thanks for joining us today. we'll be back tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern. and next alex witt has the latest. how are you? i miss you here in iowa. >> i miss you too. can i just tell you, i don't want to go big brother on you, but i was watching your fans come up and give you hugs and you posing for the selfies. that's fun. nobody wants to do it in the studio. ana doesn't want to give me a hug. i do want to ask you a couple questions, though. >> sure. >> joy, your interpretation of things from your vantage point in des moines. first up, what went through your mind when it appeared key republicans would vote with the president and against calling any witnesses, do you think they were voting really their conscience, meaning what they really felt was right or did they vote out of fear? >> i just met a lovely lady from

tennessee that was here. lamar lamar lamar alexander, the senator retiring, hoee's retiring, thers no backlash if you stand up to the president. for som somebody who's supposedly an institutionally, for pure partisanship, what he put out makes sense. if you believe that donald trump did what he is said to have done, he committed the offenses for which he was impeached, how can you say it's then not appropriate to vote to convict, because what donald trump is doing is accused of trying to rig the next election. saying the remedy to rig the next election by using foreign

help by strong arming a foreign ally, the remedy should be the very election you said he's free to keep rigging, free to rig again? how are the american people supposed to cure that with a rigged election? so it makes no sense. it strikes me that the party is now so completely devoured by trump. that trump is the party. the party, the state, everything is trump to republicans now. and that's sad. >> look, i agree with you. but in the spirit of playing devil's advocate here, when we look back at nixon and clinton, they were in second terms. so to lamar alexander's point, he's basically punting because he says the american people should be the ones to decide, as opposed to the members of the u.s. senate, is there validity to that? anything you can get behind there? >> no. in the sense that -- so go all the way back. andrew johnson, the impeachment more like donald trump's impeachment than any of the

others, because he was literally impeached for defying congress, trying to overturn the results of the civil war, saying he would not protect newly freed african-americans who were being brutalized in the south, he would not be willing to do any of the things that the republican congress was saying must be done to secure lincoln's legacy, so that's what he was piechl f impeached for. he just chose not to run again. donald trump is similar to that. an impeachment is both a sanction and a protection for the country. if you impeach a second term president it was more of a sanction of what was already done. nixon had already done what it was they were impeaching him for. clinton had the affair, these were past things. it's essentially saying we're going to punish the president by not letting them finish their term. an impeachment of the first term president is protecting the country. it's more important because it's about stopping a president from inflicting more harm.

nixon could not inflict more harm, he had already done. and clinton what harm did he commit was to his wife, his family, his cabinet who had to lie for him. he hadn't done anything that endangered the country. having an affair with an intern may be distasteful but it wasn't the harming the country. trump is being accused of harming the national security, why would you let him go on to harm it for more. it's an abrogation of their oath to defend the country to say you are free to keep violating our national security because we want to leave it up to the people to punish you for that. it's insane. >> the house impeachment managers may not have moved the needle in per se the senate but what about the public? is public perception, the only thing that matters in in the end, because we have the november election looming, may this percolate just enough to have an influence the first week in november? >> yes, this is why a lot of people have said to me, was it a

waste to impeach donald trump? absolutely not. it needed to be done to sanction future presidents. but it's essentially out of the clause. but what the public has learned over the course of this impeachment, particularly given the day in delivering the articles to the senate, which was a very, very wise idea it turns out from speaker pelosi was that the public learned in detail what the president did. this wasn't an impeachment about sex. this was an impeachment about the danger to the republic. now people know. if you look at the polling, people have become more and more and more convinced that trump should be removed. there is now a majority to remove him. there is a majority saying he should not be president. that was an important outcome of impeachment. i think also for people when they go to vote in the united states senate races those are going to take on greater

importance now because of the way the senators have baehaved now when you're voting for martha mcsally or joni earrnst, you're voting for whether you want a senator who's a separate and equal branch of government or if you're voting to somebody who wants to be a lackey to a king. we are not supposed to have a king. that was the main thing, other than equal rights, the founders did not want a king. if your senator essentially stood up in the well of the senate and said, yeah, the president of the united states can do anything he wants, our power is neutered, we're the first branch of government but we're no branch of government, he is the only government, the only state, is that the senator you want or do you want a senator who will stand up for the body of the senate and for you over him? because if it's all about him,

if he's almost god, then why have a senate? i think the people are going to think a lot more seriously about who they vote for for the united states. kentucky, don't feel that confident mitch mcconnell because a democrat just won statewide. anyone can win if you vote for them. so every republican senator should look sharp that's up in november. >> i love the logo behind you. is that a cowboy boot in the j. for "a.m. joy"? >> this is the coolest place ever, shout out the name of this place so everyone knows. west end al vague. this is cool, you probably have seen it on hgtv. i'm walking around trying to buy everything. my husband is probably texting me right now saying do not -- >> do not open your wallet, yeah. >> this is a fabulous, incredible place. the people are wonderful, the

coffee is delicious. it's making iowa look so good. >> i will say the iowa reminded me of a surf board. then i'm going that's the california girl in me. not in iowa. >> my sister was born in iowa, by the way. my sister is a native des moines. my father and mother went to college here. i'm kind of an iowan. >> no wonder they're bracing you. thank you for the chat. enjoy your night in december olympia -- des moines. we'll see you tomorrow. new reaction to the history making vote in the senate, 49 for, 51 against adding witnesses to president trump's impeachment trial. with that vote split pretty much along part lines except republicans mitt romney and susan collins who voted in favor of witnesses. new reaction is as polarized as the process itself.

speaker nancy pelosi tweeting it's a sad day for america to see senator mcconnell humiliate the chief justice in residing over a vote which rejected our nation's judicial norms, precedents and institutions which uphold the constitution and rule of law. democrats are doubling down on their analysis of why the president did not want witnesses. >> any time we got a witness to talk, we learned more. every document we got from the public, we learned more. and all the arrows pointed to the president running the shake down scheme. there's no witness or document yet that we found that shows he was innocent. >> republicans argue while they may consider the president's action inappropriate, they did not find it impeachable and want voters to have the final say. >> i don't need to hear any more evidence to decide that the president did what he's charged with doing. >> even if everything that the house has alleged is accepted as true, number one, removing the president is not a last resort. we have an election in november,

which is better and less damaging remedy. >> the president is going to be acquitted and he's going to not only win but win stronger than everyone predicted. >> the acquittal is expected to come next wednesday after two more days of deliberation, with the iowa caucus and the state of the union in between. hans nickel and geoff bennett are with us. geoff we're going to start with you. give me a sense of the vote there on the hill from both sides. >> reporter: alex, great to see you as always. we can start in the immediate moments after the key vote was taken on the introduction of new witnesses and evidence in the senate trial because our team was in the senate gallery. it's like a balcony that sits about 10 or 20 feet off the senate floor. as mitt romney raised his hand and said aye, or yes, on the key

vote for witnesses or evidence our producer saw republicans giving him side eye glances and that lindsey graham shook his head in disapproval. on the other side there's outrage, even though the vote went down as we reported that it would, you heard chuck schumer make the case there has not been a history of an impeachment trial in the senate, to include members of the cabinet, judges, presidents, that has not included witnesses and evidence. here's more of what the democratic leader told us reporters last night. >> to not allow a witness, a document, no witnesses, no documents, in an impeachment trial is a perty. it's a grand tragedy. one of the worst tragedies that the senate has ever overcome. america will remember this day unfortunately where the senate did not live up to its responsibilities, where the

