police arrested blumenthal on a warrant issued 5 months previously he was detained for nearly 2 days the case was based soley on the venezuelan opposition activists claim that ben blumenthal and a friend had assaulted her during a protest at the venice while an embassy in washington blumenthal and his friends say they were there to deliver food to the embassy workers well according to gray zone of blumenthal's that lawyers have made multiple requests for secret service call recordings and reports log to the place and date of the alleged assault but the us prosecutor failed to fill the request saying the requested records did not exist. before this week about the clock to the man at the very center of the case is the off the gray zone max blumenthal max thanks for joining us let's start here why have the allegations against you been dropped now. well 1st of all i want to thank our teeth for covering this case from the beginning the u.s. media had no interest in covering it it was really you and tell us or as the only internet international networks that would cover this the case was d

government has dropped assault charges against journalist max blumenthal he was accused of attacking a supporter of venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president won by doe back in october police arrested blumenthal at his home on a 5 month old warrant he spent 2 days in prison with he claims no access to a lawyer the case was based on the testimony of activist chico she claims that in may blumenthal and his friend assaulted her during a protest at the venezuelan embassy in washington d.c. the journalist says the allegations are false. the case was dropped because it was a phony case based on a false allegation no one assaulted any venezuelan woman outside the embassy in fact it was the activists in the journalists outside who were being assaulted by a right wing venezuelan opposition that was colluding with the u.s. secret service in order to starve out group of activists inside the embassy who are defending international law against the trump administration's coup attempt or not seeking retribution and seeking justice and protection for other journalists and activists like me becau

senator blumenthal, you have any other tough questions? >> no. i want to thank the panel, a i hope this is a continued dialog, because beyond the language that is being vetted in the house, i hope we're moving forward with a marker shortly, and in the interest of working with our colleagues in the house, it will be something that ultimately produces a bipartisan, positive outcome. your testimony has been very enlightening, i'm particularly interested in getting and taking deeper into the research professor beebe that you have done. you are watching what we are doing here and now waiting for us to call your feedback as well, so make sure you take in touch with our staff to do the work. i think senator cummings agrees that the staff on the house, so were very interested in your feedback, and your comments, and new things that come up. we will hold the record open for a week, for any information that and if the numbers would like to submit, and again, thank you all for being here, and indulging us and the calendar change. committee is adjourned.

senator blumenthal, you have any other tough questions? no. as i said in my opening statement, i hope this is a continued dialogue. you've given us something to think about that goes beyond the language that's being vetted in the house. i hope we're moving forward with a mark here shortly and in the interest of working with our colleagues in the house, it will be something that ultimately produces a bipartisan positive outcome. your testimony has been very enlightening. i'm particularly interested in digging deeper into the research that you've done and you're watching what we're doing here and not waiting for us to call you for feedback is welcome. make sure that you stay in touch with our staff. the staff on the house side, we're very interested in your feedback and your comments and new things that come up. we will hold the record open for a week -- for the week for any information that any of the members would like to submit and, again, thank you all for being here and indulging us in the calendar change. committee is adjourned. >> this mo

blumenthal's independent media outlet the gray zone claims materials relating to the case were not kept or destroyed he suspects that's because they contain information that would have compromised the secret service. the secret service certainly had to have called an ambulance for the complainant who made this false allegation that she was injured the secret service were communicating with one another during this incident during the food delivery they were present and what i think could be the case here is that they're concerned that their collusion with this right wing band of hooligans who were used to do what the secret service was legally forbidden from doing which was preventing food and medicine from getting into them to see that it would expose that that collusion and embarrass the secret service who were themselves operating under the watch of the state department it's just highly unusual that this would have disappeared. we've asked the police to comment on the case we'll bring you any response we get. that's our wrap up for the day thanks for tuning in. or. what politicians do

senator blumenthal? >> thanks, mr. chairman, thank you to both you and the ranking member for being so active on this subcommittee. i've been really impressed by the energy and comprehensiveness fof your approach to this subjet area. as all of us know here and around the nation, millions of americans purchased a lot of goods online yesterday, which was, of course, cyber monday, but also every day of the year, particularly as we go into the holiday season, and they relied on amazon and other platforms to actively police their marketplaces for fraudulent sellers and as we all know, too often mistrust is misplaced. sellers often exploit unknowing consumers through low-quality goods and counterfeit goods. many times these sellers immaite well-known companies by inlawfully using their trademark logos creating the false impression that the retailer is the genuine brand-name product. there are significant costs to consumers who receive defective, even dangerous products, and on businesses, businesses in connecticut and all ar

