i'm going to start with you, ashley parker. bill taylor seems to have delivered a real hammer to any denial, and i'm not sure how many details there are left on the field that there wasn't a quid pro quo. >> yeah, what you see in his 15-page opening statement, and we don't even know what he said yet in response to questions, he just lays it out very clearly. he said it became clear to him that there were two different channels of diplomacy, the normal and official one, and then this sort of shadowy inappropriate one led by rudy giuliani and more importantly, he says that it was also clear that the president was holding up two things, first of all, the aid, nearly $400 million in aid that ukraine desperately needed and a white house meeting between the ukrainian president and president trump, specifically in exchange for investigations into joe biden's son and the energy company he sat on and also into the 2016 u.s. elections, the sort of conspiracy theory that so far there's no evidence of that it was ukraine that somehow meddl

to ashley parker, to susan page, to maya wiley, our thanks. have a good weekend, all. >>> and coming up for us, what trump's foreign policy decision looks like from across the atlantic. our man in paris and, yes, we have a man in paris, will be with us live with the latest. >>> and later, consider this a test of the people we send to washington. o "the 11th hour" just getting started on this friday night. here, it all starts with a simple... hello! -hi! how can i help? a data plan for everyone. everyone? everyone. let's send to everyone! [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? -ahhh. sure, why not? how'd he get out?! a camera might figure it out. that was easy! glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. aaddiction. how juuline hooked kids and ignited an public health crisis." other news outlets report- juul took $12.8 billion from big tobacco. markets e-cigarettes with kid friendly flavors and uses nicotine to addict them. 5 million kids use e-cigarettes. ju

i don't recall any conversations with the president about that phone call. >> ashley parker, it will be theorized that mcconnell is beginning a very slow, very long walk here because of what he may know is coming. should we engage in such rumor mongering? >> i think the way to look at this is twofold. there's a trend where president trump has a long history of making up oftentimes out of pure cloth things that he alleges allies and others have said. he did that with leader mcconnell, his defense secretary, he did that with cava kevin mccarthy. this is part and parcel of how president trump operates. with mcconnell coming out and not quite calling him a liar but certainly contradicting the president's version today is just another example of those thin little cracks we're starting to see in the republican wall, in the republican resistance that the president needs. you've seen criticism on syria and foreign policy. again, we shouldn't conflate impeachment. in foreign policy you've seen some republicans come out in favor into at least an inquiry into what the president did. you're seei

our friend ashley parker of "the washington post" lays out the impact of their testimony in her latest piece. she writes, quote, a clear portrait has emerged of a president personally orchestrating the effort to pressure a foreign government to dig up dirt on a potential 2020 political rival and marshaling the full resources of the federal bureaucracy to help in that endeavor. this week current and former foreign policy officials testified that rudy giuliani's shadow foreign policy alarmed top national security officials inside the white house that career professionals were sidelined, that ambassadors were used to advance the president's political goals, and that trump himself put his personal lawyer in charge of his ukraine agenda. next week, lawmakers expect to hear from seven more witnesses, including the current acting ambassador to ukraine, that man, bill taylor. he's the one who raised questions about this pressure campaign. trump is also now facing a precarious situation of his own making in the middle east. one day after the so-called cease-fire agreement, fighting continues to

with us from the "washington post" white house reporter ashley parker. associate editor for real clear politics, a.b. stoddard. nbc and msnbc national affairs analyst john heilemann. also co-host of "the circus." at the table, jason johnson, politics editor for the root. and former democratic senator claire mccaskill. i wanted to talk to all of you since this news broke, but i have to start with you, claire, matt miller, our friend of the show, had some sort of sharp words about, i think the spirit of it was when john bolton emerges as the white knight, it says a lot about the villains in the story. >> yeah. i look back with nostalgia at a time when we thought of john bolton as kind of a bad guy. as it turns out, he has some character in there. and even though i may disagree with him on some policy, i think he may emerge from this as a key figure. if they get him in front of this committee with the subpoena and he is honest with the committee, i think the full breadth and depth of the malfeasance that was going on as it related to using the presidency fo