senate turned away from truth and went along with a sham trial. >> reporter: so schumer there using $100 words to explain the political disaster that he thinks awaits republicans. he's also trying to prepare the political arena for what happens after wednesday's vote. we expect president trump will be acquitted, and so what democrats are trying to do is make the case that before president trump takes that victory lap to say he's the acquitted president, democrats are making the case the only reason why he was acquitted, they say, is because republicans engaged in a rigged trial, a sham trial. >> what do you think happens next and what do you think the chances are that the president is going to take a victory lap on tuesday night at the state of the union? >> reporter: that's the big thing to watch. state of the union addresses in the trump era have meant less than they have in previous administrations, in part because we know that president trump isn't really invested in the

specifics and the political policy nitty-gritty of any policy idea that a president would unleash in a state of the union address. he doesn't, we're told, write them as his predecembsesers did. so what did he say anything about the ongoing impeachment trial that won't be wrapped up until a day later. so the lawmakers now have the weekend off, they come back on monday. there will be four hours of closing arguments split between the defense and prosecution. after that a period of open debate, deliberations, every senator will have the chance to state his or her case on this issue of impeachment on the floor. that then leads to the impeachment vote on wednesday at 4:00 p.m. eastern, 1:00 p.m. pacific. >> geoff bennett in what has become known as the hallway. let's go to florida with

hans nichols traveling with the president. the president did not get everything he wanted. he wanted to be free of it by the super bowl, right? what's the mood like today? >> it seems celebrator, i say seems because the president put out a tweet of himself on the golf course. and that's exceedingly rare for president donald trump to tweet a picture of himself. normally they don't tell us if he's golfing. they say he's going to his golf resort. i don't know how much we can read into that, but clearly the president appears to be enjoying himself. also doing a victory lap on twitter, although not directly confirming the killing of al qaeda terrorist but indicating that terrorist has been eliminating. what you're hearing from senate republicans is muted reaction. even senators like bill cassidy from louisiana are acknowledging

the president did something wrong. >> i don't think that personally we should receive information from foreign governments. just don't. that's just not what we should be doing. but did the white house counsel create a reasonable doubt, absolutely. >> yesterday was more about the misconduct of the senate than the misconduct of the president. the senate has a constitutional obligation to conduct a trial. and you can't conduct a trial without hearing from the witnesses and looking at the documents. so now that . >> reporter: so now it looks like the president is out of the woods in the realm of impeachment, you are hearing more republican senators acknowledge the president did something wrong, from senator rubio, we heard from cassidy, even senator cruz seemed to suggest there might have been something the president did. so this seems to be a slightly different line, but at least from the white house's perspective, if we can take the president's tweet for a read on

his mood, he seems to be in great spirits. >> thanks, hans. it happened again, hillary clinton slamming bernie sanders and now a well known sanders supporting striking back. remarkably, the scores of 2016 have yet to be settled. we'll bring you the whole story in just minutes. ing you the who in just minutes. con liberty mutual solo pagas lo que necesitas. only pay for what you need... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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away from the iowa caucuses. the official start to the 2020 election. but a feud from 2016 is making

headlines today. hillary clinton has been on the attack against senator bernie sanders and now his supporters are pushing back in a moment that's getting some backlash. congresswoman rashida tlaib had choice words for clinton when she came up at a sanders event. >> last week when someone by the name of hillary clinton said that nobody -- we're not going to boo. we're not going to boo. we're classy here. >> no, i'll boo. boo. you all know i can't be quiet. we're going to boo. that's all right. the haters will shut up on monday when we win. >> joining me now from iowa, shaq bruster. i'm going to turn to you shaq in des moines with new reaction from sanders surrogate representative rashida tlaib there. that was pretty bold. >> it was pretty bold. i'll tell you this is not where

the campaign wants to be talking about what they want to be talking about in the closing days before the iowa caucus, but here we go again relitigating what happened in 2016. on friday we heard secretary clinton in a podcast interview bring up a criticism we've heard from her before over senator sanders and his supporters saying they did not move to unify the party quickly enough after she claimed the nomination. that's what led to that moment you saw last night with rashida tlaib booing. the congresswoman released a four part statement today and said she was, to use her word, she was protective over the movement. and her exact tweet said i allowed my disappointment with secretary clinton's latest comments about senator sanders and his supporters get the best of me. the clinton spokesperson responded this morning, his statement is i can't imagine this behavior is something iowans want to see from

candidates and their surrogates and i don't imagine the vast majority of voters wanted to see this either. i'll tell you this was a concert last night. senator sanders was not in the room, it was a concert being held and about 1,000 people in the ballroom there, it's a moment that went viral but also got a lot of attention online. it's resurfacing the 2016 battle as the candidate and campaign want to focus on 2020. >> he wasn't there physically but he did call in, right? or was it something else? >> that's where he made the phone in interview -- not interview but he had the statement over the phone. he was in washington d.c. because of the impeachment battle, he wasn't able to make it back in time for thattan event but he's back on the ground now, he's going to have an event in about an hour. >> you'll be on it. thank you for that. let's go to mike who's joining

us from a biden rally in north liberty, iowa. let's talk about the new poll there that has joe biden in second place. do you think that accurately reflects what iowans are telling you there on the ground? are there still many undecided caucus goers that you've spoken with? >> reporter: i want to start with breaking news. the sun is out. we see blue sky. the nbc team i've been traveling with all week covering joe biden back and forth across the state a couple times, we've seen a lot of grey skies and snowy fields. we're thrilled to have the sun out. i spoke to a volunteer before an event, she's been knocking on doors in the greater iowa city area. she told me a lot of bernie sanders support, elizabeth warren support, some joe biden support still she said more than anything a lot of undecided voters. we can't under state how close

this vote is, and a lot of campaigns aware they could finish first, fifth or anywhere in between. there's a lot of uncertainty in iowa. >> what about joe biden and what he feels his chances of winning iowa? >> reporter: it's interesting. joe biden did a good job of playing pundit last night. he said he feels good about where he stands here in iowa, expects to win but he's managing the expectations game. let's listen to how he described the state of play. >> second or fourth? >> it depends, look, i've been saying from the beginning. i think we're going to do well here. i think it's going to be really tight no matter how it works out, bunched up, there's going to be many bunched up, i think. but i said from the beginning i expect to do well, i probably shouldn't tell you that but i expect to do well. >> reporter: knowing how close it is here, biden is playing all

the cards he has to play here, john kerry joined him at the event that he just took the stage here at north liberty. >> thank you both with the latest from iowa. be sure to watch our coverage of the iowa caucuses, brian williams and rachel maddow host a team of experts to break down the coverage for you. back to impeachment with the senate trial now entering its final phase, u.s. officials warn of real security consequences if trump is acquitted. joining me now, betsy woodruff swan. betsy, welcome, as always. this piece by your colleagues, it is really sounding the alarm of what an acquittal could usher in with future administrations. talk about some of the major concerns. >> the key concern detailed in this piece is the way foreign policy decisions get made will become essentially a lower quality process than it could

