now we have this decision from government accountability office, essentially the top auditing agency for the federal government. they are saying, in fact, this did violate the law. i want to read to you a little bit of what they are saying. faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for that congress has enacted into law. this decision gs on, hallie, to say, therefore we include omb, chace the white house budget office, violated the impoundment control act. you can expect a pile on in the next few hours democrats in the house and senate now that you have an auditinging a saying, yes, the law was violated in withholding that aid last year. >> just to be clear for viewers, we are juggling a lot. not just impeachment hearings set to happen in the senate in a matter of less than two hours. you've got josh's breaking news on the government accountability office directly saying, right, that the white house does not follow the law. you've got lev parnas's new interview and the fallout we are seeing this morning from that, which we'll

today -- and this is -- the government accountability office confirmed that the president's actions at the center of our impeachment articles withholding congresses shale approved military aid from ukraine was illegal. and these are their words. these are the words of g.a.o. faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that congress has enacted into law. the office of management and budget withheld funds for a policy reason that is not ermitted under the empowerment

there was a government accountability office report that said there was actually a violation of the law that basically says the president has to spend the money that congress appropriates, and that report came out just last week. i'll be curious to see if managers incorporate that into their arguments, after the managers finish their process, it will turn over to the white house's defense. host: jason dick, you brought up the chief justice of the united states, john roberts, his role. jason: it's fascinating, because the chief justice could -- the

today, the government accountability office has said e white house broke the law when it withheld militaryid to ukraine in the summer. here is nancy pelosi. >> today, this is the day the government accounting office confirmed the presiden's action at the center of our impeachment articles, withholding military aid from ukraine, was a legal. ese are there wor -- illegal. these are there words. "the faithful execuon of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own priorities for those that congress has enacted into law. nde office of management and budget withheld for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the empowerment control act." anchor: on the face of it, though trump administration breakinghe law in this area seems significant, is it? gary: not in the sense that there will be a prosecution, th ithe judgment of a government watchdog in effect, and they are sayinghat congress has the power of the purse, under the constitution, money in a certain way, as it did with the military aid, you tter go spend it. holding onto it, they did hold onto it for almost a year, hol

speaker pelosi reacted to the government accountability office's new report which concluded that the white house budget office violated the law when it froze u.s. military aid to ukraine. ms. pelosi spook good morning, everyone. how are you. as i've said over and over again, every day that we're involved in this impeachment is a sad day for america. yesterday was one when we were given no choice but to send to the senate two articles of impeachment against donald trump, the president of the united states. for his -- the president necessitated this by his abuse of power and obstruction of congress and his actions which undermined our national security , violated his oath of office to protect and defend the constitution, and jeopardized the pinteg i have to our elections. everyday new and incriminating information comes forward and you are well aware of the hearing and that speaks very clearly the need for the senate to enter the documentation into their discussion. today -- and this is -- the government accountability office confirmed that the president's actions at the center of our

she also reacted to a new report from the government accountability office that found president trump violated the law by temporarily withholding aid to ukraine. >> good morning everyone. how are you? to say over and over again, every day we are involved in impeachment is a sad day for america. and yesterday was one the winner given no choice but to send to the senate to articles of impeachment against donald trump, the president of the united states. for his president's acetate does by his abuse of power and obstruction of congress. and his actions that undermine our national security. he violated his office to protect and defend the constitution and jeopardize the integrity of our elections. every day, new incriminating evidence comes forward, you are well aware of the hearings last night i think that only speaks very clearly of the need for the senate to enter the documentation into their discussion. today, and this is the day the government accounting office confirmed that the president's actions at the center of our impeachment articles withholding congressionally approved milita

