, but drew a cascade of democratic dissent risking further escalations, saying illinois senator dick durbin. chris murphy called the white house totally unprepared for the consequences. washington's adam smith accuse the president of bringing the country to a brink of another war. house speaker nancy pelosi complained that the action was taken without the consultation of congress. >> the question is why the administration chose this moment, why they made the decision to remove them from the battlefield with other administrations of both parties decided that would escalate the risks. >> they were similar concentration from democrats following the illumination abu bacaro alba dottie. this time, senator lindsey graham was read in before the strike. >> the last of the people you want to talk to about this is democrats in congress, republicans in congress. all the democrats but his eyes to be president, i was aware of what his options were.

dick durbin, here in illinois and in lake county where i live, we are pushing the red wave, and it'smy feeling that, you know, maybe someday illinois will become a red state because we've already had a governor put in place that was a republican, but hopefully we can make something happen here. i just want to point out that with this trial -- and i don't even like calling it a trial because at some point you would be able to cross-examination whether you want. and as a republican, to go out on a limb, from what i'm seeing i think that we need to just go ahead and bring on the witness is because john bolton is a flat-out neoconservative. he will get up there. he's been on the stage before plenty of time, and that man can tap dance like no other, so i don't see why everybody is so afraid of john bolton up front, and if that's what they want to do, fine, go ahead and get biden and then hopefully behind him, get the whistleblower and then with adam schiff, or even if it is a staffer she claims have contact with the whistleblower, let's put them in there, too, because if that is the path

senate, illinois's dick durbin. >>> but first, remember this? >> everybody thought hillary clinton was unbeatable. right? but we put together of benghazi special committee. a select committee. what are her numbers today? her numbers are dropping. why? because she's untrustable. but no one would have known any of that had happened -- >> i agree. >> yeah. congressman kevin mccarthy said the quiet part out loud back in 2015 and it sure seems like senator joni ernst just did the same thing. >>> you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. (whistling) (whistling) ♪[ siren ] & doug give me your hand! i can save you... lots of money with liberty mutual! we customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ saving for ava's college. being able to retire on our terms. taking care of dad. why ameriprise financial? my advisor cares about my personal goals. he gives us comprehensive advice. i feel prepared for what's expected in life and even what's not. she helps us fee

they have made 350 appearances on fox news in the last year. >> it's dick durbin, senator from illinois. mr. durbin, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> are there any active negotiations happening right now between your leadership team, yourself, senator schumer, senator mcconnell, senator cornyn and the republican team? >> i looked last night, and there has not been an exchange of the mcconnell memo which is supposed to kick off this entire trial. we're less than a little over 48 hours away from the trial actually commencing, and there hasn't been the most basic or exchange of information. >> it sounds like you guys, instead of having a debate behind the scenes, you're going to have this debate in front of us on tuesday. you know it looks like senator mcconnell is going to outline rules that, while similar to clinton, what do you make of this reporting that indicates he's thinking of doubling the amount of trial time per day to speed up this trial? >> chuck, as you said in the opening here, donald trump is on trial for impeachment, and the jury, of course, will be

senator dick durbin of illinois. n. durbin: thank you, lisa.udy: after more than two years of escalating threats, tariffs and trade wars, the u.s. and china signed a new trade deal today. ias nick schifrin tells 's known as "phase 1" of a potentially larger deal. but the administration, critics, and businesses all say it's crucial to make sure it's enforced, and that tlity matches the rhetoric. repoer: today, the world's two largest economies declared a partial truce. pres. trump: our efforts hrae yielding aformative deal that will bring tremendous benefits to both countries, we have a great relationship with china. reporter: standing next toto china's p negotiator, president trump predicted the deal would begin fundamental reforms to china's economy. pres. trump: this is the biggest n al anybody's ever sd it can lead to being a deal that's unprecedented, because china has 1.5 billion people and ultimately in phase two we're aning to be opening up china to all of your comps. announcer: -- reporter: under the deal, china agrees to purchase $200

joining us now is the democratic whip, senator dick durbin. senator, thank you very much for being here with us. i want to get your impressions of what happened last night. roughly two dozen of these ballistic missiles launched by iran. into iraq air bases, towards u.s. troops, but no casualties reported. how do you see what happened? >> well, of course, the missiles were sourced in iran. they were better precision military equipment than we have seen in the past. the net result appears to be no loss of american life. but, clearly, we have to decide what the next step will be. i sincerely hope this administration will take a breath at this moment and step back and really measure how far we want to go into this escalation. and i also think that there's a responsibility, a clear responsibility under the constitution for the united states congress to make it abundantly clear to the president that we have a constitutional responsibility when it comes to these types of escalations or any possibility of war. >> it sounds like lindsey graham has a sl

