senator chris murphy, one of the recipients of that letter and that card, sharing his reaction to the holiday package from the white house, next. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. it's finally time for... geico sequels! classic geico heroes, starring in six new commercials, with jaw-dropping savings. vote for your favorites at: geico.com/sequels ahhh, which way do i go?! i don't know, i'm voting for our sequels. with geico, the savings keep on going to a screen near you. not the leg! you dang woodchucks! geico sequels. vote and enter to win today! the ones that make a truebeen difference in people's lives. and mike's won them, which is important right this minute, because if he could beat america's biggest gun lobby, helping pass background check laws and defeat nra backed politicians across this country, beat big coal, helping shut down hundreds of polluting plants and beat big tobacco, helping pass laws to save the next generation from addiction. all against big odds you can beat him. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. >>> happy holiday fr

leading off our discussion tonight is chris murphy of connecticut. senator murphy, i want to begin with president trump's letter tonight in which he quotes ron johnson, whom you accompanied to ukraine. i want to read you that part of the trump letter. senator ron johnson on wisconsin who met privately with president zelensky has said at no time was there any mention of zelensky or a ukrainian that they were feeling pressure to do anything in return for the military aid. that is the entire of senator johnson's entry in the trump letter. what's your reaction? >> what president trump neglekts to mention in that letter is in that very meeting he sites between myself, senator johnson and president zelensky, at the owned of the meeting i stipulated a series of facts for president zelensky. i told him he was being pressured by the trump administration to investigate the bidens and that it was my opinion it would not be good for ukraine if they were to get dragged into american politics. president zelensky conceded the point i made and simply respauchbtded he

leading off our discussion tonight is democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut. he's a member of the foreign relations committee and appropriations committee. senator murphy, i want to begin with president trump's letter tonight in which he quotes ron johnson who you accompanied to ukraine. i just wants to read you that part of the trump letter. it says senator ron johnson a support of ukraine who met privately with president zelensky has said at no time during this meeting was there any mention of zelensky or any ukrainian that they were feeling pressure to do anything in return for the military aid. that is the entirety of senator jaunsance's entry in the trump letter. what's your reaction to that? >> what president trump neglects to mention in that letter in that very meeting he cites between myself, senator johnson and president zelensky, at the ownedf that meeting i stipulated a series of facts for president zelensky. i told him there were public reports he was being pressured by the trump administration to investigate the bidens and that it was my opinion th

joining us now is senator chris murphy of connecticut.mittee as well as the appropriations committee. sir, thanks for making time to be here tonight. i really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> there's a bunch of things in the world i wanted to ask you about. but let me start with this resolution of disapproval and the shift of dozens of members, dozens of republican members of congress who previously had been willing to vote against the president, vote to sanction russia, vote to be tough on russia, now saying you know what? let putin back into the g7 if that's what the president wants. what do you make of that? >> it is a radical shift in congressional republicans' stance on trump positions on russia. trump's been way out of the main stream for a long time. but at least for the first couple of years congressional republicans were trying to rein him back in. they aren't any longer. first, there's no way to unwind the president's backwards strategy on russia with the current scandal in ukraine. everything the president has done to

i will get reaction from chris murphy. analysts are also standing by. first to our senior international correspondent, alex. we're getting a piece of the dynamic moving from the house to the senate. >> what it looks like is still very much in the air when the ball is in mitch mcconnell's court. and chuck schumer is trying to get four senior trump officials on ukraine to testify. >> conducting an impeachment trial in the senate is enormously weighty and solemn responsibility. >> the tables are turning. while republicans for now control the senate trial, democrats today pushing their plan they hope will gain republican support. >> do they want a fair honest trial that examines all the facts or do they want a trial that doesn't let the facts come out. trials have witnesses! >> reporter: in a letter to majority leader mitch mcconnell, schumer called for subpoenas to be issued to four witnesses with direct knowledge of the ukraine affair. am mick mulvaney, rob player, mike duffy and john bolton who allegedly called what the president's envoys were doing in u

