colin peterson from minnesota where the president won by 30 points. jeff van drew 5 points. he is expected to become a republican and jeff said he sat with the republicans. those have already been seen voting you're not seeing a big shift. the article is over welcomely approved, more than -- well, far more than they needed. only needing 214. >> jeff bennett, we are looking at the skroens shows the time remaining is zero. and the numbers appear to signal adoption of the first article. what more takes place before they announce it? >> they will give a few more moments especially on a historic night like tonight. they will give more time for the non-voting members to show up if they haven't made their way to the house floor to register votes. but, yes, democrats at this point are 10 beyond the 216 that they would need. and on a typical night this night 214. so this night they have the votes they need to move forward on this article of impeachment and shortly after the article 2. >> nancy pelosi has taken up her seat again? >> she has. she is now -- she now intends po preside ov

two democrats voting against, jeff van drew and colin peterson.t republican vote, mary, something of a surprise. it is congressman rooney of florida? can you tell yet? >> george, that is a complete surprise and we are still waiting to figure out who has crossed party lines. because, of course, republicans so far have been completely united in lock step with the president, as we saw today. all of the republicans were expected to oppose impeachment. you mentioned there were those two democrats who broke ranks, joining republicans in opposing impeachment, that is congressman van drew of new jersey who has announced plans to actually leave the democratic party entirely and join republicans. and colin peterson of minnesota, a district that donald trump won by 30 points. but as of now, donald trump joins the ranks of history as just the third president ever in american history to be impeached, a stain that will forever be on his legacy, george. >> second article of impeachment voted on next, obstruction of congress. jon karl, the president had been hold

one is minnesota's colin peterson. >> i just don't agree with it. >> reporter: the other is new jersey'svan drew, who is poised to switch parties this week. he gained a new democratic opponent today, even as he lost most of his d.c. staffers. >> good afternoon, everyone. >> reporter: both sides are orrding for the senate trial to come. in a letter, democratic leader chuck schumer argued the senate should subpoena four witnesses who did not appear before the house. >> trials have witnesses. that's what trials are all about. >> reporter: republicans noted that schumer voted against key witnesses during the clinton impeachment trial. why do you feel differently this time around? >> the witnesses in '99 had already been given, had already given grand jury testimony. we knew what they would say. the four witnesses we have called have not been heard from. >> reporter: republican leader mitch mcconnell has advocated for a faster trial, possibly without witnesses. like schumer, his views on this issue appear to have evolved since 1999 when it was a democratic president facing impeachment. norah?

we know one from michigan is planning to vote against impeachment, colin peterson from the minnesota said that publicly. there are 30, 31 democrats in districts that resident trump carried into thousand 16 and they will be considering their position. most of them had said they will vote to support impeachment, still a small number who are perhaps on defence a little bit more but nancy pelosi has done a pretty good job, hasn't she, of getting her caucus on side, persuading as vulnerable democrats that this is the right thing to do and that's not an easy thing to do and that's not an easy thing for them in that district expect those districts because it could spend the end —— spell the end of their political careers. back to the count, so far we have democrats saying yes on the first article, abuse of power, 144 we are it. we have one democrat saying no, we knew that was going to happen. a democrat from newjersey —— newjersey whose cross to the republican side and we have 85 saying no, one independent saying yes. the tally, at the moment, i said 218, gary is right, there are a few memb

colin peterson, from minnesota.from new jersey, best what? now becoming appears a moderate republican from new jersey. switching parties. something the president is pretty happy about this morning. rachel: absolutely tweeting this morning, saying thank you for all your honesty, jeff. all the democrats know you are right but unlike you they don't have the guts to say so. ed: widely reported now as this impeachment circus moves forward you think about it a democrat who voted against the inquiry was ready to vote against impeachment. he said his party has gone so far on hatred for trump. he is leaving the party all together. we talked all the time about 31 democrat in house distributes. it is 30 now. change all the full screens across the network. one say i'm done with it together. i'm becoming a republican. look at evidence before you. you can have all the editorials you want. all the networks resisting here in this town but that is evidence. rachel: not at all what the democrats had expected. they thought they would

