how do you feel about the state of the country? all you have to do is go to election confessions.com. that's electionconfessions.com. share your anonymous confession with nbc news. that's going to wrap up this hour for me. ali velshi will be back in this chair tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. eastern opinion thank y eastern. thank you so much for watching. it's 4:00 in washington, d.c. where the impeachment inquiry into donald j. trump barrels into its next phase with the first impeachment hearing in house judiciary committee set just hours ago for next wednesday morning. that is the committee responsible for drafting the articles of impeachment based on that investigation conducted by the house intel committee. the judiciary sending a letter today to the president asking if he plans to show upviting him t

question their witnesses. if you would like to participate in the hearing, please provide the committee with notice as soon as possible but no later than december 1st. the judiciary picking up be baton for the next phase of the house impeachment inquiry as public support for donald trump's impeachment tops 50%. as a federal judge delivers a blow to donald trump's claim of asbestbsolute immunity writing ruling indead asbestos luts testimonial immunity for senior level white house aids appears to be a fiction. presidents are not kings. they do not have subjects bound by loyalty or blood whose destiny they are entitled to control. that case resolvovled around th lawyer for don mcgahn. the lawyer out with a statement.

don mcgahn will comply with judge jackson's opinion unless it's stayed pending appeal. the justice department is already appealing the decision but it guts the legal justi justification that's being deployed by the white house to justify stone walling congress. if the judge in the case involving the testimony of john bolton's deputy charles cupperman makes a judgment similar to the one we found out it could open the flood gates for the testimony of senior impeachment witnesses like cupperman, john bolton, mick mulvaney and mike pompeo. that's where we start today. garrett, let me start with you. these are two different cases.

two different judges but just talk about the potential impact of a ruling like this one in mcgahn's case on these seemingly reluctant impeachment witnesses. the most senior administration officials. >> reporter: sure. as for mcgahn himself he's unlikely to show up and democratic inverss astors are d on if they want him at all. what this could do is could shake loose a host of other witnesses who democrats do want to talk to. not the least of which is john bolton and his deputy mr. cupperman. these worked closely with the president on national security issues. they might argue for other exceptions as their lawyer has already done so saying this ruling doesn't apply to them because they worked so closely on national security issues but there are lots of other officials democrats would like

to talk to. folk who is worked at the omb, political appointees who can help explain how money moved and why it didn't. a number of officials who fell under the white house argument of asbestos lubsolute immunityi no one close to the white house could be compelled to testify at all. this judge's ruling throws that out as a con sent for white house aides and advisers. they could still put forth different elements of executive privilege but the idea they could be blocked across the board from showing up goes out with the bath water in this judge's ruling. if democrats can shake loose some of those other witnesses, really at any point up until they vote on the floor, a senate trial starts. we know the broad facts of the case but anymore information could be the kind of thing that sways republicans or more importantly the public in continuing to support this inquiry. >> mike, let me read how your paper covered this today.

in rejecting the trump administration's sweeping claim that top presidential advisers are absolutely immune from being compelled to talk about their official duties meaning they do not have to show up, the judge said the same is true even for those who worked on national security issues. notably john bolton, mr. trump's national security adviser has let it be known he has significant information but is uncertain whether any congressional subpoena for his testimony would be constitutionally valid. he wants a judge to decide. what is the potential impact of a similar ruling in the cupperman case which is the one filed by lawyer shared by mr. bolton and his deputy, mr. cupperman? >> that case has a whole other issue which is the house has dropped the subpoena of cupperman. his lawyer wants the judge to

rule on it any way to get some clarity on this issue. he knows it will hang around and he knows that bolton is hanging out there. the house has decided not to subpoena bolton. i'm not sure exactly why they did that. it will continue to delay this and mover it months and months ahead. assignments li it seems like they want to move quickly. they have scheduled things next week. they want to move this to the senate. the problem is that speed slows -- that speed moves them ahead quickly but really hurts their ability to get those people the closest to the president. that allows republicans to make this argument saying we haven't heard from anyone in current contact with the president besides sondland. the democrats are not able to pressure the republicans enough.

