specials. reverend al sharpton has his ninth annual awards on "politics nation." a look back at the best and worst political moves of the year. this sunday at 5:00 p.m. my thanks to rev and to lexie. so good to spend this time with you. that does it for this hour. nicolle will be back next week. i know that you have all missed her very much. but not as much as i have. "mtp daily" with jeff bennet in for chuck todd starts right now. welcome to friday. it's "meet the press daily." i'm geoff bennet in washington in for chuck today. we begin tonight with the impeachment waiting game and nancy pelosi's gamble. how long can the house speaker withhold articles of impeachment from the senate? it's now been nine days since the house first voted to impeach

president trump. and it's now ten days before the senate returns to capitol hill, presumably to take up impeachment. and yet, speaker pelosi says she won't send the articles of impeachment to the senate until she sees the details of a trial process. meantime, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and minority leader chuck schumer remain at odds over the terms of that trial. with no word of any negotiations resuming anytime soon. so for now, we are stuck exactly where we've been for more than a week. in an impeachment purgatory with a whole lot of unknowns. will speaker pelosi's strategy work? how quickly will a senate trial happen? will we hear from witnesses who didn't testify in the house process? and how will all of this affect the presidential election? to help kick things off, i'm joined by former california senator barbara boxer, who was a juror in former president bill clinton's impeachment trial nearly 21 years ago. she is now the host of the boxer podcast. and with me here in washington is anne gearan, "washington

post" white house correspondent. juanita toliver, campaign director. thanks to all of you for being here. there are a lot of other places you could be on friday of a holiday week. but a grateful nation thanks you for being here. senator boxer, first to you, as for this delay with speaker pelosi withholding the articles of impeachment, i'm told by sources familiar that the strategy, there's nothing nefarious here. what she's trying to do is she's trying to provide time and political cover for chuck schumer to work out a deal with mitch mcconnell. democrats believe that if they had any leverage in this process, it's at the start of the senate trial, not during it. and so before we distill the politics of all this, i want to draw on your experience. and help us understand how the dynamics of a senate trial will look very much unlike what we've seen transpire so far in the house. >> absolutely. and i want to say what speaker pelosi has done is to shine the light where it belongs right

now, which is on mitch mcconnell, who is the majority leader of the senate. and to just draw on my experience, i could tell you it is nothing like what i saw in the united states senate. in a very painful time for me, personally, and for especially women, democrats who were so disappointed in what had happened. it was an impeachment about lying about sex. it wasn't a trial about endangering the national security of the country. or obstructing congress. so it was very different. but what we had then was the majority leader, trent lott and the minority leader working hand in glove. not as mitch mcconnell says he's working hand in glove with trump's lawyers. no. they worked hand in glove. and to prove the point, at the end of the whole process, i'll never forget this. the two of them gave us mementos. a pin that showed we had kind of

lived through this together. this is exactly what congresswoman speaker pelosi wants to do. is to let people sit back for five minutes in this world where everything's so fast. and impress upon mcconnell he's doing the wrong thing. he needs to put country over party here. >> you make a great point because as i understand it, the clinton white house wanted to dismiss with the senate trial. make it seem some sort of partisan vendetta. but there were democratic senators, like yourself at the time, who wouldn't go along with that because they thought that what the president did was rep rehencible and they didn't want to be seen defending it. contrast that with what we have today. there are very few republicans, you might count lisa murkowski perhaps given her latest comments. but there are very few republicans, no republicans i can think of besides her and potentially mitt romney who are -- possibly would be seen breaking with president trump in this upcoming trial.

