>> and that is how we start a new week, by ending our monday night broadcast. thank you for being with us. good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. ♪ this morning, we will see another step forward in the impeachment of president trump, the house rules committee scheduled to meet to establish the procedures that the house will follow when it considers articles of impeachment tomorrow. >> plus, a group of moderate democrats who have previously expressed reservations about impeaching the president are now coming out in support of the move. >> and a stunning admission by rudy giuliani, he told the new yorker, he knew that the former ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch, out of the way, quote, bought she was going to make investigations difficult. f. that story breaking

overnight in "the new york times." >> incredible, with rudy giuliani, just revealing a lot. >> a lot of revelations there. >> i'm yasmin vossoughian, alongside ayman mohyeldin. it is december 17th, 2019. another u.s. historic moment. this morning, the house rules committee will take up articles of impeachment for the first time ever, one last step to consider the procedures to govern the vote tomorrow on whether to impeach the 45th president of the united states. unlike the clinton impeachment when lawmakers agreed to the rules by unanimous consent, today's markup is expected to be a fight with the house judiciary chairman jerry nadler and ranking member doug collins expected to testify on the articles of impeachment. in the senate, the battle is on whether to call witnesses. here is chuck schumer after the majority leader mitch mcconnell,

calling on white house chief of staff mick mulvaney and former national security adviser john bolton to testify. >> to engage a trial without the facts coming out is to engage in a coverup. to conduct a trial without the facts is saying we're afraid. we have something to hide. to conduct a trial without relevant witnesses who haven't been heard from, to just rehash the evidence presented in the house, just doesn't make any sense. if leader mcconnell doesn't hold a full and fair trial, the american people will rightly ask, what are you, leader mcconnell and what is president trump hiding. >> mcconnell of course wants a quick trial, with no witnesses, and according to "the wall street journal", quote, several republican lawmakers view the president's dealings with ukraine as inappropriate but not worthy of impeachment and feel that opening the door to

witnesses may make it harder for them to actually acquit him. now, one person to watch is senator joanie ernst. she's got a tough re-election battle back home in iowa. when asked about witnesses at the senate trial she told nbc news this. don't like it, let's shorten this. i think pretty much everything we need to know is all right there in the house, we'll hear about it in the senate, and i think just dragging this out is not going to do us any favors one way or another. as for a start date for the senate trial, majority whip john thune says january 6th is probably quote a good bet. a group of five moderate democrats who flipped their districts from red to blue in 2018 have announced plans they vote to impeach president trump tomorrow. those democrats include congresswoman alisa slotkin of michigan and south carolina, and mcadams of utah and abigail stanberger of virginia and andy

kim of new jersey. and slotkin explained her decision in rochester, michigan, last night and the partisan divide of impeachment was on full display. about 450 people attended her town hall and there was a handful of trump supporters who chaptered and booed throughout much of the meeting. >> i want people to think about where we will be if it becomes normal to ask foreign governments to intervene in our political process. what if that becomes normal? what if next time, we have a democratic president asking the chinese government for a cyber attack, for something new, for some intrusion? for me this is something that i cannot abide. that i can't accept. >> as a cia officer and as someone who has sworn an oath to protect and defend the constitution, reaching out to a foreign power is something

fundamentally different. >> 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. because this is bigger than politics. >> let's talk some polling here. so americans do remain split on whether the president should be impeached. and removed from office. according to the latest quinnipiac university poll, you can see it right there, 45% of americans agree that the president should be impeached and removed. and a little over half, 51% said he should not be. now broken down by party, opposition to impeaching and removing the president, includes 95% of republicans, and 58% of independents, and just 11% democrats. while 53% of americans agreed that trump abused of power of the presidency down two points

