she is supporting impeachment no matter the political cost. >> i hope you believe me when i tell you that i made this decision out of principle and out of a duty to protect and defend the constitution. i feel that in my bones and i will stick to that regardless of what it does to me politically. the holiday rush. president trump tries to pile up political victories as the house ge ge gets ready to impeach him this week. and the trump campaigns they're raking in the cash. >> it's a very sad thing for our country, but it seems to be very good for me politically. and trial and error. majority leader mitch mcconnell signals he has the votes for a quick end to the impeachment trial but chuck schumer wants to hear from cabinet witnesses. >> there is no chance the president is going to be removed from office. >> the american people will ask of president trump and people like mitch mcconnell if he

doesn't have a full and fair trial what are you hiding, what are you hiding. ♪ and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we start a critical week for president trump and democrats, gearing up for a final vote on the house floor while passing critical legislation. the question for democrats and republicans, how is this all this going to play politically with swing voters, who will decide the 2020 election? one answer today from a key district in michigan whose freshman democrat alyssa slotkin declared in favor of impeachment today. >> i will be voting yes on obstruction of congress.

now, obviously i know and i can hear that this is a very controversial decision and i knew that. and all i can ask from the people who are listening is that while we may not agree, i hope you believe me when i tell you that i made this decision out of principle and out of a duty to protect and defend the constitution. >> joining me now to sort all this out, this is happening in realtime guys, this is nbc news correspondent kristin welker, ashley parker and karen tomoti. alyssa slotkin facing that live town hall meeting that's still

going on right now hearing from the voters. we don't know whether this was prefabbed. we don't know whether this was involved because some of those signs looked like this was some kind of group effort. let's talk about how tough this is for some of these democrats. this is what nancy pelosi was concerned about going all the way back. krist kristen, you know the white house sb couis counting on bein to peel off some democrats in the house floor on wednesday and holding firm in the senate. >> reporter: that's right. that is the key focus of the white house right now as they look ahead tho to this o this ee on wednesday. they want to be able to peel off as many democrats as possible. so you had president trump tweeting at the 30 or so democrats in swing districts and

said their reelection prospects will be in jeopardy if they vote to impeach him. that comes as we got that news over the weekend that congressman jeff van drew plans to switch parties from democrat to republican, a show of his opposition to the impeachment proceedings. president trump tweeting, talking about the fact that he has always been considered very smart. so the president is going to play that and every democratic defector as a victory for him. the white house is expecting republicans to hold firm to stand behind president trump and not break with him. that will be yet another talking point for the president when he heads out onto the campaign trail. it's worth noting aroue ining t also very focused on the senate trial as well, trying to work in lock step with leader mitch mcconnell on how that is going to be carried out. we expect white house counsel pat cipollone to be among those

representing president trump once that trial gets underway. >> ashley, you were writing this weekend about the legislative agenda and how the holiday legislative tableau has emboldened trump. he has suggested that house speaker nancy pelosi is embarrassed by the impeachment inquiry. he said he believes the trial in the republican controlled senate where he's expected to be acquitted of the house charges could be beneficial to him and he sees impeachment as perhaps the best episode, the grand finale of a reality show presidency in the words of one long-term confidante who talked with trump. >> the president is conflicted on this. in part you see that with what he's saying about what he wants to see from a senate trial. on the one hand he has been convinced by mcconnell and other republicans that he wants a short trial. he understands it's not necessarily good for him. on the other hand, he'll talk about wanting a long trial tor

talk about things that would create a long trial, talking about how many witnesses he would like to call, he would like to see vice president biden and hunter biden and adam schiff testify. there's been a flurry of legislative action and deals at the end of the year. it's not necessarily because of impeachment entirely but he's able to point to that saying he's getting stuff done. he said in the oval office friday this is sad for the country but it's good for me politically. it's unclear how true that is. the country is basically divided on partisan lines about impeachment. >> and we see this push/pull and of course pelosi and the democrats are trying to sandwich the impeachment vote on wednesday in between getting things done on the trade deal on

the canada/mexico/u.s. new nafta, if you will, as well as getting funding for the government done so there won't be a government shutdown. both sides think those bipartisan successes are a victory and could perhaps be an antidote to the negative of impeachment. "meet the press" talked to voters in grand rapids, notably a place where hillary clinton only went on the very last day before the election, way too late to turn michigan around. these voters in grand rapids reflected what some of the people in alyssa slotkin's district are showing. >> i don't even care about it. it's just noise. have you ever recorded a football game but found out the final score before you watched it and you just don't even care?

