and john heilemann is back with us to join the discussion.e attorney general say today in that interview. >> lawrence, i'm mystified. let me tell you why. first let me back up a bit and let me tell you what the inspector general found because the top findings by the specter general are really important to understanding what the attorney general said. the inspector general found first there was no political bias, no improper motive in the fbi's investigation of russian investigation into election interference nor in their opening the case. and with respect to opening the case that the predication was proper. predication is sort of a fancy and legal word. what it means is basically this. an fbi agent cannot open a case based on a hunch or suspicion or a fevered dream or because he doesn't like her next door neighbor. she needs some quantum of proof, she needs some evidence. a threshold, and we call that predication. and the inspector general found they absolutely had predication to open this case. so for the attorney general to say that is not

and john heilemann is with us. he's a national affairs analyst nor nbc news and msnbc. he's the editor in chief of the recount. congressman maloney, what was it like today to go through that marathon session on the house floor ending with those two votes? >> well, it was a day of history on the house floor, but not one of celebration. i think most of us are crystal clear that it's not good for the country that this president, any president, would engage in this misconduct resulting in impeachment. so it was a somber day, but it's one i think that we feel -- we feel proud about because we have done something important. we've made a contribution to preserving what's best about the united states and our institutions and our traditions, and we are going to hold the president accountable. >> 85 days. we are only 85 days away from nancy pelosi announcing the official impeachment inquiry. i for one have never seen something like this move through the house of representatives with such precision and such speed and such clear coordination between committees, members of the leade

wendy sherman, john heilemann, thank you for joining our discussion. and when we come back senator cory booker joins us to react to this historic news tonight. the president of the united states is impeached. senator cory booker will be a juror in an impeachment trial of president donald john trump. president donald john trump. [sneeze and sniffles] are you ok? yah, it's just a cold. it's not just a cold if you have high blood pressure. most cold medicines may raise blood pressure. coricidin hbp is the... ...#1 brand that gives... powerful cold relief without raising your blood pressure. cologuard: colon cancer and older at average risk. i've heard a lot of excuses to avoid screening for colon cancer. i'm not worried. it doesn't run in my family. i can do it next year. no rush. cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92% of colon cancers. you just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab. there's no excuse for waiting. get screened. ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. covered by medicar

let me go to john heilemann on that. congressman, we'll come right back to you. >> lawrence, i think you would agree you have in mitch mcconnell and nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, these are all three masters of procedure. they are are tactical and strategically savvy. i think that is the case as you just indicated there is a more fundamental thing going on here. you wouldn't want to fight mcconnell on tactics and procedure. but we know occasionally mitch mcconnell gets the politics wrong. he got it wrong on obamacare and it looks as though he's gotten it bad here. he's learned over time he can do things procedurally that are untoward and not pay a political price. the denying merrick garland a confirmation hearing may be the most egregious example but he's learned that generally process fouls don't come with political penalty. in this case because impeachment is such a high profile thing and process for a lot of voters equates with fairness, i think it's right to say he's misread the politics of this pretty badly and th

nbc and msnbc analyst john heilemann joins us now. what do you expect tonight?you think impeachment will be a bigger thing than it has been in previous debates? >> i do. and i think it's one of the most striking things, nicole. we have done these debates all yearlong. this is number six. and i think if you look back at the past five, one of the most striking elements of them has been the absence of impeachment talking on the stage. there have been debates where the subject does not come up at all, whether it was early in the year around the mueller investigation or now in the ukraine context. i can't imagine but that it's not going to be a central topic tonight both on the merits of what happened and also just, you know, a lot of these democrats who are on the stage, the one who are united states senators are thinking really hard about what this is going to do to the campaign come january. there is a lot of uncertainty now in the context of nancy pelosi and the articles of impeachment about when this trial might start, how long it might go. everyone's kind of de

and john heilemann, the editor in chief of "the recount." john, we just heard from chairman schiff in the last hour saying the report is ready, it is written. it's ready to go. it will be released tomorrow. we'll all have it by this hour. tomorrow night exactly as nancy pelosi said they would at the beginning of this process. >> let's be clear. i think what we have learned over the last year, but specifically in the last two months, is that the two crucial players in the house of representatives on this matter are nancy pelosi and adam schiff, both of whom made a political judgment for a long time they did not want to proceed with impeachment until it became absolutely necessary for matters related to questions of precedent, for questions what was they would allow to stand, because they thought the politics were tolerable to go forward. but they are still calling the tune. this big question that has hovered over once we get through thanksgiving, which was, and i don't think there was ever much of a question, because nancy pelosi and adam schi

