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 up policy victories including a

new trade deal and a short-term spending bill, to avert another government shutdown. but it is worth noting the president has little to do with either of the 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 legislative affairs team, and government funding was captained by steve mnuchin who has found his niche working with house speaker nancy pelosi. and nbc news has learned that senate minority leader chuck schumer has called for john bolton an acting white chieve of staff mick mulvaney as witnesses in the senate impeachment trial. schumer sent a letter to mcconnell yesterday proposing that the senate subpoena with bolton and mulvaney along with two other people close to the president who may know about the delay of military aid to ukraine. in a letter, he writes, 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 dig ny. president trump has repeatedly lashed out against impeachment and has told confidantes that even if he is acquitted in the senate as expected it will be a stain on his legacy but the a. p. is noting that he believes impeachment could be a political winner, setting re-election campaign data, that shows his campaign rally attendance and battleground poll numbers have increased since the inquiry began. and senator schumer joins us later this morning on "morning joe." you don't want to miss that. democrats are considering a rare conservative voice for the impeachment inquiry of president trump. the "washington post" reports 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 documents have suggested representative amash to house leaders for the small task group that will argue for the president's removal. representative amash is a libertarian, who left the republican party earlier this year, and has been pretty vocal of the opposition to president trump, tweeting in support of the president's impeachment, in a phone interview to nbc news, house democrat dean phillips of minnesota, explained why he had an effort to recruit the former gop congressman saying this, quote, i really believe he will elevate the substance, and the optics of the trial in the senate. i think that 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 republican chair of the senate judiciary committee lindsey graham said over the

weekend that he has already made up his mind about impeachment. and that he does not see the need for a formal trial in the senate. watch this. >> this thing will come to the senate, and it will die quickly, and i will do everything i can to make it die quickly. i am trying to give a pretty clear signal i have made up my mind. >> there wasn't any doubt at this point. >> is it appropriate to be voicing your opinion even 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 am not trying to hide the fact that i have disdain for the accusations and the process so i don't need any witnesses. >> i think he made up his mind. the republican senator ted cruz told abc 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 debunked claim

that then vice president 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. >> i'm from houston, i know a lot of people who serve on the board of natural gas company, you know what they tend to have? . they tend to have a background in geology and geo physics and drilling for natural gand. hunter biden had none of that experience and his daddy was vice president of the united states and we have joe biden on film publicly and proudly bragging about how he threatened ukraine withholding $1 billion in foreign aid, unless they fired the prosecutor that was potentially prosecuting burisma, the company on which his son sat -- >> hey, hey -- >> that is not just a little bit of evidence of corruption, that is serious evidence of corruption. >> here, according to the "new york times," he was not

aggressively pursuing a case against burisma and the dismissal was sought by not just the former vice president but others in the obama administration as well as other western governments and international lenders. shokin had been repeatedly accused of turning a blind eye to corruption in his office and among the ukrainian political elite, criticized for failing to bring corruption cases. senator cruz mischaracterized president trump's july 25th phone call to the leader of ukraine. watch this. >> there is 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 corruption, we cooperate with law enforcement with countries all over the earth, and one of the central issues, right at the heart of this, 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, and the department of justice to do, and that is their responsibility. >> here is the thing. 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 crowdstrike and a debunked conspiracy theory suggesting ukraine meddled in the 2016 election and despite promising to follow the oath as a juror, cruz 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 is going to come to the senate. we will have fair proceedings and then not going anywhere, because the facts aren't there. >> joining us from washington, deputy news editor for the washington examiner david mark, good morning to you, thanks for joining us on this. >> good morning. >> politically speaking here, what do you make of the strategy

of the senate republicans basically saying on the firsthand the president was trying to root out corruption in ukraine and secondly, we've already made up our minds? >> they're a bit inconsistent, because it does sound like republicans in the senate have made up their minds, although many democrats have, as well, to be fair. this is really, this really has been republicans best talking point throughout the proceedings so far. over in the house judiciary committee, we saw a lot of focus by republicans on hunter biden. former vice president joe biden's son. and i think we can expect a lot more of that in the senate trial, as democrats try to prosecute their case there. >> overnight, the judiciary committee had the 600-page report of trump's impeachment released. what are some of the key take-aways from your perspective of this document and how it is going to be used this week? >> this is basically an elaboration of what we heard in the house judiciary committee

