michael duffy is the individual whose emails were in question here. this is one of the people that senator chuck schumer specifically asked to have come in and testify. so this raises or elevates the volume around the calls for duffy to testify and, frankly, compounds the fact that in the house a number of people from the white house connected to the president just never came to testify. frankly, the president was -- there was an article of impeachment for obstruction of congress on the basis of not sending people like michael duffy to testify. so absolutely the fact that we now have emails from him makes the case even clearer that he ought to come in and speak to the senate. >> elliot williams, thank you so much. happy holidays to you. >> happy holidays to you. >> thanks for coming in. we'll be right back. up here at the dewar's distillery, all our whiskies are aged, blended and aged again. it's the reason our whisky is so extraordinarily smooth. dewar's. double aged for extra smoothness. billions of problems. sore gums? bleeding gums? painful flossi

the two coming together tonight with the word of a white house budget official named michael duffy. someone senate democrats want to hear from. >> if there was ever an argument that we need mr. duffy to come testify. this is that information. this e-mail is explosive. >> this e-mail the one in question was obtained by court order. in it mr. duffy from the white house budget office ordered the pentagon to freeze military aid i'd to -- to kiev. it was sent 90 minutes after the controversial july 25th phone call with ukraine's president. the calm, of course, that is at the heart of the entire impeachment question. did youy writes, quo -- dufy writes, based open guidance i have received and in light of the administration's plan to review assistance to ukraine, please hold off on any additional dod funds. the question is who ordered it held up. it is not the only line to stand out. quoting again here, given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate your keeping that information closely held. why would it need to be closely held? mr. duffy is one of four witnesses senate democrats

white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, robert boyer, former national security john bolton and michael duffy associate director for national security at the office of management budget. but in 1999 during the clinton impeachment trial, schumer argued against having witnesses like monica lewinsky testified before the senate. >> it seems to me no good case has been made for witnesses. >> fox chad pergram asked why the change of heart? the witnesses in '99 had already been given, had already given grand jury testimony. we knew what they were to say. the four witnesses we have called have not been heard from. that is the difference, and it is a difference totally overwhelming. >> tonight schumer also suggesting start dates for the trial and giving ideas how it should be handled. political experts say public now could later lead to democrats accusing republicans of not

you just named michael duffy, where we have new documents that there very incriminating. there are other key witnesses in the white house and other key documents. speaker pelosi is saying, just let me know you're going to have a fair trial, year going to be able to call these witnesses and get these documents and i'll send this over tomorrow. i'll do this right now. she's very eager for the trial begin but she, like i think every american, wants it to be fair. >> you're asking for a legal analysis of what they did, which is withhold the aid. talk me through your thinking. >> we know from the mouth of the house that president abused the powers of his office. he withheld military aid from ukraine to interfere in our elections. i also believe he violated the impoundment control act, that the holding was illegal and a violation of the law in a different sense as well. and that would hold true, i believe even if we accepted the president's fanciful view of events where he claimed this was some kind of policy review. we know that's not true from the facts. and even that, in my

michael duffy, don't believe anything wrong as an email, why shouldn't he come forward and justify what he does? >> i think that investigation happened in the house of representatives. this is not supposed to be a trial based on the two articles that should be passed on any day now. we have a trial and we move on as a country. ten months from election. but the people decide, not a couple of politicians. >> ed: thank you for your service which i mentioned as a green beret to our country, and merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you. spewing next, stay out of it. that's the message that the department of justice is sending to the courts about testimony from don mcgahn. leaving the door open to launching yet second impeachment inquiry. ♪music (children laugh and scream) (dog barking) ♪music it's the final days of the wish list sales event. hurry in to your lincoln dealer today to get this exceptional offer. steven could only imaginem 24hr to trenjoying a spicy taco.burn, now, his world explodes with flavor. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day all-night protection. can you

