

it's supposed to work. so questions about extortion, bribery, fraud, none of that was considered by the department of justice. and the fact that a senior trump administration lawyer made a separate criminal referral puts a new spotlight on that, chuck. >> that is interesting. one wonders if barr has decided the president can be charged with a crime while in office. >> well, he said -- >> therefore, that's it. >> -- it didn't factor into the analysis though. he made it clear that's not the reason they didn't go forward. >> ron johnson today who was the one-half of that bipartisan team in the senate, chris murphy, ron johnson, who were the chief advocates for this military aid for ukraine. and ron johnson apparently has said he had heard about rumors of a quid pro quo that was holding up the aid. he confronted the president about it and the president reassured him it wasn't true.

>> this is extremely interesting. it's not just like sources close to ron johnson it's ron johnson himself. that denial from the president, senator johnson says he directly asked the president about it. it happened right at the end of august. this was really just, you know, not that long ago. august 31st, it was, that johnson asked the president about it. it was something that as you point out he and others on the hill have been very involved in as it relates to the military aid that the u.s. had committed or was looking to give to ukraine. that is one of the lines we're following here too. >> ken, hallie, and geoff, thank you, all. this is becoming i think a routine of how we're going to have to start each show every day finding out what the heck happened in the last ten minutes. thank you to the three of you. joining me now is former acting solicitor general under president obama and msnbc legal analyst. he says those text messages about ukraine make impeaching

president trump, quote, constitutionally required. and former deputy assistant for russia, ukraine, and an msnbc analyst. welcome to both of you. i want to actually dispense with what the cia general counsel made and what the justice department may be thinking. you know the justice department better than anybody. i won't say you know william barr's thinking better than anybody. >> i kind of do. >> if it's not a campaign finance referral, what could it be? >> bribery, extortion. possibly not the referral wasn't at trump. we don't know that. it could have been at someone lower. it could be abuse of classified information and the like. the president has what is called declassification authority. >> the president himself would be immune from a charge like that. >> largely. if he used intelligence information in some way he could be charged with that. the president could be deemed a criminal. >> at this point do the

referrals matter? okay. there's a lot for the justice department to start to investigate about how to handle these complaints. we're now past that. where are we in your estimation? >> we are where you started your show yesterday. you said this was a national nightmare and the rules of our democracy are being broken. one is was a crime committed? these statutes we're talking about. we're talking about impeachment. impeachment has never been about a crime. a crime could be helpful evidence. it's by no means necessary. what you're looking at here is pretty much the quintessential definition of what our founders thought impeachment was about. which was using a foreign power to help your political ends. that is what the federalist papers were about. >> kurt volker's statement was released today and it added to the narrative of the text

messages. let me put up the first full screen from his testimony. this is a telling anecdote he told about a meeting with the. t. we met as a group with president trump on may 23rd. he said ukraine was a corrupt country full of terrible people. they quote, tried to take me down. he referenced conversations with mayor giuliani. that was more negative causing him to retain his negative view. kurt volker painted a very damning picture of all of this in his -- just his opening statement. we don't even know what the testimony is. >> right. it's really disturbing, chuck. and i think the thing we have to bear in mind is not only was this an issue of president trump asking for ukraine, another country, to interfere in our elections by giving dirt to him. but at the same time he's throwing all kinds of questions in about 2016. again, at the same time he's

doing the kremlin's work. this is what bothers me. we still don't know to this day what vladimir putin and he talk about when they talk. we don't have the transcripts from helsinki. i don't know whether anyone sat down with that interpreter and said give us notes. which is hard for interpreters because they're not paying attention to the content. >> this is all raised to me, the ellipses. should we nickname it rosemary woods. are these going to be the missing 18 minutes? is a full transcript of this call reside somewhere in the government? >> so this is what i'm worried about. the answer might be no. because what i'm hearing and i have sources in the government still, people i used to work with and the different agencies. and what i'm hearing is literally evelyn, you would be shocked. we get readouts that don't resemble what we know to be the truth. it's like an alternative reality. i mean, that's almost verbatim a

