this morning it is a standoff after impeachment a day after the house voted to impeach, speaker nancy pelosi says she will wait and see what the impeachment will look like before sends the articles over. the president is calling the whole thing a hoax. >> democratic candidates hit the stage and pete buttigieg came under attack several times throughout the evening. >> after more than a year of talks the house has replaced a new trade deal to replace nafta, one of president trump's top priorities.

good morning, everyone. it is friday, december 20th. i'm ayman mohyeldin, alongside yasmin vossoughian. the next step in the impeachment process, the senate trial remains in limbo as lawmakers leave washington for a two-week holiday break. the trial cannot begin until the house speaker transmits the articles to the senate and appoints the lawmakers known as impeachment managers who will then prosecute the case. speaker nancy pelosi says she won't do that until the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell can assure a fair trial. for democrats, that includes the ability to call witnesses like mick mulvaney and john bolton and here are how things played out yesterday. >> speaker pelosi suggested that house democrats may be too afraid, too afraid to transmit their shoddy work product to the senate. mr. president, it looks like the prosecutors are getting cold feet. in front of the entire country. and second-guessing whether they even want to go to trial.

>> we would hope there would be a fair process, just as we hope they would honor the constitution. by the way i saw some of it, i didn't see it, but heard some of what mitch mcconnell said today and it reminded me that our founders when they wrote the constitution, they suspected that there could be a reogue president, and i don't think they expected a rogue president and a rogue leader in the senate at the same time. >> and mcconnell met with chuck schumer yesterday and rejected what he called a demand for a pre-trial guarantee of certain witnesses. >> just one day after being impeached, president trump criticized the historic vote by house lawmakers calling it a hoax while speaking to reporters in the oval office. >> i don't feel like i'm being impeached because it is a hoax, it's a set up, it is a horrible thing they did. you know what? it is a phony deal. and they cheapened the word impeachment. it is an ugly word, but they cheapened the word impeachment.

that should never again happen to another president. and i think you will see some very interesting things happen over the coming nfew days and weeks. >> the president tweeted this last night, quote, after the democrats gave me no new process in the house, no lawyers, no witnesses, no nothing, they now want to tell the senate how to run their trial. actually, they have zero proof of everything. they never even showed up. they want out. i want an immediate trial. joining us on the set is msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. what do you make of the standoff between speaker pelosi and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell about this. who do you think has leverage? we were talking during the sound bite from mitch mcconnell, trying to spin it saying they're afraid, they're getting cold feet, as the prosecutors, in this, but that's not really the case from nancy pelosi's perspective. >> mitch mcconnell is using senatorial reverse psychology. he might as well get up there and say what you are chicken?

i mean because that's what he is saying, he is saying look, if you feel this way about this trial, then we don't care if you, we don't care, bring it over, hoping that nancy pelosi will say we're not chicken, we will transmit the art. the strategy by house speaker nancy pelosi is very clever because the house is holding on to the last vestiges of power by waiting to transmit the articles because once they doe they lose all power of the republicans have a majority in the senate and the constitution is not clear about when you have to take the articles, put them in inter-office envelope and walk them to the senate so she is trying to extract some kind of son sessions from the senate about what the trial will look like and mitch mcconnell is saying look, whatever the rules that worked for clinton will work in this instance, and we'll figure it out mid trial. there's a very important reason for that. by agreeing to figure out whether or not to call witnesses mid trial, that means it isn't decided until long after those

articles of impeachment are transferred, and then speaker pelosi is out of the equation. >> you also know, as we've seen historically in the last yer or so that the speaker is pretty masterful at playing the president and knows how to push his buttons and doing that as we're seeing some of the tweets coming out of the white house and the president specifically, and senator lindsey graham basically saying he is not going to accept any witness requests. what do you make of it? how do you think we will have resolution here? >> mitch mcconnell has a good precedent argument, because what worked for the clinton impeachment he is saying would work in this instance so the decision to call witnesses is an open question. and i have to stress that when you look at president, in impeachments, they're not that reliable, not the same way as precedent in the judicial cases in the judiciary branch and this is because we've only had a couple of impeachments and you really can't look too strongly to the andrew johnson impeachment, as valid precedent, because it was so long ago, and things were so different back then. so for different impeachments,

