separation. it survived a trial, prison. i don't know what else there could be. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. it's the beginning of another pivotal week in the impeachment proceedings. in just a few days the house is expected to vote on articles of impeachment against the president of the united states. but attention is now turning over to the senate where we'll likely see an impeachment trial next month. and there's new reporting a democratic congressman from a swing district is likely to leave the party. congressman jeff van drew expected to change his registration to republican.

it is december 16th. i'm yasmin vossoughian. ayman has been on assignment and will be back tomorrow. it is a high stakes week as you well know for congress as the house prepares to vote on articles of impeachment against president trump. tomorrow the house rules committee will meet to determine the length of debate on the two articles on wednesday. the full house expected to debate and vote formally impeaching the president before the christmas break. that means president trump's fate will be decided by a senate trial in january. as "politico" points out, it has been a dizzying few days on capitol hill. the president's team is notching up policy victories including a new trade deal and a short-term spending deal to avert another government shutdown. it's worth noting the president had little to do with either of these policy wins. the new trade agreement between the u.s., canada, and mexico is expected to sail through congress thanks to the work done by u.s. trade representative

robert lighthizer and the white house legislative affairs team. government funding was captained be by steve mnuchin who's found his niche working with nancy pelosi. senate minority leader chuck schumer has proposed calling john bolton and acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney as witnesses in the senate impeachment trial. schumer sent a letter to majority leader mitch mcconnell yesterday proposing the that the senate subpoena both bolton and mulvaney along with two other people close to the president who may know about the delay of military aid to ukraine. in the letter, schumer writes this, quote, senate democrats believe strongly, and i trust senate republicans agree, that this trial must be one that is fair, that considers all of the relevant facts, and that exercises the senate's sole power of impeachment under the constitution with integrity and dignity. president trump has repeatedly lashed out against impeachment,

and according to the "associated press" he's told confidants that even if he's acquitted in the senate as expected it's going to be a stain on his legacy. the a.p. notes trump has said he believes impeachment could be a political winner citing re-election campaign data that shows his fund-raising, rally attendance and poll numbers in battleground states have all increased since this inquiry began. and senator schumer joins joe and mika a little bit later on "morning joe." democrats are considering a rare conservative voice. "the washington post" is reporting that there is a campaign afoot to recruit representative justin amash an independent from michigan as an impeachment manager in the senate trial of the president. according to democratic officials, 30 freshmen democrats have suggested representative amash to house leaders for the small task group that will argue the president's removal. representative amash is a

libertarian. he left the republican party earlier this year and has been a vocal opponent of president trump tweeting in support of the president's impeachment. two nbc news house democratic dean phillips of minnesota explains why he's leading the effort, saying i really believe he will elevate the substance and optics of the trial in the senate. i think the country will appreciate the fact that the only independent member of the house of representatives is amongst the impeachment managers. congressman amash did not respond to a request for comment to "the washington post." and a republican chairman of the senate judiciary committee linds linds lindsey graham said this over the weekend, he's already made up his mind about impeachment and he does not see the need for a formal trial in the senate. watch in. >> this thing will come to the senate and it will die quickly, and i will do everything i can to make it die quickly. u am trying to give a pretty

clear signal i have made up my mind. i'm not trying to pretend -- >> there wasn't any doubt toipt. >> is it appropriate to be voicing your opinion eventual before this gets to the senate as a trial? >> well, i must think so because i'm doing it. i have clearly made up my mind. i'm not trying to hide the fact that i have disdain for the accusations and the process, so i don't need any witnesses. >> republican senator ted cruz told abc just yesterday that he intends to be an impartial juror, but in the same interview made two false assertions about the facts of the case. he repeated a claim that joe biden bragged about threatening ukraine's foreign aid unless they fired the prosecutor viktor shokin who was investigating burisma, the natural gas company linked to his son hunter biden. >> hunter biden, look, i'm from houston, i know lots of people who serve on the board of natural gas companies.