>> neil, mike probably just described what is going on behind closed doors among democrats debating the pros and cons of subpoenaing that highest level of presidential advisers. we have seen some news reporting about john bolton going to donald trump, john bolton's lawyer made clear a couple fridays ago he had lots and lots and lots of interesting information about this affair. his closest deputy fiona hill has testified to john bolton's conduct that you'd have to assume if he disagreed with her characterizations, we would have heard from somebody. can you take the latest reporting and help us understand what the actual calculation must be from house democrats. >> the president has gagged every one in the executive branch from going and testifying on the hill. every employee, every document, every e-mail.

a few witnesses have come forward and even trump administration have said i'm going to tell the truth to the american people. that's what we have been seeing in these hearings in the last two weeks. now the question is will bolton and other people come and testi testify. a subpoena forces these folks to come forward and testify and it can be challenged in court. what the democrats are saying is look we already have the goods on the president. you just read the transcript on july 25th. you -- that outlines the entire case. the witnesses of the last two weeks have demonstrated it. ambassador dobolton is kind of gravy. it would be helpful to have but you don't need it. they won't subpoena him because they know it will take some time. as it moves to senate, the democrats and the house will be prosecuting the case will be

absolutely within their right to do so. it's almost criminal to think this president is not allowing these people to testify who have first hand knowledge. the american people should have that. we shouldn't have to wait for the senate. if we have to wait, we'll get it at the time of the senate. >> almost criminal. sounds like it might be another article of impeachment which was the case in the nixon articles. >> yeah. i love neil's thanksgiving metaphor about john bolton being gravy. it's like getting gravy six months after thanksgiving. it's not necessary. it's totally useless and you would never delay thanksgiving to wait for the gravy six months later. the democrats have precisely everything they need to move now to the law stage. what is the law of impeachment. what is the constitutional standard? that's what the house will dive into. about the republicans trying to

claim there will be a process foul if the democrats didn't wait for the witnesses, that's ridiculous. they are the ones saying the witnesses cannot come. how can they turn around and say we have to wait for the witness witnesses. it doesn't make any sense. i think the democrats have what they need. they'll move to next phase. i expect articles on impeachment to be on the floor before the end of the year. >> torture our thanksgiving metaphor, lets me be the fly in the gravy, i think the case has been made. you have former republican saying the facts are the fact. they are irrefutable. i think what garrett and mike are also speaking to is the political reality which is that i have not talked to a single democrat who thinks that conviction in the senate is even possible. do some of these witnesses move the political equation? >> i don't think that waiting for bolton or mulvaney or others is going to change that calculus.

we have gone through several weeks of amassing the case. they presented their case. nothing that anybody says after this is really going to change that. >> you offer to perry. i'm going to come back at you. go ahead. >> reporter: let me jump in here and torture this metaphor further. bolton is a perfectly turkey sandwich days over. he talks. he tweets. if bolton goes on a book tour in january during the impeachment trial, his information is still usable. it's useful to the public. it's still out there. it's still the kind of thing that could move public opinion. there's a bunch of other ways

that somebody like john bolton could affect this process. he has a penchant for wanting to tell his side of the story. if he does that during any point, it's still useful. >> mike take us decide what the lawsuit is designed to do. is it designed to give him political cover to say i'm a good republican. i didn't want to be part of the democrats political impeachment process. what does he want to happen. do you have the sense he would be removed. what's the sense from homiciinss legal team? >> i think there is a legitimate legal issue where one branch of government is saying yes. the other branch of government is saying no and this individual and cupperman has to make a decision. i think there's some concern on

his legal team that if he was supposed to appear and he didn't and there was later a new administration, trump lost and whoever became president, a democrat president that they may prosecute these folks for not complying with the congressional subpoenas. by going to court they are getting a judge to rule on this issue. the white house is saying you can't do this. the hill is saying you want me to talk. if there were to be a new president the statute of limitations is five years. that would protect cupperman going forward. >> i agree with that. i also think that's only on why they wouldn't. i think the real question is why isn't ambassador gobolton going and testifying like these other

