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peace deal that isn't. selling out the kurds as turkish with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting. forces keep up their assault today in northern syria. chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, >> one way to look at this is that president erdogan and you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. president trump buried the hatchet. they buried it right in the back when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, of the kurds. and government bailout. you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. the president awards his struggling miami golf resort a stop chantix and get help right away big federal contract for the g-7 if you have changes in behavior or thinking, summit next year, forcing aggression, hostility, depressed mood, foreign governments to pay his company to attend the gathering suicidal thoughts or actions, of world leaders. seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, >> the purpose of the emoluments or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions. clause is to keep the president decrease alcohol use. of the united states of america use caution driving or operating machinery. from profiting off of foreign money. this is about as direct and tell your doctor if you've had mental health problems. the most common side effect is nausea. profound a violation of the quit smoking slow turkey. talk to your doctor about chantix. emoluments clause as one could create. and good day, everyone. and what a day it is. here, hello! starts with -hi!mple... this is andrea mitchell in how can i help? washington where heads are still a data plan for everyone. spinning after a chaotic 24 everyone? everyone. hours both at home and abroad. let's send to everyone! [ camera clicking ] here is just a sampling of

everything that happened in wifi up there? -ahhh. trump world in the last day alone. thursday started with the u.s. sure, why not? ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland, telling how'd he get out?! the impeachment inquiry the a camera might figure it out. president delegated ukraine that was easy! policy to his personal attorney glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. rudy giuliani. the president's acting chief of staff, mick mulvaney, then so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. announced that the g-7 meeting will be head at the president's florida resort, ignoring the constitutional ban against presidents receiving money from foreign governments. minutes later mulvaney appeared to dismantle the president's claim that there was no quid pro quo in denying military aid to ukraine, telling the press, "get over it." six hours later he tried to walk that back in a statement, saying his statements will be misconstrued by the press even though he had been on camera. in turkey, vice president pence heralded what he called a five-day cease-fire in syria, although the state department later admitted there was no cease-fire, only an agreement for a pause, as republican senator mitt romney delivered a

clashes in syria are scathing speech on the senate floor about the president's continuing today following vice decisions. criticism echoed from the admiral who took down osama bin president mike pence's laden, writing, our republic is declaration of a cease-fire, under attack from the president. if that weren't enough, energy although the state department secretary rick perry is admitted the agreement only resigning. this morning perry confirmed he calls for a pause, never even pressed president trump to make mentioning the words that controversial call to the "cease-fire" president trump ukrainian president but added tweeted moments ago, just spoke to president erdogan of turkey. that his departure from the white house had nothing to do he told me there was minor snipe with that, he just wants to and her mortar fire that was spend more time with his wife quickly eliminated. and dogs in texas. joining me now, nbc's kristen he wants the cease-fire or pause to work. welker, ashley parker, gunfire and grenades were heard "washington post" white house today in the border town of an reporter, and yamiche alcindor, white house correspondent for "the pbs news hour." welcome, all. kristen, i don't know how you're ras al ain. keeping up with this at the white house. you were in the briefing room when mick mulvaney came in, 70,000 children have been clearly laying this all out and then trying to walk it back. as you were reporting in real displaced. time, only after jay sekulow, however, president trump made light of it in his rally in the president's private attorney texas last night.