have been. throughout the first several years of trump's administration, people who are more sort of devoted to the national security institutions have gradually been leaving, getting fired, and being replaced. so trump is increasingly surrounded by people who basically tell him to trust his gut and tell him to be confident in using processes that, to put it diplomatically, are quite nontraditional or arguably violations of the way the united states should manage its foreign policy process. and, of course, the apex of that was rudy giuliani's work as an intermediary to ukraine's president, pressuring the country to do favors for trump in exchange for commitments that the united states had actually made to the country of ukraine. because we expect trump, of course, to be acquitted since republicans aren't voting to bring in witnesses, that sends a signal to the white house that the most effective congressional

accountability tool will not be used even when trump has somebody from the private sector who is not a u.s. government official engaged in strong arm policy. >> are they concerned this will give trump the green light to accept foreign help in his election? >> there's no question that the acquittal is making him feel emboldened and more comfortable with doing whatever his instincts tell him to do. the president has been clear since before he was president, that he's comfortable with foreign governments in certain ways, interfering in the american electoral process, going back to the russia if you're listening one. >> that's his perception. what do you think it signals to foreign governments? is it opening the door for other countries to engage in u.s. politics for their own benefit? >> one of the challenges is

there's conflicting messages between what the president says and his subordinates say. there was resounding criticism from dan coats, who was the head of the national intelligence office, they alleged that the chinese meddled in the midterms. we haven't seen the evidence but they said it's not okay that it happened. the president seems to be telegraphing not only that foreign interference in american elections is something that doesn't, you know, particularly appall him, but at least in the case of ukraine, something that he himself has actually sought out. >> okay. betsy woodruff swan, thank you for that. good to see you. president trump's re-election campaign will be sending a mass message during the super bowl tomorrow, it's all about the economy but if you're not better off today than four years ago, will you buy it? we invite you to watch politics nation today, you'll see rev al

sharpton's interview with 2020 presidential candidate mike bloomberg. they'll discuss his campaign and give a tour of his 2020 headquarters. that's on politics nation today at 5:00 eastern. day at 5:00 eastern. when you shop with wayfair, you spend less and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one. for small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair.com so chantix can help you quit slow turkey.

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new today, a preview of the president's re-election ad that is airing during tomorrow's super bowl, the campaign is actually running two commercials during the nation's most watched sporting event. they're focussing on the economy, this comes as reports this week show the economy grew at a rate of 2.3% in 2019 decelerating to the slowest pace in three years. joining me now is alina maxwell. and jeremy tyler. so trump's re-election message centered on the economy at this point but look at the headlines from this week going into this 2020 election season. are these the kind of headlines trump want to see on the economy? >> i certainly don't think that he wants to see any headlines that talk about a deceleration since the increases in the stock market when the stock market is up are always the first tweet of

the morning. donald trump loves to brag about the stock market when it's up, surprisingly he doesn't mention it when it's going down. as you know, most americans don't have money invested in the stock market so we're talking about the upper income households impacted by the republican tax giveaway that gave money to big corporations and rich folks. so i think that the average american is not feeling the positive benefits of the trump economy, no matter what he says on the issue. and i think that's something that he has to deal with going into the election in november. >> they're being told it's so great but not necessarily feeling it. here's what the president said in 2017 right before his tax cut bill was signed into law. take a listen, everyone. >> i think we can go to four, five, and maybe even six percent ultimately. each percentage point is $2.5 trillion. we are back. we're really going to start to rock.

we need this as our final push. and you're going to see some numbers that are great. >> so look, rick, the highest he's been is 2.83% in a gdp over one year. what happened here? did he make promises he couldn't keep? >> well, of course. look, ronald reagan's campaign theme was are you better today than four years ago, he was referring to jimmy carter's his gdp average was 3.3%. donald trump's is 2.3%. and we just had the fourth quarter come in at 2.1%. what's interesting to me about the democrats, if you look at the trajectory, since 2009, that's when barack obama was -- was managing the recovery from a disastrous fall in the economy, the trajectory has been literally the same. it's just been slowly growing. and so, donald trump says things like this is the greatest economy ever. that's been true since warren

harding, every president since then, and i believe back to 1880, but i'll have to check that, has presided over the world's largest economy. so that's not new. he talks about low black unemployment, and it's true black unemployment is low, but barack obama reduced black unemployment by 52%, donald trump reduced black employment, i won't give credit, either one, because that's not the way it works, by 20%, so which is bigger. he has a lot to talk about, it's whether people believe it and whether they believe they're better off than four years ago. that's why the democrats really need to talk about how we got here and that would have been through the last administration because you can't point to a policy. if the number went up, up, down, and then a policy change where trump could show there's a policy change, but there isn't

one t. it's the same line. >> considering obama took over in the grips of a recession, obama had 3.6% growth in 2014, 3.5% growth in 2015. and again, donald trump is not even been able to match 3% at this point. like i said, the highest he's gotten was 2.83%. so his gdp, though, is growing at the pace despite this $2 trillion tax cut, rick. when you think about it, this is going to have to play out in some fashion with republicans this year at the ballot box. how do you see it playing out? >> honestly, i'm not sure it will because the implications of the tax cut, which was supposed to hire people and then people would pay more money and you have generated more revenue going to the government paid out in debt. that's not what happened, the companies decided they were going to buy back stock so there hasn't been additional revenue and we are on record deficit

spending. we are financing, in a sense, this economy. it's not booming. it's kind of meager, a little bit pal tri growth, it's not great growth. it's okay growth. but we are financing it. that takes a long time for those implications to come out. i don't think people will be feeling that by november. >> i want to ask you about this dust up right now between congresswoman rashida tlaib who was booed -- or booing rather when the subject of hillary clinton came up at the sanders eve event. you were the director of progressive programming of hillary clinton's campaign so that and a tweet you put out indicates you have something to say. what's your response to all this? >> i would prefer it if we would not boo women. no matter what we feel about those women, if we agree or don't agree with those women. i'm not going to go along with booing sarah palin, even though i disagree with her.

i would appreciate if we on the left could live up to our values, women we're incredibly mean to one another. i think there's already too many problems and too many terrible things happening to women all over the world. it would be nice for once if we could try to support each other. we don't have to agree with every single policy. additionally it hurt me to see that video because i respect and admire all of the members of the squad. i was a member of hillary clinton's staff she had more black women on that campaign than any campaign in american history, including barack obama's two campaigns. so when i see them booing, i feel like they're booing me, and i'm not okay with that. i'm not okay with that. >> how do you feel about the apology that she offered via twitter. she said it got the better of her, the timing? >> it's appropriate to apologize. i understand we're all wrapped up in this, iowa is on monday. we have passion. i think everyone should channel

that passion and energy, and support the candidate they want to win on monday. if you like bernie sanders, go knock doors for him. if you like warren, biden, go work for the conditioned yandid but we shouldn't be booing one another. good to see you both. thank you. cash giveaway why some of the president's allies are handing out tens of thousands of dollars and what they're trying to accomplish. they're trying to accomplish. irresist-a-bowls now starting at $7.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. the better question would be where do i not listen to it. while i'm eating my breakfast... on the edges of cliffs... on a ski lift... everywhere. ♪ download audible and start listening today. vo: the gun lobby's worst mike bloomberg founded and led a gun safety organization that's