over the last couple of weeks or so. it details the president's july 25th call with ukraine president vladim vladimir zelensky and pressure that was put on him and a lot of the details. it also gets more into the detail of john bolton, the former national security adviser, and the acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney. all of whom, senate democrats want called as witnesses in the upcoming senate impeachment trial of president trump. >> so let's stick with that for a moment. what do you think the likely hod is that the president, first and foremost, would allow mulvaney and bolton to testify in the senate trial, along with mitch mcconnell who basically said he wants no testify in the senate trial and wants this thing wrapped up pretty quickly? >> it is ultimately not up to the president. he really has no say about who could speak or not in a senate

trial, which is all up to 51 senators. at this point it is enough to say that the requests would be quashed, what is interesting is the upcoming role of chief justice john roberts, head of the supreme court, who will be presiding over the senate trial, he could rule in democrats' favor, and that it would be up to senate republicans to overrule him, even though he is a republican appointee. there is a lot of contingencies there, but we can definitely see something like that perhaps coming along. >> david mark, thank you. stay close. i will talk to you again in a little bit. still ahead, as house lawmakers move closer to an impeachment vote, we are taking a look at where the public stands on the issue and we will dig into some new polling. you don't want to miss that. plus, house intelligence committee adam schiff weighs in on what would have happened if former president barack obama committed the same alleged offenses as president trump. those stories, and a check on your weather, when we come back. mike bloomberg's never been afraid of tough fights,

the ones that make a true difference in people's lives. and mike's won them, which is important right this minute, because if he could beat america's biggest gun lobby, helping pass background check laws and defeat nra backed politicians across this country, beat big coal, helping shut down hundreds of polluting plants and beat big tobacco, helping pass laws to save the next generation from addiction. all against big odds you can beat him. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. ♪for the holidays you can't beat apprhome sweet home.♪♪ we go the extra mile to bring your holidays home.

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welcome back. in the latest poll, a growing number of americans say president trump should be accountable for his dealings with ukraine. if donald trump is impeached in the house, 42% say the senate should convict the president and remove him from office. 4 -- 22% say he should not be convicted. and there are number on impeachment in the latest fox news poll. 50% of voters think the president should be impeached and removed from office, up one point since october, 4% think she be impeached but not removed from office, and 41% do not think he should be impeached at all. and looking at two articles of

impeachment brought forward by house democrats, 53% think president trump abused the power of his office, 38% do 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 opposed to 37 who do not. when asked if it was standard practice for presidents to ask foreign leaders to investigate political rival, only 22% though said it was typical among republicans, 33% thought it was a normal practice. joining me here on the set, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos, it is always good to have you in the chair next to me, danny, especially on my lonely days. >> i know. it is good to be here. >> it is an island up here. >> this is a very crucial week, for the president. >> it sure is. >> as congress is gearing up to formally vote on impeaching him.

talk me through what we're actually going to be seeing. >> this week, we can expect a vote by the house, maybe wednesday or thursday, but tuesday, there will be fireworks, as the house rules committee votes to decide how much, how many amendments to allow, how the procedure will go, and expect them to be the moment that republicans make a stand and complain about a number of things they have been complaining about since the beginning. namely procedure. and specifically, that they weren't allowed to call any of their own republican witnesses during these debates and hearings. >> what do you make of this proposal by senator shumer who will be on "morning joe" later this morning, this proposal to call john bolton and mick mulvaney to testify during the senate trial? if there was criticism by republicans in the house, as to the approach to this impeachment inquiry overall, you would think that then republican senators would say okay, let's have the process where we hear testimony from the likes of mulvaney and

