nbc and msnbc national affairs analyst john heilemann. former republican congressman, now an independent, david jolly. and former u.s. acting solicitor general, neal kathyal. heidi, you were among the first to break the news about speaker pelosi. take us through what you've learned and what you're reporting this hour. >> reporter: right, nicolle. we learned speaker pelosi has decided later today after her meeting with the caucus which you see members entering now that about 5:00 today, she is going to make the announcement that she will launch a formal impeachment inquiry. now, what does that mean? it means that the committees which have already been investigating this president are hoping that under their legal theory, they will be able to have expedited access to documents, to witnesses, and expedited legal process here that has really been clogged up by this administration which has been stonewalling these investigations at every turn. now, it is this news over the ukraine pressure by the president that kind of broke the dam here. the

with that our thanks to kim atkins, to peter baker, to tom nichols and john heilemann. returning veterans all. we greatly appreciate it. coming up for us the first acquittal in a case tied to the mueller investigation. we have a pulitzer prize recipient and a former u.s. attorney standing by to talk to us. >>> and later, last one out turn out the lights. two more republicans announced just today they're leaving the house. what might they know? what might they suspect about what might be coming as "the 11th hour's" just getting started on this wednesday night? - in the last year, there were three victims of cybercrime every second. when a criminal has your personal information, they can do all sorts of things in your name. criminals can use ransomware, spyware, or malware to gain access to information like your name, your birthday, and even your social security number. - [announcer] that's why norton and lifelock are now part of one company, providing an all in one membership for your cyber safety that gives you identify theft protection, device security, a vpn for onlin

with that our thanks to kim atkins, to peter baker, to tom nichols and john heilemann. returning veterans all. we greatly appreciate it. coming up for us the first acquittal in a case tied to the mueller investigation. we have a pulitzer prize recipient and a former u.s. attorney standing by to talk to us. >>> and later, last one out turn out the lights. two more republicans announced just today they're leaving the house. what might they know? what might they suspect about what might be coming as "the 11th hour's" just getting started on this wednesday night? the game doesn't end after a spectacular touchdown grab because there's always another team looking to punch one in. with nfl redzone from nfl network on xfinity, you get every touchdown from every game on sunday afternoons, all season long. watch every breakout star, every heart-pounding running attack, and every big time defensive stop. sundays were made for football on xfinity. that's simple, easy, awesome. add the sports entertainment package for nfl redzone. click, call, or visit a store today to learn more. >

it may just not be they're as concerned about it in the united states. >> john heilemann, one of the elements of the reporting in "the new york times" is this is the loss of a major asset. i mean, this russian asset has been brought to safety in the united states, but "the times" reporting has indicated that that information flow hasn't been replaced. >> right. and i think it's incredibly -- reading from people who know more about this than you and i who follow this world, everyone is noting just how devastating this loss is for america's intelligence capacity in general, but particularly modern russia at a time when we know the russians were successful in attacking our democracy in 2016, when they waged other attacks on our democracy in 2018 and we expect them to wage further attacks on our democracy in 2020. we are now as many -- the metaphor that keeps coming through, the single word metaphor, we are blind. we are blind. at the highest level of the russian government, we had the magic asset, the kind of asset that comes along once in a generation for the american government, now g

with that our thanks to kim atkins, to peter baker, to tom nichols and john heilemann. returning veterans all. we greatly appreciate it. coming up for us the first acquittal in a case tied to the mueller investigation. we have a pulitzer prize recipient and a former u.s. attorney standing by to talk to us. >>> and later, last one out turn out the lights. two more republicans announced just today they're leaving the house. what might they know? what might they suspect about what might be coming as "the 11th hour's" just getting started on this wednesday night? started on this wednesday night? >> tech: at safelite autoglass, we really pride ourselves on making it easy for you to get your windshield fixed. >> teacher: let's turn in your science papers. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >>

also joining us john heilemann, co-executive producer of showtime's "the circus."ke, this is one of the nights where we really need you and your intelligence experience and expertise. this story is so strange, not just for me, but i know for viewers out there that there could be this very, very valuable cia asset, so valuable that he had to be actually -- she perhaps, who knows, this person had to be extracted from russia for their own safety after delivering so much high-level, high-value information. but then living under the person's real name in the washington area? should we be as stunned by this or is this not so surprising to you. >> well, this has happened before during the cold war. >> what? this has happened before? >> during the cold war, right, when it was the soviet union, we did have high level sources, and many of them have lived in the united states and were exfiltrated from russia. some of them are actually out there in their true name and have written books about their time in the soviet union. so it's not so unusual that this happens. the questio