>> right. and -- and i'm so proud of senator murkowski. but remember, she said nothing about the gravity of the situation. she was just making a strong point that mitch mcconnell had said some disturbing things about, you know, he's like the foreman of the jury. working with the defendant. this is -- in -- in real life, in the context of a courtroom, he would be off the jury. so i think it's a very important point to note. that we, democrats, at the time were willing to go on the record saying what bill clinton did was wrong. he shouldn't have had these affairs. he shouldn't have lied about them. but at the end of the day, it didn't rise to, you know, a high crime and misdemeanor. we did go on the record. and these republicans are running around hiding under their desks. i have not heard any of them say -- maybe -- maybe mitt romney. a couple of them may have said

they were disturbed by this. disturbed is the word that they use. so it is so very, very different. and, you know, it -- it is true that it was 21 years ago. but in -- in the history books, that's not that long. we should be seeing mcconnell sitting down with chuck schumer. if you read the constitution, it says, the senate -- the senate -- has the sole power over the trial. it doesn't say the majority leader of the senate. it says the senate. >> yeah. anne gearan, mitch mcconnell has a couple constituencies he has to watch out for. he also has the republican in the white house who he has to keep content, at least to keep him out of the way so mcconnell can -- can run the strategy that he sees fit. >> yeah. i mean, the second of those jobs is the more difficult one for him. the president has tweeted completely opposite things within a week about whether he wants a trial to go forward and whether he thinks a trial is

legitimate. i mean, if you're mitch mcconnell, you've got a pretty narrow line to walk there. but, you know, mcconnell, i think, is -- does not have a particularly difficult job ahead of him in terms of party, you know, reigning in anybody, party loyalty. it's been interesting to me that he hasn't come down like a ton of bricks on lisa murkowski, whose criticism was directly pointed at him. >> yeah. >> when -- when she told nbc affiliate in alaska, i think, a day ago that, you know, she didn't like the fact that mcconnell was essentially calling the cards already. saying that he would work with the white house and that he believes the president is, essentially, innocent. that this isn't going to be a trial in -- in the usual sense. that offended her on a -- on a process level. and as senator boxer pointed out, she didn't go -- and i think you pointed out -- she didn't go a step further and say that she, you know, is

considering voting, you know, against the president, against mcconnell. and if that's the -- the -- you know, the greatest, you know, foot out of the tent. >> doesn't take a lot. right? >> mcconnell's job is going to be terribly difficult when we finally get to a trial in january. >> hopefully. right? >> yeah. i want to weigh in on that because the conventional thinking, this is what democrats are hoping for. is that there will be at least four republicans who will either have a crisis of conscience or who are up for re-election and it will be in their political best interests to work with democrats. and that's how chuck schumer turns his 47 to 51. and then he is in the driver's seat and he gets the trial he wants. but are there really, though? are there four republicans that are going to come out? >> i'm not going to say no yet. the reason why is because 71% of americans want to hear from witnesses. 55% of americans are now supportive of removing trump

from office. and there's been a nosedive in people directly, explicitly opposed to his removal from office. they want to get the facts. they want to get the details. and the more you have mcconnell saying forget facts, forget details, i am aligning myself with trump and the white house on this every step of the way. that's really turning off americans who are looking for those facts. looking for those witnesses. who trump has said, no, y'all aren't gonna come forward. so instead of prioritizing the truth, mitch mcconnell is rushing forward with exonerating trump with no foundation. >> yeah. and michael, as you know, it's -- all of these republicans now who privately have all these misgivings and there's all this behind the scenes hammering about president trump. who cares what they say privately? it matters what they say publicly. and right now, for the most part, they're lining up behind the president. >> i think as it pertains to strategy here, if i was the majority leader, i would allow senators to do what's in their best political interest. i mean, you talked about in the opening of the show his number one duty is to preserve his majority by any means necessary. and that means you have to give room to individuals, like

murkowski, like susan collins out of maine, to perhaps have a public mild rebuke. senator boxer spoke about 21 years ago how republicans and democrats cooperated with each other. the beautiful thing about that was they actually had trust with one another. republicans trusted democrats. you know, vice versa. the issue now is neither side trusts the other. and it's really difficult to try to cooperate or find some level of agreement on anything when you automatically presume the other side is out for bad. out for wrong. and so from my perspective, i think it would be foolish for mcconnell to completely tout the line of the president. i think he has to be very, very careful here. you look at the numbers across the country right now. and some of those senators who are running in very vulnerable states, you are seeing a huge increase in enthusiasm and excitement among democratic-leaning voters. that would concern me because in some of those states, the pool of voters for those republicans

