tonight. thank you for being with us. and good night from our nbc news headquarters in new york. new in the impeachment probe, house democrats want mick mulvaney to come to capitol hill to testify. they subpoenaed him to appear later this morning. >> democrats release new and potentially damaging testimony by senior u.s. diplomat george kent. he tied trump to a quid pro quo and discussed vladimir putin's influence over the president. >> and former vladimir putin's influence over the president. >> and michael bloomberg is now positioning himself to enter the 2020 democratic race, aides say he sees a weakness in the current democratic field. good morning, everyone. it is friday, november 8, i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin

vossoughian. new overnight, the house intelligence committee has subpoenaed acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney to appear on capitol hill and testify in the impeachment probe. mill vainy like others in the trump administration is not expected to appear for that deposition. as you may recall mulvaney was speaking in the white house briefing room last month when he essentially admitted that the president withheld military aid in order to pressure ukraine to conduct investigations into the bidens. >> he also mentioned to me in the past that the corruption that related to the dnc server, absolutely. no question about that. but that's it. that's why we held up the money. now there was a report -- >> so the demand for an investigation into the democrats was part of the reason that he -- >> it was -- >> to withhold funding to ukraine? >> the look-back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. and that is absolutely

appropriate. >> withholding the funding? >> yes. >> to be clear what you described is quid pro quo. is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well. >> we do that all the time with foreign policy. get over it. there's going to be political influence in foreign policy. >> mulvaney later walked back those comments. >> some of the most damning testimony yet was released in the impeachment probe just yesterday. this time from senior state department official george kent. who oversaw ukraine policy. he tied president trump to a quid pro quo, highlighted the level of influence vladimir putin holds over the president, and then explained how the president's efforts in ukraine actually hindered u.s. efforts to crack down on corruption in that country. on the quid pro quo, he testified that according to conversations that he had had with ambassadors gordon sondland and bill taylor, that in order for ukraine's president to have military aid released and a visit to the white house, we have to signal a willingness to

pursue investigates sought by the president, kent testified this. potus wanted nothing less than president zelensky to go to the microphone and say say investigations on biden and clinton and shared an awkward conversation when kurt volker called out the president for opening an investigation, and volker told a zelensky top aide that he didn't think it was appropriate to investigate a political rival to which the aide responded this, what you mean the type of investigations, pushing for us to do on biden and clinton? at that point kent testified kurt volker did not respond. kent also told lawmakers that he believed putin and the leader of hungary had quote shaped the president's view of ukraine. and its new president. saying that after talking with two foreign leaders trump's view went from very positive to negative. "the new york times" has new reporting that ukraine's president zelensky was set to comply with president trump's

demand to publicly announce investigations against his political enemies, by a stroke of luck, never had to follow through, as the times points out trump wanted zelensky to speak out on cnn, but his aides wondered if it was a good idea since trump has habitually called cnn fake news. according to the times, nearly all of the top advisers favored his making the public statement. the united states military aide they agreed as well as diplomatic backing for im penning peace talks to end the war outweighed the risks of appearing to take sides in american politics. now, bending to the white house's request, zelensky's staff planned for him to make an announcement in an interview on cnn on september 13th. while plans were in motion to give the white house the public statement it wanted, events in washington ultimately saved ukraine from any final decision. and eliminated the need to make the statement. >> so the house impeachment inquiry yesterday shifted its focus to what vice president mike pens knew about president trump's dealings in ukraine. as investigators deposed

jennifer williams an adviser to pence for europe and russia who was on trump's kroeshl call with the ukrainian president, three people familiar with her remarks told "the new york times" that williams told investigators the july call stood out as unusual to her, because she was not accustomed to a president discussing domestic political issues with a foreign leader. but she did not take any steps to report her concerns and made only a passing reference to the call in briefing materials for the vice president. williams said she did not know whether pence read the materials, including a summary of the call, and testified that pence later spoke with trump on the day of his conversation with zelensky, but she did not know what exactly was discussed. williams also reportedly offered insight into a meeting between pence and zelensky in warsaw, on september 1st, according to the times, williams testified that in the meeting, zelensky asked pence about the u.s. delay in releasing military aide for the country, but neither man mentioned burisma, the bidens,