connecticut democratic senator chris murphy joining me now.e will be updating our reporting with other news organizations whom we've reached out to as well. senator, you as a foreign relation committee member, as someone who has traveled repeatedly to ukraine, can you help us fact check your colleague senator kennedy? >> nobody knows ukraine better than i do. i've been there about five or six times. it's a hornet's nest of political rivalries but it is simply a lie to say that the ukrainian government and president poroshenko himself meddled in the 2016 election that is made up out of whole cloth and there is no credible reporting to support it and there is no one in the american intelligence community who has come to that conclusion. this is just another attempt by republicans to throw as much chum into the water as they can with respect to the impeachment proceedings because they cannot actually defend the president on the merits. they know that the president of the united states used the massive power of the oval office in order to try to g

joining us is senator chris murphy of connecticut, he and his republican counter part traveled to kyiv in september with u.s. aid to ukraine still frozen. senator murphy, first of all, just your reaction to the house intelligence committee report accusing the president of misconduct and obstruction. is there -- i mean, what's your biggest takeaway? >> i think it just confirms what we've known for a long time, the president was using the massive power of the oval office and taxpayer dollars to try to get a foreign government to interfere in american politics. what we have learned over the course of the last several months is that the scope of this corruption was massive involving high ranking officials in the white house and the department of state and was directly connected back to the president himself. i don't know why you have the power of impeachment in mt. constituti -- in the constitution if not to be used for a scheme of this magnitu magnitude. if the president gets away with this, i'm not sure what will ever stop a president from using all of the powers of the executive branch

e nexs with senator chris murphy. as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get.ut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ billions of problems. sore gums? bleeding gums? painful flossing? there's a therabreath for you. therabreath healthy gums oral rinse fights gingivitis and plaque and prevents gum disease for 24 hours. so you can... breathe easy, there's therabreath at walmart. some things are too important to do yourself. ♪ get customized security with 24/7 monitoring from xfinity home. awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. simple. easy. awesome. call, click or visit a store today. >>> well, that will do it. that wraps up this hour of msnbc live. right now "andrea mitchell reports". >> thank you. right now conspiracy theory, why does a republican senator continue to push a debunked talking point scripted by vladimir putin's intelligence services? >> i think both russia and ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. >> you re

joining us now is senator chris murphy of connecticut.be here tonight. i really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> there's a bunch of things in the world i wanted to ask you about. but let me start with this disapproval and this shift of members who had voted to be tough on russia now saying you know what let putin back into the g-7 if that's what the president wants. what do you make of that? >> it is a radical shift in congressional republicans stance on the trump positioning on russia. trump's been way out of the main stream for a long time. but at least for the first couple of years congressional republicans were trying to reign him back in. they aren't any longer. first, there's no way to unwind the president's backwards strategy on russia with the current scandal in ukraine. everything the president has done to weaken ukraine has strengthened russia. and so it may be republicans are circling the wagons right now on ukraine and russia in order to defend what the president has done with respect to his corruption in ukraine. th

host: that was chris murphy, a democrat talking about there two thirds,it takes -- there are senatorsunning ads supporting the idea of supporting -- impeaching the president, republicans for the rule of law. nixon obstructed congress, republicans in his own party stood up to him. thef we refuse to recommend president should be impeached because of his defiance of congress, future respondents will be in a position where they can determine what they will provide in impeachment inquiries what they are not going to provide. >> there is no valid claim to ignore our subpoenas. if we do not pass this article today, the impeachment power becomes meaningless. president trump refuses to comply with congressional subpoenas. republican group advocating for impeachment of the president. if you are a republican who agrees and you support impeachment, your line is 202-748-8001. if you are a democrat who opposes impeaching president trump, 202-748-8000. if you are unsure, 202-748-8002. againste ads being run those 31 democrats in the house who won in trump districts in against one of them is joe cunn

with vice president pence in warsaw and on september 5th he met with senator ron johnson senator chris murphy in kiev in one of these meetings the president selenski raise any concern about linkage between security assistance and investigations in particular the september 5th meeting with senator johnson and senator murphy is notable because they're not part of the trump administration and president selenski could be candid with them what did occur during those 55 days were historic effort by ukraine's parliament called the rada to implement anti-corruption reform. president pants had pressed president lenski about these reforms during their september 1st meeting in their depositions ambassador taylor lout of presidents lindsey's rapid reforms and national security council official morrison testified that during a meeting in kieve he noted that everyone in the ukrainian side of the table was exhausted because they had been up all night working on these reforms on september 11th president trump discussed the matter with vice president pence senator portman portman and acting chief of staff mov

