good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. ♪ this morning, the white house is stonewalling the impeachment inquiry in a letter to top democrats the white house says it will comply with demands for documents and testimony. plus, new reporting that the turkish military will soon be crossing the syrian border follow president trump's announcement about u.s. troops withdrawing. and there appears to be a front-runner in the 2020 democratic race. senator elizabeth warren now holds a slight lead in national polls. good morning, everybody. it is wednesday, october 9th. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. we begin with the fast moving

developments in the push to impeach the president. a new quinnipiac poll is just the latest to show a majority of americans now support the impeachment inquiry. 53%. this follows yesterday's "washington post" poll which found 58% of americans supporting the house probe. a 21-point increase since july. we also learned yesterday, that the trump administration will not cooperate with the inquiry, calling it illegitimate and unconstitutional. we got the first sign of that when the state department blocked a key witness in the probe eu ambassador ambassador sondland from testifying from the house foresight and affairs committee. democrats issued a subpoena to compel his testimony and for documents to get officials to investigate joe biden and his son. and remember the text message that diplomat bill taylor sent sondland that said, quote, it was crazy to withhold military

aid to ukraine to help the candidate's campaign. a source tells nbc news before responding no quid pro quo, that sondland called and consulted the president. according to the "the new york times," one day after that call, a whistle-blower wrote a memo about a white house fwoushl who was, quote, visibly shaken after listening to the conversation. citing two sources, cnn has reported that rick perry and two top officials to work with rudy giuliani date the back to at least may. and then there's this, despite the president's quest to prove that ukraine interfered to help hillary clinton, a senate committee released a bipartisan

report. the democrats remain split on whether president trump should be impeached and ultimately removed from office. cog to a new nbc/"wall street journal" poll, 20% of americans said trump should be impeached and removed from office. almost half, 49% said that trump should not be impeached and remain president. combined, the majority of americans, 55% believe there's enough evidence for the house to make, or at least hold that impeachment inquiry into trump and then remove him from office. 39% disagree. meanwhile in a new quinnipiac university poll, 53% of those polled approve, and 53% disapprove down two. over half of the voters agreement the impeachment is a legitimate investigation. and as i mentioned earlier on what maybe a legal showdown, the white house is refusing to

cooperate with democrats in the impeachment inquiry. in a defiant eight-page letter to nancy pelosi and the chairman of three house committee, the white house says it will not comply with demands on what it calls the, quote, illegitimate impeachment inquiry. the letter written argues that the inquiry is invalid because it clearly seeks to reverse the results of the 2016 election and influence the 2020 election. writer says in part this, never before our history has the house of representatives under the control of either political party taken the american people down the dangerous path you seem determined to pursue. >> and democrats were quick to fire back at the white house's letter. house speaker nancy pelosi called it the latest attempt to cover up the president's betrayal of our democracy. in a statement said, the white house should be warned that continued efforts to hide the truth of the president's abuse of power will be regarded as

further evidence of obstruction. and the white house tweeted out, and they say they will not cooperate with an impeachment inquiry unless it's on their terms. they mean the president is above the law. the constitution says choice. and george conway, conserve lawyer and husband to counselor kellyanne conway tweeted this out. it is hard to count the number of ways that this letter is constitutionally and legally garbage. >> and we are learning now information between president trump and the president of ukraine that parked impeachment nrn. according to the "the new york times," the whistle-blower wrote a letter that said this, he or she had spoken to an official that listened to the call. that person called it crazy and lacking in security. the memo wrote that the white house official was shaken. and they've confirmed the

existence of this memo by the whistle-blower and it was turned over to the intelligence communities. >> neal, it's great to have you with us. what is the latest with investigators with the ongoing fight that stonewalled these interviews, whether at the state department or elsewhere to try and get some cooperation with the impeachment inquiry? >> it's good to be back with you. i think the next step is the courts, there was a hearing yesterday in court in washington trying to get access by the house. trying to get access to some of the grand jury testimony and other documents related to the mueller probe and the possibility that there might have been something that is necessary for the impeachment inquiry. in that regard, the administration arguing that basically, the house is not formally in an impeachment inquiry. and they don't have to turn things over.

