powerful chairman in the senate judiciary committee lindsey graham just announced he's introducing a resolution, condemning the impeachment probe, calling it out of bounds and inconsistent with due process. the white house welcomes the move, graham tells cnn that mick mulvaney acknowledges that the trump team itself needs to improve its messaging on impeachment. we'll talk about that and more with denny heck. >>> first, straight to capitol hill. manu raju is watching all these developments. congressional republicans are answering president trump's call to get tougher when it comes to impeachment and to fight back. >> no question about it, wolf. pushback from republicans in the aftermath of that testimony from the top diplomat in ukraine who said that the president when would vital military aid to ukraine and was told it was done so because he was pushing for ukraine, to declare that there were investigations ongoing that could potentially help the president politically. after a day when most republicans were sidestepping republicans about this, a number of republicans had to poke hole

and, sam, the lindsey graham versus lindsey graham debate is the one i want to see. >> yeah, i mean, h know, think everyone knows, that lindsey knows better than this, certainly having been involved in it 20 years ago he knows the particulars about the roprocess. what he's essentially saying is he wants the senate trial to be the house impeachment process. that's what he's saying. the question is why is he doing this? and that's sort of been the question throughout lindsay graham's conduct during the trump administration, why do this? to a degree, it's sacrificing of his reputation. to a degree, it's a sacrificing of his dignity. i'm not sure how far it gets him. i've talked to a bunch of people in and around the president's political orbit over the past couple days about how they feel this process is going and to a person, they think lindsey graham is letting them down. they don't care for pointless resolutions like the one that he introduced today. they think they're largely immaterial and superficial. what they really want him do, they want him to use his perch as the chair of the

so lindsey graham's resolution, as of now >> we both know, i think everybody's knows lindsey is bettern this. he knows the particulars about the process and what he's essentially saying he wants the senate trial to be the house impeachment process. that's what he's saying. so the question is why is he doing this? and that's sort of been the question throughout lindsey graham's conduct through the trump administration is why do this. to a degree it's sacrificing his reputation, to a degree sacrificing his dignity. and i'm not sure how far it gets him. i've talked to a birch of people in and around the president's political orbit in the past couple of days how they feel this process is going. and they think lindsey graham is letting them down. they don't care for pointless resolutions like the one he introduced today. what they really want him to do is use his perch as the chair of the senate judiciary committee and call people up to testify to his committee that might be involved in this allegation against hunter biden or john brennen type. and so far lindsey graham has refused to do th

in a political article, excuse me, the humiliation of lindsey graham, graham has transformed himself from one of trump's feesest critics to one of his most reflective defenders. susan, a thing of wonder? >> it's been remarkable since the death of senator mccain how senator graham's reputation has changed, because as an ally of senator mccain he was seen as a maverick, someone who stood up against republican interests sometimes. and that reputation i think has been thoroughly transformed now because of his willingness to defend president trump. the pesky thing are these tv cameras that record what you say and play them back years later. i know that's very annoying for many politicians. that's true not just for lindsey graham but others. but lindsey graham is in a particularly vulnerable place, i think, at this moment. >> what about the rest of the senate? we've seen mitt romney stand up, a few others, ben sasse, susan collins kind of dipped her toe in the water but not really, in terms of the offense, as they view it, but not that it is an impeachable offense, no one's saying that amo

>> i like lindsey graham a lot. i respect lindsay. lindsey graham and the president are close. this is obviously an issue they don't agree on. these are complicated issues. you can't have one-minute sound bites. nation suritstaff are dent and on top of the situation. our number one issue is making sure that isis is defeated. we'll make sure that occurs. >> lindsey graham and others bipartisan reaction to the sanctions -- the proposed sanctions you announced, they're saying this is simply not enough. here's what graham said. we're witnessing ethnic cleansing in syria by turkey and the reemergence of isis. the conditional sanctions today will be viewed by turkey as a tepid respond and will embolden their president even more. >> let me explain. this is a multi-step process. the first was making sure we have the proper authorizations. if we go to maximum pressure, which we have the right to do, at a moment's notice the president calls me and tells me, we will do that. we can shut down all u.s. dollar transactions with the entire government of turkey. >> is that something you may do