. >> is witnesses include mick mullaney, john bolton, robert blair and michael duffy, suggesting starts for mitch mcconnell who indicated he does not envision a long and drawn out trial, he will meet with schumer to discuss the contours of a trial. we could hear more from mcconnell today but as you mentioned we are off to the races. it will be a historic week as soon as tomorrow. shannon: a jampacked week, we appreciate it. much more coming up but last-minute negotiations are scheduled at loyola university just days before the next democratic debate. food workers on strike demanding higher hourly wages. the 7 candidates who qualify for thursday's debate are threatening to boycott in solidarity. the debate was moved to loyola in november because of a separate labor dispute at ucla which was the original debate sites. bernie sanders is speaking out against officials in georgia and wisconsin for purging voter rolls. >> to those republican governors and officials i say to those cowards get out of politics and get another job. shannon: 300,000 voter registrations one day after 200,000 voter

we didn't hear from michael duffy publicly. he is not somebody who obeyed that subpoena and testified behind closed doors either. >> well, the importance of it, david, is that it's another small piece of the story. but it is confirmatory of the larger set of things. if you pull back from this, what is incredible that the white house, the president, his close advisers believe they were e going to be able to hold back $391 million in federal aid without the ukrainian government knowing. at least that's what they tell us of course. it seems obvious the ukrainian government did know. without congress finding out, without civil service folks at the pentagon and omg and everywhere else, they thought they were going to get away from this. figuring out what the thing that the president wanted which was these investigations to happen. they thought this was all going to go off. so this is another small piece of it. however, what omb says in the state i believe from rachel is actually correct. there is reporting out there that the hold wa

micha michael duffy made the order for the aid to be held up after the president's call occurred. the call happened at 9:03 to 9:3 p and the e-mail that duffy sent to white house budget officials and pentagon officials came out just after 11:00. he could tell already this was sensitive. given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction. now omb says that the -- it is reckless to tie the e ma-mail t the idea that the holding of funds was directly connected to the call. they say one e-mail is misleading and inaccurate. we understand the general direction of how the aid was held up from the house impeachment inquiriment we know on july 18th, for instance, there was a meeting they talked about the aid being held and we knew before the aid was held on the day of the call. this e-mail potentially shows just how connected those two items were, fred. >> and then what kind of evidence could this potentially mean for the president's upcoming senate trial? >> yeah, as kristen said, this is going to

michael duffy saying, quote, given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate your keeping that information closely held. so what does this do to the stalemate over the senate trial? here's what majority leader mitch mcconnell said just this morning. >> we haven't ruled out witnesses. we've said let's handle this case just like we did with president clinton. fair is fair. we're at an impasse. we can't do anything until the speaker sends the papers over. so everybody enjoy the holidays. >> and then some. and at any moment, mitch mcconnell is expected to be holding a news conference in louisville, kentucky. we'll be monitoring that for you, bringing you news from that. first of all, joining me now is congressional reporter lauren fox. she's on the hill. when you heard from mitch mcconnell there and you see those emails that were released through a freedom of information act from michael duffy, democrats are not letting this slide by. lauren, what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, what we know is the democrats are actually digging in on their requests for not only witnesses but a

in the july 25th e-mail, budget official michael duffy ordered the pentagon to hold the aid and signaledhe decision could be politically explosive. he wrote, given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate you keeping the information closely held to those that need to know. agencies were notified on july 18th. the order was sent july 25th, the day of the president's call. what we learned from the new e-mails that is the two actions occurred roughly 90 minutes apart. the president got off the phone with zelensky at 9:33. and sent the e-mail for the aid to the held at 11:04. the context of duffy's e-mail is unknown because he defied a subpoena during the impeachment inquiry. the question will be forced into the senate as to whether pursue duffy's testimony as democrats have demanded. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has not signaled that he will accept witnesses that the democrats are pushing for. but the key number is 51. that's how many senators are needed to approve witnesses for the trial. joe and alison, back to you. >>> mike duffy was the appointee responsible for overs

>> well, the important thing, craig, about that communication from michael duffy to the defense department is that he was asking him to keep it secret, 90 minutes after that call. not that he was asking them to hold the funds. the first ask for the funds to be held was actually on july 12th, well before -- about two weeks before the call. the office of management and budget was asked -- i'm sorry, asked the defense department to hold funds. they were already aware, the defense department, that the funds were supposed to be held. what they weren't asked to do is to keep it a secret. and that's what happened after that phone call on july 26th, the one that vindman complained about. the one that others thought they should go talk to white house lawyers about. the one that is at the center of all of this. so it's the keeping it secret part that's very important. one other thing i wanted to mention, craig, from our discussion earlier, you know, with pelosi holding this impeachment at the desk, the one thing that i think is going to frustrate president trump is not only is he not going to be exo

ukraine affair acting chief of staff mick mulvaney his deputy rob blair budget office official michael duffy and former national security adviser john bolton who allegedly called with the president on boys were doing in ukraine. >>a drug deal. each of them we'll have information to share. about the charges made by the house information that no one has heard. >>at this point sources say mcconnell does not want witnesses he's been working in lockstep with the white house council on the trials format everything i do during this i'm coordinating with the white house counsel there was no difference between the president's physician, our position in raging democrats like schumer who told cnn there's a difference between discussion and working on the president's behalf for him to talk. >>to the president is one thing for him to say i'm going to do just what the president wants is totally out of line schumer hopes to model the trial on bill clinton's in 1999 to get his way and have more control on what happens during the trial schumer needs at least 4 republicans to join democrats to give them a maj

