coming over here. >> very well. hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in afternoon. donald trump will become only the seconds president in history impeached. and today there is a trove of new evidence to support those allegations against him. in about one hour the ceremonial hand off of the articles of impeachment will take that long walk from the house to the senate, escorted by the impeachment managers, nancy pelosi named today. they'll serve as congress's version of prosecutors. they include three women, a

former prosecutor; and a former -- and one that has seen impeachment in her time. and breaking late last night from lev parnas and growing support among senate republicans to hear from first-hand witnesses the outlines of the senate trial are shaping up to be more ominous than once thought for the president. "new york times" writes this, quote, the material undergirds the accusations against mr. trump and highlights the much is learned about the scope -- rachel maddow sat down for an exclusive interview that airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. parnas is also now turned over new documents, new text messages

and hand written notes to congressional investigators. some of that evidence drawing a direct line to president trump, including a letter to ukrainian officials saying he's operating in ukraine, quote, in my capacity as personal counsel to president trump. and the most incriminating new evidence revealed by parnas is the sinister nature of yovanovitch. >> around 1:00 in the morning she called me again and said there were great concerns, there were concerns up the street and she said i needed to get on -- come home immediately, yet if on the next plane to the u.s. and i asked her why and she said she wasn't sure but there were concerns about nimy security.

i asked her, my physical security? because sometimes washington knows more than we do about these things. she said they were concerned about my security and i needed to come home right away. i argued. this is extremely irregular and no reason given. but in the end, i did get on the next plane. >> as her fears were well founded, here's parnas in atects exchange who appeared to have, quote, they are moving her tomorrow. the guys over there asked what i would like to do and what's in it for them. quote, she's talk to three people, her phone is off, computer is off. she's next to the embassy, not in the embassy. and hyde writes back, private security, been there since thursday. parnas, interesting.

hyde, they know she's a political puppet. they'll let me know when she's on the move, and parnas, perfect. nick, political reporter for the "new york times." former u.s. attorney joyce vance is here and republican strategist, rick wilson. plus, former assistant director at the fbi and joining us on capitol hill, garret. i'm dieing to hear about all of this ceremonial aspect of a trial donald trump once seemed to want quite desperately. i want to talk about the power of the evidence and what it could mean for the case against donald trump. >> we're now seeing rudy giuliani saying i'm doing everything with the consent and knowledge of the president. so this notion that we're all about looking into corruption in ukraine. this is all about corruption.

where's the department of justice? why is the president's personal attorney quote on quote looking at corruption? and this assertion that we have maybe the sitting u.s. ambassador in ukraine under some kind of physical and/or electronic surveillance and there's a, quote unquote, insider, needs to be investigated. if we were living any normal world, we'd have the secretary of state and attorney general ordering to investigate any assertion someone inside the u.s. embassy has compromised the security of the ambassador. and this congressional connecticut candidate, robert hyde, he's going to go through some things. he needs to go through some things. he's already said -- i was drinking. i was drinking and talking with my buddies. let's assume he's a drunken

moron, which appears to be the case, that still means it's okay to have a conversation, even if you're making it up. what kind of low have we sunk to today? >> a former fbi official said to me today that under any normal circumstances, the special counsel would have been appointed today to investigate corruption at the state department in the white house. sort of makes you miss jeff sessions and even matt whitaker, who wasn't the sharpest tool to be displayed. but seemed to have some sense that permitting investigations that may have touched donald trump, to go forward. is it your sense anything has been put into motion today? and they've already charged lev parnas. so federal investigators already knew this, right? >> actually it's my sense that nothing has been put in place.

that's my sense from who i'm speaking with, that there's nothing happening on this issue and related issues. when you develop a timeline of communications involving looid and parnas and giuliani, you see phone calls to pompeo. the question becomes even stronger what role has our secretary of state played in all of this? we need answers regarding the attorney general and secretary of state. >> mureyovanovitch's attorney has called for a investigation. it's confessed surveillance. this individual has confessed to surveilling and reporting back. so that's not in dispute. and this is the lawyer for