you know what they tend to have? they tend to have a background in geology and geophysics. they tend to know something about drilling for natural gas. hunter biden had none of that experience but his daddy was vice president of the united states. we have joe biden on film publicly bragging about how he threatened ukraine with withholding $1 billion until foreign aid unless they fired the prrtd that wosecutor that w potentially prosecuting burisma. that's not just a little evidence of corruption -- >> so the "new york times" is saying this, show kin was not aggressively pursuing a case against burisma. his dismissal had been sought by others in the obama administration as well as other western governments and international leaders. shokin had been repeatedly accused of turning a blind eye to corruption in his office, and amongst the ukrainian political

elite and criticized for failing to bring corruption cases. senator cruz yesterday also mischaracterized president trump's july 25th phone call with the leader of ukraine. >> there's a difference between foreign interference of the kind russia did, which was hacking into the election creating fraudulent bots, actively trying to deceive people, and law enforcement investigation into corrupti corruption. we cooperate with law enforcement, with countries all over the earth, and one of the central issues right at the heart of this discussion is on the face of the transcript with zelensky what president trump is asking for is assistance with the u.s. government with investigating corruption. that is inherently within the authority of the president, the department of justice to do, and that is their responsibility. >> but the transcript of the july 25th phone call does not indicate that president trump brought up the issue of broad

government corruption when trump asks zelensky for the favor, his focus turns to crowd strike and a debunked conspiracy theory suggesting ukraine meddled in the 2016 election, and despite promising to follow the oath as a juror, cruz yesterday seemed to prognosticate the outcome of a trial in the senate. >> i think this is the beginning of the end for this show trial that we've seen in the house. i think it's going to come to the senate. we're going to have fair proceedings, and then it's not going anywhere because the facts aren't there. >> and republican senator rand paul also appears to have already made up his mind on impeaching president trump before a senate trial has taken place. >> we've seen the evidence. we're going to hear the evidence repeated. we're not going to see any new evidence. what we've found is this is a very partisan exercise. there's not going to be any republicans in the house. there will be a handful of democrats who will vote against impeachment in the house. i think two democrats have a very good chance of voting against impeachment also.

i think what we've seen is it's just a very partisan thing. >> you're going to swear an oath that says i solemnly swear that in all things pertaining to the impeachment, i will do impartial justice according to the constitution and law so help me god. it doesn't sound like that oath is going to mean very much if you've already made up your mind, sir. >> i would disagree. i would say my oath is to the constitution, and i take that very seriously. you can interpret the constitution in different ways. >> paul was also pressed on whether he truly bhooeelieves i trump is concerned about corruption. >> foreign aid is always contingent on behavior. the money we gave him to give to ukraine it says specifically in the law he has to certify if they are less prone to corruption. so i mean, he was instructed by congress to do exactly what he asked to be done. >> so you're saying that you think that president trump was actually doing this because he was combatting corruption?

this is of course a president -- >> well, yeah, there are all kinds of accusations that burisma and hunter biden and the company were corrupt. >> you really think president trump is concerned about rooting out corruption? >> i think most of what you listed and most of the people who were indicted or convicted were alleged to have been part of some sort of huge russian conspiracy. i think what we found out from the inspector general's report is that it was all based on a false premise that carter page had something to do with russia. >> i'm asking about president trump and corruption. i listed a number of close associates of president trump who are either in prison or -- >> that's based on opinion. >> these are sentences. >> these are criminal sentences. >> his opinion on foreign aid is similar to mine. mine is a little more exacting, but the president has had touts on foreign aid. he said the europeans should pay more. he withheld. the law allows any president to withhold aid as long as they want. >> and ukraine had been clear -- ukraine had been cleared on the

bench marks it needed to meet in terms of getting that aid. >> well, no, according to the president i don't know that he had accepted that they had been cleared because hold he was holding up their aid. >> do you really think president trump was concerned about corruption? just a yes or no. >> house judiciary chair jerry nadler warned that senate republicans are violating the oath as part of the impeachment trial because they're already publicly backing up the administration's case. >> it's pretty clear chairman nadler that republicans in the senate, at least the leadership is going to be in lock step with the president on this. is there anything you can do about that? >> you know, the senators, the constitution prescribes a special oath for the senators when they sit for the trial of the impeachment. they have to pledge to do impartial justice. here you have the majority of the senate and the foreman of the jury saying he's going to work hand in glove with the defense attorney. that's a violation of the oath

they're about to take and it's a complete subversion of the constitutional scheme. we have done -- we will have done our duty in the house to protect the national security of our country and the integrity of our democratic process, which is what is really at stake here. i hope that despite what you just heard that they will do their duty and will look into this and will see the uncon tree verted facts. >> chris wallace challenged trump impeachment adviser pam bo bo bonn dee. >> all senators have to raise their right hand and take an oath to do impartial justice. how impartial can it be when mcconnell says that he, quote, is taking his cues from the white house? >> well, okay, so chris, go back to the house proceedings. adam schiff started those proceedings himself. >> wait -- >> hidden in the back of the capitol -- >> hold on. >> i'm asking you about