or the 2016 election. she said pence simply told zelensky that the u.s. would make a decision on the security assistance soon. in new hampshire, yesterday, pence ignored a question about whether he read a transcript of the phone call with zelensky before meeting with the ukrainian leader. watch that. >> mr. vice president, did you read the trump zelensky phone call transcript on july 25th before your september 1st meeting, mr. vice president. it would be great to talk to you mr. vice president. >> one of trump's former national security advisers may be preparing to defy the white house and testify in the impeachment inquiry. the "washington post" reports that john bolton is willing to testify but only if a federal court clears the way according to people familiar with his views. that reinforces msnbc news reporting from earlier this week bolton is willing to cooperate only under certain condition, publicly testifying under subpoena if the court directs his long-time social, charles kupperman to cooperate with the probe. bolton was called to appear

before house investigators for a deposition yesterday. however, he did not attend, he has not yet been issued a subpoena. joining us now from washington, d.c., white house reporter for "politico," meredith mcgraw, meredith great to have you with us on the program. let's talk about through some of the next steps in the impeachment inquiry in terms of where it goes. obviously, this week it should become public. but if democrats compel bolton and mulvaney to testify, how long could that process itself play out? >> well, the white house has asserted immunity in all of this, and they say that they want the courts to rule of course on the constitutionality of all of this, and as you said, national security adviser, john bolton, his attorney said that they would file a lawsuit in federal court, if he is subpoenaed to show up, and of course, acting chief of staff mick mulvaney has been subpoenaed to show up today, but he's not expected to be there. the white house in saying that

they want the courts to rule on this, this could hold up the democrats' process for months, and they know that. but intel chair adam schiff has signalled that they have enough evidence to move forward. their plan force these public hearings to go on in the coming weeks. and so they think they have enough to keep the ball rolling with this. >> let's talk vice president mike pence here. largely claiming to have no role in president trump's situation with ukraine. how might, or do you think yesterday's testimony by one of his aides, jennifer williams, potentially tied him closer at all to this impeachment inquiry and what she had to offer? >> well, vice president pence has maintained that he had no role in all of this. and there are a lot of questions about what he knew and when, however. the vice president of course was scheduled to go to ukrainian president zelensky's inauguration, and president trump told him not to go,

instead secretary of energy perry went instead. and then of course, later on in september, the vice president traveled to warsaw, when president trump couldn't go, and said he couldn't go, to meet with zelensky, and after he had that meeting, he told reporters that biden did not come up, but there are a lot of questions raised about, you know, exactly what he knew about everything that was going on, and williams' testimony yesterday, democrats are hoping that that would shed light on a little bit more of what pence knew and when. >> meredith, let me get your thoughts really quickly on the week ahead with the public, i guess, testimonies of some of these witnesses, as these impeachment hearings get more and more open. the significance of that. walk us through why what we're about to see next week is equally important to some of these private testimonies we've already been hearing about. >> well, first of all, we'll see who exactly ends up showing up for some of these public testimonies. but as you know, this white house, it is a mide for tv white house, and this is certainly its

tv moment, and the chance for the public to hear for themselves, from these people directly. >> meredith mcgraw, thank you very much for that. >> appreciate it. >> we will talk to you again in a little bit. following several midnight tweets, denying the "washington post" story, that president trump requested attorney general bill barr hold a news conference declaring he broke new laws in the july 25th phone call with the president of ukraine, trump continued his denial yesterday morning while lashing out at the paper. he also mentioned the journalist by name, calling them quote three low life reporters who quote wrote another fake news story without any sources. the post executive editor sfonded to trump's tweets in a statement yesterday saying this, the post fully stands behind its stories and its reporters who are among the finest journalists anywhere. the president continues to make false accusations against news organizations and individual journalists. despite his repugnant attempt to intimidate to harass the post and its staff, we will continue to do the work that democracy demands of a free and