and the justice department said, >> we've all agreed on a pause or cease-fire in the border whoa, we didn't approve him saying all that. region of syria and it was explain. >> it was remarkable, andrea. unconventional, what i did. and you're right, it was i said, they're going to have to head-spinning. fight a little while. sometimes you have to let them fight a little while, like two kids in a lot, you have to let mulvaney came out, essentially them fight and you pull them contradicted the president's repeated denials that there was no quid pro quo. apart. >> joining me now, brett mcgurk, then jay sekulow and others came out and said, we weren't part of former presidential envoy fand n preparing that briefing. then we spoke to other aides and allies who said they were scratching their heads, one even calling the briefing yesterday an unmitigated disaster. it was only after that pressure nbc analyst. brett, i want your reaction to that mick mulvaney came out with the president saying sometimes you have to let them fight a a statement essentially saying, little bit like two kids in a bottom line, there was no quid playground. >> andrea, i heard that last night, and i've said it's pro quo. of course the problem for mulvaney is that he is on camera obscene and it's ignorant to the essentially saying yes, situation on the ground. president trump directed me to it's obscene because the delay aid to ukraine in exchange situation that was unleashed over the last ten days, as you for investigation into the 2016 reported, 160,000 people election. and he was pressed repeatedly on displaced, half of them whether this was a quid pro quo and he basically said, look, children, war crimes have been that's the way things work committed, women being pulled out of busses and shot on the sometimes. so this is a growing, side of the road, isis prisoners intensifying problem for the

administration. and it does come as the impeachment inquiry is intensifying on capitol hill. escaping, u.s. military personnel, this is what's most we're expecting mulvaney to essentially say that he's not important, evacuating long held going to comply with that subpoena deadline for documents positions or handing them to the russians or bombing them so they that was set for today, andrea. all eyes now on rick perry who don't get in the hands of the has said that these going to syrian-backed opposition. for the president to say, let resign. he'll be out by the end of the them go out it and we'll come in year. to fix it, that's total is he going to comply? ignorance to the situation on he has said he will wait to see the ground. this was a cascading chain what the counsel has to say of reaction set of events that put the energy department. but there's a lot of american personnel in grave danger and at grave risk. speculation, will he in fact and the president continues to start to cooperate once he make light of it. resigns? we'll have to wait and see, it just shows he has no real concern or care for what's going andrea. >> at the briefing yesterday on on the ground in syria, where mick mulvaney was asked repeatedly questions. americans are on the ground at here is where jonathan karl was this hour. >> where can the kurds go? pinning him down and the acting they can't go into iraq, they'll chief of steph weof staff went . be slaughtered. they have to disarm if they're let's watch. >> did he mention to me the going to stay in what had for the last number of years been corruption related to the dnc? their homeland. absolutely, no question about it. which direction can they go and that's why we held up the money. be safe?

>> reporter: so the demand for an investigation into the >> first of all, andrea, it's democrats was part of the reason important, these areas we're he ordered to withhold funding talking about on the turkish to ukraine? >> the look back to what border, on the syrian side, this happened in 2016 certainly was was the isis caliphate. part of the thing he was worried the two towns that were discussed apparently in turkey, about, in corruption with that nation. one is called rais ras al ain. and that was absolutely appropriate. >> only six hours later, he took this all back, saying "the president never told me to withhold any money until the ukrainians did anything related i spent most of my time in to the server. the only reasons we were holding the money was because of concern turkey to stop isis from about lack of support from other crossing. they did absolutely nothing. nations and concerns over so the return of these areas to corruption. there never was any condition on the flow of the audit related to the turkish-backed opposition the matter of the dnc server," carries grave implications for united states security. you have to remember, this is in direct contradiction to what he said at the briefing. isis. in terms of the kurds and the ashley parker, your point is syrian democratic forces, if you that all of this puts the read the terms of what was president right in the center of agreed to yesterday in turkey, the investigation. it's really quite troubling. >> yeah, that's exactly right. my friend ambassador jim jeffrey that's what my story today focuses on. is trying to make the best of a basically today we've now had two weeks of closed-door bad situation. testimony as well as striking public comments like we saw from the acting chief of staff.