mcconnell saying he's taking his cues from the white house. please answer the question. >> we weren't given a fair trial in the house at all. now it goes to the senate, and these senators, the president deserves to be heard. we should be working hand in hand with him. the rules of evidence will apply. these are the senators who will decide if our president is impeached, which will not happen. we should and will work hand in hand with them. these are some of the weakest charges out there, chris, you know that. originally bribery, all these things were thrown out. absolutely nothing. we are -- we wouldn't be doing our job if we weren't working hand in hand with the senate to clear the president of this charade, this sham that started with adam schiff. >> joining me now from washington political reporter for "the washington examiner" emily larsen. lets talk about the senate republicans' strategy here basically trying to reiterate the fact that they believe the president was trying to root out domestic corruption in ukraine in spite of the fact that the

aid that he was withholding was basically for combatting corruption in that country. also, with senate republicans saying they've made up their mind, they want to steam roll through this thing, get it done with and look towards 2020. what do you make of it? >> i think the senate republicans are kind of saying what a lot of people are saying in this analysis likely because of the numbers in the senate, that trump isn't going to get impeached. it is not prudent of the senators, though, to say that they are not going -- to sort of reveal what they are planning to do. a lot of democratic senators, particularly those running for president have said that -- not said how they were going to vote definitively in the impeachment trial because they say they want to be impartial jurors, but also there's an interesting dynamic here with mcconnell working directly with the white house. it's not really something we have seen in the past. going back to the clinton impeachment trial, there were

some meetings between democratic senators and the white house at that point, but it was a very different dynamic. the democrats were in the minority at that point, and they were not running the senate impeachment trial. and so the senators right now republican senators on the one hand, they have to make sure they have political capital and make sure they are trying to defend their president, but on the other hand if they are not seen as giving a fair trial, that could potentially backfire with their tconstituents althouh we haven't seen impeachment move public opinion that much. >> the house judiciary released its more than 600 page report of trump's impeachment. what are some of your take aways? >> i think the biggest takeaway i've seen so far, it's a very long report released last night, but the biggest thing i thought was interesting is there was a note in there that president trump has committed federal

crimes including bribery, which is something that was interesting because this is not something we see in the actual articles of impeachment. it's something that democratic senators and house members have talked about that this issue of bribery with trump and ukraine and withholding federal aid, but ultimately something that was not included in impeachment articles. so i think that gives democratic senators who are sort of -- and house members who are in swing districts, not having it in the impeachment articles allows them to perhaps sell this better to their constituents. whereas the democratic house members and congressmen in districts that are bluer will be able to say, look, this is what we think was happening, and we'll be able to point to that. >> house speaker nancy pelosi was actually asked on the record about why it was that bribery was not used in the articles of impeachment, and basically her

response was the lawyers had advi advised that it was best they not use bribery in those articles of impeachment. thank you, stay close. still ahead as house lawmakers moving closer to an impeachment vote, we are taking a look at where the public stands on the issue. you don't want to miss it. house intel committee chair adam schiff weighs in on what would have happened if former president barack obama committed the same alleged offenses as the president. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. k

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welcome back, everybody. we are digging into some new numbers on impeachment in the latest fox news poll. 50% of registered voters think the president should be impeached and removed from office. up one point since october. 4% think he should be impeached

but not removed from office. when looking at the two articles of impeachment brought forward by the house democrats, 53% think president trump abused the power of his office, 38% think he did not, and 48% think he obstructed congress as opposed to 34 who do not. when looking at other charges, house democrats could have brought forward as articles of impeachment against the president, 50% think president trump obstructed justice. 37 do not, and 45% think the president committed bribery as we talked about in the last block as opposed to 37 who do not. when asked if it was standard practice for presidents to ask foreign leaders to investigate political rivals, 22% said it was typical. amongst republicans 33% thought this was normal practice. let's switch gears here and get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. hi, bill. >> good morning. did you have a good weekend? >> i did. you know, i feel a little bit recovered. >> you sound it. >> it's not as terrible to listen to me as it was on

