that is our monday evening broadcast. thank you so very much for being here with us and good night from our msnbc news headquarters here in new york. r msnbc news headqe in new york. good morning, everyone. i'm ayman alongside alex witt on this christmas eve morning. we hope everyone is having a very nice start to their holidays braving all the traffic and travel out there. >> yeah. >> final push. >> can we just say something? i see your voice is a little gravelly it's because this is the amennet work thyman network we have a lot to get to. it was the morning before christmas and all you there the house. democrats may be considering additional articles of impeachment against donald trump. plus we'll have rudy giuliani, he is really the gift that keeps

on giving. if you want to look at this way, at least had it comes to conspiracy theories. we're going to tell you about his new controversial interview with new york magazine. we'll bring you the very latest developments with boeing after that aerospace giant fired its ceo yesterday. i think there was one headline that talked about him being the teflon ceo. >> not anymore. a lot of questions around that. but we want to begin this morning with the latest on the impeachment bankrupt will. in the week of newly unearthed emails from cre administration officials that revealed that the white house tried to conceal his dealings with ukraine. senate minority leader chuck schumer yesterday issued a new demand for those documents that democrats believe must be obtained for consideration in an impeachment trial. in a letter to his senate colleague, schumer lays out a long list of records, including internal emails and documents from the white house, the state department, even the office of management and budget. in part, he writes, there simply is no good reason why evidence that is directly relevant to the

conduct at nish the articles conduct at issue should be withheld from the senate and american people. blt pr relevant documentary evidence currently in the possession of the administration will augment the existing evidentiary record and will allow them torque oppose the admission of this evidence would be to turn willfully blind eye. here he is. >> the senate should issue subpoenas for additional documents that we believe will sm shed additional light on the assistance funding to ukraine and its requests for certain investigations to be announced by the government of ukraine. the need for the senate to review documentary evidence has

received far less attention than the need for witness testimony. despite being an equally important aspect of the trial and getting the facts to come out. we don't know what these documents will say. just as we don't know what the witnesses will say. they may actually be exculpatory of president trump or they may be further condemning of president trump. but they should come out. we should see these documents no matter what they say. the new emails from mr. duffey and the trump administration show why it's so important for the white house to produce the documents we have requested. they will shed light on who ordered the aid cut, and why they ordered it. if there was ever an argument that we need mr. duffey and others to come testify under

oath and an argument that we need documents related to what was revealed about mr. duffey's actions, this is it. >> president trump last night weighed in on the senate equipment trial writing on twitter, of course, quote, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that republicans in the senate should handle the impeachment hoax in the exact same manner as democrats in the house handled their recent partisan scam? why would it be different for republicans than it was for the radical left democrats? trump also attacked house speaker nancy pelosi over her decision to hold off on sending the articles of impeachment to the senate tweeting yesterday, quote, pelosi gives us the most unfair trial in the history of the u.s. congress and now she is crying for fairness in the senate and breaking all rules while doing so. she lost congress once, she doll it again. >> as trump complains of an unfair trial in the house, it is worth noting that he was not subject to a trial in the house and that his trial would be in

the senate. and the president continued his attack on pelosi last night accusing her of, quote, doing everything she can to delay the zero republican vote articles of impeachment and trying to take over the senate. trump writes she has a bad case and would rather not have a negative decision. this witch-hunt must end now with a trial in the senate or let her default and lose. >> and as you can imagine, senate republicans mirrored president trump's sentiments with pelosi with lindsey graham tweeting out yesterday, it is time for speaker pelosi who claimed impeachment was a national imperative to fish or cut bait. commit to sending the articles of impeachment to the senate consistent with constitutional obligations. if she refuses, senators should take matters into their own hands. graham added, quote, her actions are an affront to the constitution. are, the senate and denies trump his day in court.

here's what was said about her methods. >> most of my constituents don't have a very high opinion of congress, under any circumstances. if you ask 'em, they'll say something to the effect of do members of congress suffer from mental illness? no, most seem to enjoy it. that's their attitude. some angry. others find this very odd. i find it odd. speaker pelosi is now telling the senate you're prevented -- or i'm prohibiting you from doing something you really don't want to do unless you do it in a way that i approve of. and it's very odd. i mean, what's the old movie line? looks like i picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue. >> well, let's bring in senior

political correspondent for the "washington examiner" david drucker. david is also a contributing writer at vanity for. good morning to you on this holiday. >> hey, guys, good morning. >> is there any room for compromise, david? do you see any light at the end of this tunnel with these opposing views? is anything going to get accomplished before january 6th when congress comes back in session? >> yeah, i don't -- i don't think so. and i should compliment senator kennedy on his airplane reference. but i think the way to understand it is and amid all these colloquialisms, senate republicans aren't interested in conducting any trial. it's something that as far as they're concerned has been forced upon them and if speaker pelosi doesn't want to send over the articles that's just fine with them. now, there are two ways to look at this. look, i have an enormous respect for pelosi as a tactician. she's one of the best in the business that i've ever covered. if she's withholding articles because she's trying to control

the president and get him upset about this idea that he's not going to have his exoneration trial and they're not going to have 67 votes for removal, maybe you'd get a couple of republican votes to convict, but at this point i'm curious if you'll get any, then i could understand that the strategy -- what the strategy is and it would make some sense. if they're really trying, pelosi and schumer to agree to more favorable terms for a trial, meaning witnesses and process and things like that, i don't think this will work. what mcconnell is most concerned about is protecting his vulnerable 2020 senators from tough votes. there are about a handful of them. so if they never have to vote on any witness list. if they never have to vote either for or against the president, that would be just fine with him and he could spend his time handling the united states/mexico, cana states/mexico/canada trade agreement and confirming more judges and things like that. leverage would be there if mcconnell felt compelled to conduct a trial. one other thing i would note

here when it comes to which witnesses should be called, i'm not passing a value judgment here, the only way you end up with any witness being called is if you can find 51 senators to vote to agree to call that witness. what mcconnell has had to explain to the white house and so far he's had some success, there are not 51 votes for the president's dream wish list in figures like hunter biden, the former vice president's son, the whistle-blower and others. and you're not going to find -- you're going to be hard pressinged pressed to find 51 votes for mick mulvaney and others that they want to hear from. so you'll end up at an impasse. >> but when it comes to witnesses don't you find it ironic that here you have the president and the democrats on the same page as opposed to mitch mcconnell? you gift reasons for why he doesn't want to have it. but is there any thought that, all right, we could call, you know, hunter biden, we could call adam schiff if you let us

call mick mulvaney, john bolton and the like? couldn't there be a tit for tat agreement here? >> theoretically and i don't want to rule them out without asking them how they feel about that. i think that given how the president and his team approached the impeachment investigation in the house when they specifically did not want these people being questioned either in depositions or otherwise, all of a sudden they're going to agree to let some of these key people take questions, it's very unpredictable. you don't know what they're going to say. mick mule vinny got himself in a mess of trouble in a news conference when he admitted sure, there was a quid pro quo, who cares. john bolton, it's unclear what he would say because he has major foreign policy disagreements with the president and he did know the like the way the ukraine episode was handled. you're going to allow that and possibly put the president in more political jeopardy at a time where they feel as a matter

of politics they've emerged from impeachment and the investigation in the house in a pretty good place. it sounds like a good tradeoff, you get yours, we get ours, but i don't see how the president is going to end up agreeing to that. i'm actually very curious how many democrats want to call hunter biden given their sense -- the sensitivities around how they feel joe biden was roped into that whole thing as a witness. >> and, david, stick with me for a second because i want to get to another aspect of all of this which is the house judiciary committee saying it's recommending additional articles of impeachment against the president. the potential move comes as the democratic led committee continues to push for the white house counsel testimony of don mcgahn as it investigates potential obstruction of justice during the trump administration during robert mueller's investigation. the committee in a 19-page filing has asked the federal appeals court to order mcgahn to testify arguing that his

testimony could provide new evidence that may be essential at a senate impeachment trial as well as lead to new articles of impeachment. the dc circuit court of appeals is scheduled to hear arguments on january 3rd on whether it will force the subpoena. what is the likelihood, you think, that, "a," the courts are going to wade into this conversation about mcgahn testimony and what would the implications be if he is, in fact, required to provide testimony to the ongoing impeachment conversation? >> well, i think it's a matter of how far into the election year house democrats want to pursue the impeachment topic. it may very well be justified and warranted given some recent information and information that may come to light through additional testimony or court decisions that at least allow for testimony. and then there might be a fight over executive privilege. you know, i think democrats have to decide whether or not they

want the relengs of their hou-e house majority to center around impeachment or the things that most americans care about as a priority. a lot of voters are interested in impeachment, they don't like the president, at least, you know, half the country, if you look at us as roughly split. they won't something done about this. but for all the clichés about walking and chewing gum at the same time, for me, it's like reading your smartphone while crossing the street at the same time. it can be very perilous if the they feel it's justified and warranted and they have no other choice but go ahead with it. but it is tricky. i think there are democrats in swing districts that would like to be able to say that they did the job they had to do to hold the president accountable. they've been very sort of forthright about that. and now they're going to focus on other matters. but if more information comes to light and pelosi can bring enough support around this, i

don't think they'll stop investigating the president, nor should they. the issue is whether they want to do it through an impeachment process versus an oversight process. >> so let's pivot here. it is christmas eve, a big day for many in the christian faith. let's talk about the "christianity today" op-ed, the first one that called for the removal of the president and his impeachment, all with the backlash as well from the other evangelicals. eugene robinson quotes from that editorial and he said to the many evangelicals who continue to support mr. trump inspied of his blackened moral record, we might say this, remember who you are and who you serve. if we don't reverse course now will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come?

and then he continues to write, the answer is no. the evangelicals can't have it both ways. they can't claim to be a clarion voice of christian values in public square while at same time behaving in politics like amoral. they argue that we are all imperfect, we are all sinners in any way just look at all the antiabortion judges trump has appoint. but come on, can a christian movement completely ignore morality? can it pretend not to know the difference between a leader who strives to be good and one who doesn't? tell me, where in the bible does it is say anything goes? >> and trump has made kurds scarce, but there are till brave leaders out there. evangelical leaders have turned a blind eye to his obsession. it has led to a blasphemous

reduction of christianity to judge ships and allowed figures such as franklin graham and jerry to shrug off their idols. such shamelessness is why "christianity today's" editorial seems so courageous, unlike republican politicians and most evangelical christian leaders. however, democrats have dared to challenge trump's contusional accesses, most will be rewarded for it in their directs, bstric but those who have shown the most courage are those that show most courage are those moderate democrats from districts trump kerd in tixt. 2016.