there are different rules. the senate has the sole power to impeach and set its own rules and nancy pelosi is using a clever bit of last-minute strategy to try and retain some power and get some of the things they want for an ultimate senate trial. >> very quickly, do you think that you can have a trial without witnesses and it still be fair? i know that impeachment is not exactly a, you know, judicial process in the same way that you know, you practice law, but could you still have a trial without any witnesses? >> yes. >> a fair trial. >> yes, and you sort of have that, and i say sort of, because it in the clinton impeachment, there were witnesses who testified essentially by video as if, in a deposition, but they weren't live witnesses in the clinton impeachment trial. so again, i always go back to the senate -- >> you don't know if they would allow something like that. >> they might not. and that's the amazing thing. for lawyers, we have volumes and volumes of books of procedure that tell us exactly how each trial is supposed to be run. not only do he would not only

v-that impeachment, have that for impeachment, the specific rules are that the senate makes up the rules each and every time a new impeachment comes along so it is really, the framers organized some chaos, into the impeachment process. >> thank you very much. danny cevallos, thank you very much, always appreciate it. with less than two months until voters begin weighing in on the democratic field, search candidates hit the debate stage in los angeles last night for the sixth democratic debate in what was perhaps the most explosive exchange a fight over fundraising building up on the campaign trail between pete buttigieg and senator elizabeth warren, played out in the open on stage. >> the mayor just recently had a fundraiser that was held in a wine cave full of crystals and served $900 a bottle wine. think about who comes to that? he had promised that every fundraiser he would do would be

open door. but one was closed door. we made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not be the next president of the united states. billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the united states. >> this is the problem with issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass. if i pledged, if i pledged never to be in the company of a progressive democratic donor, i couldn't be up here. senator, your net worth is 100 times mine. >> i do not sell access to my time. i don't do call time. with millionaires and billionaires. >> as of when, senator. >> senator, your presidential campaign right now, as we speak, is funded in part by money you transferred, having raised it at those exact same big ticket fundraisers you now denounce. did it corrupt you, senator?

of course not. >> a lot of back and forth there, and mayor pete who had been climbing in the polls came under attack by senator amy klobuchar last night in a heated exchange last night and the two candidates clashed over their experience and accomplishments. >> before the break, you seemed to imply that our relationship to the first amendment was a talking point. as if anyone up here has any more or less commitment to the constitution than anybody else up here. let me tell you about mi relationship to the first amendment. it is part of the constitution that i raised my right hand and swore to defend with my life. that is my experience and it may not be the same as your, but it counts, senator. it counts. >> i want to be president of the united states. and the point is, we should have someone heading up this ticket that is actually, that has actually won. >> senator, i know that if you just go by vote totals, maybe what goes on in my city seems small to you.

if you want to talk about the capacity to win, try putting together a coalition to bring you back to office with 80% of the vote as a gay dude in mike pence's indiana. >> mayor, if you had won in indiana, that would be one thing. you tried, and you lost by 20 points. >> wow. >> and senator amy klobuchar is going to be on "morning joe" later, so it will be interesting to see the rest of that conversation. >> quite a moment though. >> and it was several a moment between mayor pete and everyone else. the first question of last night's six democratic debate, also asked candidates to address of course, what else, the impeachment of president trump. >> it is a constitution necessity that the house acts the way it did and trump's response to suggest that only half of the american people want to see him thrown out of office now i find is dumbing down the presidency beyond even what i

thought he would do. >> we need a candidate for president who can draw the sharpest distinction between the corruption of the trump administration and a democrat who is willing to get out and fight not for the wealthy and well connected but to fight for everyone else and that's why i'm in the race. >> certainly i disagree with trump on virtually all of his policies but with conservatives, what i think understand, is that we cannot have a president with that temperament who is dishonoring the presidency of the united states. >> the president left the house with no choice. and i think a lot of us are watching this process, watching washington go through the motions, and not expecting much but a foregone conclusion when it gets to the senate. but we cannot give in to that sense of helplessness, because that's what they want. it is up to us in 2020, this is our chance, to refuse to be taken in by the helplessness. to refuse and reject the

cynicism. that is what this presidential election is about. >> as a wise judge said, the president is not king in america. as we face this trial in the senate, if the president claims that he is so innocent, then why doesn't very all of the president's men testify? richard nixon had his top people testify. >> if president trump thinks that he should not be impeached, he should not be scared to put forward his own witnesses. >> joining us now, reporter for the "washington post," eugene scott, you have it right there, you gone, a lot of talk about the president last night on the debate stage along with impeachment. based on your reporting, how important is the issue of impeachment for democratic primary voters? >> it is of significance, gret significance. most of the supporters on the left, specifically democratic primary voters support im ip d