independent press. meanwhile, white house counselor kellyanne conway yesterday also addressed the post report. >> the president has denied that he made that request. and i will repeat myself, that according to reports i saw in and around september 25th, that the department of justice's criminal division declined further investigation, because they saw no campaign finance violation. i believe their office of legal counsel also made a separate statement about this particular call that is routine diplomacy. >> still ahead, new details from the anonymous book that is scheduled to be published this month about the trump administration. the author claiming that the president's decision making has been eroding over time. >> plus, we're taking a look at the top international headlines of the day, including the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. >> incredible moment. only one thing's

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welcome back, everyone. we are following several big stories making head lines around the world from a highly publicized drug case in china to the nuclear tensions in iran. standing by we have matt bradley in berlin, nbc news correspondent janice, in beijing, and nbc news tehran bureau chief in tehran for us. let's go to matt bradley in berlin. on the anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. matt? >> reporter: yes, you know, this is a visit by mike pompeo, the secretary of state, to president donald trump, he's going to be here, he will be meeting with angela merkel, the chancellor of germany, the defense ministry, the ministry of foreign affair, but you know, as you mentioned, this isn't all about the relationship between the u.s. and germany and looking forward. it's mostly about looking back. because this afternoon, mike pompeo, he's going to be unveiling a statue, of president ronald reagan on top of the u.s. embassy just across from this square from where i am now,

because more than 30 years ago, president reagan implored the then chancellor, or the chairman of the communist party of the soviet union, to tear down this wall. that was that wall that was dividing east germany and west germany. and you know, this moment is so important, for so many germans seeing this unification, that eluded them for so many decades but it is a commen ration of what was missing in the world while the u.s. was so engaged during the cold war, this lack of engagement now is really what a lot of people in germany are talking about. next is my colleague in beijing. >> thanks, matt. this was a first, a joint investigation, by china and the united states, to crack down on a fentanyl trafficking ring, to the united states. one person was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. eight others were imprisoned. now china has been criticized

primarily by president trump for not doing enough to stop the flow of illicit fentanyl into the united states, primarily through the postal system. this operation code named diana after the woman tapped as an online dealer to customers in the united states. authorities in new orleans gave that tip to authorities in washington, it was passed on to investigators in china, who eventually came up with 26 pounds of fentanyl, and you have to consider that's a lot, when even the tiniest dose can be lethal. they also found 50 names and addresses of customers in the united states, and that led to more investigations, and more arrests. they are holding this as a success and did so very publicly, inviting journalists to see the sentencing, china's judicial system is normally quite opaque. for the latest from iran, we go to tehran and my colleague there. >> reporter: thanks, janis.

hey, guy, iran has taken the fourth step in reducing its commitments to the nuclear deal, in response to u.s. sanctions, and this step is by far the most significant to date. in the early hours of thursday morning, iranian scientists started injecting uranium hexo fluoride into ent fuges at the nuclear plant. now under the terms of the nuclear deal, the plant was only meant to be a research facility and its centrifuges only allowed to spin empty. now, that they've had gas injected into them, they will start producing enriched uranium. that means it is no longer a research facility. but an active nuclear site. with the ability to produce weapons-grade uranium, something the iranians say they don't want. also, in contravention of the deal, iran is using six generation centrifuges at the nuclear plant. the jcp already stipulates they're only allowed to use first generation ones. and if all that wasn't enough,

iran detained and then expelled a u.n. inspector because they claim she tested positive for explosive nitrates, while entering the facility. the iaea do not accept iran's account of events. amin, yasmin? >> mounting tension in iran to say the least with the nuclear situation. and an incredible bust to say the least. >> we're sometimes focused a lot on the impeachment inquiry that we lose site of the significant developments overseas. thank you very much. we appreciate it. let's get a check of the weather now with nbc meteorologist michelle grossman. >> happy friday. >> happy friday. >> we are looking at such a cold air mass overtaking the country. half of the country below average. and we're talking temperatures 20 to 30 degrees below what is typical this time of the year and it will hang on, not just through the weekend but also through next week. here is the set-up.