there are few republicans in the caucus or behind the republican communities most powerful churches. >> as you listen to these, i'm curious your reaction because i guess an argument could be made that evangelicals are putting policy over morality? but isn't it a high sense of morality that is what the evangelical community is motivated by, is defined by? are they actually just flying in the face of who they are by doing this? >> i guess that's sort of up to them. the evangelical community is not monolithic so there are younger evangelicals that have very deep issues with president trump. there have also been studies that show even if you identify as an evangelical, the more you actually attend church once a week, twice a week, a few times a month versus into the often, the more likely you are to have some issues with how trump condigico conduct himself among other things. there's a broad swath of evangelical voters that look at outcomes. if you look at some segment of

this community that has been politically active over the past generation or so, they feel like over the years they've supported many candidates, mostly republicans, who promised to effect policy outcomes for them, promised a certain kind of judge and legislation. these people, these politician that they supported, at least how they conducted their personal lives were morally in line with how these voters thought they should condict themselves and how they, themselves live their lives. but they feel like the policies didn't deliver, the judges weren't delivered. now from their point of view they see a culture in crisis. they see a culture that looks down on how they live and how they think the country should function and here you have somebody that's imperfect who's delivering for them and protecting them. i think had they look at washington and a bunch of politicians that don't look out for them, they say, look, they're all bad, but at least this bad one is for me and this bad one's protecting me.

and we might look at judges and look at it as a crutch, but if you're an evangelical who thinks the conservative judiciary is going to serve your personal family interests and the national's interests, you might think that compromising by supporting somebody with morally questionable values to deliver a judge who is exactly in line with what you think is necessary is worth it. and i think that's the thought process for a lot of these voters. >> all right, david. thank you for starting us off this morning. happy holidays to you. >> you too, guys. >> let's see what's outside. >> big question on everyone's mind today. >> let's go to janessa webb and see are people traveling or people just want to finish up shopping, what's it going to look look? >> i it depends on location. bubble of warm air for the plains, midwest. but we're dealing way stubborn system for the southeast. major hubs like atlanta, jacksonville, even myrtle beach are currently seeing these minor

bands of rain. it will continue to push offshore, but it's the winds behind the cold front up to 35 to 40 miles per hour. it's moving fairly slow, but today it gets a lot better. you can see the precipitation in the form of rain is going to be drying out for those major hub. so if you're traveling today, give it to about the noon hour if you're seeing minor delays, even for miami all the way into jacksonville. look at the delays right now. this is really good news from the midatlantic to memphis, no delays. jacksonville just about 30 minutes, but that will clear up throughout your afternoon as well. now, the big problem is the pacific northwest. another major storm system, major hubs like l.a. to phoenix, las vegas, minor delays this afternoon in salt lake. we're going to see up to 3 to 6 inches of snow, so if you're a snow fan you're loving this for the slopes. but traveling today and tomorrow, this will be a big issue for salt lake city into

denver as well. if you're hitting the roadways, you need to take it slow as temperatures will continue to drop in those areas. but near record highs, you got love it if you're sitting in kansas city. if you're a snow fan and not really feeling that spirit with all this sunshine, i mean, our temperatures, they are just ab normally warm. we're talking about 15 to 25 degrees above normal for christmas for today into christmas afternoon. >> does not feel like christmas if it's not snowing outside, right? >> and usually i'm doing the ski thing, i'm just here to hang out with you. >> thank you. i appreciate that. >> thank you very much. we'll talk to you in a little bit the. up next we'll look at some of the stores making headlines overseas. saudi arabia is doling out punishment for the murder of a "washington post" columnist, but not against the person who is accused of ordering the assassination in the first place. we'll talk about that and its potential impact on u.s./saudi relations straight ahead. n u.si relations straight ahead. berty- cut. we'll dub it.

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welcome back, everyone. >> saudi arabia announced it had sentenced five officials to the death -- excuse me, sentenced five people to death for committing and directly participating in the murder of "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi. others were convicted for covering it up. now mbs was cleared because of

insufficient evidence. the deputy head of intelligence was acquitted. the trial lasted almost a year with formal officials told not to reveal any details. >> ka showinghashoggi had been here in the u.s. while visiting istanbul. the investigation found that salman ordered the murder. they issued a statement yesterday call on the director of national intelligence to put out a report to congress about which saudi officials were responsible for khashoggi's murder. president trump has said that the u.s. relationship with saudi arabia was too important to lose over the killing of khashoggi. you though this story so well. you were a friend of him. you knew him. i remember when we working together when he was killed and your shock and just dismay over that was pretty profound. when you look at the reaction, though, to all of this around the world, human rights activists, what is this saying?

what are people thinking about this? >> i think for most human rights observers, even the united nations have been critical of this process. it lacked any clear transparency. nobody has seen the evidence that they've had against these individuals. it is unclear whether the actual defendants themselves were able to speak openly and freely in their own defense through their lawyers or what have you. it's hard to imagine that an operation of this scale could have happened without some of the senior members that have been identified by u.s. intelligence agencies and have been sanctioned by the u.s. government to then ultimately be acquit. that's the other interesting thing about reaction. you've got the white house on one side, members of congress on the other '. the u.s. treasury has sanctioned some of these intelligence agencies they believe were responsible for the killing. now they've been acquitted. the white house comes out saying they think this was a good process and these men are free and that this is a good judicial end to this. >> but, again, those that were

acquitted, these are the people that are closest to the -- >> exact. >> i those people that have been convicted in this trial, we don't know who they are. >> right. >> so we don't know that they were the hands on the killers of khashoggi or maybe just part of the team. >> exactly, because the process has been so ambiguis and vague. we haven't been given a clear explanation of what each individual's role was in the murder. there are believed to be five individuals part of the team that was sent to turkey to ultimately kill him and dispose of his body. but there are central questions to this investigation that. >> where is the bodied. >> where is the sfwhod wbody? who gave you this order to travel from one country to another on passports? those are not easy things but none of those questions came to light in a process that was behind closed doors. you're talking about the reaction inside saudi arabia. social media erupted with hash tags in such those that were exonerated, essentially coming out and saying, you know, that they were brave men, that they are loyal to the country, nobody

whatsoever kind of questioned how these individuals, these senior individuals close to the crown prince, as you mentioned -- >> that's coordinated, right? that kind of response. >> it's believed that people who know the social media that this type of reaction was most likely coordinated by someone close to the government. >> extraordinary. that is for sure. >> incredible. >> coming up, we'll turn back to the impeachment battle in washington. mitch mcconnell says it's time for the senate to hold a trial, but nancy pelosi says not so fast. the very latest on their stalemate. and what it means for the president's standing heading into 2020 straight ahead. plus, rudy giuliani's conspiracy theory laced interview with new york magazine. that one you definitely want to stay with us for. agazine. that one you definitely want to stay with us for . i visualize travel rewards. i receive travel rewards. going new places! going out for a bite! going anytime. rewarded! learn more at the explorer card dot com.

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welcome back, everyone, on this christmas eave mornive mor let's go to boeing's which yesterday fired the ceo amid all the handling of the 737 crisis. it was a way to ease tensions with stakeholders and everyone

else. here's the story. >> reporter: with the global 737 fleet grounded since march and losing billions of dollars, boeing's board of directors decided late sunday the company needs new leadership now firing dennis mullenberg and replacing him with board chairman calhoun. >> the biggest issue for him is that the relationship with faa has broken down completely. >> mullenburg had tried to pressure the faa into fast tracking the approval with the 730 sfem 7 max fichs fixes after they killed people. they temporarily shutdown the max production line. it was only in november that he met with those members of the family of those who died. >> we are deeply sorry. >> reporter: boeing had not been transparent about the plane's problems. the world's airlines are demanding compensation.

this man's daughter died in the ethiopian crash and he's demanding a change in boeing's executive culture. >> i can't help my daughter anymore, but this is what we can do, try to make aviation safer for everyone else. >> it says it needs make changes with the faa and the but knowing chief has reached out to the faa chief promising transparency and cooperation. back to you. >> all right. so the impeachment battle on both sides of the aisle continue to battle on the upcoming impeachment trial. hallie jackson is in west palm beach with more. >> a holiday hold on impeachment proceedings as key leaders dig in. >> we can't take up a matter we don't have. and so hopefully it will be on the way over at some point. >> republican leader mitch mcconnell waiting on house speaker nancy pelosi to send him those two articles of impeachment so a senate trial can begin.

but pelosi insists she won't take the next step in the process until we know what sort of trial the senate will conduct. the president on twitter responding, she is trying to take over the senate and crying chuck is trying to take over the trial. no way. but democrats say they just want what's fair with senator chuck schumer making the case in a new letter to colleagues pushing for witnesses like mick mulvaney and john bolton, but documents too about the president's request for investigations in ukraine that could have helped him politically even as military aid to the country was on hold. >> we say to president trump, release the emails, let your aides testify. we say to leader mcconnell, a fair trial with the facts. only the facts. >> so the timing of that senate trial remains in limbo yet again today. but keep in mind that the later it gets pushed into january, if that happens, the closer it

creeps to that big first test of 2020, the iowa caucuses in early february. ayman, back to you. >> all right, i'll take that from hallie. meantime in an exclusive interview there with new york magazine, president trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani revealed key details of his business interests in ukraine. according to the magazine, giuliani says he has done two business deals in ukraine, but the case he really wanted to take was a lawsuit on behalf of the ukrainian government against a large financial institution that he claims laundered $7 billion for former ukrainian president. now, speaking on that case, giuliani said, quote, it would have had nothing to do with trump, nothing to do with burisma, nothing to do with biden. however, he then explained that the reason he really wanted to take that case was to learn about ukrainian money laundering so i could figure out they utilized the same money laundering system for hunter biden. giuliani also told new york magazine that viktor shokin, the ukrainian prosecutor fired for corruption was, in fact, not

corrupt but was forced out by the obama administration because he had, quote, had the goods on the bidens. giuliani added that he has a secret source with documentary proof that hunter biden had been paid off through a cypress bank in a transaction routed through a lithuanian bank. >> now, nls that new york magazine interview, giuliani said that former ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch is controlled by george soros who he claims put all four ambassadors there and is employing fbi acts. he told the magazine, quote, don't tell me i'm anti-semitic if i oppose him. soros is hardly a jew. i'm more of a jew than soros is. i probably know more about. he doesn't go to church. he doesn't go to religion. synagogue. he doesn't belong to the a synagogue. he's & enemy of israel. he's elected eight an arcist das in the united states. he's a horrible human being. now jonathan greenblatt responded to giuliani's comments about soros in a tweet yesterday

writing in part, quote, opposing soros isn't what's hash tag anti-semitic saying he controls ambassadors, employs fbi agents and isn't jewish enough to be demonized is. so quite a comment there by rudy giuliani, as you can imagine. let's bring in msnbc analyst danny danny to weigh in on this. you have nancy pelosi holding up the articles of impeachment and as you can seen the president has reacted, so too have others coming to her defense like chuck schumer. how likely do you think that she can withhold transmitting those articles of impeachment from transmitting them to the senate? is she bound by any legal framework or time period that she has to hand them over? >> we lawyers have volumes and volumes of leather-bound books that tell us exactly how and when, how many days we have to file documents. when it comes to impeachment, there is no such guidance.