thursday. >> it was entertaining. >> i'm sure it was. >> it was. and jeff did very well. >> feeling a bit better. i just took a lot of sudafed all week. >> and chicken soup. >> yeah. >> let's get into this forecast for our winter weather. if i was to tell you the worst weather between now and christmas would be in the next two days a lot of people would sign up for it. the storm system is not like a huge major storm system, with the exception of st. louis and indianapolis areas. everyone else is a minor winter weather event. 60 million people under winter weather advisories and storm warnings. hartford, boston, and albany areas. st. louis along with indianapolis. we have two pieces. we have the snow that fell yesterday in kansas city and st. louis. that's weakening as it heads over the top of pennsylvania this morning. that's not going to do much around the d.c. area and all through maryland, just a little

bit. nothing that's going to cause a lot of o'headachheadaches. the storm system behind it has started to generate snow around wichita. it looks like it will be over the top of st. louis later on today. as we go through tomorrow, two to four inches through much of central and southern new england. not much in new york city, not much in philadelphia. those kraareas may see a brief period of ice. the only thing that could cause issues today, we may get severe thunderstorms, louisiana, mississippi, and eventually into areas of alabama we could even see an isolated tornado or two. erin though it's the winter city, sometimes we can get winter weather events. those are the travel concerns. still ahead, a moment of joy on a pretty difficult day, how the newtown high school football team is helping the town heal seven years after the tragedy at sandy hook elementary school.

we're back in a moment. chool. we're back in a moment

welcome back, seven yoeears after the unbearable tragedy at sandy hook elementary school, a football championship is helping a community heal. nbc's kate snow has the story. >> reporter: it unfolded in dramatic fashion with just seconds left. the score tied. >> steps into a throw. >> reporter: a 36-yard pass caught. >> complete, oh, my god!

>> reporter: making the new town night hawks champions. exactly seven years ago 20 young children and six others lost their lives at sandy hook elementary, many at the game wore green in their honor. on the field saturday several players who once attended sandy hook. ben lost his little brother jack in the shooting. jack was only six, but loved football, his face painted heerd with the new york giant's logo. his big brother helped bring home its first championship since 1992. >> the kid's had a tremendous year and football in general and sports in general have the ability to bring people together. >> the elation we felt, emotional elation was just incredible. >> for a community that suffered so much, a unifying moment. >> go newtown! >> that delivered joy.

>> a light on such a dark day. our thanks to kate snow for that report. still ahead, we're going to get to the report about democratic congressman who apparently is thinking about leaving the party: plus, they've taken on trump, now they're taking on each other. joe biden hits back against elizabeth warren as he seems to insinuate she was naive about comments about bipartisanship. we'll be right back. 'll be righ.

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♪ welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's

top stories. the house vote to impeach president trump is just days away, and the party infighting on capitol hill, it's only getting worse. nbc news correspondent hans nichols has a preview of what we can expect from lawmakers this week. >> reporter: as the house prepares to impeach the 45th president, both parties accusing the other of perverting justice. democrats say senate republicans are violating their oath to be impartial jurors in an impeachment trial. >> and it's a complete subversion of the constitutional scheme. >> reporter: mitch mcconnell said he is working in total coordination with the white house. >> we wouldn't be doing our job if we weren't working hand in hand with the senate to clear the president of this charade, this sham. >> reporter: senators will take an oath to do impartial justice at the start of the impeachment trial. some gop senators argue impartiality doesn't include politics. >> i'm not trying to hide the fact that i have disdain for the

accusations and the process. >> reporter: tuesday the house rules committee will determine the length of debate. wednesday the full house will take up the articles. democrats expected to pass both, formally impeaching the president before the christmas break. mr. trump's fate will be decided by a senate trial in january with chief justice john roberts presiding. >> i think this is the beginning of the end for this show trial that we've seen in the house. >> reporter: there's little suspense that the senate will acquit the president. >> we're going to hear the evidence repeated but we're not going to see any new evidence. >> reporter: house democrats don't sense defeat even if the president is not removed from offi office. >> no, it isn't a failure. at least it's not a failure in the sense of our constitutional duty in the house. >> reporter: and there are some reports that house democrats want to draft congressman justin amash, a former republican who left his party this summer to be part of the impeachment

