and actually you just mentioned john thune.ohn thune just walked back that -- those comments to me just moments ago. in fact, saying that what taylor was saying in his view was secondhand and thirdhand information, and talking to other republicans today, they're making very clear that they are also on the president's side. >> are you okay with what was -- came out in the bill taylor testimony that the president, that the president apparently had directed the military aid to be withheld in exchange for a public declaration of investigations that could help him politically? >> did he talk to the president? >> he talked to -- >> oh. that's hearsay. here's what i can -- >> you don't think he's trustworthy -- >> here's what i can't get over. if rudy giuliani had a 15-page statement saying he did nothing wrong, wouldn't you want to know more? would you accept that statement? i've got nothing against bill taylor. it's the process. you're asking me do i believe something based on a statement that hasn't been tested. >> until we get the

then i exhibit to get to john thune. here's what bill taylor said in part in august and september of this year i became increasingly concerned that a relationship with you crane was being fundamentally undermined by an irregular and formal channel of u.s. policy making and by the withholding of vital security assistance for domestic mr. ill reasons. that's one of self times that bill taylor talks directly to this. and now you have john thune, a member of the republican leadership in the senate saying this picture is not a good one. >> of course. and you know despite what congressman brooks is doing. you know when you don't have the facts, maybe you argue the process. and when you look a at the testimony of taylor yesterday, you see somebody who is a 50-year public servant, credible, despite the fact the white house called him a radical unelected bureaucrat. he is anything but radical. he has worked for democrats and republicans and what he saw as he said, i'm going to read something else to you. he said it was a rancorou

senate, john thune, saying, "the picture coming out based on the reporting we've seen is not a good one." but the president today attacked taylor on twitter, calling him a "never trumper," adding, "it would be really great if people

yesterday john thune, the number two republican in the senate from south dakota said that the picture being painted by bill taylor was not a good one. that was then. this is now. >> right now we're hearing one side of the story. until we get the full picture i said this yesterday, i think it's hard to draw any conclusions. >> reporter: the picture painted of the president wasn't great. do you still agree? >> based on the reporting of what you guys were saying about it. i went back and actually read what was said and there is a lot of secondhand information, a lot of sort of hearsay -- not hearsay but in the sense that it was passed on. it wasn't a direct conversation. >> it's true that bill taylor did not testify about conversations he had with president trump. but he talked to the people in the administration, volker and sondland, who had had direct conversations. >> it's not hearsay when sondland tells taylor that trump

i quote john thune. e picture coming out of it based on the the reporting that we've seen, i would say is not a good one. everyone is back with me. nia, senator thune is the number two republican in the senate. he can keep his mouth quiet on this, but he chose to say what he chose to say. how significant is it that he said it publicly? >> it's significant. if you're the president you are watching this unfold on tv, right? and he looks at tv and he doesn't see any of the major folks in the senate coming out and offer full-throated defense of him, right? so that is worrisome to this president because he's got to keep all of those folks in line. listen, it's one thing to be able to keep folks that come to his rally in line, right? and be able to come up with an applause line that suits those folks, but listen, mitch mcconnell matters. john thune matters. mitt romney matters, lisa murkowski, a lot of these folks, you know, who you're looking at to see what their response is so far. a lot of them haven't neces

bill taylor and john thune telling reporters off camera, quote, the picture coming out of it based on the reporting that we've seen, i would say is not a good one. behind closed doors, the president's attorneys are scrambling, sources say trump's legal team is recalibrating the impeachment strategy. keeping the focus on the democrats' command of legal proceedings instead of trying to answer for the substance of the action on ukraine arg you'lling the president is being denied due process. meantime trump attempting to spin another crisis of his own making in northern syria. >> let someone else fight over this long blood-stained sand. >> reporter: even as administration officials paint a very different picture of what is happening on the ground, today trump defiantly declaring victory. >> today's announcement validates our course of action with turkey. that only a couple of weeks ago was scorned and now people are saying, wow, what a great outcome. congratulations. it is too early to me to be congratulated. but we've done a good job. we've saved a lot of lives. most importantly, we have