dick durbin now.the last couple of days introducing and voting on a resolution that would essentially limit the president's military options when it comes to iran. the senate has talked about doing that as well with senator tim kaine from virginia. on the other side of the aisle, we have heard from house and senate republicans talking about supporting the president's decision. here is senator kennedy. >> when the president took the step he took, it was, in my opinion, just. it reverberated throughout the middle east, including the world. and number three, the ayatollah in iran understands the united states of america is serious and four heart attacks and a stroke. 's >> shannon: thank you so much mark meredith stick around special coverage of the irani and strake of u.s. forces and iraq, and the fighter pilot, mark, next. have a good day, sir. with geico, the savings keep on going. just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. (glass shattering) (frustrated yell) (car

senator dick durbin of illinois. >> thanks, lisa. >> woodruff: after more than two years of escalatinghreats, tariffs and trade wars, the u.s. and china signed a new trade deal today. as nick schifrin tells us, oit is known as "phase ona potentially larger deal. st the administration, critics, and businesses a it is crucial to make sure it is enforced, and that the realitytc s the rhetoric. >> schifrin: today, the world's two largest economies declared a partial truce. >> our efforts have yielded a transformative deal that will bring tremendous benefits to both countries. >> schifrin: standing next to china's top negotiator, esidenump predicted the deal would begin fundamental reforms to china's economy. >> this is the biggest deal anyone has ever seen, and it can lad to being a deal that's unprecedented, because china has 1.5 billion people and ultimately, phase two, we're going to be opening up china to all of your companies. >> schifrin: under t deal, china agrees to purchase $200 billion over the next two years of u.s. agrilture, energy, manufacturing, and financial services. and t

he's going to have exclusive interviews with senator david purdue, senator dick durbin on "meet the pressmorrow morning at 8:00 right here after nbc bay area. >>> hundreds of german protested today near berlin where tesla plans to build a new giga factory. the crowds convinced the construction will endanger the water supply and wildlife in the area, tesla made the announcement last november to build its first european car factory in eastern brandenburg west of we are lynn. politicians welcomed the move saying it would bring jobs to the region. activists want the site of the factory moved to a less sensitive area. >>> a close call for a driver in tua what. watch . the truck, whoa, coming right at you. 9 truck loses control on the road and smashes into a stranded car. barely missing that guy walking down there. this is just one of the crashes as severe weather hits parts of the country. snow and ice creating a dangerous mix causing spin outs and pile ups. take a look in pennsylvania. a multi-vehicle crash involving 15 tractor-trailers. that's a lot. that's a huge mess. in nebraska a man was

for me, it's having dick durbin and barack obama say, tammy duckworth, you need to run for office. they were my 2 illinois senators. i kept bugging them about the fact that veterans work getting -- veterans were not getting very good health care. dick durbin looked at me as a wounded warrior in a wheelchair. he didn't see somebody to be pitied. he didn't see someone who no longer had abilities. he looked at me and saw potential. and acknowledged that potential, and said, i think you should run. but i had to say yes. and most women will say no seven times before they decide to run. if more women would actually say yes in the beginning or just motivate themselves to get out there, we would be much further along to 50% representation. and it should be 51%, because there are more women than men in this country -- in the halls of power, so we can change the laws of this country to reflect those values that are important to all of us. harris: i took notes while you were speaking. >> me, too. harris: right? i know. you want to get this stuff. what did you write down? get to yes. that's wh

. >> my guests this morning, senator minority whip democrat dick durbin of illinois and republican senator david purdue of georgia. >>> plus, elizabeth warren's refusal to shake hands with bernie sanders. >> i think you called me a liar on national tv. >> let's not do it right now. >> has stirred fear in the left that this threatens the chances of securing a democratic nominee. >>> and the nbc news county-to-county project. >> you have to speak to us. >> but i've been hearing people will change and get behind the nominee no matter what. >> we talk to african-american voters in milwaukee about 2020. joining me for insight and analysis are hugh hewitt, formed maryland congresswoman donna edwards, and the authors of a new book on president trump, phil rucker, white house bureau chief for "the washington post" and carol leonnig, also of "the washington post." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >>> good morning, everyone. last week we witnessed the dignifie