government watchdog the government accountability office saying that the trumpet ministration broke the law when it withheld millions in aid earmarked for ukraine about is precisely the claim which triggered impeachment proceedings against the president this could possibly add to the evidence against mr trump but tonight we still do not know if the senate will allow new evidence or witness tears testimony in this trial sir can there be a fair trial without witnesses yeah the same witnesses are saying they need today were available in the house you know when you if you want to witness and witness was available to chose not to call them don't play name they don't want to see documents they don't want to hear from eyewitnesses and they don't want they want to ignore anything new that comes out what kind of trial it is going to be to talk about that i'm joined tonight by bret broun he is president of the consulting firm the global situation room he joins me from new york city it's good to have you on the day bret you know this report that we got today from the government office of accountab

the what was going on in the past days in interviews and newspapers, and you have the government accountability office basically saying that trump violated the law when he suspended the security aid to ukraine. these revelations -- will he bee taken into a account? annette: if there is a trial with no witnesses or minimal witnesses, how is this going to impactct donald trump inin an electition year? doug: the hard-core donald trump supporters -- remember, this has become the party of trump. republicans who are sitting in judgment basically have embraced and espoused donald trump's line that this is a partisan witchhunt, that this is a sham trial under false pretenses, and phony, v vendetta-like motivationons. the fact of the matter is, trump can say whatever he wants. the trial itselelf -- and if the are witnesses who could provide perhaps further testitimony, especiallyly john bolton, a forr national security advisor, who indicated he would offer testimony if subpoenaed -- if they were to come forward, plus other potential witnesses, it would be a stain, a stigma on donald trump's legacy. you can say

the government accountability office casco brook military aid to ukraine.ul execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those of congress, that is enacted into law. adam schiff says there's simply too much here to ignore. the question is whether you get witnesses or not. the sheer volume of new developments require this whole senate trial to last longer than senators thought. who better to ask in former justice department prosecutor? >> there's a lot of information that is coming out. i think the general response the white house should have is okay, none of that translates this conduct or phone call into an impeachable defense. i think that still remains their best line of defense here. mr. parnas, what he kind of reminds me of is in eastern european version of michael cohen. we have someone who comes out of the woodwork who has a real motive to help himself because of criminal cases pending. suddenly he's got this information. it doesn't mean it's not accurate, but you have to be pretty careful before you

the nonpartisan gao, the government accounting office has ruled that when president trump withheld money and military aid from ukraine, he did indeed break the law. president trump said he did it to investigate corruption, and members of his own team said that he did it to pressure ukraine to investigate the biden, and the gao says it does not matter, and the president broke the law. >> we will be watching that. thank you, scott. nearly 24 hours after a deadly wrong-way crash along the peninsula, the same kind of dead lay crash happened again and this time in the bay area. pete suratos is joining us now with the report. >> yes, as you mentioned there was one in pacifica and another one in campbell this morning. we will show the viewers the footage from the crash as it took place in 3:30 a.m. along highway 17 in campbell and the information from chp is that the wrong way driver crashed the honda accord into another driver, into a toyota avalon and died as a result of the crash. now the driver that she hit is a man in the toyota avalon had to be extricated but the cph officer said that he

the government accounting officer, which said -- yesterday said that the administration broke the law. well, the government accounting office, it probably has democrats in it. i mean, it's just -- sadly, it's reflective of the fact that the republicans now are completely enthrall almost in a religious way to donald trump. >> lev parnas called it a cult. when you say it's tribal, i mean, tribes change their leaders. this doesn't do away with the tribe of republicans to say that donald trump has done things incorrectly. but let's talk about devin nunes for a second because you were just talking about adam schiff. what do you make of this communication that puts lev parnas in proximity to devin nunes? >> sadly, it's not a surprise. you know, and -- and i've -- i've watched devin nunes since the day that jim comey came and announced the investigation into the president. from that moment on, devin nunes became attorney, advocate, private investigator, on behalf of the president. and this goes way back to when devin nunes was trying to run a sort of one-man investigative campaign of trying