quote from someone. >> for what it's worth, every readout i've seen from the white house publicly about leader phone calls, they never match the reporting. they never do. just our own reporting. >> yeah. i think under the obama administration and i was told under the first year of the trump administration they tried hard to have an accurate record. but clearly somewhere along the line they lost their way and it's not just probably these phone calls but other things. at lower levels. and if you foya something now, don't just do it to get the documents. interview the people. interview more people, civil servants. >> you have to find out what else you need. where are we going next? they have laid out -- they've got this -- i heard ted lou today say, you know, you can write the articles now. >> absolutely. so you don't need the missing 18 minutes or anything else. the evidence that's just come out in the last 24 hours is overwhelming. i think the most important thing is it shows the legal and

factual defense we've been hearing for the last week by trump to have crumbled entirely. >> you say it's overwhelming. it's overwhelming if you are in a court of law. the problem is it -- who is the jury here, right? >> yes. but even still, when they start looking at this and it's such a serious picture of seeking out foreign interference and help after help and delaying things like foreign aid appropriated by the senate. you've got to think at some point, you know, the republicans have to do what's in their constitutional -- really their constitutional oath which is say is this a qualified president. >> you know, the most -- there was one part of the text messages that you can't help but wonder. i'm going to put up full screen five. are we now saying that security assistance and white house meeting are conditioned on investigations? gordon sondland says, call me. then of course bill taylor then says -- this is all on september

9th. september 9th is a key date. >> any time someone says call me, they don't want to answer. >> so bill taylor says, as i said on the phone, i think it's craze is to withhold assistance for a political campaign. and then the ig officially notifies congress of a whistle-blower complaint. we know that happened on the same day as this text. all of a sudden in a legalistic way, gordon sondland writes, i believe you are incredible about president trump's intentions. the president has been clears. no quid pro quos of any kind. the president is trying to evaluate whether ukraine is truly going to -- i suggest we stop the back and forth by text. give lisa kena or s.a. a call to discuss them. mast amazing here is if you read the text exchange, gordon sondland's texts never sound like this until the last second

there. >> yeah. and i can just say, chuck. when i read this, i just -- i want to substance for giuliani's name, michael cohen. for sondland i think it's pompeo. sondland is doing this with the whole knowledge of pompeo. that's "s." "s" is pompeo. he's also doing the president's work. he's the most reliable one. he's the real political guy, full-time political guy, donor guy. and he is a european union ambassador which means he has no business normally involved in this. >> there's a very simple point about this which is, you know, i've litigated now for two decades-plus. you never have evidence like this. >> that it's that easy? >> this is so easy. and this is like the drug dealer who calls and says when i said coke i meant coca-cola. that's what that last text is. it's an over-lawyered -- >> you have to want to not believe what you're seeing in order to believe the statement. >> exactly.

>> let me ask you one question about bill barr and justice and the handling of this. i'm sure -- is there an apparatus within justice that's actually going to investigate what he's doing? >> well, there is the inspector general. >> right. is there something he's done that would have the ig in there. >> i would think so. the idea based on what we know, he said this was not a thing of value. so there wasn't a campaign situation. so that starts to look like already -- there's some sort of justice department cover-up. now we the reporting that maybe other crimes were buried too, this is not the way any justice department that i've -- >> it should be a no brainer that the ig should have already opened an investigation. >> it's open. >> all right. the story continues. thank you, both. with me now is shawn patrick malon maloney, member of the house intelligence committee.

he was present for some of the closed door briefing today and he joins me now from our studios on the other side of town. congressman, thanks for coming on. first tell me about -- tell me what you can about mr. atkinson's testimony. have you found it to be -- have you found it to be helpful? have you found it to be a honest witness, a man of integrity, what? >> i think michael atkinson is a man of great integrity. he is the but for actor here. but for his reporting this to congress, the efforts of the white house and the justice department to cover it up might have been successful. he's extremely thorough. he's extremely credible in my opinion. he provided a very helpful chronology of his own involvement. provided additional documents. i'm not at liberty to say a lot more. but i'm impressed with michael atkinson. >> he supposedly conducted his own investigation of the whistle-blower complaint, you know, within a quick period of time. so it's more of an inquiry.

how confident are you on this? >> to determine initial credibility and whether it identifies as emergent. he was stoched in his tracks by a justice department opinion not worth the paper it's written on if you ask me. but an olc opinion that was designed to make him stop to say you don't have jurisdiction. it was a 14-day review as set forth in the whistle-blower complaint to determine credibility and statutory applicability. and with the release of the call memorandum and every piece of information, it appears as though michael atkinson saw how serious this was.