impeachment and believe president trump is unfit for office and we saw on the debate stage the commitment to remove trump from office, but i think what the candidates were also trying to do was send a message to independent voters in that moment. they want to make it very clear that the president and his party cannot be trusted to continue to run the country, and they want turnout to reflect that the less ideas about president trump and what he could possibly do for the american people and the government, if left in office, could get worse. >> eugene, let me ask you a little bit about the exchange between snoenator warren and mar pete buttigieg. they sparred over fundraiser. can you give a rundown between the two candidates before last night's debate? it had been brewing for some time. >> it had been in part because the two have very different philosophies when it comes to money, at least currently. we know that pete buttigieg has been taking donors from pharmaceutical executives, people from facebook, and

elizabeth warren has tried to make it very clear that she would not be in the hands of billionaires and millionaires, and very affluent americans hoping to influence policy. but the ideas really do speak to the different types of voting blocs they are going for, because of who they believe should have a role in the policy-shaping process. and we know that buttigieg is going for more middle of the road, really hoping to look to former trump supporter, and even republicans, to help him get to the white house, and elizabeth warren believes that some of those americans are why we have some of the challenges that we currently do and trying to get both people, and both groups of people in the democratic party, who just don't know yet where they want to go, in terms of 2020, to hear their arguments, and to make a conclusion. >> all right, eugene scott, live in washington, d.c. for us, eugene, we will talk to you again in just a bit. still ahead amid the fight over impeachment, democrats hand president trump a win on trade. what we know about the new deal

to replace nafta. >> and former white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders apologizes for mocking joe biden during last night's debate. we will tell you exactly what happened there. those stories and a check of your weather when we come back. k you wouldn't do only half of your daily routine

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welcome back. the house of representatives passed the $1.4 trillion usmca deal yesterday signaling a victim for for president trump and house democrats, paging 385 to 41 and will replace nafta as the main trade agreement between neighboring countries canada and mexico. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says the senate would take up the usmca after the impeachment trial. the initial deal was signed by trump last year but house democrats voiced concerns over enforcement, labor, environmental, and drug pricing provisions in the agreement. congress finally reached an agreement on the revised deal last week. the international trade

commission back in april project the that the deal would boost the u.s. economy by $68 billion, and would add 176,000 jobs, six years after taking effect. let's switch gears now and bring in msnbc meteorologist bill karins with a check of the weather. holiday travels arrived. >> it has. >> what are we looking at this weekend? >> the southeast, a couple of minor spots, some issues but nothing horrible. i don't think we will have a lot of cancellations or delays out there. and one of the stories has been the cold in the northeast, and it is still chilly this morning but the winds are not as bad as yesterday. and negative wind chill in northern vermont, new hampshire, maine, northern new york but instead of 4, 14 in new york city adc 22. a considerable warmup, in st. louis, and up to chicago. so let's get into the, today's high, again, you know, normal temperatures, are going to be typically in the upper to mid-30s and getting close to that, philadelphia, to new york,

and dc at 41 this afternoon and a lot better than yesterday and where will is snow on the grund and considerably colder, all of upstate new york, as we go through today and finally as we go through saturday and sunday, the northeast begins to warm up. the worst weather by far this morning is in the pacific northwest, just a stream of rain along the top down, northern organize, through areas of washington state. especially eastern half of the stay. high elevation snow is coming out of that, too. if you're traveling i-5, this is where we could see airport problems, too. let's get into the weekend forecast, a rainstorm starting along the gulf coast. it looks like from new orleans to mobile, i-10 is not a fun day as we go throughout saturday and then sunday, that is just a soaking rain, i mean we could get two to three inches of rain out of this. so anyone traveling from mississippi to alabama, especially in georgia, and also florida, we could have some issues and notice the north east and great lakes, and mild in the middle of the country, and no problems whatsoever as we go throughout our sunday. when we come back, fine tuning the christmas eve and christmas

forecast for you. >> i will need the forecast for the north pole because i will be on the polar express. >> how did you get that golden ticket? >> you know, i have some connections. >> connections. >> yes. >> actually danny cevallos will be on the train with us and his family. >> does he dress up? he is wearing pajamas. committed to it. >> i have not committed it to it quite yet. but we will see. >> thanks, bill. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. >> very much. still ahead, after breaking with democrats in wednesday's impeachment vote, jeff van drew has switched parties and pledged undying support to president trump. undying support to president trump. ♪for the holidays you can't beat home sweet home.♪ we go the extra mile to bring your holidays home. 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.