it is a vacuum. and nancy pelosi has developed a clever strategy in that vacuum, which is, well, netechnically w have to transmit them for the senate to get them, therefore, we're using this as leverage to extract some assure answers of fairness at the trial. it's even more high level chess. we can't choose our house managers, our prosecutors, until you, the senate, tell us what the trial will look like. so it's actually your fault, senate. now, on the other side senate republican leader mitch mcconnell has an interesting argument that's essentially high level senatorial psychology. we don't want the articles of impeachment. take as long as you want to transmit them, but without any actual guidance it's hard to say who's right. one argument that senate republicans will likely seize on is that, hey, house democrats, if the president poses this clear and present, immediate danger to the republic, then any kind of delay at this point

doesn't seem to ring with consistency. so expect that argument from senate republicans in the coming days. >> danny, can we go to the new york magazine interview that rudy giuliani gave? >> yes, we can. >> he is essentially trying to rewrite the results of investigations within ukraine that found that there was no conspiracies and all of that. listen to what he has said. it's extraordinary. where is he going with this and does he have the legal backing to be going in that direction? >> first, any reporter in an interview like this can cherry pick the worst moments and make a subject look bad. i don't think that's what was happening here. this appears to be an objective reading of an afternoon spent with rudy giuliani and there are many things in there that should concern president trump. if he were someone who still reads new york magazine. which is probably not the case with this president. so some of the things that he said about his investigation were equally concerning.

for those people who are wondering what the heck is rudy giuliani doing in eastern europe, apparently the answer is, according to rudy himself, taking lithuanian bank documents and running them through google translate. that's just not a high-level investigation that you would expect from somewhere like, say, the justice department or the fbi or the cia. so when rudy giuliani answered that question with his own words what he's been up to, i think that's the kind of thing that should concern the white house, because it doesn't seem to be a thorough reaching investigation. >> and yet at that point we still don't have a clear understanding of what rudy giuliani's role in all of this exactly is. i mean, he says he is the president's lawyer, he acts like it, he doesn't officially represent him in any of the legal proceedings, at least in front of of a court, yet he's out there trying to dig up dirt on joe biden and the bidens generally in all of the other details. what do we know legally about his role in all of this? do we know who is paying for all of this? do we know if he's being

instructed by the president to travel to eastern europe and try to find all this information? or is he just out on his own doing this stuff? >> rudy giuliani, the answer to the first question, appears to not be being paid at all. he's an unpaid lawyer/consultant/private member of the state department. that's your second question. which is one i've been asking for several weeks now. what is rudy giuliani? what is his role? in some moments he's kind of a lobbyist. in other moments he's a lawyer but there isn't a courthouse anywhere nearby, at least not an american courthouse in eastern europe. and then at other times he seems to be some kind of just private member of the state department. and any time a lawyer attempts to wear that many hats, it can come back to bite him. and i think that's what might come back to bite rudy giuliani. and as for his suggestion that he should be on the president's impeachment team, yet another hat. well, he's already kind of a witness and lawyers are not supposed to act as attorneys in

case where's they're also witnesses. and then exhibit "b" to why he should be the president's lawyer in an impeachment trial is that new york magazine article. i think that's the kind of thing that would give the president some pauds. >> pause. >> thanks so much. up next, holiday shopping season means big business for online retailers but when it comes to delivery is safety taking a backseat to speed? we'll dig into that straight ahead. stay with us right here on msnbc. ahead. stay with us right here on msnbc. how did you find great-grandma's recipe? we're related to them? we're portuguese? i thought we were hungarian? grandpa, can you tell me the story again? behind every question is a story waiting to be discovered.

that will makeout washington insiders behind every question very uncomfortable: term limits. you and i both know we need term limits, that congress shouldn't be a lifetime appointment. but members of congress, and the corporations who've bought our democracy hate term limits. too bad. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message because the only way we get universal healthcare, address climate change and make our economy more fair is to change business as usual in washington.

a new investigation by buzzfeed and propublica says amazon failed on numerous occasions to implement safety measures for its delivery methods instead emphasizing speed and growth. they have been involved in more than 60 serious crashes including 13 deaths. one of those deaths six years ago was amazon's first ceo joy who was hit by an amazon van during a bicycling accident. another example highlighted in this report in 2013 was brought forward by giving longer rest breaks. which it would have only added a coast of about 4 cents per package. it was rejected and seen yore vice president of operations called it garbage. >> and amazon responded to the report saying that the investigation was another attempt by propublica and buzzfeed to push a preconceived narrative that is simply untrue. nothing is more important to us

than safety. however, amazon has also told courts it was not responsible when delivery vans crashed or workers were exploited eight former manager at amazon further told propublica and buzzfeed, quote, the means to the end is something they don't care about. if we're forcing these drivers to go out like bats out of hell to get this stuff all over town, that's acc because we'okay becag it great for our customers. the human cost of this is too much. >> very sobering when you think of the holiday season. candy canes are a holiday classic but now one company is putting a new spin on this sweet treat with flavors like bacon and cale. guadgy schwar gaudy schwartz gave us a taste test. >> we put this together to get an honest review. >> you ready? three, two, one. >> ewe.

>> ewe. >> there you go, as we predicted. >> my god. i was going to say maybe that's one way to get your kids to eat their spin nish. >> spin niche. i don't think so. the report is straight ahead. i the report is straight ahead. ♪ ♪ everything your trip needs for everyone you love. expedia.

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'tis certainly the season for sweet treats like candy canes, but there's a new company putting a twist on the original maybe making it not so much. we're going to be introduced to a new line of creatively flavored candy canes ranging from pizza to he would sab by and other taste testers. >> candy canes have been suite and crunchy until a company named arthy mcphee stepped in. >> we entered the business through bacon. >> you heard that right and from there their annual creative meetings have gotten more twisted. >> we havegraphy, wosabi. >> if you're the kind of parent looking for a stocking stuffer somewhere between naughty and nice. >> can we eat those? >> you're going to taste those. >> we asystemable this panel anxious to give us an honest

review. >> you ready? >> yeah. >> three, two, one. >> eww. >> ew, where. >> what do you think this tastes like? >> vomit and nasty. >> was that a delicious pizza? >> no. >> this one smells really good. >> caesar salad. >> green spinach. >> cale. >> it was bad at the beginning, but at the end it's nice. what do you think? >> banana. >> i know what it is. >> mac-n-cheese. >> rotten egg in a candy cane. >> tuna fishish. >> it just came out of the sea right now. >> their verdicts, all flavors still a lot more interesting than a lump of coal. nbc news, new york. >> oh, man. i'm not sure about that. i got to be honest with you think there it's more of a track tick cal joke thanpractical jok

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good morning, everyone. i'm ayman alongside alex on this christmas eve morning, tuesday, december 24th. we hope everyone is having a

nice start to the holiday and we thank you for joining us this morning. we want to dive right into impeachment and we begin with the very latest on that front in the wake of newly unearthed details from key administration officials that revealed the white house tried to conceal its dealings with ukraine. chuck schumer yesterday issued a new demand for documents that democrats believe the senate must obtain for consideration in an impeachment trial. in a letter to his senate colleague, schumer lays out a long list of records including internal emails, documents from the white house, including the state department, the office of manage men and budget all of them he writes in part, quote, there are simply no request goode reasons why evidence that is directly relevant to the conduct at issue in the articles of impeachment should be withheld from the senate and the american people. relevant documentary evidence currently in the possession of the administration will augment the existing evidentiary record and will allow senators to reach judgments informed by all of the available facts. to oppose the admission of this evidence would be to tush a

willfully blind eye to the facts and clearly be at the odds with senators do impartial justice according to the oath we will all take in the impeachment trial. >> meanwhile, the house judiciary committee says it is considering recommending articles of impeachment against the president. the potential move comes as the democrat-led committee continues toe press the white house for the testimony of former white house counsel don mcgahn as it investigates potential obstruction of justice by the trump administration during robert mueller's russia investigation. the committee in a 19-page filing has asked a federal appeals court to order mcgahn to testify arguing his testimony could provide new evidence that may be essential in a senate impeachment trial as well as lead to new articles of impeachment. the d.c. circuit court of appeals is scheduled to hear arguments on january 3rd on whether it will force that subpoena. so on the heels of that, we're going to bring in editor and chief for axios, nicholas

johnson. thank you for joining us on this holiday morning. >> good morning. >> what is axios reporting about these potential new articles of impeachment that are being considered by the house judiciary committee? >> i think the key thing is that they're able to get more information. one of the things to watch is the ongoing legal wrangling over whether the house and judiciary committee can compelt testimocoe testimony of don mckahn. mcgahn. they say this could lead to an additional article of impeachment. a key thing they're working on is a smoking gun that will change -- remember when the impeachment vote happened in the house, not a single republican broke ranks. there's really no republicans in the senate that are wavering on this. democrats are hunting for more information both in the house committee and senate trial to see if they will find something to change the senators mind. that hasn't happened at all as of now. >> where does the request lie in

terms of a legal command to provide these documents? i mean, we know the white house has not provide one single document up to this point. what is different? what is the expectation that the white house will comply? >> >> whyou get a final court o that's a whole different ball game. these things go to the supreme court and the white house finds itself disobeying judicial orders instead of a congressional subpoena. they wanted feemt raise the legal temperature of all of these kind of deliberations and compel the courts to sort of act more quickly and put the force of law behind these congressional requests. and of course that's true, sort of like, you know, what could the trump administration do if the supreme court said famously, the historical lesson is the response to the court, i think was andrew jackson, you and what army some of course that could rachet up again, that's what democrats are counting on, if the white house then refuses those kind of document requests could that lead to a new