since the start of the house impeachment hearings in october, 44% said they disagreed. meanwhile after a fox news poll showed half of the country supporting president trump's impeachment and removal from office, co-host brian yesterday, said he was stunned. >> keep in mind too, the fox poll came out and i was stunned by this. 50% of the country want the president impeached. was stunned that is the number because i thought things were trending away. >> 50% of americans support president trump being impeached and removed from office and 4% support trump's impeachment but not being removed from office and 41% said the president should not be impeached at all. on sunday, after the release of some tough numbers for the president, he took to twitter writing this. the fox news polls always inaccurate, are heavily weighted toward democrats. they got it all wrong. getting a you in pollster and six minutes later, the president found some poll results he like and he tweeted this, approval

rating in republican party, 95%. a record. overall approval rating, 51%. think of where i'd be without the never-ends, 24 hour a day phony witch hunt that started three years ago. it is unclear which poll results the president is actually referring to there. we'd love to see them. as his approval rating has not climbed above 47% on any poll collected by real clear politics in the month of december. but joe biden believed the president was referring to the same fox news poll that trump earlier attacked on twitter, and biden replied, this same poll has you losing to me by seven points. joining us no you from washington, d.c., political reporter for the hill, julia manchester. julia, good to have you with us on this tuesday morning. let's talk a little bit about what we are prepping to see today ahead of the house's vote, full vote, i should say, on impeachment tomorrow. break it down for us. >> yes, today, you're really probably going to see a bit of a showdown in the house rules committee, jerry nadler and doug

collins testifying and i think it is going to be, even though democrats are the majority on the committee, you are going to see republicans being very vocal, and it just shows how partisan this entire impeachment process really has been. now, everything is really set to be approved. we're not going to see any of these articles change. because democrats control the majority of this particular committee. however, republicans are not going down without a fight. and we know that a number of republicans, whether it is doug collins, jim jordan, john radcliff, they have been very voke until defending the president and trying to curry favor towards the president and defending him publicly. so i believe you will see doug collins do that today. tomorrow, you're going to see this potentially taken to the house floor for a vote. and then that could potentially go into thursday. if speakers take a while on the floor and we're expecting republicans to once again defend the president. so this process, even though it is moving very quickly, is slated to get messy.

>> we have heard a lot from freshmen democrats amidst this entire process, those that are supportive of im peaching a president, also those that are not necessarily supportive of impeaching a president, especially those in swing districts, you can't help but think about congressman jeff van drew who has decided to become a republican amidst all of this. what kind, if we're talking about those supportive of impeaching a president, what kind of political response are we expecting from some of those freshmen democrats in those swing district s? >> right now we've seen the five freshman democrats, and spanberger, and cunningham, and slotkin, coming out in favor of impeachment and that probably strikes some political watch herbs a as bit of a surprise because they were holdout force a while and remember nancy pelosi was trying to give these members of her caucus cover earlier this year, by not coming out sooner in favor of impeachment. however, they're taking a big political risk her and i think some of the members have come out and essentially said that this could cost them re-election, but for democrats,

the argument right now is this is an issue of morality, and that clip we played earlier, of slotkin, during that town hall, she says this sets a precedent for whether a future president can ask a foreign power to intervene, in an election, or ask a foreign power to investigate a political opponent. so for them, this is about morality. ahead of an election. however, it is unclear whether they will be re-elected and this will impact that. >> julia manchester, thank you so much. stay close. we will talk to you again in a little bit. a lot to talk about ahead. a federal judge, rejects attempts at former national security adviser michael flynn to throw out his previous guilty plea. now he has a new sentencing date. >> "the new york times" is taking a look at what it calls a nonaggression pact between elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and why it could hurt their candidacies in the long run. those stories and much more as well as a check of weather when we come back.

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a federal judge has rejected former national security michael flynn's claim that he was targeted by politically motivated federal agents. flynn's attorneys accuse prosecutors of suppressing evidence and allegation he was targeted by federal investigators for quote concocted and political purposes. they also argue that flynn was coerced into pleading guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with russia. but in a 92-page ruling, the u.s. district judge ruled yesterday, refuted the arguments, effectively ending the former national security visor's chances at getting the conviction tossed out a sentencing date is now set for the 28th of january. >> joining us here on the set, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. danny, good morning to you. what do you make about this ruling against michael flynn? >> michael flynn may have had this defense and it may have been effective but the time to

