and this is going to wrap up this hour for me. i'll see you at 9:00 a.m. thanks for watching. "deadline white house" with niwallace. >> and another day in the news of donald j. trump. playing out in washington d.c. articles of impeachment against the president for abuse of power and obstruction of congress were formally presented to the senate for only the third time in u.s. history. this afternoon senators were sworn in, swearing an teeth, quote, do impartial justice according to the constitution and law. that oath taking on added importance with the onslaught of new evidence emerging in the last 24 hours surrounding his

conduct in ukraine. and on partisan government watch dog showing the trump administration broke the law when it ordered the month's long hold on military aid. and a stunning new account by rudy giuliani's one-time right-hand man, lev parnas. last night, parnas provided a new account of the president's direct and constant involvement in the ukraine pressure campaign. he further implicates top u.s. officials in the entire scheme. lev parnas is now drawing the clearest line yet from the pressure campaign straight through rudy giuliani to the president himself. >> president knew exactly what was going on. he was aware of all my movements. i wouldn't do anything without consent of rudy giuliani or the president. i have no intent, no reason to speak to any of these officials.

they have no reason to speak to me. why would president zelensky's inner circle or all these people or the president meet with me? who am i? they were told to meet with me and that's the secret they're trying to keep. i was on the ground doing their work. >> lev parnas is facing charges for campaign finance violations in the southern district of new york. he's also signalled a willingness to cooperate with federal investigators. trump's allies in congress say all that means is he can't be trusted because he could merely be trying to get himself out of trouble. it's up against sworn team from more than a dozen witnesses from inside trump's administration, much of which lines up with what parnas is describing, including the quid pro quo with ukraine.

>> it was not military aid, all aid. relationships would be sour and we would stop giving them any kind of aid. there were several demands at that point. most important is the announcement of the biden investigation. i told them if the announcement was the key at that time because of the inauguration. >> unless he announced an investigation into joe biden, no u.s. officials, particularly vice president mike pence, would not come. >> indeed ukraine didn't announce the investigations and he did not attend the inauguration. he stressed testimony from john bolton. they claim bolton knew just about everything. >> i know mr. bolton was definitely involved in the loop

because of the firing of marie yovanovitch and his interactions with rudy giuliani. they started butting heads. and he was not agreeing. from venezuela to ukraine, bolton didn't agree with giuliani on -- so there was tension there. there was definitely tension. >> but you believe he knows what the administration was pressuring ukraine to do? >> 100%. he knows what happened there. >> 100%. that is where we start today with one of our favorite reporters and friends, from "time magazine." and also worked in the office during clinton's impeachment. and a man who's stood by my side, jason johnson. and white house reporter for the "washington post," ashley parker

and former u.s. attorney and fbi official, chuck rosenberg. i'm going to start with you. because never in my life have i needed so much expert advice about witnesses and what make as witness credible. but someone explain this to me yesterday and i want to know if after seeing parnas you agree with this assessment. parnas has been indicted by the southern district of new york. they have his whatsapps and they've charged him already. he's made himself available to congressional investigators. he has no motive to lie or it could be an additional federal crime he's charged with, right? >> that's right. if he lies to congress, it's an additional federal crime. if he lies to rachel maddow, it's not. there's a weird thing going on. because mr. parnas is a defendant in a pending criminal

federal case, he has every incentive to get out of trouble and reduce his exposure. but the place to do that is not on nmsnbc, the place to that is in the sulgouthern district of york. if they found him valuable and credible, he wouldn't be talking publicly on television. it suggests to me they don't need him or don't want him but they're certainly not using him. nobody who has a cooperation agreement would go on national television and talk about the central facts in the case. why is he doing it? what's he looking for? and can you corroborate what he's telling us? and the corroboration piece is so important. i don't trust him. doesn't mean he's lying. but i've dealt with lots and

lots of witnesses like parnas in my life. you have to be careful. they're looking for something. >> the southern district of new york isn't investigating the president? >> as far as we know. but you agree to tell prosecutors and agents everything you know about any misconduct they ask about, whether or not they're looking to charge the president is immaterial. they want to know everything you know. if you have a cooperation agreement, you deal with the prosecutors. if you don't, perhaps you deal with the press and congress. he's looking to tell a story, obviously seek credit. but i think you have to be careful in digesting what he's telling you. when someone is seeking help is telling their story, you have to corroborate it nine ways to sunday. >> and that's a collaboration