that was the plea from dick durbin, the number two senate democrat.worthy that chuck schumer when asked about mitt romney, one of the potential four republican votes, he was very gracious. trying to, you know he, say, oh, i have a lot of respect for him, he's got to understand what is going on here. that's the audience here in the capit capitol, at the four potential republican senators that they are trying to reach, with what we're going to see on the senate floor, probably a lot of chaos frankly. and then more importantly the public to call in, voters to call in to the senate offices to try to put pressure on them. >> that's right. and dana bash, thank you very much. wolf, the idea being democrats feel like they have a good argument to make, which is we just want witnesses and evidence. that's what we want. republicans don't want that. we want witnesses and evidence. >> john, it is interesting that schumer says he needs four republicans to go ahead and join the 47 democrats. you get 51 in order to call witnesses right at the beginning of the process

senator dick durbin who is a democratic web in the house and from illinois. first day of questioning, house managers and presidents lawyers debated the meaning of bolton and mulvaney's statements and conflicting the accounts of white house meetings. there's one way we can do to the bottom of all these issues. calling witnesses and key documents. genie in paris, texas. did you learn anything today by the senators questions? >> caller: i learned a lot, but my comment is that every time adam schiff or the other house managers state that the president's team come if they don't want witnesses that means they don't want a fair trial, i would like for someone to remind that they are trying to deny the most basic right that we all have which is innocent until proven guilty and that it is not the president's burden to prove innocence. it's their burden to prove guilt. and if they are satisfied that they have an airtight case, then there need be no more. >> host: do you consider yourself a political person? has this attracted your attention because of that or for other

to be very careful to give a lot of credit to chuck grassley, it may conservative from iowa, and dick durbin, a progressive from illinois, who held firm together and kept their promises to each other. because of those two, and so many others, both sides of the aisle, now we are embarking in a new day in the american justice system that is really rooted in a concern for public safety and ensuring that the right people are behind bars for the right amount of time. join let's let our viewers the conversation. liz calling from new jersey. liz has experience with the criminal justice system. good morning. caller: good morning. i am interested in your topic, maybe because earlier in my life, i taught inside a state prison here in new jersey. i did that for close to 15 years. my real concern, however, is a lot of advocacy now on prison reform, which i have always generally supported, tends to be either with the inmates who were incarcerated or with the celebrity field of people who never saw, never talked to, and definitely never worked inside a prison. they do not know inmates. i think some of the

joining me, the man counting the votes, dick durbin from illinois.d to see you, sir. >> good to be with you, chuck. >> let me ask first, adam schiff last night seemed to indicate that the first person to deal with witnesses is going to be the chief justice. what's your sense on that, what's your belief of what his power is and isn't? >> i think he presides over the senate in trial, that's in the constitution. but the extent of his authority is a matter of question, in the initial andrew johnson trial, the chief justice at that point was voting and in this case he may as well. and that vote may be important, do the math. if three republicans, and you can name the names as i can decide to join the democrats pursuing witnesses, we're at a 50/50 moment. the question is at that moment, whether or not the chief justice steps in to break the tie. there's no official statement from him, no decision in the senate to this point. >> is this a sign that you guys are conceding you probably are not going to find a fourth republican? >> you know, chuck, i listen to

dick durbin from the state of illinois, says this risks further escalation between the u.s. and iran. chris murphy from connecticut called the white house totally unprepared for the consequences. adam smith of washington said the president's decision is pushing our country to the brink of another war. however, the president has made clear his obligation is to protect american lives and interests, and given that soleimani was planning, according to the white house, more attacks, he had to be eliminated. >> so let this be a warning to terrorists, if you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our citizens. >> americans have many blessings, but perhaps the greatest among them is the blessing of being protected by the most exceptional and virtues military on the face of god's earth. >> lawmakers, meanwhile, have begun receiving information and what led up to the strike. those consultations will include pentagon officials in the coming days. in the meantime, the white house and indeed, the entire world, awaits iran's response, ed. ed: all right, tim corke, thank y

and to their right and to their left are dick durbin and john thune, who are the majority whips and the minority whips. and those are their set seats. the rest of the seats are decided by seniority. >> and when those doors -- you see senator duckworth coming in. when those doors open to the side, what do those doors go to? >> the door on the right is where the chief justice will come in, i'm predicting, because that's where the ceremonial office for the vice president is. the door on the left is -- behind those doors is a senate-only marble room. there's az lobby where all the pages hang out and do their homework, but then through that there is a room that no one can go in unless you're a senator. not even a senate spouse, staff. i predict that room might be used more over the coming weeks because people won't really have a chance to go back to their hideaway or even to their offices and they would maybe use that room for making phone calls and talking to people on their phones that they need to have communication with, or the cloak rooms which are at the other side of the chamber, one

