until some of them decide they just don't want the take it anymore. >> there was this, quote from justin amash. obviously amash is sort of outside the tent now so there is some degree to which he has incentive to say this. there are a lot of republicans out there who are saying these things privately but they are not saying it publicly. and i think that's a problem for our country when people aren't allowed to speak out. do you think it's true? >> it's absolutely true. and it's a huge problem. and justin amash is an example of what happens currently inside that cult of personality. if you buck the personality, if you go up against the man, you're going to have the system come down and condemn you, because they don't want that wrath to fall on them. they don't want their names to appear in a tweet. they don't want to be red lined in the sense that they're going to be, you know, challenged in a primary. so they behave. and the country i think suffers from that. and the leadership in the party is feckless in that regard. and i think something to the point if real quick on the last point about tho

if justin amash were the libertarian candidate just in michigan, that would factor into trump trump'snite low gettily ge pressure. you're hearing from the libertarian side of things that he's someone that could do well there. >> that could help trump because republicans who don't like trump, the democrats need particularly in those suburban areas. if someone like justin amash were to run that, could ultimately help trump get the white house again. >> this does look like the end of a billionaire coming in and buying ballot access. you'd have to have someone like justin amash who would get a lot of national attention. >> and need the infrastructure of an existing lower party. that's an excellent point. thanks for joining us on "inside politics." have a great weekend. brianna keilar starts right now. >>> i'm brianna keilar live from cnn's washington headquarters. under way right now, a chilling new warning from the bahamian health minister who says the number of people killed by hurricane dorian may be, quote, unimaginable. >>> and a mechanic for american airlines accused of trying to sa

. >> justin amash is the only nondemocrat signed on here. when president clinton wased, there was a bipartisan impeachment. right. there were members of both arties who did it. can this go forward? >> barely. [indiscernible] >> i would make both a principled argument and a political argument related to this. impeachment is a very difficult thing to do. .ot difficult for the country the problem we have today, when we look at this, is between two elections, between the presidential election and the next presidential election, the only manner that exists right now to hold the president accountable is impeachment. because we have now accepted or people have accepted, i would i think is ridiculous, the fact that a president can't be indicted, which has only been created by people who wanted to protect president. it was written for nixon, rewritten for clinton, bush revised it, and it was all -- and then trump's white house has again reiterated it. so if a president can't be indicted, and a president can claim expect teve privilege on almost just

that's 216 democrats and one on the left that is independent justin amash. 218 votes is what it takeso approve articles of impeachment. we're not there yet. right now, 216 plus 1 independent make it 217 members of congress who support some kind of impeachment action. doesn't necessarily mean they would vote for articles of impeachment. at some point soon we're probably going to get to that 218 number. republicans, presumably, are huddled across capitol hill figuring out their response as the impeachment inquiry moves forward. joining me is republican congressman from georgia. good to see you again. >> good to see you. >> you could make yourself really well-known by making yourself 218. >> no thank you. >> it seems inevitable we will get to that point. what do you say? what is your response to an overwhelming number of democrats across the aisle who you have often reached across to. you are not one of these guys who gets dug in and doesn't talk to people. . >> sure. >> they feel an inquiry now is necessary based on what happened. how do you feel about what happened, what you know about

the difference between him and justin amash.tin amash is no longer in the republican party. >> you're making a stance. shouldn't you say you would not be voting for donald trump if he were to lose to donald trump? >> if you make that second person question to me, yes. but i'm not a republican. he is running in a republican primary, right? so he is not going to rule that out. mark sanford is not going to vote for donald trump. let's be clear about that. he is either not going to vote for vote for a libertarian or maybe depending on how things are going in south carolina, he would vote for a democrat. but i doubt that. he is running in a republican primary. so he is not going to say i'm going to vote for president trump warren. it's just not how you're going to get four or 5%. >> could this chip away at the president's base, with these three guys jumping in to primary him? >> no, i don't think so. if you look at mark sanford and joe walsh, they're basically versions of trump. joe walsh had said many of the same racist things that