>> let's talk about mr. volker. you've seen -- i don't know how much of his testimony you heard yesterday. and i'm sure you've read his complete opening statement. a very interesting he wanted t make it clear he was trying to provide a thorough account of his actions. what kind of witness do you think mr. was? >> look, i was not able to be there. i was traveling internationally. i got back late last night. i've been briefed on it. i've seen what's been reported on it and been downstairs most of the day today. i can tell you i think mr. volker has some difficult questions to answer. i appreciate his cooperation. i appreciate the text messages he provided. i think his role is complicated in this. but it absolutely confirms the underlying misconduct of the president. i think that's the point. >> what more do you need to start -- ted lou a colleague of yours from california he essentially said you have enough to already write articles of

impeachment. >> i know what ted means by that. my concern this be thorough and fair. of course expeditious. of course it's important to explain to the american public why we would put the country through something as serious as impeachment. for my own part, i don't take any pleasure in this. and i don't think any other democrat takes pleasure in this. the fact is this is a very difficult decision the congress is taking. i know the republicans have this half baked strategy of demanding an immediate impeachment vote. i don't know what their point is. everyone is going to go on the record soon enough on this. i would think that the person being accused of something would want an opportunity to get the facts out. we're going to do that. but we're going to move fast. >> do you have any political fear of going on the record with a vote to open an impeachment inquiry? >> no. none. i fear of not doing the right thing. i have fear of shrinking from my responsibilities and having to answer to my kids and constituents why at the critical

moment not standing up and being counted. i don't have any fear about this. i hope any colleagues understand the gravity of this situation. >> are you comfortable with how adam schiff has handle this whistle-blower complaint? we now have reports -- how much contact did he have with the whistle-blower or the whistle-blower attorney. do you feel as if all of this was appropriate? are you concerned that any of this looks like it hands fodder to the other side? that maybe there was -- it looks like they were plotting something or planning the release of this? >> i have 100% confidence in chairman adam schiff. i think he's a good man. he's enormously careful and is trying every way he knows how to be thorough and fair. and it's come under a lot of abuse. almost all of it politically motivated. the rhetoric of the president has been outrageous and irresponsib irresponsible.

i'd follow adam schiff into any battle and i'm happy to be in the fox hole with him. i think he's going to come out looking pretty good. by the way, none of us is perfect. and none of us is going to get everything right. he's a good man trying to do the right thing. >> how are you going to combat the republicans on this? if the house republicans are essentially trying to delegitimatize the entire thing, they're not accepting the premise -- if they're not going to accept the premise was the conduct troubling? we can debate about whether it's impeachab impeachable. we're not even agrees ing on th set of facts. how do you go about that? >> i've done this job long enough, unfortunately, to be skeptical about, you know, the guys on the other side doing the right thing because it's the right thing. they're trying to rally around the president, but the ground's eroding under them every day. the conduct is indefensible. the evidence is overwhelming. and largely admitted by the president.

frankly, i don't think they have a strategy, they're hedging, they're grasping at process straws or personal attacks. if i could give him some advice, it would be to keep their mouths shut. i think they're going to look foolish when all is said and done. >> congressman shawn patrick ma low noknee, thanks. up next, house democrats are loudly making it clear they're intending to impeach the president. and senate republicans are quietly making it clear they may be condoning his actions. y makiy be condoning his actions