that person alsod old me it wo irorigin to listen to this government office and the governnt office's opinion shouldn't be taken into account. what you have is the white house really, really ponhing back hard his. >> woodruff: we hear you on that. meanwhile, separately from all this, there has been another development impeachment investigation over questions about how much president knew-- president trump knew about efforts to pressure ukraine'sid prt to open an investigation into former vice president joe biden. lisa looked at those claims today. >> his name, lev parnas, has long been in impeachment stories. last night, in an interview with msnbc's rachel maddow we heard his explosive claims in his voice. >> it was never about corruption >> parnas worked in ukraine for and with presiden president to dig up dirt on iceas in part president joe biden and his sonn hunter's busess dealings. now parnas says president trump was directly involved. >> president trump knew exactly what was going on. movements.re of all of my i wouldn't do anythith without consent of rudy giuliani or the president. >> desjardins: those allegationt ar

we just learned the government accountability office says that the trump administration broke the law by withholding that u.s. security aid to ukraine. >> i want to read from this finding. faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that congress has enacted into law. that's notable because republicans, the defense has been this was just a policy disagreement and that's in the president's purview. to manu raju on the hill here. gao says explicitly this was illegal. >> reporter: yeah, and this is the nonpartisan arm of congress. the investigative arm of congress. nonpartisan. both parties rely on the government accountability office to issue decisions like this, to rule on matters, to essentially review and study how things occur, sometimes the legality of matters and here ruling, essentially making the decision that what the administration did was illegal and violating the federal empowerment act of 1974. that requires the administration to spend money that has been appropriated by congress, but here in this case, by wi

the gao, the government accountability office, is an independent nonpartisan entity.they are not republicans, they are not democrats, they are not independence, they are nonpartisan. they issued a decision making absolutely clear, that the trump administration violated the law when they illegally withheld soleimani for ukraine. and we know from other public evidence, that it was president trump himself, who made that order. and therefore the president himself, ordered his agencies to commit an illegal act. that's the gist and guts of what the gao told us. now that illegal act was committed as the overall scheme, the abuse of power that we heard from the house managers today. right on the floor of the senate. senator schumer mentions and it's just underscores the fact that this president, was willing to break other laws as part of his overall scheme to abuse power and to cover up that abusive scheme. and the gao report also made clear that in their inquiry, their investigation they were storm stonewalled, they were blocked. they did not get all the documents they wante

the nonpartisan government watchdog office called -- called government accountability office has been looking into it and just this morning put out their report, concluding that the white house did violate the law. let me read one quote from the report, faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that congress has enacted into law. the senator who has been pushing for an answer here is senator chris van holland. he joins me now. thank you for coming in. >> good to be with you. >> this has been the answer. i remember hearing you ask a question in the hearing of the gao. this has been an answer you've been seeking since the beginning of this. what does it now mean, though? >> well, that's right. this is a bombshell as we had head into the senate trial. this establishes conclusively from an independent, nonpartisan agency, the gao, that the trump administration violated the law when they withheld money from ukraine, and we know from other public documents that it was the president who ordered that violation, so he made an

(grant) also happening today- a federal government's watchdog agency, called the government accountability officecludethe trump administration broke the law in withholding aid to ukraine appropriated by congress. that aid of course- is at the core of this impeachment. (vicki) coming up- hayward police want your help solving a decades- old cold case. what they're asking for tonight. (grant) plus-- speaker nancy pelosi takes aim at facbeook. why she called the company shameful in her weekly presser. (vicki)coming up...niners get a big boost as george kittle returned to practice today...jason dumas has that story...next... (mabrisa) z3pgqz z1ncz y3pgqy y1ncy (vicki) our countdown to the n-f-c championship game continues... and there is great news coming out of santa clara. (grant) as kron4 sports reporter, jason dumas reports... one of the niners best players was back at practice today,,, after missing yesterday's practice with an ankle issue. (vicki) today the wet weather made for some slick and sometimes dangerous roads. (grant) kron4's maureen kelly shows us some of the trouble spots today in the