joining me now is senator dick durbin of illinois. he is the assistance majority leader -- minority leader in the senate, the whip. senator durbin, thank you for being with us this morning. >> good to be with you. >> senator angus king of maine, an independent but caucuses with you, said he predicts anywhere between 5 and 10 republicans will vote along with the democrats for witnesses. now that's senator king's prediction. it's your job to know. so this morning, do you think you have the votes and where do you think the votes are? >> i hope angus is right, but i can't tell you the number of republicans who are likely to vote for witnesses. i do believe that the information coming out relative to john bolton is certainly relevant to the impeachment complaint itself. and i do believe he as well as mick mulvaney and the tworths members of the administration all should be called as witnesses. >> pat toomey, the republican senator from pennsylvania, has suggested that he would be open to what he calls a one for one swap, if you get john bo

mounds of snacks could be seen in both the democratic and republican cloakrooms, and dick durbin referred to the bounty in the democratic room as a "costco dump." ( laughter ) incidentally, a "costco dump" is the actual reason lindsay graham was in the bathroom for 20 minutes. ( laughter ) ( cheers and applause ) cheese balls. lot of cheese balls. you okay? you okay over there? everybody okay? while republicans are fighting tooth and nail to keep trump in office, democrats are still gumming away at each other in the primary. i'll tell you all about it in tonight's: ♪ >> you, off the board, i'm about to drag you off! >> a progressive agenda. i don't know about you but i'm having a good time.'s crazy. >> fury road to the white house, 2020! ( cheers and applause ) thank you. [ applause ] for our graphics department. incredible. >> jon: yes. >> stephen: big news from the campaign of former new york city mayor and man whose upstairs neighbors just started doing it, mike bloomberg. ( laughter ) bloomberg has vowed to spend upwards of a billion dollars to defeat donald trump. and recently, he an

lindsey graham and democratic senator dick durbin that very day had been working together on an amendment that would have confronted the trump white house on why that aid was being held up. the amendment essentially would have forced their hand to make them release it. so lindsey graham was getting asked about the aid finally getting freed up because lindsey graham was a key part of the effort to force the aid out, to force the white house to do the right thing, to confront the white house on this hold they had put on ukraine's aid and to make it stop. republican senator john kennedy of louisiana suggested to cbs news that same day he would have been with lindsey graham and dick durbin on that as well, telling cb sp-rbgs news when they asked him about it, quote, we support ukraine, period, end of discussion. good for you, senator. and none of this is all that long ago. this is all within the last four, five months. in which all of these republicans in the house and the senate were somewhat heroically, at least ernestly and aggressively standing up to get in the way of the trump administra

he is a dictator. >> joining us now is senator dick durbin, democrat of illinois, the democratic whipthanks for making time for us tonight. >> thanks, rachel. >> what are your reflections on this side of the trial? you have seen the house managers make their opening arguments. tomorrow me mawe make a big shi >> i think the presentation of the managers was masterful. adam schiff led it, and i couldn't think of a better presentation. a command of the facts and understanding of the law and the ability to stand there for an hour or more and to lay out his case effectively. then he had a wonderful team with him. i think they put a pretty high bar for the president's men to say that they're going to match them tomorrow. >> in terms of how this is playing for the public, one of the things that's happening for all of us watching this at home is that we're also aware of public reporting about new evidence and new information and new documents being released, for example, by court order from foia lawsuits and things, where we, the public, are learning more stuff about what the government did an

. >> the unfortunate thing is that i'm surprised how many democrats, even dick durbin, a pretty liberaleader of the democrats almost showing receptiveness having hunter biden come in as a witness. he's not a relevant witness. number two, you would never trade witnesses. you would simply call people who were relevant. >> i'm saying you're at the mercy of the republicans. >> even in a political matter, his testimony isn't relevant to whether the president violated his oath of office or violated the constitution. >> i agree. >> it's relevant to whether joe biden should be president, whether he's compromised whether there's poor judgment. that's for the voters to decide. but making this apples and oranges saying that if you get john bolton, you get this ancillary witness that has nothing to do with anything. remember john hinckley who shot president reagan? it's as if he called jodi foster because the phillips who inspired me to do this -- >> i'd go a step farther in the analysis, which is if that were the trade, if i were the democrats i'd do whatever deal i have to do to get the people wh