. >> only two, colin peterson. david: against peach typ impeact now. >> chad thank you. >> we'll have more tomorrow with colorado congressman ken buck, on the judiciary committee, and actor mark ruffalo calling to over throw the system that made him a multimillionaire, caroll roth takes him to task for this, we ask her about that, coming next. female anchor: it's 6:39, time for 'news update' male anchor: ...an update on the cat who captured our hearts. female anchor: how often should you clean your fridge? stay tuned to find out. male anchor: beats the odds at the box office to become a rare non-franchise hit. you can give help and hope to those in need. hey fred - it's medicare open enrollment.e. time to compare plans. we're fine with what we have. that's what the johnsons thought until they tried medicare's new plan finder. the johnsons?. we saved a lot on our prescription costs and got extra benefits. how 'bout it, fred. plans change every year. use the new plan finder at medicare.gov . comparing plans really pa

jeff andrew of new jersey and colin peterson of minnesota. they represent districts president trump won in 2016. unless there's a flood of defection to follow, the president will formally be impeached and face trial in the senate. that trial is expected to start in january. if you expect a thorough and impartial trial, you may not want to hold your breath. republicans aren't even pretending that's what will happen. >> a debate going about how a trial should be held in the senate, including whether to have live witnesses. you don't support live witnesses. why? >> i want this to end as quick as possible for the good of the senate, for the good of the country, and i think the best thin for america to do is get this behind us. we know how it is going to end so we can focus on the problems we talked about today. if you don't like president trump, you can vote against him in less than a year. it's not like a politician is unaccountable if you don't impeach him. i think impeachment is going to end quickly in the senate. i would prefer it to end as q

democrats defected as expected, jeff andrew from new jersey who said he is switching parties and colin peterson from minnesota. 0 republicans broke rank. on obstruction of justice almost exactly the same except for democrat jared golden from maine also crossed over and voted no. the only real surprise was the one democrat who voted present, congresswoman in 2020 contender tulsi gabbard who said, quote, i could not in good conscience vote against impeachment because i believe donald trump is guilty of wrongdoing. i also could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting president must not be the culmination of a partisan process. the only other surprise came during the press conference with democratic leadership in which nancy pelosi would not say when she would send the articles of impeachment to the senate for trial. >> we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us. when we see what that is we will send it. >> as for the republicans today they were on message and unified in their defense of donald trump saying he did nothing that rises to the level of high crimes a

and colin peterson from minnesota also voted no.d he said that he is going to be splitting his foot. golden voted no on that and yes on article 1. because he did not want to vote the same way in both. >> ray, i'm just wondering. this is an historic moment on the capital. this is the third time that a president has been impeach. the other two being andrew johnson, and bill clinton. you are in the house. was there is since tonight that you're watching history being made? >> reporter: absolutely. there was a big sense that there is history being made tonight. i think that the thing that stands out though, if you take a look at the division that is in our country right now, between the democrats and republicans, they cannot appear to agree on anything. but they what they do have is party unity. it is extraordinary how nancy pelosi and donald trump are able to control their caucuses so well, to the point where just about all of the democrats voted yes. and all of the republicans voted no. there was no splitting going on here. they were a

the moment we only expect two democrats to break ranks, colin peterson of minnesota, although would not commit that to me today he would vote no on vote. saying he will wait until form to announce his decision and jeff van drew, the new jersey democrat said privately he switched parties. i just caught up hi him and asked if he would switch parties and he refused to say so, when he would make his decision and contended it wasn't about his own political future and the fact he's getting blowback within his own district because of his positions on impeachment. at the moment democratic leaders believe essentially the members are falling in line even though they did not whip the vote and the urge party members to vote expect it to come down along party lines as republicans are expected to vote in unison against the two articles and democrats except for a couple expected to vote to impeach the president, brooke. >> back to the point about calling witnesses looking ahead to the senate trial. manu, we know the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell rejected chuck schumer's request for the four