order to decide how to proceed has received backlash and criticism from independent congressman justin amash who responded by noting that under the u.s. constitution quote the power to commence war allies with congress not the president and certainly not saudi arabia we don't take orders from foreign powers now it was just last week that president trump announced he was parting ways with his national security advisor john bolton and that created some hope that maybe the united states would embark on a path of easing tensions with iran but the troubled ministrations of the latest quest to blame a run for these attacks already has sent both fears and oil prices soaring. joining us today to discuss the implications of these last few days of fire in the middle east is author and former senior security policy analyst in the office of the secretary of defense michael maloof thanks for joining us thanks for having me yeah but always a pleasure i mean i think 1st the biggest question i have coming out of all this is do you believe in looking at in your analysis of these events do you believe in what

host: you mentioned justin amash running as independent, are you supporting him as -- in reelection asindependent? host: i don't. justin is my friend and that is one of the blessings of the american dream, you may be friends but you may have one take and i have one take. that has been my beef with family members. there are several liberal members of the family, they are entitled to their ideas and beliefs, but where is it that i am not entitled to mine? that is the problem. host: north las vegas, thomas republican, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing? host: doing well. is the my point whistleblower, this is being used as a method of leaking because his position is in the intelligence community, he has heard certain things the president has communicated with a foreign leader, that is in his purview to decide what the president can say or not say to somebody. this is a roundabout to try to leak material to make it look bad on the president and that is why they are not turning the information over. host: how do you feel about whistleblowing in general in the federal gove

at least 134 house democrats along with independent justin amash have publicly voiced their support fornly grappling on whether this will hurt or help democrats is the newly elected freshman class. it's an issue that cnn politics reporter jeremy herb has been following very closely. what is the sentiment among democratic freshmen members of congress here? >> reporter: there are clear divisions about whether to go forward with impeachment or not. the house judiciary committee, they are voting to expand to formally set their probe and expand it in the coming months. but nancy pelosi is still not on board with impeachment. a key reason why is the house democrats. i traveled to california over the recess and heard from constituents in several districts where democrats won republican seats. there really was a range of opinions. you had some voters who were adamant. others who were worried it would help republicans politically. so we have democrats like katie porter of orange county. you know, she said politics aren't going to affect how she decides and she is in favor of an impeachment inqui

justin amash have been vocal in their critic of the president actions concerning ukraine.executive director of defending democracy together, cofounder of republicans of the of law. she's a authlso the author of "think." sarah longwell, republicans are smart to put a space between themselves and trump. i am looking for that space that people like mit romney are creating tween himself and the president. publicly i don't see it, do you? >> a little bit. i was not alive in the 1970s. >> show off. >> but, look, my history book tells me it was not a good decade for republicans. we took big losses in the senate and big losses in the white house. ultimately we lost the presidency. one reason the party was able to fight its way back in the 1980s and have decades of conservative dominance, republicans with nixon did not go down with the shift. republicans went to him and barry goldwater went to him and they said enough is enough. you have to resign. republicans today should heed that historic lesson because if they don't put that -- they don't all have to call for impeachment right

. >> yeah, that includes independent congressman justin amash, that makes 216 who favor the inquiry.oesn't mean they all support actual impeachment, but they do at this point support ininquiry. 218 votes are needed to actually impeach president trump in the house. earlier i spoke to congresswoman katey hill, also vice chair of the house oversight committee. you read the rough transcript of -- that was released by the white house. you haven't seen the whistle-blower complaint because that's been limited to intelligence committees. is it clear to you that the president was asking for a favor and there was a quid pro quo, even if it may have been unspoken? >> it's completely clear to me that the president was asking for a favor. he says it explicitly in the transcripts that he was asking for a favor from -- even in order to speak with the president he said he needed to. he needed to bring up this issue about joe biden and his son. so to me you don't have to have an explicit you do this and then i will restore military funding or the u.s. will be an ally. it can be implied, and we that o

so far, at least 134 democratic congress members in the house along with independent justin amash havetated publicly they support starting a formal impeachment inquiry. cnn's senior congressional correspondent manu raju is joining us now by phone. manu, this is your reporting. what more can you tell us about these new developments? >> well, it's a significant move because what the house democrats want to do is essentially formalize a process that's taking place and emulate the process that took place in 1974 when the same committee, the house judiciary committee, moved to try to impeach richard nixon as president. what the democrats gring to do in the coming weeks ahead is show the hearings that they're going to have is different from what typical congressional hearings will have and the resolution to play out exactly what the ground rules and the procedures of these hearings and say that it would look like essentially impeachment hearing that would include allowing committee staff members to question witnesses and allow the grand jury information secret information spells out how it w