yovanovitch say, quote, needless to say the notion that american citizens and others were monitoring ambassador yovanovitch's movements is troubling. he was on the phone when zelens zelensky asked to investigate biden. >> there aren't any honest brokers and doesn't appear to be any movement at justice. secretary pompeo should have been demanding to find out why one of his people, their security was compromised. his silence is one of the most defining and problematic features of this entire issue. >> isn't he guilty of more than silence? he told the state department officials on the ground in ukraine to work with rudy. >> absolutely, right? and we know this because freedom

of information act request. so this isn't information the state department or the white house gave up voluntarily. a judge forced them to and they turned it over on the last day they could late at night. and that's how we learned they had a couple of phone calls march 26th set up through the white house. that's how the contact was made and that's the same timeline we have lev parnas doing the texting where he talks about we've got eyes on her. >> and lev parnas did more than text. he wrote hand written notes like this. get zelensky to announce the biden case will be investigated. that was obviously -- i don't know if that's the quid or the pro or the quo. fiona hill in the dramatic final day of testimony said i realized when gordon was testifying, gordon sondland, there wasn't an

ireegialer channel. there was just ahato, quote, ge investigate. i think there was a false hood of a mixing official president. it was only donald trump's political efforts. all of it was this corrupt, second tier channel as the letter proves by parnas and all these people in this pyramid of weirdos. they're out of the state department chain. all the claims are just flatly wrong. they were the ones trying to figure out where this outside influence is coming from. i think this is not the last thing we're going to see. i always describe the trump situation as a fickle iceberg.

you're always going to find more and more of these things. this evidence that's come up out, it points a lot of things directly. one of the people listed in the parnas notes is a guy named balered. you and i both know, hiz employee who is a ballard partedner's employee is in the white house running the impeachment defense. the parnas things are like a rosetta stone to the entire affair. if i were these people, i would not have any fear though. what's going to happen? the only people who should be afraid are american diplomats that cross donald trump. bill barr will never laft finger to pursue justice if it gets in the way of donald trump's political situation. it's a sick situation. >> and another former fbi

official that it's his suspicion nothing is happening in terms of investigating this really frightening surveillance of an american ambassador by private american citizens working through rudy giuliani. this all falls to congressional investigators and this move to the senate. what can they do? >> they're going to have their hands tide. the senate will be able to do nothing butted impeachment starting this time tomorrow afternoon. and the group most likely to take this up is the house intelligence committee, led by adam schiff, who's also extremely busy with impeachment going forward. i was struck by adam schiff in the press conference -- we've

talked so much in the last two weeks about getting the john bolton testimony. schiff said the important thing is to get documents. the documents cannot lie to you. and i think the parnas trove proves that to you. everything on rudy giuliani letterhead. to everything laid out about yovanovitch to the idea the whole country is going to be forced to pay attention to impeach. in a way i don't think people have got their heads around. you may learn about the specific effort and putting pressure on the administration's justish state and so on to address this new one directly. because of the sheer weight of impeachment on the entire country over the next couple of weeks. >> let me push back gently and with respect. isn't that what he's impeached

for is abusing his office and if you get john bolton, isn't the first thing you ask him -- you suggest you knew something illegal was going on. isn't this central to what their hands are tied by? >> i'm only making the point that in the process of prosecutoring this, not discovering a pure legal sense but you're going to find out more as you go on and the point schiff was making is i'd rather get an email to somebody saying what is this guy up to than nail down testimony and fight that legal battle. the documentary evidence has been so powerful every step of the trial. think of the very first of impeachment evidence that captured the national attention. the bill taylor text messages saying we'd be crazy to trade text messages.

>> that was from kirk voleker, and the first and maybe one of the only people to turn over all of his documents. a source close to bolton told me today, flip over one of his books. and look at the footnotes. you want to know what kind of documents john bolton's in possession of? he takes bill-taylor style notes and documents. you're right the prospect of bolton's testimony is not drama of what did you mean when you told fiona hill you didn't want to be part of the drug deal sondland is picking up? but the trove notes that concerned him so much. he sent not one, not two, but three deputies up to where the lawyers sit. and it seems we have another confession from the president on our hands.