joining me now, nbc's kristen welker, ashley parker, "washington post" white house reporter, and yamiche alcindor, white house correspondent for "the pbs news hour." welcome, all. kristen, i don't know how you're keeping up with this at the white house. you were in the briefing room when mick mulvaney came in, clearly laying this all out and then trying to walk it back. as you were reporting in real time, only after jay sekulow, the president's private attorney and the justice department said, whoa, we didn't approve him saying all that. explain. >> it was remarkable, andrea. and you're right, it was head-spinning. mulvaney came out, essentially contradicted the president's repeated denials that there was no quid pro quo. then jay sekulow and others came out and said, we weren't part of preparing that briefing. then we spoke to other aides and allies who said they were scratching their heads, one even calling the briefing yesterday an unmitigated disaster. it was only after that pressure that mick mulvaney came out with a statement essentially saying, bottom line, there was no quid pro q

josh letterman, also with me washington post white house reporter and msnbc political analyst ashley parker. josh, first to you. bill taylor one of the men on that text exchange with gordon sonlands and curt volker. he is supposed to testify as well? >> that's right. we are headed he heads to washington back from ukraine, he will have a lot to say as far as him being removed sidelined from the process. he as the top diplomat in ukraine should have been central to the negotiation taking place over zelensky meeting with the president. u.s. military assistance, et cetera, lawmakers will get a sense of how and when we got taken utes of that process as these other characters were brought in. >> i don't know if we still have that text. he is the one that said to gordon sonlands. i think it's crazy to withhold aid for political purposes, i'm paraphrasing, that's what he said. there was that five-hour window before gordon sondland says by saying what the president told him to say. which was, bill, i think you are mistaken, there is no quid pro quo, i suggest with take this off text. >> a person wit

here for our lead-off discussion on a wednesday night, ashley parker, pulitzer prize winning reporter for the washington post. jonathan lamier, associated press and melanie zanonis, congressional reporter for politico. good evening. welcome to you all. ashley, i wanted to begin by showing you what our friends at "the new york times" have come up for the a-line headline of the morning. it's simple, direct and gets your attention. turkey attacks u.s. ally in syria. as we soak that in for a second, do you know who would give this president a talking point that the kurds weren't side by side with us on omaha beach? >> well, i believe he read it in a column, as he said. but, no, no one is happy that he delivered that today. just like no one is happy, even members of his own party, that he gave turkey the green light to do what they're doing. and i think it is worth noting and repeating again, just how striking and frankly rare it is to see republicans publicly break with this president on anything. on this issue of life and death and national security, of course, you're hearing republicans

i want to dig into all of this, ashley parker is here, michael fukes. and as a senior fellow at the center for american progress, chris lu, white house cabinet secretary in the obama administration and deputy chief council of the oversight committee, and eddie glaud. eddie, to you, fist, we were just speaking about elijah cummings as a member of congress, and his role in the oversight committee, but what will the history books say about him? >> it is a genuine loss for the country. i think history will write about him as someone that deeply cared about his subsequents. as someone who was committed to democracy and all of it's flaws. we'll have to look through his papers to get the details as it were, but what i would say is this, we are running deficits in decen decency. and to lose elijah cummings today triples that deficit. and so in this moment when it seems like folk have no concern of character, no concern about value, no concern about ethics. to lose a states man like him who was so committed to being fair, compassionate, convicted, we have lost s

ashley parker, pulitzer prize-winning white house reporter for "the washington post." and to keep things fair, elisabeth bumiller, the washington bureau chief for "the new york times." welcome to you all. elizabeth, i'd like to begin with you. have we invented a new category of the incremental game-changer, and like taylor before him, was today's witness indeed an incremental game-changer? >> absolutely. it doesn't change the nature of the call, of the transcript the white house put out, but it certainly provides key details, and it increases the suspicion of what the white house is doing or not doing. we were very curious about those ellipses in the transcript of the call, which as you said before, it's a rough transcript. it's based on voice recognition software that colonel vindman among others then looked over. he took notes on the call. he looked over and made corrections, and for whatever reason, those corrections were not included in the final document that was put in that vault. so it does raise questions about what happened at the white house after those corre

