detention. that his spokespeople and aides he said that largely they had have been denying. been captured. and, you know, as dan balz wrote craig, that was countered by his own top envoy to syria who in his piece, this is a question testified just today on capitol now of not whether donald trump hill that the number is over a did something wrong about hundred and that they are not whether the system will hold him clear on where exactly those accountable for that, and by fighters are. that i mean the process you heard the reporter in the unfolding on capitol hill right now. >> and "the new york times" he's room try to follow up with him on that point, on that a very helpful list of the six contradiction, effectively. things we learned from william president trump decided not to take those questions, not to taylor's opening statement answer them. alone. bill taylor described an hopefully we'll get some questions to him a little bit explicit quid pro quo. later on today when he departs second, the white house had two channels on ukraine policy, the from pennsylvania. but again, i think both of those official one and the unofficial are very significant. one, that was rudy giuliani. and the president making the third, taylor was told ukraine had to pay up before the case that the cease-fire has president would sign a check. held, in the same breath saying, fourth, taylor said ukrainians we do know this is the middle would die at the hands of east, essentially saying it's not a guarantee. russian-led forces as a result it's remarkable he is lifting of the there an in american military aid. fifth, john bolton fought the sanctions before sort of waiting to see if the cease-fire does effort to hijack the policy continue to hold. toward ukraine and that mike craig, i anticipate you'll have pompeo did not respond directly a range of foreign policy to complaints. experts who will be watching six, demands were made for

that very close ly. >> kristen, thank you, joel, secrecy and career officials including ambassador taylor were left in the dark about events. thank you. always good to have you, kevin. michael crowley, that's a "andrea mitchell reports" starts complete transformation and destruction of foreign policy as it's supposed to be conducted. right now. >> you this, crathank you, crai. >> yeah, absolutely, andrea. good day, i'm andrea and i think number four -- those are all powerful points, but mitchell in new york. number four stands out as something new and worth focusing president trump appeared today with the vice president and on and indeed my colleague peter secretary of state at his side, baker did that in the lead of flanking him, declaring victory his excellent story, which is in syria, calling the turke that taylor reminded us that ukrainian lives were at stake. for americans who understandably might find some of this to be turkey-syria border a success, even though the kurds are complicated and abstract, a lot burying hundreds of their dead. of americans haven't visited >> turkey informed my ukraine, they have to understand administration they would be stopping combat and their there has been essentially a war happening in eastern ukraine offensive in syria and making with russia. the cease-fire permanent, and it i think 13,000 plus people have died there. will indeed be permanent. so this is not just kind of however, you would also define the word "permanent" in that foreign relations types sitting part of the world as somewhat around debating spheres of influence. questionable. people are getting killed. i have therefore instructed the secretary of the treasury to william taylor made the argument

lift all sanctions imposed. that ukrainians would be killed we're willing to take blame and out this military assistance we're also willing to take credit. >> the president's actions that president trump, in his telling and other accounts, was allowing russia's president conditioning on investigation of vladimir putin to cement his place in syria after stepping in his political rivals and as the cease-fire came to an end. russian troops now mobilizing in baseless conspiracy theories northern syria where american involving a computer server in the 2016 election. troops had been patrolling just as i wrote, this guy's two weeks ago. credibility is pretty rock joining me now, nbc's kristen solid. the white house has come out welker at the white house. and, you know, used typical kristen, this was extraordinary, rhetoric about deep staters and aside from the distraction radical partisans. this guy has spent 50 years in element, the president now claiming victory against all public service. evidence from the ground. he was in the 101st airborne in vietnam. >> reporter: that's right, he's been an ambassador all over andrea. and a couple of other things the world, he has deep that stood out for me, you had experience in ukraine. president trump saying that he i spoke to several former was going to leave a small diplomats who know him well who contingent of troops in the said that this guy is just kind of a paragon of integrity in region to essentially patrol and safeguard the oil resources public service. so he just can't easily be there, although not saying dismissed. i think the most memorable quote specifically how many troops are of all i got yesterday is if going to stay. so there's going to be a lot of bill taylor says something happened, it happened. focus on that. you can bet that u.s. forces, >> absolutely, that stood out from your great reporting, who are anticipating deploying to the region, want to know what michael crowley. and phil, briefly, you broke the