this town of ras al ain is right what we're learning is that in this impeachment inquiry, in this ukraine controversy, the now besieged by turkish forces. president is sort of at the we said you have five days, pulsing center of it all. syrian democratic forces, to get out or else turkey will renew he's directing his government, its offensivoffensive. his top aides, on how to behave, if you follow the civil war on what money to withhold. closely as you do, andrea, that he is directing people to sort is a tactic used throughout the civil war by bashar al assad. we just ratified that approach. of sicircumvent the normal i think it's quite troubling. political channels and deal in terms of where do they go, their only option now, directly with rudy giuliani, his unfortunately, is with damascus personal attorney. and the russians. and trump, i just saw the tweets career diplomats say they blame the president and secretary you just reported, he seems to pompeo for the politicization we pretend he's somehow in control see at the state department. of these events. each new bit we find places the he is a total irrelevancy. president more squarely in the we are now bystanders. middle of this inquiry. and i imagine that there's he's ceded all of our leverage. testimony in the days to come, erdogan is meeting with putin in and more of that evidence will four days in russia. help clarify and shed light on that is where these deals will be cut. just what the president's role i suspect they have already was. >> yamiche, you were in the drawn the lines on the map. briefing room, and there was this exchange between you and they know where this is going. mulvaney. i want to play that and get your they will make arrangements in russia in four days. for the united states of america

reaction. >> reporter: is it appropriate in the middle east, if you're for any president or this not at the table, you're on the president to pressure a foreign country to investigate a table. and that's what's happening. political opponent? >> every time i get that erdogan wants us out, putin question, it's one of those wants us out, and we're now things that -- it is, but it's leaving. >> general mattis was at the al like when did you stop beating smith dinner, the white tie your wife, it assumes the president has done that. annual dinner which is generally we haven't done that. a roast, and he reacted to the president calling him the most >> reporter: mr. trump -- overrated general. let's watch. >> i've talked about what this president did. >> of course the rough >> he also called meryl streep transcript of the phone conversation, plus what he then said about inviting china in, an overrated actress. so i guess i'm the meryl streep of generals. makes it very clear that the [ laughter ] some of you were kind at the bidens were involved and that he did do that by his own account. reception and asked me if this bothered me, to have been rated >> it was really a stunning this way based on what donald briefing yesterday by mick trump said. i said, of course not, i've mulvaney. what we saw was mick mulvaney trying to make the case that this is how it works, everybody earned my spurs on the needs to get over it. battlefield, and donald trump yesterday when i was pressing earned his spurs in a letter him on the idea, whether or not from a doctor. a president should be pressuring >> i guess that makes the point, a foreign government to investigate political rivals, general mattis has been very careful about saying only what he said in his resignation letter, that we should not be

abandoning our allies. you couldnhe couldn't say no, he wouldn't say this is the most of the graphic no. it's not only that the president example of us abandoning allies is accused of doing that, it's to be slaughtered. that the white house and republicans don't have a good >> secretary mattis in december, answer for that question. i also pressured him on whether when president trump first announced to the world that he wanted to leave syria and told or not he thought it was okay us to get out of syria in 30 for rudy giuliani to be intertwining his work for the days, just before that happened, president as his personal it was secretary mattis that attorney with national security issues related to the united states. actually ordered u.s. forces up mick mulvaney said he thought that whatever rudy giuliani was in this region. doing was appropriate. we've been doing this a long so what you have is mick time. mulvaney trying to give a the turkish forces will not come defense to president trump while also making it clear that president trump was engaged, it across an american flag. seems, in a quid pro quo, they will not come over an because he was withholding information, withholding american flag. those forces were put there by military aid to ukraine in exchange for them possibly secretary mattis. that was the right thing to do. and he resigned when president looking into the dnc, the trump told us to leave because i think secretary mattis recognized, as did i, that that just ceded all of our leverage now-debunked claim that there was a ukrainian server that the dnc used in the election. and influence, with americans on the ground in harms way. >> a claim which is being it's very serious. >> as you pointed out, all roads

lead to vladimir putin, which is bolstered by the u.s. attorney where we go next. general who is traveling around brett mcgurk, thank you very much. >> thank you, andrea. the world. kristen welker, he announced and with all roads leading to putin, the common thread in that, yes, the g-7 summit will all of president trump's most be held at the president's controversial decisions becomes property in doral. much more clear. a couple of points about the you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." ♪ doral, david farenthold of "the washington post," says their revenue is down 13.8 prosecutors their net operating income is up ♪ 62%. this is your exchange with mulvaney. >> reporter: you've attended numerous g-7 summits. applebee's new pasta and grill combos. how can the white house really choose from up to 12 combinations starting at $9.99. make the argument that this was the only place that the g-7 summit -- >> it's not the only place, it's the best place, those are two different things. >> reporter: there's other places. >> there's plenty of other good places to hold a large event, no question about it.