assert it was many, many months ago when the case first started. michael flynn was an exemplary cooperating witness, charged, rushed into court, pleaded guilty, cooperated, and that is the path that a cooperating witness takes, or a defendant takes, that puts him in the best position to get the lowest sentence and the prosecutors behind that lowest sentence. what you have with michael flynn now is essentially at the 11th hour, he has changed his attorneys and changed his entire theory of the case. and now, he is arguing, hey, i should get this discovery, shy get these documents, i should be able to look into whether or not i was railroaded into this plea agreement. the time to have made that argument was many months ago. even though the inspector general's report just came out, a lot of this information was known to michael flynn way back when he pleaded guilty. and the way the system works is that once you go down this path of pleading guilty and cooperating, he's already pled guilty twice, so in doing so, he is saying i understand the charges, i agree i commit these crimes, i have no disputes with

the facts that the government laid out. once you've done that under oath, it is really hard at this stage to walk back from that. yes. >> let's switch gears and talk about impeachment, the articles of impeachment expected to clear the final hurdle later today paving the way for a full house vote tomorrow. walk us lieu what we are expecting to see between today and tomorrow and where we go after that. >> today, you can expect that the house is going to get together, the committee will vote on their procedure for doing this entire vote. and you are going to see republicans make a lot of complaints about the fact that they didn't get their own day of hearings, so that they could call their own witnesses, there will be debate about that. but -- >> were you surprised by that by the way. >> no i wasn't surprise bid that. because republicans strongest argument is procedure. they have, many of them have admitted, including their own law professor witness, that the president's phone call is anything but perfect so republicans have to fall back on their strongest arguments which are in this case procedure. and they have to make the point that look, we should be allowed witnesses, we should be allowed

more things, more opportunities, to contest this stuff, and so that is what you're going to likely hear today. >> this is why, what you just said, the procedure argument, from the republicans, this is why i don't understand why they wouldn't necessarily be supportive of a more lengthy senate trial where they could actually call witnesses. >> exactly. >> if they have a problem with the procedure in the house so far, the senate leaders -- >> you would think that mitch mcconnell would want to bring in witnesses. >> like you said. >> you're exactly right in that a longer trial would allow for more witnesses, and for more reason -- >> maybe exonerating the president that way. >> right again, but again, the republicans have been proceeding with the theory that this phone call was not exactly favorable to the president, and some of the president's actions were not exactly exemplary, so a longer trial might not be good politically for the president. republicans know that they have the votes. so strategically, the best path might be the shortest trial and get through this, get it out of the way, put it in the rearview mirror and move forward toward

the election. >> and not necessarily woefr about the political optics of it all? >> no, maybe not. maybe not. >> >> danny cevallos, thanks, always a pleasure, appreciate it. let's get a check of the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> a rough 24 hours, from the tornados to the ice storm ongoing and the snow, and flooding concerns in the appalachians but the attorneys were the big story. yesterday afternoon and evening, a december tornado outbreak. we had a report of 37 tornadoes, many of them were in louisiana, and alabama, and portions of mississippi, and we had three fatalities, two in alabama, and one in louisiana, and we have at least seven to eight other injuries related to these storms, and these were serious tornadoes, these were strong tornadoes, and obviously, you know, it can happen in december in the deep south, it doesn't happen often but if they do, usually it is this exact same area. so here is how it played out. in this, all of the little red dot, all of the tornado reports that you had. you can see, all the way from alexandra, who at one point was

under a tornadoes emergency and then headed for the macomb area, to hattiesburg, and also at this hour this morning, we have a couple of storms in southern portions of the panhandle region of florida, tornado warnings. so we're in the quite done yet. the winter side of this storm, we still have 48 million people under a winter weather advisory and the ice storm warning around cumberland, maryland and this little area of northern new jersey, an ice storm overnight with winter storm warnings. and everybody else is kind of like a crunchy icy, not a lot of snow, and a lot of areas that we're expecting snow, were more sleet and then to freezing rain, that is happening no you from new york city northward and heavy rain through the south here, and from atlanta, all the way through the carolinas, during the day today, and that will slow you down. and the blue is snow, so the new york state thruway will have issues, the mass pike, north of hartford and a freezing rain and sleet mess and northern new jersey, an southern portions of connecticut, and all of central pennsylvania, has got an good icing overnight. so those are the areas that have a lot of extra caution and a lot of school delays out there. all through the northeast. and here is the additional snowfall, the purples, four,