i want to start with senator blumenthal about this. where do you stand on the constitutional question? does pelosi have the prerogative to hold back the articles? >> this decision is indeed nancy pelosi's to make. and her position is fully understandable that she wants some assurance there will be a full, fair, honest trial with witnesses and documents. after all of the extraordinarily able work done by the house committee and the courage of those dedicated public servants who have come forward. she wants to make sure that we will have more than the sham charade that mitch mcconnell -- is promising. keep in mind he has said there's no chance donald trump will be removed. he has promised he will take his cues from the white house, and he has enablers in my republican colleagues. he cannot do this sham without their 51 votes. but i will tell you something, chris, there's a court of appeals here. it's the electorate, the court of public opinion, and they're saying 51% of all american people want those documents. more than 60% of republica

coup against venezuela and the american government lies about syria and as i reported last week blumenthal was recently arrested on 5 month old false charges in a swat style raid at his home here in d.c. he was kept in jail for 2 days and not allowed to call his lawyer or anyone else and last week even the national lawyers guild strongly condemned the arrest of blumenthal so i would say journalist telling the truth are persecuted particularly . if you're revealing the reality about our war machine then the authorities and police off your butt meanwhile a clowns like this are arrested for their idiocy malcolm i want you to go into greater detail we see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these 2 u.s. navy vessels in the eastern mediterranean i am tempted to quote the great leonard cohen i'm guided by the beauty of our weapons i can't believe they allowed that on television just because i thought the f.c.c. didn't permit full orgasm on primetime. and now we get to number 4 on our list of the systematic persecution resulting in the death of truth lawyers if you are a lawyer wh

we'll talk about the breaking news and more with senator richard blumenthal of the judiciary and armed services committee and our correspondents and analysts are standing by. but first straight to capitol hill. our correspondent manu raju is on the scene for us. we're minutes away from the house intelligence committee members going behind closed doors to review the committee's impeachment report. what is the very latest information you're getting? >> reporter: yeah, just a matter of moments members of that committee will go behind closed doors and review this report and that is something they can do up until tomorrow when the committee will release the report and send it to the house judiciary committee and they will use this report as the basis of articles of impeachment against this president. expect this democratic report to be long. potentially hundreds of pages long detailing the findings of this two-month investigation into ukraine. the democrats allegations the president abused his power and dealings with that foreign country and his ask for ukraine to investigate his political

please join me in welcoming blumenthal and congressman. [applause] this. >> i need to ask sidney questions with his often the times that i get to pose the questions. i make no pretense of objectivity. i'm a huge fan of this extraordinary series that blumenthal is writing. i find it dazzling. i hope every american reads this book. it is remarkable. let me start with this. you call one of your chapters about stephen douglas who was lincoln's lifelong nemesis in some sense. you give it the title of ambition. the phrase lifted from the back. it over leaves itself. that phrase was invoked by senator charles referring to douglas. i raise that because lincoln was also profoundly ambitious. in his own way. i wonder if you would be willing to define and characterize the ambition of douglas, abraham lincoln and talk about the ways in which their ambitions were intertwined during the course of their careers. >> it's my great pleasure and honor to be here with my friend, jamie who represents a congressional district. to be here in this very special pl

thank you for taking time to join us. >> thank you. >> senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. >>>ll ahead the president suggests he's open to pardoning two members of his orbit with significant legal troubles. stay with us. that's next. ificant legal troubs stay with us that's next. hooks me up. getting more for getting away. traveling lighter. getting settled. rewarded. learn more at the explorer card dot com. a lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesn't get everything clean. i tell them, it may be your detergent... that's why more dishwasher brands recommend cascade platinum... ...with the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. for sparkling-clean dishes, the first time. cascade platinum. skip to the good part with alka-seltzer plus. now with 25% more concentrated power. nothing works faster for powerful cold relief. oh, what a relief it is! so fast! >>> okay, this is not the type of legal filing you like to see from your lawyer, particularly around the holidays. quote, mr. parnas' apparent inability -- mr. parnas' ability to fund his defense has diminished. it thu

thank you for taking time to join us. >> thank you. >> senator richard blumenthal of connecticut.pump motors) (lamp crashes) ♪music it's the final days of the wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. a lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesn't get everything clean. i tell them, it may be your detergent... that's why more dishwasher brands recommend cascade platinum... ...with the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. for sparkling-clean dishes, the first time. cascade platinum. >>> okay, this is not the type of legal filing you like to see from your lawyer, particularly around the holidays. quote, mr. parnas' apparent inability -- mr. parnas' ability to fund his defense has diminished. it thus would constitute significant hardship for mr. parnas to continue to be represented by two attorneys in this matter. i've discussed this matter fully with mr. parnas consents to my withdrawal from this criminal matter. that was the lawyer from giuliani associate lev parnas request