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sflnchts everything to me is about corruption. i don't care about biden's campaign, but i do care about corruption. his campaign, that's up to him. politics, that's up to them. i don't care about politics. what i want to do and i think i have an obligation to do it, probably a duty to do it, corruption. we are looking for corruption. if we feel there's corruption, we have a right to go to a foreign country. >> welcome back. that was president trump today with a new spin on what he did. now claiming his request for foreign countries to launch investigations into joe biden was simply about corruption. again, it's admitting he did it. hard stop. he's just trying to come up with a new rationale for why he did it. they're scrambling to devise a plan but the president always undermines it with each passing day with new comments.

joining us now michael steele and neera tanden. this is a new spin today. every day this week, the president has essentially changed his story on what he did or didn't do. first, there was no quid pro quo. there was no pressure. then it was like, yes bb, i ordd the code red. then today it's no, no, no. these weren't political questions i had asking. it was just about corruption in general. that is the definition of flailing. >> you know, i think we discussed this before that you just have to keep this very simple. we now have the goods. we have the text messages showing that there was an ask here, you know, you need to give us the statement and we're going to actually bring the statement. and we're also going to withhold military aid. so what more do you need? you almost need like a cometic book austin powers version of

quid pro quo. then this is a quid pro quo to hit people over the head with this. we are seeing some republicans now i think speaking out in a way we haven't seen in the past with romney and ben sasse, but a lot of them are quiet. following maloney -- >> there is actually confirming fact. >> there is that. but i think the most intriguing response of the day of republicans on this issue is mr. marco rubio. let's go to the videotape. >> i don't know if that's a real request or him needling the press knowing you guys were going to get outraged at it. he's pretty good at getting everybody fired up. he's been doing that for awhile and the media responded right on the -- right on task. i don't think it's a real request. i think again, i think he did it to gig you guys. i think he did it to provoke you to ask me and others and get outraged by it. like i said, he plays it like a violin.

but that's not a real request. >> michael steele, that's not a real request. >> yeah. that's not the smart argument to be making right now. the smart argument is the argument you're hearing from a lot of people. it is these process arguments. chairman schiff made up quotes in the beginning of the hearing. that the democrats aren't doing actual impeachment vote because that would be an unpopular vote for the democrats sitting in districts that the president won. >> but those are political arguments to make. given the underlying facts and the president's decision to go with the -- we're just going to steer into the worst version of. he doesn't love having -- i think there is something to the patient hearing that there were republicans who were beaten by trump in the primary have been

particularly subservient to them. i mean, it's not just a last vote to them. but it's like he's given over his vote. i actually think that romney and others, and really the science of people who are not coming out defending the president, the fact that they're not on tv, they're not going even on fox news regularly. you don't see many senators going -- >> only the hard-core republicans. >> during impeachment you were putting out democrats who this was a hard support for. and it just shows there's a lack of support for -- >> the president has a lot of confidence in his republican senate to essentially bail him out. take a listen. >> we have a great relationship in the senate. i have a 95% approval rating in the republican party. i believe the senate and i

haven't spoken to that many senators, but i believe the senators look at this as a hoax, it's a witch hunt, it's a disgrace. should have never happened. just like russia collusion delusion should have never happened. that was a witch hunt. and just like that, should have never happened. so i think at the senate, i think they feel that the republican party has been treated very, very badly. >> you know, the problem he's got is that there's now a -- that has made a lot of headway that he actually feared there was a quid pro quo and he confronted the president. >> yeah. well, what we're seeing here is a pattern of escalation and the fact that there has never been someone who's thrown up not only not a red signal but not even flashing yellow lights from the senate. like, hey, we've seen the mueller report come out and all of the obstruction and telling his aides to lie. we've seen him fire his fbi director. you know, none of these things

roused the senate. even when it came to foreign policy seemingly with all of his foreign policy dealings with kim jong-un and private cutting meetings with putin. pompeo is being sued over that right now of the translator's notes being taken by the president. all of these things have happened and the senate has not stood up. >> look. he's confidence that the facts may not be on his side but the math is. he can lose 19 senate republicans. he can lose collins. he can lose sasse and rom ney ad he's still fine. it's frustrating as a conservative right now. because we have the lowest unemployment since men were on the moon and republicans can't go on to talk about economic success because they can't answer these questions. >> here's what i would say about the polls and everything. if the american people decide -- and polls are moving, we'll see. we really are at the early