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we want to remind all of you to watch tuesday's state of the union with rachel maddow, brian williams and nicole wallace leading our coverage at 8:00 here on msnbc. developing right now a new report suggesting allies of president trump have started holding events in black communities where organizers are handing out tens of thousands of dollars to attendees. that's according to a report from politico that says more of the events are currently in the works. joining me now is the man who wrote that article. ben schroeck inger. tell me what's going on here from your reporting and what's taking place at the so-called giveaways and more about who's involved. >> these giveaways are organized by a group called the urban revitalization coalition. it's registered as a charity, a 501c 3 organization led by a man

named darryl scott, a cleveland pastor, one of donald trump's closest, most prominent black supporters, he's also a cochair of the trump re-election campaign black voices for trump initiative. at these events there's been one cash giveaway so far in cleveland, another has been postponed, a third is scheduled. they praise president trump, defend him against the criticism that he's racist. they show case some of his policies like the opportunities zone program, the first step act and then they give away tens of thousands of dollars in cash in increments of a few hundred dollars each stuffed into envelopes in sort of a raffle-style sweep stakes giveaway for members of the audience. >> the organizers say the events are run by the book and intended to promote economic development in the inner cities, is that

100% accurate? when you speak about the money, cash, stuffed in the envelopes, anywhere between three and $500, if it went 600 or more, wouldn't that have been to be reported from a tax perspective? what did the expert say? >> darryl scott tells me if they do giveaway $600, one person in cleveland got $1,000, that person did have to fill out a w-9 form in order to comply with irs. but there are other tax issues, an expert in charity law tells me that you have to be vetting the recipients of this money to make sure they have a legitimate charitable need. you can't go into a neighborhood, even if it's a poor neighborhood, and say, you know, anyone can show up and get money. there has to be a more clearly

defined charitable purpose. there was video of the cleveland event, of the cleveland giveaway. shows that one of the women who got a few hundred dollars in cash is the mother of an nba player that makes about $2 million a season, linked in lists her as the senior director of accounting at a property management firm. things like that suggest that these recipients are not being vetted for charitable need and that could become an issue for this group's tax exempt status. >> according to your reporting a spokesman told you that the events were unrelated to its own efforts and the campaign has no knowledge, nor affiliation, with these activities. i'm going to add we checked into it too and trump campaign official confirmed to msnbc these events are not affiliated, sanctioned by the president's campaign, however how is that possible? have you gotten any sense or indication that the trump campaign may want to clamp down

on this or put an end to this? >> i have not heard that the trump campaign is going to try to stop this. in fact, the cleveland plain dealer has reported, in recent days, that the urban revitalization coalition is planning another event for next month. quite literally doubling down on this approach. last month's approach featured a $25,000 giveaway. the group is saying they're going to have a $50,000 giveaway in cleveland now. i should also add that another report in recent days, adding on the back of all of this, shows that america first priorities, a 501c4 organization founded by current and former trump campaign aides gave a little less than a quarter of a million dollars to the urban revitalization coalition back in 2018. that does not mean that the campaign is directly involved in this group's activities, but certainly it shows a funding

link between this group and between another group, a third group, that was founded by veterans of trump's first campaign. >> following the money with politico. ben, thank you so much for pointing this out to us. >> thank you for having me. marco more with a fire response to the dnc's decision to change the debate rules. dnc'n to change the debate rules and it's not the trailer right next to us? this guy? you don't believe me? hop in. good lookin' pickup, i will say that. oh wow. silverado offers an optional technology package with up to 15 different views - including one enhanced view that makes your trailer appear invisible. wow. - that's pretty sweet. - that's cool. oooohh! that's awesome. where'd the trailer go? i love it. it's magic.

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they are removing the rule to be on the debate stage where it says you have to have so many people donating to you. they removed that rule because mike bloomberg, the billionaire, the republican mayor of new york city -- he doesn't have to show he has any support amongst the american people. he can just buy his way onto the debate stage, and i got to tell you what's so disgusting about this, i watched the debate in iowa here two weeks ago, the -- the all white debate, and the fact that the democratic -- the dnc will not allow cory booker on that stage, will not allow julian castro on that stage, but

they're going to allow mike bloomberg on the stage because he's got a billion [bleep] dollars. >> michael moore there fire brand progressive and film maker, slamming the dnc for changing the path for mike bloomberg to qualify for next month's debate in las vegas. beth is joining me from des moines, good day to you my friend. i think it's not an understatement to say it's a passionate statement from michael moore last night. are potential caucus goers in iowa as fired up about that rule change as he is? >> reporter: you know, i wouldn't say they are, alex. they're getting so much attention here in iowa from the candidates. the voters here are thinking who they're going to caucus for on monday night. i want to make an argument that counters what michael moore is saying there in that sound bite. mike bloomberg is spending hundreds of millions of dollars

on television ads right now. $230 million so far per our nbc news count floating above all the other candidates, making his pitch, getting out his message with no accountability. this allows the other democrats in the field to be on the stage with him, the same stage, and go to him and ask him for his positions on issues and contrast with him. otherwise, if mike bloomberg were not allowed on the debate stage he would carry on, paying out his own money, blanketing the airwaves with no one asking questions. this is an opportunity for those candidates to do that, i would argue. >> i was thinking the same thing as listening that it gives that opportunity. are you getting any hints about who may break through on the caucuses monday? >> it's hard to say. this is an unusual year for the caucuses with the impeachment trial keeping so many people away, the senators, of course, and a lot of the journalists who cover those senators. you have the added complication

of the super bowl happening tomorrow night. which means usually the night before the monday caucuses, sunday night is a big night for candidates to go out, with the super bowl going on they can't do that. some of the candidates are holding super bowl parties but that's hardly the same thing. it's a different vibe this year. and the candidates who aren't in the senate have been out making their case. vice president biden, andrew yang, tom steyer, but it's not the same without all the candidates. we'll be able to see it today and tomorrow with the candidates all here in iowa but the super bowl is going to end things earlier than they usually end, alex. >> good point you make. i hadn't thought of that, they better hold them in sports bars if they want anyone to come. >> that's what they're doing. >> beth, thank you so much from des moines iowa. 2020 candidate tom steyer joins me to talk about the dnc rule change and his thoughts heading

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good day everyone from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome to weekends with alex witt. critical issues remain unresolved after the impeachment anticlimax. that trial is nearing a close with a split screen week ahead. closing arguments monday will be followed by iowa caucuses then more impeachment deliberations tuesday will be followed by the president's state of the union

address to both houses of congress. then on wednesday, the expected acquittal to a final vote but not before each side gets the final words. we have a team of analysts on the fallout of the impeachment witness vote and the busy campaign trail. let's begin with impeachment and the headline on what's on to come, senate punts vote to acquit comes next week. joining me now, garrett haake, on capitol hill where he's pretty much set up camp for the last week and some. good to see you. after the highly anticipated vote on witnesses failed last night, what comes next in this trial? >> reporter: that's probably the highest moment of drama we're going to see in this trial. the senators are all now home or on the campaign trail for the rest of the weekend. they come back monday morning for one more round of closing arguments. this will probably only be important to the handful of democrats who are still deciding whether or not they might possibly acquit this president,