>> democrats do want to question if michael duffy -- newly released emails show he ordered the militaryid to be put on hold moments before asking for a favor. >>> and it's been anything but a happy holiday for a san jose family. but they say they feel blessed because of the community around them. we were with the family when they learned a shark's lengthened was among those offering a helping hand. >>> it's not the first thing he checks every morning, the family car. that's because over the weekend someone broke into it while it was parked out sad hotel, taking cash and other donations. those donation were a helping hand after the family's rental home burned down last thursday. you may remember the family's 11-year-old daughter was dubbed a hero for getting everyone out, using techniques he learned by watching "chicago fire." >> it's been pretty emotional because i lost everything in the fire. but i still have my sister. >> reporter: gone are the personal belongings, the many memories they shared, yet the family says they're happy, their hearts filled knowing the community cared. and th

. >> reporter: among four witnesses democrats want to see, white house official mikel michael duffy. minutes after the july phone call when president trump asked ukraine's leader for a favor. >> the president keeps saying he wants a trial with witnesses and then they are saying, well, we don't want these key witnesses to testify what do they have to hide? >> reporter: the senate's top democrat, chuck schumer, shifting focus from witnesses to documents. asking senators for relevant evidence withheld by the administration's directed to defy all subpoenas issued by the house. >> we say to president trump, if you are so confident you did nothing wrong, why won't you let your men testify >> reporter: the president facing trial, now also facing a potential threat from north korea with kim jong-un warning the u.s. to prepare for a, quote, christmas gift. new satellite photos raising concerns north korea could soon test a missile capable of reaching the u.s susan mcginnis, nbc news, washington >>> justice for khashoggi. saudi arabia has sentenced five people to death for the murder of jamal

michael duffy is the coauthor of the presidents club, inside the world's most exclusive fraternity.e is the author of the matriarch, barbara bush and the making of an american dynasty and the upcoming madam speaker, nancy pelosi and the arc of power. our final panelist, jon meacham joins us from nashville, his latest book is the soul of america, the battle for our better angels. it examines national divisions, at critical times in our history. jon, i am going start with you, you wrote recently that this impeachment question tells us something larger, it is not just about a president, it tells us something about the country. so what are the stakes right now? >> moments of enormous existential crisis over the direction of the country. andrew johnson and the verdict of the civil war, where are, were we really going to act on the immr. i indications to victory of the union victory at appomattox. president nixon was coming with vietnam, and the questions about the nathan of the country. in many ways, in fact, i think we can think of the modern founding of the country as 1964, '65 with th

i told them that i had patients that needed my help and they said who cares let them die michael duffy on the same tarmac incirlik she was welcomed by the point man of trump's maximum pressure campaign brian hook a graduate student at princeton university chinese born wang maintains he was conducting research in iran for a history degree when he was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 10 years in prison recently at least where it is by no means his wife who campaigned for his release for 3 years said he was criminalized for his american citizenship. saturday's prisoner swap a rare acts of cooperation between the u.s. and iran president trump even thanking iran for a very fair negotiation i think it was a great thing for her and i think we wait to go then we can do something that might have been a a break during during the what could be done dozens of iranians remain in u.s. prisons while at least 4 americans remain behind bars in iran returning them a priority for both countries whose long list of grievances rarely see such moments of cooperation and or chapell al-jazeera. is execu

look at what we just learned on friday from a document request, and that's that this guy named michael duffy who worked for mick mulvaney over at omb, he's the one that sent the e-mail to a bunch of people and said to withhold the aid to ukraine. he sent this e-mail, i have it in my hands, 90 minutes after the president of the united states talked to the president of ukraine. and this is what he says, he says, "given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate your keeping the information closely held to those who need to know." what does that mean? what a great question. that's a question i want to have answered. >> brennan: aid was on hold before that date, though. what do you think that shows you? >> the point is why did he send this e-mail just 90 minutes after the president made this call? why would this e-mail go? if the president is so innocent and shouldn't be impeached, why is he afraid to have these people come forward? that's what people are asking me when i'm at these town hall meetings. >> brennan: all right. senator klobuchar, thank you. we'll be right back with a lot mor