that people have made on this program. this is one of the many ways impeachment is so different. all the evidence stays secret. at the end you charge or do not charge. you made the clear they rushed this evidence to the house intelligence committee before the articles are delivered, because they understand impeachment is a political process. we went about the work doing the things you're talking about. corroborating what he said with other pieces. here's gordon sondland saying almost verbatim. let's listen to that. >> everyone was in the loop it was no secret. everyone was informed via email on july 19th, days before the presidential call. >> you've testified that mulvaney was aware of this quid pro quo of this condition that

the ukrainians had to meet, that is announcing the public investigations to get the white house meeting. is that right? >> yeah. a lot of people were aware of it. >> including mr. mulvaney? >> correct. >> and including the secretary of state? >> correct. >> and i believe it was fiona hill on the dramatic final day of testimony said once she saw gordon sondland, she realized where she thought there was an irregular to regular foreign policy channel, no one was aiding ukraine with their security goals. the channel was the donald trump droekted rudy giuliani executed irregular channel seeking to extort ukraine for political investigation businessfo investigations before we released congressionally-mandated aid. does that sink up or repeat

patterns from previous witnesses? >> it sinks up. but that's one of the reasons i found fiona hill so much more credible than lev parnas. first of all she'sv not a criminal. second of all she had direct contact with john bolton who spoke directly to the president. everything parnas told us, while it sinks up generally was stuff you learned from rudy giuliani. he didn't talk to bolton or the president. and so let's not forget how compelling the witnesses were a month 1/2 ago when we sat together and watched them before the house intelligence committee. parnas generally corroborates much of what we heard. but their testimony, i thought was far more credible and far more direct. >> i think chuck rosenberg is sort of speaking to -- i don't

know how to put this delicately, so i want. an integrity gap, i guess. you can't cover donald trump without covering people in jail and people that just got out of jail. cohen, papadopoulos and flynn. this is who -- we didn't thrust lev parnas on to television. trump did because he was rudy giuliani's bad man. >> and the other part of this group here. the other thing that's compelling about what he had to say. it's -- he's the umpteeth millionth person who has said this was generally known. he's said this is impossible for something like this to have been done without multiple people at this is what i think isincreasi

people are recognizing and i think this happened because of cohen and roger stone. people, part of donald trump's orbit are recognizing he won't protect me. he's barely protecting rudy. i'm five positions away. nobody feels like they have the protection of this president anymore. so they do feel free to go on television and run their mouths. to be perfectly honest, even if i can't get help from the southern district of new york, i want this to wayer weigh throughout so there's eyes out there because am a mature witness. >> you made a haunting point about how all these people worry about physical harm and parted of what parnaasz spoke to was about what marie yovanovitch put out there. you've got michael cohen, whose

wife was threatened. i mean, trump and his allies threaten people not just political but they threaten their safety, their implicitly or explicitly. to hear from someone like lev parnas, definitely deepens your understanding of what the trump-directed rudy operated mission in ukraine was. it was shakedown, blackmail and holding hostage u.s. foreign policy to help donald trump. >> if you look at how these guys have operated, they make threats. they were rough and tumble politicians in their own way. so when the guy who says i'll break your knees, when he's scared, you know this is dealing with something much more dangerous. lev parnas is not someone about the idea of the irs investigating him.

or the his life may be in danger or lives of ones he cares about. >> you can ask a russian whatever love is, an ambassador, rudy giuliani to hold up, you can ask curt voleker. i mean, everyone tells the same story. john bolton obviously has the same story to tell. he's like pick me, pick me. and his lawyer's like he's got more. pick him. what is it all the sudden everyone wants everyone to know that they too know the facts about the extortion of ukraine? >> they want to get ahead of the impeachment trial actually starting. i think that's one marker and to try to protect themselves that way. i'm thinking of how the republican senators are taking this all in. one, that any time they get a window into what the investigators know about trump,

it's actually worse than what they had imagined. they're buying into a black box. they're going to be voting whether or not to acquit him. two, trump is scared and only protects himself. will he protect me? they're probably thinking the best way to protect myself is on his behalf. and the third thing is what else is happening in this government. to your point about fiona hill, the official channel of ukraine was the shakedown. i'm thinking my god, what else am i going to be held responsible for? and still, they will vote to acquit him. ashley parker, if you had told me mike pence and john bolton would be figures on the chess board at one point turned against donald trump?