and nbc and nbc john heilemann. john heilemann, you were there. this seems more like a symbolic prospect than a vote-counting one. you've got to get to 20 republican senators to convict him. nobody thinks that's a possibility based on the politics as they are right now as we sit. but even one or two would symbolically sort of swipe at this white house on substance and on politics. >> i think, look, the reality is that that the white house is very focused on the number of republicans who vote for impeachment in the house and they're really focused on the number of republicans who would vote for convict trump in the senate. and anything that makes it not a party-line vote makes it harder for president trump to say it's a partisan witch hunt, it's all the democrats. and you remember republicans that break and the bigger the number on both sides, the worse it is for trump. they are going to spend a lot of time, effort, and energy over the next two months trying to keep those numbers as small as possible. it's possible now with the will hurd news from

and mexico john heilemann talks to those smuggling guns across the border and the hit men that end up using. it shop to mexico the 17th of october 2019 the day the sinhala cult tell turned out like an army with a devastating array of firepower they subjugated the miss camilla treat self and took over the streets of coolie a kind of evil because this man says he was there fighting with the cartel we're talking about their weapons we're most of the people they're in on the side of the car with american guns. yes of course because all the arms that we use here are from the other side of the border. that want to go to go he's a hit man a soldier through guys crime one of the many across mexico responsible for a record murder rate how difficult would it be to do you job. if there wasn't this flow coming from the united states. it would be hard because the u.s. is the chief supplier that's where we get the new exclusive guns we need. people of the guns that have been seized in mexico and traced 70 percent come from the united states there's a reason it's hard to get a gun legally in mexico

extortion and there's americans appetite for mexican avocados grows so does the gang's profits john heilemann reports now from mexico city. the western world and in particular the united states is go mad for avocados within the last 20 years the average consumption there has more than tripled but if you are an american 80 minutes can have a car those on toast or in your pocket it's possible not over the profits a heading to the right hands. in michu a can make the heartland gangs a hijacking the industry extorting and kidnapping produces stealing trucks with their crop. it's widespread in lucrative there's a reason they call this green gold. but most grows it too scared to speak out it took weeks for us to persuade this man before they started by asking me for more money perfect hair they came to the farm and said who's the boss we want you to contribute that was 8 months ago he stories coleman eventually different groups were all asking him for protection money and paying them couldn't keep him safe the bill will roll some guys grabbed me and kidnapped me in their truck they beat me and brok

. >> john heilemann, you do have crimes. fascinating they didn't attach the crimes. >> i agree. think nancy pelosi is in better touch with the specific politics of the specific members whose seats in jeopardy, will be in jeopardy next year, most hard fought, the ones she needs to keep if she's going tro taint speakership. i think she knows the politics of those districts better than the members her selves. i defer to her judge meament an the voters in those districts saw this thing dragging out in 2020 and strengthening the republicans hands. on the other argument, now it's january or february, why are you trying -- we have an election in november, why are you taking this choice away from the american people? but i will say after feeling as though throughout this process nancy pelosi, adam schiff, as long as things in schiff's committee and pelosi and schiff were driving things, that democrats had the whip hand on this politically. think when it's shifted to the judiciary committee over the last few days, you can he soot difference and see why nancy pelosi, i want to attack jerr

i wanted to follow one gene robinson, on what john heilemann was talking about.ne, about the democrats' search for the center. and i want you to focus specifically, i talked to reverend al about this an awful lot, but i want you to focus specifically on your home state and the most important voters for the democratic primary. and that is black voters, older black voters, female black voters, and go back to that first debate where you had everybody rushing over to the left talking about -- i asked that you look through the lens of people in historical black churches, not only in south carolina who will help sway this election, but also across the deep south for super tuesday. but who do issues like the decriminalization of illegal immigration are giving health care benefits to illegal immigrants or even reparations which barack obama swatted that issue away twice when he was running for office or taking health care away from 160 million americans or, and i will say it because it needs to be said, debating -- democrats debating about transgender bathroom issues or

elbow they tried the industry seems uncertain as the country descents into a political crisis john heilemanneports from you on a salt flats. the unique so it's the biggest in the world and ground 0 for a believe ian dury elite deal. nature is polygamy and bolivian territory in the salt flats of uni we have the biggest reserves in latin america. and the countries aiming to crush it if you didn't know lithium is the minerals of the moment by smartphones laptops and crucially electric car batteries a growing market it's become especially important as the countries face not just a political crisis but an economic downturn. believe in plans been to keep the holy theme production chain in the country under a state run firm why it will be. this pilot plants part of a trial that's taking years to see if that plan can actually work but from november there's been big setbacks. while b. was planning to partner with the germans to finally cherno electric car batteries on an industrial scale but it's fallen through and it's tough to find others willing to be a junior partner with the state which doesn't

morales is the 1st indigenous leader polity was reduced to the forming marginalized people but as john heilemann reports from quite a hata weeks after he was ousted many have been left wondering what comes next for the country's indigenous groups. more than 40 percent of bolivia's population are indigenous until recently so was its president ever more ollie's. he wasn't universally popular with all of the country's 36 original peoples but for those like. under him things definitely improved she got a pension and a government program which helped to learn spanish in his seventies. before politicians just made money for themselves there were no schools or government housing those with evil we had all of us gave it to us. now he's gone and those in her town want to have the where most to from the i moderate group are worried about what comes next we're alice is government help build a high school astroturf pitch in houses here. but for us to do just as important was a new found acceptance in society and this is obviously much work before you can get into the armed forces the police if you had dark