>> she said bad things about me, she wouldn't defend me and i have the right to change an ambassador and rudy didn't say good things butted he wasn't crazy about it. this was not an angel, this woman, okay? there were a lot of things she did that i didn't like and we will talk about that at some time. this was not a baby we're dealing with. >> and he could have asked her to resign at any moment and he didn't. what did happen the president sent his personal lawyer to ukraine for a personal lawyer that over saw a gang of plumbers who had an american ambassador under surveillance and perhaps in danger. it is totally astonishing. >> that's exactly what happened. i'm not sure if people have put it that way. >> it's gotten very complex but

it's simple. he sent his lawyer to ukraine to put his own ambassador under surveillance and possibly put her in dachker. i wouldn't take all the notes at face value. the line between dark arts and keystone cops is pretty thin. but if it's true, it's mind numbing and puts a lot of wind in the sails for the senate to consider this. >> frank, i need to hear your response. >> it's still going on. the russian intelligence has just caught them hack nothing to burisma. no reason other than to look for dirt on the bidens. we're still seeing the effort to get ukraine into it, get the narrative away from russia, back on ukraine, all about ukraine and still all roads are leading to putin. in fact it's getting even

stronger and stronger in terms of the russian influence and efforts to win this election. >> and i think too, bring it back to growing support in the senate, i remember the day the news broke bolton was willing to testify. i suspected he knew where more votes might be hidden. i suspect he knew people who don't want to read the bolton book but answers questions not necessarily queried. the truth emerges. >> i think that's absolute lee right. they're not just looking at their short-term political futures they have to look at their legacies. >> trump always lies. and everything always comes out. and at the end of the day trump won't save them.

with cory gardner, if the senate trial is over tomorrow and -- >> which isn't going to happen. >> but if it turnz out there's more evidence, those pieces of evidence are going to be in tv ads against cory gardner. i promise you they will be because that's complicity in the cover up. they're trying to pretend it's not going to happen. and i think the votes have been corroding in the senate by the day. i think mcconnell is getting a little nervous now and i think there's a political pressure because the minute mcconnell feels his majority is out the window, donald trump is gone. >> people like portman and johnson could be implicated. the chief justice of the supreme court is going to preside over this. i'd want to know about the portman call from trump.

he's the last known senator to talk to trump. did he know tlhere was a whistleblower? what did the senators know and how can they hold up their hands and take this oath of impartiality? >> these guys are in the white house with their heads bobbing up and down like bobblehead dolls when donald trump is calling them out by name and praising them for their great work. we know these guys are only going to respond to political pressure and fear of holding their offices and the majority. they're more afraid of trump than the american people and that really shows. >> is there any sense this is more fluid than it seemed ten days ago? >> on the question of witnesses, i think there is. mcconnell has interdeuced the possibility, that moeaki we

should talk about calling hunter biden. if he doesn't think he can keep senators in, maybe he can pull other democrats out. if you're democrat and worried they're never going to convict the senate, maybe decide it's not worth to call bolton if they're calling hunter biden. they're not convinced, republican leadership is not convinced they can keep from 51 votes for the witnesses. >> mcconnell is bluffing. that's a bluff. they should say bring hunter biden in. >> and the democratic position is if we have an optics problem and didn't do anything wrong, they should say fine. >> it's a bluff, bs. >> i think bolton testified,

bolton who's been nominated, who whipped votes for his own conformation -- he's had a long career. br been senate confirmed. the conversation goes on. we'll be calling on both of you early and often. when we come back one of the first challenges they'll have as we've been discussing is whipping votes for witnesses and documents for the senate trial. a little deeper among republicans for testimony from john bolton and others. and a brand new book by friends of this show. paints a deeply disturbing picture of donald trump as uninformed and unstable. we'll bring you the very first look at what is sure to be a major setback of a white house already facing pressure and limit donald trump's powers.

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on december 18th, the house of representatives impeached the president of the united states. time has revealed many things since then. time has been our friend in all of this because as it was yielded incriminating evidence, more truth into the public domain. this furgtsther evidence insist-

and we would not been in this situation unless we had waited -- insists there be witnesses and that we see documentation. and now you see some of that change happening on the senate side. i hope it does for the good of our country and to honor our constitution. >> ann apalmer. there have been debates about what she gained, what she got in this waiting period. it was like watching donald trump wait for santa. he was rage tweeting every day. we learned donald trump knew about inwhistleblower complaint. he got caught. we know that's true. we know most of that from news organizations. we knew, from the great "new york times" sort of opis, that