. >> the democratic senator richa richard blumenthal from connecticut thinks there might be at least -- >> i talked to anywhere from five to ten of my colleagues who have severe miss givings about the direction that mitch mcconnell is going. >> who is on your short list? who might be the other republican senators who feel the same way here? >> so, i really heard four names and they've been murkowski, susan collins, mitt romney and cory gardner. some of the conversations have been asking -- i've received answers being like probably not going to get the four votes that you need, four of the senators to vote, four of the -- one thing that some have been telling us, mitch mcconnell has been behind the scenes, went up to mitt romney saying you need to tone down your criticism of the president especially into the impeachment weeks. that's a sign that he's putting in the effort behind the scenes to say, you can't be out there campaigning against the president. we need to have a united front. >> that's interesting about romney and mcconnell. romney may be the most likely person to hear from

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senatornstein: blumenthal. sen. blumenthal: as you have sensed, there is impatience and anger and fury about this opioid crisis. -- youl due respect, url all are the messengers, not the policymakers. you have to take our message to you and i think you can sense that it is one of frustration. to say the least. as my colleagues have expressed, i don't think it is good enough have, we will work with you. because that is what agencies have been saying to us, and may be partly the fault of the united states congress and if so, you should tell us. but this crisis has existed for some time. it is not suddenly rearing its head. ago, back two years connecticut's rate of addiction was rising. so was its rate of death and overdose. 17 overdose was 10 deaths and that is expected to rise. between 2012 and 2018, there was increase in opioid deaths in connecticut alone. so, i think there has to be an effort to hold accountable not only the mexicans and chinese but the manufacturers in distributors in this country. raised a valid p

joining the now is richard blumenthal. the senate judiciary committee and will take part in these today. what do you want to hear today in. >> what i want to hear is a clear, explicit picture of how this investigation was in no way the result of anti-trump animus or bias. no caused by a deep red state animus against trump. i want to hear him confront directly and rebut the real insult from attorney general barr against all federal law enforcement but most particularly against the integrity of his report. because what the attorney general seems to be doing is simply festering and supporting the right wing conspiracy theories about this russia investigation which produced very dramatic convictions. 37 indictments and 7 convictions. five prison sentences. not a bogus narrative as the attorney general says and that's what i want to hear from mr. horowitz. >> to remind people again, the horowitz report found the investigation was legal and no evidence in political bias in how it was launched. yet as you say, the attorney genera

blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. in the midst of all the historic and profoundly significant events happening these days in the congress, there may be a temptation to overlook some of the judicial nominations that are coming to the floor of the united states senate, some of them almost a caricature of the unequal filed nominees that we have seen -- unqualified nominees that we've seen all too often the. and one is before us today, lawrence vandyke, nominated to the ninth circuit. over the past three years we've watched the trump administration march ceaselessly to degrade the judiciary. but even having witnessed this travesty firsthand, i find mr. vandyke's nomination truly astonishing and alarming. once again, we're faced with a nominee who lacks the support of his home state senators, who is not even from the state for which this seat is designated and who was rated not qualified by the american bar association. that's a pretty tough set of qualifications -- or lack of them -- to match. but lawrence vandyke has don

monica lewinsky, vernon jordan and sydney blumenthal. he's playing games with all of this, and it's clear that his position is there's going to be no witnesses. >> meanwhile, bianna, new information, new evidence comes out it seems every week. >> yeah. >> this week we got this -- these new batch of e-mails thanks to a foya request. and so of course legally it makes sense if new information comes out the house lawyer is saying we may need to impeach the president again if we find new information. politically that would be a bitter pill for even democrats, i think, to swallow. it's like when will we be done with this i think the people feel, but how can you be done when they don't know -- haven't heard from direct witnesses and new evidence keeps coming up. >> and it sort of justifies at least in the short-term nancy pelosi's call for withholding these articles right now and not transmitting them to the senate. that being said, it is not politically advantageous for a lot of her caucus to continue moving forward with impeachment, right? th