>> kristen, it will be the first g-7 not to include the climate issue. it's miami. billions of problems. it could be 100 degrees. sore gums? bleeding gums? painful flossing? it's hurricane season. there's a therabreath for you. what could go wrong? therabreath healthy gums oral rinse fights gingivitis and plaque >> look, it was a remarkable and prevents gum disease briefing, andrea, for that for 24 hours. so you can... reason alone, that you had the breathe easy, acting chief of staff come out there's therabreath at walmart. and announce that the g-7 summit is going to be held at the trump property in doral, florida. and he was pressed not only by me but a number of my colleagues on whether or not this would essentially profit the president. he disputed that. he made the case, no, he's not going to get any profits from this. andrea, as you know, the mere fact of holding such a large summit at that location of course carries a certain amount of branding with it. that in and of itself is an argument that there could be some profits down the road. this has opened him up to charges that this could

potentially violate the emoluments clause. jerry nadler is saying he will likely investigate this. >> kristen welker, ashley parker, and yamiche swalwell, thanks to all of you. california congressman eric swalwell is right in the middle of all of this. your reaction to the mulvaney briefing yesterday, first of all, the way he put the driven each day to pursue bioplife-changing cures...ers. president in the middle of this with a quid pro quo, until he took it back. >> good afternoon, andrea. yesterday the president's acting in a country built on fostering innovation. chief of staff, mick mulvaney, co-signed the confession to here, they find breakthroughs... extortion that president trump has already made. like a way to fight cancer by and, you know, people tend to arming a patient's own t-cells... want to look more into this, is this a jedi trick they're doing, and a new therapy that gives the blind a working gene do they have some legal strategy so they can see again. here. sometimes people just tell the because it's not just about the next breakthrough... truth. and i think this more reflects that they think they can get it's all the ones after that. away with it and that there's nothing wrong with it more than any other overriding strategy. >> we're hearing from jerry nadler that they want to look

into the emoluments clause. when is enough too much? should you be focusing on the big challenge of getting the ukraine story right, at least as far as articles of impeachment are concerned, potentially? >> that has to be the focus, because it implicates national security. $390 million of taxpayer dollars and an upcoming election. as it relates to this doral booking for the g- summit, andrea, i would say this is something that russia would do except when i checked the last time putin hosted the g-8 summit in 2006, they actually hosted it at a state-owned palace. this is something that's more corrupt than what the russians would actually do. we should look into it, of course, we shouldn't authorize money from congress that would pay for that. but i think the focus right now has to be this impeachment inquiry. >> what is your timeline? >> to get it right, to give the president a fair process and to move expeditiously, when you have a confession from the president, you have the chief of

staff acknowledging what happened and witnesses we've already heard from corroborating that, you don't have to have a years-long investigation. he is entitled, as anyone who confesses to a crime, to a fair process. i also pointed out to the >> and it doesn't have to be a crime, of course, to be an president, i had concerns that impeachable offense, so you're all roads seemed to lead to not prosecutors here necessarily. but the other question is, what putin. the russians have been trying to about going to court and trying get a foothold in the middle east for a very long time, to get some of these other witnesses, wouldn't that stretch it out well into the election unsuccessfully, and now the year? >> so we tried that with the mueller investigation, and you president has given them an opportunity with the kurds saw these lawless assertions of reaching out to them for support in syria. executive privilege. >> the speaker on how the so now in this investigation, the way we see it is, if you president's withdrawal from syria is another example of how want to come forward as a white his policies are helping and house witness, a state emboldening vladimir putin. putin now getting that foothold department witness, if you want that he has always wanted in the to come forward to help the middle east. add that to ukraine, where the president, to exonerate the president, and you have evidence president weakened its new to present, you should do that. leader by withholding military aid at a critical moment, taking but if you don't want to do that, we'll conclude it's a away zelensky's leverage with consciousness of guilt and it will be considered as an article