it is also worth noting that the nonpartisan government accountability office today issued a ruling that it was illegal for president trump to withhold the id to ukraine as part of this scheme, that what he did there was against the law. for that to be arriving today, that ruling from the government accountability office on the day the senate impeachment trial starts, this is all a big deal. but it's also becoming clear that what happened next in the impeachment of president trump in this senate trial may depend in part on the additional evidence and witnesses who are still coming forward as the ukraine scheme is coming more fully to light. and so onward. here's part two. all right, one of the main questions -- a lot of different people have asked -- i myself have asked -- main question asked about mr. parnas' dig to give this first public interview is why he would speak out publicly while he was out on bond awaiting trial. right? that is atypical behavior to say the least from a federal criminal defendant, who has a sent yent lawyer. the public remarks could only disadvantage a defendan

we're talking about the government accountability office.been saying all along there is no crime, senator, yet this nonpartisan government group, there is a report saying the trump administration violated the law in withholding ukraine aid so is there a crime now? >> they say they violated the law. the law is called the impoundment act. it's not a criminal act, but it is a violation of law. and when a president violates -- remember, the standard for impeachment, high crimes and misdemeanors, is not necessarily a criminal act. but it is something that is so egregious that the founding fathers gave the power of the house to impeach, the senate to try because there had to be some check on a president who was abusing his power in a very severe way. this is a pretty damning report. >> i want you to listen to what we heard from the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and senator lindsey graham just last month about this trial. watch this. >> i'm not an impartial juror. this is a political process. >> i am trying to give a pretty clear signal i

separately, yamtoicday other right on the eve of this trial, you have the government accounting office coming out with this detailed statement saying what the president did in withholding aid to ukraine was illegal. what is the white house ying about that? >> well, we have to really explain to people the idea that this government accountability office, it's a nonpartisan watchdog group is saying president trump broke the law, and that's because $391 million the president and the white house chose to freeze was ready appropriated by congress. so the white house now is pushing back on that. there was of course that statement you had in your piece from theen office of manag and budget. i have also been talking to ofe cials. and he what one person told me: so what you have is the office of management and budget saying that this notcnpartisan og group is actually wanting to insert itself in the impehment fight. that person also told me it would be irorigin to listen to this government office and the government office's opinion what you have is the white house really, really pushing back har

or government accountability office says in fact there was sort of left parness he says the same thing he says the president with aware of my movement so this is particularly damaging this fits in to the whole issue as the senate trial begins because the white house is trying to block witness testimony republicans on capitol hill trying to block witness testimony going to be very difficult to do it in light of these new allegations something we hear nancy pelosi and other democrats saying needs to come out the only way to do it is to have people like left parness and others testify about exactly what was going on and what the president knew white house correspondent kelly hellcat there live in washington kimberly many thanks indeed. there are new diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in libya germany's foreign minister has flown to the libyan city of benghazi for crisis talks with the world probably thought of it comes ahead of a conference on libya that's planned for sunday in berlin which have says that he will attend earlier turkey's president said the deployment of turkish troops

. >> it's the government accountability office. it's a nonpartisan body on capitol hill that watches how the pennies are spent and what all branches of government do. they have determined that the president violated the impound control act by withholding that military aid for ukraine. the office of management and budget here at the white house disagrees with that opinion. the spokesperson said that we disagree with the gao's opinion. omb has to ensure taxpayer dollars are properly spent consistent with the president's priority and with the law. nancy pelosi came down firmly on the side of the gao. senator lindsey graham saying he doesn't know what the fuss is about. listen first to nancy pelosi. >> today, a day that the government accounting office confirmed that the president's actions at the center of our impeachment articles withholding congressionally approved military aid from ukraine was illegal. the omb, the white house, the administration broke -- i'm saying this -- broke the law. >> i don't know why it would. they got the