lindsey graham really is leading this charge of making process objections in order to defend the presidentit's really a distraction nar tactic. it's because people like graham can't defend the president on the substance, they are trying to go after the process. he said he i-didn't see anything wrong with the president's phone call. they go in front of cameras and invite not just the ukrainians to investigate, but also china as well. so i do think we are seeing signs of how uncomfortable and incapable the republicans are of defending donald trump on the substance. even the process claims they are incredibly weak. the existing process in the house of representatives as that stands now is largely the same as what existed. >> susan makes an important point. they are going after the process, not necessarily the substance. >> i think they are rg struggling. they are looking for windows to criticize and they are coming up short. wurn of the things that they have been saying is bill taylor's testimony was just hear save. this is a guy who was a career because he saw something he was worried about

the other lindsey graham, the lindsey graham who was part of the three amigos with john mccain, be damnedthing i want to point out is that it is not just that. it is as sunlen talked about, it is south carolina. he calls south carolina trump-istan. as many as he gets people who say what happened to you, in south carolina he's greeted as a hero because they for the most part love donald trump and love him standing next to him. >> and you could go back and find jerrold nadler and nancy pelosi saying the exact opposite about impeachment they are saying today and we could do that on the republican side and since we are talking about lindsey graham and listen when he was a house impeachment manager. >> impeachment is not about punishment. impeachment is about cleansing the office. impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office. >> it is kind of what people hate about politics, principles only apply when they want to apply them to the other party. >> yeah, to pick up on what we're just talking about a moment ago, this is an advertisement for term limits. this guy comes from a

senator lindsey graham, one of the strongest defenders of the president, slammed the move in a series of tweets and ensures a isis comeback and forces kurds to align with assad and iran and destroys turkey's relationship with congress and says abandoning the kurds would be a stain on america's honor. >> isis is not defeated my friend. the biggest lie being told by the administration that isis is defeated. the caliphate destroyed. but there are thousands of fighters over there and no, the caliphate would not have been destroyed without the kurds. this impulsive decision by the president has undone all of the gains we've made, thrown the region into further chaos, iran is licking their chops, and if i'm an isis fighter, i've got a second lease on life. this to me is just unnerving to its core. >> and other republicans are also criticizing the president's decision. senator marco rubio said reports of a u.s. troop are true, the trump administration has made a grave mistake. former governor mike huckabee called it a huge mistake to abandon kurds and former ambassador nikki haley said this,

lindsey graham knows this history.he problem we have here is the republicans don't have for the attitude courage or back bone to stand in truth, to say i'm disappointed lindsey graham your viewers will be this is lindsey graham he has always been like this. but some of us have known him a long period of time. this is not the man we know e would hope i want not. -- max there are ing to say the some republicans who are not happy to be put in a position to defend an indefensible comment when you see people like senator cruz, senator graham strongly defend him, i wonder, why? why are they -- why plant a flag on this on this defense? >> they've gotten used to defending the indefensible, anderson, it comes naturally. >> is lindsey graham so desperate about getting primaried. >> i can't explain it. what we are seeing develop in washington with the testimony of ambassador bill taylor especially is a an open and shut case the president betrayed his oath of office, betrayed the united states subverting foreign policy to blackmai

lindsey graham knows that.55 he was lynched, brutally slain. i challenge all viewers to pull up the images his face. it was beaten beyond recognition it was flat like a pancake because he was lynched. there were 165 plus people those are the ones we know about lynched in south carolina between 1877 and 1950. lindsey graham knows this history. the problem we have here is the republicans don't have any fortitude, courage or backbone to stand in truth, to say i'm disappointed lindsey graham your viewers will be this is lindsey graham he has always been like this. but some of us have known him a very, very long period of time. this is not the man we know unfortunately or we would hope i it's not. this is disappointing to say the least. >> there are -- max there are some republicans who are not happy to be put in a position to defend an indefensible comment when you see people like senator cruz, senator graham strongly defend him, i wonder, why? why are they -- why plant a flag on this on this defense? >> they've go