call it, the deep state, or whatever, they're ought to get the president. >> congressman, senator john thuneaid that the picture that was painted by bill taylor who essentially drew a line of a quid pro quo, was not a good one. do you agree with what senator thune said, the number two republican in the senate? >> there's two things. i say, everythiassuming everyth taylor said was true, there was nothing impeachable there. >> but was the picture potentially damage to go the president, congressman? one sid be damaging. once it became public in the mueller investigation, there was nothing there. i look forward to taylor to testify. the fact is, we talked about a quid pro quo. every treaty, every agreement, one side gives something. i remember when president reagan wouldn't sell, uh, weapons in northern ireland until it stopped human rights violations. if the president didn't say, we're not going to give you the aid -- remember, president obama gave no military aid at all, he's the one who really should be guilty here. >> congressman, let me ask you about the president's announcement yesterday,

john thune who's the number two in the senate, i don't have the quote before me right now, but john thune basically said the facts as we're seeing them don't look good. they don't look good. and that's just -- >> there it is. >> the picture coming out of it, based on the reporting we've seen, i would say is not a good one. >> the whole dam doesn't break all at once, as we know sometimes. sometimes it's little almost imperceptible moments of erosion and we just can't tell if that is one of them. >> and typically and throughout this investigative process whether it's regarding ukraine, whether it was the mueller investigation, it did seem like senate republicans at least were more of the adults in the rooms at times than what we saw coming out of congressional members. but don't forget what we have heard from bill taylor. that's clearly what the m.o. is here to distract from what we heard him say. i don't understand the logic because if republicans wanted what bill taylor said to be public, i don't know how that benefits the president's cause at all. there's no way anybody can read through

that is john thune. that is not a squishy republican, the number two republican in the senate from south dakota. he doesn't have to say anything that is not fully supportive of president trump. but there is an honest assessment there. >> there is real nervousness on both of the senate republicans and the house republicans. we saw that with mr. rooney the other day. that they are not confident any more that it is quite as easy to excuse what the president has done as they once thought. >> and why is that? well democrats and even some republicans say it was jaw-dropping. we'll break down why bill taylor's testimony could be the most significant part of the impeachment inquiry yet. stay with us. so ...how are you feeling? on a scale of one to five? one to five? it's more like five million. there's everything from happy to extremely happy. there's also angry. i'm really angry clive! actually, really angry. thank you. but what if your business could understand what your customers are feeling... and then do so

. >> then there's the senate majority leader john thune. out yesterday and said something significant. he knew it was significant. he knew anything not supporting trump is significant. quote, the picture coming out of it based on the reporting that we've seen i would say is not a good one, right? he's talking about taylor. so then today he -- he tried to walk it back. here's john thune. >> i went back yesterday and actually read what was said, and there is -- there's a lot of secondhand information, a lot of sort of hearsay -- not hearsay, but in the sense that it was passed on. it wasn't a direct conversation. >> so -- so -- so look, rachel. i'm curious, from your reporting covering congress what do you think is happening there? obviously, never mind the quotes and the detail, but the passing along. donald trump calls sondland and bill taylor takes notes and puts it in quotes and john thune is hiding behind gordon sondland and bill taylor. >> as if he didn't read it carefully the first time when he was critical of the president. when repub

others including john thune seemed to believe otherwise and plenty of republicans are eager to create distractions to it. let's get some perspective from carl bernstein, also gloria borger and jeffrey toobin. jeffrey, i mean the republicans sort of -- the oddest storming of a secure location i've seen. >> my favorite part of the protest was that several of the protesters were actually members of the committee who were inside. so they had every right to be inside even though they were protesting. so in that solidarity, i am protesting my failure to be allowed on "ac 360" while being on "ac 360." i think that's the level of protest that we saw today. so consider that -- >> carl, i mean is this -- is it just a publicity stunt? is it, you know, a sign of where we're headed? what do you make of it? >> i think it's an indication of the total lack of interest in the republicans in the house and senate at getting at the truth and confronting the abuse of power by the president of the united states. we have a situation now that there are three things happening at the same time with the preside

. >> the number two republican in the senate, john thune, is walking back comments he made yesterday. all of a sudden he was at the white house today, saying this yesterday, the picture coming out of the testimony based on the reporting we've seen, i would say, is not a good one. today he said i went back and read what was said and there's a lot of secondhand information hearsay, not in the sense that it was passed on. it wasn't a direct conversation. >> what i would say to the american people is you deserve better leadership in washington, d.c. than you're getting. when you've got a bunch of congressmen invading a committee meeting like that in a secured area of the capital, it looks like the kind of stuff that comedy shows put on when it happens in another country, when some parliament has fallen to pieces. and now i'm afraid to say that's happening here in the united states of america. and we can't contend with the challenges we have to face as a country if we're going to destroy the institutions the way these republicans are doing in the name of donald trump. >> scif, classified b

