from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, yamiche alcindor. >> alcindor: good evening and thank you r joining us. asfour days ago, the housed two articles of impeachment against presidt donald trump. now, members of both parties are weighing in on house speaker nancy pelosi decision to delay sending the articles to the senate. republican senator roy blunt said he doesn't even think the speaker has the power to withhold the articles. >> frankly, i thk this is a mistake on the speaker's part. ndthink this has looked pretty political anywayhis is sort of the icing on the political cake where at the end, the speaker can't let go of this as an sue to try and wring the last vestige of politics out of. the outcome here is virtually certain. >> alcindor: democratic senator doug jones defended speaker pelosi waiting to send the articles to the senate. >> i think what the speaker is doing is to say, ¡what are the rules going to be when i send house managersver there. what kind of playing field are we going to have? what is the timing of this. unreasonable. this is >> alcindor: a

from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, yamiche alcindor. >> alcindor: good evening, and thank you for joining us. this week, president trump became the third president in u.s. history to be impeached. then, yesterday, he signed bills approving nearly $1.4 trillion in spending, avoiding a government shutdown.pr thident left the white house for the holidays last night. he first stopped at joint base andrews to speak to oops and to sign the 2020 nat defense authorization act. the $738 billion act includes a 3% military ise; 12 weeks federal workers; and creates a new branch of the military, the space force. >> for the first time since ent harry truman created the air force over 70 years ago-- thinof tt-- we will create a brand new american military service that's such a momentous statement-- 70 years ago, the air force. with my signature today, you will witness the creation of the space force, and that will be now officially the sixth branch of the u.s. armed forces. ( cheers and applause ) >> alcindor: the preside signed the additional spending measures that will keep

: for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor on the u.s.ico border. >> woodruff: it was a week ofne politica unlike any other in recent years. the impeachment of an american d president, o. a debate featuring his election rivals, the next. thabrt is whags us to the analysis of shields and brooks th's week. thyndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times"da columnisd brooks. llo to both of you. so historic, yes. mark, as we have been sayinger nd over, only the third american president to be impeached. whe did you make to have debate in the house of representatives and how the vote emerged? >> the day itself, there weren't individual moments, i didn't think, that were spectacular. it was pretty obvious that the o parties had a little different approach. the democrats were there to show sort of the extent and breadth and widtof their biography and what brought them to this point. the republicans seem to have the consistent thesis of simply going after the process itself,e r really defending the president, because unlike either presiden

microp t t t t t t ve ve ve ve ve ve ve su suve suve suve suve suve a captning sponsored by wnet >> alcindor: on this edition foy sudecember 22: the latest on the impeachment of president trump. new deils emerge on the freezing of aid to ukraine.ic and democrresidential candidates andrew yang and tom steyer. next on pbs newshour weekend. ws >> pbs ur weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. rosalind p. walter, in memy of george o'neil. barbara hope zuckerberg.ro charles nblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care t

yamiche alcindor. the president has yet to tweet about this. to you if and t when he does. host: from new jersey, we'll hear next from sarah. line. republican hello. caller: hello. good morning. how are you? am just upset. i can't believe this is happening. up anything opened with biden, anything with hillary. hillary is now, from what i morning, on the top topic. our country. we're destroying the people, the nation. other countries, i have lived in other countries. am a thirld -- third world -- i know what it's like to be under a ruler and socialism. this is not fair. for our ot fair president. this is not fair for our country. time they do see some kind of light. they wouldn't answer questions today. -- democracy host: that's sarah in new jersey. back to john. come pedro, promised to back with you when the president tweeted. he tweeted about 40 seconds ago. president focusing on usmca his first de deal in tweet since the announcement of the two articles of impeachment. at 9:32 he president a.m. america's great usmca trade bill good.king it will be the best and most import