senator chris murphy says the china trade deal appears to be a total capitulation, the trade war costerica 300,000 jobs and in exchange china made 0 hard commitment for reform, what a disaster. >> it is similar to chuck schumer's tweet. the impeachment it was became so poisonous a lot of democrats were supporting donald trump explicitly. nancy pelosi, chuck schumer sent several tweets, chuck schumer even criticized the president for being too soft on china. today he called it a sellout, this is what you have to keep in mind, they don't know what the deal is beside the small group of people, 86 pages, 9 chapters, very detailed, took a long time to negotiate so i would say if this were not going on we would have some congratulations. nancy pelosi and senator schumer, his story breakthrough that will benefit a lot of democratic workers. i suspect these voters will go for donald trump because he delivered the campaign promise, democrats may be making a mistake, instead of saying congratulations we all wanted this, some of these democrats are bitter because it used to be a democratic party

. >> democratic senator chris murphy tweeted, quote, today republican say we should observe the clinton impeachment rules and open the trial without agreement on witnesses. then, when the trial begins they will tell us how different this is than the clinton impeachment and we can't have witnesses. republicans call impeachment a political charade. >> these were bad people, these were evil people. >> the president addressed federal officials who prosecuted his former advisers, refused to rule out a pardon for roger stone, a court convicted him for obstructing a congressional investigation and lying under oath. >> it is tough what they did to roger stone compared to what they do to other people on their side. it is very tough when you're fisa court is involved. >> the fisa court can improve federal wiretaps in a secret judicial process. earlier this month the justice department inspector general criticized investigators use of the courts to secure wiretap of carter page, former trump campaign official. the president also touted an updated trade agreement with mexico and canada and limited

. >> rich: democratic senator, chris murphy tweeted "open the trial without witnesses.hen, when the trial begins, they will tell us how different this is and we can't have witnesses. "republicans call impeachment a political charade. the president also addressed federal officials who prosecuted his former advisors. he refused to rule out a party for roger stone. the cou a court convicted him for conducting an federal investigation under oath. >> i think it's very tough what they did to roger stone compared to what they do to other people. on their side. i think it's very tough, the fisa court in your top judges very much involved and hopefully they're going to do something about it. >> the fisa court can infuse dominic federal wiretaps. earlier this month the justice department's inspector general . the president also touted an updated agreement with mexico and a limited deal with china, which he says he could signed very shortly. >> mike: tensions rise ahead of the possible christmas gift from north korea. one leader that seems optimistic is president trump. those comm

. >> rich: democratic senator, chris murphy tweeted "open the trial without witnesses.hen, when the trial begins, they will tell us how different this is and we can't have witnesses. "republicans call impeachment a political charade. the president also addressed federal officials who prosecuted his former advisors. he refused to rule out a party for roger stone. the court convicted him at last month for obstructing an investigation and lying under oath. >> president trump: i think it's very tough what they did to roger compared to what they do to other people on their side. i think it's very tough. hopefully they are going to do something about it. speak to pfizer crud fisa courte federal wiretaps. the president also touted an updated agreement with mexico and a limited deal with china, which he says he could signed very shortly. >> mike: tensions rise ahead of the possible christmas gift from north korea. one leader that seems optimistic is president trump. those comments coming after a christmas message for american forces stationed around the world. reports from the

senator chris murphy of connecticut telling the hill newspaper "i'm super interested in a discussion what our health care looks like ten or 20 years from now but the most important thing democrats can do is make sure that everybody knows how the donald trump trying to destroy the effort they have. it's much better off talking about the president's efforts to sabotage the health care system. he seems to be bemoaning that his party hasn't done enough. is that because democrats are too focused on medicare for all which pulls them left instead of figuring out how to improve obamacare? >> absolutely. i couldn't agree more with the senator. the democrats misstep here so far as they have not learned the effort from 2018 which they won by appealing in the suburbs and focusing like a laser on issues like health care. they will have to do that again if they want to win in 2020 and the way they are talking about it now with conversations about $50 trillion health care plans on taking away people's private insurance is not going to work. that's why we see bloomberg in the race. i wouldn't agree