this from dick durbin, a democrat. of money involved but we had it directed toward a certain purpose. another senator, senator menendez. getting that done and getting the savings are two different things. the question is if her numbers didn't work, why wouldn't the $400 billion work in your plan? >> i actually don't think it's unre unreliable. we used $46 billion for pay for border security. and everybody including donald trump has forgotten about. and it would save the amount of money that i claimed in the plan that i proposed over a ten-year period. >> but the senators -- >> with that number. >> -- but the gang of eight say those numbers aren't working. republicans were less generous with their criticisms. but you hear from senator menendez, getting the savings and getting it done are two different things. do you think that $400 billion is going to work in your plan when they didn't think it would work in hers? >> yeah. no, i actually think it's real. the big difference between elizabeth warren's plan and my plan is

join chuck for this morning's "meet the press" with interviews with david purdue of georgia and dick durbin, democrat of illinois. >> see where politics and sports come together. >> and they collide. but we could be cordial to one another. tune into "meet the press" at 8:00 a.m. right after this newscast and larry will be back in 40 minutes for our political segment and we'll look at the upcoming impeachment trial. you'll look at the time line of what we could expect. we'll see you soon and we won't talk any more packers. >>> turning to other news now, a san francisco man is thanking the social media app tik tok for possibly saving his life. last month alex griswold posted a video showing his wife -- i can't -- this is so gross, popping pimples on his back well two concerned viewers urged him to go to a doctor to check out a mole saying it looked cancerous and it turns out it will did need to be removed. he thanked viewers because of two kind strangers i avoided skin cancer. >>> they decades ago they were parked at peer 39 in honor of the sea lions arrival aquarium of the bay. recruited 30

. >> melissa: matches part of the press conference beforehand, dick durbin stood up there and set a majority of americans are calling for the president to be removed and if that were true there would be republicans joining the democrats because they would be afraid that they were going to lose their job. if that were true they would be confident to let this go to the election because he would certainly lose. how do you think he makes that argument, how do you respond? do you think the majority of americans really want the president to be removed? >> dagen: it depends on what poll you look at and what day. yesterday, a 51% poll. what is the sampling group of anything? do we believe any poll nowadays especially since 2016. this is what i would say to your point regarding votes. people can say how they are going to vote and then people vote and sometimes both left and right, you have some democrats that are in red states, they have to worry about reelection. mcconnell i think has a harder time here with republicans, he has a balancing act created 35 senate seats are up, 23 are republicans and a

. >> dick durbin, senator from the great state of illinois, we, of course, now know who will be on theresident's team, as for today the commander in chief, well, more travel on the docket as the president makes his way over to texas for american farm bureau federation in austin, we expect to hit on major themes, two trade deals, usmca as well as deal with china and subsidies for american farmers and we promise coverage for you, for now back to you. leland: kevin corke on what's a busy sunday on capitol hill, unusually so, kevin, thank you, gillian. gillian: president trump now wrapping up his weekend at mar a lago, his team working, mark meredith covering the white house all weekend, what's the latest, mark. >> good afternoon, gillian, as you mentioned the president's legal team, they are speaking out and they are talking about what they will be doing this coming week when it comes to making the senate and also proceedings that have gotten to this point, i want you to listen to what one of the president's lawyers had to say today on sunday morning futures. >> this is partisan and there

joining us now democratic senator dick durbin. he's the minority whip. thanks so much for joining us. republican senator rand paul just told me here in "the situation room" in the classified briefing today you guys were given, in his word, no specific information of a specific attack that would justify the killing of general soleimani. do you agree with that? >> that's true. i was in the same briefing and reached the same conclusion. they gave us the most general conclusions about threats to the united states but when it came to any specificity it just wasn't there. >> do you believe the administration has been telling the truth about the intelligence used to justify this strike? >> well, i can't tell because there's so much that was left off the table. there was a briefing for the top eight members of congress yesterday that i understand went into more detail. when the rest of the united states senate for today, for example, today, came together, they just wouldn't give us the details. they said the conclusions were based on what they characterized as e

, both republicans and democrats including senator jeanne shaheen, senator rob portman, senator dick durbin, senator ron johnson, senator richard blumenthal sent a letter to acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney expressing, and i quote, deep concerns that the administration is considering not obligating the ukraine security initiative funds for 2019. two days later, as has been mentioned, on september 5th, a "washington post" editorial expressed concern that president trump was withholding military assistance to ukraine in order to pressure president zelensky to announce these investigations. that was the first public report linking the frozen security aid to the investigations that mr. giuliani had been publicly pressing for and that president trump, as we've heard, had privately urged president zelensky to conduct on the july 25th call. that same day, senators murphy and johnson met with president zelensky in kiev. ambassador taylor went with them, and he testified -- mr. taylor testified that president zelensky's, quote, first question to the senators, was about withheld securi