stages -- we are at the earliest stages. just think of the last 24 hours. god knows where we'll be in one week or two weeks from now. but the truth is, the president is looking for the senate to bail him out. and i think the judgment here is if the american people believe the president did something wrong and what's interesting about this is they understand actually going to a foreign country and basically extrorting them to dig up dirt is a bad thing. then those republicans who bail him out. they will look like they cheated a political judge. they cheated an ethical judgment. and it will -- >> but it will ultimately be decided in the election, right? they will be forced to go on the record. >> which is to me the worthy process debate to have. which is, okay. this investigative work needs to be done. michael, let me ask you this. how many republicans wish they could do what democrats were able to do during the clinton impeachment which is condemn the president's behavior and attack

impeachment? >> he won't let them do that. >> ben sasse. let me show you ben sasse. he's trying to do that. ben sasse in his statement said hold up. americans don't look to chinese commies for the truth. if the biden kid broke laws by selling his name to beijing, that's a matter for american courts. there's this way of trying to say, okay. i'm open to that conversation, but not like this. but is there room in the republican party in the trump era to basically condemn him and condemn impeachment if you want to do that? >> i think that the vice president's -- former vice president's son's actions give republicans a lot of room to run against democrats on this and they're taking advantage of all of that. as long as we're just talking about polling. as long as fortress maga stays strong. republican elected officials generally fear a primary opponent more than the general election. they will stay with him.

>> i guess, you know, we can talk about the politics of this, but ultimately the fact is republicans are essentially going to be for weeks and weeks and weeks essentially defending extortion. >> doesn't this mean whatever happens now -- i was just going to say. they either live together or die together. >> thelma and louise. >> the republican party is now in the hands of donald trump. for better or worse. >> can we also point out he has succeeded in getting a foreign power to investigate his political rival. because they are now investigating it. >> you see what happens in 2020 and that's the answer for going forward after that. >> he's still going to have a twitter account and if he loses, the ability to run again. stick around. up ahead, biden on the record. the former vice president just came out swinging against president trump. we'll show you what he said in a second. plus, we'll tell you who's the

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. welcome back. tonight in 2020 vision, we now know how much cash all the top democratic presidential candidates raked in during the most recent quarter. elizabeth warren's was the latest to announce today. they raised $24.6 million during the past three months. the average donation was $26. warren's haul puts her just barely in second place for the latest quarter. behind bernie sanders who raced $25.3 million. pete buttigieg in third at just over $19 million. and biden in fourth raising just over $15 million. both sanders and warren out-raised biden. biden's numbers fell from the last quarter.

ma meanwhile, president trump is getting a war chest for the campaign one that democrats haven't fully realized how massive it is. the republican national committee and trump campaign together raised $125 million just during this quarter. be right back with joe biden's response that the press corps says is extraordinarily forceful. we'll be right back. y traordinaril forceful we'll be right back. (kickstart my heart by motley crue)) (truck honks) (wheels screeching) (clapping)

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of our most serious competitors and not all lies to decide this election. decide who he runs against. this guy like all bullies is a coward. he does not want to run against me. >> welcome back. that was joe biden just a few moments ago in what our campaign embed sonia sotomayor described biden. the former vp slain president trump saying he indicted himself. my panel is back with me. neera, it has been a challenge for the biden campaign to figure out how to respond to trump without getting dragged into the hunter biden story. and they -- and i have heard back and forth from the biden campaign saying, you know what? he's got to answer for his actions. we're not answering for that. we're going to do this on our terms. what do you make of how team biden is handling all this?