give testimony i think is a total abdication of our responsibility connecticut democratic senator chris murphy says senate rules should require a fair and impartial hearing of the case against the president is just amazing to me that mcconnell proudly telegraph to the country. >>that he's taking all of his marching orders from donald trump but the president told reporters christmas eve. it's the house democrats who have been unfair. >>they didn't give us to process lawyer that you give us any now they come to the senate and they want everything the president says he's counting on senator mcconnell to provide him a fair trial. but speaker of the house nancy pelosi still hasn't said if form when she plans to send the senate the articles of impeachment hopefully of >>they'll be on the way over trump on the house and senate won't return to capitol hill until after the new year. >>reporting in washington, i'm morgan right. >>taking you to see the pope for getting a look at the sounds of the christmas eve service at the vatican tonight. >>miss the opportunity to wish you a merry christmas you. >>and

you heard senator chris murphy on "morning joe" last week when asked by will geist about whether or notere republicans in the senate who would jump ship. there were republicans in fact that were willing and looking to do that? >> there are certainly a few that i think they're hoping to pull over and that would be the more moderate numbers you don't see as frequently out there defending the president. i think there's actually more -- at least in my conversations, a fear that republicans are becoming more and more united. you have mitch mcconnell and lindsey graham kind of working on making those republicans who might be flipped be more resolute in deciding that the president should not be impeached, and that's what sources have been telling me this week and kind of gearing up how they would address if, you know, republicans are going to subpoena schiff and kind of do like the tactics of responding back, but you know, we saw it in the house when schiff and others were trying to convince republicans to kind of come on board with impeachment, you didn't really see any tables turning. so it

senator chris murphy scathing on twitter. the attack on our embassy in baghdad is horrifying but predictable. trump has rendered america impotent in the middle east. no one fears us. no one listens to us. america has been reduced to huddling in safe rooms hoping the bad guys will go away. what a disgrace. all of this as president trump continues to hammer house speaker nancy pelosi on his impeachment. tweeting, they produced no case. so now she doesn't want to go to the senate. she's all lies. most overrated person i know. trump also claiming that democrats will do anything to avoid a trial in the senate in order to protect sleepy joe biden. >> brianna, back to the embassy in iraq, the president made the benghazi comparison on twitter a short time ago writing the anti-benghazi. white house are encouraged by the talks but they are ready for anything, brianna. >> boris, thank you so much. in west palm beach, florida, for us. i want to bring in arwa damon from istanbul and the u.s. is sending in additional forces, this includes

vice president pence in warsaw, and on september 5th he met with senator ron johnson, senator chris murphy in kyiv. in any of these meetings did the president raise concerns about security linkage and investigations. in particular, the september 5th meeting with senator johnson and senator murphy is notable because they are not part of the trump administration and president zelensky could be candid with them. what did occur during those 55 days was historic effort in reform. vice president pence pressed e president zelensky about these, and tim morrison testified that during a meeting in kyiv, everybody on their side of the table were exhausted because they had been up all night working on these forms. president trump met with vice president pence and acting chief of staff mick mulvaney. they discussed whether ukraine's absence was enough to release the security assistance. he thaefd he was also armed during a conversation andly. the president, then, lifted the hole. in concluding this mommy. the president was skeptical to foreign atsz answer generally and he believed our allies should sha

one senate democrat chris murphy writes on twitter "i know how this goes.oday republicans say we should observe the impeachment rules and open the trial without an agreement on witnesses. then when the trial begins, they will tell us how different this is than that clinton impeachment and we can have witnesses. both houses of congress is out so this impasse is very likely to continue. >> mike: which house democrats are considering more articles of impeachment? >> if this came in a federal filing from house democrats and they say they want the court of appeals to enforce the subpoena to get the former white house counsel don began to appear and testify. they write in that filing "mcgann's testimony is also important to the investigations into presidential misconduct and consideration and whether to recommend additional articles of impeachment. the justice department is urging that court to scrap this trial in the lawsuit because they say the house has already voted on articles of impeachment. at the presidents ally and republican senator lindsey graham is tw

listen to democratic senator chris murphy who says the senate has a small chance of convicting and removing trump from office, despite the fact that some republicans may be on boefrard. >> have you spoken to a single republican colleague in the senate who's even considering voting for impeachment? >> yes. >> you have? >> yes, >> okay. >> would you like to name him? >> how many? >> it's a small list on one hand. by the way, i don't buy this secret ballot thing. if there was a secret ballot, there would still be a handful who would vote to impeach this guy. >> given what we know, five republicans who might vote to remove the president at max -- >> i think that's probably right. >> now, we should note it would take 67 votes to convict trump, meaning at least 20 of the 53 senate republicans would have to dare to join the ranks of the democrats. >> right. >> but joe, when you see that and hear that, and you're a member of the republican party, what do the republicans now say that they stand for? if you're saying that you heard the evidence that the president did it, the president said he did it,