look for much more on "meet the press" when he is joined by david perdue and democratic senate dick durbin of illinois. >>> some royal news out of london this morning with queen elizabeth announcing prince harry and meghan markle will no longer be working members of the royal family. matt bradley is outside of buckingham palace to explain what that means. matt, good morning. >> good morning, willie. when harry and meghan announced they're stepping back nearly two weeks ago, it kind of looked like a trial separation. but now it turns out it's so much more than that. harry and meghan said they're stepping back and the queen said they're stepping down. according to statement from buckingham palace the duke and duchess of sussex will no longer be called your royal highness and won't be working members of the royal family. they'll give up their royal duties and military obligations, lose all financial support from taxpayers and will have to repay the $3.1 million they used to renovate their home at the cottage in windsor. the queen said that harry, meghan and archie will be much loved members o

>> reporter: i heard dick durbin talking about a handful of senators that voted against the authorizationtary force in that case. look no further than the campaign trail as something that bernie sanders and joe biden going over for months. the thing to watch is what senators are saying when they come out of this classified briefing that they're expected to get on wednesday: they won't be talking about the substance of the briefing but more or less comfortable with the line that the administration gives here, whether it's more like we got on the front end 0 of this or hans pointing out that the president is saying after and to what degree does the president escalate? senators are reasonably comfortable with the targeting of soleimani and less with 52 targets in iran by the president in the next phase of this. >> we keep saying if they're less comfortable but then they seem very comfortable with it and we will have to fibnd out. thank you. >>> ahead, we have more on this political fight over the iran strike. elizabeth warren's suggestion that the timing of the attack is not a coincidence. t

you have done everything for dick durbin.anted to know all the nitty-gritty of bill clinton's malfeasance. monica, he wanted lots of information. not this time. he wants a shorty. >> he wants to control the process and put this under the rug and move on. look, his, this is not going to change until his senators, those four or five you talked about come to him and say senator, we need this for our re-election and they're starting to feel the heat and maybe senatorial sander. >> he's got values. >> that's exactly right. but you have senators like paul, senator paul threatening. >> why is, what's your hunch about why rand paul, a real independent, a libertarian, why does le be him the hatchet man for the president in making sure he will punish every republican for voting for witnesses. >> it's the whole thing with iran. now we're swinging back the other way. so i'm going to stand and defend the president on this idea of not having witnesses come to the sable, whereas, last week, he was out there slamming the president for his ve

. >> desjardins: senate democrats insist they also want a fair dick durbin of illinois: >> when we talk about witnesses and evidence, coming before the senate on any impeachment proceedinggainst president trump, it isn't just on one side of the case. what we are suggesting is there should be witnesses from both sides. >> desjardins: president trump left the white house tonight for a rally in milwaukee without stopping to weigh in. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now to walk us through what we can expect over the next few weeks. li decisions on this.some walk us through the next steps here. a let's start with tody and tomorrow and wednesday orur ay. what's going the happen now, i'm getting days confused in my minl ady. let's make this clear. these are the things the house has to do first. the house will vote trial managers. then the house we are also expecting them to transmit the articles of impeachment to the senate. that's what we've been waiting for since december. then that will trigger at we expect thursday, the formal opening of this impeachment trial.ju , that's when the chiej wil

. >> dick durbin, number two in leadership is sounding a pretty pessimistic note that you're not going the votes for witnesses. you have said that you have been running essentially during the breaks, talking to republican colleagues. you're usually involved in whatever bipartisan gangs -- >> yes. >> -- used to exist. do you share his pessimism? >> i still wait until that vote happens. people surprise you. and i think about these moments of courage, which i keep discussing with my republican colleagues. you know, john mccain with that arm of his that was -- because of torture he could hardly move it and lift it, when he voted no against repealing the affordable care act. i think about lisa murkowski along with heidi heitkamp and claire mccaskill when they didn't have the stomach to vote for judge kavanaugh because of what went on in the hearing and in the past. those are moments that people voted against their immediate political interests but did things for the country. that's what we're asking them to do. not even actually for their vote on impeachment right now, no. the vote just to

a proposal from dick durbin, the democratic whip, along with sharon brown from ohio and richard blumenthalt to allow all senators to have a ten minute wedge of time to talk, put their positions on the record about the trial. because again, senators have not spoken on the senate floor during this lengthy trial. senators think they represent x number of people in each state, they should at least be able to express their views on the senate floor in a debate. in only the third presidential impeachment trial in senate history. some people, regardless of whether you think you should impeach the president of the united states or not, some people think if you can't do that, what good is that if you can't even debate that on the senate floor? >> dana: that makes a lot of sense, i understand what the senators want to have their say. let's go to john roberts with the latest for us wherever you are, john. >> north lawn of the white house. >> dana: i couldn't see where you were. >> would love to be down there in miami where the president is most of the way there. he will be landing in west palm beach