it is also worth noting that the non-partisan government accountability office today issued a ruling, that it was illegal for president trump to withhold aid to ukraine as part of this scheme what he did there was against the law. for that to be arequireing today, that ruling from the government accountability office on the day that the senate impeachment trial starts. i mean this is all a big deal. but it's also becoming clear that what happens next in the impeachment of president trump in this senate trial may depend, in part, on the additional evidence and witnesses who are still coming forward as the ukraine scheme is coming more fully to light. and so, onward. here's part 2. all right. one of the main questions, a lot of different people have asked. i, myself, have asked and have wondered, the main question asked about mr. parnas' decision to give this first public interview, is, why he would speak out publicly while he's out on bond awaiting trial? all right, that is atypical behavior to say the least for a federal criminal defendant, particularly one that has a lawyer. the publ

kevin mccarthy at about 11:30 and asked about impeachment and reports referring to the government accountability office legal opinion saying the trump administration broke the law by withholding defense aid to ukraine. mr. mccarthy: good morning. i want to congratulate on his new job -- promotion. congratulate him on the promotion. he gets promoted and stops coming. what's up with that? all right. today we had a conference and republicans in the house coose the country have received good news from liz cheney and will remain on our leadership team and remain in the house. she is a fighter and powerful voice for conservatives and type of person we need to help us lead the charge to win back the majority. i speak on behalf and thank you to your commitment that bill help propel americans across the country. what you need to read into it, there is a real chance we are going to win the majority. stay here to to help us win the majority and i thank her for that. now let me shift to what we saw yesterday in this chamber. taxpayer funded campaign stupt for the democrats and took hard-earned dollars and put it i

independent government accountability office confirmed today the trump administration broke the law byithholding critical military aid from ukraine. does this crank up the pressure any higher for those republican senators to allow for witnesses to be called? after we get new evidence that matters. one of the jurors by the way on the democratic side joins us next. plus, will the gop put loyalty to trump above the oath of impartiality, you tell me. what can be coming down with a showdown of rules and witnesses? what kind of role will chief justice john roberts plays? i hope he plays the good judge and gets the facts out. we have a lot to get to tonight. stay with us. >>> when you move homes, you move more than just yourself. that's why xfinity has made taking your internet and tv with you a breeze. really? yup. you can transfer your service online in about a minute. you can do that? yeah. and with two-hour service appointment windows, it's all on your schedule. awesome. so while moving may still come with its share of headaches... no kidding. we're doing all we can to make moving simple,

the government accountability office says the decision by the white house to freeze the release of security assistance last summer was designed to advance the president's own agenda. the delay in delivering the aid is central to the impeachment case against president trump. >>> the senate passing president trump's new nafta trade deal with bipartisan support. the revised nafta passed with a vote of 89-10 thursday. canada, u.s. and mexico first signed the pact in november 2018. the new version enhances later protections and creates new rules for digital commerce, something that didn't exist when the first nafta was passed, and raises wages for auto workers. it's been a big week for trump's trade deals. on wednesday the president inked a phase one trade deal with china easing tensions but pushing the bigger issues ahead. china pledged to spend $200 billion over the next couple on things like agriculture, drugs and airplanes. in exchange the u.s. will cut tariffs in half. but the trade war has already hurt china's economy growing at the weakest pace in 29 years. last year in 2019 china's gdp r

to ukraine and recently because of some of the release of documents we now know the government accountability officeecided that was not legal. does that matter in a trial like this >> it's wanot a criminal violatn but a legal violation of the accountability office which is an independent watch dog which holds the government to account has come to this finding that the government acted inappropriately, the president acted inappropriately when it held up that money when the congress appropriate rates money to an ally of the united states for war, and president decides not to let that money flow, that's a violation of the law for a while now, supporters of the president in congress have been saying, if we impeach the president this will be the first time there hasn't been an actual crime. well, here it is an actual criminal offense isn't necessary. it's a political and moral idea the founders embedded in the constitution, not a narrow legal one. if they insist we identify a particular law the president has broken, well, the government accountability office has identified one so i think it does matter.