if justin amash decides to run this year -- ticket this year, he would be on all 50 ballots because they are rare and it would give people a choice. i would vote for him probably. bill weld and mark sanford two in this g people moment and tilting at the windmill of donald trump and they are both serious people and bill weld is funny, charming, experienced, two-term governor, so there are little ripples on the pond. >> you talked about the different influences in the republican party through time. you had taft versus eisenhower, rockefeller versus gold water and reagan versus bush and you mentioned the republican party. why isn't there more creative dissension such that another philosophy to -- >> it's fatal. wewould have more dissent if had term limits, that is if people were restricted to say, six terms in the house and two terms in the senate, people didn't go into politics didn't think they were going to spend their life. and the next generation and not the next election. i wrote a wonderful book called "term limits" read by dozens that have the effect most of my books had. i'm a beli

you'd have to have someone like justin amash who would get a lot of national attention. >> and need the infrastructure of an existing lower party. that's an excellent point. thanks for joining us on "inside politics." have a great weekend. brianna keilar starts right now. >>> i'm brianna keilar live from cnn's washington headquarters. under way right now, a chilling new warning from the bahamian health minister who says the number of people killed by hurricane dorian may be, quote, unimaginable. >>> and a mechanic for american airlines accused of trying to sabotage a plane with 150 people onboard. hear his alleged motive. >>> plus, as a diving boat went up in flames, the surviving crew members are telling investigators what they did to try to save the people onboard before jumping off to save themselves. >>> and mexico is not paying for the wall. instead it's coming at the expense of u.s. service members and their families. how america is breaking its promise to those who serve and sacrifice. >>> but first, it's a grim reminder of the power of hurricanes. officials in the bahamas are br

few, justin amash and a few others who have come out in support of this process. republicans for the most part are in lockstep with the president and in a wait and see mode. zaid: many thanks to jeanne ino and joe watkins. we want to bring in michael and bill. michael, you know ukraine so well. you know the president very well. give us the perspective from the ukrainian point of view. michael: the timing really could not be worse for ukraine. you have the new president, zelinski, who has only been in power for a few months. inwas making breakthroughs bringing peace to eastern ukraine, prisoner swaps. those delicate negotiations do require strong backing from allies like the united states. the ukrainian economy has been performing very strongly, 15 consecutive quarters of strong growth, the currency has been performing as one of the best against the u.s. dollar. also, kiev is about to finalize a three year imf loan. the big problem the ukrainian officials have, they feel that all of this economic good news is going to be snapped back. what you hear from trump and r

. >> yeah, i think one justin amash, republican congressman has indicated he would support an impeachment inquiry although he's distanced himself from the republican conference since then. other than that i think there's definitely a strong case to be made that this is as secretary clinton said in that clip earli earlier, exactly the sort of self-dealing and combining public policy with personal gain that the founders intended when they talked about the test for impeachment. it's complicated. it involves foreign powers. it's the sort of thing that house democrats are going to have to make a compelling public case to the american people on. they can't just shuffle memos and have a vote and think this will be successful. they will need to hold hearings. they will need to illustrate and educate to the american people why this is so far out of bounds. >> david, you at first were saying the democrats should not go for impeachment but you've had a change of mind. explain what changed your mind. >> for some of us involved in the clinton impeachment back in the late 1990s, i think there was a lot

so far at least 134 house democrats along with justin amash have publicly voiced their support for thisgroup is on the fence. the freshman class, their concern will an impeachment probe hand the president a second term in office? it's an issue cnn very close icalicalle icallical these democratic members of congress leaning? >> for a freshman who won republican seats in 2018, there's a real division over democrats should pursue impeachment. there are a lot of weary democrats particularly who won seats that president trump carried in 2016 jerry nadler is moving forward with his impeachment investigation this week and wants to decide whether to introduce articles by the end of the year, but for nancy pelosi who is still opposed, they're a key block for her. lawmakers have been b hear iing lot about this at town halls in their districts. i went tout several out to seve california and katy porter, the very first question she got, she's in an orange county seat that was republican for a long time, it was a concern that democrats would be making a mistake if they pursued impeachment. she respo