both republicans and democrats, including senator jeanne shaheen, senator rob portman, senator dick durbin, senator ron johnson, senator richard blumenthal sent a letter to acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney expressing and i quote deep concerns that the administration is considering not obligating the ukraine security initiative funds for 2019. two days later, as has been mentioned, on september 5th, a washington post editorial expressed concern that president trump was withholding military assistance to ukraine in order to pressure president zelensky to announce these investigations. that was the first public report linking the frozen security aid to the investigations that mr. guiliani had been publicly pressing for and that president trump, as we've heard, had privately urged president zelensky to conduct on the july 25th call. >> that same day, senators murphy and johnson met with president zelensky in kiev. ambassador taylor went with them. and he testified, mr. taylor testified, that president zelensky's quote first question to the senators was about withheld security as

and listen to number two democrat, senator dick durbin, your whip, a couple of weeks on the show. >> it is a mistake for the senators on both sides of the aisle frankly to say how they will vote before the trial starts? >> i think it is. i think they have gone too far, and how can they hold up their hands to say i swear impartial judgment, because you can't do that and they shouldn't have done that. >> that is the democratic leader of the senate saying that you and others should not have said that you would vote to convict him, and is he wrong? >> i have enormous respect for senator durbin. but understand this. what i said is enough evidence has been presented and so far donald trump has offered absolutely no defense. it is not like they have come forward and said, oh, wait, we want to present some other evidence and the other evidence is going to show something different, and they have done nothing, and in fact, they have done worse than nothing and what they have said is that you can't hear from the witnesses who have first-hand information and you can't get the documents that you

on senator dick durbin from illinois, a whirlwind couple of months, weeks, days. thank you for joining house the day full of gravity. >> happy to be with you. >> let me get everybody a quick final thought. john? what did you see? >> you know, walking through rotunda which commemorates gerald ford and dwight eisenhower and martin luther king, one of the things these senators will have to think about, what do they want us to think about when we look at their portrait? down the years? and the good news about that argument, there is not a single united states senator who doesn't think we'll be gazing adoringly at their portrait. >> and some of them might think there will be some actual statues we'll be walking by as well. >> so my question is do you want to be margaret j. smith or mccarthy? >> ouch. i don't think anybody else will talk after that mic drop. thank you to all my guests. that's all we have for "meet the press" daily. a quick programming note. don't miss rachel maddow tonight. you saw who she has. lev parnas who took lots of interesting notes. our breaking

i also add to that dick durbin, his comments were mr.chiff was phenomenal, he told "the new york times" referring to witnesses but i'm skeptical he moved any votes. >> yeah, and i think it goes to what senator brown was talking about which is, you know, the fix may have been in from the beginning. it didn't matter what democrats said. it didn't matter how compelling their arguments were. but you're not going to move them because this is all about politics. i think adam schiff made the point brilliantly last night when he talked about the president puts his personal interests in front of the country's and by the subtext of that was senators, i plead with you not to do the same thing. i plead with you not to put your personal party interests in front of the country's. and, you know, if it turns out that the fix was in and that they weren't listening and that nothing could change their mind, then schiff is right about not only the president but about the senate. >> so, ryan, this also comes down to this crucial question because there's a bi

. >> melissa: dick durbin from illinois looking at the 51-vote.n them for the pursuit of truth for four g.o.p. senators to join, for dick durbin. >> donald trump is on trial for impeachment, and the suit doll factory will be 100 senators paid by the senate itself is on trial, as far as i'm concerned. it's a question of whether or not we will have fair trial. this to join us in the pursuit of truth. >> sandra: what do you see happening, david? >> the reality is we ought to be for witnesses. we ought to approve rules that the house democrats use. that is that mcconnell will get to pick and approve which witnesses get to go, he will get to approve the questions, and he will get to approve the answers. because that's at the house democrats established a precedent for how they should go. ultimately we need 51 votes. if i could susan collins vote yes, we should do it. if we get susan collins, we are going to get joe manchin, too. he will want to be with west virginia and voters. if he doesn't have to be the deciding vote, he is happy to pile on. all tha

