i'm dara brown. a great way to start the day, dara. thank you so much. for all of you, breaking news, yet another trump administration staff shake-up. the president announcing on twitter that acting homeland security secretary kevin mcaleenan has resigned, the fourth person to serve in that post. good morning, i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. day 19 into the impeachment inquiry into president trump. democrats looking forward to a busy week of depositions and deadlines. after a wild week full of rapid developments. culminating with alarming testimony from former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch. in more than nine hours behind closed doors, yovanovitch told house lawmakers that president trump had personally pressured

the state department to remove her over unfounded and false claims. another strange week for the president from tearing into the impeachment inquiry, to his bizarre reason for abandoning the kurds in syria. here's a look at the week that was for the president. >> what they did to this country is unthinkable and it's lucky that i'm the president, because i guess i don't know what, a lot of people said, very few people could handle it. i sort of thrive on it. you know why? because it's so important, that we get to the bottom. we went through the whole mueller scam. you can't impeach a president for doing a great job. >> did any of white house official express any concern to you -- >> no. >> or speak to you about that phone call? >> it's all a big con. don't you understand? look, the phone call, you have it. it's the transcript. >> in the full house and the vote were to authorize, would you cooperate? >> we would if they give us our rights. it depends. the kurds are fighting for their land, just so you understand. they're fighting for their land.

and as somebody wrote in a very powerful article today, they didn't help us in the second world war. didn't help us with normandy as an example. >> the do-nothing democratic extremists have gone so far left that they believe it should not be a crime to cross our border illegally. and it should be a crime to have a totally appropriate, casual, beautiful, accurate phone call with a foreign leader. the radical democrats' policies are crazy, their politicians are corrupt. their candidates are terrible. and they know they can't win an election day, so they're pursuing an illegal, invalid and unconstitutional [ bleep ] impeachment. >> told you it was a wild week. we've got a lot to report and interpret this morning. a team of analysts and reporters on the latest developments. first up, the sudden departure

of kevin mcaleenan. the acting secretary of the department of homeland security. let's begin with msnbc senior national security analyst and contributor and nicholas rasmussen. msnbc national security and intelligence analyst. nick, first to you here. you have the president commenting on another departure from a key post in his administration. how does this hurt national security? and how do you interpret the sudden departure? >> well good morning, alex. secretary, acting secretary mcaleenan was acting secretary and that by itself was without precedent in recent memory. as for several months he had been left in the position, but never put forward by the president. as a formal nominee for the position. >> which means he can leave on a dime, too? right -- >> can he leave on a dime. of course he can leave on a dime as any official could by resigning. and in some ways this is not unexpected.

within the last several weeks acting secretary mcaleenan has given interviews in which he has in some ways tried to separate himself from some of the most excessive aspects of the immigration policy. he clearly viewed himself as someone who was trying to blunt the rougher edges of the policy and take a law enforcement approach, but not one viewed as punishing or penalizing innocent or vulnerable populations of migrants. i'm not surprised that kevin is departing government service, i think he tried to do the best co-to take a law enforcement approach without going overboard with the president's immigration agenda. >> another thing to talk about, juan, you have the "washington post" reporting that mcaleenan was frustrated and isolated. even as he delivered what the president wants at the border. is this another case of paying a price for just trying to be something of a voice of reason? >> it may be. >> as nick said, kevin was a long-time professional within the ranks of the department of

homeland security. i worked with them when i was back in government. he was a real professional. i think he was trying to bring a law enforcement approach to his work, and also to try to professionalize the immigration policies that seem to be harsher. that seem to be more scattered and certainly were affecting morale. and i think this is a case of a seasoned law enforcement, homeland security professional. that i think was trying to do his best with a difficult hand. not only difficult in terms of the politics in the white house, but also the situation on the border. i think he did a very good job in terms of trying to manage both. and certainly the success you've seen with mexico, doing more to try to deal with illegal immigration coming from central america. that's a success something that kevin pointsed to in his letter of resignation. as nick pointed out, he was in an acting role.