this should say to lindsey graham, donald trump doesn't care about you, lindsey graham. >> he doesn'tnd i'd share with our viewers, this is almost a singular passion of lindsey graham, this issue in syria, the issue with the kurds. lindsey and i have been into the refugee camps on the syrian border. i have seen lindsey promise the kurds that he will fight for them. this is a moment where lindsey graham sold his soul to the president, the president turned around and punched him in the gut. and very importantly, when we look at this moment, we cannot look at this moment without saying, you caused this, lindsey graham -- >> yes. >> you caused this, mitch mcconnell. three years of enabling the president. how foolish, how stupid were you to think you would not get to a moment where donald trump would do something with such dpravty. >> charlie sykes, you wrote "the humiliation of lindsey graham" was the title. you wrote "despite graham's compulsive turd-polishing of the past few years, trump didn't even consult him before making the decision to abandon the kurds. graham, who has given up so

and lindsey graham knows better. he was one of the impeachment managers and he understands this is a different posture than both the nixon and the clinton impeachment cases when there was a special counsel who had done months or in the case of nixon years of investigation. those investigative reports along with the witness testimony were provided to the house. in 1998, the house judiciary committee held no meaningful hearings before they impeached bill clinton. >> you brought up lindsey graham during the clinton years. we happen to have that tape. let's watch it. >> it is not your job to tell us what we need. it is your job to comply with the things we need to provide oversight over you. the day richard nixon failed to answer that subpoena is the day he was subject to impeachment because he took the power from congress over the impeachment process away from congress. and he became the judge and jury. >> lindsey graham knows full well that as aaron said, the process right now is akin to a grand jury investigation. the

when lindsey graham really clicked in because lindsey graham has said that if there are crimes beyond the call and then he began talking about betraying the kurds in syria and he hasn't to my knowledge mentioned the darrelle trump resort but john you did is are these issues of the decisions the president made beginning to move the needle the propriety of what's acceptable behavior with with some of the folks that you know so well or it gives mcconnell leverage when trump is exonerated in the senate or not convicted or whatever you want to phrase it in the reality acquitted in reality the republicans the democrats are going to need 20 republican votes in the senate right. it's not a. i mean the conceivable that they're going to get there in a divided country but what is conceivable is that the mcconnell republicans gain an inordinate amount of leverage over president trump in the last 18 months of his term before he gets real reelected which i think he will in 2020 and basically a lot of their votes to acquit him become conditional on something right that's what that's what most

lindsey graham did.agic to see what he's done and really taking lessons from his master donald trump in shamelessness and hypocrisy. i wouldn't believe my ears listening to lindsey graham holding up the 1998 impeachment of bill clinton as a model which this falls short of. remind ourselves the entire country basically laughed at the republican's attempt for impeaching bill clinton for lying about sex. right now half the country or more supports the impeachment and removal of president trump, because everybody other than lindsey graham and rabid republican partisans understand the gravity of the charges against trump and understand how convincing those charges are and how they have been proven in the last month by evidence after evidence. so you know, lindsey graham is just grandstanding essentially like the other republicans to distract attention from the fact that the president of the united states used military aid, appropriated by congress to blackmail a foreign country into helping his re-election ca

lindsey graham can play politics with our dead like it doesn't matter. you see? it's more than just simply inappropriate language, offensive language, right? it's speaking to some visceral experience of folks, not in the 19th century, not in the early 20th century, but folks who have family members, a father murdered in this way. i'm just suggesting to you and to others that it will no longer be useful or effective when it's no longer politically perceived tore effective. they know exactly what they're doing. >> rick tyler, if they know exactly what they're doing is it to rile up the base, is it a diversion they want to bring away from some of the other things that are happening? why this controversy? why do you have someone like lindsey graham -- and we know he's been an apologist for this president repeatedly, but there are certain times when he has -- again, in the case of syria, stood up in a different way. when you have a kevin mccarthy saying i would not use that word, what does the white house, what does lindsey graham think they're accomplishing with this

lindsey graham, senator graham just said no one likes to be accusedth spying. we are in a position where we really appreciate president trump directing secretary pompeo and ambassador o'brien to take action to bring paul home through diplomatic means. it's wrong for an american citizen, a former marine, to be left on the geopolitical battlefield like this without any recourse to a proper legal system without proper comfort in that sort of situation. >> martha: i can only imagine how hard this is for your family. we are thinking about you and we hope you get more answers and we hope you get them soon. thank you very much, david. good to see you today. some shocking new pictures emerging. you may have heard about the story of congresswoman katie hill. you're going to hear what they show and what we know. moments ago we learned that another lawmaker is under investigation from the journalists at fox news, this is "fox news reporting." you know it's an suv! i know for fact your suv does not suck. why is that? it ain't got that vacuum in the back! we got to go. ♪ va