we'll speak with john thune. this should be the story we should be talking about and not impeachment. the market pros, scott martin and jonas max ferris. scott, it's always a split read on a cut in interest rates. if you're in debt, you love it. how will this spill out? >> that's the situation that the feds are in, neil. the fed wants to be accommodative and help the economy. so they're in a tough spot. they have the political pressure, too, on the side of that. what is interesting to me, you mention in the jump there, three straight rate cuts in a row after a fed that last december made a huge policy mistake and thought they would raise the rates this year. goes to show you, this is anybody's guess. so far, so good. the made has made the right decisions the last three times they cut. >> neil: now i'm wondering if everything hits the fan and everything goes bad, danielle. they don't have a lot more hours in the quiver. this reverse is a third of the nine hikes we saw since the process of going from near zero inte

. >> and then there is john thune, the number three in the republican leadership, as you know.hn thune, this is audio of him reacting when asked about ambassador bill taylor's deposition yesterday. >> the picture coming out of it based on the reporting that we've seen is, yeah, i would say is not a good one. i think that whatever he said in private, it ought to be done in public. >> and they are going to be releasing transcripts of all of the testimonies, robert. but the point being that their procedure is to do this sequentially, build these cases. it's equivalent of a grand jury, the trial, the public trial will be in the senate, as you well know. and there have been several key players, second perry, outgoing energy secretary perry who did an op-ed or an interview in "the wall street journal," trying to put their versions out to perhaps help some of their fellow witnesses. that's the whole reason they're keeping them secret until they actually testify. >> and senate republicans will continue to rail against the process in the house. but it's interesting, when i was at the ca

i mean, even as he was talking, max, reporters on capitol hill ted barrett caught up with john thune, of the republicans in senate leadership, asked about the policy and john thune said, the policy being deployed currently is a big mistake. >> right. it's not strategically brilliant. it's a strategic disaster. i mean, you also had lindsey graham, who is generally a sycophant for trump saying if there is a revival of isis, trump will own it. that's what's going on here. one of the other things that struck me is trump has not only betrayed our kurdish allies. he is adding insult to injury, he's attacking the kurd, oh, they're not angels, completely false suggesting that the kurds are deliberately releasing isis prisoners to force -- >> that's the second time he's sucked it. >> that's a lie. he sets them up to be slaughtered. then he insults them. this is why so many military are ashamed today who worked with the kurds to see what is going on here. at the same time he is insulting our kurdish allies. he is giving a green light to turkey. he is very anti-american right now. he is giving a

they had john thune saying, gee, i don't know about this. mitch mcconnell published an op-ed dissenting. >> it seems to me they're doing harassment of the whole operation, but the whole technique back in inreagan era was change the subject, not from who's right, who's wrong but what side are you on, you change the subject. are you republican, then get in line. this isn't about guilt, it's about loyalty to the party. >> that's a little what you've seen the president doing the last couple of days where he's sort of said republicans, i need you behind me, you need to fight harder. you've got to stand behind me. he's been making that public cry. what you've seen this week is finally a recognition by the white house. remember a month ago you had the white house saying we don't need a war room, that would be suggesting there was something a problem here, and now this week you've seen a concerted effort by the white house to try an outreach to members. we had mick mulvaney this weekend at camp david with members trying to loop them in, setup calls,

john thune said this about what is emerging from the impeachment investigation, quote, the picture coming out of it based on the reporting we've seen is yeah, i would say is not a good one. as donald trump's desperation deepens, he chose to put the trumpian word "perfect" in mitch mcconnell's mouth, which provoked mitch mcconnell to, in his polite senate way, call donald trump a liar. >> the president has said that you told him that his phone call with the ukrainian president was perfect and innocent. do you believe that the president's phone call -- >> i have not had any conversations on that subject. >> so he was lying about that? >> you would have to ask him. >> leading off our discussion tonight, democratic congressman ro khanna. he is a member of the house oversight committee and he was in the room today when the republicans barged in and tried to stop the deposition. also joining us, mieke eoyang, who has been in that room many, many times but has never seen anything like that today. also ned price, spokesperson for the national security council in the obama administration, msnbc na