he wasn't fully empowered toward the congress. he wasn't fully empowered internally and certainly may have felt alienated within political circles within the white house. all of that can get frustrated when you're working 24/7 to deal with some of the harshest and most difficult issues on the national security agenda. >> does this leave america more vulnerable? this is the head of the homeland security department. >> you always want stability at the top of the department of homeland stability. it has such an important role in terms of guarding our borders and ports, dealing with cybersecurity, all the infrastructure protection, the 17 sectors clurksing the electoral sector. you do want stability at the top. that said it's a department that is run by a lot of great professionals, you've got departments and agencies within the department that continue to function every day. so i wouldn't be too worried that we've got a major gap or

hole in the system because kevin is leaving. kevin is a great professional. i would prefer to have him in rather than out. i think we now need to have leadership there to bring some political stability to a department that has a very clear and important national security role. >> nick, you concur? >> we sometimes forget as juan pointed out, the homeland security department has an array of missions and a number of challenges. immigration and border security is eenl one of those. what made kevin so strong, he had experience across those areas and had been involved in work on counterterrorism and dealing with other kinds of national security challenges. i worry that the next homeland security secretary or acting secretary will come in with a very single-minded focus on the border. and of course that's important, it's not the only thing that dhs needs to do to protect america. juan is right, we're seeing someone with a lot of capability walk out the door. this administration hasn't found it difficult to attract new

talent. that's something i worry about. >> please stick around. i'll get your expertise on impeachment developments in a few minutes. the latest on the impeachment and marie yovanovitch's testimony on friday. joining me abigail tracy. writing for "vanity fair" and kevin cirilli, for bloomberg news. kevin, what do you think is the most explosive part of the former ambassador's testimony? what do you think it fits in the entire context of impeachment? >> i think this could be one of the key pieces to the puzzle for republicans and democrats. there has been a consistent movement towards having articles of impeachment by thanksgiving with getting a vote on the house floor by the end of the year. and one of the key strategies shifts from the administration this week was them saying bring it on. the longer that this goes on, the longer that this is drawn out, republicans feel if they

can just kick this into 2020, that they would put at risk democrats, not just at the top of the presidential level of the 2020 election, whomever the nominee will be, but also on the down-ballot races. >> abigail, your thoughts? how much did her testimony add to the case against the president? do you think democrats are feeling emboldened now? >> i think one of the keys to point out here is after nancy pelosi first backed the impeachment inquiry, you had adam schiff and congressman jerry nadler telling other lawmakers you know sort of that they weren't expecting any cooperation from the white house. to think about the fact that what they have between the at that time it was just the readout of the phone call and the whistle-blower report, think if that were enough to vote for a potential articles of impeachment. i think what we've seen is democrats have gotten a lot more than they perhaps expected initially. between the ambassador volker's text messages and now the testimony from yovanovitch

yesterday, i think they moved forward in a way that they perhaps weren't expecting to and it's built out the narrative of the phone call and the ambassador's recall and around exactly what rudy giuliani was doing in the ukraine. i think that democrats are emboldened and i think we can continue to see and continue to expect to see them sort of continue with this, you know barrage of subpoenas that they're throwing at the administration. i'm hearing you seau van very much -- >> you're right. >> to be honest, i would trust you abigail. let's listen to democratic congressman shawn maloney to hear what he had to say about her testimony. >> ambassador yovanovitch gave a gripping and emotional account of a presidential abuse of power. this is a good person who served more than 30 years in the foreign service, who was thrown to the wolves by mr. giuliani, who was representing the financial interests of his now-indicted associates and by president trump, who is advancing his political interests in trying to get an investigation started in ukraine

of the bidens. >> we're going to go with yovanovitch. that was a tiebreaker there. what is the worst thing that yovanovitch said that is the most damaging to the president? >> from the one hand, just that this continuation, that there was pressure from coming from the administration, to the state department, to get her fired. look i was struck by this i left the white house yesterday and you know always very news on a friday, the president completes phase 1 of a u.s./china trade deal. and he slips this in, he's not sure any more if rudy giuliani, he says, is his, is still in fact his attorney. so rough friday news stuff for rudy giuliani. and then you've got two of rudy giuliani's confidantes, businessmen who are arrested on the one-way ticket out of dulles airport earlier this week. i think, and i think the broader take-away is -- that there's a lot of smoke around rudy