impeachment proceeding and would that be a bridge too far for some republicans. joe biden continues to lead to democratic field nationally in the latest poll. bind has a ten-point edge with 31% support unchanged since last weekend. 'fold by bernie sanders at 21%. warren remains at 15%. bloomberg has a 6 percent of democrats support, he's down one point. and yang at 5% in the new poll. he's up one point since last week. what's the big takeaway for you as we round out this year with this poll? >> two things jump out at me that. top four is about the same as it's been for the last six months. there's a core group of folks who are leading in all the polls nationally including a lot of the polls in the early primary states. pete buttigieg is doing well in iowa and new hampshire. and the only thing that jumps out, here comes mike bloomberg. he spent over a hundred million dollars in the past month or so

since he declared his election. if he continues to spend at that pace what i'm watching every month when new polls come out, if that number continues to tick up will his spending on advertising make an impact? >> can we get to what axios' one big thing is this morning? i know it's the year of the speaker, that's where we're ending. we started with the year of the squad. so you're covering the whole year. >> exactly. this year carted off as the year of the squad, that was the name for the far left more progressive members of the house democratic members, they dominated the headlines at the start of the year. they were picking fights with the president on social media, holding press conferences almost unprecedently for freshman members of the house. but we are looking back and it's been the year of the speaker. nancy pelosi had complete control over her caucus. she would really set the terms of the debate. we didn't have an impeachment earlier in the year. that happened on the timeline the speaker set out. if you look at the legislative accomplishments, the two at the end of the year, the massive

spending bill that kept government open and the new north american free-trade agreement, those were nancy pelosi priorities and those were both nancy pelosi policy things that she got wins on. so it's very much a year for nancy pelosi and something i think we'll look forward to in 2020 of big things. she'll be back on the main stage february 4th, state of the union he will she'll be right behind the president on tv. >> a lot of the president's policies have been described adds antirefugees, anti-immigrant. but you've got some gop governors defying trump on the refugees and saying they had still going to allow refugees to settle in their states. >> yeah. interesting split among republicans. the president signed that executive order that would allow state and local governments to refuse refugees. nebraska, oklahoma, came out and said they wront follouldn't fol with that and they would allow

refugees in their state. it's a split. there's presenting illegal immigration across the southern border and supporting the president's goal to build a wall. but there's a different sense on how refugees should be treated. people are fleeing damaging things in their own country, entering the country through those legal processes. many republicans are saying they still support that. >> isn't texas going to be the big battleground in this one? >> yeah. >> you've got the mayors who are a lot of them very liberal in texas? >> i think that's exactly where you'll see a good tension point. if greg abbott supports that and allows people to refuse toe refugee settlements, you'll get a fight with the more liberal city mayors. and then you'll get the sanctuary cities issue where state and local leaders, particularly liberal big city mayors are taking stands saying that they won't follow through on a sort of more broad federal immigration priorities. >> one more thing to watch. thank you. >> thank you. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas.

the future of boeing support in the air as the arrow station giant filed dennis muilenburg just one week after the country announced it be halting production of the 737 max jet planes. the crashes killed people just four months between each other. calhoun the replace muilenburg. he's been ceo since 2015 and has been with the company since 1985. under his watch, boeing's shares more than tripled. yesterday the stock jumped 3% following the announcement. boeing released a statement following the leadership change saying, quote, the board of directors decided that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the company. we move forward as it works to prepare relationships with regulators, customers and all other stakeholders. this year boeing planned to build 900 aircrafts, including 600,737 max jets but only ended up delivering less than 400. five years after russia annexed crimea from ukraine,

russian president vladimir putin announced the successful construction of a bridge and train connecting cry imea to russia. it connects the port to moscow. the eu and much of the international community did doh not recognize russia's seizure of crimea. they have claimed over 10,000 civilian casualties in this internationally displaced nearly 1.5 million people. and staying here on russia, yesterday secretary of state mike pompeo tweeted a photo of the new u.s. ambassador to russia, john sullivan, swearing in to take that up critical role. ambassador sullivan was previously the u.s. department secretary of state and has also served as a lawyer in past republican administrations. the pick comes as president trump has been impeached by the house for withholding military aid to ukraine which, of course, has been fighting a war with russia. >> let's take a quick break and switch gears for a moment and

bring in janessa webb with a check on your weather. >> good morning. we are finally seeing things clearing out for the southeast and we always like to see green when we're talking about flight delays. go no delays right now from jacksonville to portions of the midatlantic as the storm system that dropped about 8 inches of rain across south carolina and southern georgia starts to clear out. the wind's still going to be an issue this afternoon from atlanta to myrtle beach return to 35 miles per hour. so you can see some minor delays. but the pacific northwest is the major storm system that we're really keeping our eye on if you're traveling along roadways, we're going to see some ice start to accumulate from las vegas to salt lake city. expecting delays today even for the denver area as 3 to 6 inches of snow accumulation in that area. now, if you're across the plains, look at that bubble of heat that continues to build for kansas city to st. louis. we're talking about highs

they're about 25 to 30 degrees above average and it will continue to shift to the midwest, the northeast for your christmas day. and we'll kind of see a change in the weather pattern as we go into the weekend. now, we didn't finish out our game yesterday and i want to talk about portland and seattle, alex and ayman, you get another chance. who has seen the most snow for christmas? >> i'm going to go with seattle. >> alan's telling us it's seattle. >> what do you think? >> i'm going to go with seattle. >> we got one right. >> two seattles. >> you got one right. okay. >> there we go. expecting some snow for seattle for christmas day. sonde joy it. >> all right. thanks, janessa. thanks, alan as well, appreciate that. now to this story. there's a new warning from the pentagon which is urging members of the military not to use those popular home dna testing kits saying they present a security risk. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has the details.

>> get the best dna gift -- >> they're one of this year's hottest christmas gifts home dna tests that help track a family tree. they carefully guard the data they gather. but now defense department is warning military personnel not to use them. a memo cosigned by the top pentagon official says the kits could expose personal and genetic information and potentially create unintended security risks. they are hugely popular with over 26 million people have submitted their dna to trace their lineage. >> one of the things about dna is it's almost always unique. and therefore while you can change your i.d., you can change your password, it's really difficult to change your dna. >> ancestry.com says it does not share dna data with insurance companies or employers. 23 and me says its customers

choose how their information will be use and shared. though both acknowledge that federal agents and local police can get access to the data with a subpoena or court order. consumer advocates say these kits can help people manage their health and learn their genealogy. their advice, read the fine print about how the dna will be shared. >> okay, pete williams, thank you for sharing that. still ahead, the president may be on vacation but that does not mean that he's turning off twitter. we would never expect that, right? >> you would actually dpexpect to amp guy. >> we're going to go to south florida. we'll be right back. o south florida. we'll be right back. l guy. >> we're going to go to south florida. we'll be right back. i guy. >> we're going to go to south florida. we'll be right back. f guy. >> we're going to go to south florida. we'll be right back. y guy. >> we're going to go to south florida. we'll be right back. guy. >> we're going to go to south florida. we'll be right back. uy. >> we're going to go to south florida. we'll be right back. y. >> we're going to go to south florida. we'll be right back. . >> we're going to go to south florida. we'll be right back.

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all right. joining us now from south florida where the president is spending the holiday, hallie jackson. good to have yaw wiou with us os holiday. give us the view from inside the white house has the president visits there in south florida and the impeachment saga continues to play out. >> i can give you the view from south palm? sorry, as far as the view from inside mar-a-lago, i heard you talking before the break, yes, the president is tweeting he's diagnosis a lot of that over the holidays. not surprising he's spent some time at his golf course. today he actually has something on his schedule. we'll get a chance to see him

when he teleconferences in with troops later on this morning. that's become a bit of a holiday tradition for the president over the last several years whether he's in south florida or back home in washington as he was last year. but as far as impeachment, this is something that is clearly on the president's mind. what we are seeing now, and i thiet sou hate to sound a little groundhogish day, but the news is there's an entrenchment here from both sides. we've heard over the last few days, mitch mcconnell, nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, donald trump, none of them at that point appear to be willing to budge on their position when's it comes to the senate impeachment trial. democrats are continuing to insist they want to see these documents, they want to see these witnesses, they want a fair trial. republicans are continuing to say, that is partisan, you don't get to control the senate trial, we get to do it so you need to essentially, nancy pelosi, butt out. i'm paraphrasing here. but at this point to looks like any kind of negotiation is on a holiday high yat us. that's the expectation here. i don't think we'll see much

movement until everybody gets back to washington after the holidays. based on our reporting and what we're seeing play out, keep in mind these negotiations happening on twitter. that's not a great thing if you like negotiations to move forward. because if the negotiations were progressing, we probably wouldn't know about it except from sources behind the scenes, private conversations, et cetera. the fact that this is playing out publicly i think is an indication that everybody's saying we're going to plant our flags, we're going to step back, let everybody go home for christmas and think about it and then we'll reconvene after the new year. >> there maybe little bit of movement on another aspect to the impeachment, that is new articles of impeachment. the court possibly considering whether don mcgahn should have to testify or not. the white house pushing back against that. what is that all about and suspect there any likelihood that we're going to see some movement there? >> headline, almost certainly not. so let's put a huge grain of salt caveat on that. this is all very unlikely. but here's the backstory to what you're talking about. we're talk bing about this ongog

court filing. there's this legal battle between don mcgahn and the house judiciary committee related to mcgahn's testimony. they want to hear more from him on the issue of obstruction of justice potentially when it comes to the russia investigation, right? so there's this back and forth there are court battle's been dragging out. you've got this new court filing. mcgahn's attorneys, the administration basically said, hey, now that the president has been impeached, this whole argument is mute, essentially. the judiciary committee is coming back and saying if they were to produce additional evidence, we could maybe consider new articles of impeachment against the president. that's the landscape from the legal perspective. but i got to be honest with you, it seems so unlikely that that would actually happen, it's a sort of -- reads to me and to our team here at nbc news like a legalistic maneuver to try it for the judiciary committee democrats to make their case. i wouldn't read too nuch it. i don't know that it's right to say possible new articles of impeachment. they have plenty on their plate with the current articles of