12 witnesses are. there's some reluctance on his part to testify. the decision by judge jackson gives him cart blanche. if he wants to testify he's within his right. i can't imagine anyone prosecuting him or anything like that. there must be some reluctance on his part to go forward whether it's for the book or whatever, who knows. some loyalty to trump. who knows. >> let's break this down. the democrats, i think there's some exasperation that bolton has a red carpet. his story has been told by people like sondland and fiona hill. there's a model for someone like bolton.

he managed to come out of that. there is a model for someone that wants to comply. >> first of all, i don't eat turkey because i'm a vegetarian and you can keep the fly in the gravy. i think judge jackson's ruling was a total rebuke to the president being above the law, the administration acting like the president is above the law. that is a good decision we saw. >> he said this thing absolute immunity isn't a thing. >> it's not a thing. while it's great -- mcgahn can do whatever he wants, the target is bolton. bolton, he should come forward and speak his truth and tell us what's going on. he has to make a decision now. history is watching him. where is he going to be on this?

is he really going to be about the book and the money he's getting for the book. we have to see what he's going to do. i think there's still time. it probably won't happen during the judiciary component which will last a month and it's going to be passed on the floor and go to senate. we'll see if it comes up. now the pressure is on bolton. what is he going to do? history is watching. >> garrett let me come to you on some information that i think is ripe 7ning as we came on the ai. the witnesses and the push for people like bolton is one front but i understand the documents have yielded some fruitful morse morsels. the kind of evidence they have been able to go out and talk to and how the money held up. talk about what we're learning about new documents from omb. >> reporter: the actual impeachment committees are still getting stone walled by every executive branch agency they

have reached out to. other committees have been probing this. the house budget committee have managed to get their hands on some documents inside the omb. it shows the first time a piece of paper was signed as related to this hold on money for ukraine was on the evening of july 25th, just a few hours after president trump got off the phone with president zelensky. that was the first official action taken to put this hold into place. it was the last time that a career official at omb signed any document relating to that hold. it was after that that those documents which had to be renewed and changed were signed over and over again by a political appointee at the budget office. i'll bring that back to my first point. that political appointee has refused to comply with subpoena and testify but who could be affected by this order on the

mcgahn case. >> i want to read you donald trump's tweet which we know from the mueller probe that his tweets were examined as potential witness tampering and efforts to speak or channel messaging or threats to potential witnesses. let me read you what he tweeted today. i'm fighting for future presidents and the office of the president. other than that, i'd like people to testify. don mcgahn's respected lawyer has already stated i did nothing wrong. john bolton is patriot and may know i held back the money from ukraine because it's considered a corrupt country and i wanted to know why nearby european countries aren't putting up money also. like wise, i would love to have mike pompeo, rick perry, mick mulvaney and many others testify about the phony impeachment hoax. how might that age? >> oh, my god. give me a break. the idea that donald trump is out for like protecting the

rights of future presidents, this is the guy who will destroy the notion of executive power. people like us who served in the justice department really care about that and husbanded that resource and he's prompting ruling after ruling to destroy executive branch powers like yesterday's opinion. his legacy is not going to be to protect presidents but to weaken them. then the idea that he wants to have these people testify, that can happen tomorrow. bring it on. this president isn't doing that. he's gagged all those very people in that tweet, pompeo, bolton, et cetera. that's why the way you started the program was to talk about the house judiciary committee invitation next week for hearings. the very last line of that letter that chairman nadler wrote is significant. it says to the president, if you continue to stone wall, if you continue not produce witnesses and documents we reserve the right for appropriate remedies.