you know, i think if that goes along the way of nancy pelosi and adam schiff and the house democrats, then things like the letter that we saw last night from the white house are going to really have to go by the wayside. and that's where the fight escalates next. i think more than just the firing off of subpoenas is going to have to be some sort of court action to enforce them. >> let's talk, niels, about some of the new details we're learning about the whistle-blower memo and this memo that the white house official who had taken a listen to this phone call was, quote, visibly shaken by what had transpired. are we going to see democrats changing tactics in light of this new information which regards the impeachment push? >> i think the careful nature of what the house democrats are actually pursuing. and, frankly, the relatively narrow scope that chairman schiff and the other chairmen

involved seem to be taking is probably likely to continue. you know, what i am curious about is whether or not there are other whistle-blowers who may have been thwarted from going through the normal channels. because, remember, part of what prompted this all to become public in the first place was a concern that the cia may have actually gone to the legal counsel or somewhere else at the white house and sort of attempted to undermine it that way. so, i think that there's sort of going to be an interesting paper trail that may develop which again could lead to a whole different battle over executive powers. but i think that could be part of this as well. >> i mean, some of the terminology used to describe this phone call from this white house official. crazy, frightening, completely lacking in substance. incredibly surprising, concerning the fact that we well know this individual is not the only person on the phone call aside from the president. >> niels, rlet me get your

thoughts, rudy giuliani getting invited by lindsey graham. interestingly, the senator is spinning it saying he wants to get to the bottom of the ukraine thing without a one-sided investigation. he's actually inviting rudy giuliani to come and give his testimony, more or less. what do you make of that development? >> other than it being a larger circus than anything else we've seen yet in this whole probe, if it were to happen in an opening setting, i think the senate democrats, having seen with what they came out with yesterday, having talked with some aides on the senate side, they would relish the opportunity, the senate democrats, particularly the three of them named cory booker, kamala harris and amy klobuchar who all happen to be on that committee and are spending a lot of time in places like iowa and new hampshire. >> i thought it interesting that lindsey graham saying the house

investigation is partisan. niels, we'll talk to you a bit. >> the turkish military will cross the syrian border shortly. that is according to turkey's communications director who in a tweet last night said kurdish militants in the region can either defect or will be stopped by turkish forces from stopping their push by isis militants. and it struck the syrian/iraqi border from using the route to syria. david ignatius reports the sources have moved by air and by ground. meanwhile, ignatius reports that isis is mobilizing sleeper cells in the see of raqqah.

and in a tweet yesterday, the president writing we may be in the process of leaving syria, but in no way have we abandoned the kurds who are special people and wonderful fighters. but on the ground in syria, "the wall street journal" reports a very different story. the video teleconference on monday with the commander of the kurdish-led syrian democratic forces, u.s. officials were left scrambling to defuse situations is there. one commanders reportedly yelled, quote, you sold us before storming outside of the room. while another said we have become accustomed by being betrayed by foreign partners. still ahead, we just mentioned we're going to have much more on lindsey graham's offer for rudy giuliani to testify before the senate judiciary committee. ellen is responding after

spotting sitting next to former president george w. bush at a football game. those and more, coming right back. (burke) at farmers insurance, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. even a- (ernie) lost rubber duckie? (burke) you mean this one? (ernie) rubber duckie! (cookie) what about a broken cookie jar? (burke) again, cookie? (cookie) yeah. me bad. (grover) yoooooow! oh! what about monsters having accidents? i am okay by the way! (burke) depends. did you cause the accident, grover? (grover) cause an accident? maybe... (bert) how do you know all this stuff? (burke) just comes with experience.