proceedings bringing ideological diversity to the team they may send over to the senate. house democrats are sharply critical of their colleague jeff van drew for his expected defection from the democratic party this week. >> our thanks to hans nichols for that report. a democratic congressman who has been outspoken against the president's meecimpeachment is likely to leave the party. two sources telling nbc news they expect new jersey congressman jeff van drew to change his registration to republican. congressman van drew flipped his republican leaning swing district in 2018, but an internal poll obtained by nbc news earlier this month showed he would be unlikely to get reelected next year. judiciary committee chair jerry nadler weighed in on the topic yesterday. >> what he's reacting is the public polling that shows he can't get renominated. his electorate in his district is 24% to renominate him and 60%

to nominate somebody else. >> six of his congressional staffers resigned yesterday after it became apparent that the freshman congressman would be switching parties. in response to the news of the potential party switch, trump tweeted this, wow, that would be big. always heard jeff is very smart. congressman van drew did not immediately return a request for comment. house intel committee chair adam schiff lamented -- questioned how democrats would respond if it were flipped the other way around. >> this president's conduct is far worse than anything nixon did, far more sweeping in its obstruction of accountability, far more damaging to our national security than the cover-up that was watergate. the question is why are republicans placing this president above their oath of office. i don't think any of us have any question that had barack obama engaged in the activity, the conduct which is the subject of

these articles of impeachment every one of these republicans would be voting to impeach him. down something? i have to hope to hell if it were barack obama i would vote to impeach him. >> the latest fox news poll shows five of the top 2020 democratic presidential conte contenders all beating president trump. in the hypothetical matchups senator bernie sanders beats president trump by six points, 49 to 43. joe biden leads trump by a seven-point margin, 48 to 41. is that right elizabeth warren slides by the president 46 to 45. michael bloomberg wins by five points, 45 to 40, and mayor pete buttigieg wins with a narrow margin of 43% to 42. and for the 2020 democratic nomination choice, the latest poll shows senator elizabeth warren dropping eight points to third since october. in the fox news poll, joe biden sits atop the field with 30%. senator bernie sanders follows ten points behind. senator elizabeth warren is in third with 13%, and mayor beet

buttigieg remains unchanged from october with 7% of support. michael bloomberg is now in fifth place with 5% since entering the race in november. senator amy klobuchar also stands at 5. and the topic of that last poll played out in realtime on the campaign trail. between two of the top tier candidates. in a speech in san antonio, texas, on friday, former vice president joe biden responded to senator elizabeth warren's earlier comments that his calls for bipartisanship, quote, naive. >> unlike some candidates for the democratic nomination, i'm not betting my agenda on the naive hope that if democrats adopt republican critiques, a progressive policies or make vague calls for unity, that somehow the wealthy and well-connected will stand down. >> a couple of the candidate out there are attacking me and the very idea that i say we can unite the country. they seem to think america's so

divided it can never be united again. lets get something straight. that's not what i think, and that's not what the country thinks either. last time i checked this was called the united states of america. and anyone who starts off saying we can't bring america together is just throwing in the towel. they're saying everything donald trump has been saying, the divider in chief, they're saying he's already won but they're wrong. >> joining us once again from washington political reporter for "the washington examiner" emily larsen, taking a look at these fox news polls, emily, and these hypothetical matchups. what do you make of it, democratic candidates beating president trump here each and every one of them with mayor pete seemingly the smallest margin? >> you know, i think it's pretty interesting, but we have to keep this in context and remember

that we still are not in full swing in a general election yet. donald trump has not ramped up his campaign to full swing yet. there were also a fair number in each one of those, a fair number of people who were undecided. those are usually the people who decide an election, and this is also a national poll, and last time around the national polls were generally pretty much predicted the national popular vote went towards hillary clinton, but what really matters here is those swing states and whether president trump will re-win some of these states that are going to be crucial to securing electoral college votes. so there are some swing states coming out, and hopefully we'll see more in the future. >> there are certain democrats that are finding themselves as we think about congressman jeff van drew in a precarious position being in trump districts. when you think about the defection of congressman jeff van drew now saying he's going to be a republican, might we see other freshman democrats in swing districts make similar