to pull from is completely limited in comparison to some of their democratic potential running mates. you have a far more diverse group of voters. so you have to watch those things, jeff. and i think the majority leader is going to do so. and in doing so, i expect him to say if you have to be somewhat critical, i'm going to give you the room to do so. >> yeah. juanita and senator boxer, i'm going to put this question to both of you. the strategist and the practitioner. there is this asymmetry in our politics, right? where democrats -- there is an expectation that democrats are intellectually honest and that they're -- like, they're honest, consistency to their honesty. that republicans just don't necessarily have to put up with. right? it's just -- it's just -- it's just the way it is. and so the reason i say that is because already you're hearing from republicans make the point speaker pelosi said impeaching president trump was imperative. it had to happen urgently. and yet, she's withholding articles of impeachment for an additional two or three weeks. what happened?

>> turn it around. democrats should focus on the fact that mcconnell has still not put forward any rules or procedures for how this trial will proceed in a manner that is not rigged. in a manner that does not already exonerate trump. that's going to be really focused on the facts and getting the truth out to americans. because that's what's missing here right now. we have mcconnell essentially stonewalling the public from knowing the realities from the people closest to trump. the people who would have the latest information and the direct understanding of how he interacted with ukraine. how he maneuvered things within the white house, as well as omb to withhold aid. and then ultimately release it, right? you're missing the biggest actors here and that's what mcconnell is looking to stonewall and obstruct. >> how do democrats keep this momentum? >> first, i want to talk about speaker pelosi. anyone with a heartbeat and a pulse knows she did not want to go down this road. so for the republicans to say, oh, all she wanted is impeachment. she really didn't. she -- she didn't do it until trump, as she said,

self-impeached with what he did in terms of the ukraine president and shaking him down to get dirt on joe biden. that was just a bridge too far. so then she did move forward. and she moved forward, i think, in a way that made a lot of sense. and now, she's withholding the articles so that we can all focus on the rules, as your guest said, of this trial. now, there's two things that govern this trial. one, the constitution, which as you noted, is very terse on the subject. but there are also rules of the senate that got laid down. and it's very clear that there's house managers. and they present their case. the president can present his case in person or through his counsel. and then there's deliberations. and the question of whether there ought to be witnesses. it's pretty straightforward. if mcconnell doesn't like those rules, he can try to overturn them. but it takes 67 votes. so i think his job, in his --

he's got to see if he's got a solid 51 votes to dismiss the charg charges at any point during the trial or to exonerate at the end of the trial and whether he can hold back the desire for witnesses. and i would love to see the democrats press hard for more witnesses. as one of y70% of the people want more witnesses. you know, where is john bolton? where are -- where is don mcgahn? where are others? so let's see how it goes. i think it's going to be very interesting. and last point i'd make is that mcconnell's taking heat from his own state. he's had a couple editorials harshly against his -- the way he's proceeding. and his approval rating is pretty low. and i have to say this. he's got a good opponent. so it's interesting. >> former senator barbara boxer. thanks for your time. great to see you as always.

ahead, president trump isn't taking a holiday from his twitter feed. how he is trying to take control of the narrative with impeachment trial looming. and later, he's been defended and praised by president trump but some of eddie gallagher's platoon members tell a very different story. the disturbing accounts about the former navy s.e.a.l. accused of war crimes. mes.tart my heart by motley crue) (truck honks) (wheels screeching) (clapping) (sound of can hitting bag and bowl) (clapping) always there in crunch time. ♪

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president trump is keeping up his string of twitter attacks on democrats over this holiday week. including calling impeachment a hoax, accusing house speaker nancy pelosi of trying to rig the trial, and blasting out pro-trump commentary from his favorite network, fox news. the ongoing twitter tirade, of course, comes as the rules for the senate trial and the trial itself are in limbo. with majority leader mitch mcconnell and minority leader chuck schumer locked in a standoff. democrats insist any trial must include witnesses. specifically, the president's chief of staff mick mulvaney and former national security advisor, john bolton, who the

administration blocked from testifying in the house investigation. here now is democratic congressman jerry connolly of virginia. he serves on the oversight and foreign affairs committees. so when congress comes back this first full week of january, what are the next steps in this impeachment process? >> well, depending on what happens in the senate, the house will transmit articles of impeachment and name impeachment managers. >> that first week you think? >> well, if -- if certain conditions, i think, are met. i don't speak for the speaker. but i think one of the reasons for withholding the articles of impeachment is, a, to provide some space for schumer and mcconnell to work out rules similar to the rules that trent lott and dashel worked out in the previous impeachment. but secondly, to get some clarification on just how impartial the senate majority leader and republican colleagues in the senate are prepared to be. they take an oath. a separate oath for impeachment.