. >> frequent guests of this broadcast ashley parker and phil rucker of the "washington post" point out that this president has ramped up the language over the last several weeks. they write this -- "trump, who long ago busted traditional standards for civil discourse and presidential behavior, has taken his harsh rhetoric and divisive tactics to a new level since impeachment proceedings began a month ago, and he appears to be pulling a significant part of the country along with him." it's also a polite way of saying he's found a way to pop off a good swear word at several recent rallies including the night they honored the new little league champions on stage. here with us again tonight, two of our returning favorites, donna edwards, former democratic member of congress from the great state of maryland who's now a columnist with the "washington post." david jolly, a former republican member of congress from the great state of florida who has since left the republican party. thank you and welcome to both of you. thank you for coming on. donna, i'd like to begin with you. i'm tempted to

also joining us white house reporter for "the washington post" and msnbc analyst ashley parker.risten, anymore guidance on what the message we should hear from the president will be today? >> reporter: white house officials are saying they don't want to get ahead of president trump. suffice it to say, clearly an update on syria. this is his tweet. big success on the turkey/syrian border, combat missions have ended. kurds are safe and worked nicely with us, captured isis prisoners secured. on the last point, hallie, i think it will be incumbent on president trump to explain exactly what he means. his defense secretary saying as many as 100 isis fighters escaped their detention facilities. a big concern here and in that region as well. question is, will he touch on how the cease-fire -- whether it's actually deteriorating and it officially ending yesterday. also concerns that russia stepping in with the united states withdrawing. >> kristen welker, thank you. ashley, what are you hearing from your sources? >> i think one thing, just to give you a sense of the context of this is th

will be co-hosting the democratic debate in georgia alongside andrea mitchel, rachel maddow and ashley parker. i could not be more excited or really mondre honored. >> that is a power group of women. congratulations. >> i'm going to start prepping right now. >> hugh about kelly oow about k? >> so well deserved. i'll be there cheering her on. >> time-out. it is not just a powerful group of women, it is an extraordinary group of top notch journalists who are going to be leading the debate. kristen welker, i won't even say i'm happy for you, i'm happy for us, we're fortunate that we will be watching that debate, it is going to be fantastic. look at that, ashley parkparker kristen welker, that is an all-star lineup. >>> well said. coming up on this hour, president trump's impeachment inquiry as republicans continue to complain about secrecy there, is new reporting that the democrats will take the hearings public in a matter of weeks. and there is a new call for the rudy giulia attorney general to recuse himself over his role in the ukraine matter. >>> plus is the ceasefire in northern syria holdi

so for now they operate often in fear. >> robert costa and ashley parker, thank you.o be continued. >>> coming up, the tax battle. president trump losing the first round of his immunity claim against a new york probe into his taxes. what's going to happen next? that's next right here on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you just saved a bunch of money by switching your boat insurance to geico. it was easy. folks, can it get any better than this? is that what i think it is? that is an armada of tiny sushi boats. awesome! i forgot to pack lunch. you had one job... chopsticks wasabi and soy! comin' in a little hot. it only gets better when you switch and save with geico. tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management. the way you triumph over adversity. and live your lives. that's why we redesigned humira. we wanted to make the experience better for you. now there's less pain immediately following injection. we've reduced the size of the needle and removed the ci

else represent him as the public face of this investigation. >> all right, "washington post's" ashley parker as always. thank you. we'll be watching you. >>> saturday session, the new character about to appear for a questioning on capitol hill. will this testimony bring the president one step closer to impeachment? ted! goin' on a trip, huh? takin' it off road station wagon, eh? you know it's an suv! your family is duckin' and rollin'... while we stowin' and goin' but that's cool, i know for a fact your suv does not suck. and why is that? it aint got that vacuum in the back, whoo! sucking stuff up! what else are we gonna find? we got to go. vacuum in the back, hallelujah! get 0% financing for 60 months plus $2,250 total bonus cash on the 2019 chrysler pacifica. fidelity has zero commissions for online u.s. equity trades and etfs, plus zero minimums to open a brokerage account. with value like this, there are zero reasons to invest anywhere else. fidelity. there are zero reasons to invest anywhere else. if you have moderate or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why t