moscow, and the president's of impeachment for obstruction of congress. we're not going to screw around with these lawless assertions of attitude towards nato, coupled executive privilege any longer. with the attorney general's >> do you want to hear from rudy investigation to prove a giuliani himself? >> i'll let the chairman speak conspiracy theory widely to that. andrea, any time a witness talks debunked, that ukraine hacked about rudy giuliani, any time dnc computers. and the president's lobbying for russia to rejoin the g-7, the president talks about routinely rourudy including telegraphing that he giuliani in these call transcripts, we have to make sure people know rudy giuliani is donald trump and donald trump will invite putin to attend next is rudy giuliani. any action that giuliani took on year. joining me, former chief behalf of donald trump as his spokesman for the justice personal lawyer was only for department, matt miller. donald trump and at donald and former deputy national trump's direction. that's what lawyers do. they don't take actions to intelligence officer for russia benefit their clients that are at the national intelligence not authorized. that will be made more clear as council, andrea kendall taylor. this becomes more public. >> congressman eric swalwell, welcome both. matt, putin is all over this. thank you very much. >> my pleasure, thanks, andrea. when nancy pelosi says all roads coming up, the sandlot. lead to putin, that's not just a political statement. the president comparing literally, if you look at all of bloodshed in syria to a schoolyard fight. you're watching "andrea mitchell these issues, vladimir putin is reports" only on msnbc. mitchell porerts" only on msnbc the winner in each case. ♪ >> that's right. and even with your very lengthy

list you just went through, you left out one from just yesterday. it got lost in mick mulvaney's press conference because of everything else he did but he mentioned the fact that they may invite vladimir putin to join the g-7. >> i mentioned that at the end. >> that's right. he was kicked out because of the invasion and subsequent ann annexation of the crimean peninsula. people have always asked why is it the president seeks such favor with vladimir putin, why is it he constantly makes excuses for him. it was one of the questions we hoped would be answered by the mueller report, it really wasn't. i think it's a couple of things, one, he has admiration for strong men who can run their governments the way they want to without interference from

political opposition or from the media. he wants foreign interference in the election again. you can see how he seeks it from ukraine, seeks it from china. i think he would welcome vladimir putin doing it again and that's why he constantly is kind of, you know, buddying up to him in public. >> andrea, what is your take? you've studied russia and have reported on it internally. >> i think what we've seen since putin came back to power in 2012 is that he has been increasingly assertive on the world stage. i think he senses opportunity. i think he sees from this president, we're pulling back from the international system, undermining and calling into question our commitment to nato. he senses an opportunity here and he's really leaning in. for the last several years, since 2014 certainly, he's taking the fight to western democracies. for putin, very much, he defines his power relative to the united states. and because of the prospects for russia not looking good, in

terms of its economy, its demographics, for him undermining western democracies is a way to uphold and maintain if not increase his own relative power, relative to the west. >> and we see zelensky now is negotiating a new election in eastern ukraine, exactly in the russian-dominated areas, which he might not have had to if we had not -- if the president had not been withholding military aid at a critical moment. >> yeah, no, that's right. and the biggest issue here is that the president's actions have really called into question what has been a very strong bipartisan support for ukraine. this is in the u.s. national interest, as you said. military aid is critical for enabling ukrainians to push back and prevent further russian inkurgsz ini incursions into ukraine. it's a model, including to russians, of what a democracy can deliver. it's critical for pushing back

on the authoritarianism we see sweeping across the globe. >> what will she the impabe the signaled yesterday, if vladimir putin showed up at a trump property and is welcomed back into the league of world leaders? >> it's important to recognize he's not the only international leader who has called for it. french president emmanuel macron made similar rumblings. it caused a lot of criticism and anxiety in europe. at the end of the day, this is about the credibility of the rules-based international system. as you were saying, when you have a president who violates the territorial integrity of a country, when you have a president, a country like russia who continues to attack not just our democracy but in europe as well, there is no place for a country like that in the g-7. it sends a dangerous and concerning signal to other malign actors that the costs for bad behavior are not so bad. >> great to have you here.