we have the jet stream so far down to the south. it is kind of like opening your front door and letting cold air in and that's what we see in place over the next couple of days. so today, below freezing in chicago. 13. just to put it in perspective though, 19 degrees below what is typical for this time of the year. nashville, 446789 and charlotte, 50. philadelphia, 446789 and extends into your weekend plans. we have the kids finishing up fall sport, things to do outside, and we are looking at temperatures 12 degrees below what is typical this time of the year. 44 in new york. temperatures will feel more like 25, 28 degrees in new york, with the wind involved over the weekend. by sunday, here's that cold air up in the northern plains, bismarck, 22. minneapolis, 29 and this will head towards the northeast, by next week. so another arctic blast that will extend at least into wednesday, and wednesday of next week, a high of 36. it's going to feel colder than that as well. we do have freeze alerts to the south telling us how big this air mass is, so we do have a freeze warning, that's where you're going to see the pink

anywhere from south carolina, all the way to the west. and we're looking at morning lows below 32 degrees. and that means any plants outside, bring them in or cover them up. and we will talk about snow in some spots in a few minutes. >> thanks, michelle. still ahead, as part of a civil lawsuit, president trump has been ordered to pay $2 million to settle claims he used the trump foundation as a personal piggy bank. how he is responding to that, coming up next. voya helps them to and through retirement... dealing with today's expenses ...while helping plan, invest and protect for the future. so they'll be okay? i think they'll be fine. voya. helping you to and through retirement. high protein. low sugar. tastes great!

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welcome back. a new york state judge ruled that president trump must pay $2 million for improperly using his trump foundation charity to further his 2016 presidential campaign. the order appears to end the new york attorney general's lawsuit against trump and three of his children under the now closed foundation which was accused of being engaged in repeated wrongdoing, including quote unlawful coordination with the trump presidential campaign, and quote repeated and willful self dealing. the original petition detailed what it called a shocking pattern of illegality involving the trump foundation. trump responded to the ruling with a statement on twitter blasting the new york state attorney general saying she does not acknowledge that 100% of the funds raised went to charities while also questioning why the clinton foundation was also not under investigation. the president also said they resolved the case with the understanding that all money previously in the foundation has gone to charity. and he is therefore happy to donate $2 million to several

worthy charities, including the children's aid society, and city meals on wheels. and republican senator john kennedy defended his comments calling nancy pelosi dumb at a rally with president trump saying he didn't mean to be disrespectful. >> did you really mean no disrespect when you said that speaker pelosi -- >> sure i did. let me tell you why i said that in part. what speaker pelosi has done here, and i think she is the prime principal behind this impeachment, i think she has, you got to be careful what you ask for, and i didn't mean any disrespectful, i didn't mean it as disrespectful at all, if people think they're disrespectful, this is america, you're entitled to your opinion. >> wow. yesterday, senate minority leader chuck schumer addressed kennedy's comments on the senate floor. >> there was even a member of this chamber who went so far as to insult the speaker's intelligence at a political

rally. a childish and nasty smear. far out of bounds. nobody is happy about the fact that the house is examining the potential impeachment of the president. it has always been a sad and somber process. but there is no excuse for jumping to conclusions, advocating for law breaking, resulting to nasty insults. >> still ahead, new details about republican strategies with the president amid the escalating impeachment probe. >> former attorney general jeff sessions, what he is saying about the newly-announced senate run in his relationship with the president. we will tell you about that when we're back in a moment. day 23.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. house republicans have come up with a new plan to shield president trump from the impeachment inquiry. by shifting the focus to three top deputies. the "washington post" is reporting that gop has considered raising questions about the motives of u.s. ambassadors to eu, gordon sondland, trump attorney rudy giuliani, and acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney. accusing the three of them of acting on their own to influence ukraine policy. all three are very significant figures within this probe, having the most direct contact with the president, republican lawmakers, according to the post, quote, argued that most of the testimony against trump is based on faulty secondhand information. sewing doubts about whether