now joining me senator richard blumenthal. what is your feeling about this action by the speaker to with hold transmission of the articles until some announcement about the basic procedures for the framework are announced? >> this decision is nancy pelosi's, and it is perfectly understandable that she wants some assurance of a full, fair proceeding. after all of the extraordinarily good work and the courage that it took to reach this result, she wants to make sure that we're going to avoid that sham and charade that mitch mcconnell has said in effect he is going to engineer. remember what he said, there's no chance the president will be removed from office, he's going to take his cues from the white house, in effect putting the defendant in charge of the trial. and he has enablers here. equally complicit are my republican colleagues because he could not get away with this charade without at least 51 votes. >> one of your republican colleagues lindsey graham said the whole thing is a sham, he wants to get through as soon as pos

earlier this year i introduced a bill with our friend and colleague from connecticut, senator blumenthal, who happens to be a democrat who address these anticompetitive behavior. our bill is called the affordable prescription for patients act and it streamlines the litigation process by limiting the number of patent these companies can use in court. so companies are spending less time in the courtroom and more time innovating more -- more lifesaving drugs by opening up these drugs and lowering more affordable prices for consumers. this does not stifle innovation. it doesn't limit patients' rights and it doesn't cost taxpayers a dime. in fact the congressional budget office estimates it would lower -- lower federal spending by more than a half billion dollars over ten years. and this is just savings to the federal government for medicare and medicaid. undoubtedly it would show significant savings for consumers with private health insurance as well. i'm sure it comes as no surprise then that this legislation passed unanimously out of the judiciary committee. not a single senator opposed it

senator blumenthal, i'd like to talk to you about this.he president could have put pressure on the saudi king to give information about this guy. i mean, this president has said all of islam is out to get us. we don't know that the man is muslim but it is the predominant religion there but he goes easy here. he helped them separate themselves from this individual and this event, as he's done in the past with kashoggi. why do you think that happens, this apparent deference and what does it mean to you? >> as you have observed very correctly, the president has given the saudis a very wide berth and the exact reasons for it are somewhat a mystery. he has financial interests that may be coming into play. one of the reasons that i and 200 members of congress have sued the president in blumenthal versus trump and there will be a hearing this monday is that the financial interests, taking benefits and payments from important governments have been very much a part of this administration and the saudis have spent a lot of money in his hotels, on hi

and what blumenthal is doing is he is seizing upon those comments from senator murkowski, the republicanm alaska where , she was critical of the way mcconnell has been handling the process, and that is to say in total coordination with the white house. as always, we will be monitoring the twitter's feed of the president, and that seems to be his main portal. and now the president is an official resident of florida and ivanka trump is expected to call washington home on a full time basis if the president wins re-election and spends another four years at the white house. richard? >> hans nichols, floodwatch. >>> joining us, hannah trudeau, politics reporter for daily beast. and david mark, deputy news examiner for the washington examiner. where does the impeachment trial stand right now? any sense of a timetable right mow? >> we are really in a stalemate, as we just heard from hans there, speaker pelosi has not sent over those two articles of impeachment that were passed shortly before christmas. there is no indication she is going to do so at any point in the very near future. and on the

senator blumenthal, thank you so much for making time. neal katyal, good to see you. you can get more from neal on impeachment and these issues on our dedicated page opening arguments, that's msnbc.com/openingarguments. this post will be up there later tonight if you want to review it. >>> coming up, my special breakdown on how facts really can change public view, even on impeachment. a special panel with watergate prosecutor and rob reiner also later. giuliani confessing to another part of the ukraine plot. why that could backfire. and a special guest later tonight taking us inside the trump impeachment defense plan and where we go from here. i'm ari melber. you're watching "the beat" on msnbc. msnbc. i like chillaxin'. the united explorer card makes things easy. traveling lighter. taking a shortcut. woooo! taking a breather. rewarded! learn more at the explorer card dot com. for a limited time, get a outb4-course meal your holidays even better! starting at $15.99. treat yourself to the perfect gift today, because the aussie 4-course won't last long! and now, get a $