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at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. welcome back, everyone. new jersey congressman jeff van drew formally switched from democratic to republican yesterday pledging his undying support for donald trump, while he sat next to the president in the oval office. >> two more things i want to say. one, you have my undying support. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> and always. >> and by the way, same way. thank you. >> i'm endorsing him. okay? we're endorsing him. i can't speak for these two gentlemen, but i can say i'm endorsing him. >> thank you. >> how do you feel about that, mike? are you okay. >> yes. >> thank you, thank you. >> thank you. >> and the last thing i will say, one of my heroes, and he has always hung in my office, i have a bipartisan wall that has a lot of different people on there, ronald reagan, and when

he said, i didn't leave my party, my party left me. >> that's true. that's what he said. >> and i'm saying the same thing. >> and he was a democrat, and he moved over. and he said exactly those words. that's fantastic. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> okay. so van drew made the switch after breaking with the democrats on the impeachment, he voted against both articles wednesday night. the "washington post" reports that nearly from the moment president donald trump took office, he quote seized on a theory that troubled his senior aides, ukraine, he told them on many occasions, had tried to stop him from winning the white house. quoting former officials. the paper goes on to say some aides believe it was russian president vladimir putin who influenced president trump's theory of ukraine and the 2016 election. after meeting privately in july of 2017 with russian president vladimir putin at the group of 20 summit in ham burlg, trump grew more innocent that ukraine

worked to defeat him according to multiple officials familiar with his assertions and trump had intense resistance to the assessment of u.s. intelligence agencies that russia systematically interviewed in the 2016 election. along with the blame he faced on ukraine for leading many his advisers to think that putin himself helped spur the idea of ukraine's culpability. the russian embassy in washington declined to discuss whether president putin told president trump that ukraine interfered in the u.s. elections, when asked to comment by the post. the white house did not respond. to the story. still ahead, much more from last night's democratic debate, including the moment former white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders launched an attack on joe biden and later apologized. >> and andrew yang's only candidate of color on the debate stage coming up next. candidate of color on the debate stage coming up next steyer: i'm about to say two words

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin, we begin this half hour with fallout from last night's debate, former white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders facing backlash after mocking joe biden for his stutter. >> my wife and i have a call list, somewhere between 20 and 100 people that we call at least every week or every month, to tell them, i'm here, i give them my private number. they keep in touch with them. a little kid who says i, i can't talk, what do i do. i have scores of these young men and women i give contact and the

reason i give everyone a gift, they want to do something to give someone a gift because they want that help. >> sarah huckabee sanders mocking the stutter, typing the letter i, repetitively, and joe biden talked about the stutter and the former vice president said i worked my whole life to overcome a stutter and it is my great honor to help kids who did the same. >> and i didn't know that about you and that is commendable, and i apologize and made my point respectfully. >> and last night, andrew yang was asked about being the only candidate of color in the debate. here is how he responded. >> it is both an honor and disappointment to be the lone candidate of color on the stage

tonight. i miss kamala and i miss corey but i think corey will be back. >> the question is, why am i the lone candidate of color on this stage, fewer than 5% of americans donate to political campaigns. you know what you need to donate to political campaigns? disposable income. well, the way we fix that, the way we fix this, is we take martin luther king's message of a guaranteed minimum income, a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month for all americans, i guarantee if we had a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month i would not be the only candidate of color on this stage tonight. >> and senator bernie sanders had a couple of uncomfortable moments when the topic of race came up. watch. >> i do want to put the same question to you, senator sanders, what message do you think? >> i wanted to get back to the issue of climate change for a moment, because i do believe this is the existential issue. >> with all respect, this question is about race. can you answer the question as it was asked?