but john thune, for example, the republican whip, saying quote, if you are lindsey, i am not sure i wouldake recommendations from rudy giuliani on who i would bring in to testify. john cornyn also chiming in. quote it wouldn't be my highest priorities. we need limited bandwidth if we focus on getting things done and not contributing side show. lou: i think he meant we need more bandwidth. former chair of the senate judiciary committee says he wants to know what a bind hearing would accomplish being that bind is a frontrunner for the dems' 2020 nomination. joining us, matt gaetz, you are still a member of the freedom caucus, right? >> that's right. lou: every one of the republican conference's leaders joined in with the democrats. what is going on in your party? this is bringing back the stench of the paul ryan years. >> i completely disagree with the democrat led resolution to condemn the president on syria. they are the same voices that wanted to topple assad that caused this problem turkey. erdogan has seen his approval rating shoot through the roof because he promised the turks he will

the number two republican in the senate, john thune, saying, "the picture coming out based on the reporting we've seen is not a good one." but the president today attacked taylor on twitter, calling him a "never trumper," adding, "it would be really great if people within the trump administration could stop hiring never trumpers." taylor is a career diplomat, who served as george w. bush's ambassador to ukraine. he returned there in may at the personal request of the president's own secretary of state, mike pompeo. the president is calling bill taylor a never trumper. do you have any reason to believe he has political motivations or to question his credibility? >> no. i don't know anything about bill taylor that i can say negative. >> reporter: senator lindsey graham, trump's top ally on the hill, says the white house needs a better strategy to push back on this impeachment. >> all right, so, let's get to mary bruce, with us live on the hill again tonight. and mary, the white house attacking the diplomat who testified in the last 24 hours, bill taylor, after that damaging testimony. the whi

. >> on the other side of the capitol, the number two republican john thune and mitt romney were both calling the attacks on vindman's patriotism a quote, mistake. >> meanwhile ted owe ho has. attended any. that ins the vind man deposition on tuesday. here's what he told cnn on why he was a no-show. >> why are you not there? >> because i have other responsibilities in the house and i see this as a side show. >> respectfully, congressman, as glad as i am that you're on this show, you don't need to be on the show. you could be deposed -- >> the gop accused them of running this behind closed doors. >>> meanwhile curt volkurt volk trump employee who communicated with ukraine officials about the investigation into biden. katherine kroft focused ukraine. in the afternoon kroft's predecessor, christopher anderson testifies. >>> a cnn poll shows two new england senators bernie sanders and elizabeth warren running neck and neck. the poll conducted by university of new hampshire hassan ders at 21%, warren at 18% followed by biden at 15%. biden is still seen as the best chance to defeat trump in

. >> so, today lindsey graham and senator john thune, both top republicans in the senate have expressedregarding quid pro quo allegations. that's different from the matt gaetz faction of the party who showed up and argued and blocked testimonies over process. the fact that lindsey graham is now saying let's get more information. jim jordan is saying i don't like how this is getting done. what does that tell us? there may be cracks forming within the republican party on support or at least support for impeachment inquiry process. now let's go to new york. parnas and fruman, who associates of rudy giuliani appeared in federal this morning. the men were arraigned on corral charges funding u.s. money to foreign politicians to gain influence. they lied about their political donations including a $325,000 donation to approach trump's super pac in may of 2018. there is new reporting on who the two men could be working for. a putin connected gas tycoon na named demitre furtache. joining us now our own tom winters. walk us through what happens today. >> reporter: yes, stephanie as expected both

the phone -- the thing about the phone call was perfect and now you have today republican senator john thune saying this testimony doesn't look good. so my question to you, sir, is, are you starting to see cracks across the aisle? >> i think you are starting to see cracks across the aisle, because it simply can't be defended. i mean, even putting aside the quid pro quo issue for a minute, which just the issue that he's calling up foreign leaders and asking them to interfere with elections that is usually problematic for this country, but second, you know, it now sounds like it's pretty clear he was threatening to withhold the foreign aid, and, you know, trump is the kind of guy, he makes everything up, and in this case what he's saying is, oh, yeah. mcconnell said it was perfect. then mcconnell said, no. i never read the letter. i mean, he's looking for confirmation, affirmation, donald trump is, to prove his lies, but even mitch mcconnell is unwilling to play that role for donald trump, and i hope going forward every one of us will step up and do or constitutional duty here whatever that lo

