her fellow author, rick wilson, remains with us. could you make the argument that biden's problem along these lines is he hasn't settled on the story, the response, the story to tell. for now his story is owned by the other side. >> yeah, that is a problem that biden has, which is what is your narrative? can you control your story, right? that's kind of politics 101. control the narrative before the other side does. and he tends to not do that. but i do have to say, though, his response yesterday was a good one, the one where an older gentleman came to him and said, hey, you know, i don't think -- you're too old or talked to him about the hunter situation with ukraine. and i thought biden answered that pretty well. he probably -- his message needed to be a little bit more clear, but he showed some fire in his belly, and i think we need to see more of that but with a clearer message. i have to say as well, with the kerry endorsement, and i think this plays into the narrative that biden is trying to do, endorsements doesn't really mov

kurt bardella, jonathan allen, rick wilson, ron klain and joyce advance. joyce, counselor, is there a rabbit on the legal side that the democrats can pull out of the hat in the well of the senate, including but not limited to witnesses' tactics that perhaps we haven't thought of, or isn't being discussed at this stage? >> you know, the real problem that the republicans have is that the time to come one that defense has already passed. so, when these allegations first surfaced, they should have come forward with the defense, whatever it was. anything that comes up this late in the game looks manufactured. and we've seen that happen along the path as trump began to try and float trial balloons, like the fact that he withheld aid because the europeans weren't paying their fair share, which, of course, is not true, or the defense that you previewed here, this sort of notion that he withheld aid because he was concerned about corruption, which, of course, flies in the face of the fact that in 2017 and in 2018 trump gave aid, that there was no concern about what

jonathan allen, rick wilson, ron klein and joyce vance., counselor, is there a rabbit on the legal side that the democrats can pull out of the hat in the well of the senate, including but not limited to witnesses' tactics that perhaps we haven't thought of or isn't being discussed at this stage? >> you know, the real problem that the republicans have is that the time to come up with that defense is already passed. so when these allegations first surfaced, they should have come forward with the defense, whatever it was. anything that comes up this late in the game looks manufactured. and we've seen that happen along the path as trump began to try and float trial balloons like the fact that he withheld aid because the europeans weren't paying their fair share which, of course, is not true. or the defense that you previewed here, this sort of notion that he withheld aid because he was concerned about corruption, which, of course, flies in the face of the fact that in 2017 and 2018 trump gave aid there was no concern what joe biden did in ukra

rick wilson, republican strategist, author of the forthcoming book, "running against the devil."on klain, former chief counsel of the senate judiciary, former chief of staff to al gore and former chief of staff to joe biden who these days is an informal advisor to the biden effort. and former u.s. attorney joyce vance who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. sorry, everybody. that's all the time we have. thank you for coming. just kidding. you do wonder what other broadcasts are doing since we have all the guests at this hour. we're going to make good use of them. ron klain, i'd like to begin with you with the last thing we just heard from mitch mcconnell. is there anything wrong with the white house counsel and the majority leader in the senate as you heard them, working hand in hand, step by step? is there anything ethically wrong with it that you can see? >> well, it's certainly not what the constitution intends. the constitution gives the congress the house the power to impeach the president. the senate, the specific constitutional duty to try the president. and, you know,

rick wilson, republican strategist, author of the book "running against the devil." ron klain, former chief counsel of the senate judiciary, former chief of staff to al gore and joe biden who these days is an informal advisor to the biden effort. and former u.s. attorney joyce vance who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. sorry, everybody. that's all the time we have. thank you for coming. just kidding. you do wonder what other broadcasts are doing since we have all the guests at this hour. we're going to make good use of them. ron klain, i'd like to begin with you with the last thing we just heard from mitch mcconnell. is there anything wrong with the white house counsel and the majority leader in the senate as you heard them, working hand in hand, step by step? is there anything ethically wrong with it that you can see? >> well, it's certainly not what the constitution intends. the constitution gives the congress the house the power to impeach the president. the senate, the specific constitutional duty to try the president. peter baker is the expert on the clin