the government accountability office said, this president broke the law. can argue with them but you don't have to argue with me. >> i just want to make sure that we are accurate as we go through this. when you say that -- >> absolutely. accuracy is critical. when you say that a senator would be kicked out for doing with the president did, i would love to know how you detailed that. so when you look at this, and we've all been listening to this evidence. where the house managers make very strong arguments over the course of last week and now we are hearing from the president's side, for you what's the specific crime or egregious behavior that you see? how would you nail that down? >> the abuse of power which i think has been outlined very well by the managers as this. every single federal officeholder cannot use their position for their own political or personal benefit. that is the basis of the oath that we take. and this is the oath that was broken. taxpayer funds were being held up, and it hurts our national security. so i don't know, if you hold up fun

today -- and this is -- the government accounting office confirmed that the president's actions at the center of our impeachment articles withholding congresses shale approved military aid from ukraine was illegal. and these are their words. these are the words of g.a.o. faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that congress has enacted into law. the office of management and budget withheld funds for a policy reason that is not permitted under the impoundment act. it is not a delay. white -- the o.m.b., the house, the administration broke -- i'm saying this, broke the law. hey say, we conclude that they violated the empowerment impoundment act. this confirms the need for documents and eye witnesses in the senate. when i was in grade school there was a sign in the wall that said, what a tangle web we weave when we first practice to deceive. you see this more and more and more in all of this, this tangled web to deceive that the administration is engaged in. also on appropriations matters, i'm very sad about what has ha

. >> laura: the second silver bullet, the findings from the government accountability office. >> we areery significant breaking news just in. >> nonpartisan independent arm of the government called the government accountability office concluded that the trump administration broke the law when it withheld security aid to ukraine last year. >> i can't wait for reporters to get microphones in front of a lot of senators, and this is really going to be hard for them to digest and ignore. >> laura: well, just a few problems. one, this is a toothless declaration. two, obama's gao found he broke regulations, and it's part of the legislative branch, so it's not surprising they would side . byron, do you remember obama's allegations getting covered? >> they came up with bribery, that's when the test of the best. they did not come up with the impoundment control act, which is the law the president is accused of, the omb is accused of breaking. this is a dispute between the branches of government, and especially on spending, this dispute goes back -- these kind of disputes go back centuries between

on thursday, the nonpartisan government accountability office said the white house's office of management and budget broke the law by withholding the nearly $400 million in aid to ukraine, which had already been allocated by congress. also on thursday, fbi agents visited the home and business of connecticut congressional candidate robert hyde, who has been thrust into the center of the impeachment saga after newly revealed messages showed hyde communicating with former giuliani associate lev parnas about surveilling then-u.s. ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch. in one message, hyde wrote -- "they are willing to help if we/you would like a price. guess you can do anything in the ukraine with money." hyde denies he was offering to harm or assassinate the ambassador, who was later told by state department officials she had to leave the country immediately. ukrainian officials have opened a criminal investigation into the potential surveillance. before the u.s. has announced a similar investigation. we'll have more on the impeachment trial after headlines. the pentagon now says 11 u.s. t

house ukraine aid freeze violated the law according to the federal watchdog gao, the government accountability office. we will bring you more details on this story when we have them, but once again, the white house found to have violated the law ed aid to ukraine. do you see the market moving all because of trade negotiations, or is this something that is just being manipulated separately? and i don't mean manipulated in the local term -- in the political term. economistsu ask about the outlook for chinese growth, china is still expected to slow down this year. we had a more optimistic forecast from the vice premier in china yesterday, but even so, i think there is a market view out there that even if we haven't had the trade negotiations over the last 18 months, china would be slowing. if we do have another stage of tensions between washington and china, and that is quite likely -- there is still hawkish commentary in washington, within some of the u.s. generals about china's military prowess -- if we do get more of those tensions, the market will begin shavenk that is going to even more off of chin