there's what john heilemann's talking about., you can't get on the stage and ignore the fact that you're in a contest against one another. what maria is talking about which is you're in a state where some of the most egregious trump policies are playing out, including the refusal to do anything on guns. but you're also at this what feels like a crisis moment of the trump presidency where people who have opposed john bolton forever did a little eh about him walking out the door after he objected to a meeting with the taliban. >> when are we not in a crisis mode with the trump presidency? you and i have probably said that ten times on this show. but it does seem like the wheels, the one wheel that might still be on is off now. who knows where we are heading. so that's got to be a subject of the debate. i think that tonight is more about show than tell. because it's really -- democrats are sitting at home and they're wondering, okay, who's going to beat donald trump? who's the one to do it? and i don't think you can just say i'm th

john heilemann, i want to bring you in here for a minute.e didn't talk about last hour was the scope of this investigation. bh what's the scope going to look like, and do democrats go down what i would consider to be rabbit trails going back into some of the details dredged up by the mueller report or things that happened after the mueller report, or do they just stay focused on the facts before them? >> right, i think those are both -- that's a huge question to me, joe, and as of yesterday, there were a lot of questions outstanding on this matter. it's not a question of process. i think it's a question of strategy. as jeff goldberg was saying earlier nancy pelosi is all in. she's not straddling any lines now. she's now the captain of team impeachment inquiry, if not full blown impeachment. so the questions i think before the democrats are two. one of them is to your point, i'm interested to hear what you would do if you were the impeachment manager, right? do you just say we are going to focus -- this ukraine whistleblower issue is enough.

stokels, rick stengel, and veteran of obama state department, and nbc and msnbc national analyst john heilemannit's a reporter on that breaking story out of the "wall street journal." rebecca, thank you for joining us. take us through what you're reporting. >> so, what we understand is we are reporting for the first time that the president specifically pressured the president of ukraine over this biden investigation that he wants to see and that he specifically implored the president of the ukraine to work with his personal lawyer on such an investigation. as we saw in the clip that you just played and as rudy has made clear in several public interviews, it's been no secret that giuliani has been pursuing this. he wanted to meet with zal ensky earlier this year. that meeting was subsequently canceled after the report came out. and he had said that the president was aware that he was planning to travel to ukraine to pressure the government there to mount such an investigation. but this is the first instance we have of president trump directly raising this matter with the ukrainian government and

john heilemann, sam stein, thank you both for joining us tonight. it's tonight's episode of meet the freshman. jason crow of colorado is a former u.s. army ranger who served three tours in iraq and afghanistan. he said donald trump's mplan to divert money is putting military readiness at risk. and he's also working to keep the kinds of weapons that he used on the battlefield out of the hands of america's mass murderers. he's one of the democratic freshman who won in a republican district and who has come out in favor of the impeachment process. this is a freshman you're really going to want to meet. that's coming up. [ applause ] thank you. it's an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. i love you! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ 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. play it cool and escape heartburn fast wit

so john heilemann, the recount put together. >> that's good. >> this incredible mashup of john berkow retirement as soon as he can place one more thorn in the side of the brexitiers. >> the guy is spectacular in so many ways. i tweeted this thing out last night because he's an obsession of mine, has been for a long time. and the response to it's been incredible and the number of people who say now that he's no longer going to be the speaker of the house of commons, can we get him to the united states, can we get him into congress to impose some of his incredible pension for order and also his wit. i will say one last thing, when you listen to members of parliament who are women, nonwhite mps they all speak of him, even at the far left. he's a conservative member, and the labor members all talk about him with the reverence and respect as having been someone who is a champion for some of the voices that did not get much air play in the commons before his arrival. so he's universally respected across parties in britain and will be certainly missed with he leaves the commons. >> and that