including doug jones, joe manchin, kirsten cinema. all have been quiet about their plans on the question of acquittal. but that's the drama remaining. we'll hear the closing arguments on monday. then there'll be monday and tuesday opportunities for senators to finally speak their mind. this has been a long time for senators who are used to having the floor and the opportunity to speak basically at any length having to be mostly silent the last few weeks. they'll share their thoughts monday, tuesday and wednesday afternoon is the big vote. the acquittal vote up or down and then this impeachment trial will be behind us. >> tuesday night we have the state of the union address. give me a sense of what the mood is like there on capitol hill going into that and what you think the mood will be like in the chambers tuesday night. >> i think it's probably a very good thing that lawmakers ended up going home for this weekend, they're not stuck here surrounded by one another

everyone moment until tuesday night. tension will be high, we've heard from the trump campaign who sent out an email saying this will be a speech like any other, the president has been under attack. so i think you could see an aggressive president trump coming into a chamber that is, of course, the house chamber, which is still controlled by democrats. he'll have speaker pelosi sitting behind him. i think it could be a tense room. the fact that lawmakers are getting an opportunity to be away from each other after being trapped in the senate chamber for the last week and a half or so, is probably good to let some of the air out of the tense environment we've been in up herrher he -- here. i think if you can choose to watch on tv instead of being in the room, that might be a more pleasant experience. >> sorry we didn't let you get away from capitol hill on a saturday but we needed you. kelly o'donnell is traveling

with the president in florida. the president did not necessarily get what he wanted because the final vote is not happening by the super bowl, which is what he had said, in other words to get it over and done with before the state of the union tuesday. is it seen as a setback at all? >> reporter: it's certainly a disappointment because the president traditionally does a super bowl interview and, of course, the state of the union would be what he would hope would be a walk into that chamber vindicated from his point of view. none of that is going to play out that way. so that is something that the white house has to deal with. an unusual tweet from the president this morning that might be reflecting his state of mind. we have talked so many weekends when i've been here covering the president in florida where we have said we think he's golfing, we know he went to his private golf club. but today he tweeted a photo of himself taking a swing and claiming that's exercise this morning. that breaks with the tradition of the white house where often

they don't talk to us about his golf partners or don't like to openly acknowledge he's golfing even when he's at his golf club. they make it difficult, frankly, for us to know what he's doing. he lifted the vail a little bit tonight and tweeted that picture of him golfing. is that a signal of everything is okay? you have to interpret it, and it's left open to twitter followers and viewers. there's, of course, a different take coming from democrats who believe as this senate trial goes to its final phase that senate republicans have not been fair to the process. we hear that time and time again. senate republicans argue they want to let the voting public decide in a matter of months the fate of this president and not remove him from office and therefore remove him from the ballot. but chris van hol l hol hollen

maryland is lashing out. >> they just took the guardrails off. they said president trump you can be a serial violator of the constitution of the united states. and this could just be the beginning. and i wouldn't be surprised at all now if president trump continues to seek actively seek foreign interference in u.s. elections. this is a very, very dangerous precedent, and the senate republicans, without providing any guardrails or accountability, have created a wre reckless presidency. >> one republican senator mike brawn of indiana said he thinks the president because of the pain and discomfort of the impeachment process would be reluctant to go there agaso to speak to try to do any of this conduct. we don't know what the white house would say to that because they argued that the president

did nothing wrong. the president himself says the call was perfect and he didn't do anything improper. it leaves open the question how would his behavior be changed as we head into this intense period of the campaign. the campaign today saying they'll have some of their own surrogates like members of the president's family in iowa for the caucuses to have a counter point as the democrats have their important day of decision that begins this voices of the voters finally being heard. so the trump team is also going to be trying to counter program there as well. alex? >> kelly o'donnell, thank you for that. that white house perspective, not necessarily syncing up with this number, 75%, a poll which found that 75% of americans that said witnesses should testify at the impeachment trial. now after the senate vote, how will those americans react? joining me now tessa bareson and josh, msnbc contributor.

welcome to you both. tes tessa, does this 75% number concern the white house at all? >> i don't think so. the vote is over and done with now, republicans were able to block witnesses by a razor thin margin and i think the white house is eager to have this all done with. the final outcome has never been in too much doubt. it's looking like president trump will be acquitted on wednesday. so i don't think that is much concern to the white house and they're excited to have this whole process finally be over and done with so trump can focus on his own re-election campaign. >> josh, can you see any re-s residual effect here for republicans? >> yeah. the formal impeachment process may be done but if there's one thing we've seen in the last week is that the drip, drip, drip of revelations about the president's conduct is going to continue regardless of whether the senate chooses to look or

deliberately avert its eyes. we have the john bolton book that we know is in a draft if not final manuscript form, i think they wanted that published by the beginning of march, it might be delayed by court challenges but some of the story has come out and the rest of it is going to come out in the months to come. i think we'll continue to see other revelations. remember that chairman schiff said in his closing arguments there that these stories will emerge, and he mentioned something about hearings. so i wouldn't be at all surprised if the house tries to use whatever leverage it has independent of the senate to try to keep this narrative and story out there about the president and to sort of punish senate republicans on this front all the way up to the november election. >> tessa, i'm looking at your latest piece here, return of the imperial presidency, why the impeachment fight is about more than donald trump. can you explain that? >> sure. so the stakes here are higher than president trump's own political future and whether

he's removed from office. there's big balance of power questions here and the democrats and republicans are arguing the exact opposite thing about what this impeachment would mean. republicans say if trump is removed from office based on this evidence and along party lines it would basically paralyze the presidency going forward because it would set a precedent that congress could impeach along party lines and use it as a political weapon. >> i want to read part of what you wrote, it says remove trump his defense argues and the presidency will be weakened for a generation as impeachment becomes a partisan tool. acquit him democrats restory and it gives him carte blanche to abuse their power. so have you heard any concerns that this president or any in the future have now been given license to abuse the power of their offense for personal gain over that of the republican? >> right.

i mean, that is what the house managers are arguing, that this is congress' duty right now to step up and show some consequences for trump's actions. i was talking to senator brown a couple days ago and he was saying if the we acquit him, what's to say he won't get worse. and then future presidents have this precedent set. so, you know, many senators on both sides of the aisle will say that trump's conduct was wrong, at least to some extent, or inappropriate. but what they're now trying to weigh is this power balance between the white house and congress and what it would mean to remove him or leave him in office based on what we've seen. >> josh, in terms of what you've written you write that trump's lawyers in their claims of how they define executive privilege are trying to have it both ways. explain different court cases where executive privilege has offered an umbrella defense is playing out. >> on the floor when defending the president, his lawyers basically faulted the house for not doing enough to pursue

evidence that could bolster their case. for example, individuals like john bolton, the house considered impeaching him then when one of his deputies filed a lawsuit to resist the house investigation, they never subpoenaed bolton, so trump's lawyers said they didn't go far enough in the house to get this kind of evidence. but the problem with the argument is trump's counsel, the justice department representing the administration went to court and said you can't bring these things into court, they don't belong here at all. what was bizarre about the arguments being put forward by the white house was they were faulting the house for not taking steps that in another context the justice department was saying that the house didn't have the right to do. they were saying you have to battle this out amongst yourselves. so you had two contrasting arguments and it may be a problem for the white house going forward, because remember issues about don mcghan, the former white house counsel's testimony, and all kind of

issues related to the president's tax returns remain in the court. some going to the supreme court by the end of next month. so it's very much alive and as we discussed a moment ago, continuing battle this week. >> isn't this happening simultaneously, one courtroom dealing with one thing and another court with the senate dealing with the other? >> that's right. people were running into court saying just a moment ago this was said in the impeachment trial and then you had adam schiff on the floor saying a moment ago the justice department lawyers made this argument, that's opposite of what the president's counsel were saying. there were a lot of crossed wires but it doesn't seem to have bothered republican senators much. >> thank you both very much. rule change, the dnc move that could shake up the debate stage and open the door for mike bloomberg, and i'm going to talk to tom steyer, the other billionaire, about why he's against the move. billionaire, about why he's against the move we can do it♪