some areas six a good hit of snow still to come from the capital district, albany, through portland and areas north of boston so with this mess, most of it will be out of here through this afternoon. a quick moving storm. if you can get to work or school, it will be a lot easier getting home. >> thank you, bill. >> thanks, bill. still ahead, the white house is closing in on its take to be the new u.s. ambassador to ukraine, as rudy giuliani admits shockingly that he wanted to oust marie yovanovitch out of the way for political reasons. we're back in a moment. moment (vo) the flock blindly falls into formation. flying south for the winter. they never stray from their predetermined path. but this season, a more thrilling journey is calling. defy the laws of human nature. at the season of audi sales event.

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welcome back. president trump defended his personal attorney rudy giuliani yesterday, after the former mayor's recent trip to ukraine. >> mr. president, how much has giuliani shared with you about his recent trip to ukraine? >> not too much. but he is a very great crime fighter. he was probably the greatest crime fighter over the last 50 years, very smart. he was the best mayor in the history of the city of new york. he is a great person who loves our country. and he does this out of love, believe me. he does it out of love. he sees what is goes on. he sees what is happening. he sees all of the hoax that happens when they talk about impeachment hoax, or the russian collusion delusion. and he sees it and he is a great gentleman and he was again, the greatest mayor in the history of new york, and probably the greatest crime fighter in the last 50 years. he knows what he is doing. >> trump's comments appear

inconsistent with what giuliani told "the wall street journal" just on friday. according to the paper, giuliani said he got a call from the president as his plane was arriving back in new york, and giuliani told him he had gotten quote more than you can imagine. >> and a new piece in the new yorker reveals the remarkable admission from president trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani where he says that he needed former ukraine ambassador marie yovanovitch out of the way because he was hindering his push to get dirt on former vice president joe biden. in the december issue of the new yorker, giuliani confirmed that he saw yovanovitch as an obstacle saying in part quote i believe i needed yovanovitch out of the way. she was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody. when asked about yovanovitch in an interview last night, giuliani. >> it, confirmed her out, but denied needing her out of the way. >> now this hit piece, and it is a hit piece also has you on the record admitting that you forced

out marie yovanovitch. >> of course i did. >> you needed her out of the way. you're personal attorney for the president. why do you need her out of the way? >> i didn't need her out of the way. i forced her out because she is corrupt. >> "the new york times" says that rudy giuliani spoke to trump about how yovanovitch had hindered efforts that could be politically helpful to the president and connected giuliani with secretary of state mike pompeo within a time frame within weeks of when yovanovitch was recalled as an ambassador. >> we know that ambassador marie yovanovitch was ousted at the urging of president trump's personal attorney rudy giuliani and aides to the president are closing in on her replacement. retired general, a 40-year army veteran is, being considered for the post to ukraine, according to several people familiar with the search. dayton is currently the director of the george c. marshall european center for security studies in germany. "politico" also reports that secretary of state mike pompeo

is expected to visit ukraine next month. which would be his first visit as secretary of state. still ahead, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell leader and minority leader chuck schumer have their own ideas what trump's impeachment trial should look like but different than when they pushed for in the clinton impeachment. >> not surprising. and boeing is pushing for the suspension of the troubled 737 max planes and we will look at the aerospace giant and the broader economy. back in a moment. broader economy. back in a moment when i rent a car, i never compromise.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian. we want to begin this half hour with the latest on the impeachment fight. later this morning, the house rules committee will meet to consider the procedures that will govern tomorrow's vote on whether to impeach the president. meanwhile, the white house is signaling opposition to hearing from folks like mick mulvaney, john bolton, and a few other witnesses that minority leader chuck schumer has requested to be part of the senate trial. >> senator schumer wants mick mulvaney to come and testify at a potential senate trial. is there a chance that happens? >> did senator schumer ask for it? we don't do things because senator schumer asks us to do so. the white house made clear that he looks at the entire process as unconstitutional, illegitimate and ill-conceived and i say many americans particularly in the swing states agree. so there is no reason for them to go and testify in the senate trials as far as we can see.