i would have never believed it. i remember all the drama. mike pence has been this loyal soldier. he's been careful and his press people are a lot more skilled and careful than donald trump's press people. but lev parnas threw pence under the bus. do we have that? anyway, lev parnas also made clear the decision by the vice president not to go to zelensky's inauguration was part of the pressure campaign. they were withholding the pence visit, any elevating of zelensky until they got what they wanted, which was the investigation to hurt the bidens and investigation into 2016. any word from team pence today? >> a little bit. mike pence's chief of staff

released a short statement, which is fairly undercutting the credibility of lev parnas. that's sort of their official public statement. you brought up mike pence. in this moment with what we now know from lev parnas, some of which we have to trust as speculation. some of which is butrists and supported by the hundreds of house documents and letters and text messages that are now available. an irregular, unofficial, shadowy back channel, presumably with the president's knowledge that is operating on one fratra for foreign policy. and he directs his vice president not to go to ukraine for president zelensky's inauguration. and the unofficial channel becomes part of the official u.s. government foreign policy. now, again, with mike pence, his role in the administration is

often being in the dark on key issues. he was lied to by mike flynn during the transition and we have no knowledge now that when trump told him not to go to ukraine, we don't know if trump gave him the reason to not go to ukraine. so, we don't know that pence was part of what you've described as a shakedown. the fact of that and what that meant to the ukrainians is this moment where they go from saying who is this guy, lev parnas? is he for real to realizing he has real power and now suddenly the visit from the vice president, it's off. >> so, i used to be a flack. frr and if someone like you called me and said really? so, riddle me this. his national staffer was on the call where donald trump said the

word i need you to do me a favor though. why is his staffer on the call if he doesn't get brief tlond call? >> on that we've done reporting as well. for a previous story. our understanding was there was a staffer on the call. the was pence's, i believe his top national security advisor. when pence went to arwarsaw, we have every reason to believe a readout of the call was put in the vice president's briefing book. what is unclear is if the vice president actually read that and secondly, you have to keep in mind this is an administration that is very chaotic and very little happens according to, sort of, traditional norms and procedures. where pence's national security advisor hears out on the call and for some stunning reason, it doesn't raise red flags because that's just how the president

behaves. >> you knowknow -- you know t d require faith. and you have to have faith pence is nothing more than a beating body. he doesn't know about the central strategy for taking out joe biden, who trump views -- you have believe pence doesn't get briefed by his own staffer. when he's got 12 hours on a plane, he watches netflix. you have to believe a bunch of b. s. to believe that. >> and this is a challenge for mike pence is he's between two unsavory alternatives.

part of the machinations or an unwitting bystander in his own administration and neither option is particularly good for him. >> if he wants to run for president in the trump years, neither one projects strength and neither projects any of the things donald trump won on, which is this brute strength the trump base responded to. trump, in no way will inherit that base if this is who he is. >> the what did the president know and when did he know? everyone was in the loop. there's no loop you don't want to be in. so the vice president and his staff are looking to get in on everything. he doesn't want culpability but he wants to be in the loop. let's not overread parnas's testimony. it's not even testimony. he's a bit character in the

"soprano's" and he's trying to get something and we don't know what it is. he confirms the larger point. it was always about the bidens. >> this was sort of all the cautionary warnings about michael cohen, but michael cohen was right enough that donald trump ultimately produced photo copies of checks he wrote to a porn star from inside the oval office. >> this larger point is trump doesn't trust the institutions, the mechanisms of government. he has to go outside it. >> that's why sometimes they know some stuff. >> and we have characters carrying on american foreign policy, because he doesn't trust the professionals. >> donald trump doesn't trust marie yovanovitch's.