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just two days away now from the iowa caucuses and it's still unclear which democratic candidate will win. most candidates are putting their focus on the hawkeye state today while some have moved to new hampshire. already on the move in iowa today, andrew yang has a town hall pointing to the need to fix what he calls disease in american politics. >> donald trump is not the cause of all of our problems. he is the symptom of a disease that has been bliuilding up for

years. it's up to us to get to work curing the disease. it has to start on monday. i'm the asian doctor for the job. >> and senator amy klobuchar also rallied with iowa caucus goers where she pointed out her winning record. >> we will rebuild a coalition that is so big that brings in a big tent and a wider coalition and long coattails and i am the one to lead that. [ applause ] >> every place, every time all the way back to fourth grade i've won everything. >> joe biden was talking with voters at an iowa community senator where he was interrupted by several hecklers. >> protect the american people. and most importantly --

>> let's go trump. >> i'm not sure who he's with. give us back your joe shirt, okay. >> that was a good comeback. also making their way through the state, pete buttigieg and senator elizabeth warren. we go now to our nbc news road warriors von hill yard and ali have yo vitali. is it owine there? is that correct? if so, what is the message from pete buttigieg? >> reporter: we are in owine iowa. this is the second of five stops for the southbound mayor. and pete buttigieg, so much of what the iowa caucus experience is who can activate folks to

come out and caucus. that's why polling only tells us so much it's who's animated and who wants to show up for the candidate. the part about the pete buttigieg candidate is this is the candidate who's hinged on winning back the midwest against donald trump. so independents can come and re-jer rejester as democrats. one voter, shelly thornton, from a community like this, jefferson, iowa. i met her last fall. she called herself a registered independent but was intrigued by pete buttigieg. she's now a precinct captain and is going to be volunteering. i want to let you hear from her. >> the only person you think you show up to caucus for was the mayor and now today what are you doing? >> i'm caucusing for pete. he speaks to my heart.

i think he can bring everybody together. and he just has such a positive way of going about it. we are so divided right now. we need somebody who can bring us back together. >> what's the goal in places like jefferson here? >> we want to make sure we're in the kbhucommunities that don't as much attention, especially in presidential politics but folks have as much to gain or lose by the white house, maybe more so. >> reporter: as you heard from pete buttigieg himself he wants to win over independents like shelly and get them to come on caucus day and register as democrats. take into account that general election four years ago, donald trump won iowa by 10 percentage points. so he's trying to convince people that he's the most electable candidate in the midwest. >> thank you for that. let's go to ali now in cedar rapids. i know you're following the

warren campaign. warren seems to be excited to be out of washington and back on the trail, doesn't she? >> reporter: can you blame her? for all of these senators who had to choose between iowa and washington, they've been running for president for the past year and frankly washington has been winning out when it comes to where they're spending their time. many of them saying, as warren tells me, this is her constitutional duty and it's bigger than politics. last night she came back and missed a campaign event but she made her own when she came to des moines, a bar around 10:30, before she arrived, the bartender said they were out of glassware, people had to pass them up using team work or the drinking would have to stop. glasses started coming up the row back to the bar. soon after elizabeth warren got on stage and as you said, very excited. listen to what she said. >> a very, very special thank

you to the three best co-chairs anyone could ask for. [ applause ] >> you know what i love best about them? they prove that kick ass women win. >> reporter: so obviously a lot of enthusiasm, but that idea that women win is exactly what elizabeth warren is closing out here with on the campaign trail. that was true last weekend when she was in the state, it's probably going to continue to be true this weekend. i have to tell you, alex, a lot of the questions on the ground are about what's going to happen on monday night. the polling isn't giving us much of a sense of that. at this point when i'm talking to sources, any take is a good take and we have to see how it shakes out on monday. but candidates are just trying to soak up every minute with voters before washington calls them back. >> lots going on, which means

we'll see you both again soon. another person we'll see a lot of tom stier, president and founder of next gen america and 2020 presidential candidate for the party. let's get to the statement, tom, you issued on the new dnc debate rules which you said in part changing the rules to accommodate mike bloomberg and not changing them in the past to ensure a more diverse debate stage is just plain wrong. the democratic party should be doing everything possible to ensure a diverse field of candidates instead they're changing rules for a candidate who's ignoring early states voters and grass roots donors. shouldn't he rewarded at all for not asking people for money? >> look, the real point here is, alex, that in december, i asked the dnc publically to change the rules so we could have a more diverse set of candidates.

we are a diverse party, we are a diverse nation, and i think it's really important that we have candidates who reflect that diversity of background and opinion. they didn't change the rules then to open up the debate stage. and now they're changing the rules so that mike bloomberg, who's never done grass roots politicking in the four early states, can be on a debate stage in a state he isn't even on the ballot. that seems wrong. whoever is going to be the democrat has to represent a diverse group of people. this seems to be pandering to somebody with big money. >> the flip side of looking at this, i spoke with beth fuhey who's in iowa, she said one way to look at it, he's going to have to be on the debate stage, have to take questions from the commentato commentators, he may have a back and forth with you, you may get to go after him on his record and/or on his proposals, does that sort of sach satiate this

concern you have? >> it doesn't. like you said, he has to be on the debate stage. there are plenty of people who would like to be on the debate stage. is the party going to insist that candidates go out and do grass roots politicking. that's what the rules were until he entered the race. whoever is going to be the democratic candidate has to appeal to a diverse group of americans. that's something i worked hard to make sure that i'm doing that. if you look at my numbers in nevada and south carolina, you can see it's true. this is a way to broaden the need a way i think is profoundly undemocratic and doesn't reflect the diversity of our country and our party. >> what about this, tom, look you're also a billionaire. is the only reason you took

donations was to make the debate stage because that was part of the requirement? some people, you accept their donations of being 1 single dollar, but did you go there because you needed to do so to make that debate stage? >> look, i took the rules the dnc gave us and it forced me to go out and talk to thousands and thousands of people, and i love that, alex. as a grass roots organizer, who's been organizing for over seven years, full time going out and talking to americans every single day, that's something i love. so i did have to meet the rules, which is fine with me, all it meant i had to do was go out and appeal directly to americans. i think that's a process that every democratic candidate should have to do and i think we should make it open to a more diverse group. this is really a question, not just of changing the rules for mr. bloomberg is they refuse to change the rules to get a more diverse group on the stage and it's wrong. >> do you think that candidates

like cory booker and julian castro had more right to be on the debate stage than mike bloomberg? >> what i think, alex, is they should have changed the rules to make it available to more people and a more diverse group in particular. what we're seeing is, candidates are going to have to win in november and beat mr. trump. they're going to have to take him down on the economy, which i can do because of my business background. but they also have to bring people out, beat the bushes, do the grass roots organizing that democrats are best at. so i believe the dnc should put a premium on that grass roots diverse organizing that i thought was the -- you know, was the backbone of this party. that's what i believe in, that's what i've done for years, that's what i think they should insist on. >> you'll be on the stage for the next debate on the 7th of february. the rule change goes into effect. after that will you make the debate stage on february 19th? >> if you look at the numbers,

they're asking you to do well in nevada and south carolina. those are the measures. i'm well into double digits in those. one i'm in second place, the other third place, and the numbers keep going up. if you look, my numbers have gone up every week since i've gotten into this race in july. i want to come out of iowa with momentum and show it in the later primary states that really i'm somebody who appeals across the board. >> okay. tom steyer, you said it. >> thanks, alex. >> be sure to watch our coverage of the iowa kacaucuses, brian williams and rachel maddow will host a team of experts. you'll hear why china is criticizing the u.s. over a move this country made to stop the spread of coronavirus and a new case is confirmed in the u.s. we'll tell you where in minutes. we'll tell you where in minutes.