those specific numbers are going to look like, how long will they story that anonymous has need to be in the region. returned, there is going to be a then you heard president trump book-length piece, a book downplay those isis fighters who have escaped from detention actually published next month by facilities, effectively saying the same anonymous author who a that it wasn't a large number and that they've largely been year ago wrote as a senior captured or secured. and now it's up to those in the official, as identified by "the new york times." tell us what the impact could be region to basically try to make on an already-embattled what thk sure that the isis fighters don't resurge. well, that runs counter to what is going to definitelve into an his own top envoy to syria cover. testified today, andrea, saying if it's anything like the the number is actually above a anonymous column in "the new york times" a year ago, it will hundred, saying he's skeptical be a devastating portrait of the of this agreement that's been president in action, of the worked out between russia and turkey to police the area. recklessness of his decisions and then, andrea, essentially saying we are ready to lift and the impulsivity he has on sanctions because the president making the case that the issues of national security. that's what that column focused cease-fire has held. and then in the same breath on. it's safe to assume therefore that the book will delve into saying that this is the middle that area as well. it comes out on november 19th, east and so nothing is guaranteed. which just looking at the an acknowledgement, andrea, that this region is so volatile. timing, as everybody watching knows, we're in the throes of and so the president's critics, impeachment right now, so this has the potential to add some republicans and democrats alike, new information or at least to will undoubtedly really seize on

irritate and anger the president at a moment of real too soon to lift sanctions vulnerability for him. without a guarantee that thi kr >> and by the way, just to keep us all up to date, republicans who are not on the impeachment joining us as well, former inquiry committees have held up national security adviser of course for president obama and the start of the testimony from an msnbc political contributor, and john mclaughlin, former the pentagon official who was supposed to be testifying today, acting cia director, as well as so they tried to get into the secure room with their richard haas, president of the cellphones, which is also a council on foreign relations. violation, and that is stull richard, first to you, let's ongoing on capitol hill as we talk about the way the president speak. phil rucker, michael crowley, declared victory today and said that he, president erdogan, and thank you both so much. massachusetts democratic the diplomacy of the vice president and the secretary of state, had achieved the success congresswoman catherine clark joins us. that others can now join in without mentioning russia by what is going on in the scif? name, you know, we welcome other countries getting in. well, the fact is we've been this is unheard of. >> it does raise the question of trying to keep russia out of gaining control of syria and now what are the republicans so they have it. afraid of from ongoing testimony >> what was lost in all this was that they want to interrupt it. this is a political stunt into a the united states, at an very serious, constitutional extraordinarily modest cost over

the last few months, had brought inquiry. and we want to get the facts out about an acceptable situation. to the american people. the kurds were safe, turkey haven't intervened, the russian and to interrupt witnesses, spru government hadn't reasserted interrupt that process, is really inexcusable. control over the country, isis was bottled up. when they cannot explain the all of that has changed. president's conduct, they want to focus on this sort of some isis has escaped, we'll see political theater. and it's really shameful how many more do. turkey has intervened. behavior. >> one of their big complaints the government of syria is in the process of regaining control is that they claim that the process is not fair, that of the country thanks in part to lawyers from the state its russian and iranian backers. department, for instance, have and many kurdish lives have been not been able to go in with these ambassadors. lost. but that is precisely what the plus, and it's a big plus, andrea, and you know it, the united states has its rules they used during the benghazi inquisition, if you reputation for reliability in will, when mike pompeo was on the region and around the world. what we are now seeing is the the other side, he was on the house committee investigating the clinton state department. post-american middle east. >> the rules are very fair. it's not pretty. the process includes and this is in some ways the republicans, they're part of it, they get to ask questions, and fleshing out of "america first they know all of this. but they are focusing on process time -- "america first." because they cannot excuse the it looks an awful lot like conduct of the president of the

retrenchment or withdrawal. united states, who has betrayed his oath of office. other forces are going to fill he's betrayed our national the vacuum. security. and he has endangered the around the world a lot of our friends will rethink their integrity of the elections in dependence on us. a lot of our foes will be 2020. we in the house democrats, we looking for opportunity. >> when you say around the continue to do both things. we will conduct this world, most notably in europe as investigation fairly. we are going to get the facts to well, president trump has said the american people. and we are going to finance to let europe take care of the isis legislate and put those issues fighters. europe is frightened, frankly, around health care, around getting corruption out of by the likelihood of the politics, on the front burner terrorists coming back and the here in congress. fact that they can no longer those are the two things that rely on the u.s. we're doing. even nato members are saying, it is far past time that collean should we rethink our relationship with the united states and get along with protecting the constitution and vladimir putin, get along with they should get back to work for russia if we have to because the american people. they're in the neighborhood and we can't rely on donald trump. >> one of the things that is ben rhodes, let's look at what the president said about isis. obviously slowing things down is that they know that they are doing this on a day when a lot of conflict. the president, first of all, has tomorrow there will not be been saying isis is defeated. we know from the pentagon's own testimony because of the lying in state of elijah cummings and