then to lindsey graham. lashing out also really echoing the president's intense questioning of the whistle-blower's knowledge and motives. >> here's my question. is this whistle-blower, whoever he or she may be, do they have any connection to the intelligence community? the old intelligence community that was corrupt as hell? >> on top of that, there are questions about the vice president, mike pence, and why he was suddenly pulled from previously scheduled trip back in may to attend the inauguration of the ukrainian president? was that intended as a signal to ukraine to put more pressure on them? just two months before the president's phone call request for a favor. then finally, there's the president's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, top house democrats yesterday subpoenaed giuliani for documents related to his communications with ukrainians trying to dig up that dirt on the bidens and also any documents related to efforts by the president to press ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election. the democrati

strom thurmond was the racist who held lindsey graham's senate seat for almost 50 years before lindsey graham succeeded him in 2003. all 31 of lindsey graham's predecessors in that senate seat would be proud of him today. they were all racists. many of them were slaveholders. some of them were supporters of the 156 lynchings of black people that south carolina recorded in the worst of times in america. when donald trump tweeted this morning that the impeachment process is, quote, a lynching, no one actually took donald trump literally except lindsey graham. there was a rush to object to the president's appropriating the word, lynching, to describe his suffering in the impeachment process, even mitch mcconnell whose state lynched 142 black people said it was an unfortunate choice of words, but lindsey graham, lindsey graham offered his most perverse defense of donald trump yet today by saying that the impeachment investigation is, quote, this is what lindsey graham said, "a lynching in every sense." every sense means not just figuratively but literally, literally someone is putting a ro

many senate judiciary chairman lindsey graham has invited rudy giuliani to testify about his work with to investigate former vice president joe biden. in a series of tweets yesterday, graham extended the offer to president trump's personal lawyer writing, quote, have heard on numerous occasions disturbing allegations by rudy giuliani about corruption in ukraine and the many improprieties surrounding the firing of viktor shokin. it is time for the senate to choir about corruption and other improprieties involving ukraine. therefore, i will offer mr. giuliani to come to the committee to inform the committee of his concerns. it is not clear whether the hearing will be open to the public or held behind closed doors. all of this happening while giuliani signals with congress that he's not willing to cooperate without a fight. in fact, he told nbc news everything there falls within the attorney/client and work product privileges. adding, if they hold me in contempt, they are in contempt of the right to counsel. the answer is to get a judge to rule on the subpoena. >> all right, let's clear a

look at lindsey graham. this is one of the best minds in the senate.ow saying things that are the complete opposite of what he said in '98. >> so -- so chris, that's the issue of our time. this is -- where's margaret chase when we need her? the senator from maine that rebuked joe mccarthy. that is the reason why when john kennedy said i wrote three books, "profile in courage" was the thinnest book because there's no courage out there. what are these people doing? they know what they're doing is wrong. they know that ten years from now someone's going to reflect back on this like they did the mccarthy era and say trumpism is ridiculous. it's like if roy cohn and joe mccarthy had a baby and it turned out to be donald trump and he's now the president of the united states. it is a disgusting thing that's going on in the country. and by the way, i'm a republican, they want to disavow me as a republican, i would like to stay in the party and figure out a way to rebuild the party as an entrepreneur and as a businessperson. these people --  >> he's at like 90

today you saw lindsey graham out there with his presentation. the message seems to be stickup for me, and the argument that republicans seem to be able to come back with is a process argument as opposed to a substance argument. >> yeah, because when you can't argue the facts then you have to turn to the process. that's what you always, always see. it shows that they're desperate and shows right after the taylor interview, how bad his testimony actually was. for me it really connected a lot of the dots from people to motives to actions. so people have to pay attention to taylor. he's very key. >> congressman, good to see you. congressman jimmy dgomez of california, a member of the house oversight committee. i want to bring in senator mazy harona. i understand you and a number of other senators have written a letter that is being delivered to the attorney general asking him to recuse himself from what? tell me about the letter and what you're asking. >> all of the democratic members of the senate judiciary committee have signed a letter asking att