(all muppets) yup. ♪ we are farmers. ♪ bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum tthe bad news? our so will this recital.day. new depend® fit-flex underwear offers your best comfort and protection guaranteed. because, perfect or not, life's better when you're in it. be there with depend®.

welcome back, everyone. many senate judiciary chairman lindsey graham has invited rudy giuliani to testify about his work with ukraine to investigate former vice president joe biden. in a series of tweets yesterday, graham extended the offer to president trump's personal lawyer writing, quote, have heard on numerous occasions disturbing allegations by rudy giuliani about corruption in ukraine and the many improprieties surrounding the firing of viktor shokin. it is time for the senate to choir about corruption and other improprieties involving ukraine. therefore, i will offer mr. giuliani to come to the committee to inform the committee of his concerns. it is not clear whether the hearing will be open to the

public or held behind closed doors. all of this happening while giuliani signals with congress that he's not willing to cooperate without a fight. in fact, he told nbc news everything there falls within the attorney/client and work product privileges. adding, if they hold me in contempt, they are in contempt of the right to counsel. the answer is to get a judge to rule on the subpoena. >> all right, let's clear all of this up. >> with somebody who knows a little bit about attorney/client privilege. >> joining us here, msnbc analyst danny cevallos. what type of legal showdown are we about to see if in fact rudy giuliani accepts this invitation to testify before the senate and the house? >> first, he has said he has to consider issues of privilege. that's what's so curious about this assertion. rudy giuliani, from the beginning, his identity, who rudy giuliani is will figure prominently on whether or not and how he testifies, if he ever

testifies. he's a lawyer, but is he acting as a lawyer? and if he is acting as a lawyer, does it matter because he's the president's personal lawyer? he's not part of the executive branch. you several different kinds of privilege. you have attorney/client privilege which happens when an attorney and a client discuss legal services. and that privilege can disappear if it's communicated to a third party. >> can these conversations that giuliani was having with ukraine be deemed as providing legal services to the president? >> i cannot imagine a scenario where this is an attorney/client privilege situation. anytime an attorney is talking to an outside party, especially the member of a foreign government, for example, or another member of our government, then that's not an attorney/client communication provided for legal services. that's something outside the realm of legal services. and then you have separately the issue of executive privilege. does rudy giuliani act as an arm of the president such that he should be entitled to that

executive privilege. remember, the supreme court said, in the nixon case, many years ago, that there's this privilege, but we don't know exactly what the contours of it are. we just know that it sort of exists. so, in this case, rudy giuliani is a private citizen and he's acting as the president's private attorney, not the white house's and not the executive branches. >> let's switch gears for a moment and talk about the white house letter to the house pretty much stonewalling the inquiry saying they would not cooperate. do you think that they have a strong legal footing for them to be able to say to congress a coequal branch of government in some capacity, we're not able to cooperate with your inquiry or subpoenas? >> this intention has been around a long time, long before the letter that we saw yesterday. now, the issue here becomes, because of separation of powers, the idea that these branches are coequal branches can congress

force people from the executive branch to turn things over. this has been a tension for many, many years between congress and the executive branch. and generally, congress does have the power to subpoena information and witnesses and documents. but on the other hand, the executive branch, and in this letter, they've made their position very clear. that when your investigation is for an improper purpose. and when you're not giving us basic due process rights such as the ability to look at your documents or talk to witnesses, then we're just going to deny your request. we're going to refuse to comply. it's not in their mind an impeachable offense of obstruction of justice. it's just following the constitution. >> in the trial portion of the impeachment process they will be seeing everything, right? >> yes, they will. i do caution people, impeach trials are similar to criminal trials. but criminal trials are governed by gigantic rules of procedure. the founders gave us a scant few paragraphs describing how

impeachment trials are supposed to run. so, while we do have a general practice for doing things, be warned. it may look like a criminal trial. it is not a criminal trial. it's a political event. >> danny cevallos. thanks. let's get a check of weather with nbc meteorology janessa webb. >> hey, morning, we're seeing it skipping from the upper midwest going straight to winter. so this system is becoming well organized and we've already seen heavy snowfall for montana. now, we're forecast with the potential up to 6 to 8 inches for the lower elevations. the higher elevation, up to 18 inches. and this has really expandsed in the last 24 hours with winter weather advisories. winter storm watches and warnings that are going to be in place for at least the next 36 hours. let's talk about the totals, 18 inches for the dakotas. the northern edge.