giuliani. in terms of his relationship with the ukraine. and secretary of state mike pompeo has been incredibly careful to walk a very narrow tight political tightrope to on the one hand, cooperate with the investigation, though he doesn't comply with the subpoenas. but at the same time, trying to figure out exactly what rudy giuliani has been doing over there in the ukraine. and the state department officials i think you're seeing are as evidenced by the testimony, cooperating. >> i'm glad you brought all that up. i want to ask you this, with the republican reaction, the prospective on that including the complaint about the testimonies not being made public. let's take a listen to what was said there. >> impeachment of the president of the united states and everything is going to happen behind closed doors. offering no protection whatsoever, no transparency, no accountability. no due process. substantively, you should know

every single word that we just heard. but instead, you heard none of it. the american public heard none of it. because chairman schiff instead chooses to put his own spin to it. and that's outrageous. and the american public are fed up with what they are watching. >> look i don't want to address the substance of that or the accusations therein. but the sentiment, is that reflecting the majority of americans? >> well i think what you're seeing is a republican strategy. this is sort of what we've seen from republicans writ large since the scandal exploded. what they've tried to do is engage on process arguments rather than the substance of the president's actions or allegations against him. and you know rudy giuliani. it really is a strategy. you saw it in the way they handled the whistle-blower, trying to throw into doubt their credibility and raise questions as to what they were or were not privy to. and i think this is a broader strategy of the republicans.

when we're talking about americans and where they're at you have seen a change in sentiment when you look at the polls and the shifts you've seen over the last two weeks in terms of support for the impeachment inquiry and ultimately, impeach articles of impeachment against the president. >> kevin, your thoughts? >> there's been, there's been polls that, i think, there's another poll out this week that showed that there is somewhat slightly more than half of the country supports the impeachment inquiry. but in terms of the president being at risk of losing republican support, still not there. i mean of all the developments on foreign policy this week as it relates to syria, as it relates to saudi arabia, and the kurds, there has been, there was swift republican push-back from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. liz cheney, none of them saying that's going to change their calculation with regards to the impeachment. >> can i just ask you guys this -- it was a completely different note. bit of a head-scratcher here. this reaction to something else

that the president said last night. here it is. ? we're going to defeat socialism and put a man on the face of the moon. >> yeah. that man on the moon part what did he mean by that? didn't we do that half a century ago? >> yeah, we did. >> just checking. >> i think it's him trying to -- sort of build this narrative around his success and sort of what he's working toward and all that and say the democrats are trying to take away from me and my achievements and my future achievements, but a lot of that obviously we already landed on the moon. i -- you know, i think that's just kind of a classic moment for president trump. >> why the moon? why can't we go to mars? >> made you guys have to -- directly respond to it. anyway. thank you for responding to all the questions this morning. good to see you both. it is a disappearing act at the white house, why don't we see the president's aides

speaking out to defend their boss?

in his second campaign rally this week, president trump slamming the impeachment inquiry, using foul language and pressing the argument that the house investigation is nothing more than a new attempt to overturn his election. nbc's hans nichols is at at white house with the latest on all of that and more. good morning to you, hans. the president certainly not holding back. >> dara, you say foul, i'll say

rival. but the president was raw, talking to a fired-up friendly crowd down in louisiana. we're getting a preview of his impeachment strategy. saying this is illegitimate and call it a coup. >> at a late-night louisiana rally, president trump getting salty on the bayou. >> they're pursuing an illegal, invalid and unconstitutional [ bleep ] impeachment. >> the president resorting to profanity after his former ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch appeared on capitol hill claiming behind closed doors that trump forced her out. even though she was told she had done nothing wrong. nbc's halle jackson. >> mr. president -- >> she may be a wonderful woman. if you remember the phone call i had with the president, the new president, he didn't speak favorably, but i just don't know her. >> by testifying, the veteran diplomat risked her career in

foreign service, where she focused on possible deals instead of disagreements. and she told me in ukraine last year. >> you know we're always looking for areas that we can work together. >> but in her opening statement, obtained by nbc news, yovanovitch said that the state department under trump was being attacked and hollowed out from within. and she blamed the president's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, for walking ing wagind campaign against her, along with his two associates. arrested this week who may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in ukraine with former vice president joe biden calling giuliani a thug at a fundraiser, the president appearing to distance himself from his own attorney at the white house. >> is rudy giuliani still your personal attorney? >> well i don't know, i haven't spoke ton rudy. i spoke to him yesterday briefly. he's a very good attorney and he has been my attorney, yes.