few weeks. >> our debt of thanks tonight for three of the best in the business, philip rucker, ashley parker, elizabeth miller, thank you so much for starting off our conversation tonight. >>> coming up for us, breaking down the specifics of this house resolution on the impeachment of donald john trump. it's intended as a road map for where this goes next. >>> later, there's now nothing to compare it to. as california forecasters have issued a first of its kind warning about what's about to happen tonight. "the 11th hour" is just getting started on this tuesday evening. ♪ ♪ oh! you got a fast one there just can't get him to slow down this class will help with that we get it... you got it! we're petsmart! ever since you brought me home, that day. i've been plotting to destroy you. sizing you up... calculating your every move. you think this is love? this is a billion years of tiger dna just ready to pounce. and if you have the wrong home insurance coverage, you could be coughing up the cash for this. so get allstate and be better protected from mayhem, like me-ow. doprevagen is the number one

ashley parker, congressman joe neguse, larry pfeifer, carlos curbelo thank you all for being with us. coming up the guiliani wild card. one report says some people close to the president want him to cut ties with his personal lawyer but trump at least for now is sticking by him. >> i know nothing about him being under investigation. as somebody said i heard a report today. i can't imagine it. he is a man that looks for corruption and whatever he does i really believe is a totally -- i know he is an honorable man. >> there is going to be a big stage tomorrow night and big stakes to go along with it. the first democratic debate since joe biden got dragged into the ukraine controversy. also, bernie sanders' first event since his heart attack. and on the eve of the new debate brand new polls. we've got national numbers, key early state numbers, and one question that got some very interesting answers from democratic voters. we have a lot more to get to. stay with us. do your asthma symptoms ever hold you back? about 50% of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in

democratic pollster cornell belcher, and ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. we do have a lot to get to this morning including the growing support for impeachment and president trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani now reportedly being investigated for his lobbying work in ukraine, but we're going to start with breaking news from syria where turkey has unleashed a brutal assault on our allies, the kurds. that invasion came after president trump essentially gave turkey the go ahead. and nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engle is reporting on scenes of atrocities carried out buturkish backed militias. richard is covering this from northern syria. richard, you're on the phone with us now. just tell us what you have been seeing. >> chuck, things here are developing very rapidly. u.s. officials are increasingly concerned. we have so far seen a turkish assault, that is

they are rachel maddow, andrea mitchell, and kristen welker of msnbc, and ashley parker from the "washingtonifth debate is set to take place on november 20th in georgia. >>> still ahead, a quantum leap for computing. a google computer achieves super speeds in a mind-boggling milestone. than rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic ahrit. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. it can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. as have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, and changes in lab results. tell your doctor if you've been somewhere fungal infections are common, or if you've had tb, hepatitis b

robert: joining me to discuss these quickly uolding events, ashley parker, white hse reporter f "the washington post." susan davis, congressional correspondent forpr. vivian salama, white house reporter for the "wall street journal." and jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuters. vivian, covering foreign policy and now the white hou how are u.s. allies responding to this unfolding situation in syria? vivian: this is somethiom womh implications for countries around the world so a lot of ncern growing, especially in europe, middlid eastern at the end of the day, a big part of the reason we were there to begin wit was to contain isis and essentially a number og was what wasis so important -- it waso important for us to stay in syria because of u.s. national. securi isis grows, it spreads, potential for attack grows so european countries worried about that. they're worried about anotherer flood ofs refugees acr their borders asell as a number of other issues.vi sly middle eastern countries afrd offr spill-over. this has repercussions felt around the world. robert: did predent erd

. >>> we want to bring in nbc news analyst and white house reporter ashley parker. she is one of the moderators of next month's presidential debate hosted by msnbc and "the washington post." ashley, good morning. congratulations. >> thank you. >> we heard from the president. he has been decrying that the impeachment inquiry is partisan and a sham, as well. but the president has said, behind closed doors, this is a real perilous moment for his presidency right now. a federal judge ruling that the impeachment inquiry is valid, is legal. what level of concern is there inside the west wing? >> there's deep concern inside and outside the west wing from people that understand that you just can't fight this the way the president has so far, via tweet and in the court of public opinion. they want to see a real strategy. they want to see a war room. they want to see changes made and discipline instilled. >> a parade of current and former officials have gone up to capitol hill, testifying before impeachment investigators, despite the white house's best efforts to try to block