this could potentially be the first official snowfall for the denver area. so the slick conditions and the dropping temperatures really going to be an issue. we've already seen that in the last 24 hours. i mean, daytime highs, we are talking about by tomorrow afternoon, that cold blast settles in. and highs are back in the upper 20s. we're going to continue to see that temperature drop, can you imagine, 30 to 35 degrees cooler. >> all right, janessa, thank you very much. still ahead, move over joe biden, there is a new front-runner leading the 2020 polls. we're going to break down the numbers for you. numbers for you.

we didn't have to stop the movie. i didn't have to call an ambulance. and i didn't have to contact your family. because your afib didn't cause a blood clot that led to a stroke. not today. we'd discussed how your stroke risk increases over time, so even though you were feeling fine, we chose xarelto®, to help keep you protected. once-daily xarelto®, significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. in fact, over 96% of people remained stroke-free. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, a spinal injection increases the risk of blood clots, which may cause paralysis- the inability to move. you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned

medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. be sure you're doing all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. ask your doctor if it's time for xarelto®. to learn more about cost and how janssen can help, visit xarelto.com. (honk!) i hear you sister. that's why i'm partnering with cigna to remind you to go in for your annual check-up, and be open with your doctor about anything you feel - physically and emotionally. but now cigna has a plan that can help everyone see stress differently. just find a period of time to unwind. a location to de-stress. an activity to enjoy. or the name of someone to talk to. to create a plan that works for you, visit cigna.com/mystressplan. cigna. together, all the way.

welcome back. massachusetts senator elizabeth warren is for the first time leading joe biden in the national average. for the 2020 democratic nomination, warren leads biden by 0.2 points. in the poll, three-point advantage in the caucus state of iowa. however, biden leads states in early voting in new hampshire, nevada and south carolina. >> elizabeth warren stands by her account of being fired from her first teaching job in riverdale, new jersey, because she was pregnant, despite criticism from conservative media. warren tweeted out when i was 22 and finishing my fir year of teaching. i had an experience millions of women will recognize. by june, i was visibly pregnant and the principal told me the job i was promised for the next

year would go to someone else. minutes later, minutes, show that warren from april 21st, 1971, was issued a two-day a week speech contract for her second year of teaching. warren who would have been about four months' pregnant at the time told cbs news that she had kept her preg naenancy secret. two months later, warren's resignation with accepted with regret. two teachers who worked at the school at the same time told cbs news it was standard practice to be pushed out once you were five months' pregnant. some conservative media outlets have pointed to an interview in which warren did not mention her pregnancy for leaving her job. the story in "the washington post" said it came more from her accounts when she first ran for office back in 2012. >> if you think about it, that

was probably 40 years ago or so when she recounts that story. it's interesting, a lot of women are recounting their own stories in which they felt the same injustice happened. that's why it's so important for women's health care to be talked about. still ahead, democrats, with the impeachment inquiry after the state department intervened yesterday. plus, president trump is trying to capitalize on a new report about the whistle-blowers. those stories and much more, coming up. get any better than this? is that what i think it is? that is an armada of tiny sushi boats. awesome! i forgot to pack lunch. you had one job... chopsticks wasabi and soy! comin' in a little hot. it only gets better when you switch and save with geico.

new pasta and grill combos starting at $9.99. only at applebee's.

♪ welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside

ayman mohyeldin. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. house democrats have subpoenaed the u.s. ambassador to the european union over president trump's bid to get ukraine to investigate his political rivals. it came hours an gordon sondland failed to show up after directed by the state department not to appear. the chairman of those committees said they learned from sondland's personal attorneys that officials from the state department left a voice mail at 12:30 yesterday morning informing them that the trump administration would not allow the ambassador to appear as part of the house's impeachment inquiry. text messages provided last week said that sondland and another ambassador worked to persuade ukraine to public ly commit to investigating president trump's

opponents. president trump weighed in part, quote, love to send ambassador sondland to testify, unfortunately, he'd be testifying before a total kangaroo court. >> and backing the lawmakers was swift from republicans and democrats including house intel chairman adam schiff. >> failure to provide this witness, the failure to produce these documents, we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction of the constitutional functions of congress, a coequal branch of government. >> the president is obstructing -- obstructing congress from getting the facts that we need. that is an abuse of power for him to act in this way. and that is -- that is one of the reasons that we have an impeachment inquiry. so, our constitution, the genius of it is, a system of checks and balances, that we would have