>> while making a clean break from his acting secretary of homeland security, kevin mcaleenan. we have worked well together with border crossings being way down the president tweeted. but he wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector. and alex, this morning "the new york times" is reporting that federal investigators are looking into giuliani's lobbying dealings in ukraine. they're looking at whether or not he tried to undermine ambassador yovanovitch. and alex, i apologize for mangling or messing up your name at the top. i would swear it myself, but that would be inappropriate, alex? >> no problem whatsoever, harry. it's all good and i'll see you again, soon. let's bring in national political reporter for the "washington post." robert costa, good to have you here. the question first on this -- "the new york times" report on rudy giuliani facing a criminal investigation, what are you hearing? because there is some back and forth about the extent to which

rudy giuliani is even aware of that. >> he's the former head of the southern district of new york and now have the southern district of new york, some of the top prosecutors in the country, this is not some kind of rogue operation or unknown operation, these are the pros up in new york, they're looking at his business associates. igor fruman and parnas. the southern district of new york is scrutinizing mr. giuliani's world. how he interacts with people abroad and how he dealt with people here at home. whether or not he's under a formal investigation or not, he's certainly in the spotlight that presents an issue for the white house. >> spotlight, 100% for sure. let's talk about what you're hearing from inside the white house amid all of these developments? you've got the a.p. reporting that white house aides were trying a disappearing act as the storm around the president intensifies. what does that say about the president's usual defenders? are they trying to lie low?

>> you look at the latest news. kevin mcaleenan leaving as acting head of the department of homeland security. so many acting officials now within this administration, including acting chief of staff, mick mull vainny, many of them leaving the administration amid this political storm. it's been mostly mr. giuliani appearing on tv in defense of the president and the president himself. the inner circle is shrinking, but it's as defiant as ever. >> extraordinary new op-ed in the "washington post" by nancy gibbs formerly of "time" magazine is titled "it's clear trump doesn't want to be president any more." >> what's your read on that? >> i can't speak for the president's psychology. what's on his mind. you see the president raging at these rallies against his political rivals. against whey calls a deep state, it's a conspiratorial view about his own political standing. if you're a democrat or a

republican watching him, you know that he's engaged in political warfare as he looks to win re-election in 2020. and for now he's fighting for his political life. as this impeachment process moves forward. >> well it is an extraordinary look at the possibility of what's going on in this line by nancy gibbs, what about another major development as we discuss the former u.s. ambassador to the european union gordon sondland. who has agreed to testify next thursday after the state department ordered him -- don't appear for the deposition on tuesday this week. house democrats issued a subpoena, as a result of that. what are the expectations for his testimony? >> ambassador yovanovitch, who appeared on capitol hill in recent days is a 33-year veteran of the foreign service. so someone who has been in the government for a long time. ambassador sondland appearing next week, the ambassador to the eu is a political appointee. you're going to watch for house democrats, do they probe ambassador sondland about his conversations with president

trump, his executive privilege asserted, by ambassador sondland. will we learn anything more about the president's role in conducting foreign policy and his pressure campaign on ukraine? that's going to be, he's another witness in this impeachment process. >> we have the president floating, cooperating potentially with the impeachment inquiry. then he added a big "if." i'll get your thoughts on the other side. >> the republican party has been treated extremely badly by the democrats. very unfairly. because they have a tiny margin in the house. they have eviscerated the rules. they don't give us anebraska far play. >> pelosi holds a vote on the floor on impeachment and commits to the rules of previous impeachment proceedings, you'll participate in that investigation? >> yeah, if the rules are fair. >> how do you interpret that, robert?