yamiche alcindor,ting from the white house.nk you both. >> woodruff: and, back in the studio with me are sol wisenberg. he was deputy independent counsel during the whitewater investigation, in which he personally conducted grand jury questioning of president bill clinton. and, frank bowman is one of the experts who submitted testimony on the definition of "high crimes and misdemeanor to the house judiciary committee during the clinton impehment. he currently teaches at the university of missouri school of law and georgetown law, and is author of "high crimes and misdemeanors: a history of impeachment for the e of trump." hello to both the of you, frank bowm, sol wisenberg, good have you both still with us tonight. lead letme start with you, so the democrat had this hearing today in an effort to boster their argument that the president has committed offenses at are worthy of removing him from office-- in other words, that rise to thlevel of impeachment. how far did they go in making that case? >> not very far. hink, at best, it

let me bring in glen kirchner, former federal prosecutor, also a msnbc legal analyst, and yamiche alcindor, pbs "newshour" white house correspondent. she is also an msnbc political contributor. thanks to both of you. mr. kirchner, i'll start with you, sir. if you were a house judiciary committee chairman nadler, if you were him right now, planning on how you would kick off this next phase of the impeachment inquiry, who are the first witnesses you would call on wednesday? >> so, craig, it looks like we're going to hear from a number of academic scholars who can give the american people a few different lessons. a civics lesson, a history lesson, a constitutional law lesson, and i think what's going to be most important is for those witnesses to be kind of plainspoken academics. and i know that might sound like an oxymoron, we've all had professors who are particularly engaging and captivating, and then there are some that are a little bit dry and i'm hoping that the academics that representative nadler chooses are the kinds of folks who can really drive home to the american people why it is

and yamiche alcindor is at the white house. hello to both of you.you first, what was it that, would you say, each sie was trying to do today? and as you talked to members, did they tell you they thi'r th changing minds? >> well, democrats, i think, as nick reported ll, wertrying to lay out a substantive case that the president abused his power and was corrupt. republicans did two things, they actually did answer that substance to some degr mor than we've seen in hearings before, but, judy, they also were trying to point at what ey saw was other wrongdoing, other subjects, not just the president, but the ll, for example, hunter biden and they repeatedly raised point of hearing was not on stable the ground is s anthimwapeacthhme ensmt heare seen so far. i askede democratic member what they thought of that. they said we don't knw, we weeou reasn' >> woodruff: lisa, as we heard nick report, the white house decided not to put its side of the story forward, they didn'te provlawyer or anybody to make a defense for the president. how are they recting to tod

alcindor. tell us some of the key takeaways from this report today. >> letlook at the big picture, judy. democrats, first of all, arein taabout the call between president trump and ukrainian president zelensky. they see two items of misconduct there, separately the idea that the president used his power for political gain, to get an investion that helped him politilly. cond, the democrs say on that call, the president also did something else wrong, whi was try and get a foreign government, ukraine, to intervene in u.spolitics. if you take an even bigger step back, judy, look even bigger picture, democrats are also alleging in this report that th president risr national security by hurting a vulnerable ally, ukraine, when it needed help, and helalping a poten foe, russia. then one more thing in this repo, judy, that they're leging, they're alleging, democrats,a conspiracy and a cover-up. they're saying it went beyond the president, including other officials such as cabinet secretaries like secre

tre are twists and turns-- two in, two out-- and now two months to go until thete first yamiche alcindorngs us up to speed on the race to the race hous ( cheers and applause ) democratic field, in flux. candidates on the rise are shoring up weaknesses. >> mass incarceration must end, it's that simple. >> reporter: candidates whose campaigns are lagging are looking for a second wind. >> and what are the challenges for you as a small business owner the days? >> reporter: and still other candidates are droppg out entirely. today, it was montana govern steve bullock who left the race. he said in a statement, "it has come clear that in this moment, i won't be able to break through to the top tier." yesterday, it was former pennsylvania congressman joe sestak, a retired rear admiral. despite walking the width of new hampshire to try and boost name recognition, he failed to find national support. south bend, indiana, mayor petee butthoped to build on his weekend church visit in northa carolina with the reverend today, he announcew tv ad aimed at boosting south carolina support. >> when i say we