promising, under oath, to be impartial jurors. it's the only time the senate takes a second oath other than that oath of office itself. that has to be taken seriously. it can't be trivialized. and i think, correctly, the speaker is deeply disturbed. most of us are by some of the statements coming from republican members of the senate. especially, the majority leader himself. >> yeah. before congress went on break, the house speaker held a press conference. i was there. and she said she wasn't going to name the house managers. those lawmakers who, effectively, prosecute the case on the senate floor, before she knew what the senate trial would look like. it's logical. it makes sense. the general doesn't send the army to the battlefield until she knows what the battlefield looks like. but do you think -- first of all, how many house managers will she name do you think? because i'm told that the 13 that house republicans named during the clinton trial, that was too many people. >> i have no idea. you know, i'm sure she's mulling this over now and looking at

various -- various skillse sets she wants to make sure are represented in putting the best case forward to the senate and american people. >> is there a risk that democrats will cut the momentum they've built over these past three months in pursuing impeachment? i mean, impeaching a president in 80 plus days. congress can't do much in 80 days, and yet they are able to do that. and yet, there's this delay in the holiday break. >> well, i don't know that it's true congress can't get much done in 80 days. you know, in that last week, in addition to impeaching the president, we passed full funding for the fiscal year of the federal government. we passed a trade agreement. and we passed tax extenders worth $1.4 trillion. >> but that had been a process longer than the -- >> so is impeachment. i mean, remember rob mueller was over two years. people seem to forget that. that's part of this process. >> yeah. the work you're doing on the oversight committee continues

beyond impeachment. in just the last week, you asked for more documents related to the deaths of those migrants in those government facilities there. if the trump administration continues to stonewall and continues to not give your committee the documents and evidence that you want. will the oversight committee hold some of these people in contempt? will you issue fines? will you cut funding for the departments that aren't complying? those are the kind of things that the committee could have done in impeachment. but you heard from the -- adam schiff and jerry nadler make the point there just wasn't enough time to do that. but yet, move expeditiously with impeachment. but on the other oversight issues, is the committee willing to do that? >> i would hope so. i certainly discussed this with the late chairman of our committee, elijah cummings, who favored reviving inherent contempt, as do i. inherent contempt is the process whereby congress enforces its own subpoenas. we don't go through the judicial process, which is very time

consuming. and, frankly, hands over responsibility to another branch of government. >> yeah. president trump will be campaigning after this senate trial. and we assume that he will be acquitted because there aren't -- as i sit here and talk to you, 20 republicans who will join with the 45 democrats and the two independents who caucus with the democrats to vote to convict. how will democrats keep him from doing the thing that he wants to do? and that's campaign as the acquitted president. >> well, you know, this tweet storm is almost deranged. and i think gives evidence of two things. one is a guilty conscience. and secondly, a deep insecurity about the fact that he has been impeached. and that it will tarnish him in his re-election effort. and i believe it will. so i'm not as worried about losing momentum as i am

confident that we will then go to the american people as the ultimate juror. or jury. you're right. i don't think there's a chance there's going to be conviction in the senate because that would require 20, at least, republicans to actually act on their consciences. i think that's highly unlikely given what they've said and their demeanor and behavior so far. but the american people will get their say in november 2020. >> congressman jerry connolly, thank you. >> ahead, the president called him one of america's ultimate fighters but one platoon member calls him, quote, freaking evil. the disturbing new interviews about retired navy s.e.a.l. eddie gallagher. . eddie gallagher. i looove travel.