three separate coequal branches of the government that had a check and balance on the other. the president has said, article 2, it says i can do whatever i want. no, it doesn't, mr. president. and so, his -- snubbing his nose at the vision of our founders, and his disloyalty to the constitution is something that we have to study. >> we understand the reason why the state department decided not to have ambassador sondland appear today. i mean, it's based on the unfair and partisan process that will schiff has been running. >> and now nbc news has learned new details about the trump administration's behind-the-scenes conversations regarding ukraine. gordon sondland spoke directly with president trump on the phone on september 9th before telling the top u.s. diplomat and ambassador bill taylor that there had been no quid pro quo regarding the administration's push for the country to dig up dirt on political rivals.

that's according to a person on the call. and who also urged that taylor was urged to stop texting about his concerns. two aides tell nbc news that sondland, taylor and former u.s. envoy to the ukraine kurt volker also used encrypted whatsapp. the use of whatsapp has raised constitutional issues with federal record keeping requirements. >> and directing rick perry and two state department officials to speak with his private attorney rudy giuliani when the president sought to meet trump, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. one of those sources said trump believed ukraine was still corrupt and said if president zelensky wanted to meet with him, he would have to push giuliani first. and what kurt volker disclosed

in his statement last week and further demonstrates the significant role giuliani played in brokering access to trump regarding ukraine policy. >> and new reporting from the wau washington examiner reveals that michael atkinson wrote a letter claiming that the whistle-blower showed some indication of an arguably political bias. along with news reports that said that the whistle-blower was a registered democrat. atkinson said the whistle-blower's possible bias was reportedly because of a significant tie with one of the democratic candidates currently vying with president trump for next year. in the letter, he wrote in part, quote, such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern appears credible, particularly given the other information, the icig obtained during its preliminary review.

nevertheless, president trump capitalized on the examiner's reporting yesterday, tweeting an oral with the caption "this is just the beginning, thank you @brianyork." >> joining us from washington, senior writer niels lesniewski, from the get-go of all of this, the president has tried to discredit this whistle-blower. what have you made of this latest tactic? >> it's an obvious move for president trump. it fits within the playbook that you would expect the white house to be using to allege that the whistle-blower may be some sort of democratic operative, or may have some sort of ties to some of the -- or one or more of the presidential candidates from the democratic side. but, of course, it's entirely possible that if the whistle-blower is some sort of career official, some, you know, someone in the intelligence community, that they would have

have at some point in time, had a conversation with a member of congress or with a vice president of the united states. i don't think it's particularly surprising that someone who is apparently in the intelligence community would have had conversations with democratic lawmakers at some point in time. so, i understand where the tactic is, but i don't think it's particularly surprising if the reporting were to bear out here. >> let's talk about the fallout from yesterday's decision by the white house to not let sondland appear on the hill. what kind of impact will that have on the progress of house democrats and their investigation? >> you know, i think that's a really good question because if this goes into more of a legal process, you know, courts are not always the most efficient operators. and so it's possible that any sort of thought of getting

through the impeachment inquiry or giving it to the floor of the house, say, before thanksgiving is there has been some reporting might be the idea. if this goes into the courts, it becomes more difficult for nancy pelosi and the house democrats to actually meet that time line. i mean, they could argue that because this is -- this is basically obstruction, and just move forward with articles of impeachment built on obstruction charges, and that could happen more quickly, but if they want to really get ahold of the information and these text messages or whatsapp messages, that were going back and forth, they may end up waiting longer for courts to resolve it. >> hey, niels, really quickly, what do you make of the republicans' effort in the house to basically censor adam schiff for the way he's conducting this

investigation? what is that part of the republican tactic in this inquiry? >> well, one-up that. yesterday there was a house republican, abraham from louisiana who is running for governor who actually proposed expelling nancy pelosi. so they are just going to keep escalating this retaliation sort of response. and i'm just not sure that that's going to bear fruit for them, except maybe in republican primaries, like there is actually for governor in louisiana. >> all right, niels lesniewski live for us in washington. thanks, niels. still, the latest on senator bernie sanders' condition following his heart attack and how it will impact his 2020 campaign. plus, ellen degeneres speaks out after backlash of her sitting next to george w. bush at a game.