that is not lindsey graham.y want to talk with the committee general with democratic forces general is a central figure right now senators graham, van hollen, shaheen and blumenthal urging the state department tonight indeed the secretary of state to expedite a visa for him so he can testify quickly and profoundly before congress about conditions on the ground in syria. it is bizarre that lindsey graham would be leading the effort into trying to make sense we are joined by return army lieutenant colonel dan davis. good to have you with us. former senior state department advisor morgan right. great to have you with us. let me start with you dan, this is rather unseemly to be -- to have senators telling the secretary of state what he should do with the visa of the head of the syrian forces after this president has done something historic like create the cease-fire. your thoughts? >> this is indicative of many in washington, the foreign policy establishment called political elite that one in every that is ever happ

senator lindsey graham is usuay a staunch supporter of the president, but he strongly disagrees with this move. sen.t graham: from presid trump's point of view, i isis comes back, you will owi it like obama owned iraq. it will be worse becau you had obama's mistakendo learn fromou failed to do so. laura: i'm joined by ron chrir ie, forvisor to george w. bush. hnator lindsey graham said the president underc vice president, who leads tonight for ankara, by saying that turkey's invasion of syria has nothing to do with us. would you agree? ron: good evening to you. no, i wouldn't. i came back from boston i talked to a syria and he said his countrymen felt very muchd betra what the president has done. he has removed american troops when the turkish government felt they could not in fgas part of the country. now with the american presence gone, they have gone in unimpeded and kill innocent people, now the president is oftrying to clean up a mesis own making. sending his vice president and sehietary of state to turkey to negotiate something that should never have taken place is an embarrass

>> i think lindsey graham should ask for a meeting.e will meet with the president, that is great, should also hear from congress because policy is not made in a vacuum. remember, it is the congress that holds power of the purse. >> harris: right. >> president holds power to make foreign policy. >> harris: doesn't trouble you what kind of guy he is? erdogan? >> there are a lot of bad people, the president said it, that he has to deal with, that is the way the world is. president trump tries to make the world better, you can't will it, see that with incursions in the past. america cannot put their will on others and donald trump believes it is your neighborhood, get together and fix it. europe has to stand up more. >> harris: leslie marshall? >> leslie: i could not disagree more. the president said he was elected on bringing troops home and he promised to make america great again. this does not. >> it may keep america great. meekz not making america great at all. moscow, damascus, islamic states, the regime change that moscow and iran wa

but we now know graham's influence, his attempts to curb the view has limits. >> lindsey graham woulde to stay in the middle east for the next thousand years fighting other people's wars. i want to get out of the middle east. >> reporter: graham has always been quite candid in saying that staying close to the president keeps him relevant. being effective we now know is keeping the president from making calls that he dislikes and says are dangerous, impulsive calls in the words of lindsey graham. we know that those are two very different things. >> right. i'll take it. if lindsey graham wants that rev lan lens, it's not keeping donald trump from doing things. >>> breaking news. elijah cummings passed away overnight. we are going to speak to a friend and a member of chairman cummings' committee. that's next. theo blows. tissues burn when so dad bought puffs plus lotion, and rescued his nose. new puffs have more lotion... and soothing softness to relieve. a nose in need, deserves puffs, indeed. (kickstart my heart by motley crue)) (truck honks) (wheels screeching) (clapping) (sound of ca

when lindsey graham really clicked in because lindsey graham has said that if there are crimes beyond the call and then he began talking about betraying the kurds in syria and he hasn't to my knowledge mentioned the darrelle trump trump resort but john you did is are these issues of the decisions the president made beginning to move the needle the propriety of what's acceptable behavior with with some of the folks that you know so well or it gives mcconnell leverage when trump is exonerated in the senate or not convicted or whatever you want to phrase it in the reality acquitted in reality the republicans the democrats are going to need 20 republican votes in the senate right. it's not a. i mean the conceivable that they're going to get there in a divided country but what is conceivable is that the mcconnell republicans gain an inordinate amount of leverage over president trump in the last 18 months of his term before he gets real reelected which i think he will in 2020 and basically a lot of their votes to acquit him become conditional on something right that's what that's wha