. >> you know, john heilemann, and people who covered trump know this to be true and the rev knows himersonally. but there are sort of two things that make him the most dangerous to himself. one is questions about his legitimacy. the other is questions about the size of things as well, his victory, mar-a-lago, those sorts of things. this seems to be a moment. and it's interesting because many presidents are at their most vulnerable after a big setback. for bush it was after the harriet myers nomination was pulled back after a disastrous attempt to get her confirmed. for trump not so. he seems to sink the lowest and represent the gravest threat to himself when he is humiliated or belittled. and impeachment is something that will likely do both. >> i think that's right. last fall for the circus i went over and talked to steve bannon. you can have a lot of views about bannon. you can certainly have a lot of views -- not even apart from his views of things, even his perspicasity. and he's been through some stuff with donald trump and i think he has a pretty good read on trump trump's psych

elections longtime president is in exile in mexico he was following accusations of voter fraud john heilemann reports. after the abrupt exit of long term president ever more rallies the protests and this that followed a tense calm prevails in bolivia. the country is functioning at least under an interim government but it's also in limbo waiting for fresh elections that have yet to be called their city of the i must begin on my side the best thing would be for elections democratic elections without the fraud that the last president did and that it happens soon because the country is paralyzed in certain aspects and with the new elected government things will be better. interim president jimmy 9 years is an elected to ministration has been busy radically altering the country's foreign policy and accusing venezuela of course in the recent people not just in bolivia throughout the region you see. mr moore through. using his cousin has financed all the terror the bolivians have experienced in recent days the terror that colombians to land's end peruvians are experiencing this is really a conspirac

now the future of the industry seems uncertain as the nation descends into a political crisis john heilemann has that story what do you need so it's the biggest in the world and ground 0 for a believe in dream elite deal this was a nature's polygamy and bolivian territory in the salt flats of uni we have the biggest reserves in latin america. and the countries aiming to crush it if you didn't know lithium is the minerals of the moment by smart phones laptops and crucially electric car batteries a growing market it's become especially important as the countries face not just a political crisis but an economic downturn. believe in plans been to keep the whole lithium production chain in the country under a state run firm why it would be. this pilot plants part of a trial that's taking years to see if that plan can actually work but from november there's been big setbacks. while b. was planning to partner with the german to finally chernow electric car batteries on an industrial scale but it's fallen through and it's tough to find others willing to be a junior partner with the state which doesn

consumers appetite for mexican avocados john heilemann has more for. the western world and in particular the united states is go mad for avocados within the last 20 years the average consumption there has more than tripled but if you are an american eating mix can have a cut those on toast or in your guacamole dip it's possible not over the profits are heading to the right hands. michu it can make the heartland gangs a hijacking the industry extorting and kidnapping produces stealing trucks with their crops. it's widespread in lucrative there's a reason they call this green gold. but most grows it too scared to speak out it took weeks for us to persuade this man to whom they started by asking me for more money perfect hair they came to the farm and said who's the boss we want you to contribute that was 8 months ago he stories coleman eventually different groups were asking him for protection money i'm paying them couldn't keep him safe with the role some guys grabbed me and kidnapped me in their truck they beat me and broke my head open i told them to

. >> jill wine-banks, john heilemann, thank you both. >>> when we come back, the president of ukraine speaks. he has submitted to an interview with "time" magazine, one of the interviewers who was there in the interview with president zelensky will join us. we call it the mother standard of care. it's how we bring hope to our patients- like viola. her team treated her cancer and strengthened her spirit. so viola could focus on their future. cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now. cancer treatment centers of america. why are we doing this? why are we doing what? using my old spice moisturize with shea butter body wash... all i wanted was to use your body wash and all i wanted was to have a body wash. who doesn't love a deal? i do. check out the united explorer card. savin' on this! savin' on this! savin' in here. rewarded! learn more at the explorer card dot com. i'm a verizon engineer, and i'm part of the team building the most powerful 5g experience for america. it's 5g ultra wideband-- --for massive capacity-- --and ultra-fast speeds. almost 2 gigs here in m

