that is justin amosh's congressional district. i look at that and i look at the two democrats who voted nay. one of them, congressman van drew of new jersey is likely about to become a republican. this reminds me that the effect of president trump on the republican party has been very, very strong both in terms of how much the republican party has become the trump party and how people like justin amosh have been chased out. impeachment politics are impossible to predict. you have congressman van drew from new jersey about to become a republican. you have justin amosh not because of impeachment but because of donald trump becoming an independent. we have no idea what's going to happen next. we have an idea what this vote is going to be. right now, it's 191 yea. they are not quite there yet. we have no idea what is going to happen. last time there was an impeachment, 21 years ago tomorrow, it ended up the house speaker, john made this point earlier, the house speaker newt gingrich ended up resigning because he was under fire. he was

i want to ask you about efforts to recruit justin amosh to be one of the impeachment managers. what do you know about that. >> there is a group of largely freshman members that put together a letter that they want just amosh to be the impeachment manager. the reason he is no longer republican, he has been critical of the president. i have a hard team seeing nancy pelosi to go that direction. she, of all people, is a master of wanting to keep control, have her allies and people she feels are best suited to actually represent democrats in this hearing, which could turn into a bigger circus. >> mr. amosh's very public breakup with the trump party. and i can accept anna's reporting of taking this to the bank. they may have taken this in terms of public opinion as just a democratic undertaking. it may serve their political purposes to involve an independent -- self described -- >> i completely agree. >> right? >> founding member of the house freedom caucus. he was once very good friends with mick mulvaney. i don't know when and how the breakup occurred. he is fiercely conservative a

>> reporter: some reports are about justin amosh to bring ideological diversity to the proceedings. meanwhile, house democrats are critical of their colleague jeff van drew for his expected desks from their party this week. >>> u.s. military officials are investigating a troubling incident from yesterday's army/navy football game after military students in the fans flashed what appear to be symbols of hate. matt bradley has the story. >> to the edge. around the corner. into the end zone. >> reporter: blink and you might have missed it. military students at yesterday's army/navy football game caught on espn flashing hand signals that have lately become hate signals, not once, not twice, but three times, sparking outrage on social media. anti-defamation league and the law center say this symbol comm commonly meant to mean okay supposedly resembles wp for white power. they use it partly because it's so ambiguous, making it hard to fnds the students knew what they were doing. >> we need to look at it in context. when white supremacists are using it as a way to indicate against their abi

. >> karoun, freshman democrats are pushing to have justin amosh serve as house ban ister for impeachment president. >> amosh has become independent and separated himself from the gop and become very, very critical of president trump, especially when it comes to the fact pattern that different democrats are trying to impeach him on. he's likely going to be a vote for impeachment, and they can say they have a much more bipartisan showing if they have him as one of their ranks as they're managing that process through the senate. to do so, to be able to have not just the more liberal people of congress but someone who would represent the political spectrum would help them bolster their case. remember, early on democratic leaders said they didn't want to do impeachment unless it can be a bipartisan effort, but they changed their minds because of what was so egregious about what trump was doing with ukraine. they said, look, the only bad part about this is an addition to impeachment. so having amosh would give them an addition to that charge. >> karoun demirjian and renato marriotti, thank you

effort is under way from a freshman in the democratic caucus to convince speaker pelosi to select justin amoshent manager in the trial to help further diversify the members presenting the case against the president. when he was a republican, he was the first republican as many of us remember in congress, to come out for impeachment. we do have sources telling nbc news pelosi is unlikely to select amosh. what do you make, melanie, of this move and this appeal, to have amosh representative in this way? >> the thinking there, he may have more sway with republicans and independents but vulnerable senators like susan collins or mitt romney or cory gardner, and having someone who is a constitutional scholar, someone who is now an independent, used to be a republican might actually, you know, have a better shot at making the case to the american people. at the same time, democrats wouldn't have control over him. he's not a democrat. and it's really unclear how he would sort of play things out. it's not clear he would actually be named an impeachment manager. we are looking out for pelosi to name who

a group of freshman house democrats are asking speaker pelosi to draft independent congressman justin amoshe senate trial. reminder, amosh was a republican and switched parties earlier this year after the mueller report. he's now an independent. cnn reporting that pelosi is highly unlikely to name amosh. should she? >> look, that's what those members want above all is some bipartisan cover on this. the fact that every republican has kind of lined up does give them more anxiety. we're going to see the opposite in the senate where you have some republicans in the more marginal seats being uneasy about in essence lining up on a party line vote to defend the president. but there's no question that one of the things that would make those democrats in the more marginal districts more comfortable is any indication of bipartisan cover. amosh could provide some of that but giving a high profile position to someone who isn't in the party isn't good for the speaker either. >> it's a very risky move. >> thank you so much both of you. >> thank you. >>> we'll be right back. up here at the dewar's distill

the only independent in the house, justin amosh, who left the republican party after he announced his support for impeachment based on the mueller report voted in favor of both articles of impeachment. leading off our discussion tonight is democratic congressman sean patrick maloney of new york who cast his votes in favor of both articles of impeachment tonight. he is a member of the house intelligence committee. we're also joined by ambassador wendy sherman, an msnbc global affairs contributor. and john heilemann is with us, a national affairs analyst for 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 or any president would engage in this misconduct resulting in impeachment, so it's a somber day but one i think that we feel -- we feel proud about because we've done something

justin amosh was republican until last year was against everything the president has been doing in office. some of the things that happened before ukrainian call. >> martha: that is the point. that is an interesting point that the congressman made. most democrats who are in favor of the impeachment were in favor of the impeachable before the phone call happen. >> a lot of people were in favor of it for mueller report and the other behaviors and including what was going on at the border before theca. but the leadership resisted that until they had this clear-cut case of abuse of power. >> martha: well, judging by the skits on "saturday night live" you lost the crowd. they are making fun of what is going on. >> it was very funny. >> martha: we talk about that. thank you for being here. days after susan g. komen jamess vindication on the horowitz report on the fisa buse he is down lei -- abuse he is downplaying his part in it. kim strassel up next. >> you make it sounds like you were a bystander. you were the director while it was going on. >> i'm responsible. i'm telling you, i was wrong. ♪