. >> reporter: this includes mcilvain he, john bolton, robert blair and michael duffy but even if mcconnell house says it is unlikely they will play ball. >> senator schumer asks us to do them, no reason to testify in senate trials as far as we can see. >> reporter: mcconnell does not envision a long and drawn out trial in january. we could hear more from him today but the fireworks will continue after that historic vote when we get it this week. rob: there are 14 on the fence. last-minute negotiations are scheduled at loyola university days after the next democratic debate. food workers at the school are on strike demanding higher hourly wages. twee 7 candidates who qualify for the debate are threatening to boycott in solidarity. the debate was moved in november because of a separate labor dispute at ucla which was the original debate site. jillian: foxbusiness alert boeing suspending production of at 737 max jet as it struggles to get approval from the faa. the plane maker insisting this is the least disruptive option possible with no date on when production would restart on its most popu

there were four in the clinton case and they're mulvaney, and michael duffy, running the budget office -- thooez are people who would know first hand did the physical improperly stop this aid for political reasons? i know mr. trump has gone to the wall but mcconnell says i'm going to defend the president and i'm sure he will. his higher priority is to dchd peoplen and there's four off the top of my head and voters are going to come to them and say don't you think they ought to have a couple of witnesses who know first hand whether the president commitsed bribery? pelosi knows power and much does too. >> i think it's a mistake to take on mitch mcconnell on a procedural thing. i think his tea team is laughing. i think he'll confer 10 to 20 judge as week. innocency peleasy is base clay saying it's fair. so she just drew a line in the sand and the last thing is chuck schumer said i'm impartial. and this is what is wrong with politics and washington d.c. this is a solemn day, the constitution won. and year into talking fabs and -- now it's back the pall pkstp -- politics. >> if mcconnell sa

mick mulvaney, former national security john bolton, associate director for national security, michael duffyt blare, if the senate fails to impeach and remove the president, house intelligence tells fox news he won't consider it a failure, fox news poll in late october found that 49% of respondents favored impeaching president trump and removing him from office with margin of error the number remains relatively steady today according to latest fox news poll 50% of respondents said they favor impeaching and removing president trump from office. heather. heather: ellison barber, great to have you with us. >> you bet. heather: congressman john ratcliffe says that democrats should be word about losing support from lawmakers in republican districts. >> the big question is how big will jailbreak be, we have one democrat switching parties and one saying he will vote against it, really the question is how many more before wednesday's vote, the democrats have made the mistake of staking the credibility on adam schiff, now there's an inspector general report that comes out that says during the last im

the white house chief of staff, mick mulvaney, his senior adviser, robert blare, john bolton and michael duffy, a associate director for security programs at the national security council. duffy is one of the officials who signed off on several of the documents on that aid freeze of $400 million in security aid to ukrai ukraine. this is the opening offer we're hearing from chuck schumer. schumer and mitch mcconnell are expected to sit down to discuss these requests from senate democrats and discuss how to move forward with a trial. but again, unless schumer can somehow get four senate republicans to join him in backing these rules for impeachment trial, mitch mcconnell will be the one who decides how this impeachment trial goes forward. mcconnell has made clear that any decisions he's coordinating with the white house. the white house counsel, pat cipollone in particular. there's no indication that the white house would allow any of the witnesses to actually come forward. dave? christine? >> jeremy diamond, thank you. >>> a freshman democratic lawmaker announcing plans to switch parties and be

vote michael duffy brian mccormick and t. brick buel these actions were consistent with president trump's previous efforts to undermine united states government investigations into foreign interference in united states elections through these actions president trumps to air gate to himself the right to determine the propriety and scope and nature of an impeachment inquiry into his own conduct as well as the unilateral parag of to deny any and all information to the house of representatives and the exercise of its sole power of impeachment in the history of the republic no president has ever ordered the complete the faience of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct an. pede so comprehensibly the ability of the house of representatives to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors the office serve to cover up the president's own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment and thus to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested soley in the house of representatives in all of this president trump