you know it's going to happen. the house will vote articles of impeachment, the senate will probably acquit. it's already baked in so it's just not interesting. >> our apologies. mike whitmer from grand rapids michigan. is that part of the problem for democrats going into this that they don't know they have the votes in the senate, that there's going to be an acquittal? >> we have seen support for impeachment rise dramatically since july as these revelations about the president's efforts to pressure ukraine became public. but it's not going to move much further. we're living in a 50-50 country and the country is deeply divided. nobody really is going to budge on that. then you see these numbers. vulnerable members like alyssa slotkin, to her credit this is her fifth town hall since she announced in september that she supported the opening of an impeachment investigation.

these members of congress that nancy pelosi is so concerned about, they are going to have to explain this vote to their constituents but she also wants to make sure that is not the only thing they have to talk to the people who voted for them about. >> and to kristin welker, we have a new op-ed online today from the "new york times." it will be in the print edition tomorrow, we understand. this is from william webster, the only person in history who's been both fbi and cia head, republican appointed for decades, before that a federal judge. he writes in this new op-ed and we hope to be talking to him later today, i know firsthand the professionalism of the men and women of the fbi. the aspersions cast upon them by the president and attorney general william barr are troubling in the extreme. calling fbi professionals scum, as the president did, is a slur against people who risk their

lives to keep us safe. mr. barr's charges of bias within the fbi made without providing any evidence and in direct dispute of the findings of the nonpartisan inspector general whose conflicting and doing damage on this important institution. i know from having talked to judge webster that it was that rally in hershey, pennsylvania, where the president called the fbi scum that put him over the edge and inspired him to write this. >> reporter: and the findings of the inspector general, of course, were that there were mistakes made but that the investigation into the russia probe was not launched based for political reasons. now, president trump has seized on those mistakes that were made and he's talked about it not only in hershey, pennsylvania, but on twitter and continued to do so over the weekend particularly after former fbi director james comey on fox news over the weekend acknowledged those mistakes and took

responsibility for them, at the same time under scored the fact that the ultimate findings were that the investigation was launched appropriately. so i think what we can expect is for president trump that type of backlash that you see there in that op-ed is unlikely to deter him from taking aim at the fbi. this is something he did before he took office, something he did in the early days of his administration. it continues to this day and i don't anticipate that that's going to change. of course he continues to push toward that other report la launched by attorney general bill barr with john durham expected to release his findings in the coming months. >> i want to draw everyone's attention to a tweet in secretary of state mike pompeo. he has tweeted a pleasure hosting foreign affairs policy board members for dinner last night in advance of our third

plenary meeting this year. their feedback is critical to execution of a foreign policy that best serves the american people's interest. i want to draw all of our attention to the picture. for those of you listening on xm radio and can't see the picture, it is a very impressive looking group of white gentlemen. i say that we have had three women serving as secretaries of state in both political parties. we have had enumerable women throughout the government and the private sector. how do we have a foreign policy advisory board at the state department in this day and age that is all white and all male? >> well, i would draw your attention back to i believe it was your retweet of secretary pompeo's tweet where you noted that what was missing was half of the population, which is women. and that's not even to mention no people of color.

this is a white house that has struggled to have diversity represented in the upper echelons on the administration, in the cabinet, in senior advisors. so i think when you see that tone set from the president, it trickles down and we get images and more importantly than the images the actual makeup of a group like we're seeing with secretary pompeo. >> i do think their cluelessness about the images that they tout is really striking. this immediately reminds me of that instantly iconic picture of nancy pelosi standing up at the table with president trump that he sent out assuming this was going to be to his benefit. there was a real backlash. >> it's just profoundly interesting, especially at a time when mike pompeo has this weekend relaunched his personal non state department twitter

account which could be signaling he is intending to move into the political sphere more openly even though there have been reports that he's done it privately already. there is that open senate seat in kansas. i do think that 50% of the voters in kansas are probably women. thank you all so much. coming up, stand by your man. even before the president's senate trial starts, top republicans say they will not vote to convict him. and who will save your soul? the president thought he could move south korea's capital city. d move south korea's capital city. before we talk about tax-smart investing, what's new? -audrey's expecting... -twins! ♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. yeah. only pay for what you need with liberty mutual. only pay for what you need with liberty mutual.