sondland, giuliani, and mulvaney were representing trump's interest or just their own agendas. republicans on the hill hope this new strategy will undermine the reliability of incriminating testimony from several current administration officials, including ambassador william taylor, and national security council expert tim morrison. >> the hill is reporting that congressman jim jordan says gop lawmakers intend to subpoena the whistle-blower to appear before congress. the hill points out that the effort is not likely to bear fruit, as democrats have rejected the idea of outing the anonymous figure, citing safety concerns. and they have veto power over any gop subpoena requests for witness testimony. we're getting a preview of that book from the anonymous writer who claims to be a senior trump administration official, who was part of the resistance on the inside. according to excerpts obtained by the rachel maddow show, the writer says the president's decision-making abilities are getting worse with time. and that many top administration

officials have pre-written resignation letters on the ready to submit. here's another excerpt obtained by the "washington post," quote, this, it is like showing up at the nursing home at daybreak to find your elderly uncle running pantless across the courtyard, and cursing loudly about the cafeteria food as worried attendants try to catch him. you're stunned. you're amused. you're embarrassed. all at the same time. only your uncle probably wouldn't do it every single day. his words aren't broadcast to the public. and he doesn't have to leave the u.s. government once he puts his pants back on. >> wow. >> another excerpt, describes trump like this, a 12-year-old in an air traffic control tower pushing the buttons of government indiscriminately indifferent to the flights skidding across the runway and the planes diverting and running away from the airport.

shocking. we stress this is uncorroborated information coming from an anonymous source and nbc news does not know who the writer was nor whether they were in a position to witness what they say transpired. the president has previously called the writer a gutless coward and questioned whether the person even exists. joining us from washington, d.c., white house reporter for "politico," meredith mcgraw. great to have you back with usion this hour. i want to discuss republicans here for a moment and the reported plans to combat the impeachment inquiry, the strategy keeps shifting almost week by week. the people they are looking to annex have been all selected by the president at one point, very loyal foot soldier, the jim jordan, the mark meadows of the world, how do you think this strategy will play out? >> republicans are trying to undermine the testimony that's gone on, on capitol hill, and by focusing on these people, they're saying that they acted on their own, they didn't act on behalf of president trump. and it raises questions about

what people have been testifying up there on capitol hill, and republicans like you said, have not been consistent in their argument about why president trump may have been asking the ukrainians to investigate a political rival. and this allows them to find a fall guy, if you will, and take some of the heat off the president. >> you have a new piece out, meredith, about the decent of the national security council official who attended key ukraine meetings, talk to us about what you're learning here. >> this is just the latest high level departure at the national security council. earl matthews, was a defense adviser, a senior director for defense at the national security council, and he is having his last day today, and he actually sat in on some of these key meetings, and he was in ukraine, with national security adviser john bolton, he was also in warsaw, when the vice president

met with the ukrainian president zelensky and while he hasn't been called to testify, and he hasn't been wrapped up in all of this, he was there for some of those key moments, and he was also a bolton ally, and with his departure, it's, like i said, the latest in a slew of departures, and the national security adviser robert o'brien has said that he is hoping to make the national security council smaller and right now, there are no plans for any replacement for him. >> any idea on the motive here for the resignation? >> i can't talk to the motive. but like i said, it's interesting the timing with all of this, that's going on. >> meredith mcgraw, live in washington, d.c. for us, thank you very much. let's switch gears for a moment to 2020 politics. former new york city mayor michael bloomberg is actively preparing to enter the democratic presidential primary. starting with a first step in the state of alabama.