senator richard blumenthal, member of the judiciary committee and a democrat from connecticut. thank you so much for being with us. will there be a senate trial? >> there will be a senate trial. it is required by the constitution. the issue of when the articles of impeachment will be sent to the senate is a decision for nancy pelosi to make and very understandably she wants some assurance that it will be full and fair, not the sham and charade that mitch mcconnell is apparently going to give the president. and what's striking about the report that you've just heard, excellent reporting by jim acosta, is the assumption by the president that he can set the terms of his own trial. and that assumption is well warranted by mitch mcconnell saying he's going to take his cue from the white house. he has said there's no chance that the president will be removed, and he in effect is making himself and his republican colleagues complicit in the cover-up, the denial of documents and witnesses that are necessary for a full, fair proceeding, and that's why we are insisting that there be some

. >> reporter: connecticut democrat richard blumenthal pressed horowitz on that point. >> did you find any evidence that the fbi tapped the phones at trump tower? >> no. >> reporter: democrats also focused on another conclusion from horowitz -- that the fbi investigation into the president was launched legitimately and without political influence. >> there is no deep state. simply put, the fbi investigation was motivated by facts, not bias. >> reporter: despite the republicans' repeated attacks on the fbi during the hearing, the chairman lindsey graham said he still has faith the fbi director, christopher wray, can fix the problems. cbs news, washington. >>> investigators in new jersey are trying to determine a motive for tuesday's deadly shoot-out that left six people dead. police in jersey city say they found a pipe bomb at the scene. the newly released surveillance video suggests that the shooters targeted a kosher market. more from don dahler. >> reporter: this video shows why so many people believe this was not a random attack. the suspects are seen getting out of their u-haul van

as of right now, we don't know, aside from those comments from richard blumenthal, whether or not there are enough republican senators to put pressure on senator mitch mcconnell to fundamentally alter the contours of what a senate trial would look like. >> but certainly a few of them right now are under the magnifying glass as a result of those comments. hans, see you again. thank you so much. joining me, abigail tracy from vf vf and josh gerstein, senior writer at politico and msnbc contributor. big welcome to you both. josh, you first. the president's tweetstorm against nancy pelosi. what is the intended effect here and how does it actually play out? does it suggest he's worried? >> oh, it certainly suggests he's worried, and even in those recent speeches that he's given, you know, seems to be joking around about impeachment, but you can tell that it's really gnawing at him. he keeps talking about history, so there's no question that he's aware of the severity of the stain of the vote of impeachment even as he tries to play it down. i think in terms of the impact on pelosi, i don't kn

. >> reporter: connecticut democrat richard blumenthal pressed horowitz on that point. >> did you find any evidence that the f.b.i. tapped the phones at trump tower? >> no. >> reporter: democrats also focused on another conclusion from horowitz, that the f.b.i. igvestigation into the president was launched legitimately and without political influence. >> there is no deep state. simply put, the f.b.i. investigation was motivated by facts, not bias. >> reporter: despite the republicans' repeated attacks on the f.b.i. during the hearing, the chairman, lindsey graham, said he still has faith the f.b.i. director christopher wray can fix the problems. norah? >> o'donnell: catharine, thank you. the final frenzied push toward impeachment begins tonight with a rare evening debate in the house judiciary committee. this as president trump is openly mocking the articles of impeachment while some democrats think they don't go far enough. nancy cordes is just outside the committee room. nancy? >> reporter: norah, there are some democrats who would have gone further, but the party is rallying around

so is senator schumer and blumenthal. the senate is not a jury. it's jury and judge. the chief justice is not the judge he's the presiding officer. there are no standards of proof. there are no rules of evidence. and every senator is entitled to approach it his own way. i thought that the house proceedings were unnecessarily unfair and when the american people walk away from the senate trial, if we ever have one, i don't want them saying well, we were just run over by the same truck twice. >> so meanwhile they argued that she has a duty to send over articles of impeachment. they're going to be sent over but it might not be until february. watch this. >> it's our duty to turn it over. it's not like a mechanism that she can control. the house passed it. they shouldn't have. >> do you believe she is overreaching by trying to influence a senate trial. >> she could run for the senate if she wants to be a senator but the house has a role. the senate has a role. it's time for the senate to do their job. for months she's saying how important it is they have to remove this pre