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welcome back. republicans are pushing for a speedy impeachment trial in the senate but democratic leader chuck schumer is warning not so fast. in a letter to majority leader mitch mcconnell schumer asked for the testimony of key trump officials who have so far refused to appear before the house, including john bolton, mick mulvaney and mike pompeo. earlier schumer defended his request. >> there is not a single reason that has been given why the four witnesses we've asked for, why the documents we've asked for should not be presented. i don't know what they'll say. maybe they'll be exculpatory to

president trump but to not have them is to engage in a coverup. and the american people will ask of president trump and people like mitch mcconnell, if he doesn't have a full and fair trial, what are you heiding. >> joining me from capitol hill nbc's jeff bennett and eugene scott, political reporter for the "washington post." to your first, jeff, mitch mcconnell has the votes, 51 votes most likely. we so far he thinks he's got 51 votes among the republicans. he's got 53 republicans to cut off those witness requests. >> reporter: yeah. well and chuck schumer apparently thinks he doesn't. that's why he's written this letter addressed and named to mitch mcconnell but you can bet he's addressing that letter that handful of moderate and potentially vulnerable senate republicans including lisa

murkowski and mitt romney. schumer is making the point that if these republicans want to commit to a real trial and uphold the dignity of the senate, republicans can join with him in calling for a serious trial. i'm told privately that mitch mcconnell has expressed support for a quick two week trial. the majority of the senators at that point would have heard enough to make a determination of up or down. you have chuck schumer saying no, we want a real trial with witnesses. so john bolton, who through his attorney late last month said that there is more information, that bolton knows of conversations and meetings that hadn't been discussed that are relevant to this ukraine

scandal. and then of course mick mulvaney. who can forget he signalled president trump was guilty of the things he's accused. then mulvaney went beyond that and said politics always has a role to play in foreign policy and we should all, to use his quote, get over it. that's before he tried to take it back a day later, of course. that's the marker that chuck schumer is drawing here. >> of course he's going up against republican control in the senate and the judiciary committee chair, lindsey graham. this is what he had to say on "face the nation". >> i am clearly made up my mind. i'm not trying to hide the fact that i whave disdain for the accusations and the process. so i don't need any witnesses. >> so the president says he wants those individuals to testify. why are you opposed? >> i would tell the president if somebody's ready to quit you,

i'd sort of get out of the way. >> what cards does schumer have to play? >> it seems like there's not much he can do because people like senator graham have said they've made up their minds without hearing from witnesses. i think that's a sound bite you're going to hear lots of democrats use moving forward, letting americans know that so many republicans, most of the republicans in congress and in senate are going to side with the president regardless of what he does and what he says that could put america's national security interests in a tough space. that could be concerning to voters. >> just to play devil's advocate for a moment, the republicans are saying they've made up their mind and they're going to acquit. democrats are saying, well, we're the jurors and we haven't made up our mind. can you imagine democratic senators, especially those who are candidates for president really being open minded about this? >> absolutely not, because for

them they have already seen enough and heard enough. what they're trying to do is let the american people, who perhaps have not been watching every hour of this like we have, get as much information as possible before a decision is made so they know why democratic lawmakers are voting the way they are, which would go up against the narrative so many americans are hearing from the white house, republican lawmakers and conservative media. >> the "washington post" reported that some of the freshman democrats who feel endangered by all of this wanted former republican representative justin amash of michigan be one of the dozen or so impeachment managers which are prime slots. nancy pelosi reportedly not in favor of that. she's got enough democrats wanting to have that kind of exposure. would that help some of these endangered democrats in the impeachment trial? >> reporter: they think it will. they think it will give them