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tremfya®. uncover clearer skin that can last. janssen can help you explore cost support options. a graphic new report from "the new york times" today reveals disturbing information about eddie gallagher, the navy s.e.a.l. who was accused of war crimes in the killing of a captive isis fighter. gallagher was found not guilty of murder and attempted murder earlier this year. we want to warn you what you are about to see is disturbing. the weekly television series from "the new york times" obtained this helmet cam footage from gallagher's platoon showing the isis fighter that gallagher was accused of murdering. "the times" also obtained navy investigator interviews in which they accuse him of unstable conduct on the battlefield. including targeting people who were unarmed. >> i saw eddie take a shot at

probably a 12-year-old kid. the guy got crazier and crazier. >> i could tell he was perfectly okay with killing anybody. >> i see eddie laying on the ground with a knife. >> we can't let this continue. >> all right. in a statement through his lawyer to "the times," gallagher accused his fellow s.e.a.l.s. of making up, quote, blatant lies to hide what he says was cowardly conduct on deployment. this afternoon, msnbc spoke to the author of "the times" report who said the evidence he reviewed from the s.e.a.l.s. does not match that description. >> when i looked at the evidence, we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of private text messages these s.e.a.l.s. never thought anyone would see. i didn't see any of that. if they were concocting a story, we didn't see any evidence of it. >> the white house has not commented on the report by "the new york times." but in the past, president trump had taken an interest in gallagher's case. earlier this year, president trump personally ordered the pentagon not to strip gallagher of his rank and s.e.a.l. status.

and he has previously praised gallagher and other military personnel accused of misconduct on the campaign trail. joining me now, my nbc news colleague, hans nichols, traveling with the president in florida. still with me here ons set is anne gearan. so, hans, we knew about these allegations but what does the new video and text messages, what does this all reveal? >> well, it brings fresh light and really shows you the immediacy and the rawness of what was alleged to have happened. bas basically, these are the raw files the ncis naval investigators had. now, it formed the brunt of the prosecution's case, which the prosecution brought. and then as you mentioned, edward gallagher was acquitted of most of the charges. he was found guilty on one -- one minor charge. so this is basically a raw prosecution feed that we're seeing. and it is shocking. it is -- it is stunning. we know that president as you mentioned has taken an interest in this case. it was maybe four weeks ago the

president urged all of his supporters on twitter to go ahead and tune in to an interview eddie gallagher was going to do on fox news on a saturday morning. and it's at that point that eddie gallagher almost attacked his own chain of command and expressed, publicly, what he wanted. and that is he wanted to retire with his trident. retire as a s.e.a.l. and ultimately, that's what happened. but there was some collateral damage, at least in the navy leadership, the secretary of the navy ended up resigning over this whole matter. and we'll see whether or not there is any longer term effects within the chain of command either in the pentagon or in the various s.e.a.l. teams. geoff. >> hans, help us understand how president trump got involved in this gallagher case in the first place. >> well, you know, a fox news like personality was a big champion of the case. he had talked to the president about it. mentioned it. and he's also been an advocate of this. he's a iraq war veteran himself. so, you know, look. the president has been taken a

special interest in a lot of these cases. we know that there is a lot of publicly lobbying for potential pardons through some of the president's favorite television shows. that seems to be part of the strategy here. and ultimately, it wasn't on the pardon side of things. but ultimately, edward gallagher did not -- was not -- was acquitted. and the president intervened to ensure that he retired as a s.e.a.l. geoff. >> yeah. let's look at some of these quotes from "the new york times" story. these are gallagher's former colleagues. these are s.e.a.l.s. who say this about him. this guy is freaking evil. that's special operator craig miller who said that. this guy was toxic. that's from special operator joshua. and then another quote. he was perfectly okay with killing anybody that was moving. anne, you covered the pentagon before you covered the white house. the fact that this is coming from s.e.a.l.s. themselves, given the -- the culture of silence within that community. i mean, this is significant stuff. >> absolutely. i mean, the -- the -- you can tell that the navy prosecutors thought they had a very, very

good case against this guy. they had realtime information from the other members of the platoon. other people who were on the battlefield. who witnessed gallagher kill this kid, was a teenager, with a hunting knife. and then pose with the body. over the loud objection, in realtime, from the people who were -- who were his juniors. and then ordering some of those other s.e.a.l.s. to participate in what the navy considers a war crime along with him. there are a number of -- of military chain of command problems there. obviously, there is -- that is a textbook definition of a war crime and the navy went after him for it. you know, it was a good order and discipline problem. it was a morale problem. it's everything that the navy and the other branches say that -- that we prosecute war crimes for. you -- you do not want, as