bolton. >> senator schumer has precedent on his side, in a sense. the clinton impeachment did allow the house managers to call witnesses in a manner of speaking. there were videotaped depositions, but it was mostly a documentary evidence trial. so senator schumer has history on his side in a sense. but on the other side, republicans, because they control the senate, and the senate has the sole power to impeach, this doe have the upper hand procedurally. so they could arguably shoot this case, they could dismiss this case out of hand, as soon as it gets to the senate. even though the chief justice does preside, the chief justice isn't presiding in a court, in the judicial system. ultimately, even though the justice presides, the senate ultimately has the sole power under the constitution to impeach, and that includes the sole power to set its own rules. >> what do you make of so many senators, including senator lindsey graham over the weekend, being so public about the fact that they have already made up

their mind with regards to impeachment ahead of the senate trial? i remember back to susan collins, i believe it was, months ago or so, who said she didn't even want to comment on what was happening with regards to the impeachment inquiry because she feasibly be a juror in the senate trial. >> senators are jurors in the loosest sense of the word. while we would like them to be impartial, a jury in our judicial system is vetted and scrutinized for impartiality. and i can get a to cause removal of a juror if they have some obvious bias toward one party or the other. senators in the impeachment process are totally different. because we elect them for their bias, for their opinion, for the fact that they will lean one way or another, and although in the perfect world we would like all senators to approach an impeachment trial with a fresh slate and willing to list tonight evidence, the practical reality is that impeachment is

only a cosmetic reality in the judicial system, it must be a political process and because of that, senators will always be biased jurors. >> we heard about puts the senators in a hotel room for the last couple of months and they didn't hear any of the testimony of the judiciary committee, that would not work? >> that would not work. >> let's get a check of the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. over the weekend, the storm hit the middle of the country and unfortunately it was deadly. numerous fatal accident, one scene in missouri where two cars got in an accident, and the people got out of the vehicles and another car slid into them killing three of the people outside their vehicles, so yes, it was a very dangerous weekend, with a lot of slippery travel out there, especially in the missouri area, and through kansas, and now that is extending and even into areas of the mid atlantic, so let me show you what is going on currently. you notice we had a little bit of a break. not snowing in kansas city or st. louis and move back in

during the day today and we have a little batch of snow and freezing rain, in the washington, d.c. area, and now, it is 37 inside the beltway, to the roads are probably fine there but out by dulles, 33 degrees and some of the suburbs could be icy. we have 63 million people, from colorado, all the way to boston, that are under a winter weather advisory, or winter storm warnings. and this little narrow band of heavy snow will move in later on today. just south of st. louis, the south side of town, and all the way to indianapolis. and interstate 70 could be treacherous. this could be a narrow stripe of four to six additional inches of snow. and as far as kansas city goes, it looks like you're done, three to four inches of snow, and slippery spots out there this morning. tomorrow morning at this time, a wintry mess, southern new england and mostly snow central new england and the catskills at six inches and areas of mass pike, massachusetts, going to be right around four inches and new york city, it looks like a little bit of sleet and rain, no big deal for you, philadelphia could be a little bit of easy conditions also, and as far as

the freezing rain goes, our friends out from state college, altoona, central portions of pennsylvania, a tenth of an inch of ice. i don't think we will deal with too many power outages but that will make for very slippery travel out there this morning, continuing throughout the middle of the day today, so as far as travel goes, we will have some airport impacts, i will give you those details coming up, and happy to say after this storm, we look pretty clear for the next week. >> so that's good news. aside from the little holiday coming up. >> i know, you want a white christmas. >> we're all dreaming of a white christmas. >> i know. >> thank you bill. still ahead, a moment of joy on a 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. a moment ♪go your own way copd tries to say go this way i say i'll go my own way with anoro. ♪go your own way

