and former chief of staff to vice president's joe biden and al gore, ron klain with us at the table. heather mcghee, former managing editor of "time" magazine and veteran of the obama administration, and my freak sidekick rick stengel. let me start with you, peter baker. part of normalizing all that is not normal is reading a sentence like they plan to jail babies and not just stopping for a minute. how is that even done? >> we're 2 1/2 years in, and every morning you wake up and you think, i can't really be surprised about anything new today. and then you're surprised by something new. we will see what the rest of the day brings. we will see what tomorrow brings. it's been an administration that has not been afraid to shatter norms, to do things others wouldn't and to push the boundaries, if you will. the census thing is an example where it seems like the president has been thwarted in his desire. the supreme court said no, you can't add this to the main census because we think the reason we've given for doing it is contrived, that's the word the lead justice used, not a liberal. th

. >> ron klain, in the press conference that nancy pelosi did after all of this she sounded warmer toward distinguish between impeachment and the impeachment process. >> impeachment inquiry is the way she was talking. >> yeah, exactly. and what's mounting is as the white house continues to stonewall, the fact witnesses jill was talking about, the house may have no choice but to take an impeachment process open to get that testimony. they need to get to the bottom of this. if the white house is going to stonewall, the impeachment process i think is almost inevitable. >> mieke, as a house veteran where do you think impeachment is tonight compared to where it was last week? >> i think you see more and more members coming around saying yes to starting this process. and i think ron's right. in order to be able to really put the full weight of the house behind the kinds of requests they're going to make, opening that process puts them in a much stronger position. >> ned, people were watching around the world. people in other governments around the world, foreign intelligence agencies watching t

and i'm sure since he has one of the best prep teams there is, particularly in ron klain and anita dun'm sure he will be ready. >> i'm told we don't have much time. but let me ask if you you are a lesser known polling at 1%. you talked about this being crucial for them. what's the quick advice for them. >> i think that desperation is a bad thing. to the extent you try to score points on somebody or say something that's going to go viral, you are probably not going to succeed. i think, sadly for a lot of the people it's probably over tuesday and wednesday night. so what they should do is leave -- maybe not leave in the best way they can with the most dignity they can. if they haven't introduced themselves do so. if they have a point to make why they are the best choice, do so. and remember, a lot of the lesser knowns are running for vice president. hate to tell you, but that's in their minds too. >> interesting. bob barn et, i look forward to continuing the debate conversations as we -- we weave our way through the democratic nominating process. thank you so much for being here. be sure

ron klain, mieke eoyang, jill wine-banks and ned price, thank you very much for joining us on this important night. that is tonight's last word. "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. >>> tonight a long day's journey into something less than the democrats had hoped for for so long. robert mueller in his own words. reluctant, passive, halting? stern warnings, few findings of fault. he did not have all the answers. tonight we'll look at what he did say. it's not a witch hunt, it's not a hoax. we are under attack by the russians. he could not clear the president. and the president, he declared victory. all the loyal republicans behind him. but no answers or apparent anger tonight for the attack under way by the russians. as "the 11th hour" gets under way on a wednesday night. well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 916 of this trump administration. robert mueller was a reluctant witness, and it showed. it was a long day on capitol hill seven hours from start to finish. the 89th and 90th congressional hearings in his lifetime of public service

we have a remarkable panel to address these questions on tactics and ron klain, executive vice president and general counsel at revolution llc. ron is the former chief of staff to vice president joe biden as well as vice president al gore ,nd attorney general janet reno and i am leaving out a long list of accomplishments with a distinguished career in public service and the private sector. he's also the former chief counsel to the senate judiciary committee. ron, welcome. ron: thanks. harry: next, tim lynch joins us. tim is a principal at the reagan group specializing in government affairs. he is the former deputy general counsel to the ranking member of the house oversight committee, but also a former assistant u.s. attorney in the eastern district of new york. tim, welcome. tim: glad to be here. harry: next, matthew miller, a proud look partner at the end -- public partner at the innovaro, the department of justice the former communications director for the house democratic committee and i think it's fair to say a charter member of a -- of the talking feds podcast, but it's especially