however, other senators, notably chris murphy from connecticut made a comment saying we need to make a decision. we need to make this decision in the house -- or in the senate and hear this evidence. so you're kind of seeing a bit of a division line in the democratic party as to how to move forward and when to move forward on the issue of impeachment. >> okay. so if you're keeping score here who do you think is winning right now when it comes to the witness question, democrats or republicans? >> you know, it's hard to say right now. i think democrats are in a bit of a difficult place because they want -- you know, you heard schumer trying to get mick mulvaney or john bolton to come and testify and if you look at the past track record of white house officials coming to testify we know that they have definitely stonewalled that in the past. i think democrats are going to have a very uphill climb at this point. >> if they do somehow get their way and see some of the four people that they want to testify, would republicans then also get their choice to who will testify, which could inclu

but first, senator chris murphy joins the table. that's ahead on "morning joe." joins the table.rning joe." ♪ there are things we would change about work. and there are things we wouldn't. ♪ when work is worth it. work is worth it. work can be closer to home... pay more... make us proud. careerbuilder. work can work. find your work at careerbuilder.com (loud fan noise) (children playing) ♪ (music building) experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln 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. so why treat your mouth any differently? listerine® completes the job by preventing plaque, early gum disease, and killing up to 99.9% of germs. try listerine®. need stocking stuffers? try listerine® ready! tabs™. i need all the breaks, that i can get. need stocking stuffers? at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪ everybod

spoke with president trump, july 26th he melt with voluker, pence and senator ron johnson, senator chris murphy in kyiv. in none of these meetings did president zelensky raise any concerns about linkage between security assistance and investigations. in particular the september 5th meeting is notable because they're not partot of the trump administration and president zelensky could be candid with them. what did occur during those 55 days were historic efforts to implement anti-corruption form. vice president penceru had presd president zelensky about these reforms during their september 1st meeting. morrison testified that he noted that everyone on the ukrainian side of the table was exhausted because they had been up all night working on these reforms. president trump discussed the matter with pence, senator portman ande, acting chief of staff mulmulvaney. they discussed whether ukraine's progress on anti-corruption reformpt was enough to justify releasing the security assistance. morrison testified that vice president pence was obviously armed withsl the conversation h had with president zel

i asked this week on morning joe one democratic senator, chris murphy, if he knew of any republicans in the senate who might vote for a conviction. he said there were probably a handful, but not enough to convict the president. where does this all leave us right now? >> it's a good question. it feels like we're inevitably headed towards going through the articles and going through the trial. but no one quite noknows how it will play out. i think the democrats are going to be drawing up articles of impeachment, focused on what they want -- what case they want to make in a senate trial. but i think at the same time they're going to draw four or five different articles. essentially enough so that some democrats can vote against some things during the '98 impeachment you had republicans that voted out four articles of impeachment and only two made it into the senate trial. only two articles got voted out of the house that may be what we're looking at here, at least where speaker pelosi gives some of those trump district democrats articles to vote against even if she really wants to make

vice president pence in warsaw and on september 5th, he met with senator ron johnson, senator chris murphy and in none of these meetings did he raise any concern about a linkage between security assistance and investigations. in particular, the september 5th meeting with senator johnson and senator murphy is notable because they are not part of the trump administration and he could be candid with them. what did occur during those 55 days or historic efforts by ukraine of parliament to implement anticorruption reform. vice president pence had pressed president zelensky about these reforms during their september 1st meeting. in their deposition, ambassador taylor lau did his rapid reforms and national security council official morrison testified that during the meeting that he noted everyone on the ukrainian side of the table was exhausted as they had been up all night working on these reforms. on september 11th, president trump discussed the matter with vice president pence, senator portman, and acting chief of staff mulvaney. according to tim morrison's testimony, they discussed whether uk