long-time adviser to the billionaire businessman confirmed the move to nbc news yesterday, adding that bloomberg has yet to make a final decision. according to "the new york times," the once three-term mayor of new york has dispatched staffers to alabama to gather at least 500 signatures needed to qualify for the primary deadline there today. bloomberg and his aides also reached out to several prominent democrats to share his intentions to enter the presidential race. the 77-year-old who has donated more than $100 million to congressional and state legislature campaigns has toyed with the idea of running for president over the past year, but now, the stakes are different. his spokesperson expressed saying that bloomberg is quote increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to take down president trump in 2020. adding that he would quote be able to take the fight to trump and win. >> it's official. former attorney general jeff sessions has entered the alabama senate race. and the first task on his agenda appears to be making amends with

the president. sessions announced his run for his former senate seat yesterday in a new campaign ad where he offers his strong support for president trump. >> jeff sessions here, and i approve this ad. and i left president trump's cabinet, did i write a tell-all book? no. did i go on cnn and attack the president? nope. have i said a cross word about our president? not one time. and i'll tell you why. first, that would be dishonorable. i was there to serve his agenda. not mine. and second, the president's doing a great job. for america. and alabama. and he has my strong support. >> let's just remind you here, president trump has called making jeff sessions his attorney general the quote biggest mistake of his presidency. after he recused himself in the mueller investigation. last night, sessions spoke about his deteriorated relationship with the president on fox news.

>> he has your strong support. do you have his strong support? >> well, i hope so. i think he will respect my work. i was there for the trump agenda every day. i was in the senate. no doubt about it. i was the first republican, first senator to endorse him. if i return to the senate, i will no, no senator in the senate will be more effective in advancing president trump's agenda than i would be. >> i think we can be confident the president is likely listening to that interview. >> he probably approved it. >> he's on the guest list. >> yes, exactly. still ahead, kentucky republican matt bevin is still refusing to concede despite by trailing more than 5,000 votes in the kentucky governor's race and members of his own party are telling him to prove wrongdoing or step aside. the first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment. oment. do you have concerns about mild memory loss related to aging? prevagen is the number one pharmacist-recommended

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lawmakers are calling on kentucky governor matt bevin to concede or provide proof of election fraud. on tuesday, the state's attorney general, the democrat, defeated him more than 5,000 votes but bevin is claiming voting irregularities. meanwhile kentucky secretary of state has been facing backlash for announcing the election results live on cnn, while the votes were still being tallied. >> let's bring in jessica, a lead reporter for pro-publica's election coverage. let's talk about the possibility of voting irregularities in kentucky. we have said this in other races to say the least and we could tick through them. talk specifically about kentucky. have there been any irregularities here from what you've been reporting and seeing so far? >> not that i've seen. i think that they will probably end up finding a few votes here and that we can pretty much break down and call clerical

errors by clerks, these numbers are entered by hand, this is a very normal thing that happens every election cycle. they will recanvas next week. and i would be very surprised if the vote shifted by more than a couple of dozen on either side. the likelihood that the irregularities make up 5,000 votes is really, really low. >> let's talk about allison, and how she has been handling the situation, running against mitch mcconnell but kind of thrust herself center in the middle of all of this. >> yes, she did. it was an odd move. i have never seen a state elections official do something quite like what she did on cnn. on election day. you know, usually, the people who are responsible for counting the votes don't get ahead of the ve certified election results and predict the outcome. even though there is no obvious impropriety in the voting, it gives matt bevin a lot more to