. >>> now, independent congressman justin amash was a republican 78 days ago.today he tweeted, congress must have access to the whistleblower complaint allegedly involving ukraine. reports suggest the president abused his position by engaging in conduct that violates the public trust. let's hear from the whistleblower so we can clear the president or hold him accountable. that is the closest we have to a republican calling for accountability today about the allegations that the president of the united states pressured the government of ukraine to dig up dirt on his political opponent, joe biden and his family. over the last 24 hours, some allies of the president have been appearing on fox to defend the president. but no congressional republican has managed to come up with even a word of criticism of the president's alleged actions. a word of discomfort about it that has led trump's conservative critics outside the administration to start asking some very sharp questions. we will get some of those now. we are joined now by bill kristol, the director of defending

. >> 212 democrats and a former republican in justin amash support having this inquiry. we can't wait. there's an urgency here. i understand you have concerns about the mueller investigation, that that was the 2016 election. it was in the past. well, this this is the 2020 upg election, and the president has made it very clear in his own words in the notes that he put out that he wants another country to help him. we just don't do that in america. >> harris: you know what? lets visit on what congressman pete king of new york just told me a few moments before the commercial break. he said improprieties were suspected bite joe biden's son, hunter biden. had it been any other official, you would want to have it looked into. so he argues that the fact of the matter is it wouldn't have mattered if this were joe biden or somebody else. and that it doesn't matter that this was the president's direct political opponent this year. so i'm looking at your twitter and you say you don't need explicit quid pro quo to betray the country. we will get to the bottom of the president's cond

this is from congressman justin amash. lurnd confirmed this impeachable conduct from mueller's report. thank you, corey. listen, what amash is pointing to is how corey lewandowski confirmed that trump asked him to tell sessions to limit the investigation. but is that getting lost in the hours of all this stonewalling? >> absolutely. i think that what people are getting more distracted by is the audacity of the behavior, but we've seen this from the very beginning, long before he was sworn into office -- i'm talking about donald trump -- long before -- at the beginning of his campaign, we saw this kind of behavior. so people keep going, oh, my gosh, i can't believe, i can't believe, i can't believe, and the reality is while we can't believe it, they are being the most egregious, unethical, criminal at this point administration that we've seen. and they're getting away with all the behavior because we're just so shocked. and at some point we have to release the shock and realize it is what it is, and it's time for them to go

backbone, in other words, for those republican senators to do the right thing, to follow the lead of justin amashtuents, his conscience and his sworn oath to defend the constitution, and is now speaking up. though he was a republican for all his life, is speaking up to do the right thing for this country, regardless of the political prospects, to make sure that donald trump is held accountable. thats what we have to do. >> we made a promise to talk to you about guns, which is something we think is important to talk about, this breaking news came out. so i'm 23469ing you again to have a conversation meaningful and close to you about guns in this country. beto o'rourke is a 2020 presidential candidate and former congressman from texas. diagnose deadline white house" begins right now. >> it's 4:00 in -- with you blew up our show to bring you some breaking news. i'm here with john holland, tim wilson f. brian, and ashley parker also is standing by. >>> rudy giuliani, president's sidesick, president's personal criminal lawyer in the mueller investigation, seems to be the person pushing donald trump in

president's tweet, with regards to iran and saudi arabia, using the term locked and loaded, you had justin amash over the weekend retweeting that, under the constitution, the power to commence war live with congress, what potential action here could we see from congress as a result of this strike? >> it seems like the first place that congress may go, once they get briefed on what exactly the u.s. intelligence community knows regarding what happened a look at the proxy war in and t both the saudis and the iranians there. that seems to be where congress normally goes to, in these circumstances, but the other thing, of course, is there could be some action taken regarding oil prices, and effectively gasoline prices, if this is something that is going to be persisting for a while. there's an economic piece here, as well, that will be of interest to lawmakers. >> i think a lot of foreign policy experts have pointed out the war in yemen has dragged on so long and we are seeing the ramifications of it beyond just what is taking place in the arabian peninsula. >> thank you. >>> still ahead the latest i