inspector general's report at the end of june that that is not the case. the memorial service in there were 18,000 fighters, they congress. there is obviously a time frame didn't have territory but they here. were resurgent in syria and how much is this going to impede the investigation? iraq. now the question is how many of them have escaped. you're already having phil ambassador jim jeffrey today was acknowledging what he did not acknowledge yesterday but which the defense secretary was saying reeker coming in on are you yesterday, that more than 100 aware saturday session as it is. >> we are going to let the facts isis fighters have escaped, are not under control. set the timeline. there are plans to keep these jeffrey was saying it was only dozens. the president today speaking depositions and questioning going over the weekend. about isis being secured under lock and key. but it really is a stark i wanted to play the president first and at almost the same difference, when we think about time his ambassador, special elijah cummings, an incredible enjoy james jeffrey, testifying public servant, a man of such before the house and being questioned by eliot engel. integrity and leadership, and that as we are on the eve of >> i have just spoken to general celebrating his life, mazloum, a wonderful man, the commemorating his legacy, to be commander in chief of the sdf falling back on political stunts, to be bringing censures kurds. and he was extremely thankful for what the united states has against adam schiff and other done, could not have been more members, it's just not worthy of

thankful. general mazloum has assured me the congress that elijah that isis is under very, very cummings fought for. its worthy of their own oath of strict lock and key. office. and it's not worthy of their there were a few that got out, a american people and the small number, relatively constituents that they serve. speaking, and they've been largely recaptured. this is about protecting our >> how many isis detainees have national security and making escaped? does the u.s. have an idea where sure that we protect the these individuals are and is the integrity of the elections as we go into 2020. u.s. able to monitor or just today we're putting the effectively operate aga shield act on the floor that will codify keeping foreign forces? >> uh, again, as secretary he is interference out of our elections. and that really is the question for republicans. p do you think that foreign secretary esper said, we would governments should not interfere say the number is almost a in our elections? hundred. we do not know where they are. it should be a simple question to answer. the prisoners that the sdf was and i hope that they affirm they guarding are still secured, the sdf still has people there, believe there is no place for we're monitoring there as best we can. foreign interference in our >> ben rhodes, let's try to fact check that. jim jeffrey certainly seems to vote. >> congresswoman clark, thanks have more control of the facts for being with us today. than the president. next, character

>> yeah, no, look, it's obvious, assassination. the white house attacking a andrea, that a significant highly respected career diplomat number of isis prisoners were in after his very controversial, this area, and a significant extraordinary testimony number have escaped. yesterday implicating the but i think it's important to president in the ukraine step back and look at the controversy. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us right here on msnbc. ith us right here on broader context here. msnbc. i grill. why did isis get the foothold get the perfectly grilled flavors of an outdoor grill indoors, there in the first place and what did the kurds do with us and because it's a ninja foodi, it can do even more, and for us? like transform into an air fryer. assad is a motivating factor for the ninja foodi grill, the grill that sears, sizzles, and air fry crisps. isis, he allows them to raise recruits. turkey does not have an interest in fighting isis. the situation we faced in 2014 is that turkey was permitting the free flow of people across the border into syria to fight for isis. it was the kurds who put their lives on the line, 11,000 kurds lost. now the u.s. special forces have been pulled back. now the turks have come back in. and let's be very clear about what this, quote unquote, safe zone is. it's a buffer zone in which the

turks are dislodging the kurds from that area. what's left? turkey is there. turkey has not prioritized the fight against isis. they've prioritized the fight against the kurds. assad has been a magnet for isis. the counter-isis operations are no longer taking place with the u.s. and the kurds. what does this all adds up to? this adds up to the fact that isis has been relieved of all the pressure it was under, a significant number of isis fighters have escaped, and right now we no longer have the people there who are keeping a lid on this problem, which is the u.s. special forces working with the kurds. so in addition to eviscerating u.s. credibility he's also reignited the threat to the united states. this is a catastrophic outcome that he's trying to spin. let's be very clear, his spin is filled with lies. isis fighters did escape. he's not getting the u.s. out of this region, he's actually added thousands of u.s. troops to the region in recent weeks and months with a recent deployment to saudi arabia.