this is the number two republican in the senate john thune earlier today. the picture coming out is not a good one. but it's pretty hard to draw any hard and fast conclusions. a much more take from a senate republican who says if this witness can be corroborated and this comes out in public, that's not good. >> yes, there was this behind closed doors testimony but a lot of democrats would love to have him testify publicly and they're hoping that he will once they reach the public portion of this investigation. also on taylor, it was hinted by a number of democrats to us yesterday that he has contem contemporaneous notes which are key. it's unclear, though, whether or not those will be handed over to congress, whether or not the state department is withholdi i them. >> the administration has withheld the other documents. i was told by a republican lawyer in the room that he had specific citations about other cables, other e-mails, other documents, other people who could back up his account. so we're going to go through this as we go. >> i was going to say th

republican in the senate who has been more throughout in his concerns how all of this is going down, john thune, our ted barrett talked to him. he said i don't question his patriotism and said he's got a purple heart and it would be a mistake to attack his patriotism. one other note. i noticed shawn duffy since his appearance on this network looks like he's trying to clean it up on twitter, said that, said this morning i salute mr. splavindma service. he gives advice. other network, running those conspiracy theories and don't have anybody to push back on them, that's kind of going into the zeist geistgeist, but not a >>> talking live with a veteran up next and someone who know the vindman to respond. >>> plus a former navy s.e.a.l. who trained these military dogs join meese to discuss an operation that killed the isis leader, abu bakr al baghdadi and why this needs to remain classified. >>> and the family of a british teen killed in that crash involving a american diplomat's wife will now sue the trump administration for this alleged cover-up. >>> stay right here with cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. y

break news, a top republican senator praising house speaker pelosi decision to have a full vote, john thuneling cnn it would be great if the house would open this process up. i think it would be an entirely different conversation we would be having. i suspect it would create an entirely different environment. it's interesting he thinks that. others like mark meadows are saying the opposite tonight. already saying they don't think this means anything. we'll see how this plays out. obviously, that's a big question. let me start with you. that gave everybody the talking point. you have the secrecy and it gives republicans this talking point but now she's also part of the reason she didn't want to do it is put democrats on the hot seat with an impeeachment vote. now they have to show where they stand. >> it will. i was just communicating with somebody who is potentially on that line who pointed out something very interesting to me which is since three, four weeks ago, a lot of the dynamics of not -- put their money where their mouth is. that could hurt them in the short term and maybe in the lo

. >> however, the number two republican in the senate, john thune of south dakota, who is normally one-half of the human backdrop behind any mitch mcconnell senate appearance, had this response to a question about the impact of taylor's deposition. >> the picture coming out of it based on the reporting that we've seen is, yeah, i would say is not a good one. >> today new reporting also seemed to undermine trump's defense that even if he had tied the military aid to an investigation of the bidens and the 2016 election, it couldn't be a quid pro quo because the ukrainians weren't aware of it. this morning he wrote that no witness "has provided testimony that the ukrainians were aware that military aid was being withheld." ah, but "the new york times" reports that ukraine knew of the aid freeze by early august and that they were advised to reach out to mick mulvaney, the acting white house chief of staff, to deal with it. the a.p. reports that ukraine's president was concerned about the request to investigate joe biden at least two months before the july phone call in question. amid all of thi

picture that has been painted so far, incomplete though it may be, is not a good one, to quote john thuneo this very uplifting but sad remembrance for elijah cummings, a man who was known for his decency, humility, empathy, character. and i tweeted yesterday that when we are reduced to the president of the united states and the white house attacking a public servant like bill taylor who has served his nation honorably and well, when we have been reduced to attacking that person's character, then we're going off the rails as a nation. i do hope the democrats will quickly wrap this closed-door set of proceedings up and move forward so the american people can see all there is to see here. but yesterday was a show that doesn't change the fact that the picture so far doesn't look very good. >> i want to ask you about this whole idea of attack, attack, attack, which you point out very rightly is in such a stark contrast to the mood that we just saw honoring that man of character, elijah cummings. president trump called ambassador taylor a never-trumper diplomat. then the white house press secre

yesterday we heard when john thune heard about the bill taylor testimony and found it to be troubling. he wanted more information, he wanted to see it in detail, but what he had seen was very troubling. manu raju noticed that today and noticed it was the shift. >> the picture he painted of the president wasn't great. >> i missed the reporting of what you guys were saying about it, but i went back yesterday and actually read what was said, and there is, there is a lot of secondhand information, a lot of sort of hearsay -- not hearsay, but in the sense that it was passed on, it wasn't a direct conversation. so i think that, you know, the president needs to have the opportunity, and republicans, frankly, for that matter in an open setting have the opportunity to respond to some of these accusations that are being made and questions that are being raised, and until we get that, i think, like you said, i think it's premature to jump to any conclusions. >> moving back to a more cautious, safer space there. >> it seems to be a theme that -- we even heard it from mick mulvaney last week where