>> so while senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has signaled he wants a short impeachment trial with no new witnesses called, cnn last night aired a clip of mcconnell, during a 1999 interview, in which he advocated for witnesses to testify in the case against then president bill clinton. >> every other impeachment has had witnesses. it's not unusual to have witnesses in a trial, and i think we're handling in exactly the appropriate way under the constitution, and it will end soon. >> there is probably a lot of sound bites in the back pocket of leader mcconnell doing the exact opposite of what he once did. >> and at different side of the same coin, here is chuck schumer yesterday explaining why he opposed testimony during the impeachment clinton trial. >> 1999 was a different case. there were all of the obvious reasons why they did not want a witness like monica lewinsky testifying in public. i was there. and it related to what she, what the questions might be about, and that the whole nation

including children would be watching, and it is totally different situation. there is no analogy. >> and republican senator susan collins is distancing herself from the majority leader mitch mcconnell who said that the senate is working in close coordination with the white house ahead of the impeachment trial. here is what mcconnell had to say followed by senator collins' remarks. >> everything i do during this, i'm coordinating with the white house counsel. there will be no difference between the president's position and our position. as to how to handle this. there is no chance the president's going to be removed from office. my hope is there won't be a single republican who votes for either of these articles of impeachment. >> were you bothered at all by senator mcconnell saying he was going to work in close coordination with the white house counsel's office? >> every senator has to decide on his or her own, how to approach it. that would not be the approach

that i've taken. the only people that i've consulted with thus for are experts from the congressional research service and i sat down with them, for a session last week. >> while impeachment is happening, we also have an election around the corner. president trump continuing to send mixed messages about his participation in the general election debates. he tweeted yesterday, quote, i look very much forward to debating whoever the lucky person is who stumbles across the finish line in a little watched do nothing democratic debates forums. my records is so good on the economy and all else, including debating, that perhaps i would consider more than three debates. but trump went on to slam the commission on presidential debates, alleging the organization is stacked with quote trump haters and never trumpers and for audio issues during his first 2016 debate, with then democratic nominee hillary clinton. in the same vein, trump asserted that the debates are quote up to me, and that he will make a final decision at a later time.

now, there is also new reporting from "the new york times" on bernie sanders and elizabeth warren and what the paper calls a defacto nonaggression pact. according to the times, quote, at informal washington dinners on the floor of the house and on activist filled conference call, left-leaning officials are deliberating how to forge an events ule eventual alliance between the two. harry reed of nevada has offered to quote broker some kind of deal. while the congressman of california, a co chairman of sanders' campaign believes the solution would be to create a sanders warren ticket. for now, both progressive senators seem to be in god financial shape. having more than $25 million in campaign funds going into next month. so. >> meanwhile the latest slate of national polling has joe biden sitting comfortably on top, just days before the next debate. bernie sanders holds on to second place in the npr morning consult poll while the q poll has bernie sanders and elizabeth

warren in a virtual tie for second place. joining us from washington, political reporter for the hill, julia manchester. welcome back to you. >> what trends or story lines are you tracking here in some of this latest polling that i just laid out? >> well, over this past weekend, we've seen some changes. on friday, i wrote about how former vice president joe biden has been very consistent throughout this presidential campaign. you know, we've seen other candidates rise and fall, but for the most part, his support has been consistent. however, over the weekend, we saw a number of polls come out. we saw that in south carolina, a change research poll, we saw that for the first time in south carolina, and biden does not have a double digit lead, and that he was followed by none other than bernie sanders, in second place. and then we saw in that npr poll that was released yesterday, that bernie sanders is in second place again. so bernie sanders and joe bide haven't been pretty consistent in terms of their support throughout the campaign. neither have made drastic changes to their campaigns or