richard blumenthal of connecticut joins us, on the judiciary and armed services. thank you for being with us. >> thank you very much for having me. >> when you hear your fellow senator, republican lisa murkowski saying she's disturbed by senate majority leader mitch mcconnell's promise of total coordination with the white house even, as we know, she really took a hit at the house democrats for how they proceeded, does this make you think there is a crack forming in the republican party? >> her statements certainly reflect cracks in the mcconnell wall. from having talked to a number of my colleagues, i know her misgivings reflect the strong reservations that a number of my republican colleagues feel about this charade and sham that apparently mcconnell wants at the behest of the white house. for him to say that he will not be impartial, that he will take his cues from the white house, that he will be acting hand in glove, as senator murkowski put it in effect puts the defendant in charge of his own trial. and that offends a number of my republican colleagues and, f

senator richard blumenthal a liberal member of the judiciary committee, seems to have no idea mitch mcconnellas all the leverage. >> this decision is, indeed, nancy pelosi is to make. her position is fully understandable that she wants some assurance that there will be a full, fair, honest trial with witnesses and documents. there is a court of appeals here. it is the electric, the court of public opinion. >> laura: wait a second, wait a second. he was basically the chief while you're in my home state of connecticut for year after year after year, okay? state attorney there. he doesn't know that the constitution says the senate has full power of impeachment, really? nancy gets to call all the shots in the senate. does that apply the other way? does mitch get to call the shots in the house? because this would have come down a lot different. harvard law repressor alan dershowitz read the constitution and he said, i can imagine nothing more unconstitua house impeachment without sending it to the senate. it would be as if the prosecutor decided he had insufficient evidence to get a conviction so

but we haven't that because senator blumenthal keeps saying we publicly and reap peter lee they personallyhave evidence of this crime occurring although they don't ever point the evidence out they are never pressed on it. so how does the trump family deal with these nasty allegations quick. >> very interesting i write a whole chapter about the women on the bus the tramp women campaigned all over the south. and the closest personal assistant almost all of his life when i finish with the book i went to get a picture of the trump women on the bus but guess what there are six and five of them are african-american. the only white person on the buses lauraa trump. it was never in the news and you never heard about itve because the only one who got frame what you got same was reince priebus and then turned on him but then wanted to do that than 6 million people have gone off of food stamps. and with subsidized housing to see if there is a man in the apartment they could lose their welfare if they claim to be a single mom so the father had to be chased out with a whole generation of young people i

it isn't just the media excited about senator murkowski but so is richard blumenthal. >> her courage could be contagious but remember that these witnesses and documents may in fact contain very incriminating additional evidence. my strong feeling is that we will avoid any unnecessary delay and should move forward with purpose. >> how big deal is this? >> i don't think her comments are that big deal, she stating something that is rather common sense that there should be a fair trial and a fair hearing. i think leader mcconnell is committed to that. he said clearly this is a political exercise and when they say he's being impartial is suggesting he will be he says let's put aside the charade. does anyone think chuck schumer hasn't made up his mind or bernie sanders or elizabeth warren or cory booker, kamala harris, amy klobuchar, they all said donald trump should be impeached. everyone goes into this with their own political biases and even their previous statements but that doesn't mean you can't have a meaningful trial and i think the president is ready for this. >> nancy pelosi must

>> according to senator blumenthal, there are five to ten republican whose have misgivings about the way mitch mcconnell has positioned himself in the process. let me get your take on where you see the situation as it stands right now. where are we in the process? >> part of the misgivings are mcconnell went out there and he said allowed what you're not suppose toads say out loud, they are rigging the trial. we're supposed to hold the trial and be jurors but we're going to work lock step with donald trump's defense. so even those senators that wanted to vote to have a quick trial with no witnesses to get this over and done with now look like they're doing it because they're in trump's pocket, which is indeed the case. some of them don't like the fact this was said out loud. the others who believe, perhaps, possibly, it's their constitutional responsibility to have a full and fair trial, i'm waiting to see anyone make a forceful case. murkowski said she was disturbed by mitch mcconnell getting in bed with donald trump and his legal team, his defense team. no one has said a peep. and w