decisions to leave the party? >> well, i suppose it's possible, but seeing the backlash that jeff van drew has gotten is pretty harsh. as you mentioned earlier, five of his staff members resigned. he's going to be left with a bare bones staff after his party switch and the news of this breaking, and also, even if he does switch parties, for a lot of these members, there's some key issues that divide indicades and republicans that will be hard for them to overcome if they do decide to switch parties. switching parties is pretty incredibly rare. the last person we've seen is justin amash switching parties from republican to independent, and he did that out of principle. jeff van drew also might face some backlash if this is seen as him switching parties purely for political gain. as you mentioned, there was some internal polling that showed he was losing badly among

democratic primary voters, and so that is going to be challenging for him to try and overcome this election. but i think that there will be a lot of eyes on him to see if he can pull this off and pull off re-election next year. >> there was some reporting that the congressman actually did meet with the president or spoke with the president at least. how much a part of this decision do you think that was, that calcul calculus? >> well, it's hard to tell, but certainly agreeing to meet with the president at all as a swing state member in that position does give a lot of indication that he was wanting to get the president's perspective, hoping to talk to him and so a meeting in itself is a pretty big deal with a swing state or swing district democrat there. and so there was a lot of discussion -- a lot of this reporting came out right after that meeting, and so we have to

think that there was something in that meeting that happened that either he had already decided to switch parties before he met with president trump or there was something that happened in that meeting that pushed him over the edge. >> and i spoke to new jersey governor phil murphy, who seems pretty confident that democrats are going to be able to keep that seat even with congressman jeff van drew's defection. thank you so much. what former fbi director jim comey had to say over the weekend that had president trump calling for jail time. plus, officials at the army and navy academies are investigating whether hand signs flas flashed at a football game this weekend were intended to be messages of white supremacy. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back.

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welcome back, president trump questioned justice department inspector general michael horowitz' credibility in a tweet yesterday accusing him

of being an obama appointee who overlooked bias within the fbi. trump tweeted this in part, as bad as the i.g. report is for the fbi and others, and it is really bad, remember that inspector general horowitz was appointed by obama. there was tremendous bias and guilt exposed, so obvious, but horowitz could not get hills to say it. big credibility loss, obama knew everything. now, during his testimony before congress last week, horowitz said the fbi was justified in opening this investigation into the trump campaign and that there was no evidence of a deep state conspiracy within the bureau to take down trump. however, he also said that 17 inaccuracies and omissions in fbi surveillance applications were deeply concerning and do not vindicate fbi leadership. and former fbi director jim comey admitted that he was, quote, wrong on how the bureau kw used the foreign intelligence surveillance act in the russia investigation.

in an interview just yesterday with chris wallace, the former fbi director was pressed to explain inspector general michael horowitz's report on fbi process, and here's what comey had to say. >> 17 significant errors in the fisa process, and you say that it was handled in a thoughtful and appropriate way? >> yeah, he's right. i was wrong. i was over confident in the procedures that the fbi and justice had built over 20 years. i thought they were robust enough. it's incredibly hard to get a fi fisa. i was over confident in those. there was real sloppiness, 17 things that should have been in the applications or at least discussed and characterized differently. it was not acceptable, so he's right, i was wrong. >> so of course the president tweeting in response to that interview in part this, so now comey's admitting he was wrong, but he's only doing so because he got caught red handed. he was actually caught a long time ago. so what are the consequences for his unlawful conduct? could it be years in jail?

president trump had fired comey back in 2017 while comey was leading a criminal investigation into trump's associate ties with russian officials. and u.s. military officials are investigating a troubling incident from yesterday's arm army/navy football game after military students in the stands flashed what appeared to be symbols of hate. nbc news correspondent matt bradley has more. >> to the edge, around the corner, into the end zone. >> reporter: blink and you might have missed it. military students at army navy football game caught on espn flashing hand signals that have lately become hate symbols. not once, not twice, but three times sparking outrage on social media. both the antidefamation league and the southern poverty law center say this symbol commonly understood to mean okay was appropriated by far right groups. the hand shape supposedly resembles the letters wp for

white power. the adl says far right groups use it partly because it's so ambiguous making it hard to understand whether the students knew what they were doing. >> we need to look at it in context, but when white supremacists are using it as a way to indicate, again, their ability to penetrate different places, when other people adopt it and start to use it as well, then it becomes very problematic. >> the naval academy said it had appointed a preliminary inquiry officer to conduct an internal investigation, but experts say armed services have struggled with right wing extremism in their ranks. >> at a place like the military academies, it's way over the line and it's not what you expect. it's not what the academies expect, and that's why i think you'll see these students disciplined accordingly. last year a coast guard member was reprimanded after he flashed the symbol in the background of msnbc's coverage of hurricane florence, an example that some in uniform may have ignored. matt bradley, nbc news. >> that is incredibly troubling