today the number two republican senate majority whip john thune of south dakota criticized how the inquiry being carried outs when asked about bill taylor's testimony. >> the picture coming out of it based on the reporting we've seen i would say is not a good one, but i would say also that, again, until we have a process that allows for everybody to see this in full transparency it's pretty hard to draw any hard fast conclusions. >> what's this? >> a careful what you wish for. it's a process that's going to become trance parent is going to be pretty ugly for republicans. and then they'll still complain. >> they'll show them what they got, and you got a problem. >> it's not going to be pretty when taylor gets in front. but i do want them to finish their work carefully. >> it remind me of the late frank -- once said in washington ignore every word someone speaks before the word but. anyway, thank you. still ahead he's a former cia director, former secretary of defense and former white house chief of staff, so our next guest has lots of insights and lots to say about impeachment and russia an

. >> and shortly after senator john thune came out and said something. senator mitt romney came out and said something. and the gop leader of the senate, mitch mcconnell, who doesn't often come forward said "i'm not going to question the patriotism of any of the people coming forward." i -- i think that this is critical. it is not surprising when donald trump is under attack he attacks. so he did this tweet about never trump, but it is simply not appropriate. >> yeah. thank you for saying that. and over to you, sir, on the legal -- his testimony is so significant. the first person to have testified actually on that july 25th phone call between trump and zelensky and actually the second time after that call he rang the nsc lawyers, because he deemed the conversation inappropriate. how damning is that testimony? >> well, very substantial testimony, and very damning. you have to remember that testifying or under oath before congress is a crime. it's a crime of perjury and as a matter of fact even not being under oath you can be convicted of lying to congres

. >> john thune saying i would hope he would be open to changing his policy based on the input he gets. then he goes on to say the horse is out of the barn. the kurds had to retreat. they had to ask assad for help. the president of the united states says that's fine. >> syria is pulling in. syria will probably have a partner of russia. if russia wants to get involved, that's really up to them. we shouldn't be losing lives over it. >> just a complete inarticulation -- as olivier said, offering several versions of american foreign policy. take your pick here. he's been back pedaling since the first initial withdrawal here. who knows what the american foreign policy there. if the president understands the history or depth of any of this, he is hearing from a lot of people, rand paul one of them. lindsey graham was supposed to be the president's close friend on this. he's not listening to him. >> u.s. troops coming home from a mess that this president inherited in the middle east. the question is how does it play out down the road. what are we talking about weeks and months from now. the k

moving away to some extent in denying that he spoke with the president about that phone call and why john thune is so worried. any understand the import of bribery as a high crime. and that looks like what has occurred here. >> carl bernstein, gloria borger jeff toobin thanks. >>> up next some congress people coordinating theatric we'll talk about to a mavd law prochser who has become a source of advice to knows leading the inquiry. in fact, he taught two of them. we'll be right back. more reliab. so you can get more out of the new iphone. better battery life, new ultra-wide camera. and at t-mobile get unlimited for only $30/line for 4 lines on a network that goes farther than ever before. and right now, switch at a t-mobile store and get the new iphone 11 on us! only at t-mobile. ayou listen to advyour client's goal ofen. sending her daughter to the music school of her dreams. and you help her turn it into reality. principal. we can help you plan for that. start today at principal.com. no matter what life throws down ♪ roomba is up for the challenge. only roomba uses 2 multi-surface rubber bru

i sat around and chuck grassley was there, and joni ernst, and john thune, and mike pounds. ( laughtern: ( as trump ) "yeah, they were all there. i gotta say, mike pounce-- i love that mike pounce. he's a big believer in crissy- anity, and our lord and savior, jerbus." we'll be right back with jake tapper. jake! get a suit on! get a suit on! you don't let a cold ruin your day. you take dayquil severe liquicaps and crush it. dayquil severe. the daytime, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever, sore throat, power through your day, medicine. oh! you got a fast one there just can't get him to slow down this class will help with that we get it... you got it! we're petsmart! plaque psoriasis uncoverth clearer skin that can last. in fact, tremfya® was proven superior to humira® in providing significantly clearer skin. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symoms or if yod a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya®. uncover clearer skin that can last. janssen can help you explore c