and mexico john heilemann talks to those smuggling the guns across the border and the hit men that endup using. that shot to make the 17th of october 2019 the day the silly little cult turned out like an army with a devastating great fire power they subjugated to miss camilla treat self and took over the streets of coolie a kind that he would but this man says he was there fighting with the cartel we're talking about their weapons were most of the people they were in on the side of the cult with american go. yes of course because all the arms that we use here are from the other side of the border. what they got to go he's a hit man a soldier for organized crime one of the many across mexico responsible for record murder rate how difficult would it be to do your job. if there wasn't this free flow coming from the united states. it would be hard because the u.s. is the chief supplier that's where we get the new explosive guns we need going to support all of the guns that have been seized in mexico and traced 70 percent come from the united states there's a reason it's hard to get a gun l

diplomat disputes starting with mexico granted asylum to former bolivian president evo morales john heilemann has more from mexico city. libya's caretaker president jimmy 9 years says she's had enough she's kicking out not just the mexican embassador but also to spanish diplomats she accuses them of meddling in her country's affairs not only in most of what we cannot tolerate is the abuse and arrogance of rulers who are clearly trying to cover up and protect criminals that have committed crimes of sedition armed uprisings and terrorism her anger is directed at 9 bolivians including allies of ousted president ever more as who've been given asylum inside the mets can embassy the government wants them out and under arrest i am anti moralist protesters the keeping vigil outside alongside police to ensure they don't escape when spanish diplomats turned up for a meeting with their mitts can counterparts some thought it might be cover for a getaway the spanish security team waiting outside the embassy were harassed and scared off and their diplomats left stranded eventually they go back to base but

rate on record on the majority of firearms involved are being smuggled in from across the border john heilemann as part 2 of our series on arms trafficking from the u.s. this burnt up car became a wakeup call for the united states and says for the record. i need to inform my grandchildren her. shot up 3 women and 6 children american citizens killed in neighboring mexico. president trump said in response the cartels would be considered terrorist organizations but it was america may bullets found at the scene and likely america make guns smuggled across the border that we used to kill not just this family but tens of thousands more in mexico quantised suffered more the most this year there's been an average of 6 murders a day residents say the city swimming with us far arms. anyone can carry a gun now and i've known cases where the exchange a couple of words with someone in a taco stand in a petrol station and they killed them. yvonne's husband himself was shot dead leaving her to bring up 4 year old michelle and 10 year old danny alone it's affected us in every way economically as well i'm not w

john heilemann, what do we expect?, speaker pelosi's decision to keep this narrowly focused and move this along, what are the next couple of weeks, what do the next couple of months look like? >> well, the next couple weeks, joe, and the next couple months, the two time frames are different because you'll talk about the house in the next couple weeks and the senate in the next couple months. i think the really important to just pause and reflect on the degree demonstrated in these two articles of impeachment, the degree of nancy pelosi's power over this process. there was even up until the weekend a pretty intense debate within the democratic party and in many of the interested parties on the relevant committees about doing more articles of impeachment. there was discussion of more -- not just more than two, but the number people were talking about four, five, six, seven, eight articles. people were talking about going back and resurrecting charges from the mueller investigation, looking at those 11 documented cases of

mayor, john heilemann never learned that you don't leave the best stuff in the break.ou miss running for by your response. >> yes, i miss it because it is an incredible experience connecting with the american people and being able to talk about where we need to go and to talk about, for example, how this happens to be the party of working people, not the party of billionaires. i'm sure we will talk about that in terms of michael bloomberg. >> but you liked being out there. >> i loved being out there. >> it is nice to hear because you hear people saying, it is such a hard slog but you enjoyed being out there. >> it is amazing. on the ground in america are not only a lot of good people but a lot of good people trying to address the issues in our communities, working together across partisan lines. i see it out there and i'm very hopeful. >> so you running makes you more hopeful for american democracy? >> more hopeful. >> let me ask you this. i talked to you over the folk last week and i thought it was fascinating what you said, these debates you have ten people on the st

let me just read something that's as clear as day, john heilemann. sondland says was there a quid pro quo? as i testified previously, the assistance yes. that's a quote from gloond you'll hear from his mouth in a couple of minutes. he looks to separate himself from all of this. he says my personal view which i shared repeatedly with others was that the white house meeting and security assistance should have proceeded without preconditions of any kind. but he says, we were handed this rudy giuliani mess and we tried to make the best of it. >> yeah. i think it's possible, joe, that it's a little more recent than that. i think that, you know, when he first amended his testimony he was still trying to admit what he to admit but not tell the full story. it's only subsequent to that that it's become clear that the lion forces around trump were trying to make him the scapegoat of the two potential scapegoats, rudy giuliani and him, that he was the easier target. giuliani has too much on trump. at this point as we sit here now, bh whwhen this standard fi sta