>> because people of color in fact are going to be the people suffering most if we do not deal with climate change. >> you are the oldest candidate on stage this evening. >> and white as well. yes. >> how do you respond to what the former president had to say? >> i got a lot of respect for barack obama, i think i disagree with him on this one. maybe a little self serving but i do disagree. here is the issue. the issue is where power resides in america, and it is not white or black or male or female, we are living in a nation increasingly becoming an oligarchy. >> let's bring in "washington post" reporter eugene scott, once again, good to have you back with us, i want us to go back to andrew yang's that difficulties in fundraising

explain why candidates of color have not been successful in the campaign. give us a sense from your reporting as to whether or not you find that to be a credible claim. >> well, i don't think that is the main reason that last night's stage only featured one candidate of color. yes, we do know that most donors to political candidates are white people. and we do know that people of color have less disposable income. but one of the reasons why the stage was mostly made up of white candidates is also because people of color are overwhelmingly supporting white candidates. joe biden is winning the black vote. joe biden is winning the latino vote. despite the fact that there are candidates like cory booker and deval patrick and julian castro competing for the white house. and so last night's stage reflected perhaps not the diversity of the field, but it certainly reflected the preferences of people of color, right now, and who they think is

best positioned to beat donald trump. >> going into this debate, eugene, according to most of the polls that we've been track, the top tier candidate, former vice president joe biden, senator elizabeth warren, senator bernie sanders and mayor pete buttigieg, not necessarily in that order, depending which poll you're looking at, did this debate do anything to shake that up? >> well, what i think the debate did show is that you don't actually have to have black and latino people on the stage to address the issues that matter most to black and latino voters. certainly, i think voters would like to see greater representation on the stage, but the question a lot of people had going into last night's debate, is would these candidates be able to address issues related to systemic racism, if cory booker was not there. if kamala harris was not there. if julian castro was not there. and they did, in many ways. was it sufficient or not? we will see in terms of how

voters respond. and whether or not they would like more diversity at the next debate, and if their support will change to reflect that, and make that happen. >> before we go, eugene, something else pretty important happened yesterday and i want to get your take on, it it was from an evangelical magazine called christianity today, essentially calling for president trump's removal from office. and what was interesting to me, within the context of this piece, is that they said, they felt as if, from the second that the president entered office, the democrats were essentially going after him. and wantsing to figure out a way in which to get him removed from office but despite all of that, they felt his actions regarding ukraine, regarding that july 25th phone call were enough to say he must be removed from office. what did you make of this break essentially? >> i think the timing was important. you have to remember that this editorial from arguably the most prominent publication in evangelicalism came out one day

after we had multiple lawmakers defend can the president during his impeachment hearing going as far to suggest that the hearing was more unfair to trump than the crucifixion of jesus christ, and i think what we've seen, many evangelicals frustrated with the reputation of the faith under the trump administration, because more than 80% of white evangelicals continue to support the president, given that, we should not expect a huge pi have the within evangelicalism from trump, because the base, the block, the grass roots, the people in the pews, should we say are still behind the president. christianity today magazine is largely thee logically and politically moderate and we know the evangelicals that blocked trump are way more right and moderate and continue to support him. >> and nevertheless, an astounding read yesterday. >> yes. >> eugene scott for us. thank you. great seeing you. >> thanks. another element of the

impeachment story we're following how it is playing from outside the core dors of washington. dasha burns has more for us. what has been some of the sbaeks to the president's impeachment there? >> i wanted to see some of the voters that we talked but first let me introduce you to ashtabula county, on lake erie, once a bustling port zi with a pretty robust manufacture industry that supported this community and a lot of that left a while ago and took the population with it and voters say it is the economic decline that led the county to swing from blue to red. and donald trump won by 20 points in 2016. and it is places like this where democrats want to look at voters and try to win the swing voters back and it is places like this where they should be watching how events in washington are playing out here and we're here to help with that and take a

listen to a little bit of what we heard. >> coming out of this you impeachment process, in your eyes, does anyone come out of it looking good? >> no. no. i would rather see it focusing on raising the minimum wage. i would rather see us focusing on labor law reform. i would rather see us focusing -- >> reporter: as you can tell, it is those issues that impact people on the day to day, that people here are really prioritizing and they want their leaders to prioritize, too. one positive note this week, the passing of the usmca deal with an overwhelming bipartisan majority, a pretty big deal to people here because nafta is kind of what they blame for a lot of the loss of the industry and jobs and people here are eager for a new deal and to see

that go through, again, with some bipartisanship, that is something people here are hungry for, and it gets voters excited and they think that could really help with the economic area. >> we had a bit of a delay there and we appreciate your patience with that. thank you very much. and major speculation ahead, on what is next for the republican congressman mark meadows after announcing he will not seek re-election, we will have more on the top white house position he could be in line to fill. a first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment. in a moment i didn't have to call 911.help. and i didn't have to come get you. because you didn't have another heart attack. not today. you took our conversation about your chronic coronary artery disease to heart.