>> they're not reliable to report on what they know. >> so, trump would have us not listen on the whistle employeers because sometimes they don't love donald trump, and not -- you can't follow all the what aboutisms that the trump people warn about. usually trump blurts it out himself. >> do you believe everything michael cohen says? >> i don't believe anything anybody says. donald trump has confessed to obstruction of congress, confessed to withholding military aid and he's asked for two foreign governments to medal into 2016. >> criminals always know about crimes. one of the things we get accused of as prosecutors in court during closing arguments is we brought a whole bunch of criminals in front of the jury to explain what the other criminals did. i'm not saying you can't or shouldn't use criminals.

i'm saying when you have one like lev parnas, you have to be careful and corroborate. again, i don't trust him but i'm not saying he's lying. what you have to do is understand, one, he generally kra corroborates the entire scheme, and two, it tells you who are real witnesses are, and it's not parnas. it's the people directly around the president. those are the people we ought to and need to hear from. >> it's a perfect point. ashley parker, two days in a row with you is a treat. thank you, my friend. and still sending shockwaves and creating debate throughout capitol hill. and donald trump's impeachment trial. ahead a damming allegation against attorney general william

barr that sparked calls of his recusal. and devin nunes? remember him? he suddenly does remember speaking with old lev at the height of the pressure campaign. could one of trump's chief defenders come under scrutiny? defenders come und sercrutiny? good morning!

oh no, here comes the neighbor probably to brag about how amazing his xfinity customer service is. i'm mike, i'm so busy. good thing xfinity has two-hour appointment windows. they have night and weekend appointments too. he's here. bill? karolyn? nope! no, just a couple of rocks. download the my account app to manage your appointments making today's xfinity customer service simple, easy, awesome. i'll pass.

>> i've been here since the time of president ford. i have never, ever seen a report like this objecting so strongly

to actions of a president in saying the president has to follow the law. it is a remarkable -- again in 45 years here, i've never seen anything like this. >> that was senator patrick leahy weighing in on the stunning news this morning that might have led all of these programs if we hadn't had other stunning programs to wade through. "faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his policies to for those congress has enact under to law. donald trump omb withheld policy funds, which is not a pallacy, therefore we conclude omb violates the imc, which is essentially violating the law. strong reaction and yulksy from

the gao. have you heard anyone on the republican side as upset as senator lehigh was there? >> no, but it's possible they haven't had time to digest it today given everything else that was going on. they said they fully expect that gao report to be part of the briefs the houses impeachment managers submit. there was a question about how that can be folded into what we already know. the briefs, the ooktual arguments can include lots of the other information, including the gao report. expect to see that argument duck tail on what we already know on the abuse argument. and this is an impeachment without any law being broken. now, democrats can say that's not true and point to this nonpartisan government report.

>> it's not the first time it's been pointed out. the pentagon official whose testified, testified to expressing 2 ome to the people holding up the money at inpresident's direction. we now know, in just security, that they were breaking the law. so where does this play into all the republicans saying nothing to see here? >> i think what you'll probably hear is republicans saying this was a bureaucratic dispute between two alphabet soup agencies most don't follow. that will be the way you'll see republicans explain this away. in the same report, the gao says they also didn't cooperate with us either. there's evidence in the report that suggests the extortion of congress argument. you see the same pattern repeating itself. it all goes back to a point i

made with you yesterday from the adam schiff press conference yesterday, that the documents are going to tell more of the story, arguably, more than new witnesses are. getting to the heart of the paper trail could be much more damaging than having to bring in and defend a lev parnas who might have credibility problems. the documents behind what led to the decision are important and among what the office of management and budget has refused to turn over to investigators. >> just step back and take me through your observations as the capitol hill reporter on the day that was, john roberts being there, asking every u.s. senator and 99 were in the chamber today too, taken a oath to impart impartial justice. >> this caught up with senators today. i could tell from my conversations with law makers in both parties this felt historic and somber. i made this point before.

but for senators most of the impeachment drama has been something they've watched on television. today it came home into their office n to their place of business and became real for them. i think both parties, in a way it haddent before. you see democrats saying i hope this hopes republicans snap out of this ritualestic defense. and republicans saying i hope my democratic colleagues realize how far now we've gone down this road nobody really wanted to go down on in the front end. there was a sense this was history happening today and this has become a real serious for some senators. this is not something they can brush off, something they cannot folk on anymore. this is the business of the united states senate right now

and the biggest thing in their careers most will take on in this body. >> i wonder if having john roberts have that effect. this president, through charlottesville, access hollywood, russia, mueller. and so far through the ukraine extortion. do you think there's anything that snaps them out of it? >> i don't. even when i saw justice roberts, this flip, this is really happening and this process is taking into place, real consequences. i think the problem -- the dynamic for those of us who would like to see a real trial take place is the deeper the republicans get in with trump, the more willing they are to explain away whatever is revealed. and that's a pretty corrosive dynamic for the process but also for democracy and holding them