is this a good idea, john heilemann?the other things and the democrats are going to put stormy daniels and karen mcdougal center stage there. aren't americans going to think that was so last year? i understand at least with stormy daniels there's a legal issue. a possible criminal issue there. i understand that. but mcdougal seems to be a bit of piling on. >> i think the question is going to be how they proceed with this because i think for all of us who care about norms, the president -- in the case of daniels in particular and in some of the other instances some of them not -- the facts are not fully known, the president seems to have violated campaign finance law. he is an unindicted co-conspirator in new york in the stormy daniels case and he needs to be held accountable for the violation of the law. and then the question is how do you get precise about it. >> the answer is no, it does not work for the democrats. it sets him up as a victim again. it's not what people care about. it's tone deaf. obviously -- >> but do

in terms of taking it back. >> john heilemann, it's a story that broke at 33:55. people were picking up steam on twitter. to me it's the most important thing to do today, to show there's no -- there's nothing too small for trump to lie about. there's nothing he won't quadruple down on. and let me tell you, i lived in tallahassee, i lived in florida, they're really good at preparing for hurricanes but they rely on accurate information. and it's no joke to mess with a forecast. so, you know, it might seem like a sharpie but i think the intersection of a president that rails against fake news all day every day and a storm that is hitting this country today and truly jeopardizes people's lives and livelihoods is a serious enough thing to 1207 and say what is going on? >> yeah, well, there's a whole bunch of things to say about this. one of them is we have often remarked on the fact trump has been incredibly lucky in that the chaos and the lies that have devalued his currency, the most fundamental currency a president has, which is trust, that they have not had signifi

undersecretary of state wendy sherman and former deputy national security advisor ben rhodes, john heilemann, mike murphy will join us to consider the new shape of our politics now that donald trump has become the fourth president in history to face an official impeachment process. and later in this hour, we will hear from a former federal prosecutor, we'll ask mimi rocah if she sees any federal crimes in this transcript of the president's conversation with the president of ukraine. is this a smoking gun? and at the end of the hour, we'll tell you what to watch for and what to expect in that public hearing beginning at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow in the house intelligence committee, a hearing that we already know will be historic. the acting director of national intelligence joseph mcguire will testify to the committee and explain why he blocked the inspector general's report of the whistle-blower's complaint. former house intelligence committee staffer will tell us exactly what the committee staff is doing right now at their desks tonight to prepare the members of that committee for tomorrow's heari

include many children who are missing out on school but a classroom on wheels is coming to some as john heilemann reports from the border city of to one. of a small team of volunteers in one are heading to one of the city's many migrant shelters with a unique service. you specially adapted school bus since january u.s. asylum seekers mainly from guatemala honduras el salvador been put back across into mexico while they wait between their court dates many have children and this new floating population could be stuck in border towns like to quanah for months. that's where this bus comes in it's been fitted out to give the medication by n.g.o.s schoolbooks project so run programs in greece and syria get to go with really no thank you they're working with volunteers from border angels mainly students giving lessons in reading writing and math as well as psychological help mask glasses on my horse and i lose more than just classes it's a way of giving them tools so that the. q. stronger more resilient able to express their emotions and say what they're feeling and that's really important and it's what

many children who are missing out on school and now a classroom on wheels is coming to sound as john heilemann reports from tijuana. a small team of volunteers in t one a heading to one of the city's many migrant shelters with a unique service. you specially adapted school bus since january u.s. asylum seekers mainly from guatemala honduras don't sell the door been put back across into mexico while they wait between their cool days many have children and this new floating population could be stuck in border towns like the one for months . that's where this bus comes in it's been fitted out to give them education by n.g.o.s schoolbooks project also run programs in greece and syria get to go with it really you know in here they're working with volunteers from border angels mainly students giving lessons in reading writing and mass media as well as psychological help mascot glasses and for more than just classes it's a way of giving them tools so that they can be stronger more resilient able to express their emotions and say what they're feeling and that's really important and it's what we're wor

called the leste and has become a central part of life for migrants in the mexican border town of john heilemann has a story. this dog a bit of paper means everything to a 100 and his family is this in the middle every couple moments their release there are days he's so valuable it's the number in the list. the list is a strange thing volunteers who are migrants themselves keep it in a notepad in the mix computer city of tijuana it determines the order in which the thousands of asylum seekers here will be seen by u.s. officials. no one knows exactly who started it or when but it's evolved into a system to try and keep order as the u.s. has slowed up the processing of asylum claims. each day american officials tell the mix can counterparts how many people they're willing to receive and 8 o'clock there's an impromptu sermon in which the list holders announce whose number has come up. with the list moves achingly slowly migrants rights activists estimate that there are now 9000 people on it but just 40 or so taken every day. since they fled the violent gangs battling over their native michu can all