rick wilson remains with us.arine, could you make the argument that biden's problems along these lines is he has not settle on the story, the response, the story to tell for now? >> that's the problem biden has. what is your narrative? can you control your story? he tends to not do that. i have to say his response yesterday was a good one. the one where the older gentleman came to him and said "hey, i don't think you are too old or talked to him about the hunter situation with ukraine." i thought biden answered that pretty well. he needed to be a little more clear but he showed some fire in his belly. we need to see more of that with a clearer message. i have to say as well with the car carey's endorsement and this plays into the narrative that biden tries to do it. what the carey endorsement does is that biden is safe. the carey connection to the clintons and obamas. it is a different narrative than what you hear from warren and sanders and pete buttigieg saying we need a new direction. biden is saying i am taki

back with us, anita kumar and rick wilson. rick, why isn't it more distasteful? why isn't it more straight-up disgraceful to hear republican officeholders using talking points that are translated from the original russian? >> well, the biggest factor there is the trumpism requires a total lack of shame, and these guys have embraced trumpism with a gusto that is truly remarkable. and the idea that they're taking these talking points directly from russian propaganda 25 years ago would have been grounded for expulsion from congress, certainly from the gop. and 50 years ago, they would have slapped you in prison. these guys have decided that to protect trump, they're going to protect the guy who runs trump life from the home office in moscow, and they're going to emulate the sort of style that the russians are dropping across here. they've got r.t. and sputnik and these are outlets in the u.s. that are now stalked with ex-journalist who's are putting the pretense of an english accent or an american accent on russian propaganda. >> hey, anita, the most newly minted re

think for yourself. >> rick wilson is still here with us. what is this moment we're in?> this is a moment where a parasite crawled inside of a political party and ate it from the inside out. and it still sort of sounds like and looks like the old republican party, but right now the virtues of the new party are slavish obedience to trump, blistering pig ignorance. those guys should be ashamed. they should sink into the damn earth out of shame by having a moment where they're called on the primary -- the primary defense of this president in this case, and they should say to themselves, i should go home and read. maybe i should switch off theagity prop channel for a while and grind my way through a few of the basic facts in this thing. but they don't and they won't. that's the old party. now it is, you know, are you enough -- is your passion for trump strong enough? >> let's go back to susan collins just because it's fun to go back to susan collins. what does she do if chuck schumer gets an up or down vote on the senate floor? should we call john bolton? should we at least

right now nothing else is out there to stop them. >> rick wilson has agreed to stay here with us over we'll do that and when we come back, some of the president's supporters seem to be ignoring a repeated plea in his impeachment defense, one that you may have read on a t-shirt near you. well, here's to first dates! you look amazing. and you look amazingly comfortable. when your v-neck looks more like a u-neck... that's when you know, it's half-washed. try downy fabric conditioner. unlike detergent alone, downy helps prevent stretching by conditioning and smoothing fibers, so clothes look newer, longer. downy and it's done. may your holidays glow bright and all your dreams take flight. lease the c 300 sedan for just $399 a month at the mercedes-benz winter event. hurry in today. and a drumroll, please. [ hisses ] [ hisses and snarls ] [ bell chimes ] let's dance! and now the icing on the cake! >>> i would say read the transcript. >>> just read the transcript of the phone call. >> read the transcript. >> i'll say it and i'll say it again. read the transcript. >> read the transcript. it'

rick wilson is the author of that. he joins me now. he's the author, as well of running against the devil, a plot to save america from trump and democrats from themselves. it's a book that will be out in january. rick, these are very, very strong words. you are implicating -- i don't know -- republicans in general? or congressional republicans who are the ones making the decision on this? >> well, look. trump has an entire class of enablers around him. and i started writing this article because i -- i noted that he is sort of devalued the word traitor by -- by naming americans who clearly are not as people who had betrayed the country or betrayed him. and as i thought about it more, this class of people that -- that he has built around him to support him no matter what he does, no matter what his criminality is. no matter what his -- what his schemes are. no matter what unconstitutional thing he does. they will defend him to the last breath. i just found it enormously contradictory to the oath they swore to the office. congressional re

with us tonight for more, rick wilson, republican strategist, author of the forthcoming book "running against the devil" which is due out in mid-january. and peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." peter, we don't get to add asterisks as we go, things like we never got a transcript of the call with the president of ukraine. we got a summary. we really don't know exactly what was said on the phone call. there is room to say that about every five minutes during this hearing today and then tonight as our resident expert on impeachment, peter, what have we learned today? >> i think we have learned that there is a full employment act for fact checkers if they were going to spend their day watching all 14, 15 hours of this, they could have filled a volume, for both sides, but particular oy live on the side of the republicans trying to defend president trump there. they're presenting their version of reality. obviously democrats are presenting their version of reality too. i don't know that we learned anything new except that we're going have a party line vote,