accountable. but it's a pretty uncomfortable place for a republican senator. because you know, you know there's a lot. there's also a lot you don't know. and i think a majority of them know better, know this is more serious than they're letting on. when i worked at omb, i worked for chief of staff in the white house, that's something you take seriously. and you're always concerned about are you getting close to the line? this is not something the white house would be unaware of. >> and all the emails have come out. it will all be in john bolton's books. they will all see what they blocked. and it's all in the emails. emails are already coming out. what they toads mick mulvaney was, are you serious?

i guess it's the knowledge of illegality. thank you both for spending time with us on such a historic day. he was called a rogue attorney general today by the speaker of the houses. lev parnas implicates. v parnas . this is the chevy silverado hd. it's beautiful. you want to take it for a test-drive? definitely. we're gonna go in that. seriously? i thought we were going on a test drive. we are. a heavy-duty test drive. woo-hoo! this is dope. i've never been on a test drive like this before. this silverado offers a 6.6 liter duramax diesel that can tow up to 35,500 pounds. awesome! let's take these logs up that hill. let's do it. wow! this truck's a beast. are you sure there's a trailer back there? this is incredible. best test drive ever. [chuckle] introducing ore-ida potato pay. where ore-ida golden crinkles are your crispy currency to pay for bites of this... ...with this. when kids won't eat dinner, potato pay them to. ore-ida. win at mealtime.

iand i don't add up the years. potato pay them to. but what i do count on is boost high protein. and now, introducing new boost mobility with collagen for joint health. when taken daily, its key nutrients help support joints, muscles, and strong bones. new, boost mobility. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss.

your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ready to treat differently with a pill? otezla. show more of you.

do you know if rudy giuliani [ inaudible ] did giuliani told you he'd spoken to -- >> i was attorney general barr was basically on the team. >> so chuck rosenberg has warned us not for to take lev parnas's

word for it without corroborating it. a call with zelensky where he says talk to barr, talk to barr. elysse, barr has been more skilled than pompeo by keeping him out of it. so, the dni inspector general, the watchdog for the intelligence community, gets us with a lower complaint because the cia rebuffs it and in doing a cursory review to see if it's credible, goes to doj to see if there's privilege issues. it doesn't go to congress in time. this is the doj's first involvement in trying to cover this up for the president. then i believe the cia general counsel goes over to the white

house, talks to the white house to go tell hey, laws are being broken. doj gets brought in again. then rudy's under criminal investigation. the head at doj says, i didn't know that. i never would have met with rudy. doj and barr are all over this. >> this is a question for chuck rosenberg. what is the recourse when you have an attorney general behaving in this way, flouting all the whistleblower protection laws that are there for a reason so people do feel comfortable coming forward when they need to report wrong doing. and i agree with you though, that attorney general barr has got an pretty good pass, not totally because he has been under scrutiny, but he hasn't been under as much scrutiny because he isn't as sloppy. that interview last night did

make me wonder. so what's going to be next for bill barr? >> your name has been invoked. >> i think there are a couple of avenue physical you don't trust the attorney general. mr. barr does not need anybody's help undermining anybody's reputation. there are institutions outside of the executive branch that can hold an attorney general accountable, the congress and the media. and within the department of justice, you have a very able inspector general who has shown himself quite capable of finding facts and bravely stating them. but none of this is perfect because the attorney general still sits on the justice department. and if the president's statements corroborate parnas and they corroborate the president, then the real recourse you would look to would be a recusal, the attorney general stepping aside.

to the mueller investigation. and the way we grew up in the department of justice, we were taught if you could see the line, you're too close to it. if there's any perception, other than the best interest of the department, recuse yourself because the perception is just as bad as reality. it's getting to the point i think mr. barr has to make a serious decision and make it soon. he's all over this and he appears to be. the perception is going to dictate the outcome. >> there's two schools of thought, that he cares too much. most who do as barr does, care deeply, they're obsessed with press coverage. >> i think barr is ideologically

in such a position that he protects himself. he's a great -- this is where donald trump got that. artic artic artical two says i can do whatever i want and he got that from barr. he's the roy cone of that branch. >> that's scary. >> the only person who can get rid of you is the king. i think barr sees it that way and he's shrewd. and the other thing that is also an office which is impeachable. you can impeach an attorney general. >> i'm stepping back for a second. we started talking about the gal. when we see what's happening with the department of justice and it state department of iran last week, this is how you destroy a government.