one senate democratic chris murphy of connecticut writes "i know how this goes. today republicans say we should observe the clinton impeachment rules and open the trial without an agreement on witnesses, then when the trial begins, they will tell us how different this is than the clinton impeachment, and that we can't have witnesses." democrats and republicans argue over the impeachment articles at the house already passed, house democrats suggest they could pursue more impeachment articles against president trump. in a court filing yesterday they say the u.s. court of appeals should enforce their subpoena for former white house counsel don mcgahn to testify, writing "mcgahn's testimony is relevant to the committee's ongoing investigations into presidential misconduct and consideration of whether to recommend additional articles of impeachment." the justice department urged the court instead to throw out the lawsuit. they say that the articles have been voted on, so that it should end there. >> julie: and it will not, thank you very much. let's bring in boyd math

the president is banking on acquittal by a republican led senate but today democratic senator chris murphy suggested there's some possible cracks in the republican firewall. >> have you spoken to a single republican colleague in the senate who's even considering voting for impeachment? >> yes. >> you have? >> yes. >> okay, would you like to name them? >> how many? >> it's a small list on one h d hand. >> he didn't say full hand. he said it could fit on that hand. i'm joined by congresswoman debbie who serves on the house judiciary committee. jill colvin white house reporter for the associated press, chuck rosenberg. it's great to have you right here in the room with us. what do you make of the president's no mas. i'm not going to talk, i've had it? >> we've actually given him the opportunity to come and present his side of the story. but if you notice they're not contesting the evidence or facts because they cannot say anything about the evidence that has been presented which is very damning for the president. >> let me ask you about that because we've all watched criminal cases on televis

but yesterday senator chris murphy of-conduct alert connect this mailing. white christmas card, a little red christmas card and a copof the crazy six page letter trump sent to nancy pelosi the other day. now, trump was very proud of that letter. he tweeted earlier this week he got, quote, good marks and reviews on it. wow, good job mr. trump. but it was more than just the letter that had people scratching their heads, it was melania signature on the christmas card which looked super similar to her husband's. the investigation is thing 2 in 60 seconds. e investigation is t 60 seconds >>> now, no one would ever accuse melania trump of copying someones work although there was that one time she delivered michelle's obama speech at the rnc. >> your word is your bond that you treat people with dignity and respect. >> that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect. >> that's a thing that happened in our lives that we saw. that we forgot about i guess. but now everyone's wondering what's going on with h

. >> staying in the hearing and staying in the senate, kevin, chris murphy was saying, i may have hade five at maximum republican senators that might be thinking otherwise from that which has been said so far. is that a possibly when we do get to the senate, the date senate theoretically we will have some cracks or more moderation in some spaces here because you need 51 votes to move forward when it comes to process in the hearing. >> there's some soft support. i think if there was a movement for censure, i think you'd see some republican senators actually move that way. to impeach and remove there's no chance of that happening now. you need a supermajority for that obviously and the senate -- even the soft trump supporting senators haven't made enough noise to make that anywhere near a possibility so i think it's interesting, it's a look at the 31 democrats and the house in trump districts. new polling has it that, you know, impeach and remove is as much as 60% unpopular this those states or distributes. we don't know what the articles are going to be but right now, democrats don't h

give testimony i think is a total abdication of our responsibility connecticut democratic senator chris murphy says senate rules should require a fair and impartial hearing of the case against the president is just amazing to me that mcconnell proudly telegraph to the country. >>that he's taking all of his marching orders from donald trump but the president told reporters christmas eve. it's the house democrats who have been unfair. >>they didn't give us to process lawyer that now they come to the senate and they want everything the president says he's counting on senator mcconnell to provide him a fair trial. but speaker of the house nancy pelosi still hasn't said if form when she plans to send the senate the articles of impeachment old boy of they'll be on the way over trump on the house and senate won't return to capitol hill until after the new year. >>reporting in washington, i'm morgan right. >>democratic presidential candidate michael bloomberg's campaign has cut ties with the company that reportedly use prison labor to make campaign calls for him this comes after the intercept reported

democratic senator chris murphy this morning hinting at the possibility of a crack or two emerging among senate republicans. >> have you spoken to a single republican colleague in the senate who's even considering voting for impeachment? >> yes. >> you have? >> yes. >> okay. would you like to name him or her? >> how many? >> it's a small list on one hand. >> that may explain some of the new reporting in "the washington post" in the white house's urgent campaign to defend the president in the senate. quote, a white house spokesman said friday that trump welcomes a trial in the republican-led senate and plans to bring forward serious witnesses including the anonymous whistle-blower who sparked the impeachment inquiry, house intel committee chairman adam schiff, and joe and hunter biden. that's where we start today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. neal katyal, former acting u.s. solicitor general joins us. with us on set former managing editor for "time magazine" rick stengel is back. eli stokols. former u.s. attorney joyce vance at the table. and nbc and nbc john heilemann.