certainly this most recent witness to come into the spotlight, michael duffy at omb, the man who sent e mails directing the president to put a hold on that aide, it would be very interesting to hear his testimony and see him subjected to cross channel nation in the senate, it could even change the mind of some voters that would influence their senators. >> let's talk about the other moderate senators, we have been talking about murkowski, some talk about mitt romney, corey gardener, is lisa putting something out there that could be cover for the others to also say yeah, we have concerns about the senate republicans working hand in glove with the white house on this? >> potentially i think we have to see where this goes. there is always value in being the first if you want to make a break and make it clear for your own political prospects, it helps to be first, murkowski is the first defection. we'll see if anyone else decides to are voice some concerns and the intentions will seem the same. it strikes me right now that the battle we're having that is largely rhetorical is something th

about this as well after the july 25th phone call between president trump and president zelensky, michael duffy reached out to the pentagon and told them not to release the aid. does that undermine the president's defense that the aid was not contingent on any investigations? >> yes. it further undermines it. it is yet another smoking gun of this whole sad episode. it reenforces what donald trump's own hand pick ambassador to the eu, gordon sondland testified under oath which was and i quote, "there was quid pro quo," this e-mail right after that conversation is yet another damming piece of evidence. i don't think it measures up to what we just learned from "the new york times." executive branch government officials told the president in realtime, you're violating your oath and not acting in the best interest of your country. >> another e-mail, he wrote in in september in the pentagon saying the white house is not responsible if the aid is not delivered. the pentagon's top budget officials responding, you can't be serious, i am speechless. what do you make of that from a top pentagon official?

mcmullen any, robert blair, former national security adviser john bolton and michael duffy, associate director of national security out the office of management and budget but in 1999 during the clinton impeachment trial schumer argued against having witnesses like monica lewinsky testified before the senate. >> seems to me no good cases been made for witnesses. >> chad program asked schumer why the change of heart? >> the witnesses in 99 had already given grand jury testimony. we knew what they were going to say. the witnesses we have called have not been heard from. that is the difference and it is a difference that is totally overwhelming. >> schumer is also suggesting start dates for the trial and giving ideas on how it should be handled. political experts suggest it could later lead to democrats accusing republicans of not holding a fair trial. mitch mcconnell will talk about all this tomorrow. >> we will be listening, thank you very much. a houseboat on the democrats impeachment articles just days away and it is working backlash outside the beltway. trace gallagher takes a look

that will be mick mulvaney, michael duffy, who had direct involvement in this process. but what schumer is saying and it makes a lot of sense, is that the senate should not go on wild goose chases bringing in witnesses that have no bearing on whether or not the president solicited aide from a foreign country and tried to cover it up. he can pursue whatever witnesses he wants to pursue. >> let's listen to what lindsey graham said this weekend about what comes next. >> it will come to the senate and it will die quickly and i will do everything i can to make it die quickly. i'm trying to give the signal that i have made up my mind, i'm not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here. >> what is the rationale here. >> why would you say i already made my decision before hearing it all. >> he is talking to the voters of south carolina and the president of the united states. he does not see this as part of a constitutional process. it is a political game and his game is to pretend that the president did nothing wrong. the entire impeachment process is a shame and that they will

. >> your leader, chuck schumer is prioritizing he wants robert blair, john bolton, michael duffy, mick mulvaney. would you be willing if republicans say they can testify, but they want to hear from hunter biden, would you be willing to make a deal like that? >> we won't turn the hearing into a circus the right wing media is dreaming up. our job under the constitution is hearing the impeachment charges given to us by the house of representatives an the impeachment charges surround a set of facts relative to withholding of aid to ukraine in order to get them to interfere in an american election. i don't know what you have an impeachment clause for if it's not protect the chief of staff to use his powers of office to rig an election. we should hear from witnesses around the facts of an impeachment. we should not turn the senate into a showcase for wild conspiracy -- >> even if it means you won't get john bolton or two others how have first hand information about what the president was thinking and doing as far as his negotiations with the ukrainian leadership to get so-called dirt on the

it gets to a senate trial, chuck schumer is asking for testimony, mick mulvaney, john bolton, michael duffy and budget official dealing with national security programs and a senior advisor who was on president trump's july 25th ukraine phone call. he spoke about this request today. >> i am going to use as the standard to these folks have knowledge of the facts presented by the house. these witnesses do. not going to get into a negotiation here in public but witnesses that are extraneous shouldn't be in the trial. >> negotiations clearly underway on the senate side. melissa? >> melissa: mike emanuel, thank you very much. you bring him, they don't need a crime for high crimes and misdemeanors, you don't need any crimes whatsoever, you can impeach based on whatever. >> it's a grab bag of whatever democrats say it is in that house. so many things i want to comment about, the idea that they have charged the president with abuse of power, there's no elements to an abuse of power so they can put anything they want into it and at the same time. >> melissa: if you don't like him, he's abusing his po

acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, former national security advisor john bolton, michael duffy, and senior advisor to the acting white house chief of staff robert blair. >> these folks have now which of the facts resented by the house. >> reporter: responding those hope that fairness will prevail, a laughable quote from senator schumer this morning. and fully, the people of this country continue to see the parts and sham that this is. among voters, support for impeachment is holding steady. according to the latest fox news poll, 50% of voters favor impeaching and removing president trump from office. reporting in washington, d.c. i'm allison barber, ktvu fox 2 news . >> 30% of people support impeaching is actually up one point from october. 53% of people surveyed they believe is and trump abused his power. 45% say he committed bribery. this by that kind of president's job approval rating has gone up three point since october. >> time is running out. in the minute, he will run down some of the important deadlines for the busiest shipping times of the year. >>> the potential dang

mick mulvaney, john bolton, michael duffy. senior adviser, robert blare. >> these folks have knowledge of the facts presented by the house. >> white house press secretary stephanie griffin responding let us hope that fairness will prevail. thankfully, the people of the country continue to see the partisan sham. >> reporter: according to the latest fox news poll. 60% of voters a are in favor of removing president trump. >>> putting a priority of reducing sentences. in our next half hour, we'll let you know about the newly elected san francisco district attorney's plan to end gang enhancement charges. >>> and honored for bravery and heroism. how american troops are being remembered in london for one of the key battles during world war ii. stop stealing mine... never. holiday gifts everyone's sure to love at 20 to 60 percent off department ss. at ross. yes for less. at 20 to 60 percent off department ss. kerrygold has a taste so rich it can take you to ireland's lush, green pastures. where grass-fed cows produce rich, creamy milk

mick mulvaney, john bolton, robert blaire, michael duffy. republicans are resisting lt call. house speaker pelosi has still yet to send articles of impeachment across. a federal judge dismissed a challenge by charles cupferman to a house subpoena. there's no expectation, they will refile the subpoena. the lawsuit is unnecessary. john bolton, as you'll recall, declined to go before the house until that lawsuit was ruled on. let's get some perspective from house judiciary committee member. jamie raskin. these new details from "the times" how much do they change or do they change the calculus for the democrats here? >> well, they fill in a lot of the details that were kind of abundantly directed to by ambassador sondland who said everyone was in the loop. "the new york times" report suggests everyone was in the loop. everyone understood it. "the times" report says they tried to cover their tracks and tried to displace their own responsibility onto the department of defense and other actors. but ultimately the report demonstrates that one person and one person only was at the hea

they should include michael duffy, the associate director for national security at the office of managementust as importantly, the senate should issue subpoenas for a limited set of documents that we believe will shed additional light on the administration's decision-making regarding the delay in security assistance funding to ukraine and its requests for certain investigations to be announced by the government of ukraine. the need for the senate to review documentary evidence has received far less attention than the need for witness testimony despite being an equally important aspect of the trial and getting the facts to come out. we don't know what these documents will say. just as we don't know what the witnesses will say. they may be exculpatory of president trump or may be further condemning president trump. but they should come out. we should see these documents no matter what they say. today i sent a letter to all my senate colleagues, 99 of them, every democrat, every republican detailing the specific documents we're requesting. the documents can be broken down into three evidentiar

michael duffy adds, given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate you keeping that information closely held to those who need to know. amy klobuchar questions, why the secrecy? >> what a great question. >> reporter: today, administration officials pushed back. >> there's nothing new in the e-mails about the timing. there is a lot of e-mails back and forth. the aid was released. >> reporter: the white house budget office says the military hold was announced a week earlier, july 18th. a spokesperson told nbc news, to pull a line out of one e-mail and fail to address the context is misleading and inaccurate. >>> more than a year later, transportation leaders have approved funding to fix damage caused by a crash at the ferry building. the golden gate bridge, highway and transportation district approved $1.5 million. the contract, they approved on friday, just part of the money they need to repair the damage from november 3rd, 2018. the ferryboat hit the outer berth, inner berth and port promenade. >>> new details about the flaring at the refinery. the refinery has sur full into the