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♪for the holidays you can't beat home sweet home.♪♪ we go the extra mile to bring your holidays home. welcome back. seven years after the unbearable tragedy at sandy hook elementary school, a football championship is reuniting the town of newtown, connecticut, and helping a community heal. nbc's kate snow has more. >> reporter: it unfolded in dramatic fashion. with just seconds left. the score tied. the pass caught. >> making the newtown night hawks state champions. a big win, on a day that carries too many painful memories. exactly seven years ago, 20 young children and six others

lost their lives at sandy hook lem mare, many at the game wore green in their honor, on the field saturday, several players who once attended sandy hook elementary. ben, a linebacker lost his little brother jack in the shooting, and with a team logo and buried in the team's jersey. on saturday night, his big brother helped bring home the first championship since 1992. >> a tremendous year and football in general and sports in general has the ability to brin bring people together. >> the elation we felt was incredible. >> for a community that suffered so much. a unifying moment that delivered joy. >> a shining light on an incredibly dark day. our thanks to nbc's kate snow for that report. still ahead, we are going to get to the new reporting about one democratic congressman who

is apparently thinking about leaving the party as impeachment draws near. >> plus, they have taken on trump and now taking on each other. joe biden hits back at elizabeth warren after she seemed to insinuate he was naive for his comments about bipartisan. we'll be right back. ve for his comments about bipartisan. we'll be right back. you wouldn't do only half of your daily routine so why treat your mouth any differently? listerine® completes the job by preventing plaque, early gum disease, and killing up to 99.9% of germs. try listerine®. need stocking stuffers?

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. the house vote to impeach prpt is just days away.

and the party infighting on capitol hill is only getting worse. nbc news correspondent hans nichols has a preview of what to 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 trier. >> it is a complete subversion of the constitutional scheme. >> reporter: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says he is working in total coordination with the white house. >> ween be doing our job if we weren't working hand in hand with the senate to clear the president of this charade, this sham. >> senators will take an oath to do impartial justice at the start of the impeachment trial. some gop senators argue impartially doesn't include politics. >> i have clearly made up my mind. i am not trying to hide the fact that i have disdain for the accusations in the process.

>> tuesday, the rules will consider the length of the debate. and wednesday, the full house will take up the art. 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. >> there is little suspense that the senate will acquit the president. >> we're going to hear the evidence repeated but we'rement going to see any new evidence. >> house democrats don't sense defeat, even if the president is not removed from office. >> no it is isn't a value, at least it is not a failure in the sense of our constitutional duty in the house. >> 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 some ideological diversity to the team, they may send over to the senate. meanwhile house democrats are sharply critical of their

colleague jeff van drew for his expected defection from the democratic party this week. yasmin. >> thanks to hans nichols for that report. and as was mentioned, a democratic congressman pretty outspoken about the trump impeachment is likely to leave the party. two democratic leadership sources telling nbc news that they expect new jersey congressman jeff van drew to change his registration to republican. congressman van drew flipped his republican-leaning swing district back in 2018, but an internal poll obtained by nbc news earlier this month showed he would be unlikely to be re-elected next year. the judiciary committee chair jer jerry madler weighed in on this topic just yesterday. >> what he is reacting to 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. >> meanwhile, 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 jack is very smart, congressman van drew did not immediately return a request for comment on that. and house intel committee chair adam schiff lamenting congressional republicans support of president trump in the fate of the impeachment and questioned how democrats would respond if it were flipped the other way around. watch this. >> this president's conduct is far worse than anything nixon did, far more sweeping in the obstruction of accountability, far more damaging to a national security, than the coverup 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.

and you know something, i hope to hell, if it were barack obama, i would vote to impeach him. >> let's talk some polling and we have the latest fox news poll showing five of the top 20, 2020 democratic presidential contenders beating president trump. bernie sanders beating president trump by six points. 49 to 43. and joe biden leads by a seven point margin, 48 to 41. and elizabeth warren slides just by the president, 46 to 45. and michael bloomberg, 45 to 40%. and mayor pete buttigieg, 43 to 42. for the 2020 democratic nomination choice, the latest poll shows senator elizabeth warren dropping eight points to third place, since october. in the fox news poll, joe biden sits atop the field with 30%. and senator bernie sanders follows 10 points behind with 20. senator elizabeth warren is in third place, with 13%.