i thank my friend from virginia, senator kaine, as well as senators dick durbin, rand paul and senator lee for standing up for our laws and the constitution, which gives congress, not the president, to make war and to authorize the use of military force. mr. president, the assassination of iranian general soleimani was a massive, deliberate, and dangerous escalation with iran by donald trump. rather than deterring new attacks on american interest, as the administration insists, soleimani's assassination invited them, and they came in the form of airstrikes on u.s. air bases in iraq. but instead of sharing with congress and the american people information and intelligence to justify the soleimani attack, president trump and his counselors have deflected, fabricated and just plain refused to tell the truth about the so-called imminent threat that was prevented. we now have press reports confirming that president trump authorized the killing of general soleimani seven months ago. the administration doesn't just look to ms. representing the imminent -- misrepresenting the imminent threat o

here is dick durbin of illinois, democrat talking about the decision.video clip] >> we have received the statement from the accounting office and they uphold it violated federal law. the government account ability office has a reputation as a partisan watchdog. the legal opinion today concludes president trump and his administration violated the law by putting a hold on military aid to ukraine while -- country was trying to this is an important ruling that deserves a thorough hearing in the impeachment trial. it should be part of the evidence of wrongdoing by the president, especially as it alleged charges of abuse of power. i also hope this ruling will convince the administration to ofed the additional delivery military aid which congress sent to ukraine. in thehe minority whip senate, dick durbin, on the floor reacting to the news by the government accountability office. here is kevin mccarthy with his take on the ruling. [video clip] a the gao came out with report saying the white house did break laws. --you maintain >> omb is responsible, but they d

>> host: senator dick durbin as has managers close their presentation today the american people are watching. the houses made a compelling case but it will not be a full and fair trial without access to all the key documents and relative witnesses. the american people deserve the whole truth. next call is mikell and herndon, virginia. a democrat. >> caller: hi just want to say first off thank you for your coverage. i have been able to follow it through your site and the assistance of multiple streamers such as sean hutchinson and is doing a fantastic job in making this more accessible to viewers with fact checking. so with my points i want to preface this by saying i'm a first-generation american, and 2016 was averse election i was able to vote in. so watching all of these proceedings from the beginning, has been very enlightening, very key in terms of understanding where we are as a country. because realistically, what we are looking at is a fight for whether or not we still think truth is important. whether we still think us, as a nation, value truth or value facts. because when you have t

let's get reaction from dick durbin the minorities w.h.i.p., the number two democrat in the senate. senator, thank you for joining us, as you just heard from manu, republicans believe they have the evidence to block more witnesses? what do you say? >> i can just tell you the public sentiment in america in favor of witnesses and documents in a real trial has been growing agency the impeachment trial is unfolding. if republicans have decided they're going to frankly stonewall it and bring an end to it as quickly as possible may pay a price for it with the public. >> you heard house manager jerry nadler called president trump a dictator. do you worry that's alienating these moderate republicans that you desperately need to vote with you? >> i just don't know what is more the handful of republicans that as we say are gettable at this point. i think the point made by congressman nadler and others if you don't hold this president accountable under the rule of law, then, frankly, he's not answerable to anyone. if this administration refuses to disclose one single document when the clinton

let me share dick durbin for example, saying this, he said this rift further escalation between the u.san. chris murphy from connecticut said the white house is totally unprepared for the consequences. adam smith from the state of washington says this puts the u.s. on the brink of another war. but as you pointed out, the president has made it clear it is his obligation to protect american life and american interests, and given that soleimani was actually planning more attacks, he had to be eliminated. >> let this be a warning to terrorists, if you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our citizens. americans have many blessings, but perhaps the greatest among them is the blessing of being protected by the most exceptional and virtuous military on the face of god's earth. >> lawmakers have begun receiving information about what led up to the strike, and those consultations will include pentagon officials in the coming days. we will certainly keep a very close eye on that. in the meantime, the world awaits iran's response. no reaction yet from the white house, although t

i want to bring in dick durbin, number two in the senate.voting against witnesses but the way he says the democrats proved their case, what does that tell you? >> well, lamar is my friend. i respect him, i have worked with him in the past. i will continue to as he serves in the senate but i disagree with him. in fact, i would suggest you change the owning of this program. this not an impeachment trial. it has no witnesses, it has no evidence. it has no sworn testimony to tell the truth. it will come to the swift conclusion without a trial. >> what would you call it if you want to name change? >> gathering proceedings, get together. it's not a trial. >> well, the senate gathering doesn't carry the same weight which i guess is part of your point, senator. you believe that then your friend as you point it, lamar alexander, is somewhat inconsistent in saying they did prove their case but he doesn't want any more witnesses or evidence to get into it? >> i'll let lamar's logic stand on its own feet. the fact that the president and the defense team