look at all these agents these rr been able to effect or disrupt them. and we have one little agency they didn't know about. and you guys still broke the law. >> we're like the gao gets it. >> it's like how far down the flow chart can we find before there's not an agency this president hasn't managed to infect. we should probably have a secretary of the navy again and slowly they have corrupted or corroded and pushed out anyone with credibility. william barr, if he's gone tomorrow, they'll just get someone else and we'll be dependent on another agency to step in. >> and just to take it around back to russia, as we always do, in the same day vladimir putin changed the russian constitution so he can be leaders for life.

that's what happens in a country without the rule of law. donald trump likes that. he's trying to undermine all these things that protect us from someone doing that to us. >> oh, god. republican congressman devyn nunes now remembers a conversation he had. w remembs e conversation he had. my husband never paid attention to his health, till he signed up for unitedhealthcare medicare advantage. (bold music)

now, it's like he has his own health entourage. he gets medicare's largest healthcare network, a free gym membership, vision, dental and more. there's so much to take advantage of. can't wait till i'm 65. a few more chairs, please. unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans, including the only plans with the aarp name. free dental care and eye exams, and free designer eyewear. go ahead, take advantage. (mom vo) we got a subaru to give him some ato reconnect and be together. and once we did that, we realized his greatest adventure is just beginning. (vo) welcome to the most adventurous outback ever. the all-new subaru outback. go where love takes you. looking to simplify your skin care routine without sacrificing results? try olay total effects. one dose provides more vitamin b3 than 50 cups of kale

and improves 7 key areas of visibly healthy skin. try olay total effects. the end might not be as happy as ayou think.end. after all, 4 out of 5 people who have a stroke, their first symptom is a stroke! but the good news is you can rewrite your ending and get screened for stroke and cardiovascular disease. life line screening is the easy and affordable way to make you aware of undetected health problems before they hurt you. we use ultrasound technology to literally look inside your arteries for p

and increases your risk for stroke and heart disease. painless screenings that go beyond annual checkups. and if you call us today, you'll only pay $149-an over 50% savings. read it again, papa? sure. i've got plenty of time. life line screening. the power of prevention. call now to learn more. did you ever talk to this guy, lev parnas, or whoever his name is? >> it's possible but i haven't gone through all my phone recrds. i don't really recall that name. i remember the name now because he's been indicted. it seems very unlikely that i would be taking calls from random people. >> lev? what was the name? lev? i never heard of him. that was devin nunes, the

ranking member of the house intel committee. parnas told rachel maddow, yes, not only does he know who this is, but he quote, knew what was going on. he know what papers wt he also quote knew what was going on. nunes had a do over last night, watch. didn't know the name, this name, parnas. what i always like to remind people is we are dealing with people overday. we are an oversight committee. we have incoming culls to come to my office, my cell phone, et cetera, et cetera. we know now that he had called my cell phone. i didn't know his name, i didn't remember the name. i did remember looking back where i was at the time. you can do that, you actually know where you physically are and checked it with my records. it was very clear. i remember that call. which was odd, random, talking about random things, i said great, talk to my staff, and boom, boom, boom. >> parnas, i thought you said parnas.

it was parnas. why is he still there elise? >> it is very easy for the congressman to lie, lie, lie, and just not think twice about it. a detail that lev parnas added to the conversation about devin nunes last night that i found interesting was that he outsourced a lot of the work to one of his senior aides, derek harvey, who was a close aide of david poe trace during the war in iraq and ran his center for excellence in the afghanistan war at sit com. he is kind of a long term of all of this stuff. counter-insurgency hand. what he found, he had been fired could he end up on a witness list for a senate trial if they from his role at the nsc by make longer lists. mcmaster and ended up with >> if they make a really long congre list they might throw him on it. listen carefully nicolle to what he said. first he says lots of people call my office, random calls all the time. >> which i kind of doubt. >> then he said that parnas called my cell phone. he didn't say parnas called my