colin peterson from arizona. yes on one, no on the other.abbert voting present on both, that was the bipartisan side on the noes on the articles of impeachment that the president stands impeached by the house tonight. let's bring in the panel. amy stoddard, associate editor of real clear politics and the publisher at the federalists. okay, we don't have a road map for what happens now. do we have a sense how long nancy pelosi may hold on to these articles and what that means? >> right, there's debate before they concluded this process. quick and narrow or wait -- wait for the courts to weigh in. weight for john bolton and other witnesses. wait for this rudy giuliani caper to unfold. he's under investigation by the southern district of new york which he ran 20 years ago. he's under investigation by the fbi. his ukrainian cronies who have been indicted have a russian funding stream that is indirectly funding the president's election meddling in ukraine. not a pressure. all not a part of this impeachment. all a part of waiting this out. nancy p

you and colin peterson were the only two that voted no on both articles.ne other voted no on one article. so post-impeachment vote what are you feeling today? what struck but the impeachment. you were a no going into it, you told us going into it a month ago. >> exactly. how i feel today, i feel good. i feel i did the honorable thing. i feel i did what was right for me and right for the country. i heard lindsey a little while ago. this impeachment is thin impeachment doesn't really mean anything much to most of the american people. it has been a long, dark, shadow on our country. folks are tired. i really believe folks are tired of it. they're tired of hours and hours and hours of time that has been spent on it. they're tired of the millions of dollars that have been spent on it. they want to move forward. maria, we have so many important issues. yes we've done a few. no doubt, we're doing a few. there are some more. whether election security. whether it is better care for our veterans. whether it is a host of other issues. i could go through one after ano

me earlier today that he's not prepared to move forward on articles of impeachment as well as colin peterson signaling he wasn't going to be there either. some democrats are moving too broadly on the articles of impeachment and that's max rose of new york. he got behind supporting moving forward on the impeachment inquiry and narrowly focused on the issue of ukraine. they may go beyond ukraine and include other elements of the president's behavior and namely how he sought to undermine the mueller probe as detailed in the mueller report. a lot of democrats want that included in the articles of impeachment as part of obstruction of justice, but some democrats are worried about going too far, so that debate, erin, going to take place behind the scenes as democrats draft multiple articles of impeachment and those could happen before christmas. >> manu, thank you very much. out front tonight assistant house speaker congressman ben luhan. you saw the speaker today and she was walking away from the podium when she decided to return on this issue of hating the president. she felt she wanted to do th

jared golden, colin peterson, and jeff van drew.rmally joined the republican party and pledging his "undieing support for president trump." our last question was will we learn any details about the rules and schedule of the senate trial that will follow? as we talked about it at the top of the show, the answer to that is no, no. joining me now is carol and barbara. you have new reporting about why president trump so sure, excuse me, carroll, that ukraine worked to defeat him in 2016. you point to a private meeting in 2017 not with president trump and any of his advisors, but trump and putin at the g 20. >> that is right, stephanie, one of the thing that's is really disconcerting, is that they could not talk him off of this ledge about ukraine meddling in the 2016 election. he insisted to one former senior advisor that putin told him this and that basically trump believed putin over all of his advisors, against all of his most senior leaders in the intelligence community. remember the u.s. has the best intelligence in the world and h

going to see at least a couple of democrats, i'm thinking of jeff van drew in new jersey and colin peterson in minnesota, who are in trump friendly districts. i can't imagine them voting in favor of impeachment. jeff van drew has sounded a lot more like a republican than a democrat throughout this whole inquir inquiry. he kept saying he doesn't see it as an important, doesn't want an inquiry, it's a distraction, et cetera. you have other swing district democrats, notably abigail spamberger in virginia and alyssa slotkin in virginia, who have national security backgrounds and went out on a limb to write an op-ed in "the washington post" calling for an impeachment inquiry, and i think that they will stick with the party. now, i could be wrong. i don't have a crystal ball but it's been interesting to me to see just how unified the democrats have been throughout this process. let's face it, we have a lot of evidence amassed by the intelligence committee and we're all going to get a look at it in what i expect to be a coherent and dramatic narrative about the president's conduct with respect to