there was a text exchange between mulvaney and the pentagon which ended in the pentagon official saying, are you serious? there was knowledge we were doing something illegal. they followed that reporting with redacted versions that show a more alarmed pentagon at the prospect of holding up military aid. at the end of the day, pelosi played a high-risk game and it's paid off. >> i don't think she knew -- >> of course not. >> republicans say you didn't get witnesses for sure so it's a loss. but clearly we're talking about witnesses. there's a real future this is going to happen in the senate. and if the articles of impeachment has been delivered expeditiously, none of this would have come up. >> i guess it cuts both ways. news organizations got their

hands on information and evidence the house investigators didn't. but as you're saying it's this perfect storm. the evidence came out and it may have been a pacing that builds more pressure for witnesses. >> and she bought two things, facts and time. i don't think there would have been any discussion over the contours of the trial if she hadn't got any witnesses. there are now more facts and if the senate is going to vote to exonerate the president, they have to do so facing all these new facts we have. >> and facing the certainty that in john bolton's book, the whole story will appear. since john bolton left, he knows the turkish policy is corrupted by financial or personal interest. we know he thinks the north korean policy is a fantasy and fiction.

so either fiona hill is facing charges for lying to congress or he agrees with her description of a drug deal. we're also facing a witness that can change the course of history. >> everything in this narrative confirms the contours of the original story. we first had this ominous outline of the drug deal, this notion maybe there was a quid pro quo in bribery. every piece of information that's come out since then has firmed that up. there's never been anything that's contradicted it. donald trump has yet to come up with anything exculpatory. >> bolton also described rudy giuliani as hand grenade. he's under criminal investigation by sdny. >> and john bolton is a survivor. he makes it out of the blast

before the building coming down around him. he doesn't want any of this to stick to him permanently. finally damming these people in the book does that for him, it's okay. but as a patriot and somebody the republican establishment is looking at, they are terrified of john bolton. if i were john bolton, i'd be a food taster at this point. >> he's championed policy positions that were wildly unpopular. he has never been questioned in terms of his patriotism, ethics. he raises money for other republicans. he's never run for office. i mean, he's someone with such a clean bill of health on the ethics side. it's been reported that pence was off in the lines with him. looks like pompeo was pretty close.

bolton's going to tell the truth. >> he's not going to keep the stink all over him. and i think the problem that the republicans face in the senate is john bolton is out there like a thunder bolt and it's going to go eventually. if they end up looking like they covered things up, rush the trial through, blocked witnesses, blocked testimony, blocked evidence, they're going k they were part of a criminal conspiracy. and they're going to faces politic political pressure for that. and they never get any less stinky, any less problematic, less disgusting as evidence of corruption. it's going to look terrible and they're going to own it. >> from the terrible to the sublime, i caught with trevor noah last noikt. the new book is called "running against the devil, the plot to

save america from trump and democrats from themselves." a more timely title and book that i could not fathom. after the break, astonishing. previously secret stories. if you've ever wondered he can't be that uninformed, can he? just wait until you hear about trump and pearl harbor. u hear at trump and pearl harbor

two of our favorite friends of this show, "washington post" reporters have an extraordinary new book coming out next week. i'm not going to sleep until it comes out. the title is the best one so far "a very stable genius." it's trump's self description. it relies on hundreds of hours of interviews with more than 200

sources and there's so much packed inside. much of it previously unreported. from the his complaint that the constitution is a foreign language, that's a quote. his clash with rex tillerson. who's against that? donald trump. ashley parker described that passage this way. quote, it's just so unfair that american companies aren't allowed to pay bribes to get business overseas, trump says. quote, we're going to change all that. the president, they go to explain, was frustrated, because it restricted his industry buddies or executives from paying off foreign governments in far away lands. and first, we're going to "washington post" reporter, ashley parker, who has read the book. ashley, your piece was jaw dropping.

take me through some of what phil and carol report. >> so it's a 417-page book. i read it all and full of details in my piece. and a very comprehensive piece. over the past three years. so, for instance, there's a scene where the president, the prime minister of india sort of gets his geography wrong. that's incorrect. and it's a an interesting, fuzzy detail. it's also something that has real foreign policy ramifications. they describe the indian prime minister, his eyes widening, his face going from shock to frustration to resignation. and after that moment, basically ind indefelt the united states was not the reliable partner they exected. and they took a step back from the united states. so that's one example.