we answer questions in the next presidential debate, rachel maddow, andrea mitchell, ashley parker, moderatingbate on november 20th in georgia. only eight candidates of qualified so far. carley: amber magazine facing back lash over the women of the year issue. heather: all-inclusive stance except when it comes to conservatives. glamour editor in chief spoke to cbs on how they choose the honorees. >> all these eight women this year, not just making a difference this year but pushing the boundaries and standing up for themselves. >> liberal power players like hollywood filmmaker, soccer player megan, even 16-year-old swedish climate change activists greta thunberg. carley: many are vocal opponents of donald trump. carley: men and women sounding off on this, michael writing conservatives don't care about a silly magazine trying to make money. todd: conservative women are the brightest among successful women in every field, it is a disgrace they are consistently ridiculed and overlooked. carley: conservative women are used to being snubbed by magazines like glamour. milania trump is one of the mos

ashley parker, an incredible reporter wrote this big blockbuster story with greg miller and greg jaffe. they asked the question of mike pence a year and a half ago at the olympics. she said, mr. vice president, it seems like your people so you understand what is going on but often times you seem to be out of the loop. he started to get a little flushed, eight personal tell -- a personal tell. out of the loop could save him right now. not lift his image but it could be a salvation. host: richard import charlotte -- in port charlotte florida. caller: good morning. it is a pleasure to see a decent, honest author giving a portrayalue to life rather than the usual hate you get on the major networks. i found the only decent news i can get is on the foxbusiness channel or cnbc business channel. businessman who had 25 employees on the verge of bankruptcy, trump came in. he freed up all kinds of rules and regulations to allow small business to flourish. defeating russia and the middle east with low gas prices. from a strictly business point of view, trump is doing everything right. i enjoy seei

and joining me, steven kornacki and also ashley parker. she was just named one of the moderators for the upcoming msnbc and "washington post" november debate. ashley, congratulations. you will be fantastic. >> thank you. >> let's talk about these poll numbers. steve, 15 points where biden is ahead of elizabeth warren. he is going after her as many of the others have gone after her on her medicare for all plan. he is trying to say that she doesn't have a plan to pay for it, at least she hasn't proposed one yet. how do the numbers fall and how much does that affect who is up and who is down? >> so it is interesting. two polls there within the last 24 hours showing totally different stories for the race. obviously warren supporters would point to one, biden supporters would point to the other. what i look at is the average of all of the bombs. a polls. and i think what you have seen since the debate, biden has to feel pretty good about it. biden is ahead about six points on average. so from the last debate, it looks like basically stability in

ashley parker, an incredible white house reporter, wrote this blockbuster story and asked a question of mike pence about 1.5 years ago, at the olympics. she said mr. vice president, people say you understand what is going on but often times, it seems you're out of the loop. he seemed to get a little .lushed red, whic out of the loop could save him right now. from richard hear from port charlotte, florida. on the republican line. caller: good morning. it is a pleasure to see a decent, honest person giving a true to life portrayal, rather than the usual hate you get. i have found that the only piece of news i can get is on the foxbusiness channel or cnbc business channel. being a small businessman, who had 25 employees on the verge of came in andtrump freed up all kinds of rules and regulations to allow small business to flourish. he is defeating russia and the middle east with low gas prices. from a strictly business point of view, trump is doing everything right. seeing it on your show that they are telling the truth for once. host: thank you. tom lobianco, we talked about the religi

. >> joining me now is ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post," also an msnbc politicalnalyst. and joel payne, a democratic strategist and former director of paid media for hillary for america. joel, let me begin with you. the president took aim at joe biden in a nasty way, going after him as we heard in that sound bite, also going after hunter biden with a little bit of mockery saying where is hunter, trying to put it on a t-shirt and sell it. i want to get your thoughts on this. you work with hillary clinton also subject of nasty attacks by president trump. is there a clear way, a clear narrative for somebody like joe biden, even hunter biden or the democrats to defend themselves from these types of attacks from the president when he's at a rally in front of thousands using that kind of language? >> no. i think unfortunately you're going to be in second place when you go up against the bully pulpit of the white house. the president has been clear he's going to use this tactic again like he used four years ago. i think what's also particularly disgusting werks know what