messages, their messages have been very consistent and i think their support has been in the polls very consistent as a result. and i'm wondering if a little over a month out from the iowa caucuses, this will turn out to be a showdown. because we are seeing buttigieg, the other centrist in the race, in that top tier, and elizabeth warren, the other progressive, starting to fall. so i'm just wondering if we're starting to see a biden versus sanders dynamic starting to play out. >> speaking of that, between warren and sanders, and this unspoken progressive pact, how might we see these two candidates who represent the more progressive or left-leaning wing of the party team up for a potential 2020 ticket. is that likely? >> we will really have to see how that plays out. but i wouldn't say it is likely. remember, the democratic party right now, ahead of the debates, is actually citing a lot of issues when it comes to diversity, on the debate stage, and i would say that comes on,

applies to the ticket as well. so it depends if democrats are looking to put, you know, a person of color on that ticket, and also, you know, in terms of diversity of idea, remember, progressives obviously are very vocal in the democratic party but i would assume that centrists or more moderate democrats would want to be represented on that ticket. i think you're also going to see democrats wondering if two progressives can really go up against president trump, and mike pence, and whether they need a more moderate person who is able to appeal to swing voters, in pennsylvania, and michigan, and you know, in those swing states, ahead of 2020. >> can i just quickly ask you your take on bloomberg getting i believe it was, if you could po pull up the polls, 7% in the polling, entering the race at a late stage and self fund can his campaign and not able to be on the debate stage. >> i think this shows the power of bloomberg's money and name

recognition. we saw the ad buys going out across the country, over thanksgiving break, in this period between thanksgiving and christmas, americans have been inundated with bloomberg ads. whether it is on youtube, facebook, or on broadcast. so this is a result of it. he is also just a well-known person. he has a media company named after him. he has associated himself with many causes whether it is combatting climate change or gun violence, a former mayor of new york city, so that definitely helps him out. so i'm not surprised that he is polling so high, for someone that jumped into the race recently. >> julia manchester live in dc, thanks. still ahead, we mentioned thursday's democratic debate. we did not mention that it is now in jeopardy over a labor dispute. more on the picket line, with the democratic candidates, that they will not cross. >> plus tornadoes leave major damage in the south. while a winter storm moves into the northeast. we are going to have your first look at "morning joe" coming up. you wouldn't do only half of your daily routine

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welcome back. yesterday, russia and china proposed that the u.n. security council lift some sanctions on north korea. according to reuters, the move focuses in part on lifting the ban on north korean exports which includes statues, seafood and textiles but the u.s. maintained that now was not the time to consider lifting the sanctions, citing north korea's continued missile tests, while russia reportedly explained that the proposal was more of a humanitarian issue, the u.s., britain and france insist that u.n. sanctions not be lifted until north korea denuclearizes, which they had said over and over again they plan not to do. president trump and north korean leader kim jong-un have met three september times but so far have failed to reach a deal on the reclusive country's nuclear program. joining us on the set, what a pleasure, nbc news national correspondent keir simmons. another day, another missile test. north korea calling it a crucial test and a long-range rocket

site. give us the latest where we stand with regards to negotiations. >> what negotiations? >> exactly. >> there are no negotiations. >> next question. >> and -- >> and i mean america has left kind of begging for negotiations. and pretty stunning position for the u.s. to find themselves in. in terms of the missile tests. we haven't really been watching, but they have been continuing to conduct missile tests. short-range missile tests. admittedly. maybe around 25 this year. so kim jong-un, from one perspective is getting a lot of what he kind of wanted, he is able to continue testing those missiles, and developing his capabilities, he is certainly stronger, i think, militarily, in terms of missile capability than he was when you remember, when the crisis between kim jong-un and donald trump really kind of escalated and we really worried about whether there would be some kind of a war. so that's where we stand. i mean it is kind of stalemate and honestly, i guess, you would say that north america has