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breaking news, massachusetts has now confirmed its first case of coronavirus. this from a boston man who recently travelled to the epicenter? china. this is the eighth confirmed case, the others in arizona, california, illinois and washington state. meanwhile, china is pushing back

against the trump administration today for banning all foreign nationals from entering the u.s. if they visited china in the last two weeks. that decision comes after the virus has killed at least 259 people in china. where the number of confirmed cases have surged to 11,000. all u.s. citizens will be allowed into the country but they have to undergo a 14 day quarantine. joining me now is former cdc director dr. thomas. talk about the op-ed you wrote and where you find the most criticism right now from where we stand from the government's perspective. >> we're learning a lot about the coronavirus, it's only been known for a month. we know it's more -- it's spreading more readily than sars did, although it doesn't seem to cause as much severe disease as sars did. but the bottom line, it's inevitable that we'll continue

to face new health threats like this. they come out on average about once a year and when they come out they can cost billions of dollars, kill thousands of people. the only real question is are we going to prepare better than we have. because all over the world and in the u.s. we don't have the health protection schemes that that with need to prevent them from spreading. doing that will save lives and money. we know the next one is inevitable. what's not inevitable is we'll continue to be so unprepared. >> what do you think needs to be changed in our approach? >> one thing we need to do more of is partner with countries around the world. we're connected by the air we breathe, the water we drink, the planes we fly on. viruss don't need vie sas. in the ebola epidemic it spread for months and it became difficult to control.

ultimately congress allocated $5.4 billion for its control. yet it would have cost a few hundred or a few thousand dollars at most to nip it at the bud there. it's not only smarter and safer but also less expensive and builds ties around the world to build the protection systems all over the world. >> you said this is not as serious as sars, however 259 people in china have suck come to this, 11,000 people are afflicted with the virus. talk about how serious it is, how bad it could get. could we see thousands affected by this here in the united states? >> when we look at how serious a new pathogen is, we ask two questions, how contagious is it, two, how often does it cause severe illness, disease or death. we're seeing this spreads more than sars did. in one more there's more cases of this than the many months of

the entire sars epidemic. it certainly causes less severe illness than sars did but we don't know how much less. we're learning more virtually every day, sometimes every hour about this. and the more we know, the more we can do to protect ourselves and the more the world can do to protect against this. we don't know whether this can be contained. if it can't be contained, we don't know if it'll cause severe disease or mild or moderate disease. every day we need to know more. and as we know more, we can do more. >> there are those concerned because there's been a run on masks because people think that will help prevent the spread of the disease. what is your thought on that? should people be looking for them, trying to order online? what do you think about the masks? >> masks are important for people in health care facilities, hospitals. they're also useful for people who are sick, if people who are coughing and sneezing put on a mask, it reduces the germs they may spread for others. for others the key measures are

to wash your hands, cover your mouth and nose when you cough or snead. if you're sick, stay home or if you need to go to a health care facility, let them know in advance. >> do you think we'll be talking about the krrn acoronavirus and and i will be sitting across this desk? >> there's no way to predict the future. but whether it's a common virus like the cold, that spreads something, or something that's more serious and needs to be contained, only time will the tell. >> thank you for explaining what we need to know. turning to the new developments in the impeachment trial, secretary of state mike pompeo on friday responded to reports the former national security advisor john bolton's book contains more about the allegations about the aid withheld from ukraine. >> you're reporting on reports

about notes someone claims to have sceeen? we're in the land of hypothetical. i said everything that took place. the president was clear to me. he gave me guidance with what he wanted the policy with ukraine to be. the boundaries, he expressed concern to me about the risk of corruption here. joining me now is natasha bertrand. always good to have you here. do you think mike pompeo actually knows more than he's saying there? >> i think it's all but certain that he does. i mean, there were -- there was testimony during the house impeachment investigation that mike pompeo actually saw rudy giuliani as a big liability. that he thought that the shadow foreign policy campaign that he was pursuing over the last year or so was potentially dangerous for the president. so clearly he knew that something was going on, and, of course, bolton and pompeo, as

well as mark esper, were in a room together with the president trying to convince him to release the military assistance aid to ukraine saying it was in the national security interest of the united states. so clearly they had a window into the president's thinking at that point. they were not able to convince the president it was a good idea to release the aid but there was an attempt to do that. i think that mike pompeo obviously had more of a presence there than he is willing to lets on at this point. >> what about the "new york times" that reports in his unpublished book, president trump asked him to help his ukraine pressure campaign at a time when the white house counsel, pat cipollone and mick mulvaney were involved there, what is your reaction to that? >> this is a bombshell for several reasons. this pushes up the time line of the president's involvement in this ukraine scheme from what we previously thought it was, it was mid to end of july. this puts this scheme really within days of biden's entry

into the presidential race. just after that happened, he was asking his national security advisor to tell the ukrainian president, the newly elected ukrainian president to work with rudy giuliani in digging up dirt on joe biden. that really does link directly this campaign to pressure the ukrainians directly to joe biden's presidential candidacy. the other reason this is significant is pat cipollone, the white house counsel, is now a fact witness to this because bolton's book puts him in the room while the discussions were taking place. it also puts mick mulvaney, the acting chief of staff in the room. so attorney/client privilege, what they've been talking about, that would protect the conversations with rudy giuliani about this flies out the window if pat cipollone and mick mulvaney were in the room for the conversations. >> how significant will it be if the president is acquitted next week, does that open the door for almost any type of conduct? >> experts are worried about

what this is going to mean for the 2020 election, obviously. this is not something that the president has been hesitant to say in the past that he would accept foreign help in an election. he said most recently he would accept dirt from norway on his political opponents if it were given to him. he obviously wasn't reluctant to begin with to seek out foreign help to help his presidential can candidacy, but now knowing he is going to be acquitted in this trial, knowing he faces no accountability, other than the stain of impeachment on his legacy for searching out this opposition research, if that's what you want to call it generously, from a foreign country seems like it'll only embolden him going into november. thank you, very much. which party will be helped most by the impeachment drama come november? y the impeachment come november?