"the washington post"'s phil rucker and ashley parker have been tracked some of the tell-tale signs,has bullied and projected at advertisements leveling against others the very charges he faces while simultaneously depicting himself as a victim and he has turned to depictions of america and at moments sounded an authoritarian tone. joining me is "washington post" white house bureau chief phil rucker and former undersecretary of state rick stangel. >> andrea, we tried to look at the president's state of mind since the impeachment inquiry opened and got under way. his temperament has been rather volcanic. it's trying to portray himself as a victim and also trying to peddle some of these conspiracy theories that he has and trying to be a bully in that exchange with jeff mason and his rallies where he's using more and more profanity. it's alarming that the president's behavior shows him at his most vulnerable. >> phil, when you have someone obviously this vulnerable and this erratic, maybe that's how you get an erdogan phone call. did i say phil? i meant rick. >> that's all right. by the

will be co-hosting the democratic debate in georgia alongside andrea mitchel, rachel maddow and ashley parkerd not be more excited or really mondre honored. >> that is a power group of women. congratulations. >> i'm going to start prepping right now. >> hugh about kelly oow about k? >> so well deserved. i'll be there cheering her on. >> time-out. it is not just a powerful group of women, it is an extraordinary group of top notch journalists who are going to be leading the debate. kristen welker, i won't even say i'm happy for you, i'm happy for us, we're fortunate that we will be watching that debate, it is going to be fantastic. look at that, ashley

the by-line is greg miller, greg jaffe and ashley parker. the headline here, i mean, it's sort of a plot twist this this impeachment story. quote, trump involved pence in efforts to pressure ukraine's leader. it wasn't just the president. it was the vice president. and this is a fascinating story. i think this will go down as a landmark story in the saga from "the washington post" tonight because it involves not only an account of vice president pence's involvement in the very simple scandal for which president trump is now being impeach impeached. it includes lots of sort of spin and anonymous claims from vice president pence's camp, people sort of trying to defend him, and on the other side from unnamed white house officials who are clearly not in camp pence, who are clearly trying to let it be known that pence was part of this scheme. and so this article represents to some degree a little of the human drama here at the top which may be allies of the president and allies of the vice president turning against each other as these impeachment

troops.w5e1ñrñr >> and ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post."e to sunday, it's "meet the press."Ñiño't(Ñii]çórs÷ >>> the longest running s nbc history.jffá >>ÑiÑi good sunday morning.e1r turkey has unleashed a brutal assault on our allies, the kurds. that invasion came after president trump gave turkey the go-ahead. andt( nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel is reporting on scenes of alleged atrocities and these have been caught on r chard is covering. >> has been broken into and the detainees inside have managed to escape. we just came from a prison and saw that every day now the riots and attempts to escape where we are bringing those militias right on the doorstep of u.s. forces. >> richard engel with very disturbing issues. stay safe as you cover the story and thank you for bringing that important information. look, president trump is under fire even from republicans for pulling u.s. troops out of northern syria. the other battle the president is fighting is impeachment, and it's also the direct result of his own action. in tha

i think ashley parker writes it as saying the quiet part out loud.et's watch. >> we'll tell you this. russia, if you're listening, i hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. >> your campaign this time around, foreigners, if russia, if china, if someone else offers you information on opponents, should they accept it or should they call the fbi? >> i think you might want to listen. i don't think there's nothing wrong with listening. >> china should start an investigation into the bidens. because what happened to china is just about as bad as what happened with ukraine. >> phil rucker, we lost ambassador mcfaul, but i think those were some of the examples that your paper cited in this idea that perhaps some of the strategy here is to numb the base, to numb the trump voter to all this conduct so that if and when he's impeached, part of the defense is, well, i told everybody i was colluding. it really is sort of the shifting defense of i never did anything with russia to, you know, damn right i asked russia for their help. >> i think

ashley parker from "the washington post." rachel maddow. andrea mitchell. and kristin welker.tage got yet more crowded when we heard amy klobuchar has a new poll made the cut. >> yeah. so that makes one more person on the stage. we're seeing it get less crowded. we're not going to be at a dozen. but we're certainly going to be one more than we were. and clearly, amy klobuchar is someone who is taking the momentum from the last debate stage that we saw her on and really trying to par lay it in a significant way in this race. she was in danger of not being on this debate stage next -- next month. now, clearly we know she's going to be there. her campaign is out with a tweet today saying see you in atlanta. but we've seen a lot of these candidates get sort of sugar rushes out of good debate performances. i'm thinking kamala harris, booker. with amy klobuchar, what i'm interested in seeing, we've only seen her have a week since that debate but they're up $2 million in fundraising. clearly, they're taking up ever so slightly in polling so she can stay on the debate stage and contin