matt miller, thank you as always. coming up, why a former deputy secretary of state says mike pompeo has ushered in a new era of mccarthyism at the state department. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. to present to you today. [son]: who are you talking to? [son]: that guy's scary. the first item on the list is selecting a chairman for the... for the advisory board what's this? as well as use the remaining... child care options run out. lifetime retirement income from tiaa doesn't. guaranteed monthly income for life. we're oscar mayer deli fresh your very first sandwich,m... your mammoth masterpiece. and...whatever this was. because we make our meat with the good of the deli and no artificial preservatives. make every sandwich count with oscar mayer deli fresh.

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marie yovanovitch, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. >> reporter: did you do enough to defend the ambassador, privately and publicly, against the smear campaign that was being waged against her and will you speak to that now? >> ma'am, you have some of your facts wrong so you should be careful about things you assert as facts before you state them. >> reporter: can you speak to michael mckinley's resignation? >> i don't talk about personnel matters. >> reporter: in mid-february you were in warsaw and so was rudy giuliani. during your time there, did you meet with giuliani? >> you know, i don't talk about who i meet with. i went to warsaw for a particular purpose. >> reporter: so you're not going to say whether you met with him? >> joining me now is nancy amons, reporter from wsmv-tv, our nbc affiliate in nashville who conducted that interview a week ago with the secretary of state. nancy, thank you very much for being with us.

i have to tell you, that went viral for a reason. rachel maddow called it to everyone's attention. you did an extraordinary job. i've sat in a chair like that before. this secretary of state is not easy to interview. tell me your impression, because he, from my observation, was patronizing and simply trying to blow you off and you kept at it. >> my first impression when i walked out of the interview is my photo journalist and i said, i think he was pretty conn condescending. i had tweets from all over the world because people felt like i kept asking questions that people wanted to know. that, as a journalist, is what you have to keep doing. you can't let how someone feels about you or treats about you interfere with that. >> when he accused you of being an arm of the democratic national committee when you are

a veteran journalist, how did that make you feel? >> i was prepared for that question, because in the -- i had a little bit of time to prepare knowing that the interview was coming. i noticed he had said that to judy woodruff as well, so i was kind of prepared that that might come my way. i didn't want to take any time to defend myself personally because i had other stuff i wanted to ask. and yeah, i thought it was an odd thing for him to say. >> again, thank you so much, nancy amons, we were all just sitting there and applauding. and right now the president, who just got off the phone earlier today with erdogan in turkey, is talking after speaking to the space shuttle. let's listen. >> -- talking about the oil that everybody was worried about. we have the u.s. in control of that. and there are no shots being fired. and a lot of people are doing a lot of things. this is a deal that should have been made 15 years ago, ten

years ago. over the last number of years under the obama administration, the real number is over a million people were killed. we have lost no, not a drop of blood, since we've started what i've started. and it was -- so far it's working out. it's a complicated region. many, many people have gone down. i have to watch with great interest as i see people talking about what we should be doing, and these are the same people that have been failing for the last 20 years, didn't know what they were doing, especially when they went in and did what they did, they shouldn't have been there. but we're doing a very, very significant amount of great work. we'll see if it works. it's very fragile. it's been fragile for years. they've been fighting each other for centuries, literally for centuries they've been fighting each other. years ago we injected ourselves into the middle of it. we won't go into whether or not that was a good thing or bad thing, you know how i feel about

it. we've had tremendous success over the last couple of days, a little bit unconventional, a little bit of hard love, i told you that, a little, uh, there was a lot of pain for a couple of days, and sometimes you have to go through some pain before you can get a good solution, but the kurds are very happy about it. president erdogan of turkey is satisfied with it. and we are, uh, in a very strong position. we are also in a position where we can put tremendous powerful sanctions on turkey or whoever else we want to. our country is a financially much stronger country than when i took it over. china would have been right now the strongest economy in the world, the number one economy in the world. and right now china is way behind us. we picked up trillions of dollars in value, in worth, and they've lost trillions and trillions of dollars. they're having the worst year they've had in 57 years.

