thank you so much, heidi przybyla. that was analytical, factual, and straight a reporter's at the -- >> thank you, congressbottom woman, and from the seattle, the liberal bastion. with the facts. >>> much more ahead on this historic week of reckoning. coming up, a divided country braces for a divisive treatment, hopefully will be a real trial. lindsey graham has admitted he will acquit the president, no matter what happens. >> what i this is is best for the country is to get this thing over with. i i'm clearly made up my mind. i'm not trying to hide the fact that i have disdale for the answer saying in the process. i don't need any witnesses. >> this is "invasion of the body snatchers." >>> plus rudy giuliani's misadventures. he tells "new yorker" i need ed ambassador yovanovitch out of the way. again the president today kay to rudy 'defense. stick with us. rudy 'defense. stick with us. my body is truly powerful. i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity ac

for more on this, let's go straight to nbc's heidi przybyla. heidi, tell me where the information we've learned from these documents fit into the timeline of events surrounding the hold on that military aid to ukraine, which was approved by congress. >> this is a huge timeline data point, ali, because what you see here is that even though the white house is accurate there. that this hold had been discussed previously. this is telling us that 90 minutes after the president asked president zelensky to investigate joe biden's son, that that hold which had been discussed was then formalized and people were told to keep it under wraps. essentially, to keep quiet about it. then, very important data point, within 24 hours of that, the very next day, you have firsthand testimony that the president was confirming with eu ambassador gordon sondland that president zelensky had acquiesced. he had agreed to do those investigations. that is firsthand testimony from david holmes. so what does this all tell us? it tells us that there are critical documents that

and nbc news correspondent heidi przybyla. hallie jackson traveling with the president in florida. do we have -- hallie, we haven't heard a whole lot from the white house about these newly-released e-mails. what are your sources telling you? and any indication they're going to comply with what chuck schumer's demanding? >> so that would be i think, kristen, breaking with the precedent that the white house has set so far in this process. right? you and i at the white house back home in washington and even here over these last few days in mar-a-lago have watched as the white house has been very consistent. they do not want to cooperate or at least share information or witnesses or documents with what they perceive to be this partisan investigation. this partisan impeachment led by house speaker nancy pelosi. so any change would have to have been instigated by something dramatic at this point. and unfortunately, i get the sense that chuck schumer's letter isn't going to cut it, right? that's simply not dramatic enough for this white house. and laying those out. keep in mind, the presi

and nbc news correspondent, heidi przybyla. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. consider this, for only the fourth time in american history, a president of the united states is facing impeachment. and our national response has been whatever. everything that's happened, the house announcing two articles of impeachment against president trump. the president attacking the fbi, joined by his attorney general, even after the bureau was cleared of political bias in the launching of the russia investigation. president trump that same day meeting with russia's foreign minister, finally, the house judiciary committee voting to send the impeachment articles to the house for a vote this week. all of it felt so strangely normal. as is what's about to happen. house is all but certainly to impeaecach mr. trump and then t senate is going to acquit him. it leaves us wondering whether we have lost our capacity to

. >> joining me now heidi przybyla, steve israel. congressman, i have to start with you.hange that was the viral moment of last week's democratic presidential debate, what do you make of it? how does it resonate with iowa voters? and does pete buttigieg have a point about purity tests? >> i think there's several things. number one, when you are perceived to be ahead in the polls, then you have the biggest target on your back. elizabeth warren clearly believes that buttigieg is pilfering from her vote share and going after them. most democrats aren't debating the fine points of campaign finance reform and they're not making a judgment on who should be the nominee based on those positions. they're making a judgment on who should be the nominee based on the person's ability to defeat donald trump. so that was a viral moment, but it does not reflect the major concern that most democratic voters have in this priority and that is a streak of magmatism in nominating somebody who could defeat this president. >> when you see those types of intramural disputes, do you think it help

. >> and, jill, i have this from heidi przybyla today. the morning of his july 25th call asking for ukraine for a favor to investigate joe biden's son, trump was reading a fox poll showing two things -- biden with a commanding lead for the democratic nomination. biden beating trump by ten points in a general. i guess, jill, the question is how can white house officials continue to believe that biden was not the overall impetus? >> well, i'm not necessarily sure that's what white house officials believe. that's obviously the line they say and what the president has continued to say, that this has nothing to do with joe biden even though he was actually asking newly elected president zelensky to investigate joe biden, to investigate his son hunter, to investigate burisma, to investigate this theory conspiracy alleging against intelligence officials' conclusions that it was ukraine that interfered in the election. this is kind of a line that they have been trying to push in order to kind of try to counteract this idea that the president was