so it's not just lindsey graham. it's also now senator marcia blackburn, who it turns out represents more kurds in the u.s. than any other senator. some 15,000 kurds there in nashville and she says the president's decision liberates isis and props up assad. the other thing happening here, of course, we're talking about syria. but the backdrop here of course is impeachment and i think the syria issue gives republicans cover really to criticize president trump on this issue in a way that he have beey've been criticize him. >> and this is where, of course, i think a lot of us who don't live in partisan places are trying to understand how is it that they don't see syria and ukraine as connected? that congressional republicans continue to try to keep those separate when russia certainly sees it, you know, their number one interest in destabilizing the united states was to get -- us to get out of their space in their minds when it came to ukraine and syria. >> yeah. i don't have a good answer for you on that one because yo

lindsey graham may put forward, and i would imagine it may have strong bipartisan support.e it to the point they'll overcome a pezdential veto if the president decides to stick to this policy position, but who can really say what he'll do. but i agree with congressman that damage is being done here every time we fail to live up to our commitments our strengthen globally depends on our relationships and i think the damage is being done here, and i think we're looking at years of work to repair not only this relationship with the kurds but other relationships with our allies abroad. >> susan rice president trump's -- president obama, excuse me -- she slammed president trump's decision to pull back turkish troops from syria. she called the president's decision crazy. take a look. >> it seems like six days a week i just put my head in my hands. this is bat [ bleep ] crazy. these are the people who for the last four years have been fighting on our behalf with our equipment to defeat isis, and they've sacrificed immensely and we've basically just said to them see you. >> a diffic

you know, look, you see lindsey graham over the weekend and lindsey graham, who has been a staunch defender of trump. probably, his right-hand man in the senate in a lot of ways. when he says to axios as de ohe over the weekend, that's suggestive. when you have mitch mcconnell putting an op-ed in the washington post last friday. >> he said obama four times. >> totally understood. still, the fact that at this moment, the people who trump really, really, really needs to be a solid wall with him, the fact that there's any space. >> let me play mike pompeo from over the weekend because you had mick mulvaney who struggled to defend himself on fox news and mike pompeo was on abc. just watch. >> i tell you what i saw transpiring and how president trump was working to make the evaluatio evaluation about whether it was appropriate to provide this assistance. >> what i'm asking is would it be appropriate? >> george, i'm not going to get into hypotheticals and secondary things based on what someone else said. i'm not going to do it here today. >> it's not a hypothetical. we saw the chief of staff. >>

kroubt i saw only 91 they have nearly 200 members i'm not sure why others who not stepped up lindsey grahamt to go use the senate judiciary committee. >> promised he would investigate since he took over as chair of the judiciary committee. what nine months ago. i mean where has he been? >> if this is going stooeb a purely partisan fight republicans have to use the power they have, in congress. >> the senate. >> is should it be difficult to discern partisan battle. >> not to me apparently things mover slowly in washington. >> if stuck in the mud that have swamp. >> good news gone 2 1/2 weeks all back next week seem lot of activity, but i do think. >> always hasomething to cheer us up with here they come. >> reality check not coming back they got to come back be fired back the key thing if i was white house. >> great to see congressman mark meadows roaring. >> standing up for this president, and also, jim jordan doing a great jb. >> great, you know, we still -- still have -- democrats all -- >> speaking of being slow i must be mired -- >> three second delay. >> i. >> i don't pile on, okay? >>

lindsey graham said the president is going to have blood on his hand if that comes to. the president said lindsey graham should focus on the judiciary committee and the impeachment inquiry proceedings that are happening right now. just to essentially end this, the president says he wants to stay out of what's happening between turkey and syria. he did not explain why he is then sending the vice president and the secretary of state in just a matter of hours to turkey for what they said was going to be so they could negotiate a cease fire, a cease fire that the turkish president says isn't happening. >> that was beautifully laid out. the contradictions that we just saw from the president. thank you so much for that. let's talk about italy and italy's stance on this in comparison to the u.s., because we heard from the italian president. he said more important than our friendship is the truth. then he condemned the turkish attack on syria. >> the president brushed that aside. >> completely. >> i think for the president this is all about sort of keeping his political promise