his senior advisor, robert blaire, the former national security advisor, john bolton as well as michael duffy who is the associate director of national security programs. one of those officials who signed off on several of the documents authorizing that hold on $400 million on aid to ukraine. chuck schumer is also asking for the senate to subpoena key documents that house investigators were not able to obtain from the white house, from the office of management and budget and the state department. now earlier today the senate minority leader chuck shu mur had a press conference and here's what he said. let me read you a quote. he said, so far mcconnell has not come to me and i'm worried that we won't get a fair trial where all the facts and all the truth comes out. i'm going to work very hard to get that done. he's explaining the impetus of this letter couching it in terms of demanding a fair trial in the senate. we have received a response from this letter from the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. leader mcconnell has made it clear that he plans to meet with leader schumer to discuss t

there should be witnesses called before the senate, and interestingly one ofschumer cald for is michael duffy. >> who is that? >> excuse me, mark sandy was mark duffy's predecessor at omb. mark duffy keeps the paper flowing, he is the one that wrote the e-mail that said let's take this offline and finally -- it's the e-mail that joyce is referring to. he is the paper pusher, but a very senior person at omb. he coincidentally released it 91 minutes after the phone call and he was coincidentally installed in that job after his predecessor was tossed for testifying to house intelligence. so the question is really a race between mcconnell yelling and pelosi and chuck schumer saying, well, if this was so serious, you would have witnesses, and at this particular letter, it really bolsters the argument. and it is an incredibly important part of the document. and if more was to come to light, it bolsters the position that really it is preordained that mitch mcconnell is doing whatever he wants to do. >> does it bolster the democrats position? noah, your most recent piece is called "nancy pelosi, what

advisor john bolton, mulvaney senior advisor robert blair, an office of manager and budget office michael duffy. earlier today, schumer explains why he wants to hear from those men. >> the four witnesses we've asked for, the documents we've asked for our directly dispositive on what the actual facts were. the house came up with a whole lot. but some of my republican colleague said these charges are serious but i'm not sure there's enough evidence. that's why these people should come. >> harris: chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. >> you see the negotiation on the senate side of the capital and on the house side of the capital, they are working to round up support ahead of four votes on impeachment. to swing state democrats, swing district democrats say they are a "yes" on impeachment, they are jason crow of colorado and alyssa of michigan, judiciary and intelligence committees as inspector was on, house democratic leadership to keep their members in line. >> the vote will be on wednesday despite what a democratic scholar called the fastest, thinnest, weakest

also, michael duffy. why schumer wants to hear from these individuals is similar to why house democrats wanted to hear from these individuals. they can help close the loop on the key missing pieces up to this point. what in the why when it came to the suspension of the u.s. and ukraine. these individuals could help fill those gaps. here's the thing, just because schumer wants these four witnesses doesn't mean he'll get these four witnesses. they still need to see if they can hammer out a bipartisan agreement. mcconnell has made clear he doesn't want witnesses, he thinks it's a bad idea for the white house to ask for witnesses. a lot to come forward here in the next four weeks, a list of witnesses like slot kin that are very important. when we get over to the chamber, it's going to be the moderates in the senate, those are the individuals that dictate whether or not there will be witnesses to the degree that someone like charles schumer wants. >> phil. thank you so much. let me stay on the senate here. sen

mick mulvaney, his top advisor robert blair, former national security advisor john bolton, and michael duffy. the director of national security at the office of management and budget. >> the four witnesses we propose a direct knowledge of why the aid to ukraine was delayed. >> 20 years ago during the clinton impeachment, chuck schumer argued against bringing witnesses into the senate trial. today he insisted this impeachment is different. >> here's what i said, the witness has and 99 had already given testimony. the four witnesses we called have not been heard from. >> he wants to enjoy the trial in the senate is fair. a sharp response from the white house press secretary. stephanie grisham tweeting, "let us hope fairness will prevail." they released a report in the middle of the night. thankfully the people of the country see the partisanship and that this is. president trump to talk today about rudy giuliani who recently traveled to budapest to meet with former ukrainian officials and produce a documentary aim to undercut the impeachment proceedings. he was at the white house last friday.