i think what that's getting at is what happened in nixon. nixon tried to order that same stone walling and the senate said if you do that, we're going to order these witnesses here and start jailing them. i read what chairman nadler did as that kind of threat. nixon backed down and allowed people to testify. i sure hope president trump does this. i hope he follows what's in that tweet because if he doesn't, he's hiding the truth from the american people. >> thank you to all of you for all the gravy and turkey references. to neal, his brand new book is out today. when we come back, contrary to the white house spin, public support for the president's impeachment is on the rise. a former republican senator

writes in today's new york times that the president's conduct is indeed impeachable. will any current gop senators come to the same conclusion. russia if you're listening, you can have him. tucker carlson goes full kremlin on his talk show last night while a gop senator walks back his recitation of russian talking points. the ousted secretary of the navy speaks out for the very first time since his disagreement with the commander in chief about the appropriate process for punishing an army seal. we'll show it to you. all those stories, coming up. tou all those stories, coming up no. yes! score unbelievable savings. like living room up to 70% off. storage solutions from $9.99. and area rugs up to 80% off. plus, tons of limited-time mystery flash deals. and free shipping on everything when you shop from thanksgiving through cyber monday. and we're just getting warmed up. our black friday blowout

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not that it ever stopped him but there's new impeachment polling that contradicts donald trump's most recent messaging on the ukraine scandal that's amounted to bunch of lies. trump spent the weekend sending out claims that support for impeachment is dropping like a rock down into the 20s. he must have been looking at his approval. now support turns against impeachment. they are flat out made up. a series of new polls out this morning landed with a thud showing democrats are not losing ground in impeachment at all. in fact, the impeachment inquiry may be gaining support and gaining steam in the latest polling. the politico morning tracking poll shows 50% of americans support not just impeachment but donald trump's removal from office. it's up three points from the start of the public impeachment

hearings. the idea that impeachment support is doing anything other than holding steady and climbing is more and more voices sort of confirm and affirm the facts are beyond dispute. seems to reveal a bit of anxiety, at least on the part of the president. >> as you said, his tweets seem to be grounded in absolute nothingness here. it's what he does. he does not have a lot of regard in these cases for sort of a rigorous attachment to the truth. he wants to create some sense of phantom momentum against impeachment which as the numbers are showing don't exist right now. you can also say -- you can look at this either way and say numbers aren't moving. we had the explosive two weeks of hearing and the numbers are

still there. krou c you can say two or three points in such a holding pattern and people are so dug in is significant. the fact is it's on the democrats keep up the momentum that propelled them a few months ago. they seem to be doing that. the question is how will this proceed into the holiday season. i think the democrats have to be encouraged by this. >> you're nodding. >> i was just looking at the political morning consult poll. you look at independents, support we understand nt up fou opposition went down eight points. if you look at cnn, women on 60%. those numbers are strong for democrats. i totally agree, can democrats continue to keep that momentum going especially going into the holidays. now next week we have the judiciary hearing on wednesday.

that will be an opportunity to do them that. >> can we all agree that women should be the deciders of everything. they are still capable of looking at facts and getting outside of their tribes. i won't make you answer that but i feel like you'll agree. >> you act like i would find that disagreeing. >> only enlightened men on this program. let me pause at this. the party formally known as republicans and i don't want this to come off as personal but when i worked in the bush administration this party wasn't remotely as loyal to a president who made plenty of mistakes but did not use his office to extort foreign leaders, did not use the office for personal gain and did not install his son-in-law to build a wall. the idea this is so intractable is -- maybe call me a gop

truther but i think piece like this one in the new york times from former senator could start to chip away at independents and republicans out in the country. he writes to my fellow republicans i gave this grave warning. it's not enough to dismiss the ukraine immigration as part san witch hunt or hide behind attacks against the deep state or find a reason to denounce every witness who steps forward from decorated veterans to trump megadonors. history demands we wrestle with the facts at hand. there are multiple actions on the president's part that warrant a vote of impeachment in the house. >> i don't want to get too much into the bush legacy but i think it's instructive here. were republicans really turned on bus were h in the second ter he went after social security reform. >> and comeprehensive immigratin