rick wilson, appreciate you being with us. thanks very much. >>> just ahead tonight, the latest on the shooting at an air base in florida and the mystery surrounding the saudi national who killed three people there. we'll be right back. so the whole world looks different. the unbeatable strength and speed of advil liqui-gels. what pain? the wait is over. t-mobile is lighting up 5g nationwide. while some 5g signals go only blocks, t-mobile 5g goes miles... beyond the big cities to the small towns... to the people. now, millions of americans can have access to 5g on t-mobile. and this is just the beginning. t-mobile, the first and only nationwide 5g network. what are you doing back there, junior? since we're obviously lost, i'm rescheduling my xfinity customer service appointment. ah, relax. i got this. which gps are you using anyway? a little something called instinct. been using it for years. yeah, that's what i'm afraid of. he knows exactly where we're going. my whole body is a compass. oh boy... the my account app makes toda

the authors is george conway, the husband of kellyanne conway, counselor to the president, and rick wilsons dies." rick joins me now. so, rick, how does the super pac plan to defeat president trump and trumpism at the ballot box? >> anderson, one of the tools that we have at our disposal is about 120 years of collective political experience and knowledge and the ability to use a lot of the tools we built over time on behalf of the republican party in order to try to save the country from a president who los angeles sort of hollowed out the old gop like a parasite from the inside out and to apply some pressure onto the people that are his enablers and supporters and hopefully to be able to engage in enough commitments to go into the swing states where the race will be decided in 2020 and to make a meaningful difference. remember, donald trump won by about 77,000 votes in the three swing states in the upper midwest. we believe that there are a number of folks out there who are not comfortable with trump, who are clearly not happy with the direction he's taken this country, and that they're r

trump's senior adviser kellyanne conway also rick wilson, john weaver, and steve schmidt. they have formed a super pac called the lincoln project in a "new york times" op-ed the group says they are dedicating the next 11 months to convincing conservatives and independents in swing states to tip the votes against the president. the group has already raised over a million dollars >>> meanwhile, the president's former deputy campaign manager is facing jail time. despite his extensive cooperation with special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. a judge sentenced rick gates to over a month behind bars nbc's pete williams has the details. >> reporter: the state and government both urged the judge to sentence him only to probation because he cooperated extensively with robert mueller's prosecutors. and the judge was lenient but said gates has to serve 45 days in jail a weekend at a time. he pleaded guilty to hiding millions of dollars anyone come for political consulting from the pro russian government in ukrai ukraine. his former business partner paul manafort is seve

. >> rick wilson, a republican strategist who we have on a show wrote a book called "everything trump touches dies." >> yes. >> i think that's a really interesting title. it reminded me of rogue and x man. everything she touches sucks the life's blood out of you, whatever it was, and kills you. >> yes. >> do you ever worry about that? >> about what? >> it's not just rogue, the people she kissed die, it's people who go against her and there are many people who have already destroyed themselves because they've so gone after trump that they themselves, it froes ba flows back. >> i am not going against him. i am not the resistance. i said this the first night after he was elected. i think it was the next day. remember, they were like the next day, a little too late. people were like, wait, no, we care. a day after it mattered. i think what i said at the top, we're not the -- this is not the resistan resistance. this is alternative programming because i could foresee like the madness and the heart break associated with that guy in, a very important moral position. what we want to do is poi

here republican strategist rick wilson is joining us. he's the author of the book everything trump touches dies. what is he doing here? is he trying to get attention? is this good for the president? >> i think one thing rudy is doing is deeply undermining the president's defense that nothing he did was wrong and this was all a standard sort of governmental operating procedure. i think this new trip undermines that defense rather dramatically. what i think rudy is doing is doubling down. these guys have become reckless gamblers thinking they will get some moment that will allow the media culture around the president's side of the equation to blow up hunter biden and blow up joe biden. it's really validating joe biden's role as the guy who donald trump fears the most. he is certainly doing -- rudy is doing everything he can both to sort of revive that story which has been fairly thoroughly debunked and keep that line of attack on joe biden alive. >> also, for giuliani to sort of continue to say this is a -- this is all a mission about corr