>> the republicans are trying to pressure speaker pelosi to hold a vote on the impeachment inquiry as they battle over whether the white house should share documents and witnesses with house democrats. but the president is still not totally willing to promise his engagement with this impeachment process. should the house democrats do what he's calling for. >> robert costa, msnbc political analyst, thank you so much. connecting the dots, how much will president trump have to answer for these giuliani associates? that's next. ♪ don't lighten the load. lighten the truck.

the high-strength, military-grade-aluminum-alloy ford f-150, with best-in-class payload. ♪ liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ plants capture co2. what if other kinds of plants captured it too? if these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. carbon capture is important technology - and experts agree. that's why we're working on ways to improve it. so plants... can be a little more... like plants. ♪

♪ head in now for applebee's new pasta & grill combos starting at $9.99.

let's get to the breaking news, over 1,000 firefighters working day and night to contain the aggressive fire burning through southern california. the blaze forcing over 100,000 people to evacuate. one death so far. one firefighter injury as well being blamed on the fire. nbc's sam brock is in porter ranch, california right now. over two dozen structures have been wiped out. so sam, dismal time there. what's the latest? >> alex, good morning. it was such an eerie drive into this community this morning. there are about 20,000 plus homes under mandatory evacuation right now. and autumn of them are empty. there are few lights on, a few fire trucks in the street.

firefighters actually sleeping outside right now getting ready to reengage if they're needed later today. what you're looking at right here is snapshot of one of those 31 homes affected by the flames, you can see burnt-out furniture and lawn chairs, remnants of a fan, heating lamps knocked over. at one point the flames shot up from the canyon, hitting the rooftop. i'm told from the residents who lived here, they had mere minutes from when they smelled the smoke and the fire to about 1:00 a.m., until the flames descended on their property. >> southern california. under siege. as firefighters struggle to contain the saddle ridge fire. >> in five minutes the whole hill was engulfed. >> the-iron ferno exploded across hills and down valleys, on the northern edge of los angeles as some people prayed for a hail mary. >> holy mary, mother of god. >> those fortunate enough to flee didn't have much of a cushion. >> we started packing things and within probably ten minutes the

fire was in the back yard. >> mossy travis snapped this picture of a red-orange seconds before leaving his home. >> it was so quick. >> firefighters responding to hundreds of such homes battling whipping winds. >> the risk remains real. look over my shoulder. there are parts of hillsides that are still on fire. these hot spots could be easily engaged by all of this wind which could carry the flames on to someone's roof. >> the fire sprang up in nearby sylmar, questions about what caused it. >> there's a power tower and you could see the glow coming from the ground towards the tower. >> a neighbor telling our los angeles station knbc that she first saw flame business a transmission tower. with the los angeles fire department now investigating. so-cal edison telling nbc news determining the cause and origin of the fire is a lengthy process, our priority is insuring safety of our customers, employees and first

responders. the aerial drops are still coming. more than 1,000 firefighters on the front lines for a fire season just beginning. >> and los angeles mayor eric garcetti saying he's more concerned about the wind than he is the fire. with wind and specifically embers being capable of driven a mile or more in these conditions. alex? >> it's so hard to see, i'm a california girl, california needs a break. anyway, thank you for that live report from porter ranch. let's go back now to the searing testimony from the former u.s. ambassador to the ukraine critical of the president's foreign policy. ahead of two key depositions expected next week. trump former top russia adviser fiona hill monday and the ambassador to the eu, gordon sondland on thursday. joining me again, nicholas rasmussen and from washington, juan zerate, msnbc senior national security analyst and contributor.

a question to each of you. thanks for sticking around, juan, starting with you -- you were the deputy national security adviser to president george w. bush. when you hear of so many close adviser who is probably have a lot of critical regional security information testifying, does that concern you? >> yeah it makes me very uncomfortable for a couple of reasons. and one i feel for officials who are probably trying to do their jobs, again in a difficult political situation, maybe with an unconventional president asking to do odd things that they're not used to. secondly, any time you have advisers or officials going up to congress, obviously there are sensitivities around discussions under way that had been under way in the white house. whether it's national security related or advice given to the president. so those officials are often very uncomfortable in those situations, not because they've done something wrong, but simply