children who are missing out on school but a classroom on wheels is coming to some of them as john heilemann reports now from the border city of tijuana. a small team of volunteers in t. one are heading to one of the city's many migrant shelters with a unique service. specially adapted school bus since january u.s. asylum seekers mainly from guatemala honduras and el salvador been put back across into mexico while they wait between the court dates many have children and this new floating population could be stuck in border towns like the quanah for months. that's where this bus comes in it's been fitted out to give them education by n.g.o.s schoolbooks project also run programs in greece and syria getting on with it really think they're working with volunteers from border angels mainly students giving lessons in reading writing and mass as well as psychological help mask glasses and the horse. more than just classes it's a way of giving them tools so that they can be stronger more resilient able to express their emotions and say what they're feeling and that's really important and it's what

we're so happy to have back with us tonight john heilemann, our national affairs analyst, co-author of "game change," co-author of "double down," co-host and co-creator of "the circus" on showtime. where do you come down on the rick wilson theory espoused by many others, if you legislate cheeseburgers, drinking straws, light bulbs, you're going to lose. >> yeah. i think those are all issues that create a target-rich environment for the trump campaign. and you can see it after this climate event the other night. you watched the way the trump campaign -- i was on the show with you. >> every night on fox news they're doing it. >> you saw what they put out as their press release. they know that these are positions of vulnerability. and you know, more importantly i would say not just those issues but issues like decriminalizing the border, taking away private health insurance. these are things that are not broadly popular in america, brian. and i think you know if that is what -- if they want to serve up that platter to the president they won't necessarily lose the election but they will re

. >> and john heilemann, when you look at bill barr's conduct, it is consistent in this tour of dutybut it does not add up in terms of motive. donald trump said in an interview with you during the campaign, i think there was a terrorist attack somewhere and you said where will he turn to and he said me and my big brain. he doesn't give a bleep about the country and he thinks he is smarter than anybody. what is he doing? >> the one thing that we know about him, this is the get in my way. what he needs, he doesn't think needs anybody's intelligence or anybody's knowledge or instincts. those are the things that he thinks are flawless about himself. what he thinks needs is muscle. he liked the idea that bobby kennedy because john kennedy's muscle. he likes the idea that eric holder was barack obama's muscle, the idea of having a roy kohn. and he got it with barr. to this moment as we sit here, the most naked gra tee tuesday and successful act of raw thugs political power in the whole span of the frud was what bill barr did over the mueller report. this was a breath taking thing where he

former republican congressman, now an independent, david jolly, and nbc and msnbc national analyst john heilemanni want to read some more from your superb reporting and then have you take us through it. you write on display were all the characteristic traits of the trump presidency. the yearning ambition for the grand prize, the endless quest to achieve what no other president has achieved. the volatile mood swings, and the tribal infighting. my question when i got to that was tribal infighting, was that in afghanistan or inside his cabinet? what was the reference? >> [ laughter ] well, yeah. believe it or not in this case we are talking about the president's cabinet. i want to make sure i give due credit to my colleagues peter baker and mujib who were also bylines on that story. but, yes, there are tribal factions you might say in this white house. in particular this episode has shined a spotlight on these conflicting impulses, both within the president's own mind and top levels of his national security team, namely, his national security adviser john bolton in particular. in this case secretary

in it john heilemann speaks with joe walsh.le watch is for alex wagner. >> i of course, alexander wagne is the only reason i watch. and on sunday, i'll have neil patrick harris and tom brokaw who has a great piece about veterans. he will be with more more the hour. we'll see you on sunday. we'll be back. but i don't have to clean this, because the self-cleaning brush roll removes hair while i clean. - [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans now cleans itself. (classical music playing throughout) uh, well, this will be the kitchen. and we'd like to put a fire pit out there, and a dock with a boat, maybe. why haven't you started building? well, tyler's off to college... and mom's getting older... and eventually we would like to retire. yeah, it's a lot. but td ameritrade can help you build a plan for today and tomorrow. great. can you help us pour the foundation too? i think you want a house near the lake, not in it. come with a goal. leave with a plan. td ameritrade. ♪ plants capture co2. what if other kinds of plants cap