office. he said parnas called my cell phone. i don't get lots of random calls on my cell phone. the only people who call my cell phone are people to whom i have given my number. nunes strikes me like lots of liars strike me. they tell you as much as you think you are going to find out on your own. when you find out more they suddenly remember another fact they think is material to your inquiry. i have seen it before. i hate to sound jaded but i have seen it before. >> let's listen to nunes on rachel's show last night. >> does it strike you as unusual or inappropriate that nunes would be one of the lead investigators into the this scandal? >> i was in shock when i was watching the hearings and i saw nunes sitting up there and there was a picture where harvey was in back over there sitting. i texted my attorney. i said i can't believe this is happening. >> because? >> well, because they were involved in getting all the stuff on biden. i mean derek harvey had several

interviews. it is hard to see them lie like that when you know it is like that. it is scary because, you know, he was sitting there and making all of these statements and all that when he knew very well that he knew what was going on, he knew what is happening, he knows who i am. >> how is that not an ethics investigation into them. >> well, there ought to be. and you know, i am going to not make fun of devin nunes just because it is too easy and everybody has done it already. but the larger point is, why is a wise guy like parnas have devin nunes's phone number and calling a member of congress, a senior mb member of congress? this is typical what we have seen throughout the trump administration is that he farms all of his nefarious act out to people not in government that don't understand the ball that are basically criminals. lev parnas is an indicted felon. to me the scary thing, we have been saying it the whole show is that basically the action was government as determined by what

president trump wants is farmed out to a bunch of people who you wouldn't let walk your dog. >> i don't know how we have a government filled with so many people with gold fish memories. donald trump doesn't remember michael cohen. didn't remember manafort. roger stone didn't remember people. i have a lot of michaels on my phone. keishas, i don't have any levs. i think lev would pop up some way or another. but it speaks to the idea that if they lie enough you will get exhausted with their transjens that you won't keep investigating. they think if they play dumb you can't put the pieces together. i think we have enough people investigating in the press and in congress that they both will be held responsible and nunes is top of the list. >> add to that, they keep confessing. they swing between i didn't do it to watch me do it again. okay. we will sneak in our last break. whack.

insurance so you only pay for what you need. almost done. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i've always loved and i'm still going for my best, even though i live with a higher risk of stroke

due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin, i'll go for that. eliquis. eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis is fda-approved and has both. what's next? sharing my roots. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis, the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. ask your doctor if eliquis is what's next for you. diarrhea? pepto diarrhea to the rescue. it's 3x concentrated liquid formula coats

and kills bacteria to relieve diarrhea. the leading competitor only treats symptoms it does nothing to kill the bacteria. treat diarrhea at its source with pepto diarrhea. stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate i switched to miralax for my constipation. the nerves in your colon. miralax works with the water in your body to unblock your system naturally. and it doesn't cause bloating, cramping, gas, or sudden urgency. miralax. look for the pink cap.

one last story to tell you about. donald trump today not only having to contend with the start of his own impeachment trial, he is also forced to reckon with news out of ukraine. police in ukraine launched a investigation into the possible illegal surveillance of ambassador marie yavanovitch.

>> it is bizarre. the state department is so focused on the safety of our ambassadors and the fact that the state department itself and secretary pompeo in particular is not taking an initiative is apauling. >> the silence is appalling. >> the silence is appalling. >> can you imagine being in a hardship post protecting the interests of your country and your boss is completely unwilling to defend you and ensure your safety and security? it is really shaky and tenuous for those ambassadors around the globe. i think that secretary pompeo should be doing far better by them right now. >> it is an amazing -- the yovanovich story keeps getting weirder. she was at risk and told to come home not because of ukrainians or russians, but because of americans. now the ukrainians are looking into it. thank you and we are sorry ukraine. rachel's exclusive part two interview with lev parnas is on tonight at 9:00. pop some popcorn, sit down, you won't want to miss any more of that. in the meantime, my thanks to

chuck, elise, rick, jason, most of all to all of you for watching all day long. that does it for us. inspect daily with katy tur who has been hackeling me from inside the studio for the last ten minutes is in for chuck todd. don't miss her. she starts right now. ♪ >> heckling and coughing lovingly, welcome to thursday. it is "meet the press" daily katy tur in for chuck todd. this morning senators swore an oath to be impartial jurors in the