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♪ welcome back. five aides and confidantes to president trump telling "politico" that acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney is widely expected to step down from his position once the senate wraps up its impeachment trial. according to "politico," trump allies and white house aides who have been nudging the president in recent weeks to find a new leader for the team as it delves

into a crucial re-election campaign, have been circulating lists of potential replacements for weeks. as "politico" ♪, the news that republican congressman mark meadows would not seek re-election and work in some capacity for trump has been interpreted as meadow's morphing into trump's chief of staff in waiting. the president declined to comment on the report. and a look at the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> the southeast is where we're looking right now, with a little bit of a drought through the fall season, and not too much in the way of flooding we don't think. here is how it is playing out. you can notice the clouds already increasing. and that is corpus christi and brownsville and the rains beginning to move in. a soaking rain as we go throughout the weekend. not so much today, but light rain areas like houston and victoria and along the coast and as far as what we're dealing with tomorrow, that is when the rain is going to move up into

areas of new orleans, and by the time we get to sunday, it will be a torrential rain in areas of alabama, georgia, and south carolina, and this is four or five inches of rain, in a wide swath here, and also the winds coming in off the water here, it will be quite strong and i don't think we will get wind damage but not exactly, you don't want to be out there on the beach anywhere from charleston to savannah to jacksonville. and even just north of daytona beach. so just prepare for that. some minor problems obviously dry on i-95 throughout the heavy rain, too. for today's forecast. not a lot of issues, we begin that slow warmup in areas of the northeast after a very cold morning again, 36 in new york this afternoon, and still only 28 in boston and notice chicago, st. louis, 50 in st. louis, the mild air is starting to build in the middle of the country and eventually that is going to head to the east. here is the pattern change for next week. all of the stormy weather is going to be on the west coast as we go through christmas eve, and christmas day. and that's where the travel trouble is. the high elevation snow. and then much warmer than normal conditions are going to develop through the middle of the country and slide all the way to

the eastern seaboard. so you know, as far as like travel trouble goes, christmas eve, there is not a lot of it, maybe a little bit in the four corner region of the salt lake city area, and a little mini storm with some snow and rain, depending on your elevation but notice everywhere east of the rockies on christmas eve, sunny and mild. i mean temperatures could be 60 in kansas city, and 48 in chicago, and 50 degrees on christmas eve, in washington, d.c., and then going even into christmas day, it continues with that mild weather pattern, with 50s getting up there in areas like philadelphia, and maybe a light wintry mix in areas of the midwest, and then all of the troublesome weather as we said, you know, starting now, in the pacific northwest and possibly the middle of next week, areas of california with some rain and snow. so compared to what we dealt with, remember thanksgiving guys, it was just a nightmare for travel, this is a lot better, and this shouldn't be many cancellations. >> basically teasing with those graphics with the snowflakes flowing gently. >> is that the only thing you noticed? >> yes. >> i mentioned it to amin while

you were talking. >> your gift by the way is in the red box. the bigger box. >> it is empty, i assume. >> thanks, bill. still ahead the president's trade deal with mexico and canada jumps another hurdle while the trump administration explains why what was on the trade of u.s. trade partners. do you have concerns about mild memory loss related to aging?

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welcome back, everyone. yesterday the house passed the new trade agreement between the u.s., canada, and mexico, after a year-long negotiation between president negotiation between president trump and house democrats. joumanna joins us now. what can we expect out of this deal and the impact on the u.s. economy? >> it's been a long-time coming. we have a deal that passed yesterday with bipartisan support which is the crucial factor here. and to be honest, for the most part it's very similar to the original nafta deal. the only difference is that they've included things like digital trade now. the new deal imposes stricter labor and environmental standards, something that the democrats were pushing for. and it requires more cars to made in north america in order to remain free from tariffs and workers earning at least $16 an hour.