it's trying to spin his way out of fact that he made a decision to allow turkey to green light this operation that has put american national security at extreme danger. >> john mclaughlin, what about the cost of not having good intelligence on the ground by the u.s. withdrawal? >> any time you draw forces down at this level, you lose granularity on what's actually going on here. clearly the president's statement is the kind of thing that we've been worrying about for a long time. this is a real international crisis. and in that circumstance, the president of the united states has to be believed. president trump, as we all know, has a record of saying things that are often false, questionable, and so how do you know what to accept here? his statement today reminded me a lot of something he said about a year and a half ago at a rally in a different circumstance. he told his people, what you're seeing, reading, and hearing is not really happening. and that's a bit of what he was doing today, making lemonade out of lemons.

you know, i think an hey. ♪hey. intelligence analyst looking at this realizes that the stakes here are much larger than the you must be steven's phone. president indicates. syria is one of those things that comes along maybe once in a generation where something is happening in an obscure, far-off now you can take control of your home wifi place that turns out to be the and get a notification the instant fulcrum of larger events over a someone new joins your network... longer period of time. only with xfinity xfi. and as i think richard haas was download the xfi app today. saying, that's the real significance. everyone is studying this. the chinese will look at this. everyone in the region will look at this. putin has exploited this brilliantly. a couple of weeks ago he was received like royalty in the you felt uae, typically a country that is close to us. really, putin has become as a result of his -- give him credit, brilliant handling of the syria situation, the principal great power in the middle east, at a time when i think most people are taking from what we've done the

conclusion that we are no longer reliable, no longer the honest broker that you certainly the white house is attacking remember throughout all of our history in the middle east. former ambassador william taylor's devastating testimony >> and -- about ukraine. in a statement, white house >> and i think that's the problem here. >> and i was just going to say, press secretary stephanie john mclaughlin, richard engel grisham slammed taylor, a career is there on the ground watching the facts, watching the violence diplomat, calling his testimony, quote, a coordinated smear against the kurds, without a campaign from far left lawmakers and radical, unelected drop of bloodshed by americans, bureaucrats waging war on the but what about the cost to the constitution. joining me now is tony blankly syrian kurds? who served as deputy secretary >> reporter: of course not a drop of blood was shed by the of state under john kerry and is americans because they were told now a foreign policy adviser for to go back to their basis aes a the biden campaign. tony, put ongoing your state department hat, taking politics watch it all happen. as much out of this as we can, ethnic cleansing is a crime to attack william taylor, who against humanity. by witnessing it, by being in a came back to service at mike pompeo's request against the position to stop it but being advice of his own wife, as he order not to stop it, they could testified, what is your reaction open themselves up to accusations that they were even to the way he's been aiding and abetting. characterized by the white house

so the u.s. had a mission here that was working. press secretary? >> it's disgraceful, the way ben rhodes knows this well, he was involved in helping to he's being treated, the way create it. this was a very specific mission marie yovanovitch is being that was to fight against isis treated, the former secretary of with a very small number of elite u.s. special operations mike pompeo, the way they're forces. they were working, they had being treated is a disgrace. captured and killed tens of secretary pompeo he's a choice thousands of isis fighters. to make. and then abruptly, for reasons he can either stand up for the men and women of the state that maybe we'll know one day, department, foreign service officers, civil servants, or president trump has this call with erdogan and he decides to frankly, he should leave. but i would like to hear from let erdogan, let turkey invade him what's been done. and blow up the entire project. the statement from the white and now those special operations house is really hard to put in words how abysmal it is. forces are being pulled out. bill taylor, as people have president trump says, oh, some pointed out, is a west point are going to stay behind and protect the oil so we get the grad. he served in vietnam. oil. i don't think he has any idea of he was then on the ground as an what these special operations forces do. they don't go around with ambassador, an envoy in iraq and buckets and pick up oil and fly them in helicopters back to the afghanistan. he served in republican and united states. they hunt down isis fighters. democratic administrations since they do very specific missions. 1985, for president reagan, both they look for hostages. that's what they've been doing president bushes, as well as democratic presidents.