impeachment and the standoff over the trial. although we are watching what goes on in the courts to see how that plays out. >> let's talk about rudy giuliani here just a moment, which there's a lot to talk about. based on this exclusive interview with new york magazine. we're going to get into some of the details here. president trump's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, has revealed key details of his business interests in ukraine. according to the magazine, giuliani says he has done two business deals in ukraine but the case he really wanted to take was a lawsuit on behalf of the ukrainian government against a large financial institution that he claims laundered $7 billion for the former ukrainian president. speaking on this case, giuliani said, quote, it would have had nothing to do with trump, nothing to do with burisma, nothing to do with biden. however, he then explained that the reason he really wanted to take this case was to learn about ukrainian money laundering so i could figure out if they utilized the same money laundering system for hunter biden. giuliani also telling new york

magazine that victor show kin, the ukrainian prosecutor fired for corruption was not corrupt but was forced out by the obama administration because he, quote, had the goods on the biden. giuliani added that he has a secret source with documentary proof that mb had beunter biden been paid off through a lithian wane bank. >> and giuliani said that former ambassador to ukraine mcconnell is controlled by george soros who he claims put all four ambassadors there and is employing the fbi agents. giuliani told the magazine, quote, don't tell me i'm anti-semitic if i oppose him. soros is hardly a jew. i'm more of a jew than soros is. i probably know more about -- he doesn't go to church, he doesn't go to religion, synagogue, he doesn't belong to a synagogue. he doesn't support israel. he's an enemy of israel. he's elected eight anarchist das to the united states. is he a horrible human being. >> hallie, put this into context

of giuliani and his role as donald trump's personal attorney. what is he doing here and how effective is he being? what's the sense there inside the white house? >> yeah, couple of separate questions there, right? by the way, hats off to olivia from new york magazine who had that incredible profile that came out yesterday of rudy giuliani. what you are hearing, when you ask white house officials privately about rudy giuliani, you get a bit of a different answer when they're asked publicly. but even publicly the assistance telling from people close to the president, which is a statement of fact. rudy giuliani is the president's lawyer is what you'll hear. well, that's true, right? but that is not exactly a ringing endorsement of giuliani's performance for the president. you do have some people, i interviewed somebody just recently last week who say he's a good attorney, but there is a sense, i think, that giuliani is not necessarily helping the president put his best case out there, right? and i think that people are wary to say that outloud because they, you know, in a public

setting on television because they know it will get back to the president. the president does believe that giuliani is serving him well based on our reporting right now. so people don't want to cross the president, it seems, or get on the wrong side of him. but there is a real concern that giuliani and his interviews, the things that he's talking about, what he's doing in ukraine are not necessarily helpful to the president's cause. that said, there's not a lot of incentive for the president to make a change right now, right? he's got a whole team. it's not just rudy giuliani that represents the preps, he's got a whole team of people who are working with him on these other court cases that we may not be talking about too much, for example the monumenemoluments, cetera, et cetera, it's not just giuliani, but he's the most high profile and the public defender of the president's. not getting paid, giuliani said he's doing this for free. but i do think that lays out some of the dynamic there. >> part lawyer, part private investigator it seems, rudy giuliani. thanks, hallie. and former u.s. attorney for the northern district of alabama

and an nbc legal analysts has a new op-ed in time magazine entitled trump may be acquitted in an impeachment trial. she writes in part, imagine this scenario in a courtroom. the prosecutor and defense lawyer speak to the judge in advance of a trial for attempted bank robbery indictment voted on by the grand jury and they demanded money from a teller and threatening her if she didn't give it to him about the. but the crime was interrupted by others in the bank who saw it in progress and they weren't able to finish the robbery. now, the prosecution learns the usual rules won't apply. of course this could never nap our criminal justice system, but apparently it can happen in the senate impeachment trial of president donald trump. the founding fathers anticipated potential issues that might necessitate the removal of a president, but as house speaker nancy pelosi said last week, they did not foresee a complicit senate unwilling to check a president who is acting in his

own best interests instead of the country's. trump may be acquitted by the senate, but if the process is fundamentally deficient, a mockery of a system designed to seek the truth, that acquittal will not exonerate him. >> powerful words. >> spot on. hundred percent. coming up, not too long ago there was growing concern about a potential recession. but today the economy continues to hum along. we'll get a preview of what's ahead on the financial front straight ahead so stay with us. t straight ahead so stay with us.

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all right. this year the u.s. unemployment rate dipped to 3.5% in november, the lowest it's been since 1969. the u.s. stock market hitting record highs. and the u.s. reached a partial trade deal with china a little over a week ago. question now have will the booming economy stick into 2020? here on what to expect, head of u.s. economics at bank of america, michelle mire. great to have you with us this morning. give us the quick look ahead on 2020 and maybe a review of 2019. what stands out for you? >> sure. so i think what we learned in

2019 is that the economy is re-resilientre resilient. we learned that the central bank want to extend this economy and they want the toke continue. we have easy monetary policy. the federal reserve cut interest rates that was very supportive of economic growth. the unemployment rate reached the lowest in some time at 3.5%. we had about 160,000 jobs added to the economy every month, so it ended up being a good year over all for economic performance. and certainly the stock market showed that as well. and it was really quite different than a lot of people's expectations. if you think about where we were this time last year, the stock market was selling off violently. there were lots of concerns that recession in 2019. and we certainly did not see that. we saw an economy that proved true to continuing to add growth. >> and, michelle, one of the questions that i think a lot of people have on their minds, does the economy work for everyone? and i think from your position you have a better vantage point

of answering that. there are indicators that it's going well in the stock market, but we know the majority of americans don't own stocks. the inflation may be going up. but the question really is, is it actually working for everyone across the board equally? >> yeah, you're right. that's absolutely the right question to ask. for us, we look at the macro data. we look at the aggregate numbers. what's the overall a. jobs created? what's overall gdp growth? but there's lots of stories within that that are super important to think about. when you think about wealth gains, you think about the stock marp k market, it's concentrated in the upper income part of the population. so we've seen widening income inequality, widening wealth inequality, not just here in the u.s. but globally as well. it's one of the major challenges that we face when we think about the economic outlook is how we can make this economic recovery more broad based. the good news is that we're seeing signs of that now. so we're seeing lower income individuals with faster wage growth than higher income individuals. we're seeing even more tightness

in labor market on the more entry-level parts of the labor market. so i think the hope is that if this recovery can continue, it will, indeed, become more broad based which is exactly what we want to see in order to start talking about a higher trend in the economy. >> but can with you also talk about the tax cuts that the president promised not only during the campaign but those that he's delivered upon. i'm just going to say anecdotally i was speak with someone as a holiday gather willing and he said i voted for donald trump because of what he promised in his campaign with tax cuts. and he says, in fact, i have not felt that at all and i've paid more in my taxes. so where does the truth lie in those that have benefitted from them and those who were promised to be benefitting from them? >> it depends in part where you live. because, yes, overall tax rates were reduced for income corporate tax rates were reduced. but you did see a change in deductions, particularly those state and local income

deductions. so if you're in an area that had high deductions, that's going dob a little more painful for you. so new york, california for example. >> this was a new york gathering. >> there you go. so tax rates could go up for part of the population there. but it is the case that the majority of the population did see a tax cut. now, what does it mean for the broader economy? it's always hard to pick out how individual policies impact economic growth. but in general you did see a pop in consumer spending, a little bit stronger business investments after the tax cuts were put in place. but it proved to be quite fleeting. and part of that could be because then we moved into a trade war which created a big hit to confident. >> yeah. in terms of that trade war, i mean, who's taking the biggest hit and is there promise with the recent agreement at least to some degree with china that those of us who suffered, i'm going to call out soy bean farmers and the like, are they going to benefit from this? >> so this phase one trade deal

is really targeting that population. those that have been hit hard from the trade war which live in the farm communities. that's because reportedly the phase one deal will have a china importing a lot more agricultural products from the u.s. so it should help to support that population. manufacturer activities is another area to focus on. so if you think about production broadly manufacturing growth, it's been a hard year for manufacturers. and a lot of that has to do with the fact that global growth was weaker, the trade war hurt activity. so these are early steps in the trade negotiations, but if confidence could build, if you start to have some clarity around supply chains, then manufacture cog benef manufacturing could benefit as well. it's been hard for manufacturing. >> let's look into the crystal ball in 2020 and see what might happen. there are some saying the president wants economic groaning, his advisers want that

touting 4% gdp growth. there are others saying we're on the brink of recession. you have the usmc deal that may be signed in 2020, a positive break through in a full comprehensive china deal. what's your assessment of what 2020 looks like? what are your worried about and what are you looking for? >> my crystal ball suggests is it should be another fine year. pretty comparable to this year in terms of overall economic growth. so somewhere close to 2% growth which is close to what the underlying trend is in the economy. so not particularly booming, but certainly not falling into recession. what are the risks? i think you still very much need to focus on what's happening globally. so look at the trade negotiations with china, whether or not there's any other trade challenges or issues with other countries, that remains a concern. as you raise the u.s. nca, the new nafta is a positive news in that respect. and then i think you want to look in general at markets,

right? because there is a close link to what markets -- or how markets are performing and the broader economy. and this was a good year in terms of clearly stock market returns. and that helped to boost confidence and consumer spending. so we'll see how that plays out as well in 2020. i think that's an important indication as well. >> we should add the caveat it's an election year. so by the end of 2020 the outcome of that election could upend things for everyone. >> people vote their wallets. >> exactly. michelle maier, happy holidays to you. thanks. coming up next, it's one of those book covers that grabs your eye. from billie jean king to edward snowden, we're talk to the author who shares her new book "activists: portraits of courage ". : portraits of courage ". an everyday solution. to one that can take on a bigger challenge. we are solving problems that improve lives.