that being said, we're working with china very well. we've done, subject to it getting signed, i think it will get signed quite easily hopefully by the summit in chile where president xi and i will both be. the farmers are taken care of. >> you can hear the president going through his riff on how well things are going. sitting with us is ambassador william burns, deputy secretary of state who had served under five presidents, ten secretaries of state from both parties, including having been ambassador to russia among other major posts. how well are things going? and how happy are the kurds? >> it's great to be with you, andrea, first. min i mean, the one thing the president just said that i agree with is that the middle east is a complicated place. the rest of it i think is nonsense. the cease-fire agreement or pause agreement just announced really papers over a series of betrayals. a betrayal of partners, the kurds, who bled for us in the fight against isis, a betrayal

of process as brett mcgurk was just discussing with you, in which we're left with chaos, the u.s. military withdrawing hastily and having to destroy their own facilities from the air, and last but not least, a betrayal of common sense. of course there was always going to be difficulty, to deal with all the contradictions in northeastern syria, the tensions between the turks and the kurds, assad's interest in regaining control of northeastern syria. but, you know, if this, as the president has trumpeted, is a good deal or the art of the deal, i hate to see what a bad deal looks like. the beneficiaries here are the turks, the assad regime, the iranians, the russians, vladimir putin, and not least, isis, which has begun to reconstitute itself as a real threat. >> you've written that not since mccarthy has the state department suffered this way. >> i was proud to serve five

presidents, ten secretaries of state from both parties. i've seen a lot of highs and lows in american foreign policy, as you have, over recent decades. but i've never seen anything quite like this. i didn't write those words lightly. but i'm deeply worried about the hollowing out of the state department and american diplomacy. i'm deeply worried about the side lining of career expertise today. >> to that point, this is mick mulvaney in the briefing room yesterday. >> elections have consequences. foreign policy is going to change from the obama administration to the trump administration. and what you're seeing now, i believe, is a group of mostly career politicians -- career bureaucrats saying, you know what, i don't like president trump's politics so i'm not participate in this witch hunt they're undertaking on the hill. >> also nonsense. you know, in the state department you have career foreign service officers, career civil servants who are deeply dedicated to their country, to

our national interests, and who are loyally following political leaderships who are elected by the people of the united states. so i think that's a ridiculous accusation to make and deeply unfair to the deeply patriotic people who are continuing to do hard work in hard places around the world, as we talk this morning. >> admiral mcraven who has been so widely credited with all the work at jsoc over the years, the takedown of bin laden, evaluated written, if this president doesn't demonstrate the leadership that america needs both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the oval office, republican, democrat, or independent. do you agree? >> i do, i have huge admiration for admiral mcraven. i watched as he with professional skill outlined exactly how we were going to take down bin laden. he is a man of deep principle.

he's apolitical. i think americans should take very seriously what he just wrote. >> when you think about masha yovanovitch, she worked for you. >> she did. >> she's been described to me by people who heard her testimony as incredibly courageous for not only her testimony but for what she endured for these many months, the smear campaign. >> she is a first rate professional. and i think it's her honesty, integrity, and courage that gives me hope in these dark times for american diplomacy. you mentioned the mccarthy era, the culmination of the mccarthy episode was a set of hearings in the u.s. senate when a legendary attorney named joseph welch asked his famous question, have you no decency, sir, as long last have you left no sense of decency. in this administration, in the political leadership, the sense of decency is pretty well concealed today.