sources connected to the house judiciary committee tell our colleagues, leigh ann caldwell and heidi przybylaone article of impeachment would be abuse of power, that's connected to bribery and extortion, president trump allegedly trying to press his ukrainian counterpart into the service of president trump's own reelection campaign, that's the theory of the democratic case, that's what all the evidence points to. another potential article of impeachment on obstruction or contempt of congress, that would be related to the epic stonewalling that house democrats have seen this white house put up as they've tried to carry out their constitutionally-mandated oversight responsibilities. the other, and this is where the mueller report comes in, would be obstruction of justice. and so that is something that adam schiff spoke to last night when he was interviewed by rachel maddow, that the judiciary committee already has the mueller report, and that's something they're considering. certainly watch this space as the hearing tomorrow happens and then over the next couple of weeks towards the end of the

joins me, nbc's hans nichols in west palm beach, heidi przybyla, carlos curbelo and chuck rosenberg. great to see all of you. hans, it seems there are maybe three types of tweets we're seeing on the feed this holiday. first dozens of retweets, all of them supporting him, of course, positive messages on the economy and then you've got these relentless attacks on spoker nancy pelosi. is there a real political calculus here or is this just the president venting after news coverage? >> perhaps the latter. we know he's quoting from "fox & friends." the president's twitter feed, it's the president's strategy, he's going back to he's the team, it's me, we, he's leading the strategy. if you think that's the strategy, that's what the president likes to do, he likes to talk directly to his followers on twitter. you broke it down really well, people asking other people to pray for the president, also taking a shot at justin trudeau in canada, his back and forth on the home alone 2 movie, was it edited? he's clearly celebrating the stock market, the nasdaq crossing the 9,000 threshold. the presi

. >> and jill, i have this from heidi przybyla on twitter today, the morning of his july 25th call asking ukraine for a favor to investigate joe biden's son, trump was reading a fox poll showing two things. biden with a commanding lead for the democratic nomination, biden beating trump by ten points in a general. and i guess, jill, the question is how can white house officials continue to believe that biden was not the overall impetus? >> i'm not necessarily sure that's what white house officials believe. that's obviously the line that they say and what the president has continued to say, that this has nothing to do with joe biden, even though he was actually asking newly elected president zelensky to investigate joe biden, to investigate his son hunter, to investigate burisma, to investigate this conspiracy theory alleging against intelligence officials conclusions that it was actually ukraine that interfered in the election and not russia -- not russia but ukraine instead. this is kind of a line that they have been trying to push in order to kind of try to counter act this idea that the

i want to bring in nbc news correspondent heidi przybyla and adrienne elrod, former adviser for the hillarypaign, she's also an msnbc contributor. heidi, let me start with you. i want to drill into an interesting part of this fox poll, first of all. independent voters, specifically here. a new high of 45% of independents say they favor impeachment. that's up from 38% in late october. how should lawmakers are from both parties be looking at that jump in particular, in this key segment of voters? how should they be looking at that jump? and does it change in any way shape, form, or fashion, the calculus between republican and democratic lawmakers looking ahead to 2020? >> sure, typically, looking at one poll and drawing conclusions is not a great idea, but in this case, this is a fox news poll, and it's going to get attention from some lawmakers. what they take away from it, how it affects anything for republicans, doubtful is going to move a ton of republicans in the house. but it's very significant, because of the long-term implications, craig. in that poll, they also found that more americ

joins me, nbc's hans nichols in west palm beach, heidi przybyla, carlos curbelo and chuck rosenberg.. hans, it seems there are

we're lucky now to be joined by phil rucker, an msnbc political analyst, and heidi przybyla, nbc newsold just before you came on that you've got some new reporting. share it with us. >> ridght. this is just providing some important context here. this is an important moment to pull the cord, cut the noise and distill what is happening here. there are just two arguments that the republicans are making here. the first one that this is an unfair process. i have new reporting that during those private hearings, which by the way private hearings, that was a precedent created and set by the republicans, based on my reporting, the only formal request that republicans made for witnesses during those private hearings were for adam schiff, who is the committee chairman, and the whistle-blower. there was never a formal request to get hunter biden or any any of these other witnesses who they think can get at the issue of what hunter biden may have done in ukraine. everything you are seeing here going after the bidens, this is all for public consumption. number two, this whole process is about to m

msnbc's grart headache is on capitol hill, also with me, nbc's heidi przybyla. glenn kirschnekirchner, carlos former republican congressman who represented the state of florida -- district there in florida. all three are msnbc contributors. garrett, let me start with you on the hill. we've watched this process play out in the house intelligence and judiciary committee. we heard from the two most senior members of the u.s. senate. what should we be watching for, listening for from the rules committee when they gavel in a few minutes from now? >> unlike the other committees that have handled the impeachment and football so far, and the rules committee will have the opportunity to question one another. you may see democratic members questioning doug collins, republicans questioning jamie rascon. it's more a back and forth pre sue of what we'll see on the floor tomorrow. raskin is also on the oversight committee, so he handled the investigative part of this, the judiciary part of this. a lot of people think he'll be an impeachment manager on the senate side, too. he