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a programming note for all of you, we invite you to watch politics nation today you can see reverend al sharpton's interview with 2020 presidential candidate mike bloomberg they'll discuss his campaign and get a tour of his headquarters. that's today at 5:00 eastern. next week the senate enters the final phase of the impeachment trial after an effort to call witnesses failed, all but ensuring an acquittal for the president. one question remains as the votes are casts this monday in

the presidential primaries how will impeachment impact the 2020 election? joining me to talk about it sher may na-beverly and michael bolton, welcome to you both. elena, how long do you think this impeachment episode remains in the memory of voters? in do you think it's going to matter to voters in november? >> rt i hope so. we know the majority of registered voters wanted to hear from witnesses, 49% of republicans, 75% of independents, 95% of democrats according to the resent quinn pe yak poll. if that's the case, the fact that we had this sham and inadequate impeachment process, should be to the benefit of the democrats. hopefully voters have a long memory and remember they wanted to hear from witnesses that the republican senate stole that process from the voters, from

their constituents and will take it to the ballot box come november. >> president trump is expected to use this acquittal for fuel for the election campaign. the democrats are going to use the outrage of what they say was not a fair trial to fuel their campaigns. which party benefits more from this? >> i think the president might benefit in his odds of being reelect reelected depending on who he's running against. i think the biggest concern should be the senate, martha mcsally, thom tillis. i don't think they'll be reelected. i think susan collins is another vulnerable republican who i think will likely be reelected but i think the odds will be decreased. i think she waited too long to state her case and stance on where she stood in regards to more witnesses. so i think republicans just did not think about this in the long run. if you look at the 2018 exit results of how democrats

overperformed in many purple districts, congressional districts, i would imagine you're going to continue to see that same angst and anger from democratic voters and independent voters towards republican and that does not benefit republicans running for re-election statewide. >> what about the new article in "the washington post" which says many of the most endangered republicans have considered fully embarrassing president trump is their only credible path to victory in november, rallying to his side in the final days of the senate impeachment fight, indulging his actions and statements. do you think re-election is what this is all about? you touched on that for some of the vulnerable ones but is that the primary motivation for all of these at risk republican senators? >> absolutely. say you do have concern about the president, you're one of those republicans. your mindset is going to be okay if i vote for witnesses i'm going to lose a significant amount of support within my

base. but democrats may be happy but they're not necessarily going to vote for me, they're going to vote for the opposition. so the calculus is i would rather a lock grip on republican voters and try as much as i can to get 2 or 3% of persuadable voters in the middle and take my odds that way versus risking losing republican voters and losing the race ultimately. i think that's the calculation many of those republican senators have made. >> let's listen to john meechum told brian williams last night. >> donald trump may now have become the most powerful president in american history. he has such standing with his political base that senior united states senators have decided that though he is guilty, they are not going to risk the wrath of the people in order to follow through on what is clearly spelled out in the constitution. president trump is functionally a monarch at this point.

if the king does it, it's okay. >> yikes. what does this say about our political system? never mind the culture, but how much power does this give donald trump? >> well, you know, so many people have focussed on those one or two senators who came out and said, you know, like marco rubio saying that we -- we know that the president did it, but we don't think his conduct is an impeachable offense. it's focussing on one or two senators in this instance makes no sense whatsoever, they all took an oath to uphold the constitution at the beginning of this impeachment process, and all 51 senators who voted against hearing witnesses abdicated their responsibility here. they had handed donald trump the monarchy, if you will. and i believe he will act -- he will be emboldened by this process. he will be emboldened and we'll hear about it during the state of the union on tuesday evening.

but i am confident that the voters understand that they don't want a monarchy, and we want a representative democracy, and they are going, as i said take it to the polls in november. >> you for now. thanks so much. >> thanks so much alex. the dnc's new debate rules, reaction from the iowa democratic party chair next. o b. ahh no, come on. i saw you eating poop earlier. my focus is on the road, and that's saving me cash with drivewise. everything was so fresh in the beginning... but that plug quickly faded. luckily there's febreze plug. it cleans away odors and freshens for 1200 hours.

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there's a company that's talked than me: jd power.people 448,134 to be exact. they answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. and when they were done, chevy earned more j.d. power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. so on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say "thank you, real people." you're welcome. we're gonna need a bigger room. the dnc will not allow cory

booker on that stage, will not allow julian castro on that stage, but they're going to allow mike bloomberg on the stage because he's got a billion dollars. >> two days before the iowa caucuses, new dissent in the democratic party over the changing of rules which could open the door for billionaire michael bloomberg to qualify for next month's debate in nevada. joining me now, troy price, chair of the iowa democratic party. hey, troy, welcome to you on this really busy weekend. thanks for making time. did party officials expect this kind of passionate reaction that we've seen from michael moore who's a very strong bernie sanders supporter? >> well, you know, every time that the thresholds come out for these debates, there are always a lot of conversations about that, but ultimately that is a decision made by the dnc, but for me and for us here in iowa, we're really happy that the results here in iowa are going to be -- are one of the thresholds for both nevada and

in new hampshire to make sure that the results here and the ground, the hard work that people are doing here in iowa is going to be reflected and people have a path to that debate stage. >> 48 hours until we see what happens there in iowa. can you explain the rule change? what exactly is different? what was behind this? >> i honestly don't know. that was a decision made by the dnc. we here in iowa, we've been focused on our preparations for caucus night making sure that we are ready in all 1678 precincts, but as far as how the decision was made, that was a decision made at the dnc. >> well then what i do know that you know about is the mood there in your state there. does this battle literally go down to the wire, or do you sense that there are front runners? >> you know, i do think that we're not going to know -- when caucus goers are going into the caucus sites, i don't know that we will know exactly how it's going to turn out. there are a lot of folks out

there. i've talked to a lot of folks in the last 24 hours that have said to me they're making up their minds. they've got it narrowed down to a couple of people or three people. they're still trying to see the candidates this weekend. they're still trying to make a decision. we know how important this is. i mean, it's about defeating donald trump, and so voters want to make sure they make the best decision for themselves. so i honestly don't know what to expect on monday night, but i think it's going to be -- i think it's going to be a lot of fun between then and now. >> interestingly, what's this i hear about iowa not necessarily declaring a winner? what's going on there? that the democrats are saying we're not going to post this is a winner. >> well, the iowa democratic party has never declared a winner. media organizations have, but what we do at the iowa democratic party, we post the results, and so we'll be sending those results out as we get them in on monday night, but ultimately, we've never as a party declared a winner in the

iowa caucuses. >> it's merely in name, you don't make a big statement. you just put the numbers out, and we can all interpret them for ourselves. >> that's exactly right. >> troy, thank you so much. i know it's crazy busy there in iowa. >> thank you. >> best of luck with everything and all of you. >> have a good day. >> brian williams and rachel maddow host a team of experts that will break down the results. their coverage begins monday night right here on msnbc. emotional tribute, all the l.a. players wore the same thing to remember kobe bryant as fans gathered by the thousands. on a ski lift... everywhere. ♪ download audible and start listening today.

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we're approaching the top of the hour, which means i'm out of time. i'm alex witt, i'm taking my mug, and i'm leaving this studio. >> time to go, oyeoman's work. i'm david gura at msnbc headquarters in new york. last ditch efforts in iowa, the democratic candidates on the campaign trail in the hawkeye state with just two days to go before caucus goers weigh in, and there is some new controversy today about an old story. well, the impeachment trial of donald trump continues, closing arguments and a final vote in the senate sandwiched in between the president's state of the union address scheduled to take place on tuesday. the u.s. now sounding the alarm on the coronavirus, another new case confirmed in the commonwealth of massachusetts as the federal government declares a public health emergency. as i said, what's old is new