when you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, do something! our children and their children will ask them what did you do? what did you say? >> john lewis with that impassioned speech on the house floor. he's among 40 diverse activists who were photographed in a new book. and we're joined now with the author of this book as we welcome you and wish you a happy christmas eve for being here on this holiday. >> thank you so much for joining

us. >> on the cover, describe this book during the commercial break, it's like a cross between a coffee table book with these gorgeous pictures and yet written word about these activists. it is profound. what inspired you do this? >> well, i think the moment really inspired me. i think for the last several years, and even before that, even before the election of 2016, there was this growing polarity, this sort of negative discourse. >> yeah. >> and it was worrying. you know, i think a lot of people are frustrated by it and trying to figure out how we can come back do a place where we can at least listen to each other. we don't have to agree, but at least listen to each other. i wanted to, one, talk with activists who have been through contentious moments before and figure out how they handled it. and then also look for the wisdom from them, but also look for some inspiration. people who when times were tough figured out a way to just get something done. go out and make change, fight their way through it. and hopefully inspire us all to maybe take action ourselves. >> how do you come up with a

list of just 40 or not a hundred? how do you whit it wied when i down to say this person meets the threshold i want in the book? >> it's art and science. you come up with the icons from the civil rights movement like congressman john lewis, harry belafonte. but then there are younger people. to look at the spectrum of both across the generations, but then also people from very different walks of life as well as different political point of view. and i thought that was important because it really is not so much about the issues, but about the individual urge to get up and do something. >> you know, when i think about activists, i think of someone like billie jean king who has been around for decades. >> right. >> activists, you know, supporting women and women's rights issues. >> right. >> what was your relationship with her as you worked on this book? >> it was fabulous. i got to go and sit down with

her here in new york. and, you know, she's phenomenal and she's still through the doing it. that was so impressive, because so many of the activists like billie jean king, harry holliday have been at this for over 50 years and they don't give up. and in some sense i feel like they should have earned a bit of reprove from this. they've been at this i almost felt like, wow, we should be in a better place. but at the same time they are connecting with younger people and younger activists and teaching them the lessons. and that was beautiful to see that continuing on. >> there are also some in the book that will be viewed by others as controversial, not necessarily as activists like edward snowden and others. >> right. >> how do you explain their presence in the context of being activists and somebody like edward snowden has been described as a traitor. >> right. >> by members in this country. >> i think part of the point is that everyone who reads this will have a problem with somebody in it, i'm sure. and that's sort of the point. because i think that we really

need to listen to each other's stories. you know, i think what unites everybody in this book is a focus on trying to make the world better from their point of view. and there's a real conviction that they went about in doing it and i think if we can read the book and sort of focus on their story, where they're coming from, that we will, you know, we will get a better sense of each other's humanity and understand where they're coming from. and i think that one interesting fact that i came across as i was going through and writing the introduction is that dr. martin luther king jr. in the year that he was assassinated his disapproval rate watio disapproval rating was 75%. >> that's remark zblbl and he's t the closest thing to a patron saint now. so people who are pariahs today may later be valued for their contributions. >> it can't help but go unnoticed there's an election

year coming up. you have bernie sanders as an activist focused on in your book. >> yes. i went up to interview him, i do interviews for the "washington post" magazine and i went up and i sort of had thought, i don't know? he is he not? i interviewed him for the post. and listening to him speak and listening to sort of his conviction and dogged pursuit of certain ideals, when he first ran for office he had won 2% of the vote. but he believed in it and it's that activist spirit. he actually said politics done right is activism. >> and you have one of our on you nbc al sharpton in there as well. >> yes. >> what stood out for you about him? >> well, he's a fascinating character. you know, he has been -- he's been at this since he was a boy. >> yeah. >> he was a boy preacher, as many people know. so he's been involve in this for so many years. that's one of the common points of many of the activists in this book. there was something that happened when they were young that got them involved.

>> yeah. >> it could be a tiny thing, but it got them to take that first step. then i think that they started to realize that, you know, one step makes a difference. and it could be a little thing. >> really quickly, is there a common characteristic that you see in them that all of these people have this single characteristic thor trait? >> i think going to that, part of that is the optimism. you think the angry strident activist. that's the stereotype. and i think that you really have people who are very, you know, at the end of the day they're realists, but they're also on the mists because thoptimists. >> and any have a persevering approach for this. this could be for anyone who needs a last-minute christmas gift. our viewers will like that. there it is, activist. great book. thank you so much and good luck with the book. >> happy holidays. still ahead, cutting edge research and an experimental surgery that helped save a 2-year-old from a life-threatening brain tumor. that story is coming up next. e that story is coming up next.

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stanford university in california wanted to try a groundbreaking approach. >> we have never done operation in such a small kid. actually, multiple people said it was not possible. >> reporter: to do the impossible, doctors wanted to go through ari's nose. a so-called endoscopic surgery to release and then remove the tumor. >> look at the anatomy in all directions and then simulate my approach. >> reporter: surgeons were able to spend hours practicing the procedure. >> if you were one millimeter beyond and you are not careful, you can injury the carotid artery, get a major bleeder. >> reporter: on surgery day, the stakes were high. for ari's mother, it was overwhelming. >> i'm bawling. it's handing your kid over, not knowing if he will ever come

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>> lots of hope to families. >> and many families have contacted stanford university saying they have similar issues with their children. so it feels good to know that we helped raise that awareness. >> good for you. absolutely, saving lives for sure. coming up next in the next hour, a group of democrat senators are trying to be at an impeachment trial in washington while also campaigning in states like iowa. we'll break down that balancing act straight ahead. hat balancin act straighthe aad

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good morning, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside with alex witt. we want to start on the impeachment battle. unearthed emails from key administration officials that reveal the white house tried to conceal its dealings with ukraine. chuck shurm issued a new demand for documents that democrats believe the senate must obtain for consideration in an impeachment trial. in a letter to his colleagues, schumer lays out emails and documents from the white house, in the state department and office of management and budget. he writes, quote, there simply

is no good reason why evidence that is directly relevant to the conduct at issue in the articles of impeachment should be when would from the senate and the american people. relevant documentary evidence currently in the possession of the administration will augment the existing evidentiary record and will allow senators to reach judgments informed by all of the available facts tochlt oppose the admission of the evidence would be to turn a willfully blind eye to the facts and would clear clearly be at odds with the obligation of senators to do impartial justice according to the oath we will all take in the impeachment trial. >> the president tweeting wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that republicans in the senate should handle the impeachment hoax in the same manner as democrats in the house handled their recent partisan scam? why would it be different for republicans than it was for the radical left democrats?

pelosi gives the most unfair trial in the history of the u.s. congress and now she is crying for fairness in the senate and breaking all the rules while doing so. she lost congress once. she will do it again. as trump continues to complain of the unfair trial in the house, it's worth noting he was not subject to a trial in the house and that the trial would be, in fact, in the senate. he has accused pelosi to, quote, do everything she can to delay the zero republican vote articles of impeachment and take over the senate. he continues, quote, she has a bad case and would rather not have a negative decision. this witch hunt must end now. >> judicial committee chairman lindsey graham tweeting out yesterday it is time for speaker pelosi, who claimed impeachment a national imperative, to fish or cut bait. if she refuses, senate

republicans should take matters into our own hands. we are in charge of the senate, not pelosi or schumer. adding speaker pelosi's actions are an affront to the constitution, the senate and denies president donald trump his day in court. yesterday, questioning pelosi's methods. >> most of my constituents don't have a very high opinion of congress under any circumstances. if you ask them they'll say something under the the premise of do they suffer from some are angry. others find it very odd. i find it odd. speaker pelosi is now telling the senate you're prevented or i'm prohibiting you from doing something you really don't want

to do unless you do it in a way i approve of. it's very odd. what's the old movie line? looks like i picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue. >> meanwhile, the house judiciary committee says it is considering recommending additional articles of impeachment against president trump. the potential move comes as the democrat-led committee continues to press the white house for the testimony of former white house counsel don mcgahn as it pursues obstruction of justice during robert mueller's investigation. the committee in this 19-page filing has ordered mcgahn to testify, arguing his testimony could provide new evidence that may be essential in the senate impeachment trial as well as lead to new articles of impeachment. the d.c. circuit of appeals is scheduled to hear the argument as to whether it will enforce

that subpoena. rudy giuliani revealed key details of his business interest in eukraine. according to the magazine, he says he has done two business deals in ukraine but the case he really wanted to take was a lawsuit on behalf of the ukrainian government against a large institution that launderred $7 billion for former president victor. he then explained that the reason he wanted to take the case was to learn about ukrainian money laundering so i could figure out they used the same system for hunter biden. the ukrainian prosecutor fired for corruption was, in fact, not corrupt but forced out by the obama administration because he, quote, had the goods on the bidens. giuliani added he has a secret source with documentary proof that hunter biden had been paid

off through a bank in a transaction routed through a lithuanian bank. >> nbc chief correspondent hallie jackson is traveling with the president in south florida. we'll talk about all of this with her in a moment. as soon as she gets to the camera. saudi arabia announced it's sentenced five officials to death for committing and directly participating in the murder of washington columnist jamal khashoggi. another three men were sentenced to prison for covering it all up. crown prince mohammed bin salman was cleared. that trial was closed to the public and lasted almost a year with foreign officials told not to reveal any officials. a prominent critic of the crown prince, khashoggi had been killed in self exile in the u.s. and was killed at the embassy in istanbul. the cia concluded that the crown

prince ordered the murder. adam schiff called on the intelligence to put out a report. president trump said that the relationship with saudi arabia is too important to lose over the murder of khashoggi. >> some people were wondering if it would reach all the way to the upper echelons of the government, so many people involved, with diplomatic passports to another country, seemed unlikely it was a rogue operation, which was the line towed by the saudi government, that these officials were acting on their own. >> and they've been acquitted those two. >> those individuals have been acquitted and it's raising questions by the united nations that this was a travesty in justice, sham process, behind

closed doors, nobody saw the evidence and it's highly unlikely something like this could have happened without senior government officials aware of it. on the other hand president trump put out a statement, or his administration at least, saying this was a step in the right direction and that it was, in some wayways, a semblance of justice, despite that congress is saying some sanctions need to be put in place. >> hallie jackson is joining us from south florida. she's following the president on his vacation. we're going to talk about domestic politics but first this. the president putting out the statement that the relationship is too important with saudi arabia to become lost over this situation, this human rights violation, this atrocious murder of jamal khashoggi. what's the sense inside the white house? is everyone uniform on that? >> what's interesting, alex and

ayman, there hasn't always been a uniform approach necessarily to what people think inside the administration when it comes to saudi arabia, and in particular, as ayman knows, between republicans and democrats on the hill here. i want to read to you the statement that was put out to us after we've been hearing and news broke overnight yesterday about that verdict, the sentencing, that it's an important step, the white house says, in holding those responsible for this terrible crime accountable and they also encouraged saudi arabia to continue with a fair and transparent judicial process. that's the word from a senior administration official as we continue to follow this story, guy. >> transparent, though. very quickly before we get to impeachment, ayman has been saying this hasn't been transparent at all. we don't even know the names of those who have been convicted. right? >> that's right, and evidence put forth, hallie. >> reporter: you have to remember, for president trump, the relationship with saudi arabia, i don't have to tell you

guys this, that was his first overseas trip he ever went on and i went on covering this administration and have been from the beginning. frankly his advisers and family members like jared kushner believed that having a good relationship with the saudis is very important, despite human rights issues that have come up. this has been an issue for the trump administration and the way they deal with sawedy and human rights since day one. >> while there may be some daylight between republicans on the hill and white house about saudi, there's no daylight on the issue of impeachment. walk us through what is the thinking in the white house this morning as this impeachment saga plays out? >> reporter: well, president trump is up and tweeting about it, ayman and alex. this christmas eve, he appears to be watching fox news. we know that. he is talking about what is being said over on that cable news channel. the president is engaged in this he wants to shift the focus, it seems, to the economy. that's his message heading into 2020.