. >> senator chris murphy, i appreciate your time this morning. thank you for being with us. we want to go over to house speaker nancy pelosi on the other side of the capital taking questions from reporters. let's listen. >> but for us, we didn't know what day it would be, but the trade representative, ambassador lighthouser, who was quite remarkable to work with, he understood why we could not accept the trump administration product. and he wanted to get this signed by the mexicans and the canadians. when you're dealing with something like this, it could be perishable. so he wanted to close while we were all in agreement and, therefore, we are -- we came to agreement. >> madam speaker -- >> again, the idea of timing on this was that notification was offered that we might get there, so that we had to prepare with the mexican president and canadian prime minister as i noted earlier, the ambassador and the speaker cautioned him on saturday. i was witness to the conversation on the phone. he was very anxious and she said we need another confirmation phone call, which took place.

if you're in comedy a, eddie murphy is one of the kings. chrishappelle walk in and said the greatest comedian of all time and chappelle talked about eddie murphy. this is this torch passing with so many comedians, but i saw comedian joy coy who's filipino last night. he said eddie murphy is the reason i got into comedy. so many were tweeting that and talking about how much of an influence he was. it's a huge risk for eddie murphy to go back and recreate those characters, because what it it doesn't know well. everybody thinks it went really well. >> we talked yesterday about the pressure. is this eddie murphy who is going to be eddie murphy of 35 years ago, is it applicable because comedy that may have been 'em bragsd then, the way in which it was delivered may not sit well with audiences today. so how did you see him handling it? mr. robinson's gentrification, how did you see that applying to today's audiences. >> that's what you saw, you saw the classics that he made relevant to today. so what he did was take those sketches and wrap them around

on september 5th he met with senator ron johnson, senator chris murphy in kiev. in none of these meetings did president zelensky raise any concern about linkage between security assistance and investigations. in particular the september 5th meeting with senator johnson and senator murphy is notable because they're not part of the trump administration and president zelensky could be candid with them. what did occur during those 55 days were historic efforts by ukraine's parliament to implement anti-corruption reform. vice president pence pressed president zelensky about these reforms during their september 1st meeting. in their depositions ambassador taylor lauded refornls and morrison testified during a meeting in kiev they noted everyone on the ukrainian side of the table was exhausted because they had been up all night working on these reforpz. on september 11th president trump discussed the matter with vice president pence, senator portman and acting chief of staff mulvaney. according to tim morrison's testimony they discussed whether ukraine's progress on ant

[cheering] at this time, it is my honor to introduce chris murphy.t is a hard act to follow. this is one of movement looks like, right? i am not dressed for the rain but i am dressed for a movement. what i know is that they are going to increasingly be here because they cannot beat us out there. they are going to try to get the courts to protect them because the voters one upper deck them any longer. because we come up for the first time in a long time, we the anti-gun violence movement are finally stronger than the gun lobby is. that is why we are flipping seats all over the country. why we have these guys running for the hills. retiring in droves. stope are not going to because here is what i know -- i know is a student of history that the great social change movements are not the ones that gave up when they hit an obstacle. they are not the ones that would help when they hit a bump in the road. the great social change movements, the ones you read about in history books are the ones that knew about the righteousness of their cause, that knew that t

. >> chris murphy tweeted, the republican party is becoming the most important global asset of russianra scratching their head over it. the pragmatic answer to it is if russia did it and everyone knows they did it to help donald trump, republicans who are putting on the red jacket to quote congressman kingston, they have to defend russia, right? if russia is innocent, so is donald trump. is this pure partisanship, do you think something is going on with the party? >> well, it sounds like it is very much a colt like partisanship and also it is important to point out that it did not just start now. it started back with russia if you are listening and it never stopped. i am sure if you remember and reported on this that republicans went to celebrate 4th of july in russia and they actually said they're going there to build a rapport and the russian state media repeatedly talked about donald trump being held back by the mueller investigations from being able to move forward with restoring good relationships with russia, although there never was a good relationship but what they really mean