. >> senator blumenthal, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >>> just ahead, we'll have more on the march toward impeachment and what the judiciary committee revealed. democrats calling on the leader of the senate, mitch mcconnell to recuse himself as he coordinates strategist with the white house. fed shrimp rangoon. how will you pick just 4 of 10? it won't be easy. better hurry in. i'm finding it hard to stay on a faster laptop could help. plus, tech support to stay worry free. worry free...boom boom! get free next business day shipping or ...1 hour in-store pick up shopping season solved at office depot officemax or officedepot.com. i am not for ignoring the first sign of a cold. i am for shortening my cold, with zicam! zicam is completely different. unlike most other cold medicines, zicam is clinically proven to shorten colds. i am a zifan for zicam! oral or nasal. my hands are everything to me. but i was diagnosed with dupuytren's contracture. and it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. thought surgery was my only option. turns out i was wr

it is corroborated according to the fbi by none other than sidney blumenthal because his reputation for authenticity and trustworthiness is legendary. that is clinton's right and left-hand corroborates this rumor and did points up being in a dossier. so when you get to the points that a conversation in a bar can be used as part of the federal government's filing in a court proceeding and you take no efforts to go identify whether or not it's true, the times that i've been around president trump. he is germ free. that thing of the moscow hotel, that's not happening. >> martha: did you pass it along in the report and the source according to the report said he did? i didn't think he was going to put that in anything. trey gowdy, always good to see you. to be continued. nearly two years ago, then chair of the house until committee, devin nunes published the nunes memo which raised a lot of concerns about abuses within the fisa process. it was ridiculed by critics that now people are praising michael horowitz for saying almost exactly the same thing. kash patel, authored the memo. he joins m

. >> senator blumenthal suggested some republicans might not support the way it's going.o you think that's plausible? >> it seems like a little on the high end. there certainly are five, six, maybe, the six that steve car naky had up there are the usual subjects, who, you know, have some private to moderately public misgivings. but even in, you know, the stropgts of those so far is murkowski. in the same breath she said she does not want to be a rubber-stamp, she's also saying that the democrats' case is weak. she is not suggesting here publicly that she's going to be a strong voice, siding with the democrats here. what she's saying it she doesn't want this to be rushed through and given its due. those are two very different things. >> they are. not only do voters need to remember that, but democrats do too. >> anne, thank you so much. >>> president trump spending his holiday venting on twitter with post-christmas tweet storm over the impeachment. joining me now this morning, kevin zblerilly chief washington correspondent at bloomberg. president trump's tweet storm agains

videotaped testimony taken behind closed doors of monica lewinsky, of clinton's friend jordan and blumenthal, the white house aide. back then the problem for the white house was a number of moderate democrats who were publicly very critical of the president's behavior, joe lieberm lieberman, for example. i don't know how this plays out with doug jones, but it's a similar dynamic to 20 years ago. >> and they will criticize the president even if they don't say it's impeachable, and now you're seeing republicans even failing to criticize the conduct. yesterday roy blunt, who is a member of the senate intelligence committee, who is a member of the republican leadership in the senate was asked by dana bash whether the president did anything wrong, and he tied it to obama. >> did he make a mistake? >> do presidents make mistakes? i don't know if this call was a mistake, but there have been plenty of mistakes made by both president obama and president trump regarding ukraine. >> why is it so hard for republicans to even say the president did anything wrong here? >> because they're cowards and they'

the other is the russia hoax you would say we have moved past that but adam schiff h and senator blumenthal keeps saying publicly and repeatedly they have evidence of this crime occurring although they never point out the evidence from when they appear in public so how does the trump family deal with these two nasty allegations? >> that's very interesting. because i write a whole chapter of the trump women on the bus they campaigned all over the south as trump's closest personal assistant for almost all of his life and when i'm finished with the book i want to get a picture of the trump women on the bus there are six and five are african-american the only white person is laura trump you never heard about it and it's never in the news the only one who got was oma rosa who switched on the president but he feels he can accomplish what the country wanted to do and lbj wanted to do 6 million people have gone off food stamps lbj gave them food stamps and subsidized housing the police would go to look and see if there is a man in the apartment than they could lose their welfare because they were c

connecticut senator richard blumenthal. >> i am very, very wary as a jew of labeling judaism as a nationality. it smacks of not only what happen in the soviet union but also nazi germany. >> of the white house and says that changes the president is proposing will not change free speech, but it doesn't affect federal funding for colleges and universities. this is attracting an awful lot of attention. >> bret: john roberts live on the north lawn. we are less than an hour away from another big impeachment meeting among lawmakers. chad program up on the hill tonight to tell us what's going on tonight. good evening, chad. >> a day night doubleheader on capitol hill. in just about an hour, the house judiciary committee will start what's termed a markup session, a fancy word for going through the impeachment session, getting them down to the final for them. one resolution, they want to break it out into those two articles of impeachment and possibly put that on the house floor next week. that schedule is up in flocks, spoke with the house majority leader steny hoyer today, said they are working it o