mayor pete buttigieg remains unchanged from october, with 7% of support. michael bloomberg, now in fifth place, with 5%, since entering the race back in november. senator amy klobuchar also stands at 5%. the topic played out in the campaign trail, 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 were 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, of progressive policies, or make vague calls for unity, that somehow, the wealthy and well-connected will stand down. >> a couple of the candidates out there are attacking me and the very idea that i say we can unite the country. they seem to think america is so

divided it can never be united again. let's 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 has already won, but they're wrong. >> all right. joining me in washington once again, deputy news editor for the washington examiner david mark. let's talk about some of the polls i was ticking through a bit earlier. specifically about the poll that shows democratic candidates winning over the president, mayor pete and snoenator elizabh warren, with the narrowest of margins. do you think this is part of voter's calculus?

>> this is going to be a close race. we have known it since the 2016 election. any of these democratic challengers are going to have a tough time against the president in such a divided country. it is worth noting there are also, most of those polls are within the margin of error. basically suggesting a tie. right now, 10 1/2 months out, between president trump and any number of prospective democratic nominees. >> might we see here, as we think about congressman jeff ran drew who is allegedly switching to republican, might we see other freshman democrats in swing districts like the congressmen make similar decisions to leave the party in hopes of securing their re-election chances? i believe president trump won van drew's district by five or six points in 2016. >> it's highly unlikely any of the other democrats in congress are going to switch parties. there is only one other, colin peterson, democratic congressman

from minnesota, who says he is opposed to impeachment. most of the rest of them will likely vote for impeachment. there might be a few stragglers, but there's no assurance that congressman van drew is going to win election or even renomination, as a republican. it is a republican-leaning district. in southern new jersey. i bet a lot of other republicans who have worked their way up through the party, are now angling to that, and probably salivating over the chance to run against him. so he may have a tough time in 2020. >> i spoke to the new jersey governor phil murphy just yesterday and he is pretty confident the democrats are able to keep hold of that seat there. david mark, thank you so much. appreciate it. still ahead, senate minority leader chuck schumer is trying to lay out plans for an impeachment trial in the senate. nbc news correspondent lee ann caldwell joins us with what she is hearing from top democrats on the hill. >> plus another check on the forecast. with nbc meteorologist bill karins. your first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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welcome back. as we have been talking about this morning, this week will be yet another pivotal week in the impeachment probe. joining me now from rochester, michigan, nbc news correspondent leeann caldwell. i talked to you about seven hours ago or so on the air when this story first broke so happy to have you on with me. can you tell us what you're hearing from the democratic congressman lisa slotkin on what she plans to vote on impeachment and what you're hearing generally about undecided house democrats. >> so i'm in rochester because lisa slotkin one of the moderate districts that the president won is holding a town hall on the eve of this impeachment vote and she is undecided and she hasn't announced how she is going to

vote yet on these impeachment articles. she is a former cia and defense official who told me last week that she thinks that the president's conduct was extremely serious. so the fact that she is in her district at this critical moment, making herself available to voters, is a sign that she is wanting to either explain herself, or get one last moment with voters, to hear how they, how they feel about this. but, remember, this is a district that the president won by almost seven points, and so her district is not only important for democrats to keep the majority in the house of representatives, but it is also going to be a critical district, and a very critical state in the presidential election next year. >> talk to me about some of this breaking news that was actually from you, last night, this letter of course, from senator schumer, to leader mcconnell, and what they have said separately about the senate

impeachment trial and how they want it laid out. >> so the negotiations are expected to start any day now. between senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and minority leader schumer. so what schumer did last night is he laid a stake in the ground, and he wrote a letter to mcconnell, offering terms of what a trial should look like. and the big news out of that is he called for four witnesses, close to the president, close to these details in the ukraine scandal, including john bolton and the president's acting chief of staff mick mulvaney. so we heard though from, back from mcconnell and a mcconnell spokesperson, pretty much dismissed the letter saying that the two leaders are expected to meet any day, and that nothing in the time line has changed. so this was really the, schumer's attempt to get ahead of these negotiations, to publicize where democrats in the senate stand, and that they don't just want to roll over and