that's white democra that's why the democrats approved this deal. but a study dup by the international trade commission this year estimated that it would only create 176,000 jobs over the next six years and was in total add 0.35% to the gdp. so bit of a moderate impact, i would say, as far as the economy is concerned, but certainly removes one element of uncertainty in the near future. also i want to take you to goldman sachs because they are back in the news again. this time "the wall street journal" reporting that the investment snowbank close investment bank is coming up with a settlement in the malaysia imdb schedule and that's a story we've been month storing closely. they will look to pay a fine of up to $2 billion that's been provisioned for by the bank in exchange for admission of guilt as well as pledging to enhance

their compliance services. but if that deal does go ahead, it will be announced in late january, according to sources closest to the issue. >> incredible. let's talk about the major now's from yesterday. it seems as if wakanda is now a strayed partn trade partner for the united states. >> anyone that watches marvel knows that the fictional place in africa, but potentially a new trading partner to the united states. for whatever reason it was listed on the u.s. department of agriculture's list of free trading partners and it went unspotted for a lopping period time until someone went through and spotted it on the list. at first he thought it was a joke or some form of a mistake and then he realized that actually wakanda was one of the

countries that they had listed. a spokesperson for the usda said it went out by accident, it was part of a staff test. but clearly no one took it down till this software engineer saw that. >> i guess it's official then. >> the u.s. has recognized wakanda. we could use all the help we can get these days, even from marvel characters. joumanna, thank you so much. coming up next, a look at axios' one big thing. and a look at the six democratic debates. amy klobuchar will joint conversation. "morning joe," everyone, just moments away. "morning joe e,"veryone, just moments away. you have mode to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques.

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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. joining us from washington with a look at axios a.m., white house reporter for axios, good morning to you. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> talk to us about axios' one big thing today. >> today's one big thing say look inside capitol hill and the

impeachment battle which is really in limbo right now. so the house has gone on a nearly two-week recess for christmas and holiday break and they have not sent the house -- or the articles of impeachment over to the senate trial or for a senate trial. so essentially this means that the senate trial that mitch mcconnell's hoping to begin immediately upon returning in january is not going to happen right after recess as they initially planned. >> let's talk a little bit about last night's democratic debate. what are you reporting about what happened? >> so we really are looking at this and what happened on the debate stage last night as a pile on pete. so mayor pete has really been the front runner in iowa and a lot of the candidates last night trained their fire on him and also elizabeth warren. but really one of the first times we've seen mayor pete become the center of a lot of the attacks on the debate stage. a lot of these tensions that have been brewing with him kind of float out there last night in los angeles.

and things like elizabeth warren who was attacking him for a f d fundraiser he held, she said it was in a wine-filled cave and going after him for some of these larger donations, he hit back and said that, you know, before she had sworn off some of these larger donations fau fundraisers that others on the stage had been accepting them as well. >> heading into 2020 big tech companies top of mind. i know axios has new reporting about regulation for the tech industry in 2020. what more can you tell us about this? >> it's really interesting here. so with impeachment really stalling a lot of legislation and discussions in washington with a lot of energy focus there, the tech battles are now happening in the states. we've seen california really step up here on a number of issues, including privacy, net

neutrality, facial recognition. and so these battles that would normally happen in d.c. and that were expected to be taking place over the next few months have shifted and the states are kind of taking them upon themselves to decide some of these big tech regulations as we head into 2020. >> let's go back to the topic of impeachment here for a second, because obviously as we've been saying throughout the show the senate is now going to be on a two-week recess, but the whole impeachment process now say little bit in limbo. as this thing drags out and there's no consensus on how the impeachment plays out, who do you think stands to gain or lose from what you've been hearing? who's more nervous from your reporting? >> it's a mix. president trump has been meeting privately with some of his lawyers to discuss what could happen if the articles are -- if speaker nancy pelosi holds on to these articles for an indefinitely period of time. they're nervous that the president won't have the acquittalnd the defense in the

senate that he's been hoping for after, of course, the house impeached him this week. but a lot of people also within the democratic side are a bit nervous about what this means. i spoke with congressman jerry connelly yesterday inside the capital and he said i don't understand this idea of leverage that democrats have been approaching the speaker and other democratic leaders about. he thinks that, you know, at this point time to get everything to the senate and let that trial play out as had been expected. >> i was going to say, if the president's indication with his tweet, that's one line into his think. thank you very much. we'll be reading axios a.m. in a bit and you can sign up for that newsletter at signup.axios.com. >> that does it for us this morning. "morning joe" starts right now. the mayor just recently had a fundraiser that was held in a wine cave full of crystals a