jeff andrew of new jersey and colin peterson of minnesota. th

colin peterson, democrat from minnesota from a district, he is from a district in minnesota that president drew just indicated he will vote today as a democrat. maybe make announcement later. he will indicate he will switch to the republican party. he will vote as a democrat. he is expected to vote no. jared golden a freshman democrat from maine. he will split his vote. vote one way on abuse of power. he is yes on that one. no on obstruction of congress. that is real swing district in maine. he won in run off, one of maine's four electoral votes went to president trump. that vote represent what that district and state is like up there. then it will go to the senate. we expect the house to take a separate vote later tonight on the resolution which impanels impeachment managers. it sends paperwork to the senate. i'm told they might not physically send paperwork over tonight. this is not only thing that is going on capitol hill in the past hour. i have gotten a little bit of intelligence what happens tomorrow. the usmca will be debated in the house of representatives, probably in the late mor

another is colin peterson of minnesota. then there's one democrat who announced last night, gerard bolden of maine, he's going to be voting yes on aye bus of power, but no on obstruction of congress. he feels the house didn't wait long enough to win some of these court cases before they took the next step. >> very interesting indeed, nancy. want to bring major back in. this becomes -- the president has said to those you will rue the day at the ballot box. >> you can't separate politics from this. it has a quasi judicial aspect to it. doug collins said this is controlled by a clock and calendar. speaker pelosi wanted to wrap it up by the end of the year. she had options to go to court. adam schiff said no, that would take way too long. the courts have proven if you establish an impeachment process courts will rule on an expedited basis. this could have taken longer, the clock and charges that could unify the democratic caucus drove most of the process. that doesn't mean it's illegitimate. you have to acknowledge that politic

so far only two of those vulnerable democrats, minnesota's colin peterson and new jersey's jeff van drewdrew confirmed today he is considering switching parties. one of the democrats' declared yes votes is elissa slotkin from michigan who faced a rowdy town hall in her district, a district that trump won in 2016. >> i hope you believe me that i made this decision out of principle and out of a duty to protect and defend the constitution. i feel that in my bones and i will stick to that regardless of what it does to me politically. >> and congresswoman slotkin joins me now. congresswoman, good for you for that town hall. i know they're harder and harder to do these days because they're not really a cross-section of your constituency, they're just politically, active, organized people. that seems to be a better way to announce that. let me ask you this. how much should public opinion matter on something like this? >> well, of course it should matter. this is one of the biggest things we'll be voting on as members of congress. it's a big deal for the country. so i think it's been important t

there's colin peterson from minnesota and tulsi gabbert voted present on the first article, abuse of power. now, van drew and peterson also voted no on the second one, which was abuse of congress, and they were joined by jared golden of maine. so all in all there are five names on the democrats' side that either voted present or nay to one or both of those articles. just to keep track. his reaction is ugly early surrounded by people at a rally. pelosi shut his people up twice during the actual proceeding. let's just remind you of what happened. this was during the debate voting period. >> on this vote the yeas are 230, the nays are 197. present is one. article i is adopted. the question is on adoption of article ii. on this vote the yeas are 229, the nays are 198. present is one. article ii is adopted. >> that is a face that any italian child know, the zip it, i don't want to hear it. she has played strength for strength. so where does that leave her right now, though? she did the job. this is compelling. you keep saying he's a continuing national security threat, that's why you had

drew was expected to switch to the republican party, will vote no and also expect potentially colin peterson democrat from minnesota voted against opening the committee will vote no and not telling cnn specifically how he will vote tomorrow. >> lauren, thank you very much. >>> let's discuss what's to come in the next few hours and of course the big day tomorrow. generaler in ner i neer i neee and editor for the "new york times" with us and presidential historian founding director of center for presidential history at sunk methodist university. welcome to all of you. j julie, start with you, what i chatted about with lauren. the big day before the big vote. walk us through what we've seen in the last couple hours with the rules committee and how partisan things have been so far. >> i think that clip you play captured is. this is the rules that set out the guidelines for this debate tomorrow, will come to a vote in the morning seen as a proxy vote on impeachment. by the same token, this is something of a approximateliy debate on impeachment articles hearing both republicans and democrats lay o