to say the least. our thanks to nbc's matt bradley for that report. let's get a check on your weather now with bill karins. >> yesterday was a snow day in areas of kansas, kansas city, st. louis it was a snow day for a lot of o'kids to get out there and play. we're going to get another round of snow during the day today. we're not quite done yet. kansas city, it looks like you're finished. but st. louis into areas around indianapolis, a little narrow band of snow that develops later on today. it's going to be another two to four inches there. that could extend from indianapolis into areas of western ohio. and then as we go throughout tonight into tomorrow morning, that band of snow begins to move its way through areas of northern pennsylvania, southern tier of new york, the catskills could pick up four to six inches of snow. boston, it looks like you're somewhere around two inches and then you're going to to change

over. new york city is not looking for accumulating snows, it's a little too warm. may get a little period of ice over to rain. philadelphia looks like a half inch to an inch and over to some sleet. there's a transition zone here that's going to be very messy tomorrow morning. that's why we could have a lot of school delays, southern new england, even areas around philadelphia. as far as the freezing rain potential goes, we do have some ice out there this morning, careful driving southern portions of pennsylvania to northern portions of maryland. there will be a little bit of ice as we go throughout this evening in northern portions of new jersey. as far as travel goes, yasmin, i think the baltimore, washington, d.c. airports going to be some significant delays, also pittsburgh, and when that snow moves into st. louis this afternoon. not horrible at the airports but a few isolated problems. >> i'm going to need you to go ahead and get started on that christmas forecast. >> i tell you what, much of the country, after we get done with this storm, it looks really quiet. >> no snow? >> very little. >> okay.

>> oh, wait, you wanted that? >> yes. i mean, everybody wants it to snow on christmas, even if you live in florida you want it to snow on christmas. >> it doesn't look like there's a lot of storms on the map. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, the president is expected to announce another drawdown of troops in afghanistan. what we know about the intended announcement. plus, after a few weeks of quiet, protesters and police are clashing once again in hong kong, the latest on the unrest coming up. ♪

welcome backment according to u.s. officials, the trump administration intends to announce the withdrawal of about 4,000 troops from afghanistan. the drawdown could happen as early as next week leaving about 8 to 9,000 troops in that country. the announcement comes just after diplomatic talks with the taliban started again after breaking down back in september. for now, talks have been paused after an attack last week near bagram airfield. secretary of defense mark esper told an audience at the reagan national defense forum that the u.s. commander in afghanistan general scott miller said he can sustain a reduction in forces and that the withdrawal of troops would happen even if the taliban does not negotiate an agreement. the war in afghanistan has been ongoing for 18 years and is currently the longest running war in u.s. history. and after a relative lull in the protests, thousands of pro-democracy activists flooded

hong kong's shopping malls yesterday shopping glass, damaging shops in an effort to spread their calls for political reform. hong kong police fired tear gas at protesters and made several arrests there. the rise in tension coming as hong kong's pl -- on the situation in the semiautonomous territory. up next, it is expected to be a historic week on capitol hill as house lawmakers gear up to formally vote on impeachment. we have a preview of what's ahead, and coming up on "morning joe," by the way, senator minority leader chuck schumer will join joe and mika to discuss the plan leading into a senate impeachment trial. we'll be right back.

it's the beginning of another pivotal week in the impeachment proceedings. in just a couple of days, the house is expected to vote on articles of impeachment against the president, but attention is now turning over to the senate where we will likely see an impeachment trial next month. senate democrats are pushing for testimony from several top white house officials. and there's new reporting that a democratic congressman from the

new jersey swing district is likely to leave the party. congressman jeff van drew expected to change his registration to republican. ♪ good monday morning, everybody. it is december 16th. i'm yasmin vossoughian. ayman has been on assignment reporting from the doha forum and will be back tomorrow. it is a high stakes week for congress as the house prepares to vote on articles of impeachment against the president tomorrow the house rules committee will meet to determine the length of debate on the two articles. on wednesday, the full house is expected to debate and vote. formally impeaching the president before the christmas break. now, that means president trump's fate will be decided by a senate trial in january. as "politico" is pointing out, it's been a dizzying few days on capitol hill. the president's team is notching