as we're getting word from government accountability office said the white house budget office violated what i had shut be doing when it came to military aid with ukraine withholding that. omb responding, this is none of your business. then the most telling of all, interview last night on msnbc with rachel maddow of a key player in all of this essentially saying everything you heard from the administration is a lie. take a look. >> president trump knew exactly what was going on. he was aware of all of my movements. he, i wouldn't do anything without consent of rudy giuliani or the president. it wasn't just military aid. it was all aid. basically the relationships would be soured. several demands at that point. the most important one was announcement of the biden investigation. neil: consider what lev parnas was saying and accusing rudy giuliani of, president of the united states, and by extension the vice president of the united states, that they were misrepresenting themself. this was not going after corruption in ukraine, individual event by individual event, visit by visit, it was al

the government accountability office issued a legal decision saying withholding those funds violated the law. earlier this week house democrats released evidence from an associate of rudy giuliani. he helped push ukraine to announce those investigations. >> president trump knew what was going on. he was aware of the movements. he -- i wouldn't do anything without consulting with him or the president. >> president trump doesn't even know him he says. he had been indicted in a separate finance case and is trying to reduce his potential jail time. >> nancy pelosi slams a bay area tech giant. >>> that and more coming up after the break. stay with us, we'll be right back. trump: those pre-existing conditions are protected. vo: a broken promise. trump repeatedly tried to undermine coverage for 134 million americans with pre-existing conditions. mike: "he just doesn't care if you have a pre-existing condition he wants to deny you access to coverage. if he is re-elected, he'll keep trying to do that and i think we can't let that happen." vo: as president, mike will lower costs, and protect a

the government accountability office both sides trust them.said the president broke the law, so when i look at my republican friends and a lot of them are still my friends -- >> yeah. what i see is a lot of panic about getting to the truth because they really want to get through this and go on to something else. >> i agree. i think that gao report was really scathing and hard to run from. >> they're threatening to call hunter biden as democrats try to call their own witnesses like john bolton. would -- would hunter biden, you know testimony, would that be bad for democrats? >> well, hunter biden has nothing to do with this. he's a victim not a witness. so in my mind, you know, i think that would just -- that won't go anywhere. any republican that votes to call hunter biden who is a victim of this, i don't get it. >> senator, with all due respect. >> they were saying that they -- they were saying they were going to call joe biden, too. these are the people that -- these are the people that were, you know, that trump wanted to get -- this is the

a watchdog report from the government accountability office finds that the white house broke the law by freezing military aid to ukraine. this follows explosive new claims from lev parnas, an associate of president trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani. parnas tells msnbc he was at the center of the effort to pressure ukraine to investigate the bidens. >> because things happen that need to get out. and i think the world needs to know. >> it doesn't matter. he's trying to probably make a deal for himself. i don't even know who this man is. >> parnas is facing campaign finance charges. he's now cooperating with house impeachment investigators. text messages he supplied suggest fired u.s. ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch was under surveillance and perhaps in danger. >>> house speaker nancy pelosi has harsh words for facebook, a company she acknowledges has offices in her congressional district. her comments came at today's weekly briefing. she has asked whether big tech executives like mark zuckerberg have too much power. >> what they have said very blatantly, very clearly, that

this was not the one he wanted. >> quickly, secretary of defense and secretary of state, government accounting officethis was wrong, it said it was illegal. what are you going to do to the officers involved in the secretary of state, who preaches and speaks publicly and teaches on leadership, this is leadership? one of my people is being surveilled and i can't manage to say a single word? unbelievable. >> it's also been almost 48 hours since this came to fruition. so it's not like we've been waiting for a few hours. there has been time for the secretary of state to say something. >> certainly, absolutely right. everybody stand by. much more news right after this. (music) if you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information h