you know, rick wilson says everything trump touches dies.ean, the first two people who endorsed trump i believe were indicted or have left congress or are leaving congress. and yet nikki haley serves as ambassador to the u.n., gets out unscathed and keeps coming back in i guess as karen said a book and she wants to be president. >> yeah, don, just to -- you know, one of the interesting things also about nikki haley is that she when shifcharlottesvil happened, she made it a point to make it clear to the public she disagreed with the president and how he handled charlottesville. but what charlottesville was about was about the normalization of a false narrative that confederate symbols are about anything other than racism and slavery. and essentially what she's doing in this interview is pandering to those very same people who have got into that false narrative. >> abbey, i want to get this -- i want to get this on before we run out of time. another clip with haley after the shooting and she sounded very different. watch this. >> a flag is liv

i want to bring in republican strategist rick wilson and "new york times" columnist and msnbc contributorrett stephens. rick, in the scope of endorsements, editorials, where would you put this one? >> i've been sort of a skeptic about the impact of this editorial because i think evangelicals have entered a phase of their political behavior where they seek the political worldly ends through whatever modality we can get them and they've made their deal with the devil in the form of donald trump. i don't think they're going to abandon trump over this article, although i think the article speaks eloquently and powerfully to a lot of his deficiencies from the perspective of believers. >> it's worth noting, brett, what his power was with the evangelical community in 2016. 81% voted for him. david remnick just wrote this in "the new yorker" about the president's rally in michigan. he was now impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of congress, but he had his base, he could not be touched. so to sort of pick up on what rick said, does this make any difference? is anybody in the republican pa

talking about steve schmidt, george conaway, rick wilson getting together to form this political operationthe president. and to defeat republicans who are supporting the president. i want to read you what they wrote overnight. national republicans have done far worse than simply march along to mr. trump's beat. their defense of him is imbued with an ugliness, a meanness, and a willingness to attack and slander those who have shed blood for our country, who have dedicated their lives and careers to its defense and its security. they basically say there are those enabling the president's behavior. how do you feel about that? >> listen. there is a very, very small sliver of the republican party that are never trumpers and they still exist out there. you named a few of them. but if you look at the republican party and their support for donald trump, you haven't seen any kind of, you know, party base support for a president in my lifetime for a president like donald trump has right now with republicans. so this is a very small and unique group that doesn't agree with the president but calls the

rick wilson, a republican strategist, who we have on the show, wrote a book called "everything trump touches dies." >> yes. >> and i actually think -- i think it's a really interesting title. it sort of reminds me of rogue in "x-men ." >> sure. >> everything she touches sucks the life's blood out of you, whatever it was, and kills you. do you ever worry about that? >> worry about what? >> the thing about rogue, it's not just people that she kissed who die, it's people who go against her and there are many people who have already destroyed themselves because they've so gone after trump that they, themselves, it blows back -- they've gone down to his level. >> i'm not going against him. i am not the resistance. i said this i think the first night after he was elected. i think it was the next day because there were, like, remember there were, like, the next day, a little too late, there were marches in all the streets. people were like, wait, no, we care. like, a day after it mattered. and i think what i said at the top of the monologue, like, we're not the -- this is not the resistance

i'm joined now by republican congressman rick wilson and also with me former democratic senator barbaracalifornia, cohost of the boxer podcast. senator, i'll start with you. obviously we know the kind of man donald trump is. but what's striking to me was watching the degree to which he has transformed the republican party both in his rallies and congress into a kind of cultive personality around that individual with that character. >> here you go. you know, i know rick will agree when the republicans said they were a party of family values, how horrific to mock, and he imitated and mocked a sitting congresswoman who is grieving for her husband and who i knew them both well so it's almost, for me it's quite personal. he loved her so much, and she loved him so much that every time he was with debbie before she was a congress he'd say here is the fabulous debbie, here is the beautiful debbie, here's the wonderful debbie. and then to see this president, he's going to lose michigan. he's going to lose michigan because john dingell, here's the thing john dingell and i agreed 75% of the time b

i reflect on what rick wilson wrote this week.robably heard about it in the rolling stone, titled the traitors among us. he's pointing his finger at key components being made by certain republicans that are in support of what the president has done right now, and he puts in question whether they're being traitorous or treasonous. >> there are a couple dozen republicans who always available to say something terrible about president trump. i asked the toughest questions of anyone in the 2016 campaign, so i know there are tough questions the president has to answer. i look at the market university poll in wisconsin, totally flipped on impeachment. 53% oppose it, 40% approve of it. i look at the emerson polls that came out this week, the only one beating donald trump is bernie sanders and not by a lot. there are a couple of ties, elizabeth warren, pete buttigieg is behind him, joe biden is behind him. i think impeachment is smothering the democratic message. i read as quickly as i could the nadler report. on page 31 it says, let's get