judy: and lisa joins me now,on th our yamiche alcindor, who's been tracking developments today from thete house. hello to both of you. on the same day within a few hours, you have the impeachment articles unveiled and you have this trade agreement. how do democrats explain how this happened on the same day? lisa: republicans were asking, is this a coincidence that nancy pelosi wants to show they are doing something of substance while doing something ey say is political, impeachment? the speaker said yes, it is no coincidence, it is a matter of fact that we l always have of legislation at the end of the session, and of the year like this. she rai, s a poiat is true. but i have never seen this much agreement, and movements like impeachment, announced in 24 hours and we haven't judy: d oken of everything they the last day. judy: the president is facing an impeachment battle that only three presidents in american the white house obviously haven't presented their side of the argumt, theyaven't put lawyers forward. how do they plan to make their case? yamiche: the white house will launch a bi

. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me enow, along with our yami alcindor, who's been tracking developments today from the white house. b hello h of you. lisa, on the same day within a few hours, you have the impeachment articles unveiled agreement.ve this trade how do democrats explain how this all happened othe same day? >> it was remarkable. republicans are asking, is this a cincidence? is it that nancy pelosi wants to substance while thdoingthing of something they say is political, impeachment? nancy pelosi was asked this question. she said, yes, it's no coincidence. it's matter of fact that we always have a lot of legislation at thend of the session, end of the year like this. she raises a good point, that's true. but i have never seen this much significant legislation agreement, privileged motions like impeachment announced in a 24-hour period, and we haven't even spoken of everything they did in the last day. >> woodruff: so yamiche, the presidenis now facing, what, an impeachment battle that only three presidentin american history have faced. the white house obviously, they haven't

anchor judy woodruff, senior national correspondent amna nawaz, and white housede corres yamiche alcindoreparation, the big night is here at last. the big night is here at last. woodruff: it is here at last, john. we are so glad to be here at los angeles.nt university in third moderator will join us along wi amna and yamiche. first of all, we're glad it's happeninbecause there was a labor dispute, we're happy to report that's been resolved. the rules are straightforward. the candidates will ve 1 minute and 15 to answer the the questions, about 45 seconds for follow-ups and so on. so pretty typical in terms of how the debate goes, but there are some differences tonight. amna, this is the first debatese with jusn of the democratic candidates. >> just seven, right? that's still a lot of candidates but is the smallest debate stage so fa. that has caused controversy as you know because there were questions rsed by senator cory booker who is not on the stage tonight about some of the rules to qualify, but it is raising controversy because it is the lightest stage so far, just one person of colo

joining us now daily beast reporter betsy swan and white house b correspondent for pbs ns hour yamiche alcindor. those are very strong words from speaker pelosi this morning. any idea when this is going to happen? the average person at home might feel like this is dragging. it is not dragging. the clinton impeachment in the senate alone took five weeks. >> this is really, really moving quickly andll the president was saying i want to be impeached fast, but the caveat is the democrats have already been doing that. democrats have the very beginning when nancy pelosi a few weeks ago announced an impeachment inquiry saying they were going to move expeditiously and they have done that. i iomean, that monster hearing week where they had public hearing back to back, six, seven hours, 12 hours at times, democrats have really been focused on making sure they want to get this before christmas, i've been hearing the week right beforeth christmas is when ther will be an official vote, that's around the same time we will be having a presidential debate. there will be a lot going on that week. democrats have

yamiche alcindor, fabulous work this week. >>> up next, while this country seems divided i see a pathre watching "hardball." ♪ do you recall, not long ago ♪ we would walk on the sidewalk ♪ ♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we needed somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all we need is someone to lean on ♪ too shabby! too much! i can rent this? for that price? absolutely. it's just right! book your just right rental at thrifty.com. 1 in 5 people you meet wear yeah. that many! but right now, is not the time to talk about it. so when you're ready, search 'my denture care'. poligrip and polident. fixed. fresh. and just between us. steven could only imaginem 24hr to trenjoying a spicy taco.burn, now, his world explodes with flavor. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day all-night protection. can you imagine 24-hours without heartburn? >>> this week made history. it also points to the true possibilities for 2020. the partisan vote in the house of representatives on the two a