the nonpartisan government accountability office has released their findings, and the white house ising, the legal ramifications next. on the sidewalk ♪ ♪ all around the wind blows ♪ we would only hold on to let go ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we needed somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ all we need is someone to lean on ♪ doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacist-recommendeding? memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. (mom) [thunder] were you planning on mowing the lawn today? (son) no. (burke) saved by the bolt. seen it. covered it. at farmers insurance, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ (vo) get a quote today. my grandfather had an but ancestry showed me so much more than i could have imagined. my grandfather was born in a shack in pennsylvania, his father was a miner, they were immigrants from italy and somewhere along the way that man changed his name and transformed himself

. >> reporter: the government accountability office potentially gave an assist to democrats on thursdayd a report saying the trump administration did not adhere to the law last year when it delayed military aid to ukraine, which is at the center of the impeachment effort. here is the top democrat in the senate, chuck schumer. >> in the coming days, each of us, every one of us, democrat and republican, will face a choice about whether to begin this trial in the search of truth or in service of the president's desire to cover it up. >> reporter: the cheese justice of the -- the chief justice of the supreme court swore in the senators on thursday. the trial doesn't begin until tuesday. tuesday also happens to be the same day that the president plans on going to davos, switzerland for the world economic forum. lauren: it's so split-screen. the president doing one thing for the country and the impeachment on the other. president trump will have as you mentioned, blake, quite a full ajen a da in davos. the white house says he wants to focus on a range of issues, the stock market, the global e

. >> this government accountability office ruling that the white house illegal. was id will this undercut the republicans claims that the president has not broken any ws >> this is one log in a fireof evidence. they have clearly been contravened some type away. the president says he had his timeand cannot be restrained. we will go to the question as we heard sean hannity saying if the president has done these things paintable? do we want to remove this president from office? we are rolling in e court public opinion . >> we are talking about politics. we have not mentioned the democratic presidential debate in iowa. will the take away be what happened ter the debate? bate? here takeaways during the >> i do not know if the debate change the structure of the campaign. many people say they may id consider another cae even if they have a first choice. elizabeth warren and bernie sanders have been on the news. whether he told her that a woman could not win the white house. he says he did not she said he did. more than elizabetwarren and bernie sanders, they are go g af

the nonpartisan government accountability office now says the trump administration broke the law. this hour i'll talk to senator chris van hollen, the man who asked for that review of the decision in the first place. and at this critical moment in time, an 11th hour bomb shell from our own rachel maddow's interview, how this particular claim from lev parnas could up end the impeachment process. >> president trump knew exactly what was going on. he was aware of all of my movements. i wouldn't do anything without the consent of rudy giuliani or the president. i have no intent, i have no reason to speak to any of these officials. i mean, they have no reason to speak to me. >> lots to break down. let's get right to garrett haake and kelly o'donnell standing by at the white house. walk us through what we are going to see and hear and just stand by, speaker of the house nancy pelosi talking about impeachment. >> two articles of impeachment against donald trump, the president of the united states for his -- the president necessitated this by his abuse of power and obstruction of congress

government accountability office, concluded that the trump administration broke the law when it withheldilitary aid to ukraine. this afternoon at the white house, the president repeatedly claimed he knew nothing about parnas. >> well, i don't know him. i don't know parnas other than i guess they had pictures taken. i don't know him at all. don't know what he's about. don't know where he comes from. know nothing about him. i don't even know who this man s. i don't know him. i know nothing about him. i don't know him. i don't believe i have ever spoken to him. i don't believe i have ever spoken to him. i don't know him. i have never had a conversation that i remember with him. >> parnas told rachel, quote, he knew exactly who i was, and that is where we begin tonight, breaking down parnas's claims, and his credibility, and what his splits with team trump means as this historic impeachment trial begins. i'm joined on set by nbc news investigative correspond end tom winter who has been reporting on parnas's case since he first emerged as a figure in the impeachment inquiry. carol lamb, and m