there is only one other, colin peterson, democratic congressman from minnesota, who says he is opposed will likely vote for impeachment. there might be a few stragglers, but there's no assurance that congressman van drew is going to win election or even renomination, as a republican. it is a republican-leaning district. in southern new jersey. i bet a lot of other republicans who have worked their way up through the party, are now angling to that, and probably salivating over the chance to run against him. so he may have a tough time in 2020. >> i spoke to the new jersey governor phil murphy just yesterday and he is pretty confident the democrats are able to keep hold of that seat there. david mark, thank you so much. appreciate it. >>> still ahead, senate minority leader chuck schumer is trying to lay out plans for an impeachment trial in the senate. nbc news correspondent lee ann caldwell joins us with what she is hearing from top democrats on the hill. >> plus another check on the forecast. with nbc meteorologist bill karins. your first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment. do

unless you're the one democrat in a district that voted for 30 points for donald trump, which is colin petersona. but those are really increasingly hard to come by in this very polarized era. >> dave, bottom line and very quickly, is the middle just shrinking? is that what we're witnessing? >> yeah. we measured there were 164 swing districts in 1998. today, there are 72. so we have seen a 56% decline in competitive districts. we also have a highly-polarized electorate right now. where, essentially, you've got razor-thin margins deciding american elections. much as, you know, profit margins between two warring, you know, major companies in a certain economic sector are very thin. >> fascinating conversation. dave wasserman. thank you and happy holidays to you. really appreciate it. >> happy holidays. >> ahead, the latest on north korea's, quote, christmas gift for the u.s. plus, why john bolton is slamming the white house over how it's handling the regime. that's when we come back. steyer: i'm about to say two words that will make washington insiders very uncomfortable: term limits. you and i bo

however, it is that state where we see one democratic congressman, colin peterson, who will likely bemocrat who votes against impeachment on both articles. even though we see unemployment, perhaps, rising in his state even though we see the economy may be turning around there, he is still strong in his support for the president, despite being a democrat that speaks exactly to the dichotomy that you're pointing to, contessa. >> krishna, pivoting away from impeachment specifically, how are you at evercore feeling about the markets for next year? >> look, we're pretty upbeat we're seeing signs of global stabilization. that's been a big issue indirectly for the u.s we think that u.s./china trade, the skinny mini deal does get wrapped up midjan and the tensions are reduced through next year, brexit is looking good as well fundamentally, you have the fed on your side even when we get this reassurance on growth, we get to keep today's low rates, potentially for a long time to cop come that is a very exciting combination for risky assets. >> krishna guha and ylan mui, thank you. >>> we'll see

jeff van drew in new jersey, colin peterson in minnesota has voted against the impeachment inquiry, sot wouldn't surprise me if moderates in trump districts across this country end up voting against impeachment. we might not have both articles passed, we might just have one and you know, back when clinton was impeached, the claim of abuse of power never passed the house. so we'll see how it goes. ed: all right. >> democrats are running from this because they know nancy pelosi's got no case. ed: all right, congressman, we appreciate you coming in today. >> thank you, ed. ed: have a good weekend. let's get the democratic side of this with a fox news contributor. >> thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. ed: pick up where the congressman left off. where do you see your property with moderate democrats? is there a concern that several, not just one or two, but several will fall from the party and make it look for difficult for pelosi. >> i imagine the two that didn't quote for the inquiry will stay in the no column. in the last, we've had one from staten, one from dallas and lamb f

. >> minnesota's colin peterson is one of two democrats expected to vote no.er that all eyes will turn to the senate. >> trials have witnesses. >> where democrats are pushing to hear from four witnesses who did not testify before the house, including acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and former national security adviser john bolton. >> there's no reason on god's green earth why they shouldn't be called and testify unless you're afraid of what they might say. >> the white house is pushing back. >> our white house counsel made it very clear he looks at the entire process as unconstitutional, illegitimate, and ill-conceived. >> in the impeachment trial three witnesses testify and it was hotly debated too. >> you are degrading this process. >> back in 1999 you did not is up pacific northwest hearing from new witnesses in the senate trial. why do you feel differently this time around? >> the witnesses had already been giving grand jury testimony. we knew what they were going to say. the four witnesses we intend to call have not been heard of. >> republican senate