. >> your fellow democrat, senator blumenthal, said he thinks there are 5 to 10 republicans who have some concerns, really, who don't fall in line with public statements we heard from republicans. do you think, aside from lisa murkowski, who we have heard voicing concern about what she feels she said she was disturbed by mitch mcconnell saying what he did, do you understand there are other republicans who share her view? >> i would hope we would have many members of the senate, including many republicans, who would say, look, for us to be able to judge this case we need to hear directly from those who have the first hand information, those present as the president made his preparations for that famous july phone call with the president of ukraine. those who know why the aid to ukraine was held up, those who have direct information why by the president visit to the ukraine and the united states and the president's potential opponent's investigation. and documents that went back and forth. if we're going to conduct a fair trial, we should hear from those parties and that information so

. >> so, senator blumenthal said he hoped early january. you're saying january 7th is the earliest because that's when you're back. is that what you're expecting? january 7? >> around that. fascinating the whole senator murkowski thing. you have cory gardner in colorado, susan collins tillis in north carolina and danes in montana and a bunch of people at risk. and arizona. a bump of them coming out for a fair trial also. >> i heard you said you only had a day to get those articles over to the senate. speaker pelosi has been clear about why she wants to hold the articles. to highlight what she thinks is a fair process, either influence that more to her liking or broadcast her message, which is she thinks it's unfair, even if it doesn't go her way. >> she realizes she doesn't have power over the senate. you're right. she can deliver the message and put subtle light pressure, she's very good at doing. in the end, if mcconnell can control his 53 senators he's in control. >> you are seeing democrats expressed the need for a swift moving process

president clinton's friend vernon jordan, sidney blumenthal and monica lewinsky. >> the senate laid down the law today. house prosecutors can persuade the senate to call witness, but only a few, and only if they can add to the case to convict the president. >> in fact, republican senators back then felt they needed witness, including some who will be voting on trump's fate. now like susan collins. >> i need witnesses and further evidence to guide me to the right destination to get to the truth. >> with me now, former acting u.s. solicitor general neal katyal. his new book "impeach: the case against donald trump." and just minutes ago he published a new op-ed in "the washington post" titled "new evidence for impeachment of donald trump keeps turning up." that's why we need witnesses. explain why witnesses are needed at the trial, despite what somebody like mitch mcconnell says, that they are not needed. >> there are so many different ways to do so, but let me give you one microcosm, and that's what "the washington post" piece that i just launched a few minutes ago says. so on friday night

>> i wanted to touch on what senator blumenthal said.s unacceptable but there's many families facing it. but speaking up, putting their stories out there. a lot of spouses like myself were afraid to speak for a very long time. so in getting our story out there and the recognition that the senators hear us and they care, that is moving mountains. it's making a difference. >> trace: that's what we want. maureen, shannon, best of luck to you both. we're pulling for you. >> trace: the hour is ending. now a quick wrap. the house intelligence committee releasing its report on the impeachment inquiry. our senior producer, chad pergram joins me now. moving forward, what is next? >> the committee will meet at 6:00 to vote this report out. tomorrow we have the first hearing, formal hearing before the house judiciary committee. the question is what do they do? do they go to a mark-up session where they go through what has presented to them. fox has told to look at four potential articles based on the report here, obstruction of justice, abuse of po

monica lewinsky, vernon jordan, sidney blumenthal. they all testified for the senate trial.le i'm talking about the clinton impeachment, there's an entire universe of information separating what we knew then versus what we know now. we had that starr report. 453 pages. bill clinton handed over his dna and he did something that trump apparently doesn't have the stones to do. clinton testified himself. >> it depends upon what the meaning of the word "is" is. >> now, that reminds you that this was basically about a sex act, but i'll remind you of something else. this current situation is about national security and election security. it's a much bigger deal in terms of the worries of abuse of office. but what you just remember that is/is, that's the reason you're not going to see witnesses and likely never see trump anywhere near taking an oath to tell the truth. it can hurt you. it hurt clinton. and trump is about finding ways to beat the truth, not admitting it. that's the argument. >>> now, this president's predecessor is dropping hints of who should be leading the country.