the -- in this case, you know, invading power in iraq to be accused of doing things that we accuse other armies of -- of doing to us. and, you know, the whole idea that the united states is better than that. and that you're putting soldiers and sailors, airmens, and marines at risk when americans act this way. you know, why would another power not do the same thing to you? and then the separate issue here is trump getting involved personally overruling what had already taken place in -- in the military justice system? and applying his -- his own justice to it. and then celebrating the fact. >> yeah. i mean, there are all kinds of damning, unintended consequences here. hey, hans, there have been some reporting that president trump wanted to campaign with eddie gallagher. the president, as we know, treats the military as one of his constituencies.

right? but given everything that anne just said, is there a potential that this would blow back in the president's face? >> maybe. i mean, like i -- you know, when you try to actually -- i mean, the military prides itself on being, you know, non-partisan and apolitical. and that's why there have been firm reprimands handed down when there have ever been service members in uniform taking positions that have been pro-trump. i think there was an issue of make air crews great again. some sailors had that on -- on -- on their shoulder on a patch. they were having fun. and they were -- they were reprimanded for that. so, you know, the president's feel on this is that they should be for him because he's given them pay raises. the troops. he's spent a lot of money on the pentagon. and he's changed some of the mother, may i aspects that happened before. where there is more field grade commanders have the ability to make decisions. so that was one of the first things he did when -- when he came in. how this all plays politically,

it's unclear. we do know eddie gallagher was here just across the street this time last week for turning points usa, which is a conservative advocacy group trying to cultivate the next generation of conservative leaders. so eddie gallagher clearly indicating he wants to get involved in the political space somehow. whether or not he will campaign with the president or the president will bring him around, potentially. we don't have any firm reporting on that. but we know that the president likes the audiences. i mean, what was his last official act before he flew down here? he signed the defense authorization act at joint base andrews. and that, in some ways, was subdued. the president didn't really give a campaign-style speech but he has done that in the past in front of men and women in uniform. geoff. >> hans nichols, great to see you, my friend. thank you. anne, shermichael, juanita, stay with us. the holidays are over. 2020 candidates are back on the trail and so are we coming up next. up next

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just like many americans, the 2020 democratic hopefuls took some time off for the holidays. but many are back on the trail today with just about one month until the first votes are cast. you got bernie sanders in new hampshire today. his campaign is seeing some positive press, as many are taking notice of his steady poll numbers. take a look at this. here is the real clear average of the national presidential polls on december 27th of this year and last year. we've got sanders and former vice president joe biden. they've remained remarkably steady over the last year. and they are still numbers one and two in most national polls. and speaking of joe biden, any minute now, he is expected to speak at a high school in williamsburg, iowa. in fact, i think that is him getting out of the car. while minnesota senator amy klobuchar is on the other side of the hawkeye state where she can now say she's visited all of iowa's 99 counties after weeks

of traveling the state. still with us, juanita, shermichael, and anne. juanita, looking at this real clear politics average, biden and sanders still on top a year later. my insiesive question to you is what's up with that? >> first and foremost, names and lists. they have two of the most recognizable names and they have definitely got war chests behind them. they have lists from 2016 and in biden's case, obama in '08 and 2012. that's something that has allowed them staying power. while you have also seen the jostling lower down tier candidates, wells candidates exiting the race. what happens there is now biden and sanders are going to get more of that criticism and critical focus that was previously targeting other candidates. like a beto, like a kamala harris. so i think they better be prepared for that. >> does anybody know where the beto o'rourke and kamala harris supporters, where they ended up? is that a known thing? >> i think folks are still making up their minds. i don't think anybody has concretely moved.