because they're used to being in an environment where their environment is held confidential. understood those communications to be around deliberation and often in the cone of executive privilege. so this is probably very uncomfortable situation for those officials who are now being asked to testify. >> nick, when i think about you, you were the director of national counterterrorism center. this combination of the president trying to draw in a foreign country, ukraine's president, put this into the next election and then this ongoing impeachment investigation -- how does this affect national security? and does what we've seen then warrant at least impeachment consideration? >> well alex. i think it affects national security in a couple of different ways. first of all, the story continues to unfold with remarkable velocity. almost every day, there is some form of breaking news or new development tied to testimony or depositions on capitol hill. and so this has to be a tremendous distraction, not just

to the white house and to the president, but to other senior people with national security responsibilities. when you see what's unfolding in iraq and syria right now, or on the border with turkey, you can understand that we don't need distractions right now. we need our professional national security community focused on the hard problems, not focused on politics. to juan's point most career national security professionals don't want to be involved in politics and being dragged up to the hill to talk about advice they've provided the president, that's not something they want to find, a position they want to find themselves in. it speaks to the politics of our time that this is happening with such frequency right now. >> juan and nick, i'm glad for you guys' interpretations of what's happening right now. speaking of time, coming up at the top of the hour, "up" with david gura. what's in store in. >> the house speaker had a call with her caucus last night give them an update on the impeachment investigation.

sand two lawmakers on that call are going to join us this morning to help us understand where things go from here, congressman steve cohen of tennessee and congressman adriano espaillat of new york. a u.s. outpost coming under fire. and one of president obama's chief foreign policy advisers, he worked closely on the last administration strategy to fight isis. it will be good to get his perspective on what's happening in syria today. >> thank you so much, david. fighting back against the president's rhetoric against the impeachment inquiry. how much does it matter what he says? that's next. the relaxing feeling of knowing you're getting the best price. these'll work. the utter delight of free wi-fi... . oh man this is the best part. isn't that you? yeah. and the magic power of unlocking your room with your phone.

i can read minds too. really? book at hilton.com. if you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25% off that stay. expect better. expect hilton. ♪ work so hard ♪ give it everything you got ♪ strength of a lioness ♪ tough as a knot ♪ rocking the stage ♪ and we never gonna stop ♪ all strength, no sweat. ♪ just in case you forgot ♪ all strength. ♪ no sweat secret. all strength. no sweat. i am royalty of racing, i am alfa romeo.

they're america's biopharmaceutical researchers. pursuing life-changing cures in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs... like a way to fight cancer by arming a patient's own t-cells... because it's not just about the next breakthrough... it's all the ones after that. billions of problems. morning breath? garlic breath? stinky breath? there's a therabreath for you. therabreath fresh breath oral rinse instantly fights all types of bad breath and works for 24 hours. so you can... breathe easy. there's therabreath at walmart.

dad: oh, hey guys! mom (on speakerphone): hi! son (on speakerphone): dad, i two goals today! vo: getting to a comfortable retirement doesn't have to be an uncomfortable thought. see how lincoln can help. goldi knows to never compromise. too shabby! too much! too perfect! i can rent this? for that price? absolutely. what is this, some kind of fairy tale? it's just right! book your just right rental at thrifty.com. oh! baby bear! one of those mornings, we're watching a ton of news. new developments in the fallout around the latest big departure from the white house. >> do you think we would tolerate this if this was children coming from canada? or from eastern europe?

>> i think things would be very different. >> how do democrats navigate the impending mess before them in the disagreements over this? maybe lock her up goes to lock him up. lock him up, lock him up! >> when all of their ludicrous hoaxes have been exposed as frauds, these sinister fakers then try to impeach you for daring to call out their own corruption. they want to erase your vote like it never existed. >> interesting kind of looked like the president was reading off a teleprompter there. can you imagine if that was scripted. what we did see was the president and his son eric rallying the base in minneapolis by attacking the democrats and impeachment inquiry. just a taste of the wide-ranging rhetoric that the president has used to try to discredit democrats.

the impeachment evidence is piling up. in two weeks democrats have now issued nine impeachment subpoenas. and starting on monday, democrats expect potentially revealing testimonies and documents from these crucial witnesses. let's discuss it with congresswoman debbie dingell. a democrat from michigan and co-chair of the house democratic policy and communication committee. ma'am, good to see you, thank you for joining me. >> good morning, alex. >> i have a few questions, i want to ask you about something that david gura referred to as he was teasing his show. that is the call that nancy pelosi made last night to the democratic caucus, which i understand you were on, can you tell us about that call? >> the speaker has made a real effort along with the caucus chair and the three committee chairs, who have been conducting investigations, we've gone ben gone from washington for two weeks to give us the status of what is occurring to make sure we're aware of what the facts are. and to talk about other issues that may be of importance. syria came up yesterday as well.