here. there's west point honor code. president trump was trying to confuse the whole american he's upheld it. people who think that the middle i hope secretary pompeo does the same thing. >> who is of course also a west east is a big just giant war point grad. zone, sand and blood. ambassador billiolton, accordin and he's dwelling on these memories that people have, angry taylor's testimony, who was very much against this giuliani memories about iraq, when you had lots of young men and women, campaign, recommended that he send a first person cable hundreds of thousands of them cycling through iraq and afghanistan and you had national relaying my concerns. guardsmen sitting on the ground i wrote and transmitted such a in afghanistan for a year at a time, going home and then going cable on august 29, describing back for another year the folly i saw in withholding deployment. that's not the case here. military aid to ukraine. this is not that. this was a specific counter-isis i told the secretary i could not and would not defend such a operation that was working. and what the world is going to policy. although i received no specific response, i heard that soon see is the united states betrayed an ally. thereafter the secretary carried the cable with him to a meeting that is the only message that at the white house focused on security assistance for ukraine. will be received out of this so the question is what does internationally. pompeo know, when did he know and that vladimir putin sticks with his friends. and by the way, about the it. and what is your response to prison, i can add more details. pompeo on sunday to george i know at least a hundred stephanopoulos strike william fighters escaped from one burns, who you know quite well,

prison. also a former deputy secretary i was at the prison, i was inside, i was looking at the of state, as auditioning, empty cells. auditioning for the job of two artillery shells were fired at the prison, both from the turkish side of the border. secretary of state under an elizabeth warren presidency, i one landed inside the courtyard think is the paraphrase. >> andrea, president trump has itself of the prison compound, weaponized the state department one right in the garden in in service of his reelection. front. in the chaos, the isis prisoners and secretary pompeo seems to be broke out. most of the other detention allowing that to happen. to allow the department and our facilities are still being guarded for the moment. foreign policy to be politicized in service of president trump's they're still being guarded by the kurds. political ambitions. but people talk about, that's so again, he needs to choose. the only isis threat, the people he either needs to stand up for who are in jail, these tens of what's right, to stand up for the men and women of the thousands of fighters that department, or get out of the were -- fighters and supporters way. as to what he said about bill that were put in camps. burns, bill burns is the most what about the ones who were never put in camps and the ones revered diplomat and foreign service officer of our who are hoping isis will come back again today? we're already starting to see generation, of many generations. the men and women of the state their videos saying, we're back, we're back. department hearing that kind of statement from the secretary, >> and to the point, also, of that only undercuts what's left what the president is doing, the of his credibility. political context, ben rhodes, >> i also want to ask about this is one of the things he had to say today, contrasting something, your other hat, you of course have an adviser to joe himself implicitly with biden. joe biden acknowledged yesterday president obama. he did something that a lot of

>> you all remember the red line people have criticized the president for, using the term in the sand, when children were "lynching" in the context of gassed and killed, but then did impeachment, that in fact joe not honor their commitment as biden did say back in 1998 that other children died in the same the -- in 1998 he said even if horrible manner. but i did honor my commitments the president should be impeached history will question whether or not this is just a with 58 tomahawks. partisan lynching, whether or not this met the standard. >> so ben, he is trying to he apologized overnight saying that is not the right word and contrast his, quote, success now he shouldn't have used it. can we agree no one should use with the fact that president obama, when you were serving the term lynching to describe a him, decided not to hit syria political dispute? >> yes. over the chemical attacks and and i think the vice president's worked out an agreement with immediate statement speaks for itself. russia to withdraw 13,000 what's truly extraordinary here, chemical weapons from syria. >> yeah, look, andrea, we can tra and should have lots of debates andrea, going back to what we were talking about, is the about the syria policy of the president has put this country in peril in order to manufacture united states over many years including under president obama. dirt on his political rival, joe i will note he references the biden. fact that he fired tomahawk that speaks volumes about how missiles into syria in response the president is terrified at to a chemical weapons in fact. facing biden in the general in fact that did nothing to election and putting foreign policy at the service of his own change anything in syria.