reform. >> they went against the president amongst his base. >> support for the iraq war plunged but nert effort wads going well. >> he still had the surge. my point is when the base reacts, politicians follow the base. in this case, with trump bringing it to present day, what we have known seen, including in these polls is any movement from the republican base against the president. if anything, it's hardened. you see some polls where he's ticked up and the real hick up with is republicans are coming home the the president. it really gets to the challenges that the democrats will face going forward which is they've hit maximum capacity here. there's very few people left to convert. we're in place where they will get 50 to 55% support and it's unlikely to go beyond that. they are left with the question, do you cash in or keep plunging forward knowing you have these

constituti institutional public opinion barriers that are probably impassable. they are saying let's just get on with it. >> you worked in some of the least partisan roles at the highest level of administration. what's your take on it. i take sam's point and agree with that. what's your take? >> what is different about this moment is that what's at stake should be fundamentally not bipartisan, non-partisan which is america's national security interest particularly in europe and russia. this should be a non-partisan issue. there's no arlgument coming fro either party that we should appease russia. not that i'm aware of. i don't think the russians care if you're a democrat or republican. the people who formally were cold war hawks, people who cared about american national security, who wanted to ensure that our allies were protected and armed and well equipped in

the face of russian aggression, where have they gone? they have retreated to a domestic political errand and on it for this president. >> is there any -- you've got an ear to the ground in terms of the scuttle in that town. is there any sense of growing disgust or are they all hostage to the political realities as described by sam and jeremy and everybody here today? >> the disgust is big. i guess i would quibble a bit with something sam said. i think the republican base is by in large very solid especially as indicated by republican house members and republican senators. i think when you say that you also forget that a lot of the republican base is sort of fallen away from the republican party. a lot of them are independents now. a lot of them don't consider themselves republican now. in the sample size of straight republicans you have a pretty, pretty true believing cohort to begin with.

i think what you've seen in the last few weeks is that the disgust is maybe better hidden but republicans is trying to put as proud a voice on this as they can. >> thank you for spending some time with us. after the break, tucker carlson and the russia take over at fox news. that's next. ake over at fox news that's next. ♪ ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment.

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what is your position? has it changed at all? >> well, i did chris cuomo show last night and here is what i told chris. the truth. chris wallace is a good reporter. he asked me a very direct question. he asked me about hacking the dnc computer. i heard him say. i thought he said medaling in the election. chris was right. i was wrong. let me be clear. russia hacked the dnc computer. i have no evidence that ukraine did it. >> cause hacking the election sounds so similar. what was that?

that was senator kennedy's third attempt to get something right that every single one of our intelligence agencies agreed upon. russia hacked the dnc as part of its efforts to undermine and attack our election. it's not just the senator sowing seeds of doubt. last night donald trump's favorite network took putin's side. tucker carlson said something so outrageous even he had to address it at the end of the show. >> why shouldn't i root for russia because i am. >> the they are the front lines of stopping russia. >> who cares. >> i think the people of western europe, nato cares. >> i don't live in western europe. i live in d.c. >> early yeier i noted i was rog for russia in the contest between russia and ukraine. i'm joking. i'm only rooting for america. mocking the obsession with russia that so many on left had. >> oh, you're being funny for

the first time ever. i see. joining our conversation is elise. that's fine. i guess. he's speaking to who he's speaking to and he's in on a joke and he thinks it's funny to play with democracies. they don't think it's funny. one thing that came through from two weeks of testimony is we were toying with kaa country at war. this isn't just extorting a u.s. ally and a pile of foreign aid that would save lives of children which is also disgusting and reprehensible. this is toying with military aid for a country at war. >> that's right. the comment that tucker carlson made kind of reminded me of when president bush was mocking john mccain and said i like people who weren't captured. >> that was candidate trump. >> trump. at the same time it's not just people like tucker carlson or