so it was another just briefing, keeping the caucus together. i think when we return next week there will be very serious conversations in caucus about where we're going, what the strategy is. and i think all of my colleagues are taking this moment in history as a very serious sad time for our country. >> well, we know that the impeachment evidence certainly has been rapidly accumulating. that's since you publicly supported that inquiry less than three weeks ago. and that happened after news broke of the first whistle-blower complaint. what can you tell us about the latest updates that you've received from the house speaker? or the chairs of the committees? and is there yet enough evidence for articles of impeachment? >> you know, they had the ambassador from ukraine that was removed from office testified yesterday. there were disturbing reports of what that testimony was. i want to let them do their job. i think this is a really sad

time. and i think it is very important that we be deliberate. we be very focused and we get the facts. and i think that we need to bring the american people along. i am not upset that we're having classified settings. here's the reality -- the acting homeland director of, the who had been the acting director of homeland security had told us he was really worried about national security issues. he's now gone. our job, i don't care if you're a republican or democrat is to protect our national security, our democracy and our constitution. and so they're going to collect the data, get it as quick as they can. they're going to try to share as much of it as they can with the american people. but i do want to protect this country. so we'll return next week. they've been working these two weeks while we're gone. they have more witnesses as you were just saying that will be coming in. many having had to have been subpoenaed. we'll see where this goes in the next cull of weeks.

>> well what happened this week, multiple revealing events in the impeachment inquiry. including the closed had been door testimony yesterday from the ousted ambassador to ukraine in which she testified that the president pressured the state department to recall her over what she called false claims. do you know anything else about the president's efforts to seek foreign interference? is this all about supporting evidence? or do you still have significant information gaps? >> look, this is happening in a classified setting. they will, adam is going to share with us what he's learned. he was during the phone call, he was still in the hearing. he stepped out to brief us, to tell us what he was learning. chairman cummings was on the phone. chairman engel was also on the phone sharing some of the information they had. i think it's important that we be very thorough. and that they not give us pieces. but that we get the total picture. i have a lot of questions, you know i've heard rumblings, i don't know what's true, what's not true.

was putin involved? was russia involved? we see reports this is one of the things i want to say to people. it took me a while, once that whistle-blower came forward, and the trump-appointed inspector-general found it to be credible. i came out. but russia is trying to divide the country. that's the underlying theme of the mueller report. we're getting intelligence reports from multiple countries about russia trying to destabilize western europe, trying to destabilize us. we need to be aware. the people are trying to hurt our democracy. and we've got to be responsible and making sure they don't succeed. and that means including as many people, being careful, very thorough and sharing as much information as we can. this is not a good time for our country. nobody should be happy. >> during the house break, what are your constituents saying to you about impeachment and the

inquiry? >> i've heard it all, i love my district because i've heard it all. people in parts of my district are happy that i've come out. they think the way that i did it has been the right way. i've spent a lot of time on what i call my downrivers, which is where they voted for president trump in the election three years ago. they are happy with the economy. they'll say, but i mean i was at a ducks unlimited dinner. that is a lot of those guys voted for president trump. but one of the guys said look i like the economy, unemployment has been the lowest it is. this drama is killing us in this country. i haven't quite frankly, i wondered if i'd be yelled at more than i was, there's some. there are a lot of intense emotional feelings, i'm glad people can share them with me, i would rather have them get it out with me because i try not to take it personally. you can feel, you can feel people having different feelings still out there. i would tell you more people, i

am surprised at some of the people are telling me they're worried about what's happening in this country and we do have to do something about the hate. that makes me feel better. >> a very effective congresswoman, that's for sure, representing your district. debbie dingell, thanks so much. the signs pointing to a possible constitutional crisis for the first time in more than four decades, what happens next. ♪ (dramatic orchestra) performance comes in lots of flavors. there's the amped-up, over-tuned, feeding-frenzy-of sheet-metal-kind. and then there's performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. that's the kind lincoln's about. ♪

you get more than yourfree shipping.ir, you get everything you need for your home at a great price, the way it works best for you, i'll take that. wait honey, no. when you want it. you get a delivery experience you can always count on. you get your perfect find at a price to match, on your own schedule. you get fast and free shipping on the things that make your home feel like you. that's what you get when you've got wayfair. so shop now! 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.