something of the upper hand. >> so no negotiations. north core continues its short range missile testing. and now you've got china and russia saying they want to take some of the u.n.-backed sanctions against north korea. what is going on that front? how do you explain that? what is going on with the timing of that? >> people talk about this air cra era that we're living in, great power competition, china, russia, the united states, and think of north korea as the kid in the schoolyard who is smaller than everybody else and good at getting the bigger kids to fight with each other, and effectively what you're seeing is china and russia, taking north core's side and one of the reasons they are doing that because they don't want to see another escalation with the u.s. they don't want to see the threat of some kind of a war in the korean peninsula again. and also, just because of the ongoing tensions between russia, china, and the u.s.

it blocks, sort of formally the alliances have aligned with that. >> i can't relate with the smaller kid in the school. >> that was not you. >> not me. for sure. >> keir simmens. >> just a tiny wee boy and now just 6'5". >> keir simmons, thank you very much. always a pleasure. >> you will be on "morning joe" as well discussing brexit of all things. a lot happening over there. >> a lot to talk about. >> a busy man. >> let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning once again. how dangerous was yesterday afternoon? numerous tornadoes. not just attorneys but even strong tornadoes. we haven't found out exactly how high the winds were with them, with the storm surveys today. but look this one, look how wide, this is like a stove pipe tornado, and you can just see how fast it is hitting and the clouds are spinning on the bottom, some of the debris around the bottom, picking up the trees and tossing them around, we know we had three fatalities, from attorneys yesterday, and numerous

injuries. louisiana, mississippi, alabama, were the hardest hit areas. and our thoughts to all of those communities having to do the cleanup today. here is how the tornadoes played out. each of the red icons show you where the tornados were as they formed and pushed to the south. we still have an isolated shot of maybe a tornado or two in the southeast but it is not even a tenth of the, as dangerous as it was yesterday. the other alerts, we have 52 million people, all the way from cash fl carbon dale, indiana, through indiana and interstate 80 is slick from columbus into pennsylvania, and overnight, we have had a mess in southern new england, and sleet and snow and freezing rain and some areas just plain old rain, it depends where you are. and in general, south of new york city, the roads are just wet. and you have to deal with rainy weather today, all on the east coast. but north of there, it is where we've had the icy weather. connecticut is especially very slippery this morning. and we've had a lot of freezing rain overnight. especially the southern half of connecticut. and now that is going to push

into areas of rhode island. and snow snow to the north of that. and so air travel today, i think atlanta will improve as we go throughout the morning and charlotte and rain and storms, and the new york city airports will improve, late today, but from now, until about probably the dinner hour, there is a lot of clouds and light rain and stuff like that, to deal, with as far as additional snow, anyone driving, say up around the capital district, the mass pike northward to the northern half of new england, where you're still in the snow and nothing blockbuster by your standards but still not fun and there is just a ton of school delays and cancellations out there, for everyone to deal with in the northeast today. >> all right. thanks for that, bill. still ahead, amazon changing its delivery rules, in the middle of the busiest time of the year. plus, new reporting on impeachment, about those obama voters, who switched sides in 2016, to support donald trump, insight from a key swing state, all that, coming up next.

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welcome back, everyone. amazon prime announced it will prevent its third-party sellers from using fedex citing a decline in holiday performance. this is a pretty significant development i would say for a lot of people that are shopping right now in the midst of peak shopping season. what more can you tell us about it? >> definitely in the is coming at the busiest time of the year for shoppers. this is just the latest in the tensions between amazon and fedex, though. you may remember that earlier this year amazon and fedex ended

two major contracts. so this is just yet another ratcheting up of tensions between these two companies. we've seen fedex shift their focus over the last year or so to the likes of target and walmart, away from amazon where tensions have been brewing. now, an amazon spokesperson came out and defended the move saying that the policy is to ensure that customers get their packages on time. the ecommerce companies are managing delivery cutoffs as i'm sure you're well aware in ordering your christmas gifts and that measure is potentially temporary. but definitely a relationship that continues to be volatile between fedex and amazon. now, another corporate story i want to bring it your attention, we discussed yesterday around boeing. they are freeze prague duction of those 737 max planes. this is the company's biggest shutdown in more than two decades. major development for the plane maker in the comes after the faa