cover. justin amash was turned off entirely but president trump's conduct and behavior, but the house speaker has already tried to prime the battlefield for these vulnerable democrats that she represents. that's one of the reasons why you have the impeachment vote sandwiched in between two major pieces of policy. on one end you have the budget deal and on the other you have the trade deal. i'm told by sources familiar that even though this proposal is legitimate, the idea that amash would emerge as one of the house managers doesn't necessarily seem like that's going to happen. what the house speaker is looking for in this group, back in the '90s there were 13 house republicans who prosecuted the case against president clinton. we're told she's looking for a mix of people from the judiciary and intelligence communities and she wants it to reflect a range of diversity. the regional issue is key here.

you saw last week republicans tried to suggest that you had what you called a coastal impeachment squad trying to take down president trump. that's in large part because you have the heads of these relevant committees all representing districts in california or new york. so we should found out who these house impeachment managers are hopefully sometime this week, andrea. >> there's a lot of diversity on both of these committees. you've had star performances from members from texas, from georgia and others, florida. there's a lot to choose from. thank you so much, jeff. coming up, under pressure. how democrats in swing districts are responding to republican efforts to keep them from voting for the president's impeachment. g for the president's impeachment. . so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one.

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itreat them all as if, they are hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911 and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. as we reported at the top of the show, democratic freshman congresswoman from michigan alyssa slotkin announced today she will vote yes on both articles of impeachment. this has been a tough vote for slotkin, whose district voted for president trump in 2016.

>> so based on that town hall, do you still stand by your support for both articles of impeachment? >> oh yes. listen, i knew this decision was going to be controversial when i came out for an inquiry. we knew from the beginning this was going to be a tough call, but you have to do what you're trained to do and you have to take this seriously and make a decision sometimes on things that's a hard call, not based on polling and political calculus. >> and meanwhile moderate democratic congressman jeff van drew of new jersey who has imposed impeachment now plans to become a member of the republican party. leanne caldwell is with us. a first to you, because that was a pretty raucous gathering, that town hall meeting. she's had a number of town hall

meetings. she knows this is tough for her. she's a former cia officer. she said she was trained to make tough decisions and this is a tough decision politically and she's making it whatever the costs are to her politically. >> reporter: yeah. that's right, andrea. she's just finishing up a gaggle with reporters right now right behind me. she had a town hall. she's talking to reporters so she's making herself very available on the eve of this impeachment vote. just hours after she came out announcing her support for both articles of impeachment. but in the town hall it was packed. there were 500 seats for voters. while she had a lot of support here, she got standing ovations. that was really mixed in with boos and people jeering her. there were protesters, pro-trump protesters throughout especially when she started talking about

this issue of impeachment. it was a constant disruption throughout this town hall but she continued to talk. she said she understands the political risk she's taking by coming out in support of impeachment, but she said that as her former career as a defense official, a cia official, she said that she's made hard decisions before and that she was prepared to make this hard decision because she thinks it's the right thing to do and that the president abused his power. she's headed back to washington, ready to take these two votes on impeachment as early as tomorrow, perhaps wednesday despite the political cost in a state that is going to be critical not only for democrats winning the majority goagain in 2020 but also for the president's reelection campaign that same year. >> by the way, in watching that a couple of things came to mind in watching the protests against

her. first of all, a lot of the signs looked as though they were professionally made. i don't know if they came from trump campaign headquarters but the impeach slotkin saigns were all the same. she did start talking about the trade issue and the upcoming new nafta vote that affects a lot of people in her district. she was questioned about that, why it took so long to get there and about health care. these are the kitchen table issues that drove her into politics. >> reporter: absolutely. she said while impeachment is front and center right now, there's a host of other issues congress is currently working on. she told that extremely personal story about her mother, who died

of ovarian cancer. she talked about p-fast, this chemical in the water here that's a big problem here in michigan, how there was a little bit of progress in that in this congress. but when it came to impeachment, the tensions are really high, especially among the people that were here. it got extremely tense among individual supporters and opponents of slotkin. you could see how passionate this issue is and how passionate the president's supporters are too. >> mike, you're there in new jersey. this was always going to be a tough district and he is now switching to become a republican. it was unclear to me over the weekend from reporting. what are you hearing as to whether he is switching parties before the key vote that we now expect to be wednesday on the house floor? >> reporter: this is the contrast that i'm really struck by listening to leeianne.