i've always been faand still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin... i want that too. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. what's next? reeling in a nice one. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis, the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. ask your doctor if eliquis is what's next for you.

ok i'll admit. i didn't keep my place as clean as i would like 'cuz i'm way too busy. who's got the time to chase around down dirt, dust and hair? so now, i use heavy duty swiffer sweeper and dusters. for hard-to-reach places, duster makes it easy to clean. it captures dust in one swipe. ha! gotcha! and sweeper heavy duty cloths lock away twice as much dirt and dust. it gets stuff deep in the grooves other tools can miss. y'know what? my place... is a lot cleaner now. stop cleaning. start swiffering. 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. . the president and his white house council's new efforts to stone wall the impeachment inquiry. joining me now, constitutional expert from nyu school of law and legal contributor. do you agree with that statement? are we seeing a constitutional crisis developing? >> it is not necessarily developing. it is already here. any point where you have the president refusing to let a coordinate branch the ability to size its powers, you have a

constitutional crisis. that's where we are. >> you wrote a letter saying the president, quote, violates constitutional basis. >> there is no legal maneuver that has any constitutional standing. it is probably going to take the united states supreme court to lower the boom on donald trump and his administration. we've seen the efforts to thwart investigations. at the end of the day, it will take trump to say, our separate branches to congress. >> the constitution says nothing about compliance with subpoenas. everyone knows congress can

force the subpoenas through concept or by going through the court. that is what happened in the past and with the nixon impeachment. >> with regard to the oversight, does this find its way to the supreme court and how do you see that playing out? >> the location of where this final show down will end up being. you have to run up to the supreme court. it is great news for future administration because i think we'll have clear, black law then. >> is it stronger than the white house if it does get to the supreme court. >> that is the question, the house has great arguments. the question for the supreme court is that you have the majority. it will place the conservative wing in the tough position.

do you put ideological or political persuasions ahead of country. i think chief roberts is the one to watch. he's been desperate to keep the court out of the fray but the courts will certainly be in politics on this one. >> next on "up" 4how impeachmen inquiries will intensify. kraft. for the win win. ♪

applebee's new pasta and grill combos. choose from up to 12 combinations starting at $9.99. governot just the powerful and well-connected. that's the american promise. but big corporations and special interests are in control. nothing's happening for real people. our democracy has been purchased. the candidates running for president have great ideas. but we can't get anything done unless we make our democracy serve the people again. i'm tom steyer. i approve this message. i'm running for president because it's time our democracy works for people. woman 1: i had no symptoms of hepatitis c. man 1: mine... man 1: ...caused liver damage. vo: epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c.

vo: whatever your type, ask your doctor if epclusa is your kind of cure. woman 2: i had the common type. man 2: mine was rare. vo: epclusa has a 98% overall cure rate. man 3: i just found out about my hepatitis c. woman 3: i knew for years. vo: epclusa is only one pill, once a day, taken with or without food for 12 weeks. vo: before starting epclusa, your doctor will test if you have had hepatitis b, which may flare up, and could cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. vo: tell your doctor if you have had hepatitis b, other liver or kidney problems, hiv, or other medical conditions... vo: ...and all medicines you take, including herbal supplements. vo: taking amiodarone with epclusa may cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. vo: common side effects include headache and tiredness. vo: ask your doctor today, if epclusa is your kind of cure.

>> that's a wrap for me this hour. i look forward to seeing you at noon with weekends with alex witt. stay tuned for "up." >> as of last check, rudy giuliani is still the president's personal attorney. giuliani confirming that after president trump made it seem like maybe he isn't. overnight, the new york times stating that he is being investigated. looking at efforts to undermine the ambassador to ukraine. she fielded questions from lawmakers about that for nine hours on friday. house democrats