there's another example high up in my story where the president and his then-chief of staff, john kelly, are getting ready to tour the u.s.s. arizona and the president asked what exactly is this all about? and it's explained in the book is the president seemed to understand the basics of pearl harbor, a historic battle. but he didn't seem to have the full underpinings. and at times the president was dangerously uninformed. >> it will take me more time than i have to think of anything to say about that. i want to move on to anecdotes. socio pathic conduct towards women. trump was verbally and emotionally abusive towards homeland security secretary nielsen. according to the book he made

fun of her stater and believed at 5'4", she's not physically intimidating. kelly would rip her and say but you've got those little firsts of fury. seriously? >> there's that moment in the book. you mentioned the president's treatment of women. one other i wrote about and this is the staff secretary, rob porter, is forced out amid allegations of domestic abuse from his previous two ex-wives and the president offers what td says maybe in one of the ex-wives there had been a photo of her with a black eye and the president says maybe it wasn't actually domestic violence. maybe she deliberately ran into her refrigerator in an attempt to extort money.

the brook also revealed ways the president treats women and views them. >> again, i'm at a loss for words. these anecdotes are new and stunning and result of extraordinary reporting. everyone of them is a dot and an existing constilation. so donald trump, in this new book, defending an alleged abuser isn't stunning or surprising but it's still jarring. any response from any women in the white house? >> so, we reached out to the white house generally. we did it through the communications operation. that includes white house press secretary grigsm. i will say initially, they

didn't have a ton of time to respond. but we would of course update the story. >> i know you're press frds tiemt. i want to ask you about unbelievable new reporting about donald trump's zeal to meet with vladimir putin. l to meet with vladimir putin (janine) i used to be a little cranky. dealing with our finances really haunted me. thankfully, i got quickbooks, and a live bookkeeper's helping customize it for our business. (live bookkeeper) you're all set up! (janine) great! (vo) get set up right with a live bookkeeper

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oqs cay. as promised, this is the putin scoop from the new book. the new book says, quote, early in his administration trump is eager to meet russian president, vladimir putin so much so, that during the transition he interrupted an interview with one of his candidates to discuss his pressing desire, when can i meet putin? can i meet with him before the inaugural ceremony? >> that's right. so -- and it's been clear the

entire time. they're fascinated with putin. and especially i think that anecdote underscores it. and the book worth mentioning is the two men meet a little later than trump wants. and face to face, one on one in hamburg, germany at the g 20 summit and afterwards some people found basically not officially and then secretary of state rex tillerson. since about the mid-90s when tillerson was working his way up the corporate ranks and dealing with putin and doing business with russia and been on putin's private yacht and he basically says, rex, i got it. i have them all figured out. i have the situation under control.

and it was alarming to tillerson at the time. and one of many examples of how they ultimately ended up clashing throughout the fairly rocky tenure. >> the man who didn't know what pearl harbor was. thank you. >> i mean this idea of trump as uninformed hasn't been documented like this by reporters of this caliber ever. fire and fury had a lot of delicious and scandlet anecdotes. this is behavior very much ongoing. >> let me pause a counterintuitive and maybe embarrassing, which is what sense do you think india and china share a boarder? >> this isn't about his political standing. he didn't just order a political

assassination. >> i mean we can talk all day and i think we would agree there are knowledge gaps exposed and outrage isn't very concerning. i think he has a populous appeal that belies the upbringing he has. i mean, i can see people getting out, bent out of shape and his supporters saying these are just smart people who care about details that are pretty remote to my life and this is not something donald trump gets bent out of shape about. maybe it's charitable but it's another way of looking at this and he gains so much from it. >> i think that's true of his base of supporters but right now he's on trial in the u.s. senate and for everything the democrats want to pursue, they only need four republicans to think that's fine. a lot of people don't know where

the boarder is. and a little check on his power. i think effects his standing on the person about to be the third in our history to be tried for high crimes and misdemeanors. >> and the national security implications of the charges raised against him so this book that phil and carol have written erodes his credibility. republicans who are serious this is additional fuel for that fire and talked a little bit about the fact that where you started with this notion trump wanted the foreign practice of that and explicitly said american companies should be able to give bribes over seas to get contracts. that really hurts trump if his defense to impeachment is i was trying to investigate biden's corruption in ukraine, trump