>> including the secretary of state. >> i think in the political leadership state. the obligation for the leadership to stand up for people and there is little evidence of that in this administration. i think it is in the performance and in the honorable example of yovanovitch and others of my former colleague that you are seeing that sense of decency. that's what gives me hope of the future of our diplomacy and the public. >> hope in this difficult time. deputy secretary, thank you so much. >> pleasure to be with you. >> bloodstain, mit romney viscerating president trump on social media. stay with us, you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

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the decision to abandon the kurds violates one of our most sacred duty. it strikes an american honor. what we have done to the kurds will stand as a bloodstain in america's history. >> slams president trump's decision on syria as clashes continue even today. a bipartisan bill from senate

erl er lindsey graham and chris van holland. do you expect you and lindsey graham can get something through the senate? >> i think we can. you heard from mit romney what happened of the second betrayal of our kurdish allies. the first betrayal when president trump withdrew 100 forces and told erdogan to slaughter the syrian kurds which was our main parter in the fight against isis. you have a strong bipartisan reaction. the need to stand up for our u.s. partners rather than having credibility undermine and the need to stop isis from getting new oxygen which was what's happening. senator graham and i are going to pursue our sanctions legislation. it was sanctioned turkey economically until conditions are met. stop slaughtering syrian kurds and return to the area there

were and proxies before they are taxed. we hope those sanctions don't have to take place. the preside >> the president is saying he's willing to lift sanctions that were just imposed for erdogan. they still have that meeting scheduled for november 18th. how would your bill have any effect on the president's policy? >> well, if we pass the bill, it would require him to sanction. >> can he veto it? >> as of right now there is such strong sentiment, i anticipate enough votes to override the president's veto. the turks were popping bottles. this was the easiest negotiations they had. they got everything they wanted, they violate the cease-fire. and ethically cleansed, the

syria and kurds out of their homeland. that's what the turks wanted to accomplish militarily. you have pompeo essentially signing that over. no, this is an impossible agreement with respect to stopping isis and helping our allies so we are moving forward. >> mick mulvaney, diplomat bureaucrats who are pursuing on -- you are a son of a diplomat, you see what happens to yovanovitch, what's your reaction? >> professional diplomat, somebody who served both parties and always loyal to our country. i am proud of our diplomats. they have stood up for u.s. interests despite people trying to attack them and subvert them in order to do the president's

political dirty work in places like the ukraine and for mulvaney trying to get up and slur patriots for our country shows how far this administration and the white house is fallen. it was in the same breath of where he admitted that the president had used the u.s. military of ukraine as a quid pro quo to interfere in the our election. mick mulvaney does not have any standing to talk to anybody about u.s. interests. >> well, switching to someone that's heroic and standing up for all of our interests, the moral heart of the house. your colleague in maryland, elijah cummings, your thoughts about elijah when we all knew so well and you knew better than most >> he was a dear friend. he was a champion for our state and for the country. i have known elijah for 30

years. we served together in the maryland general assembly. he was always the first one on his feet to fight for social justice and equality and his city. he took that fight to washington where in my view he was a hero of our times in the way he prosecuted the case with dignity but always and you see this in the fact that you have bipartisan tributes. always respectful of the other person's point of view and people knew he had integrity and dignity and at this time polarization and chaos. oh my god, we are going to miss elijah cummings and his principles stand. >> he signs his subpoenas from the hospice bed. >> he says he's going to protect our democracy until his last breath. >> thank you, senator. our condolences to you. >> that does it for "andrea

mitchell reports." here is stephanie ruhle from "velshi & ruhle." thank you, andrea. that was a beautiful tribute. hello everyone, it is friday the 18th. trump's impeachment inquiry. we'll break down the most damming evidence we have heard. the cease-fire may not be holding. my partner ali velshi is live in the region. plus, facebook's cofounder, mark zuckerberg is talking free speech. you do not want to miss that conversation. we are following the impeachment inquiry into president trump. today is deadline