>> at this time, it is my honor to introduce, senator chris murphy from connecticut. [ cheering ] >>right? [ cheering ] >> now i am not dressed for the rain, but i am dressed for a movement, right? and listen, what i know is that they are going to increasingly be here because they can't beat us out there. [ cheering ] >> they're going to get the courts to protect them because the voters won't protect them any longer. because we, for the first time in a long time, we, the anti-gun violence movement is finally stronger than the gun lobby is. [ cheering ] >> that's why we're flipping seats all over the country. right? that's why we have these guys running for the hills and retiring in drefs and we aren't going to stop because here's what i know. i know as a student of history that the great social change movements are not the ones that gave up when they hit an obstacle, right? they're not the ones that went home when they hit a bump in the road. the great social change movements and the ones that you read about in the history books, those are the ones that you knew that the status quo w

on september 5th he met with senator ron johnson, senator chris murphy in kiev. in none of these meetings did president zelensky raise any concern about linkage between security assistance and investigations. in particular the september 5th meeting with senator johnson and senator murphy is notable because they're not part of the trump administration and president zelensky could be candid with them. what did occur during those 55 days were historic efforts by ukraine's parliament to implement anti-corruption reform. vice president pence pressed president zelensky about these reforms during their september 1st meeting. in their depositions ambassador taylor lauded refornls and morrison testified during a meeting in kiev they noted everyone on the ukrainian side of the table was exhausted because they had been up all night working on these reforpz. on september 11th president trump discussed the matter with vice president pence, senator portman and acting chief of staff mulvaney. according to tim morrison's testimony they discussed whether ukraine's progress on ant

senator, i want to ask you a question that i asked chris murphy here last week. in thouse but the nat would never vote to quiskts the president. i'll ask you what i asked senator murphy. in your brift conversatiprivate did you talk to republicans who may vote to convict president trump? >> they look at their shoes. they are very quiet. they don't have even to say about it. because they will realize what this president did and then released for the public to read was a clear skags that he windi that he was asking the president of ukraine to investigate my political opponents and couple with my friend rudy giuliani in the process. i mean, the president has already disclosed this to the american people long before the house had its first hearing. and now we have a situation where the administration is refusing to provide documents or witnesses to the impeachment committee as subpoenas somewhere requested. if we reach a point where any president can basically to stonewall congress, the impeachment article disappears. >> senator murphy said there was a small handful o

. >> i think there was senator chris murphy that was on last week. >> right. >> it was pretty surprisingsturbing to hear the head of the jury say that he is coordinating with the defendant. that's essentially what is happening here. mitch mcconnell is going to have a hard road to figure out. he has some vulnerable senators in his caucus. we are talking about tillis. we are talking about gardner. we are talking about the congresswoman from maine. >> susan collins. >> susan collins, i'm so sorry. >> can you imagine collins, if collins has to go before maine voters. >> exactly. >> giving donald trump a pass on extorting a leader and holding up congressional funding for dirt on joe biden. along with her -- i mean she is in an untenable position. if she votes against impeachment and removal there's no way she will be re-elected. >> right. and that's something senator mitch mcconnell has to think about because you are putting those vulnerable senators in a difficult place. if your oath is to donald trump and not to the country. >> i think mitch mcconnell will do what a lot of leaders do, and i

chris? >> he was missing the beautiful, contagious reaction shot of murphy as mr. robinson. when he says it. i've studied the wind.

murphy, this was it. to me, i loved the monologue when you had chris rock, tracy morgan come on stage, dave chappelle, andto eddie murphy for blazing the trail for them. as comedians do, they made fun of him a little bit. i also loved "mr. robinson's neighborhood," the sketch. i looked at one they did 35 years ago and he talked about white flight. this was jaefted, talked -- updated, talked about gentrification. it was timely, well done. i hope he comes back much more often annually would be great to see him back. >> yeah. i'd like you to go more into that. i was really impressed how they were able to take those iconic characters that we know so well and apply them to the current time. and the "mr. robinson" sketch is a perfect example of that, talking about gentrification. how much did that impress you the way the writers were able to weave in everything that we loved about those old characters but make them relevant to what we're dealing with today? >> well, that's -- the writing staff at "snl" is phenomenal. what they do when old, you know, famous hosts come back who have been on the show years and yea