of course, we know campaign staffers move around to other campaigns. but one thing about bernie and his supporters is that they, especially out of iowa and new hampshire, are 100% behind him. they -- you had folks who had lawn signs up since 2016 and didn't take them down. so his supporters are firmly with him and he's expanding his poll every day. >> and amy klobuchar. i mean, she had that breakout performance in the last debate. she is the one to watch right now apparently. >> well, i mean, yes. we always want to watch the one where the numbers are moving. and to your point from -- from a moment ago, you know, biden's and sanders' numbers are not really moving. they're not going way down, which i'm sure is a great relief to both of them. but they're not going way up either. and they are not hoovering up -- they're not becoming an automatic beneficiary every time somebody drops out. >> yeah. >> klobuchar was almost counted out a few months ago. lots of rumors that she was

running short on money. and, you know, having to sort of not breaking through at the debates. that has turned around. iowa is really great ground for her politically and, you know, it plays to a couple of her strengths. and she's clearly making a hard run at iowa. >> yeah. and mayor pete buttigieg, this is a iowa state poll. 24%. he's in the lead right now. bernie sanders, below him, has 21%. elizabeth warren, 18%. and joe biden has 15%. of course, poll is a snapshot in time. but this snapshot's looking pretty good for mayor pete. >> it is. and i think that's attested to the infrastructure that his campaign has laid. and i think even if you look at his numbers in new hampshire, he is in a pretty good position. i think the worry, the concern, for his candidacy should be what happens when you go to more diverse states? and i'm not talking just about south carolina. i'm also talking about to the west where you have a large latin community and population.

so i think the way this primary process is working or shaping out thus far. it does benefit individuals with high name i.d. and individuals who can raise a lot of money. and i think that's why you see folks like bernie sanders and joe biden still the number two spot nationally. and biden's position, which is so interesting to me is, despite all the criticism over the year, he's been unmovable. he's remained in that same spot. and i think that's going to be interesting to see what happens beyond south carolina once you get to the 14-state primary process. to see how he sort of shapes out. and where he shapes out. i think that will be a determining factor in his positioning in the long run and who ultimately could be his greatest concern for the democratic nomination. >> you talk about getting beyond iowa and new hampshire. is that really the upshot of a bloomberg candidacy? even people who don't want to see mayor bloomberg as the democratic nominee. deval patrick. he's making an end run around new hampshire and iowa. this is the thing people crow

about every four years. why do they go first because they're not representative of the party? >> that's exactly right. and that's why i think a bloomberg would wait for after iowa and new hampshire because if there's not a clear front-runner, he can inject millions more and try to make something happen for himself. unlike deval patrick, who doesn't have that time of war chest at his disposal. but yes, going into the more diverse states, going into california, nevada where latin x voters are prominent. who, ultimately, carried democrats across the finish line in 2018 and have a massive opportunity with the largest, i think, voting age population in the general electorate coming in. and also, looking back to georgia, south carolina, where african-american voters, especially black women who know the democratic party cannot do it without them are looking to be courted. so this is where these candidates like buttigieg, to your point shermichael, need to show up and really invest in engaging these people in substantive ways. how are you centering us in your policy priorities? how are you centering us and the needs of our communities to make sure you reach us in a

substantive way? and not showing up at my church on the sunday before election. i'm just saying. i'm just saying. >> talking about criminal justice and all kinds of stuff because that's the only thing black people care about. >> apparently. >> shermichael, republican strategist, my friend. are we going to see -- are we going to see a trump/pence in 2020? or is it going to be trump, somebody else? >> no. it would be foolish for trump to get rid of pence. and here is why. because if you diminish his base support with evangelicals, i think that's it for him. i mean, that's really the largest group within republican voting blocks, if you will, that's really given him sustenance. without them, i think he becomes impeccably easier to beat. with that said, however, i think if you look at the exit results from 2018, which i have spent a lot of time studying. whomever becomes the democratic nominee and their running mate and the democratic party and the apparatuses, if they can figure out a way to repeat, replicate what they did in 2018, to

juanita's point, hispanics largest voting block in the country. i think they have a winning shot. i think it becomes impeccably difficult for trump to win looking at the votes he received in 2016 versus the votes that democrats got in 2018. >> all right. anne, shermichael, juanita, my thanks to each of you. great to see you on this friday afternoon. friday evening. whatever time it is. ahead, what makes house speaker nancy pelosi tick? we get insight from someone who may know her better than anybody else. stay with us. nd cheese versus the other guys. (cheering) clearly, velveeta melts creamier it's not getting in my way.? i had enough! joint pain, swelling, tenderness... ...much better. my psoriasis, clearer... cosentyx works on all of this. four years and counting. so watch out.