the yougov polls showing impeachment inquiry and all those democrats and justin amash and congressman over the weekend who talked about wanting an investigation but then walked back the idea of an impeachment inquiry. is there some discomfort and could that lead to republican defections down the line? >> it's possible, but republicans have been very clear that, at least for now, that they're really sticking by this president. you've seen a couple republicans say things that say this call was inappropriate, to say at this call was problematic. you have that congressman saying that you should not be talking about a civil war, mr. president. but overall republicans are still sticking with this president. and it's interesting to see this because what you have, i think, is the democrats finally getting a message that simple. one that is about 25 words. which is that the president got on the phone with the foreign leader and tried to pressure that person for his own political gain to investigate a political opponent. before this democrats had all sorts of things that they were saying about

importantly, i think the candidacy of somebody like mark sanford, or a libertarian-minded candidate like justin amash, i think the impact of their candidacies against donald trump would erode support within the republican party for donald trump. it would give a place for voters to look to, and turn to, and it really could depress republican turnout, i think, in a general election, you know, and really help, really perhaps turn the election over to democrats. >> scott, let's switch gear force a moment and get your thoughts on this canceled meeting that the president announced over the weekend on twitter. no one knew about it until he tweeted that it in fact wasn't actually going to happen. now the question is, how might this president use the canceled taliban talks to his advantage heading into 2020? >> well, you know, i really fail to see if the silver lining in this story for the president. i fail to see how the president can spin this one, you know, you have very prominent republicans including liz cheney, former, the daughter of former vice president dick cheney who obviously played a major role i

justin amash switched parties to support the idea, is no longer a republican. how does she feel about this potentially being an investigation and then a vote maybe down the line, strictly on party lines, only to go off and die in the senate. >> this is where it is important for the public to understand the difference between an impeachment inquiry and actual articles of impeachment. just because the speaker is announcing that they're opening a formal probe does not say anything or predestine what articles would be or information that would come out in the doris of the investigation. these committees have been stymied in a very extraordinary way in terms of getting witnesses and documents. we have the president's tax returns which are still pending reviewed by congress, there's a lot of information that could still come to light. and i would imagine that the speaker is expecting that that could have impact on republicans as well. >> thank you very much. thank you for bringing us your reporting. kristin welker is still here. kristin, just to repeat, nancy pelosi

the transcript is not exculpatory and mitt romney called it deeply troubling and justin amash called it, quote, highly incriminating. the president doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. later today "the washington post" noted that joseph maguire scheduled to testify before the house and senate intelligence committees tomorrow threatened to resign if the white house continued to force him to stonewall congress. maguire later denied ever considering stepping down. let's get to cnn correspondent kaitlan collins traveling with the president in new york. and kaitlan, not surprising the white house is trying to say nothing to see her but there certainly is. >> reporter: yeah, this is not the reaction the white house was expecting. they thought they would put out this transcript and it would prove the president didn't say anything inappropriate tieing military aid to the biden family and potential investigations instead in the president's own words people are -- can read not only did he bring up joe biden but he also told the ukrainian president to be in touch with the u.s. a

. >> one of the few house republicans not named justin amash also happens to be a utah republican. there is a pattern here that i think we see that the mitt romney wing of the party, maybe it's just the utah republican wing of the party, remains the most skeptical of this president. >> but, look, one of the problems that the president is going to have with this transcript is this is five pages. it's really easy to read. >> it's one topic, too. >> the offense is contained within the five pages in his own words and he released it. and so if you're mitt romney, it's a little bit -- you can't blame it on a witch hunt, right? or the deep state. you can't say this is the fake news media. this is a white house released document. and so when you end up having to answer questions about it, it's a little hard to say, oh, that's fine, that doesn't bother me. >> matthew, is there a place that republicans can find that is basically condemning of the president without impeaching him? and is that a place that -- is that a place -- >> let me just tell you where they are now. >> what i'm saying is