we haven't heard from jeff van drew, the congressman pr ffor t very purple district. what we know is only what weave heard and reported in terms of his meetings at the white house potentially to ensure the president would support him if he switches and becomes a republican. of course his staff is all quitting on him. they don't want to be in an office for somebody who switches to the republican party. this is a politician who's been very successful throughout his career playing to that middle ground. he is a conservative democrat who's been elected to local and now federal office by being a conservative democrat. what's clear is he's done his own internal polling and found out if he casts a vote as a democrat against impeachment, he

has no future in the democratic party. some of the democrats say thank you and move on, we're not going to support you if you do that. coming up, breaking away. a republican challenger to president trump claims he knows of six republican senators who would vote to convict president trump. bill weld joining me next. presi trump. bill weld joining me next. do you have concerns about mild memory loss related to aging? prevagen is the number one pharmacist-recommended

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while republicans senators appear to be in lock step with president trump going into a probable senate trial next month, the president has one republican challenger for the nomination who claims there could be more dissenters in the ranks. joining me now is that republican former massachusetts governor and presidential candidate bill weld. governor, good to see you again. let me ask you flat out. we hear from mitch mcconnell, lindsey graham that they are absolutely bound and determined to cut this off very quickly, no witnesses. you're hearing there might be some dissenters? >> well, i am. as few as three republican senators could stop the republicans in the senate from saying they didn't want to hear any evidence. belief believe me, i've read the transcript of every impeachment trial in u.s. history when i worked on the nixon impeachment.

t i was a prosecutor for seven years under ronald reagan and i never showed up in court and had anybody tell me, okay, we understand you're the prosecutor, but we don't want to hear any evidence from you today. so if three republicans sided with the 47 democrats, they couldn't proceed in that manner. >> who could these people be who are willing to stand up and say something that senator pat toomey said on "meet the press". >> i think it's important that the president gets a fair trial. i think it would be extremely unwise to put a bullet in this thing. >> that's not to say that he would be willing to extend this

and demand that witnesses appear, but he seems to be more open minded than perhaps some others. >> yeah. this is not even a close call on whether this is impeachable conduct. again i've read all the instances of impeachment and the two things the framers were most worried about were foreign interference in our affairs and a person corrupting his own office of president by seeking personal gain by use of his official powers. those are both there in spades in article one. and article two is uncontested. my take, i mean consider the serious, i'm running against the guy, but my take is that the members even on the senate side have a constitutional duty to look at that evidence. and unless there's something i'm mi missing, this is isn't even a close call. so to say we don't want to hear the evidence, i don't think

those senators would look too good in the court of public opinion. i've said in the past all the people that hung on and defended nixon all summer long, most of them lost their seats. so we'll see. >> just to explain to anyone who doesn't know, you were actually a staff lawyer during the impeachment of richard nixon on the house side. >> that's right and i was one of several authors of the memorandum of what constitutes grounds for removal of a president. the framers had to be able to argue you can remove him if he abuses his office. it's not just an after thought. it's not just a procedural small point that they put in the constitution. it's central to the framework of

the constitution. >> how are you doing on your fight to even get on the primary ballots? you succeeded in massachusetts despite republican efforts to keep you off, trump republican efforts. they've knocked you off of nevada and south carolina, as i understand it, but new hampshire is holding firm and obviously iowa. how do you run against him if you can't run in a primary? >> well, the president tried to cancel the first of the nation primary in new hampshire. that didn't go over too well, needless to say. no. we'll be on the ballot everywhere. i think it's more like five states where the state parties have cancelled the primary and said we're going to send in only the name of president trump. we'll be on the ballot everywhere except those handful of states where they've cancelled the primaries. the only one that hurts is alaska because it's a

libertarian leaning state and senator lisa murkowski actually won her senate seat on a write-in. >> let's stay in close touch. >> okay. >> william weld, the republican candidate challenging the incumbent president. coming up, lost seoul. why president trump reportedly called for the entire population of the south korean capital to be relocated. national security expert and journalist peter bergen sharing more revelations from his new book next. revelations from his book next.