would have been cheering him on if there was corruption by his own standards. i suspect house impeachment managers will be trying to put the information in the book and introduced in front of the senate. mcconnell will let them introduce evidence because that really undercuts the president's defense. >> i'm sort of back to the point you first made that everything complicated is really one of three very simple stories. evidence of trump's corruption, evidence of trump's stupidity and evidence of the republicans being zombies. this book seems to fulfill all three. >> with the russia scandal, somewhat complicated to follow the bouncing ball and kind of unwrapped in reverse order over the course of a year. this ukraine stuff, it's pretty straightforward and coming together in like two months and as a reporter to see those notes on the ritz carlton notepad, that's the kind of stuff you really want do get as a

reporter. drinking at the ritz carlton and the secret meeting is the real good stuff and hats off. >> if it's the ritz carlton. >> especially, especially. >> paris triple. >> fair to describe them as highly n't respected among those peers and the richness, the details, that put us in the room. is there anything from the excerpts that isn't -- doesn't seem credible? to me it seems going deeper with people that they were able to make comfortable and tell whaus what really happened. >> there's so much information coming at us hard to keep outrage but this really ties it from together from john kelly to tillerson to what's happening to today to nielsen and then you have this broad swath of holy -- i mean, this is pretty incredible and sometimes it is nice to take a step back and say in the totality it is pretty shocking. >> your book did that, too. it is another good --

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we are gist moments away from the ceremonial start of the third senate impeachment trial this this country's history.

the managers will walk the charges across the capitol and deliver them to the senate. we are waiting for house speaker nancy pelosi to sign the articles and happy and fortunate to be joined early by political director chuck todd. chuck, the day that still is. what do you think? >> i have to say, we were just discussing, the ceremonial part of this is just -- it's a little bit odd to me. right? where it's ceremonial and yet this should be a -- it should feel heavier i guess is my point. i think it will at some point when the trial itself starts but i have to admit like it's odd to have this pomp around something that i feel as if we need to dig into the substance and hurry back to it. >> i hear you. i think in question of the new evidence that came out last night, we have documentary evidence and no one does

anything noble or holy to see what's app and feel like there's some sort of emergency session by the house gel committee or someone to dig into that intel. is that makes it feel d discordant? >> yes. we all believe it's pretty important. we know the stuff pretty clearly. yes, it feels as if -- this feels like why didn't you pull the fire alarm? holy cow. stop the press. you know? i think like a journalist. this is the moment where you would actually say the phrase, stop the presses. >> uh-huh. >> and so, i guess that's -- maybe that is what has created this -- it's just an odd moment. i don't want to use odd. it's discordant. i like your word. >> let's bring mark into the story. sharp eyed watcher of everything

in -- >> dim eye. >> in that town. you know, i think chuck has his finger on something that's interesting and bothers trump. you know, in the same way he's so attracted this early to the queen and the pomp and circumstance of buckingham palace it is precisely the pomp that so enraged him. he is the third president in the country's history for whom any of the pomp has been arranged and bugs him. >> i think that when people focus so heavily on the pomp itself it dilutes of the substance for the sake of information revealed in the coming weeks because there's pomp already. the house proceedings. the hearings in both committees, the floor vote. felt pretty momentous in the room tv. i think after a while when people sort of focus on, well, you know, okay something will move across the capitol and here's a picture -- not to diminish that great live shot of

the four american flags and there is like a -- i mean, there's a sense of a practical, symbolic gesture and let's get on with it. >> i think when you work in the white house you sometimes do things and there's a tradition. nancy pelosi seems to have it to adhere to the process, to deal with it and recognize how solemn it is and it seems to me it is part of her commitment to take her job seriously, to adhere to the professionalism and the history of this moment and i have to say that the public seems to support 71% hearing from witnesses and paying enough attention to both they're not put off at this point by the ceremony or history. >> i don't think nancy pelosi is acting. i think she does feel the seriousness of the moment and perhaps we all should, too. not to distract from the substance. this is not a good moment in our country's history. maybe we should all start taking it seriously.

>> chuck, we got joyce