. >> i'm thinking too you had rick wilson on your show last night. i had him on mine. playing for history and making the historic argument about donald trump isn't something that you think about doing in a general election. it wasn't essential to hillary clinton's message. it is this moment, though, that nancy pelosi was patient enough to wait for. she had to with tand stand a lot of pressure after the mueller report came out from her left, but she waited for trump to do something that really did jeopardize not just our national security in the moment he did it but our national security in the next presidential election. and you've got chris wray, the sitting fbi director, admiral rogers his now retired nsa director, and countless other national security officials who testified that know we are not doing nearly enough to protect our election from russia. >> the results in the room. by the way, i have to interrupt. we have again for those watching at home and looking at these numbers there's a notable number top line and that is three democratic nays. we know so far tha

joining me now, "daily beast" white house reporter and that you are and republican strategist rick wilsonhose are cats characters to the side. just for a moment and we're going to get serious and talk about rudy giuliani. explain your reporting. >> sure. well, shortly after rudy giuliani returned from his recent jaunt to europe, to multiple countries, not just ukraine. he brought back with him a trench of documents and what he believed to be exculpatory evidence for his biggest client, president donald j. trump. and what he is branding as -- as damning evidence against former vice president joe biden. so shortly after he got back stateside, he had a meeting with president trump at the white house. and subsequently, giuliani told reporters that the president urged him to brief republican lawmakers. particularly, in the senate, about what he found. ahead of his impeachment trial in the senate. now, what we found with our reporting at "the daily beast" is that not only within the trump administration itself, but with the president's allies in terms of republican lawmakers on capitol hill, th

. >> that was rick wilson on msnbc blasting mike bloomberg and tom stir for pouring millions of dollarscratic presidential nomination. at a time when the remaining group of top tier candidates sa is all white. there is no candidates of color. cory booker is the only african-american left in the race. here's what bloomberg had to say in response to that. >> cory booker endorsed me a number of times and i endorsed cory booker a number of times. he is very well spoken. he has good ideas. >> he since apologized for that remark for calling him well spoken which some criticize as a racist troep on his intelligence. but beyond that, what does it say about the democratic party, a decade after president obama's white house run there is no minorities gaining traction with voters? joining me is the vice president chairman of dnc michael blake. let's start there if we could with the krit sichl that no doubt you're hearing that as you look at this debate stage, it is monday owe chromatic. does it not represent democrats as a whole. and, of course, this has to be a larger coalition, larger group of d

i want to listen to what gop strategist rick wilson said here on msnbc last night. >> i call this theire vanities. these guys, tom steyer and mike bloomberg are in this race, and you know, if they want to be rid of trump, if they want to really do something effective with all that money burning a hole in their pocket, they would be out spending $200 million to register voters. they'd be out spending $200 million in the swing states in ohio, pennsylvania, arizona, wisconsin, hammering donald trump to a bloody flat, greasy pulp on the highway. with ads. >> what do you make of that, ahead of the bloody, flat, greasy pulp part? but democratic candidates better to support candidates by registering voters particularly in the swing states? >> well, it's a wonderful country when political consultants can convince billionaires with giant egos that they aren't qualified to be president and they will fleece them for all their worth, because i don't think michael bloomberg's going anywhere. yet, he will spend an extraordinary amount of money, which he did in the new york mayor's race, by the way,

. >> david ignatius, and michael steele still with us, and joe, republican strategist rick wilson hasats are blowing impeachment. and he writes in part in the week where democrats announce historic and fully deserved articles of impeachment against president donald trump, they also started blowing it and throwing away 2020. for all the skill nancy pelosi has displayed as political opposition leader against trump, the idea that working with him is a net political positive for the democrats is scorchingly stupid. donald trump doesn't really want to pass usmca or family leave or anything else for that matter. trump will lucy them every time pulling back the football at the last second. 2020 is a referendum on donald trump. that is all 2020 is about. the cognitive dissonance in declaring trump a lawless, reckless criminal who seeks to have foreign powers decide our elections and ride rough shod over our democracy and also declaring we can work with this guy is utterly astounding. i think they're in a tough position because you also want to look like you're trying to get something done for