you ask about the white house thinking, it is this, based on the sources we've been talking to in and around the white house. there's a sense there will be a senate trial. nancy pelosi is going to hold these impeachment articles forever. no. people think there will be some kind of a deal. there's no sense that a deal will happen until after the new year, right? we are on this holiday hiatus when it comes to negotiations on the senate impeachment trial. all the key players are coming out talking about this, they're not really saying anything new. nancy pelosi is reiterating her position. she wants a fair trial. she will not name house managers, the next process. chuck schumer, top democrat in the senate is saying i want just not witnesses but documents in this trial, too. on the other side of the aisle, mitch mcconnell isn't saying anything different either. he's saying, hey, nancy pelosi, you don't control the senate. you don't get a say on how this moves forward. this is a partisan fight and that is being echoed by

president trump as well. there's not a lot of movement on this front. although again as we get past january 1st, if we can bear through the next week and a half, you may start to see perhaps private negotiations happen, which may be a sign that things are getting unstuck a little bit. >> hallie jackson traveling with the president this morning. thank you, hallie. >> a quick check of your holiday forecast with janessa webb. >> good morning. it's travel tuesday. big impacts for the southeast. this was an impressive system that brought over a foot of rain in parts of southern georgia and coastal areas of south carolina. the front will make its way through. and behind the front still very gusty whippeds to about 30 to 40 miles per hour. not seeing delays across the east coast, that's good news. completely different weather pattern, setup for the pacific

northwest, we're watching two storm systems that are going to impact los angeles to the phoenix area. we'll see minor delays today. but salt lake into the colorado area. the higher elevation forecasting up to a foot of snow. so, if you're hitting the slopes for this christmas day holiday, we are going to see massive snow in that area. for the lower elevations up to three to six inches. and unfortunately for this big-time travel day, that's going to cause cancellations and delays. the rain will be widespread, nearly two inches for los angeles. you rarely see that in the winter months. and it will continue as we have another system right behind it. so, your forecast for today, we're going to see that winter warmth really building for the plains. and that's really going to stay in place for your christmas day. look at highs, about 25 to 30 degrees above average. we're really watching this next storm system for the pacific northwest. for christmas day, it's really

going to impact you. we have people that will travel home on sunday, another storm headed their way as well. >> thanks, janessa. appreciate it. we'll break down new poll numbers on the state of the race straight ahead. poll numbers on the state of the race straight ahead osity. it'll ruin your house. so get allstate and be better protected from mayhem, like meow. so why treat your mouth any differently? listerine® completes the job by preventing plaque, early gum disease, and killing up to 99.9% of germs. try listerine®. need stocking stuffers? try listerine® ready! tabs™. the zip code you're born into can determine your future. your school. your job. your dreams.

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some 2020 developments to tell you about. now, former vice president joe

biden continues to lead the democratic primary field nationally in the latest morning consult tracking poll, a 13 edge, unchanged since last week. bernie sanders at 20%, down one point. senator elizabeth warren remains at 15% and former new york city mayor michael bloomberg has 6%. andrew yang is at 5% in the new poll, up one point. >> five senators currently on the trail will find themselves trying to balance the campaign trail and impeachment. >> five candidates who are also senators preparing to trade precious facetime with voters for long days in d.c., those voters keenly aware that time with these candidates may soon

be scarce. >> how do you juggle it? do you fly back and forth? have you thought about it at all? >> no one knows yet what this trial is going to look like and how mitch mcconnell is going to run it. >> my strategy is to be in new hampshire a lot. >> how do you balance that with the trial? >> we're going to have to. >> reporter: bouncing between the trail and a trial, the rest of the field is unencumbered. >> the question is not first and foremost what about impeachment. >> out here on the trail, our job is to talk to voters about how their lives are going to be impacted by who is sitting in the white house. >> we have to stop being obsessed about impeachment. >> reporter: when it is on their minds they try to tie it back to a larger campaign theme. >> we've now seen the impact of corruption and that's what's clearly on the snanlg 2020. >> congress can can walk and chew bubble gum at the same

time. >> thanks to ali vitale for that report. one of his colleagues on the campaign trail and one of our colleagues as well, shaquille brewster. shaq, welcome to you. how will these senators be able to balance these rigorous schedules they have, just ahead of iowa, just ahead of these early primary states? >> intensified. >> completely intensified. you've been following bernie sanders a good amount, right? >> that's right. and those senators in ali's package there, they started their political campaigns for president not supporting the impeachment of president trump. you remember that language before. they said they were hesitant. they said that this would only play into president trump's hands. it wasn't until that mueller report when you saw a bulk of these candidates shift their positions from opposition of impeachment to true support of

impeachment. you look at that debate stage, impea impeachment and the talk of impeachment is going to cloud the political calendar in janua january, it's going to assume a lot of attention in the media, especially if there's a trial in the senate. but it's going to impact that candidate's schedule and what they do on the campaign trail. i spoke to senator sarnz' senior adviser, former campaign manager and jeff weaver told me they're currently having conversations and working the logistics out to have senator sanders in washington, d.c. during the day and chartering to iowa or new hampshire in the evenings to still have those rallies. this is a 78-year-old candidate. imagine having to do your day job but also out into those early states still trying to campaign and moat those voters and still trying to become president. >> let me ask you about impeachment from an actual legal, trial point of view. when you look at the republican senators, they've been very

straightforward about this. some of them like lindsey graham, mitch mcconnell, john kennedy. saying it's a political process. it's not about facts. they're fully on board with exonerating the president as quickly as possible. you cover these candidates. you hear them on the campaign trail. what kind of tone do the democratic senators strike when they're talking about impeachment? have they come down one way or the other so far? >> the senators on the trail, at least they put on the front. i use that not as my word but the voters see through that as well. senators say they're going to approach this somberly, that they're keeping an open mind. everyone understands that they have an idea. they supported the impeachment inquiry and then articles of impeach. they will approach this situation, they say, with an open mind and encouraging mitch mcconnell to do the same.

i interviewed senator sanders live last weekend as he was campaigning in iowa and asked him that question, are you going to keep an open mind when the trial comes your way? he said yes, but he encouraged leaders like mitch mcconnell and republicans in the senate to keep an open mind and look at the evidence. he said he will be an impartial juror, look at the evidence. he does want to hear from some witnesses. that's what you're hearing from the senators along the campaign trail, they'll keep an open mind. they want to hear all the facts, all the evidence, and hear president trump's defense, to hear if he has anything to say for himself, if he will allow his administration officials out there to testify on his behalf. >> yeah. shaq, regarding bernie sanders specifically, given you spend a lot of time on that campaign, his numbers in the morning consult poll, he's down by one percent. in essence, he and elizabeth warren have essentially flipped. she was feeling a surge. now he's feeling a bit more of a

surge. talk about the confidence that the campaign is feeling right now. yet in perspective, still being number two, a good chunk, 10 points behind joe biden, keeping the commanding lead. >> that's right. his advisers say he's doing better but still has work to do. the averages of polls, you mention that morning consult poll. that's mirroring what you're seeing in the polling averages. senator sanders has regained that consistent second place position he had back when vice president biden first entered the race, something his team continues to say. the race is kind of where it was when the field was set, when vice president biden entered the race and you have the vice president at the top and senator sanders right there at number two. then you have elizabeth warren, pete buttigieg there. there are fewer candidates now but it's incredible how consistent the race is, despite all the campaigning that we've seen in the past couple of

months. the sanders campaign they feel good about where they are. when you break it down to the state polls, if uh-uh look at iowa, for example, and mayor pete, they're right behind him in number two. they feel like they're doing well in new hampshire. there was a poll a couple of weeks ago that showed senator sanders in first place. they're okay with that right now. they feel they have more staff, more offices that will activate. they breev they'll be making more phone calls, knocking on doors and that will put them over the top if you have a situation where we're approaching these primary days, caucus days and it looks look a three-way tie. they feel they have the advantage because of the ground game. >> thank you, shaq. >> always a pleasure. >> good to see you my friend. >> thank you.

reassuring kurdish allies after the u.s. pulled troops from syria. joining us next with striking new images. we're back after this. iking new images we're back after this. 1 in 5 people you meet wear dentures.