work with when i don't know if he would have had much at all before. so she has really fanned the flames in a way that i'm unclear if this was her intention. >> i wonder if this is a knock-off of the television, everyone wants to have a moment in the limelight. >> it could be. she's done things like this before. she's kind of gotten ahead of stories, and made her job as the secretary of state, which is the person who is in charge of the elections, and in charge of overseeing the administration of the elections, in kentucky, a little bit more partisan than other elections officials are comfortable with her making that role. so this is, if you ask the people in kentucky, part and parcel of what she has been doing the last few years. >> doing a jump, and giving bevins ammunition there. >> right. >> you have reports on the largest manufacturer of voting machines and why it remains so dominant, despite being blamed for many mistakes across the nation, in several elections. talk to us about what you're seeing here. >> you know, i think the point of the story is that the election system's market is so

broken, and i think that people don't really think about that when they think about the quality of our voting machines. people are really concerned about cyber security and concerned about the quality and the ageing of these machines, and they should be. but the ren that is able to continue is because the market is so focused on keeping the set regulations that were in passed in 2002 in place that has led to a lack of competition and led to very aggressive manufacturers of machines, election systems, and security, which is the subject of my piece, for example, routinely sues municipalities for not choosing their machines, and so the municipalities end up spebing thousands of dollars on the aggressive tactics of these companies rather than securing elections or hiring staff that would be able to take the steps that we really need to take in order to have a secure 2020. >> side bar question very quickly. is there a federal standard for these machines that they all have to meet? or is it based on state by state, municipality level? >> is a set of voluntary

guidelines that the federal government uses to certify machines. states do not have to use those certification standards. so there are several states that differ from. it mississippi is the only states that has no standards at all. >> jessica, thank you very much. thanks for joining us. let's switch gears now and bring in michelle grossman, nbc meteorologist for a quick check of your weather. we're talking about the advertised cold that will stay with us for a while. and get used to it. this is what we're waking up to right now. in terms of wind chills. that es what it feels like. this is how you want to dress when you walk outside. it feel likes 9 degrees in minneapolis. single digits. 23 in rapid city, is what it feels like. st. louis, 16, feels like the single digits. chicago, 7. we have pretty brisk winds that is bringing the wind chill down. saturday, not getting much better and still seeing a lot of pinks and purples out there translating to some very cold temperatures and feels like 20 degrees in green bay, on saturday. and this is in the morning, rochester, 20. and pittsburgh, 21. and cincinnati, 22.

that will extend into sunday morning. we're looking at eight degrees in marquette. and as we go throughout the day here, we are looking at, at least through tonight and tomorrow, a freeze warning in place, for parts of new york, we're looking at temperatures dropping well below freezing. maybe down to 28, 27 degrees. you want to bring any plants that still maybe out door ors at least cover them up. and then shots of arctic air extends through today, and also tomorrow, and then through next week. we will talk more about that in a little bit. >> thank you, michelle. >> thanks, michelle. still ahead, a shakeup at the top of another popular retailer and what coca-cola calls its biggest new product release in a decade. the story is driving your business day. coming up. (vo) the moth without hope, struggles in the spider's web. with every attempt to free itself, it only becomes more entangled. unaware that an exhilarating escape is just within reach.

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>> big news for the retailer. the ceo did say that he's stepping down yesterday. he's beenng at the helm since 2015. promised a 7% decline yesterday. they released earnings showing doiptding sales with a gap, the gap brands being the worst performing unit down 7%. the now outgoing ceo did announce back in february that they'reeb planning on splitting

thee retailer into two compani, one for old navy, one division specifically focussed on old navy and one focus opened banana republic and gap. he's tried over the last couple years to turn the company. they've shutn down some stores but it hasn'te been enough to turnt the company prospects around and take it back to the hey days of the 90s when gap was doing very, very well. in his place robert fisher will be standing in as interim ceo before they find another replaceme replacement. a new launchnoth in 2020 fo coca-cola. they are lunching aha with eight different new flavors, two of them are called -- well, includes citrus green tea, black cherry and coffee but have about 30 milligrams of caffeine in them. and coke has said that they're cancelingd the sparkling water

brand. it's ag good opportunity for them. their sparkling water business hasin flatlined over the last couple years. this in contrast with the business that's growing at about 5% on an annual basis. definitely a good growth opportunity for them changing consumer taste. people are moving away from sugary drinks toward healthier options. aha. >> looking forward to tasting that. all waright. thank you so much. >> thank you. up next, jonathan swann the axios has a look at this morning's one big thing. and coming up on "morning joe," the latestp developments in th impeachment push. chief of staff mick mulvaney gets subpoena, more testimony is released and "the washington post" a eugene robinson breaks down his latest op-ed, enough with the line, what trump did was bribery. and former new york city mayor michael bloomberg prepares to launch a possible bid for the