>> i actually disagree. i think if you look at the span of the story, it is very simple. donald trump was very worried about joe biden. so he -- >> what's he going to do? >> he basically extorted an ally in order to ensure he could dig up dirt to do the thing he was able to do against hillary which is throw a lot of dirt on hillary clinton. he wasn't able to do that so he was going to cheat to do that. and joe biden's argument throughout this campaign has been that he is the toughest candidate. he's the most electable candidate against donald trump. and then donald trump through his actions basically showed him, showed the world that that is a fact. he's saying that now -- >> let me ask this though. why haven't democrats rallied around him under that? >> actually, you know, what i -- >> financially we haven't seen the evidence of this. >> this happened in the last two weeks. but i would say i think joe biden has to make the more forceful case about this. but i also think you see other candidates who recognize the

pitfalls of taking advantage of this by actually supporting him. cory booker, beto o'rourke, warren. actually kamala harris. they've been very strongly defending him because i think people recognize democrats look him. >> there is a penalty if you dabble in this, right? i don't want to have 2016 happen again, and i think she a power to really ride this wave. >> is there a chance that trump makes biden -- that he will hand biden teflon. he makes it harder to run against him. >> it is very likely one of his best in the race. this is a forceful statement, he managed to look up from the piece of paper that he was reading off of -- >> that's not fair. >> this is not a dynamic response to a dynamic accusation

for his flood. it is very difficult to defend his son getting $50,000 a month for a job he was not qualified for while his father was the point man on the administration. >> when republicans talk about these things and not the trump kids it is ridiculous. >> okay, a little breaking news, bernie sanders leaving the hospital. that looked like a very healthy bernie sanders. it will be pretty important, these visuals will be pretty important. i go back, history says these voters take these incidents

seriously and it does cost support sometimes. bill bradley saw his support fall after he had a heart scare. he does have a challenge here. >> i remember covering the hillary campaign when she stumbled a little. trump really seized on that. but yeah, he will have to reassure people. look, his campaign is already in trouble, okay? for a campaign in drought, they outraised the entire democratic field. for a campaign that -- i'm with you, it looks like a campaign that is struggling but they're not. >> i think he will want it in the coming days to show he has his mojo and energy back. >> does it, if it goes away from

him, does it throw the records getting put out there. everybody really wanted to release their medical records. i don't think we're going to have that this time. >> i think it is fair for people to ask. we want him to return, i think it is good that he looks so healthy, he looked healthy, and so that is good, hopefully he will get on the trail soon, but i think eventually people should know those medical records in the appropriate amount of time. if we get closer, maybe past iowa, et cetera. >> i thought hillary did release some. >> and biden said he will and he said he will release updated medical records and he has done

it before. this is the norm until trump made it not the norm and everybody said oh, okay, i don't want to do that either. >> it was a dragging -- no one wanted to rush to the fences, elizabeth warren, very quietly, i'm maybe surprised she didn't top bernie, but they're doing it without a single $2,000 maxed out fundraiser. >> yeah, it is coming from so many individual donors. >> that is a lifeline, recurring donations, $20 or $25 or $50. people sign up for monthly. on your credit card and it just keeps coming. >> krae, yeah, it is a good thi democracy. >> any day we're talking about

senator sanders health, and former vice president biden's son is a good day for elizabeth warren. >> up next, a vicious circle. do you mind...being a mo-tour? -what could be better than being a mo-tour? the real question is... do you mind not being a mo-tour? -i do. for those who were born to ride, there's progressive.

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welcome back. finally tonight i'm obsessed with moment that's capture our che collective consciousness. the hippie movement, the fall of

the berlin wall. what is our iconic image. this week it was a catering cart that lost control and started driving by itself in circles in reverse. and really, when you think about it, didn't that really say it all about how we all feel? like we're all stuck in the wrong gear, nobody at the wheel, careening wildly out of control? going not forward or backward but just around in circles repeatedly backing over the debris. wearing ourselves out as the world stands idolly by, kind of in horror, waiting for a night in signing armor to come back and ram us back into reality. the cart that lost control was from american airlines.

fortunately everyone was fine. will the rest of us be able to say the same? that's all we have for tonight. we'll be back month with more "meet the press" daily. another deep dive into president trump's pressuring of ukraine and what congress's response may say about our democracy going forward. chris murphy will be among my guests. thank you, chuck. it is friday night in the middle of this impeachment clash and we're tracking a whirlwind of breaking news. president trump under fire as democrats are drafting impeach ment subpoenas. if that wasn't enough there are smoking gun dex messatext messa. is the evidence against the president is mounding and