i'm talking about colin peterson, jeff van drew, more interested in developments that concern yet another republican, this one a big one. mark meadows announcing he will not seek re-election. jon hilsenrath, i believe he is the 25th such republican to indicate that. we do remember a lot of wave of retirements that preceded the 2018 midterms, that flipped the house from republicans to democrat. what do you make of this? >> well, i mean i've got to say, i'm better on economics than the politics of all this but you know, i think we have seen a lot of republican retirements and, it is potentially a sign of frustration. a potentially sign of where they see the political winds moving in the next election but i mean i could talk a little bit more to the economics that are driving it than the politics that are driving it. neil: i'm just merely interested in the politics right now. i'm kidding. i do want to go back to that. capri, it is interesting, 50/50 on impeachment slightly in favor of those who say enough already. i wonder with the resignations at least retirements, i talked to many republic

sort of by atlantic city, that area and also this man right here, colin peterson, rural west minnesotagainst even having this impeachment inquiry. van drew indicated to vote against impeachment when it comes to the house floor next week. peterson indicated he is likely to do that. already two democrats that look likely to be noes and then 29 others. there are a few here, lucy mcbath in the atlanta area, a few democrats from trump districts saying, yes, they'll vote for impeachment and a few on the record and a lot of democrats right now they haven't said much, keeping quiet. a lot of them go to the districts, have events and cautious and careful with how they approach this. xeptd for peterson and van drew, the democrats voted to open the inquiry. will they vote to impeach a president that the voters in the district were for in 2016? that's the question folks look at here. seeing the vote next week, maybe not any republicans up for grabs on this thing but there may be some democrats keep an eye on the 29 besides the 2, 31, 29 seem to be in play from trump districts. >> all right. msnbc'

the other democrat who opposed the inquiry is colin peterson of minnesota. a spokesman tells my colleagues he is still deciding if he will be a yea or nay this week. let's discuss the curious ace of the monk man from southern part of new jersey. what do you make of this and how does this change the political arguments as we move to wednesday? >> i don't think it changes the argument much at all. i mean, here is a guy who was facing very likely defeat in a democratic primary. essentially trying to save his seat, to save his political soul. but sacrificed whatever principle he may have. i don't even with assurances from president trump, it's not clear how he gets through a republican primary. this is a guy who has voted for the entire democratic agenda so far. and even if he is able to in the short-term, he will surely not be accepted by the republicans in the long term without a wholesale conversion. i mean, i think it's a little bit unfortunate for the democrats there in essence behaving like republicans and imposing purity tests and drumming people out if t

colin peterson, he is going to be in a tough spot. you might see some of the moderate democrats voting for one article of impeachment but voting against another one to try to show some bipartisanship. i think about half of that 31 number, they have indicated that they might be voting against the articles of impeachment. >> chairman of the house judiciary committee, jerry nadler, said that politics are not playing a role in the decision and they shouldn't play a role in any lawmakers' vote. >> this president conspired, foreign interference in the 2016 election. he is openly seeking foreign interference in the 2020 election and he poses a continuing threat to our national security and to the integrity of our elections, to our democratic system itself. we cannot per mmit that to continue. >> are we just seeing politics on both sides here? >> i think on the democratic side you are not necessarily seeing politics. you see people like lucy mcbath in georgia, she made the argument that she came to washington to have bipartisanship and with a

also colin peterson, a democrat from minnesota who voted against the initial impeachment inquiry is votingith republicans on this as well. so bottom line we're counting heads and democrats appear to have the votes for the rule and ultimately to impeach the president. >> julie: thank you very much. >> bill: looking at the schedule. it will be a full day into the evening hours. i mentioned chairman nadler and doug collins a moment ago. according to the schedule sometime around the 4:00 hour east coast time you'll hear from adam schiff and then ranking member devin nunes on the floor of the house and the schedule reads at 7:20 tonight speaker pelosi takes the chair. she will introduce the articles. article 1 abuse of power, article 2, obstruction of justice. if it goes according to schedule you talk 7:30, 8:00, later tonight. before we go back to the floor i want to go to ed rollins and ponder for a moment about what we're about to see. at the moment, ed, we're in it. >> historic moments, boring television. we live in a day of instant communication and young people aren't likely to sit throug