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joining us now from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m. sa national, mr. jonathan swann. great to have you with us. what is the one big thing? >> we go inside the decision make of mayor mike bloomberg's campaign or campaign in waiting. i want to read you a quote because i think this sums it up. this is a source close to bloomberg. mike will spend whatever it takes to defeat donald trump. so bloomberg, who according to fos forbes is worth 52 billion sds planning to sell fund according to these sources. he's not only apparently according to the sources, he will make his final decision soon. he is expected to seek or accept campaign contributions. i don't know how that works when people want to send money in any

way. he'd been focusing on influencing this campaign from the outside. but he believes that biden is fading, opening up a moderate lane there in the primary race. he's expected to quickly ramp up in other states, obviously he's filing for alabama today, but arkansas and new hampshire, florida, california, texas deadlines are approaching. and he plans, if he runs, to run a national campaign immediately with all of his money. which, you know, is quite different from the very narrowly -- got people like kamala harris who are staffing down and quite laser focussed on iowa. so it's going to be a very different type of campaign. >> jonathan, any idea as to whether or not he would actually run as a third-party candidate in the general election? >> apparently not. so mike did talk to a source close to him and he's told there's no way he'll lay to run as a third-party candidate partly because of ballot

hurdles. >> i wonder if it would spark schultz to run or not? >> he was definitely in that inquiry phase for quite some time and bowed out. >> there wasn't a huge amount of the public affection for the schultz character. >> to say the least. talk about the house impeachment inquiry moving into the public faces as of next week. >> right. >> what is axios taken away from the last week of closed door testimony? >> there's a set of agrees upon or largely agreed upon facts that are out there. and democrats have accepted that they're not really going to get anymore new facts, that they have what they have. they're not going to fight some of these -- the white house is blocking people like mulvaney, there was a subpoena that went out last night, my colleague elina break that story. they've been trying to get people like bolton in there. democrats said we're not going to fight these legal fights, we'll add this as another article, obstruction of the investigation in their impeachment inquiry. look, we have widespread concern

about giuliani's role. we have agreement basically on the idea that there was a quid pro quo. some of the officials are very confident that this was ukrainian aid held up. other at the very least accept that there was a dangling of a white house meeting in exchange for investigating president trump's political opponent joe biden, potential opponent. so we have the facts out there. we're barreling into the public phase. and what i'm hearing from when i talk to people on the hill is there is largely an acceptance, even among house democrats, that we are where we are and we're most likely to have a partisan impeachment process. any hope that they were going to bleed off a significant number of republicans has largely died. and the view in the senate is -- i really do think it's quite possible that zero republicans in the senate defect. >> wow. >> there may be three, there may be four, whatever, but i really think that there's a lot of sa lid ditty there in the senate at the moment and unless we see new

facts this could be purely partisan. >> all right. thank you so much. of course we're going to see you in just a moment on "morning joe." if you're out there, you too can now read the axios sign up -- the newsletter at signup.axios.com. >> all right. that does it for us thop friday morning. i'm yas man alongside ayman. "morning joe" starts right now. i'm going to say it again. we have more in common, our democratic college and our republican college than we don't on certain issues. and i think we would surprise ourselves in what we could achieve if we just tried. >> speaker nancy pelosi is trying to impeach him. i don't mean any disrespect, but it must suck to be that dumb. >> i didn't mean it