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welcome back. with speaker nancy pelosi's decision to delay sending the articles of impeachment over to the senate, she finds herself in a familiar position, on the receiving end of condemnation from the republicans and president, praise and admiration from democrats, with just about everybody trying to guess her next move. recently chuck spoke to someone who has more insight than most into how nancy pelosi works. she spoke to chuck about her mother's legacy as speaker and what it takes to go toe to toe with trump. >> it's interesting because in this moment, you know, where there was certainly a bunch of hand wringing from the democrats, should she regain the gavel, it took like three days

tween between her and the president for everyone to say look, she's the leader. what do you say to the hand wringing democrats. >> i think she's actually a very warm person, smart person, sensitive person, very atune to who people are. so many times people have said oh, my god your mom is so different than she is on tv. she's nice, kind, thoughtful. that meeting with the president, we were electing a speaker of the house who was going to be in contrast to the president of the united states, work with him when necessary and stand ground against him when necessary. when he invited cameras into a meeting shortly after she was reelected to congress and man splaned and talked over her and said she didn't have the full speakership yet and she responded with please don't characterize the strength i bring to this meeting as the leader of the house democrats who just won a big victory, not

only did that seal the deal for her colleagues. she didn't say because i'm a powerful woman. she said because i'm representing a whole bunch of people who just won. that we instead of me was something he hadn't expected but the caucus appreciated. >> you don't get to pick your moment when your speaker. your speaker in the moment happens. is your mom prepared for the fact that whether she likes it or not, impeachment is going to be at the top of that legacy list, good, bad, or indifferent. it just is going to be that kind of -- look, it's that unique in our system. it's going to be that definitional. does she realize that, did and does it bother her? >> i think nancy pelosi's legacy as ongoing as all the women and people of color she's brought into politics and brought to power with gavels at the head of the table, the fight to pass the

patient protection affordable care act and keep it all these years, something that eluded democrats and republicans for over 100 years, i think those are the lasting legacies. unfortunately because of his behavior and because of the constitutional imperative, the impeachment of donald trump will also be there. but her preference of course would be a lasting enduring progressive majority that expands health care for everyone and acts on the climate and jobs of the future and of course gun safety. those are the things that keep her up at night. those are the things that get her going in the morning. so, my hope is that those will be legacies and building blocks for the future. and this impeachment assignment, although unfortunate, was really based on his conduct, not on her purpose. >> kristine pelosi, the book is "the nancy pelosi way." so, when you were a chief of staff to a member of congress, your mom was kind of your boss

too or how did you hand that will? >> well, i worked for my boss, and his constituents. he was on the w.h.i.p. team, so i saw -- on the inside, i could see the way that nancy pelosi set up the w.h.i.p. operation and the leadership operation to say, look, when we expect you all to vote with the caucus, you need to be there for us. and by the way, if you need to let go of your commitment to us, we might need to be relieved of our commitment to you. and seeing that discipline and fervor up close certainly let me know that the most important thing to do is to be, you know, loyal to the constituency that brought you there and to be less concerned with title than purpose. >> kristine pelosi, congratulations. stay safe on the book otour. we'll be right back with a

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that's all for tonight. we'll be back on monday with more "meet the press daily." and don't miss a special edition of "meet the press" this sunday, politics and journalism in an era of alternative facts. chuck will take a look at the techniques of spreading disinformation. executive editor of "new york times" and "washington post"

will be among his guests. that this sunday on "meet the press." a m a m aman is in for ari. donald trump lashing out over impeachment again. as we begin to see hints of his strategy for coping with the senate trial. a conservative lawyer says rudy giuliani must be called to testify in trump's trial. and then a trump promise crumbles. one of trump's own aides admits they are failing on the border wall. we will get to all of it. we want to begin tonight with the president of the united states adrift as he confronts the biggest crisis of his presidency, a looming impeachment trial in the senate. today, trump attacking speaker pelosi on what else but twitter, accusing her of running unfair hearings, claiming that the senate trial will be rigged, and arguing there was no factual