heidi przybyla, let me come back to you. the democrats conundrum seems to be that they haven't had to articulate any anomalies in terms of the evidence or fact pattern. they are on the defense a little bite around questions about t whether or not to pursue the testimony of more firsthand witnesses. but in termse of the facts, th are not in dispute in washington. yet, yet, republicans have their arms locked in this really solid political fire wall on the president. >> you saw the defense lay out the case. the case was basically this is all hearsay, which it's not. these people don't like fortunate and they are doing this for political gain, even though the polls show that actually the this is not a political winner for the democrats, and you saw that emotional response from speaker pelosi last week when she asked if she hates the president. that's because nancy pelosi knows very well this is not s great politics for her more vulnerable democrats and she took andts made a very powerful statement at that podium saying this is c

heidi przybyla, you've been following with all of us. jump in ong all of this, pleas >> actually, nicolle, i have new exclusive insights to offer. exclusive to nbc news according to individuals who are close to those hearings and close to the investigation. who tell me that we are now staring down two articles of impeachment against president trump. we knew this. this was abuse of power, contempt of congress. so what's new here? i will note that we did not see any mention among those democratic counsels of the words bribery, of the words extortion. and that this, nicolle, was intentional. that despite all of the pressure, despite the public polling a showing this makes things easierow for the public understand. despite the fact that it's loosely-defined in the constitution. they are not, at this demoment, going down that route. sown where is the debate now? i want to throw up a tweet from constitutional law icon larry tribe, who is making the case. andma we know that he was advisg democrats on saturday, nicolle, that not only was the pre

heidi przybyla, thank you for your reporting. >>> still ahead, cory booker joins the conversation.torney general william barr undermining his own justice department in order to once again protect president trump? nbc's julia ainsley joins us with her new findings next on "morning joe." ♪ ♪ hi honey, we got in early. yeah, and we brought steve and mark. ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. wean air force veteran made of doing what's right,. not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it - with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa i like working. what if my retirement plan is, i don't want to retire? then let's not create a retirement plan, let's create a pla

. >> that was nbc's heidi przybyla reporting. >>> the delay creates the possibility of president trumpefinitely for an acquittal by the senate. congress is now in recess until january 7, and while it was a historical week for president trump, it was also a pivotal one for house speaker nancy pelosi. the "new york times" writes from the moment in january she ascended to speakership for the second time she's the only woman to ever hold the office. pelosi has been the orchestra that crescendoed into an impeachment vote she hoped to avoid. and joining me, christine pelosi. author of a book getting interesting reviews. christine, thanks for being here. what do up say to those who think the whole impeachment without a conviction will propel trump to another four more years of his presidency? >> hi, kendis. good to be with you and happy holidays to all the viewers out there. i think that as i mention in the book, "the nancy pelosi way" part of the speaker's decision to bring forth impeachment was based on the facts and the evidence. what the whole country saw happen with respect to threatenin

the national action network reverend al sharp ton and nbc correspondent with us in washington, heidi przybylal. i always say the friday between christmas and new year's you learn who your real friends are, they show up for you that day. you are all here. i want to start with you. you had a big christmas, feeding a local of people on the holidays. >> 28 years with the national action network, at our headquarters. we feed homeless and the seniors who don't have family. this year our special guest was phil griffin, the president of msnbc, him and cory came. they came and said we'll do about half an hour. they ended up staying two-and-a-half hours and people loved that the president of msnbc spent christmas day with them along with 2,000 people, elected officials. christmas should be about what you give, not what you get. the thing i really appreciated about phil coming is we talk about a lot of people that we never go and see and live and be among them. >> yeah. >> i think all media, national tv presidents ought to go into different communities and get a feel for the people they're talking to an

nbc news correspondent heidi przybyla joins us again. >> what a day. >> what a day.en doing the split screens. >> oh, yeah. >> yesterday the split screen was the president leaving -- >> getting mocked. >> getting mocked, ridiculed. >> on the world stage. >> and rushing out of the united kingdom. >> really stamping his way out tv do the door. did he leave early, he stormed out? >> as "the new york times" said, it was bad timing for him and his staff, of course, were shocked he did it. they wanted the picture. they wanted the sound bite. >> he wanted to go watch tv. >> they wanted the celebration of the 70th anniversary of nato, and it would have been very good for the campaign and they would have had that split screen. instead, the split screen are professors taking apart just the remaining republican legal defenses for donald trump, and the other side of the split screen are world leaders literally, literally laughing and mocking donald trump. >> and that's why the president didn't hold the news conference, the traditional end-of-nato news conference. he said it is b