their friendship goes viral. back in just a moment. to look at me now, you don't see psoriasis. you see clear skin.

you see me. but if you saw me before cosentyx... ♪ i was covered. it was awful. but i didn't give up. i kept fighting. i got clear skin with cosentyx. 3 years and counting. clear skin can last. see if cosentyx could make a difference for you. cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis find clear skin that can last. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. see me now. i'm still clear. how sexy are these elbows? get clear skin that can last. ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. get clear skin that can last. before she puts them in the dishwasher. so what does the dishwasher do?

(vo) cascade platinum does the work for you. prewashing and removing stuck-on foods, the first time. (mom) wow! that's clean! (vo) cascade platinum. hi. maria ramirez! mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs... prof: maria ramirez mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! to help more employees achieve their dreams.

welcome back, everyone. 2020 candidate bernie sanders said he will be changing the nature of his change as he moves forward into a 2020 busy season following a heart attack last week. yesterday, sanders said he was dumb to the symptoms and that he had been fatigued by excessive events. >> do you expect that when you travel more you'll be able to keep up the same robust -- >> i don't know, not certainly immediately. look, we were doing in some cases, five or six meetings a day. three or four town rallies and meeting with groups of people. i don't think i'm going to do that. but i certainly intend to be actively campaigning. i think we're going to change the nature of the campaign a bit. make sure that i have the strength to do what i have to do. >> now, sanders classified to reporters that changing the nature of his campaign likely means scaling back appearances from three to four rallies a day

to one to two. sanders' campaign has insisted that the vermont senator does not plan on dropping out of the race and expects to be at next week's democratic debate on the 15th. let's get to ellen degeneres responding to critics after crowd shots at the cowboys/packers game seeing her sitting next to former president george w. bush. people took issue to it sitting next to the president because of their differences and ideology. yesterday, ellen addressed the backlash on her show with a message that she ends her show with every day. this time with a clarification, be kind to one another. not just who you agree with, everybody. >> during the game, they showed a shot of me sitting next to george w. bush. they said why am i sitting next to a former president. i'm friends with a lot of peo s

beliefs. we're all different and that's okay. just because i don't agree with someone doesn't mean i'm not going to be friends with one another. when i say behind to one another, i don't mean to people who think the same as you do. i mean be kind to everyone. >> a lot of thoughts on that on social media. >> i do think a message of being kind to one another is a good one. >> always. let's switch gears and get a check of weather with meteorologist janessa webb. hi, janessa. >> hey, good morning, have you noticed the cloud cover for the east. >> yes, gloomy. >> unfortunately, it's going to sick arou stick around for the next few days. we've got a tropical system, we're watching the clouds and that's what we're seeing for the mid-atlantic and the northeast. the forecast, we're going to continue to have rain for at

least the next three or four days. locally, up to 5 inches. there's going to be ponding in some areas of north new england, so we'll watch that closely. so the formation of this storm system right now, in the next two to five days, 40%. it stays well offshore. it potentially could have that name, but the storm surge, also the cloud coverage, really going to be a problem and that's what we're going to be watching. the five-day development of these two systems well offshore. so no potential for any landfalls. now, we're going to see minor delays due to the rain from new york to philly and boston this afternoon. we're going to be watching that as the flooding rain continues in most areas of the northeast. noaa has also released its climate disaster survey for 2019. $10 billion already for a tropical season so far. and we're seeing the higher amounts from hurricane dorian to

tropical storm imelda. and hurricane season doesn't end until november 30th. so this is actually the fifth consecutive year we've spent at least $1 billion. so it's kind of hard to really deny the climate change. these storms continue to be very fierce, and we're seeing, instead of a ten-year period, they're happening over two to four years. >> and having serious economic devastation on our communities and towns along the coast. janessa, thank you. still ahead, despite the president's push to blame ukraine for helping hillary clinton, a new report led by senate republicans actually backs up the u.s. intelligence assessment that it was russia who intervened to help trump. we're going to dig into that report, next. work immediately to block the virus and protect healthy cells. abreva acts on it. so you can too. - [woman] with my shark, i deep clean messes like this,