lindsey graham is not his friend on this decision. let's listen. >> -- not listening to his commanders, not listening to his advisers. he is not -- he's making the biggest mistake of his presidency by assuming the kurds are better off today than they were yesterday. that is just unbelievable. i can imagine if obama said that what republicans would be saying now. so i'm going to say it with trump. that is just unfair, dangerous and, quite frankly, dishonorable for us to abandon the kurds. i would say that if obama did it -- >> dishonorable. matt miller, then you have the president sending a letter to the turkish president that apparently they threw away and continued with their invasion. it's as if, matt, the u.s. is not viewed as the world's greatest superpower, but kind of a joke to be ignored. >> i think it's fair that erdogan feels free to throw that letter in the trash because he got the green light from president trump several days before that, and trump's attempt to clean up his mess, erdogan sees the letter as not worth the pap

when lindsey graham really clicked in because lindsey graham has said that if there are crimes beyond the call and then he began talking about betraying the kurds in syria and he hasn't to my knowledge mentioned the darrelle trump resort but john you did is are these issues of the decisions the president made beginning to move the needle the propriety of what's acceptable behavior with with some of the folks that you know so well or it gives mcconnell leverage when trump is exonerated in the senate or not convicted or whatever you want to phrase it in the reality acquitted in reality the republicans the democrats are going to need 20 republican votes in the senate right. it's not a. conceivable that they're going to get there in a divided country but what is conceivable is that the mcconnell republicans gain an inordinate amount of leverage over president trump in the last 18 months of his term before he gets real reelected which i think he will in 2020 and basically a lot of their votes to acquit him become conditional on something right that's what that's what most are needed

lindsey graham is on an island. he is the only republican i have heard to try to defend the president's language. everyone else has tried to divert their answers to the idea that they think this process is unfair. once again, as i said, we've seen this so many times, the president out in front trying to lead his own defense and leading his troops into a canyon where they will not follow. it makes it frustrating, tiring, for both parties, to be either trying to defend an indefensible conduct by the president and running out of language to defend it. >> a key witness up there will not be diverted, because william taylor, a veteran diplomat, he replaced yovanovitch in ukraine. dan, you've drilled down deeply into this, dell us the significance of taylor's president today. >> it's no wonder that the president is trying to distract. this is a really important witness. this is someone who was there right after yovanovitch left. we've seen his text messages. he clearly was not red to accept what the house was trying to pus

we will have newt gingrich on and we will have lindsey graham on tonight and the lindsey graham put out a fire a piece today about how corrupt this is and i am looking at the opposite of what newt gingrich did for bill clinton. he was afforded every opportunity that they are denying donald trump. it is an illegitimate, unconstitutional process to me. your thoughts? >> i was down there most of the day and this meeting with ambassador taylor and once again, it was the same thing because something makes up to "the washington post," narratives are built. the truth is, in 2 minutes, john ratcliffe destroyed this witness. there is no quid pro quo. in addition, it continues to be alarming to me the lack of the understanding and the state department by the bureaucracy there about how much the ukrainians were involved opposing donald trump as a candidate. so just not understanding that the democrats had paid christopher steele for the dossier, which he got information according to nellie ohr, from the ukrainians, this is really frightening that people in the state department wouldn't have a clue

we're going to continue to listen in to lindsey graham. but i want to go back to congressman anthony brown. congressman, there is a -- we -- we are accustom to the fact that in congress, some things happen behind closed doors and some things happen open to the public. lindsey graham is articulating the process that is under way by democrats right now as being one that is being held in secret. what do you say to that? >> look. when he describes it that way, all he does is try to leave the impression that there's something nefarious going on. let's keep in mind you have 25% of the republican caucus in the u.s. house of representatives is in that room. that's unprecedented. >> so it's not secret to republicans. it's not secret. there aren't things going on in rooms in meetings where only democrats are there with witnesses? >> that is right. and, in fact, every privilege, let's say, that a democratic member has to ask questions and review documents, those exact privileges are available to republican members and their staff. why is this in clos

lindsey graham inviting rudy giuliani to testify before his committee.raham wants to give giuliani the chance to detail his allegations of corruption in the ukraine and discuss the former vice president and his son hunter. graham writing on twitter, i am tired of hearing one side of the story. it's time to give voice to everything sue crane. let the chips fall where they may. a quinnipiac poll shows senator elizabeth warren virtually tied with joe biden. warn has 20% and biden 26%. coming up third, senator bernie sanders 16%. and the rest of the field running far behind. 49% of voters say the president should not be impeached or removed from office. amongst republicans 94 percent will be say the president should not be impeached. democrats. a different situation all together. 85% say the president should be removed from office. ed rollins, the "new york post." pulitzer price winning couple tonight michael goodwin. let me start with you, ed. the polling. i don't know how to judge it. you tell us. >> in spite of the fact of two weeks of being bashed and sm