. >> that is okay, and the reason i point that out is this is what justin amash the newly independent congressman from michigan had to say via a tweet e. riday president trump and the defenders tell us not to believe our own eyes and hears and read the president's words and told to reject the natural meaning and told evidence of wrongdoing, and it is proving virtue. to brandon next on the democrat line in marietta, georgia. >> caller: i appreciate you taking my call. i want to talk about this that it is crazy for the having a president to just go out to ask somebody after they have asked for more aid and say, hey, do me a favor thafsh, and you don't e that to be a or close to quid pro quo. so instead of going to the justice department for, that and if you are going to that, you would go to the people who know that and look into the law instead of going around them and subverting them, and then you add in rudy giuliani, and the people who come back to say that the 10-plus instances of obstruction don't count as a crime, and the campaign finance laws that he has an attorney going to jai

house at least is that republicans, there aren't republicans coming on board with the exception of justin amashpeachment process forward, they need to get some republican support. depending on kwhaut intelligence committee hears from the inspector general and if they are able to see that complaint, because that's actually one of the biggest frustrations that the intelligence committee has is that the intelligence ig said the administration barred him from sharing that whistleblower complaint with the intelligence committees. and it's spelled out in the constitution that congress has the right to conduct oversight and donate investigations. and so we shall see how this moves forward. but again democrats do need republican support. >> the impeachment question centers on not just whether or not trump asked the ukrainian leader to start an investigation, but also whether or not there was some quid pro quo in with holding or threatening to with hold some kind of aid. now, on the one hand thrks president has very broad executive power to conduct international affairs. so he might argue that i can ask

peter king or justin amash and another one or two that will deviate from that.ssible to get anything passed in major bipartisan fashion. he told parents he wasn't afraid of the nra. he didn't. he crumbled. he'll crumble here as well. he talked about mental health and yet his administration was sponsored or supported in republican past, a repeal of an obama law that said if your social security said because of mental illness, you had lost your -- you were on a disability social security list because of mental illness that you couldn't buy a gun. they repealed that. it's the only time donald trump has been in bed with the aclu. it's not going to be for any gun changes. they let mentally ill people get guns. they will not stop anyone from having a gun. background checks might have stopped this man from having a rifle, you don't know. the red flag laws might have stopped him. maybe somebody, one of his family members said there was some problem here. we don't know. we don't know when he got his gun. we don't know if he had a warrant out. we don't know any of that. w

then you have justin amash who tweeted "congress doesn't need this legislation to hold a president accountableo allow a sitting president to be indicted. moreover, the constitution already provides a remedy. it's called impeachment. i'm available to serve as speaker, if i can be of help." that's not even shade, that's a read. joyce vance first on this. would it even be helpful to attempt to pass a law that a future president could face indictment for doing the things donald trump has already done, which, a, means trump gets off the hook, but the next president, somehow, is going to be subject to a law that mitch mcconnell would probably not even let on the floor. joyce. >> you know, i think that there will be a time to talk about passing future laws, but this isn't that time. this is the time where we need to figure out what do we do in this incredibly critical moment of constitutional crisis. and i'll torture your analogy a little bit further, joy. i mean, we all recognize what's happening right now is deadly serious. it's not a game. but one of the questions that we have to deal with is what

if you know justin amash left the republican party, and i would not be surprised because there is no the days of making threats to any witnesses who came forward, i think that goes to a confession of guilt. >> john: and thanks for coming on. more on this i had to "america's newsroom." aetna takes a total approach to your health and wellness with medicare advantage plans designed for the whole you - body, mind and spirit. that means aetna is helping you get ready to be the best grandmother the world has ever known. we simplify medicare by connecting you to the right coverage, resources and care. so you can be ready for what matters most. aetna medicare solutions. the amount of student loan debt i have i'm embarrassed to even say i felt like i was going to spend my whole adult life paying this off thanks to sofi, i can see the light at the end of the tunnel as of 12pm today, i am debt free ♪ not owing anyone anything is the best feeling in the world, i cannot stop smiling about it ♪ >> sandra: of former dallas police officer taking a stand in her defense. she claims she walked into his

this is justin amash saying, it is not about the transcript of a call.'t let president trump or republican officials distract you with a straw man. it's about his continuing abuse of the office of the presidency. we will show you a few more jordan, a close ally of president trump, republican from ohio. democrats have been trying to impeach the president since the beginning of this congress. michael collins testimony was a bust. john dean's testimony was a waste of time. the mueller report did not live up to the hype. showsous allegations only the speaker has succumbed to the unrelenting pressure from the socialist wing of the democratic party. this was never about russian collusion or ukrainian prosecution, it is about undoing the 2016 election and the will of the american people. they will likely be tweeting again, another busy day on this topic. we are hearing from you. luis, salisbury, north carolina, democrat. that you readlad something a republican also stated about the president's attitude toward the constitution. it shows that there are some that