and then yesterday, following bill taylor's testimony, john thune, quote, the picture coming out based on the reporting i've seen, i would say it's not a good one. republican congressman mitchell of michigan called it troubling. susan collins called it an important piece of evidence, sir. it's not just democrats that have questions. >> well, i think if you look hard enough you'll find anybody that will say there's -- there are questions. but here's why there are questions. it's because we don't have all the facts. that we don't have any visibility into the line of questions other than what adam schiff decides to release. and i think it's incredibly suspect that he's cherry picking these things. let's bring it into the sunshine. let's take a vote. put members on record. and then let's have this process that's fair, that allows both sides to call their witnesses, cross-examine, and let's give the president an opportunity to defend himself. maybe he can't face his accusers on the whistle-blowers, but he can face the accusations and explain them. but in terms of the direct conversation in

>> one of the president's close allies said they are watching it very closely the remarks by john thuneessentially saying the testimony this week has been problematic for president trump, the fact that you have senate majority leader mitch mcconnell laying out how he's going to conduct a senate trial signifies this is seous and it's not getting swept under the rug. they want to see the president show more discipline so that they don't have to defend him on other controversies. they want to have a clear strategy as it relates to this impeachment inquiry. >> well that leads me quite well to the final point here which is what's going on with syria that's another area where republicans, some of his staunchest allies have come down hard on the president's actions there, he's announced a cease-fire, the lifting of sanctions, he had a triumphant news conference, but what about his critics? >> they are taking a wait and see approach, giving him a little bit of a leash on this coming out and saying well, let's see if this cease-fire holds. but there's no guarantee, savannah, and the president ac

senator john thune, the number two ranked republican said it is, quote, a rough patch for mick mulvaney. you're seeing frustration about how the white house has addressed the allegations. how the white house has addressed what house democrats are investigating up to this point. what you're not seeing is a major break of senate republicans. and certainly no break from house republicans as well. i asked senator romney did he believe his comments were channeling what his colleagues didn't have the ability to say publicly and thinking behind the scenes and he acknowledged he didn't think so. at least not at this point. and he made clear if there is impeachment and if it gets to the united states senate, they will be jurors and because of that, most people right now are taking it day by day and holding their fire, wolf. >> phil, tomorrow another big witness scheduled to testify in connection with the mooec-- wit impeachment inquiry, tell us about that. >> reporter: william taylor the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine that came to the forefront based on his role in a series of text messages releas

yesterday, republican senator john thune certainly took what he said seriously enough to gravely say emerging picture painted of president trump is, quote, not a good one. today, however, it was a different story. >> right now we're hearing one side of the story. until we get the full picture, i said this yesterday, i think it's hard to draw any conclusions. >> the picture that painted the president wasn't great. >> based on the reporting of what you guys were saying about it. but i went back yesterday and actually read what was said. and there is. there is a lot of second-hand information, a lot of sort of hearsay -- not hearsay, but in the sense it was patsed on. it wasn't a direct conversation. >> a short time later santa ana thune had lunch with the president and a number of other republican senators including lindsey graham who raised the same hearsay objection as senator thune. >> did he talk to the president? >> he talked to ambassador sondland talked to the president. >> oh, that's hearsay. >> the word "hearsay" has been getting quite a workout lately, and not just where amba

. >> and john thune braved questions and reacted to the picture of taylor's testimony painted for the president. >> the picture coming out of it, based on on the reporting that we've seen, is yeah, i would say it is not a good one, but i would say also, that again, until we have a process that allows for everybody to see this in full transparency, it's pretty hard to draw any hard, fast conclusions. >> and former acting u.s. attorney general matthew whittaker attempted to defend the president against the onslaught of evidence piling up as part of the impeachment inquiry. >> i'm a former prosecutor. and what i know is this is a perfect time for plreliminary hearing where you would say show us your evidence. what evidence of a crime do you have. the constitution, sort of abuse of power is not a crime. let's, fundamentally boil it down, the constitution is very clear, that this has to be some pretty egregious behavior. >> so in reality, the impeachment article drawn bebe congress president rich nixon and bill clinton asserted an abuse of power had occurred in both of those administration