refused to clear the planes for flight before 2020. now, the company says that the suspension will be temporary starting in january and they will keep on board 12,000 new employees to focus on delivering the stored aircraft. but we've seen today a big reaction in boeing suppliers here in europe. so a major implication for this decision from a big playmaker. >> it looks as if pepsi has caught wichbd ond of our schedud wanting us to buy this new drink in bulk because they're coming out with a new drink with extra caffeine in it which would be appreciative on a friday morning show. >> a little extra kick is even an understatement. pepsi co. is ready to debut it and it has twice the amount of caffeine than regular pepsi has. a huge boost. but to get that kick you have to

endure the flavor combaition nation combination of coffee and cola. they tried this combination before, it hasn't gone too well and they think they learned something from the combination in the past. coca-cola also has a coffee cola drink that's available internationally. i have seen it over here, i haven't tried it but you can try it for yourselves in april. >> bring us a sample and --. >> we'll try anything at this point. >> exactly. help needed. >> i think coffee and cola sounds quite tasty. >> a little cherry in there as well. thanks, juliana. coming up next, a look did he one big thing from axios and the articles of impeachment against the president have one last hurdle before hitting the house floor tomorrow. we'll lay out what's happening this morning. plus, eugene robinson is here with his new op-ed entitled nixon was bad, trump is much

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welcome back. joining us from washington with a look at axios a.m. political reporter for axios, alexi mccammond. good morning to you. >> good morning to you both. hi. >> talk to us about axios' one big thing today. >> according to my reporting for axios, the republican party has embraced impeachment as a way to boost their fundraising and messaging efforts more easily than democrats have who, according to my conversations, are otherwise focusing on a few key impeachment villains, as they call them, in their messaging with swing voters. but otherwise democratic party officials say they would much rather be focussing on health care than impeachment. and that matters because while they have their differences, both parties are using impeachment to look beyond the vote and eventual senate trial and focus on next november's elections and the way they can shape that in talking about impeachment or not now. >> i know that you've got some new reporting about where michigan voters stand ahead of

2020 of the 2020 elections. that's going to be one of the more important states to watch along with ohio, pennsylvania, and others. but how do they feel over in the state of michigan? >> for part of my 2020 coverage for axios we do these focus groups with obama/trump swing voters in the west. when i was in saginaw, michigan, recently, trump won it by 1% in 2016, obama by 12% in 2012. i learned that these voters who voted for obama in 2012 and then switched to donald trump are now firmly in president trump's camp. he's sort of become their new normal, which is not the same thing that i've heard from other obama/trump voters around the upper midwest. but this was crucial because it's a crucial area for democrats to win back in 2020. obviously for the electoral map and the 2020 presidential election. but these voters expressed to me during this focus group that they really hate impeachment because they feel like democrats aren't focusing on the issues that they care most about,

whether that's social security reform or illegal immigration and cracking down on that or other issues that simply aren't impeachment. >> all right. always a pleasure. thank you very much. we're going to be reading axios a.m. in a bit. you too can sign up for the newsletter at signup.axios.com. >> that does it for us on this tuesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. ? >> president trump yesterday attacked house speaker nancy pelosi saying nancy's teeth were falling out of her mouth and she didn't have time to think. and hey, man, you may not like what he said but he can say whoever he wants because this is. >> united states. [ laughter ] >> and good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is tuesday, december 17th along with joe, willie and me we have historian, author of the

"soul of america" and rogers professor of tjon meacham. and karine jean t-pierre. and today is another key day in the historic march toward president trump's impeachment. this morning the house rules committee will take up articles of impeachment for the first time ever. one last step to consider the procedures that will govern tomorrow's full house vote. and with the handful of moderate democrats from trump districts yesterday announcing they will vote to impeach, it is now all but certain that tomorrow president trump will become only the third president to be impeached by the house of representatives in history. we will get to the new developments and whether the senate trial