accept all of the evidence, and what happened in the house impeachment investigation, that they want to conduct their own trial, and this is coming after mcconnell and other lead republicans have suggested that they don't want witnesses. they want a speedy trial, to wrap up, and acquit this president very quickly, yasmin. >> it doesn't necessarily seem like any republicans are even wanting to entertain what schumer sees as, what he believes should be the senate trial. leeann caldwell, thank you, my friend, appreciate it. >> thank you. we will take a turn now and get a check of the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. hi, bill. >> did you see the snowflakes in dc? >> i did. >> we can throw the pictures back up, but it is not going to stick too much on the ground in the dc area. but on the roads, itself, you know, it is going to be, the temperatures are like 35 to 37 so yes, you can see the snowflakes in the back ground. >> how much snow are they supposed to get this morning? >> on the roads, probably nothing. inside the beltway. outside the beltway, it could be a little slippery and probably

school delays, on the grassiest surfaces, if it snows hard enough for another hour or two, it could be gorgeous. >> it looks like a gorgeous shot. >> this is the story over the weekend, tragic areas in areas of nebraska an kansas, from vehicle fatalities, and we're going to get more snow in that area today, so what is going through the dc area right now and northern portions of maryland is what was in the midwest, as we went throughout the weekend. so here is how it is going to play out. this is going to be the new storm developing and then push snow into areas of new england. this time, tomorrow morning. we are going to have a lot of school delays in central an southern new england. pennsylvania. northern new jersey. come this time tomorrow. those areas are okay for today. so later on, we see this band of snow developing, could be into the st. louis area, and it is going to be very close, right over the city or to the south side and it is a very narrow strip but it also parallels interstate 70 here, one of the more treacherous drives in between st. louis and indianapolis and columbus and even back through southern portions of pennsylvania, late

tonight. and this is going to be like yes, late tonight, tomorrow, and it is when we get this snow, this purple is about four inches possible and scranton wicks barr and then through this area. as we go through tuesday morning. then it will probably be done tuesday afternoon. the other thing we have to tell you about, if you're in louisiana, or mississippi, we could get some of the isolated tornadoes later on today. the area of concern here is from alexandra through jackson, back up towards columbus. so we haven't had a lot of tornadoes in a while. so it is kind of weird, people think december, but it can happen in the south, even this time of the year. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, we are going to take a look at how markets might be affected ahead of the upcoming impeachment proceedings and the busy holiday season. we'll be right back. because if he could beat america's biggest gun lobby, helping pass background check laws and defeat nra backed

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welcome back. time for business. cnbc joanna title balm is joining us live from london on this. good morning, what are you expecting in the markets this morning. >> reporter: good morning, well, the u.s./china trade deal reached on friday is certainly front and center for investors around the globe. on friday, we saw u.s. stocks hit fresh all time highs intra-day, and now this morning we're seeing european stocks rally on the back of this news. it has provided a nice boost for investors in the lead up to christmas and into next year. now, in terms of what else to be watching out for this week, we are going to get a few fresh

indications on how the u.s. few indications on how the u.s. economy is doing. we're going to get production data out, personal consumption data, and alsoa i new reading for q3 gdp. i know you were discussion before the break the impeachment proceedings. that's something else that investors are keeping an eye on not direct nfinancial impact sen right now, but if things progress differently than markets expect that could be an influence there. first, on boeing, a story we've been following closely since the grounding of the 737 max planes, boeing now reportedly considering whether to halt or suspend production of these 737 max planes. that comes after the federal aviation authorities said they may not approve the return to service before 2020. we could hear from boeing as

soon as today. keep an eye on that corporate. and finally fedex. we're going to get a reading on how fedex has been doing in their latest quarterly earnings. that stock is important and the company is important because it gives a good insight into the health of the global economy. that's something for investors to keep an eye on this week as well. >> all right. thank you. up next, a look at the one big thing from axios. coming up on "morning joe," it's expected to be a historic week on capitol hill as house lawmakers gear are to vote on impeachment. chuck schumer will join joe and mika to discuss the democratic party's plan leading into a senate impeachment trial. "morning joe" is moments away. senate impeachment trial. "morning joe" is moments away. i looove travel.