i'm judy woodruff, joined by my pbs newshour colleagues, amna nawaz and yamiche alcindor, by tim albertatico. now let's turn to the next question from tim. tim: thank you, judy. candidates, let's make things interesting. former president obama said this week when asked who should be running countries that if women were in charge, you'd see a significant improvement on just about everything. [applause] [cheers] he also said, quote, "if you look at the world and look at the problems, it's usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way." [laughter] [applause] senator sanders, you are the oldest candidate on stage this evening. senator sanders: and i'm white, as well. yes. tim: how do you respond to what the former president had to say? senator sanders: well, i got a lot of respect for barack obama. i think i disagree with him on this one. [laughter] maybe a little self-serving, but i do disagree. here is the issue. the issue is where power resides in america, and it's not white or black or male or female. we are living in a nation increasingly becoming an oligarchy, where y

(applause) and "pbs newshour" white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. (applause) and, now, please greet tonight's candidates. they are businessman andrew yang. (cheers and applause) south bend, indiana mayor pete buttigieg. (cheers and applause) massachusetts senator elizabeth warren. (cheers and applause) former vice president joe biden. (cheers and applause) havmover senator bernie sanders. (cheers and applause) minnesota senator amy klobuchar. (cheers and applause) and businessman tomo t steyer. (cheers and applause) welcome to all, and we will be right back to begin the debate. >> look what's uphag to the american workers, they're being stifled. itas to end. >> we are the only major cou eny rth not to guarantee healthcare to all people. >> they want what it takes to bf part america's middle class. everybody deserves a living wage in this country. >> the proposals i'm puttingd forward woulmake me the most progressive president in my >> if people are tired to have the extremes in our politics, they've got a home wi me. >> we have a broken government i

moves happening in the democratic field, and white house correspondent for pbs news hour yamiche alcindor you all on board this hour. we've got another big day in washington, london, and in politics. >> well, you know, another big day and we'll be talking about what's going on in london, what's going on in washington, but first, i'd love to go to claire mccaskill who served with kamala and ask her, what are your thoughts about kamala dropping out of the race yesterday? obviously a very strong start, but it is proving to be really difficult for people to gain traction unless they're in that top tier of biden, bernie, elizabeth and now mayor pete. >> yeah, the top four kind of have things locked down, and i don't know how it's going to scramble from here. but it's a big reminder, i think, sometimes we forget how important the money thing is. you know, when you have this many candidates in the race and you are trying to scratch your way into that top tier, it's really important you have resources, and you know, some of these candidates have a great base of low donors that are giving them on

and "pbs news hour" white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. and now please greet tonight's candidates. they are businessman andrew yang. south bend, indiana mayor pete buttigieg. massachusetts senator elizabeth warren. former vice president joe biden. vermont senator bernie sanders. minnesota senator amy klobuchar. and businessman tom steyer. welcome to all, and we will be right back to begin the debate. >>> look what's happening to american workers. they're being stifled. it has to end. >> we are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people. >> they want what it takes to be part of america's middle class. everybody deserves a living wage in this country. >> the proposals i'm putting forward would make me the most progressive president in my lifetime. >> the people are tired of the extremes in our politics. they've got a home with me. >> we have a broken government in washington, d.c. >> what we need is a new voice and a new set of solutions. >> announcer: this is the "pbs news hour"/politico democratic debate. no

i want to thank my colleagues at the moderator table, tim alberta, anna awaz and yamiche alcindor.ou all for joining us. please stick around and watch pbs for some analysis. thank you to the candidates. >>> i'm going to interrupt now. >> front-runner joe biden showing more confidence on the debate stage in the final democratic showdown of the year. >> billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president. >> wine caves is now trending after the candidates trade shots about wealth and rich donors. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is an early, early start. i'm chris mean romans. >> i'm dave briggs, friday, december 20th, 3:37 a.m. in new york. there are the caucuses and that's where we start with the 2020 field and a strong night for front-runner joe biden at the sixth democratic presidential debate last night the former vice president appeared in command as did pete buttigieg. the southbound indiana mayor now more of a target and still holding on as front-runner in most iowa polls. this will also go down as the debate that made wine cave