politics and personal ambition. the place he hit was rebuilt, >> thanks for being with us assad is still in power, assad has continued to use chemical today. coming up next, the senate weapons. to this question of how do we majority leader denies president deal with terrorist threats in trump's claim that his call with the middle east, what we're ukraine's president was perfect. wrestling with is president how's that again? obama knew there wasn't this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. rea mitchell reports" on msnbc. goldi knows to never compromise. congressional support for another war in the middle east, to remove bashar al assad from too shabby! power. we knew, for instance, that because of what richard said, too much! because of the searing memory of too perfect! iraq, it was going to be very hard to go after isis with u.s. i can rent this? for that price? ground troops. there was going to be support from the american people to do absolutely. that. what is this, some kind of fairy tale? here's why this is important, andrea, because what we did it's just right! book your just right rental at thrifty.com. instead is we fittigured out a of capabilities, u.s. air power, oh! baby bear! special forces on the ground, and a ground force, the kurds it made her feel proud. chiefly, who could dislodge isis. they saw us, they recognized us. what is so tragic here is not ancestry® specifically showed only have we betrayed the the regions that my family was from. people, the kurds, who fought as that ground force, to take back the state of jalisco. the city of guadalajara. that ground from isis, not only

have we reintroduced the threat the results were a reflection of our family and the results were really human. of isis because of the kurds i feel proud about my identity. being ethnically cleansed from their homeland, but in the greater details. richer stories. future, andrea, who is going to fight with us? and now with health insights. the next time we have a terrorist threat anywhere in the world and we turn to somebody get your dna kit at ancestry.com. and say join us, they're going to remember what happened today. they're going to remember that gimme two minutes. eligible for medicare. donald trump betrayed the people and i'll tell you some important things who followed us on the ground. to know about medicare. so he can try to make this about first, it doesn't pay for everything. president obama. he can try to gaslight people say this pizza... [mmm pizza...] like he always does. is your part b medical expenses. he can tell lies about what he's this much - about 80 percent... doing in the middle east. the fact of the matter is the medicare will pay for. entire world saw him betray the very people who put their lives what's left... this slice here... well... that's on you. on the line and lost 11,000 and that's where an people in fight for our aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, security. that's going to make it harder insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company comes in. the next time and for the next president to find allies and partners for the united states this type of plan helps pay to go after very serious threats some of what medicare doesn't. like isis. >> ben rhodes, you this. and these are the only plans to carry the aarp endorsement. kristen welker, richard engel in that's because they meet northern syria, and of course their high standards of quality and service. john mclaughlin and richard haas, thanks to all. wanna learn more? it's easy. and today on capitol hill, call unitedhealthcare insurance company now and ask...

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for a quid pro quo. it allows you to choose any doctor, but president trump did insist who accepts medicare patients... that president zelensky of and these are the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. ukraine go to a make row phoicr whew! call unitedhealthcare today say he's opening investigations and ask for this free decision guide. of biden and 2016 election interference. then he said president trump wanted zelensky in a public box, end quote, by making a public statement ordering such investigations. joining me now is phil rucker from "the washington post" and "the new york times"' michael crowley. welcome, both. the writing of peter baker, dan balz and the others, the testimony of williamr does connect the president of the united states directly to theome testimony from taylor, because this is a career diplomat with a tremendous amount of amidst a growing impeachment with ukraine was essentially inquiry, it appears there could

overtaken by the president's be signs of cracks in the wall political and of republicans defending the president. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell denied a claim made by the president yesterday. >> i read mitch mcconnell's statement yesterday and i spoke to him about it too. he read my phone call with the president of ukraine, mitch mcconnell, he said, that was the most innocent phone call that i've read. i mean, give them a break. >> reporter: the president has said that you told him that his phone call with the ukrainian president was perfect and innocent. do you believe that the president -- >> we've not had any conversations on that subject. >> reporter: so he was lying about that? >> you have to ask him. i don't recall any conversations with the president about that phone call. >> that's pretty dramatic. joining me now, robert costa, national political reporter with "the washington post" and an msnbc political analyst and the host of "washington week" on pbs on friday nights. robert, what's going on there with mitch mcconnell? did policy.