four key witnesses including white house chief stock -- michael duffy, a budget official and robert advisorhere is chuck schumer making his case >> i haven't seen a single good argument about why testify. are these documents be produced. unless the to hide and his supporters want that information hidden >> meanwhile, ahead of four votes on impeachment in house, democrats brought forward a weak case. have gone forward with the abuse of power notion. it a specific crime. it is very subjective, which is why impeachment is of a procedure on the ground. the second congress. >> now as a time for democrats with vote. jason crow of colorado, and alyssa of magic and "yes." >> i made this decision out of principal and out of duty to protect and defend the constitution. bones. i can stick to that regardless of what it does politically. this is bigger than politics. >> and some of the swing districts, democrats supporting price. >> neil: take a look at this. it's at all time new high following the s&p and the nasdaq racing at the underlying economy never mind the political environment. the dow is up be

security adviser john bolton, acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, robert blair, and michael duffy, associate director for management security. >> these four witnesses have direct knowledge of the facts, particularly in regard to the delay in the aid to ukraine. i don't know what they'll say. maybe they'll say something exculpatory about president trump. >> whether witnesses are called will come down to what the majority in the senate decide, with 53 republicans, mcconnell could completely call the shots, if he secures support of all but two republicans. >> everything i do during this, i am coordinating with white house counsel. there will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this. we all know how it is going to end. there's no chance the president will be removed from office. >> some senior republican aides tell cnn their view is where the house is where witnesses should have been called, and there's no place for more witnesses at the senate trial. majority whip senator john cornyn tweeted schumer should have talked to schiff, nadl

jim bolton the former national security advisers and a couple omb officials robert blair and michael duffy. all pour of these people refused to testify in the house impeachment investigation. to me this appears to a political move. because what it does is force republicans in the senate to say you know what? we don't want fact witnesses. we don't want to hear from these people with first hand information. what do you see? >> exactly right. chuck schumer has legally no ability. the shoe is on the other foot now. the senate has a limited set of rules. they do not cover witnesses. this is either going to come down to a deal between schumer and mcconnell or it's going to be majority rule. schumer is not in the majority so this is a political play. he is saying we are the party that wants facts, that wants witnesses. if you disagree, you will be trying to turn this into a kangaroo court. >> and yet mcconnell as he mentioned and forewarned last week, he wants this to go quickly. he already gave his indication as to where he believes this will end up and how he believes the president will be vind

john bolton among them, michael duffy. what will the cloud be? >> it will be that the president denied an opportunity for those who had information that could have ox s-- exonerated him bein before the senate. it could have produced a different result, whether removal or non-removal of the president. in order to remove that doubt we need to hear directly from those who have specific facts. any person who is a lawyer who will present a case will want to have those witnesses present or those who defend themselves would want those witnesses at a trial. whether it's the managers of the house presenting the case on behalf of the house of representatives or the president's attorneys you would want those who had the direct information to present that in order to get the facts out. >> thank you so much, senator cardin. we really appreciate you being with us. just ahead, the partisan pot shots over impeachment. is president trump giving nancy pelosi exactly what she wants? in the midst of impeachment, the president has a decades old movie on his mind. we

now that official, michael duffy who wrote those emails, he has been on the witness list for the democrats in the house and the senate. the senate has only named four people they want on their list. he is one of them. and this is before this email. now look, can you come up with some possible explanation for what duffy said in those emails? it's really hard, which is why trump tried to hide the emails in the first place. but i suppose it's possible. but that's exactly why duffy needs to come and testify and tell the truth to the american people. and what donald trump has done is he has said no, full gag order. duffy and no one else can testify. the most striking thing about this is donald trump is being impeached for blocking witnesses, and his solution is oh, i'm going to go block witnesses again in the senate. it is a grave abuse of power. >> and he is certainly getting some help from the senate, including people like mitch mcconnell. and there is a bit of irony in all of this, in that senators are expected to swear a oath to do impartial justice, but mitch mcconnell doesn't seem to be l

newly released documents show former white house budget official michael duffy told the pentagon to withhold aid from ukraine, july 25th, an hour and a half after president trump asked ukraine's president to investigate former vice president joe biden. but as congress returns home for the holiday, both sides are still digging in. >> the charges are pretty thin gruel. i don't see anything impeachable in that. >> if there was ever an argument we need mr. duffy to come testify, this is that information. this email is explosive. >> reporter: president trump has no public schedule, but was actively tweeting through the weekend, including writing "the dems just wish it would all end." scott macfarlane, nbc news, washington. >>> continuing coverage now, still no arrest this morning in the stabbing death of the younger brother of 49ers backup quarterback c.j. beathard. 22-year-old clayton beathard was killed after a fight outside a nashville bar early saturday morning. >> "today in the bay's" sharon katsuda joins us live and she's tracking the latest. sharon? >> reporter: the 49ers team and family a