senator kennedy. what's really bothersome is this whole litany of republicans that are buying this what fiona hill called a russia disinformation came and lindsey graham has written secretary pompeo and looking for documents to prove that. when you have seen lindsey graham move over the trump but when someone like that talking about russia as the biggest threat to the united states now taking this russian disinformation side that's really concerning. >> here is the american secretary of state for the time being. >> do you believe that the u.s. and you kraun crane should investigate that it was ukraine and not russia that hacked the dnc? >> any time there's information that indicates any country has messed with american elections we not only have a right but a duty to make sure we chase that down. >> so chase down investigating and here was the conclusion

about the theory from somebody swu once in the cabinet with mike pompeo. >> it is not only a conspiracy thi theory it's debunked. i'm frustrated with he and the legal team is doing and repeating that debunked theory many to the president. it sticks in his mind when he hears it over and over again. for clarity, let me repeat it has no validity. if he continues to focus on that white whale it's going to bring him down. >> let's leave for conversations about white awhales and stickin in his mind and being able to e decipher real information from fake. >> at the same time secretary pompeo, let's go back to his confirmation when he was talking about russia and hacking of the

dnc. everything that he said before that up until now. you have to compare the two. he knows it's not true. he knows that every one knows that he knows. he does not care. this toxic mix of fear and loyalty and desire not to get in the cross hairs of president trump is enough to make people just lie and admit that they have said other things in the past but now they have seen the light. they've gotten religion, no pun intended. >> the irony is people like tucker carlson present themselves as the most stall worth of lower case d democratic values. they talk about the instituti constitutional public and whi whitewash russia's role.

they care about political power. if russia helps them maintain that power then it's okay. fall out from donald trump's disregard for the chain of command inside the military. that remarkable story, next. ins. that remarkable story, next. maria ramirez? hi. maria ramirez! mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars

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(acapella) ahhhh! (acapella) shhhh! (avo) nyquil severe with vicks vapocool. the vaporizing, nighttime, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. with eddie gallagher, they wanted to take his pin away. i said you're not going to take it away. he was a great fighter. he was one of the ultimate fighters. tough guy. these are not weak people. these are tough people. we're going to protect our war fighters. >> i don't think he understand the definition of war fighter. it's a profession of arms. a profession of arms have standards that they have to be held to and hold themselves to. >> ousted navy secretary richard spencer not going quietly. speaking out for the first time since his firing over the weekend and reacting to donald trump's justification for not punishing chief petty officer eddie gallagher.

a navy seal conducted eed of misconduct. you've been talking about how this is playing out. >> i talked to two former naval officers. one who has commanded seals in compact. the president has really crossed a line by reaching into the navy and saying i and i alone will determine the professional standards for the navy seal community. i will decide who gets a pin. think about the consequences. the next time some kid in the class in this seal training class fails his dive test, what's the president going to say. give him a pin any way or if that kid is politically connected or his defense team reaches out to the president or goes on fox news, can the president of the united states define the professional standards for our military. if he does, that's dangerous road to go down. maybe this is more fundamental which is this all started when the president said we train

these guys to be killers and now we prosecute them for being killers and this former navy seal said to me we don't train theme peas to be killers. we train them to be professional combat service members who have the awesome responsibility of utilizing lethal force when the situation requires it. we give them that discretion. we give them that power. we don't train anybody to be a killer. the president fundamentally doesn't understand the military and this mover is being inside the seal community, inside the navy, inside the department of defense as an extremely anti-military move. >> it's so interesting to hear you describe it that way because i think people outside of the military are cautious about weighing in on how this would land. even donald trump, i think in his head, he's trying. he thinks he's on the right side of this but describing the men and women of the military as jason bourne is the lowest