this, and even this. but i don't have to clean this, because the self-cleaning brush roll removes hair while i clean. - [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself. 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. new pasta and grill combos starting at $9.99. only at applebee's. your business can do a lot in 10 minutes. like make a big sale. surprise and delight a customer. or come up with the winning idea. and 10 minutes is all you need to finally give your business the internet technology it really needs. we'll prove it. give us 10 minutes. if we can't offer you faster speed or better savings than your current internet service,

we'll give you 300 dollars for your time. call now to get your comcast business 10 minute advantage and take your business beyond. comcast business. beyond fast.

welcome back. president trump has invited turkey's president erdogan to visit the white house next month. the two leaders will meet on november 13th, according to an official, trump inferred in a series of tweets yesterday that the turkish president would visit as his, quote, guest. news of the meeting comes one day after trump announced his decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria after a phone call from turkey's leader which has received bipartisan backlash. there's been an incredible amount of discussion surrounding this issue. >> it was interesting i was speaking to a turkish adviser yesterday on our air and i was

asking him did the president of the united states offer president erdogan in exchange or what did turkey offer the united states. he responded point blankly saying this is something we've been asking for quite essentially blamed the military and the national security apparatus in the u.s. for delaying the president's decision for the past eight months. we know that already from a little bit of the tensions that we've seen with people like jim mattis and brett mcgurk. >> what takes place over the next month, what type of conversation is going to be had with the president and erdogan and if in fact the president will hold erdogan accountable if he defies the agreement that they initially made. >> well, he threatened to destroy, totally obliterate the turkish economy. >> we'll see if that actually happens. >> exactly. >> moving along. the senate intelligence committee has released the second volume of its report on russian interference in the 2016 election which focuses on the kremlin backed social media disinformation campaign. according to "the washington

post" the committee recounts extensive russian manipulation of facebook, instagram, youtube, twitter, google, all the other major platforms with the goal of dividing americans, suppressing african-american turnout and helping elect trump president. the report also offers a set of recommendations for siphoning the u.s. defenses against foreign interference online with lawmakers urging their peers in congress to act including through the potential adoption of new regulations that would make the disclosure of ad buyers more transparent. the report also called on the white house and the executive branch to adopt a more forceful public role warning americans about the ways in which dangerous misinformation can spread while creating new teams within the u.s. government to monitor threats and share intelligence with industry. the recommendations call for silicon valley to more extens e extensively share intelligence with companies and the ways that disinformation from russia and other countries spreads across numerous platforms.

what was not mentioned in the report, ukraine. interesting. coming up, nick johnson has a look at this morning's one big thing, and coming up on "morning joe," the white house locks up over the fight over impeachment. new polling reveals a majority of americans now support the impeachment investigation. another busy "morning joe," everyone, just moments away. my cause... and creating my dream home. i'm a work in progress. so much goes into who i am. hiv medicine is one part of it. prescription dovato is for adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment and who aren't resistant to either of the medicines dolutegravir or lamivudine. dovato has 2 medicines in 1 pill to help you reach and then stay undetectable. so your hiv can be controlled with fewer medicines while taking dovato. you can take dovato anytime of day with food or without. don't take dovato if you're allergic to any of its ingredients or if you take dofetilide. if you have hepatitis b, it can change during treatment with dovato

and become harder to treat. your hepatitis b may get worse or become life-threatening if you stop taking dovato. so do not stop dovato without talking to your doctor. serious side effects can occur, including allergic reactions, liver problems, and liver failure. life-threatening side effects include lactic acid buildup and severe liver problems. if you have a rash and other symptoms of an allergic reaction, stop taking dovato and get medical help right away. tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis b or c. don't use dovato if you plan to become pregnant or during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy since one of its ingredients may harm your unborn baby. your doctor should do a pregnancy test before starting dovato. use effective birth control while taking dovato. the most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, nausea, trouble sleeping, and tiredness. so much goes into who i am and hope to be. ask your doctor if starting hiv treatment with dovato is right for you. ♪ no matter when you retire, ensure you still have income

every month of your retirement, guaranteed. see how lincoln can help.