and when you look at the article, a deeply reported one by greg miller, greg jaffy, and ashley parker what i didn't know a thing when we know his defense advisor, his national security advisor was in on the phone call that trump made. that this call including information about what biden was doing was in his briefing papers, and he's basically saying i didn't know that the president was committing corrupt acts, so it's delicious in a lot of ways. and it's part of a farce that our country should not be going through. >> you can see the unnamed pence defenders, the people close to pence as they're identified and then the trump unnamed sources trying to pull pence into this thing. well, of course he had the transcript of the phone call. >> that's right. so it's fascinating because pence is -- there's a double game going on here. the pence advisor and then aides who talked to "the post" told a story basically of a mike pence who was innocent, doesn't know-nothing about no extortion, that he's completely innocent of all this. at the same time pence's offense issuing an official statement s

with us at the table, white house reporter for the "washington post," ashley parker. former acting solicitor general neal kathyal. national political reporter for ox yo axios, jonathan swan. and chuck rosenberg. let me start with you, neal. it seems we already have a lot of evidence from this witness. all of it pretty incriminating for this president. what is the impact? it seems like the cons outweigh the pros unless there's something i'm missing. >> yeah, there's something huge going on here because coming in, the president, i think, was suffering from the fact there are all these text messages, all this stuff that shows trump was guilty. his only hope was to have his pal, sondland, come in, say, oh, no, that wasn't the case, explain what happened and the like. three hours before he was to testify, the white house pulls the plug on that. that's really suggestive of the fact i think sondland was going to come in and do the president no favors. the wind was definitely not at the president's back. now it's blowing him down. remember, sondland is not just some person. h

moderators, andrea mitchell, rachel maddow, kristin welker, and ashley parker.ght here on msnbc november 20th. and up ahead, a tribute to the life of a congressman, elijah cummings. how a house so often divided happen to be coming together to honor his legacy. ed happen to be coming together to honor his legacy i get it all the time. "have you lost weight?" of course i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro. old spice antipersprant spray and old spice antipersprant stick, each has different approchaes to armpits. but they do have one thing they can agree on. no sweat in the nfl hey, its just my name. brought to you by the 48-hour sweat defense of old spice sweat defense. where people go to learn about their medicare options before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and

ashley parker, susan page, former adviser to john boehner, paul ryan and jeb bush, and my former colleaguerleans, cedric richman of louisiana, the co-chair of joe biden's presidential campaign. susan page, i would like to start with you. the talking point, the pushback that we're getting from the white house, at least as it pertains to the invitation expressed by president trump for china to interfere in the election is that it was all a big joke. >> we're hearing this from congressional republican. the only problem with this theory which we heard senator roy blunt talk about it this morning and marco rubio talk about it the other day, president trump doesn't portray it as a joke and ukrainian leaders didn't think of it as a joke and so this could be possibly a flawed defense. >> when the defense is, the president wasn't serious, that seems to be the best that the republicans can offer up, what does that suggest to you? >> that there's a lot of republicans in foxholes right now and most of them don't want to pop their head above the hedge row. the congressional recess this week is one of t

ashley parker, an incredible white house reporter, wrote this blockbuster story and asked a questionmike pence about 1.5 years ago, at the olympics. she said mr. vice president, people say you understand what is going on but often times, it seems you're out of the loop. he seemed to get a little .lushed red, whic out of the loop could save him right now. from richard hear from port charlotte, florida. on the republican line. caller: good morning. it is a pleasure to see a decent, honest person giving a true to life portrayal, rather than the usual hate you get. i have found that the only piece of news i can get is on the foxbusiness channel or cnbc business channel. being a small businessman, who had 25 employees on the verge of came in andtrump freed up all kinds of rules and regulations to allow small business to flourish. he is defeating russia and the middle east with low gas prices. from a strictly business point of view, trump is doing everything right. seeing it on your show that they are telling the truth for once. host: thank you. tom lobianco, we talked about the religious