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prevagen. healthier brain. better life. so what would you say about a commander in chief who does not know where the capital of south korea is or where the artillery range of north korea's massive army are. and then peter bergen writes that during an oval office meeting with president trump in april of 2017, he was confused by a cia satellite image showing the lights of south korea and china and north korea in almost total darkness in between.

bergen writing at first trump was disoriented by the north korean portion of the photo asking is that the ocean. and then trump remarked why is seoul so close to the north korean border. trump was regularly briefed that north korean possessed vast numbers of artillery battery that could kill millions of south koreans. he said about the 25 people who live in seoul, quote, they have to move. bergen writes the officials in the oval office weren't sure if trump was joking. trump then repeated, they have to move. joining me is peter bergen the vice president at the new america foundation in washington. his new book is "trust and his generals, the cost of chaos." peter has interviewed every foreign leader including osama bin laden and has vast experience in this. this is a definitive and

authoritative book. congratulations to authorative . >> well, i wrote the book at the scene of the pentagon where gary cohn and gmattis was secretary f defense giving him a lay out of the united states. afterwards he sort of blows up and starts using all sorts of words saying our allies are solving the trade deficits and we are not winning any wars. things he says consistently during the campaign. that lays down a marker for the cabinet. the america's first national policies of how he's going to govern. the generals of the impressive group he had around him, they either resign or force out d ou

fired. he's left with a less impressive group now. only exactly a year ago that his departure was announced. it was predicted. his replacement was announced way too early, effectihe was an extraordinary chief. kelly is gone and mattis is gone and you have now mike pompeo as secretary of state, former cia director who has been notably we have seen more so than we have imagine the yes man. >> yes, trump is not running oval office like a real estate company which is signature rour

some yes man and women and it is a one-man show. the war cabinet he had at the beginning of his presidency was an impressive group of people who had disagreements with him and actually argued with him. those people are gone and they are gone because they disagreed on policies or the treatment of nato and putin and other issues. now, we are left with people as you say who are reluctant t to -- inside of a team of rivals, it is a team of accolades. >> one of the things you wrote, secretary mattis tried to slow roll him. matt mattis simply ignored requests for support for the war game. >> in his defense, president trump is not the person i think secretary mattis thought.

secretary mattis refused -- this was going to happen at camp david and mcmaster wanted options oconee n north korea. you can't have a war game. he called back military operations against iran and we are pullingstantly trying to withdraw from north korea and dialing back and north korea rhetoric. we are almost in a war at 2017 and now we were not. he's lucky, he has not had a major foreign crisis. every president had a missile

crisis or 9/11 or some big thing. trump has not had that yet. he may have that next year or may not or second term or should he get one. how he react in that crisis is an interesting question. >> he has been impulse sive in terms of the withdrawal of syria and erdogan and ignoring all the advices here. what are the implications though of the generals ignoring what the president really wants and how would we feel about it as some suggested if it were president commander in cheer, elizabeth warren or some other democratic commander in chief who does not have military experience and have the generals basically counter demanding. >> that's a great question. >> he's a commander in chief. commander in chief, he or she has wide latitude than any electedelec elected officials.

not necessarily they'll be taken but they were after what the president choose from. at the end of the day, mattis is now gone. he's replaced. he's not jim mattis and does not have the same stature. we'll see. >> peter bergen, the book is an extraordinary read. thank you. coming up, michael bennett is talking about his bid for the white house. stay with us right here on msnbc. e. stay with us right here on msnbc. ♪

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that does it for us. follow us @mitchell reports. here is ali velshi and stephanie ruhle for "velshi & ruhle." >> coming up, a new impeachment report accuses president trump of multiple federal crimes. it comes as lawmakers are expected to vote on impeachment in the house this week. we'll talk to senator michael bennett of what happens after that vote. >> president trump and senator mcconnell are seating judges. there is no sign of letting up either. we have more on the push to reshape the judiciary. something that impacts every aspect of our lives and our nbc news