welcome back, joining us from washington, with a look at "axios" a.m. editor in chief for "axios" nick johnson. >> today's one big thing is trump's burn down the house strategy. we talked -- we wrote over the weekend about how the president views impeachment as sort of a horrible stain on his legacy, something he really wants to avoid being put on his resume so to speak. we're seeing how that plays out in the strategy now in his response to it. going after people who -- refusing to cooperate, attacking, attacking, it's a page out of the same play book

he used during the mueller campaign. there's really only one person whose instincts the president trusts on this kind of thing and it's the president's things. look for him to follow much of the same play book he did in the mueller campaign, try and discredit people speaking against him, launching ads and attack ads and going on personal attacks for those leading the charge against him. we're seeing that on his twitter attacks against adam schiff, accusing him of treason, very similar to what they did in response to the mueller investigation. >> those are the similar aspects. how is this different from the mueller investigation? in some sense he's going up against politicians in congress, not against the special prosecutor and investigators. >> right, the difference in the plil resonance of this one. the mueller campaign dragged on for many months. it was very hard to figure out what were the real issues of obstruction and collusion. this investigation around the ukraine call is far more clear

for voters to understand. two big polls came out yesterday which showed almost the majority of americans now favor trump's removal from office. one of those polls showed a big jump among republicans favoring an impeachment inquiry. republicans don't believe the republican numbers quite that much but they do see broader trend lines. this is something that may have political resonance. trump's strategy might not work the same. >> talk about this new reporting that "axios" has about where the trump campaign is focusing its advertising dollars. >> absolutely. we've written a lot about the president's focus spending tons of money on social media and particularly facebook to hammer away on issues important to him outspending all the democratic candidates combined. traditionally he'd been focused on immigration. recently that shifted all to impeachment. that is the issue that the president is making a key point in his efforts to engage voters on social media. it's not just the president. house and senate republicans are doing the same. you probably saw a mitch

mcconnell ad over the weekend saying he was the last line of defense between the trump and being removed from office. it's definitely something that the republicans are doubling down on when you look at the same numbers for democrats on facebook spending, they're very much all over the map. it's a lot of issues, but not very much at all on a singular issue like republicans have on impeachment. >> one issue we've seen the republicans break with the president has been about senator. lindsey graham leading the charge on that front. he's been very critical about that decision. what is he saying? >> my colleague talked to lindsey graham last week. he said the president was endangering the nation by giving turkey this opportunity to move into syria, making news headlines is that turkey may already be doing that. lindsey graham said that's a horrible mistake. republicans have been unified except for rand paul. you look at how the republicans have been relatively unified on impeachment but after the syria news broke out there was a complete shattering of the

caucus including mitch mcconnell saying this is something the president shouldn't do. it's a very interesting dynamic to watch as the president is trying to keep republicans with him. >> where is this position the president admits the impeachment inquiry. >> lindsey graham is are probably the president's most staunch defender, to constantly attack the president's critics and stand behind the president. the same thing that happened when the syria news came out, lindsey graham was attacking the president, language i hadn't seen since donald trump had been president. it's a very interesting dynamic here where some of the president's strongest defenders are attacking him on this syria issue. >> when you think about where the impeachment inquiry goes here and the fight that is about to unfold, is this likely to play out in the courts or are we going to see at some point one of the sides blink? >> i think it's 100% something that's going to go to the courts. the president's letter saying they're not going to cooperate. that's going to get the lawyers

scrambling to write briefs. i think the only question is this going to go to a divided supreme court to decide what kind of documents are released and what kind of power this impeachment inquiry has. >> nicholas johnson in d.c. for us. we're going to be reading "axios" a.m. in a bit. you can sign up for the news letter by going to signup@axios.com. "morning joe" starts right now. >> the notion that you can withhold information and documents from congress no matter whether you're the party in power or not in power is wrong. respect for the rule of law must mean something irrespective of the va sis attitudes of political cycles. >> wow. >> yes. >> willie and i were just saying that. you know, i've got a great idea. this is my great idea, mika. >> yeah, yeah, yeah.