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turkey is trying to demographically alter the population of northern syria, replacing kurds and repopulating it with arabs. >> can i diplomatic in answering this question? >> i think you should speak as frankly as popular that turkey is trying to repopulate northern syria. >> that is ridiculous. >> joining us now to discuss iraq's kurds, award winning photographer and filmmaker sebastian meyer. "under every yard of sky," full of photographs documenting an intimate work at iraqi kurdistan. i want to start off by asking you, what drew you to this subject? this is a subject in kurdistan, kurds slb on the front lines and

on news cycles for months. >> i first went to iraqi kurdistan to photograph the genocide that saddam committed against the kurds. while there, i met a journalist and we became instantaneously friends, fast friends. through his photographs and photographs of his colleagues, i started to realize there was way more to iraq and iraqi kurdistan than i, as an american had, seen in the news. the year after he contacted me and said i'm thinking of setting up a photo agency to train and support iraqi photojournalists. what do you think? i bought a one-way ticket and that was it. what i realized when i was there was my understanding of iraq, my understanding of the kurds was a two dimensional view. >> right. >> kurds are victims.

kurds are warriors and that's sort of it. but they're no different than anybody. >> it's a civil war within themselves. >> right. there was so much more to the regio region. >> you pick one family to string all the way through for continuity sake. what grabs me is the story of the man you just spoke. tell me about that. >> we built the agency together from 2009 to 2014 on june 12th, two days after isis took mosul, he went to the front line as a photojournalist to cover the fight with isis and was wounded. as the kurds were treated, he was left on the battlefield, presumed dead. the following day i went to retrieve his body with his

family members. while we were waiting to get permission or access to the battlefield, he called. he hadn't been killed. >> let me switch gears. to a broader discussion of kurds and the relationship with the u.s. when you look at the relationship that's been forged by this government with kurds in general, what's the perspective of kurds in northern iraq and syria about the american relationship they have? do they believe, do they trust america? >> when i first went there, everyone would ask me, is it dangerous? no, it was not. the kurds had and still have an incredible relationship to america. unfortunately that trust forged since the '90s, is eroded. and part of that is the precedent that's been set time and time again. in 1991, h.w. bush encouraged

the kurds to rise up against saddam at the end of the gulf war. which they did. when saddam retaliated, america did not come to their defense and saddam massacred thousands. i know because i, as part of my works a journalist, have been to the exhumations of the mass graves. men, women, children, photographed the bones. when america says that they will come to the kurds' defense and then withdraws and doesn't do that, the kurds are abandoned, massacres do happen and that trust is eroded. >> the question is, can we get that trust back as troops were leaving as ordered to do so, they were pelted with rocks, anything they could get their hands on, the antithesis of how

they were previously perfeceive >> what's worse than betrayal? >> right. >> who fills that gap if kurs feel that abandoned and don't feel they can trust americans, who will they trust? they do depend on superpowers. >> kurds have sought independence, wanted independence. are they any closer to realizing more independence or have their aspirations been completely set back by what's happen this had year with america withdrawing and pulling out from syria? >> kurdish independence is a complicated issue. it's divided between iraq, syria, turkey and iran. so each country has to look for an independence movement. the closest region to come to that is iraq. they've had a pseudo-independence since the no fly zone was imposed.

they have oil but no water, no port. they have to work with the turkish government to export that oil. they have their own government, their own language, but their currency is printed in baghdad. how do you become independent? it's very complicated. >> very complicated indeed, sebastian. trying to bring some of that complexity and nuance in that book. thank you so much for sharing that story. >> "for every yard of sky." beautiful book. >> thank you. >> thank you, sebastian. we'll stay overseas, but turn to the united kingdom. brexit has been a real challenge for the uk. as keir simmons reports that, wasn't britain's only brush with controversy. all that, straight ahead for you. controversy. all that, straight ahead for you.

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queen elizabeth's husband, prince philip, has left the hospital, we're glad to say, this morning after a four-night stay there to treat a pre-existing condition. the 98-year-old was seen leaving that hospital where he had been receiving medical treatments since friday. buckingham palace in a statement said that he had been admitted to the hospitals a precaution but is back to the palace now. >> good news. >> yeah. and keir simmons explains it is a christmas for the royal family after a year with some controversy. >> reporter: the queen has reigned over us for many, many years. but this year, it will be one she will be happy to see end. in her annual queen speech

she'll deliver on christmas day, she says the path, of course, is not always smooth and may, at times this year, have felt quite bumpy. she doesn't offer any clarification of what she is referring to, but it may be events in her own family. the challenging year. she is for now preparing for christmas. there have been question marks over prince philip's health. he was only released today after spending four days in the hospital but now home, just in time for christmas. also troubling this year, that astonishing interview that prince andrew, said to be the queen's favorite son gaev to the bbc, showing little empathy to accused sex trafficker jeffrey eppstein, resulting from him stepping down from public life. unsavory eppstein saga coming uncomfortably close to the queen. prince harry falling out with his brother, william. >> we're certainly on different

paths at the moment. as brothers you have good days, bad days. >> both prince harry and his wife, meghan, unhappy in their royal roles. >> i never thought this would be easy but i thought it would be fair. >> there have been good thing this is year, too. these happy pictures just released of the queen and three kings to be, prince george stirring the traditional dessert, christmas pudding. and william and kate taking part in a cooking program. meghan and prince harry presented the queen with a new great grandchild. the proud parents happily sharing baby archie off touring africa, and taking center stage here in the sussexes' christmas card, the proud parents beaming with joy. we won't see harry and meghan this year, spending christmas in canada, the queen will be there and maybe sending a quiet prayer of thanks to this busy,

challenging year is just about over. keir simmons, nbc news, london. zblup next, our british theme continues. abbey road, 50 years later. you watched "morning joe," you watched mika and joe's conversation with one of the producers. more that have revealing conversation next, including the story of the birth of one of the group's most famous songs. you don't want to miss that. >> good. hat. >> good. ( ♪ ) at chevy, we're all about bringing families together. this time of year, that's really important. so we're making it easier than ever to become part of our family. man: that's why our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. the chevy price you pay is what we pay. not a cent more. family is important to us. and we'd like you to be part of ours. so happy holidays. and welcome to the family. the chevy family! get the chevy employee discount for everyone today.

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welcome back. yesterday on "morning joe," peter asher, author of the new book "the beatles from a to zed, alphabetical music tour. here is more of that great discussion. >> popular singers today, musicians today, who do you like? >> billie irish. >> she's amazing. >> brilliant. 17. it's her and her brother, doing everything. and i saw her live at the trubidor enough. this was a special gig at the

trubidor but that puts her in that category of singer/songwriters, ed sheerhan, billie irish. i've never been one of those people who think they don't write songs like that anymore. we feel that way because of selected memory. we forget all the crap that came out and just remember the good stuff. >> a beatle savant, literal ly for two hours, you were never stumped. although there were stories in this book you had never heard of. >> exactly. that's why i love the book so much. >> thank you. >> i also love your radio show. let's talk about that a little bit. this week, as i was driving around on sunday morning, which is when i usually get mika's coffee and drive around and listen, i was struck what a deep dive you did. you did ram, but you didn't just start with eat at home and

backseat of my car. you did a special version of it to start off the show. percy thrillington's. >> that's right, the percy thrillington album. i forgot which show. covering his own record, percy thrillington and percy thrills thrillington. >> yeah. >> and covering all the songs from ram. and they were interesting. there were arrangements done by a guy called richard houston who was the person who did these arrangements on the very first james taylor apple album, friend of mine who was a jazz/trumpet player and composer and i wrote to him on that project and he remained connected with apple. the percy thrillington album is kind of obscure, but i like it. >> there's no way, is there, for you to look back to living in your family's bedroom and here we are, 50 years later and there's a radio station 24 hours

a day that plays beatles music. >> yep. >> their songs are just as popular. one of the pictures i framed in my studio is the biggest band in the world and it's the beatles, "a rolling stone" cover from the 21st century. who could have ever seen this coming? >> exactly. and it's worth remembering at the time when all this was happening, the one question we could be assured was going to be in any interview we ever did, and this applied to the beatles as well is what are you going to do when it's all over? there was an absolute conviction that a career in pop music was a couple of years. and then you go back to being a postman or whatever you were before. and it was inconceivable that the music would last forever. now it clearly will. >> absolutely. >> if it's lasted this long, 200 years from now, you know, we won't remember which came first, mozart or the beatles. but they'll both be the stuff of legend and people will be listening to it all the time. >> give us insights for huge

beatles fans, a lot of them watch the show, of ringo. what's your takeaway of ringo? >> we all know he was underestimated as a point at whg a great drummer meant taking very impressive solos and being able to play, and what he did was design drum parts for a song. and the number of times where he goes straight to a regular drum part is minimal. there is very rarely that it starts -- there are so many that it is a almost as it was written drum part. and he can rock out with the best of them, that is why it is so interesting there are no ringo drum solos. >> he was so solid. when i played with basest

through the years, they say how do i want you to play and i say i want you to play base as if you were ringo. play like he plays the drums. be the foundation, drive it, but he was solid, always and your right he didn't get the credit he deserved. >> what about george? >> a little like ringo in the sense of someone that could not shred like van haleen or someone like that, but he was more of a composer. a lot of those george solos are beautifully written melodies. >> and he developed so much as a song writer, if anything perhaps that propelling him to write works of extraordinary genius.

>> i think one of the tributes came from frank sinatra who mistakeningly said this is the best lennon and mccarthy song ever. >> now it is cool because it immediately reaffirms that he is right up there with them, where he wasn't considered at the time, but he certainly was, george was an amazing congress writer. so many terrific george songs. there is tons of george in the top ten. >> and john, of course -- >> i didn't know john terribly well. he could be quite, you know, he didn't take disagreement readily, but he was brilliant,

interesting, and interested. he loved to learn about new stuff. but he could certain i will be very dismissive. >> do you have a favorite story from this book that everybody is going to buy from christmas? >> the one that i get asked about and that sticks in my mind is the time, and i may have told you this story in the time that paul was living with us my mother as you said was a professional musician, and there was a little music room in the basement that was hers that she would give private obo lessons, and she said he could use that piano any time he wanted to, and he did, and there was an occasion when john lennon came over, and they were writing a lot, eye to eye, together, as opposed to consecutively.

they went down in this little music room for a couple hours, interestingly with no guitars, just the piano, and paul said do you want to hear the song they just finished and i came down and sat on a little sofa and they sat side by side, both of them hammering away full power playing "i want to hold your hand" and that was incredibly impressive. they did turn to me and ask me what i thought. i was overwhelmed not just by the song, but they sang loud. they played in germany in all of those awful clubs, and they were extremely loud and it blew me away, and i'm like this is wonderful, and i'm like is it mad or is this one of the best

songs i have ever heard. it's like lin you grab the needle and you put it back to the beginning of the grooves and they were more than happy to play it again. >> what a remarkable story and book, and thank god after they played the song you didn't say it was great, but bands with guitars are on their way out. as an unlucky anr 8 once said. >> the look is "the beatles from a to zed. peter asher, joe could talk to you all day. >> thank you so much. >> that was kind of a gift for all of you, more of joe and mika's discussion with peter asher. see the full conversation at e jjo joe .msnbc doi.com.

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hello, everyone. it is tuesday, december 24th and here is what is happening this hour. as if once wasn't enough, house democrats are now warning they

could try to impeach president trump a second time. the possibility came up other whether or not don mcgann can be compelled to testify. the drgsoj said the last impeachment was moot, and then they said if they're supporting the conclusion that president trump committed impeachable offenses they will proceed accordingly. considering whether or not to add new offers for impeachment. let's break this down a little bit and get the sense are they serious about another wave of articles of impeachment if in fact don mcgann is compelled to testify. >> i can't speak to whether or not their serious or not, is it likely or not? highly unlikely,