is the wall coming down? >> there's certainly a different scene in the senate among republicans as opposed to the house. when i was in the capital yesterday talking to senators, they're nervous about the president's conduct, whether it's his tweet about lynching, comparing that to the impeachment process, to his comments about syria and the middle east, to the way he's handling and characterizing his own conversations with senate republicans. leader mcconnell is very careful and likes to have his words be precise. for the president to make his own characterizations, even mitch mcconnell, the majority leader, decided to speak up. >> and then there is john thune, the number three in the republican leadership, as you know. john thune, this is audio of him reacting when asked about ambassador bill taylor's deposition yesterday. >> the picture coming out of it based on the reporting that we've seen is, yeah, i would say is not a good one. i think that whatever he said in

private, it ought to be done in public. >> and they are going to be releasing transcripts of all of the testimonies, robert. but the point being that their procedure is to do this sequentially, build these cases. it's equivalent of a grand jury, the trial, the public trial will be in the senate, as you well know. and there have been several key players, second perry, outgoing energy secretary perry who did an op-ed or an interview in "the wall street journal," trying to put their versions out to perhaps help some of their fellow witnesses. that's the whole reason they're keeping them secret until they actually testify. >> and senate republicans will continue to rail against the process in the house. but it's interesting, when i was at the capital, i ran into senator lamar alexander, retiring republican from tennessee. i said, senator alexander, what's your comment about impeachment? and he said, i'm sorry, i can't make a comment because i'm a

juror possibly in a trial in the senate. senator collins has said something similar. so in the senate it's not just a political war. they're facing a constitutional duty, potentially, down the line, to be a jury on the president's conduct, listening to the testimony of people like ambassador taylor and ambassador sondland, and possibly new people who could come and talk to congress in the coming months such as ambassador bolton. >> exactly. robert costa, thanks very much. coming up, what a week and it's only wednesday. are the walls closing in on the president? stay with us on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. t? stay with us on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. pharmacist-recommended memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

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your free decision guide. call a licensed humana sales agent today. it is only midweek and it is shaping up to be the most damaging week for president trump. the president is losing support for top republican leaders. he was not consulted with the abrupt troop withdrawal that led to the abandon of the kurds. trump's official wrote that scathing op-ed will be releasing a tell-all book next month. joining me now, former senior advisor for president obama.

a former aide of george w. bush. to elise, are republicans getting nervous about this as the president is showing signs of nervousness and impeachment as well as this thnew book. >> if i am president trump, i would find it disturdisturbing. what we saw yesterday was incredible. i don't think you can over state a trump administration appointee. not a radical bureaucrats in the words of stephanie gresham came out and gave evidence of over hearing quid pro quo. i don't see how they can escape the wait of that evidence now. >> william taylor is a retired ambassador brought out of

retirement by mike pompeo to go to ukraine to replace yovanovitch who had been recalled by mike pompeo because of pressure from rauz udy giuli. >> yeah, i think this last couple of days, last week has been unprecedented. you know i work ld ed in the clinton's white house on impeachment. i didn't work on the impeach but i was in the white house. the trump white house is doing everything single thing that bill clinton tried to avoid. it is really he has an opposite play book. he's creating stress on republicans to back him on several issues, syria and any distance of mitch mcconnell right now and anything seems to be a giant mistake. the fact that he has a series of policies from things he said about lynching to the entire syria policy which is - the

kurds now and a gigantic advantage to putin at our expense and the fact that we are bombing our own military bases to keep it out of the hands of russia and isis. all of these issues are ones that should create a lot of stress on republicans and the fact that you see so few senate republicans defending the president on cable shows like yours means that the president in his action making impeachment more and more likely. that's what's truly stunning about the last several days. >> what's interesting as neera was just pointing out, bill clinton was working with newt gingrich on getting legislation passed. he was not talking about the impeachment. he was avoiding it. when was the last time we talked

about a legislative priority in this country. right now donald trump does not even want or try to engage. he would rather be preferred to use his twitter to throw out offensive terms or prefer keep encouraging congress to blindly follow him. it has been completely staggering how they don't even try to shift the direction of the narrative and instead he seems to only be making it worse. >> one really important quick point in this. bill clinton knew it was vital that the american people saw that. he was still important to their lives. he was still trying to make progress. he's trying to get things done. elise made the absolute right here. i think that makes a stronger case as to why you should actually think of an alternative. >> neera and elise jordan.

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in an effort the recognize people ideas of shapes and society. three of the winners have been women. the justice will deliver the prize. what a day. remember to follow us online and on facebook and twitter. here i ali velshi for "velshi & ruhle" and stephanie ruhle.

>> what a day. >> stephanie is in washington. >> i am sorry, take it away >> i am homlding the fort for yu in d.c. coming up at this hour on "velshi & ruhle." major drama on capitol hill. republican lawmakers try to flood closed door impeachment. the top pentagon official overseeing u.s. policies on ukraine. we'll go there live with the latest.