how does lindsey graham stand on his argument when all we need to do is roll the tape? >> representative gowdy at the time was saying something that is true thousand. when i speak to lawmakers who are inside of that room and i ask them especially when it comes to republicans, are republicans pushing back, are we seeing jim jordan do what he does in public hearings which is really talk about the president, talk about the 2016 election, and lawmakers are telling me no. we're getting republican staffers asking very pointed question, really trying to get to the facts. but it is not becoming a spectacle that public hearings usually become. so add to the fact that lindsey graham is a close ally of the president and he is trying to talk about the white house talking points, but he's saying there isn't time too cross-examine, but again the republicans are in the room, so they can pose questions to people if they want to. and i should say i had a lot of democratic sources including intel sources emailing me old tray ghouey gowdy quotes becaus were willing seeing the connections

lindsey graham is your number-one supporter in the senate. if you have lindsey grah saying thing like you broke it, it will be your fault if isis comes back, what are other republicans going to do are not as close to the president? laur but the presi tnt did campaifinish endless wars and he is bringing u.s. troops home. isn't he just sticking to his word? ron: no, because the middle east is more unstable as a result of actions, not less. don't forget, we are sending 2000 additional troops to saudi arabia this week. the notion that the president is going to end a wars -- welcome he took a couple dozen americans out syria and is putting 2000 into saudi arabia. utin make you wonder a the coheree of his foreign policy strategy. laura: the president met with speaker of the house nancy pelosi this afternoon and she claims he had a meltdown on syria. e of couey are not best pals because of the impeachment inquiry. does it tell you something about the president's mood at the moment? ron: he is very much on the defensive. indon't think he anticipated

this is the john bolton and lindsey graham. they believe in regime change.ants this too. so it is left and right saying we have to regime change. >> the troops weren't there for regime change, they are there to fight isis. >> initially they were there. but everybody kept changing their view. >> if i didn't ask one question about the book, the quait against socialism you write the poor are better off under capitalism because they are motivated to work if government destroys this incentive it destroys productivity and you acknowledge that younger people no longer as enthralled with capitalism as the older generation. do you think you're losing this argument? >> i think we have to be concerned that the younger generation isn't appreciating where all of the great wealth of america came from. our gdp is doubled eight times in the last 200 years. in 1820 poverty was 90% of the whole world. now poverty is less than 10%. measured in extreme terms, less than $2 a day. capitalism is working. it has created enormous riches. just in the last four years under president t

we heard lindsey graham say this is completely insane. it's insanity.t's also very frightening, because think about this. we have schiff, we have the dems, we have them colluding with former obama officials that appeared, people like john brennan john brennan, james comey, who appeared to be consistently stalking president trump and everything he does, any phone call he makes, and every time he breathes, every time he walks or speaks to someone, and they try to change this strange narrative that there is a reason to impeach him. first, it was something else, it was russia.s then they could find no evidence of that. now, it's ukraine, and now they're trying to go after him then it was obstruction -- >> sean: that it was the sidewalk, then it was impeachment. if he cured cancer, they would impeach him for curing cancer. >> exactly. it's anything that he does. so right now, there has to has to be common sense both in the house and in the senate and something actually really needs to be done and you're right, schiff is a fact witness and the tables need to

today senator linds lindsey graham. he's a senator. none other than trump tv democrats aren't actually breaking the rules. >> as frustrating as it maybe to have the hearings going on mind closed doors. they are consistent with the rules. >> they can make up any rules they can't. >> they can't change the rules they follow them. they were written january 2015. a republican majority enacted them. >> 2015 when republicans were holding those libya hearings. and they were making the case for closed door hearings. >> i just tell you that of the 50 some interviews we have done the vast majority have been private. and you don't see the bickering among the members of congress. and private interviews. you don't see that. the private ones produce better results. >> so what the democrats are doing now according to tray gowdy will produce better results in a few weeks according to "washington post" democrats are planning public hearings and hope to have bill taylor former ambassador yovanovitch and bill taylor tell the world what they saw. joined no