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♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. welcome back. joining us from washington, tim with a look at axios a.m., national political reporter for axios, jonathan swan. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> talk to us about axios ps one big thing today. >> the title is trump's yes men,

and we take you inside an agency that i don't think gets nearly enough coverage, the office of management and budget. president trump is frequently according to his aides frustrated that his lawyers in the white house counsel office tell him no. when he asks for things he says no. he complains that they're too conservative. trump turns to his yes men, the office of manage mepment and bu. he sees them as a way of laterally getting things done that he either can't get done through congress or that his lawyers are leery of. so i perfect example is when he was trying to get money for the wall, the white house counsel did not believe that it was legal to reprogram military money. office of management and budget took a different view. that's held up in the courts now. but you go through the list, it's a long list. puerto rico, trump's been complaining about wildfire funding. they're currently working on that, in the process.

and then foreign aid, which might ring a few bells and the ukraine story was at the center of that, obviously. >> talk to us about your reporting with regards to republicans plans for an impeachment trial in the senate. >> yeah, so accord tock ting to sources who have spoken with this, he is coming around to when mitch mcconnell was all along, which is a short trial, perhaps two weeks, no witnesses. president trump -- this is quite an evolution for him. because originally he was pushing for long trial, lots of witnesses, hunter biden, adam schif schiff. but he has backed away interest that. nothing has been decided, i should stress, nothing has been decided. he hasn't totally committed either to the composition of his legal team. but i'm told it's very like that i trump's lead lawyer representing him in the senate will be the white house counsel

pat cipollone. there may be other supporting actors, but it should be a cipollone-led trial. >> is there anybody in the white house right now that's in the president's ear about that that he's actually listening to with regards to whether or not this should be a long, drawnout trial or more of a short one? >> for sure. he's quite persuadable on this question. again, he was quite in favor of a longer trial with witnesses. but he does trust mitch mcconnell. mcconnell has made very clear to the president that he has his back, that he is going to be by his side and he's going to do everything can he to muss this will through the senate. and trump has watched mitch mcconnell does doh th that time again. i think he feels this? good hands. >> we mentioned earlier that chuck schumer will be on "morning joe" in just a bit, has proposed calling national security adviser john bolton and acting white house heave of staff mick mulvaney as witnesses

in the senate impeachment trial. what more can you tell us about this? >> yeah, so it appears to me, anyway, i got this letter last night, the schumer letter, there's four witnesses he's trying to call up. they're all witness who's have had direct knowledge of the conversations involving hold up of aid to ukraine. it appears he's trying to drive a wedge into the republican conference and making a bet, essentially, that there are moderate republicans in the senate who at least want to give the appearance that they are seriously examining what president trump did with respect to ukraine. so what he's trying to do, it appears to me, anyway, is to make a situation in which a few of those republicans shift over and he gets a majority of votes for those witnesses. it's really a challenge to mitch mcconnell, can you hold your people together? are republicans really as united as you say they are? >> all right. jonathan swan, thank you. we're going to be reading axe

laos newsletter in a little bit. you can sign up at signup.axios.com. that does it for me, everybody. "morning joe" starts right. unlike some dem -- some candidates for the democratic nomination, i'm not counting on politicians having an epiphany and suddenly supporting the kinds of tax increases on the rich or big business accountability that they've opposed under democratic presidents for a generation. >> a couple of the candidates out there are attacking me and the very idea that i satisfy we can unite the country. they seem to think america's so divided it can never be up nighted again. >> i'm not betting my agenda on the naive hope that if democrats adopt republican critiques of progressive policies or make vague calls for unity that somehow the wealthy and well