. >> we should point out senators roy blunt and john thune also pushing back on this.absolutely not. no reason to criticize this guy. i mean, just talk to us as a veteran at this point. when you hear these kinds of attacks, and when you hear the subsequent pushback, what is your thinking? >> first of all, it's a rare moment when seth moulton agrees with liz cheney, but she's absolutely right on this. you know, when i served in iraq, it was the officers who actually had the courage to speak truth to power, to step out of line when their bosses told them to do something wrong. they were the most patriotic americans i served with because that's what takes courage. to speak truth to power, to stand up for the constitution when your boss, this case, the president of the united states, is telling you to do something different. >> there's been a lot made of just the image that we saw yesterday. of lieutenant colonel vindman arriving in his uniform and he was essentially reporting for duty. but just talk to us about what it means for this man to come in and to testify, essenti

liz cheney, she was the first and people were surprised she came out so forcefully about that and john thune and mitch mcconnell talking about the criticism of someone who was just simply, they believe, telling what happened in his position in that role. of course he is incredibly sensitive for the white house because the first person to testify that was on the call. that is why you saw people trying to discredit him even though he is someone who has served in the military and wounded and essentially people in the white house said they didn't think that was a great idea. >> my sources say he reported to work today at the national security council after all of this. and thank you for being here. a ton going on today. another foreign service officer is testifying before house investigators. this is as lawmakers are right now debating impeachment inquiry rule as head of a full house vote tomorrow. a lot of debate about that. and then on the other side of the countries, winds more than 70 miles per hour fuelling multiple fires across california. we'll go there as well. stay with us. if you have

credibility of the lieutenant colonel vindman, decorated veteran with baseless accusations, senator john thune and gop representative liz cheney strongly defended vindman. thune said quote, it would be a mistake to attack his credibility and representative liz cheney said we need to show we are better than that as a nation. >>> joining me from capitol hill is msnbc's garrett haake. what's the latest? >> vindman is giving the opening statement, very powerful for the lawmakers who saw him do two things -- first, confirm the contents of the call with the president of ukraine and of the united states. the first person who is actually listening to the call to testify today. he mentioned another meeting and one other point he explicitly links the president's action to being damaging to national security. he explained it as it makes it less likely that we and ukraine can work together to counter russia and that's the heart and soul of the case that the democrats are trying to get to impeachment articles. to get to the reason to remove president trump. so far, we have not heard much more about the act

even republican senator john thune acknowledged just how damning the testimony seemed to be. >> the picture coming out of it paced on the reporting that we've seen is, yeah, i mind say is not a good one. >> thune went onto complain about the closed door nature of the investigation, which seems to now be the official republican line. today senator lindsey graham held a press conference to unveil a resolution to criticize the impeachment inquiry in the house. he's a senator, but as was pointed out on none other than trump tv today, democrats aren't actually breaking the rules. >> as frustrating as it may be to have these hearings going on behind closed doors, the hearings for which congressman schiff is presiding, they are consistent with the rules. >> they can make up any rules they want. >> well, they can't change the rules, they follow the rules. and when were the rules written last in january 2015, and who signed them john boehner, and who enacted them a republican majority. >> 2015, by the way, is when republicans were holding those benghazi hearings, and back then they were making the c

the number two most powerful republican in the senate is a man by the name of john thune of south dakota from what i've heard, it's not a good picture that's being painted right now. i was struck though by this idea of ineptitude. because as a person who covered the trump campaign and knew a lot of these people, they did have a small staff. there wasn't a lot to this group. but it does sort of echo what happened throughout their dispute of the russia allegations, right? we can never put this all together because there are just a few of us working on this thing. >> but remember the first thing the white house release wad that very damning memo of the call notes from ukraine. it really does highlight that they are missing the mark here and clearly unaware of what they are up against or how bad what they are doing is. so that gap is clear and their slow start is even more damning. >> the president may have made this case for himself when he said the following in january i think this was of, what, of 2016. take a listen. you will recognize the sound. >> where i could stand in the middle of f

people like john thune and liz cheney. you're seeing silence from the republicans, or republicans, obviously, mitt romney is at the front of it. i don't believe it's beyond comprehension, as david said. we're early in this. the democrats is got to keep it tight. it is not beyond comprehension that they can't get 20 senator. we all know in a private ballot the republicans don't want him there. nobody wants him there anymore. he's really not good for anybody. you and i both know, everybody at this table knows they can take a secret ballot, i guarantee you there would be about a 98-2 vote because the republicans don't want him there. they just need air cover. as each day goes on, they get a little bit more air cover. if they can keep the story as simple as i made it, president sold out your safety, that's a compelling story. >> all right. annie carney, berit berger, thank you for starting us off. >>> after the break, the smear campaign against alexander vindman was a classic trump-inspired fox news gop operation greased with