insult ever to suggest they are killing machines and that's all they are is truly -- i think inadvertently debasing what the military is. >> it depends on discipline and the military code of justice and other forms of non-judicial justice so the military can discipline its own so there can be uniformity. so they can be sure when they send people into harm's way into the most dangerous system they know when they give an order it will be carried out. the entire system is undone when a president reaches in and says you'll do it my way. >> the other thing that seems troubling is to sort of bypass or delegitimatize or hijack the peer aspect of that. these are men and women have to trust one another and have to sort of trust the way those stories are told when they come back. this seems to really get at the very fiber of our military and combat. >> and also to trust their

commanders and if the commanders are telling them to act a certain way and working on this military code and there are most of the military does follow that code. the ones that don't and the ones that you've heard president trump in the past say oh, we have too many rules about torture. we have too many other rules. what if these people that would have a tendency to get out of line say the president said it's okay. i know that the president is going to have my back. that's what's really concerning here is i think he's inspiring the rank and file to try and be loyal to him not to the country, not to the service and to the military. >> to be fair, i think the rank and file are loyal to the chain of command but i think there is just a piece of the chaos and again i think this is an instance where he doesn't know his ignorance. >> he doesn't understand what it means to be the commander in chief. >> he's the commander in chief. i think that's the most

disheartening part about this. i think many people expected when it came to the military that donald trump would be hands off. he wouldn't touch the military. now we see he's treating the military like he treats any other department as his which is it's his. it's for his own political interest, not the nation. i think that's where he crossed line. people were expecting not the military, everything else but not the military and he's the commander in chief and look what he's doing. >> this disturbing story gets more disturbi indisturbing. distg >> what do i stand for as secretary of the navy. go to the united states navy. that's a prime tenet. what message does that send to troops? >> what message? >> you can get away with

the daily beast has some stunning reporting on the story we've been talking about. let me read a little. trump tells allies he wanted absolved war criminals to campaign for him. if he gets his wish, he'll take the three war criminals he spared from consequence on the road as special guests in his reelection campaign. he talked about how he'd like to have clint lawrence, matthew goldstein or edward gallagher show up at his 2020 rallies or even have a moment on the stage at his renomination convention

in charlotte next year. >> it's shocking, i guess, but it's very trumpian in another. this is an extension into the military. he already raided the military budget to fund his wall. so there's that. this is actually taking people who are accused of some of the most egregious war crimes and popping them up on the campaign stage. the state department he clearly views as a vessel for his reelection campaign. the department of agriculture, he's doling out billions to help farmers. the gop is looking to the origins of the 2016 meddling. that is a domestic political agenda. >> the fbi wanted him to stop the investigation into russia because it covered him and he's told the cia, who brought him news he didn't want to hear about russia and iran and north

korea, to go to school. >> politicians use their agenda as inherently politically beneficial but this is very different. this is actually taking the mechanisms, the resources of document and putting them to domestic political use. what separates the gallagher story is that it's so galling. it's so outrageous that it almost boggles the mind. it probably will fly for a vast majority of trump supporters who view this not as a military matter but a cultural matter. >> mattis redesigned over a policy difference over syria. how does esper not resign over the exploitation of servicemen? >> people convince themselves they can do more good inside the tent than outside the tent. sometimes they're right. i think we should note that but sometimes you do have to take a principle stand. everyone has their moral calculus when they take that stand. >> the truest and most

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my thanks to elise, jeremy, careen and sam, most of all to you for watching. mtp daily with katy tur in for chuck starts now. ♪ ♪ welcome to tuesday. it is "meet the press daily." i'm katy tur in new york in for chuck todd. we begin tonight with news that democrats are barreling ahead with the impeachment inquiry despite a judge's ruling yesterday that could pave the way for key witnesses to testify. this afternoon the house judiciary committee announced that it will hold its first impeachment hearing next wednesday and that for the first time in these proceedings the president can attend and his counsel can question the wis,