ben sasse who has been strangely silent over the past year, ben sasse coming out and talking about it being very troubling. >> ben sasse was a tell to me saying what he read in that report, which by the way we may all see at some point today, the whistleblow whistleblower complaint as it has been declassified, he said it was very troubling. he hasn't made a peep, has a primary challenge, doesn't want to cross donald trump, but he's worried about it. we're going to get more of it today. the summary of that phone call, if the white house thought that was going to be exculpatory, they were going to put that out and clear the air and everybody was going to move on, they're living in a bubble where reality is not a part of that bubble. because he says right then and there, not only does he go to this wild contract theory about crowd strike, but he talks about the other thing, and that is joe and hunter biden's work in ukraine. >> you nailed it right there. >> that's what's so fascinating about it. you can actually see, ed, some trumpists diezzy throughout the day. >> twisting themselves in

ben sasse said some of the things he saw were very troubling. that's interesting. given the fact that we have heard crickets from almost all republicans when it comes to this document and it is so in keeping with the republican party in the trump era. if you saw a democratic president have this kind of conversation, you read a summary of a phone conversation from a democratic president saying exactly what donald trump said, the republicans would be, their hair would be on fire. that's just the way it is. it is part of the partisan nature of this city right now, but it also is very much because of what we have seen time and time again. the one difference was yesterday when the senate republicans who lead the senate allowed a vote which passed unanimously, in order to see exactly what's going on right now. to see the complaint and a classified manner. that's, i think, in a large part is because it was cya. they don't want to hear reporters ask them questions over and over again, about why they are not doing their job. the immy kags of -- implication is they're going

now it's romney and sasse.0% increase in republicans. >> and we don't have the complaint yet. >> who are publicly uncomfortable. i suspect president trump may have words for ben sasse. i think the democrats are interesting here as well. before these notes were released, there was some trepidation. you had democrats second guessing democrats. i think after those notes came out, hard to find many democrats who were as nervous as they were beforehand and not only that, i think pelosi and some of the committee chairs were surprised by how much they had in front of them. they seemed to be recalibrating some of their strategy now just wanting to focus on ukraine as they look at possible articles of impeachment. what do you see there? >> there's a lot of political sensitivity on part of the top democrats who realize the charges of them overreaching and doing everything and anything to remove the president from office when we're already in an election season, but for them to try to do it precipitously through the impea

ben sasse. ben sasse. right? so we remember, of course, ben sasse in 2016 tweets about then candidate trump saying, trump doesn't get america. saying, dumpster fires are more popular than trump. sas has been silent for a couple of months now and now we know why. trump via twitter sings praises and ends with "ben has my complete and total endorsement." exclamation et al. tara? >> so disappointing. i had so much hope for ben sasse sticking to his principles did not vote for trump in 2016. wentn the senate floor and gave rip-roaring speeches in his nebraska way going after trump really speaking the truth the way donald trump is, not a republican and conservative and a megalomaniac and all of these things and i was like, thank you, ben sasse. the reality of re-election emerged upon him and he actually was losing support in nebraska. the nebraska gop was threatening to field a primary challenger and they have, and so he recently, since he stopped criticizing donald trump a couple months ago has risen 14 points in a po

now lo and behold, the president is supporting sass' re-election tweeting, quote, senator ben sass hasl job representing the people of nebraska. ben has my complete and total endorsement. president carried nebraska by 25 points and is overwhelmingly popular among republican primary voters. sass' speakspl dspokes -- spoken called the tweet a surprise and said he's still willing to break with the president when necessary. okay. call us cynical, but we doubt it will be necessary until after the nebraska primary take place. . know what more shrimp!ith steak and shrimp? and you know what goes great with that shrimp? steak and unlimited shrimp! and this year, with two freshly made sides, you'll get more than you imagined. hurry into outback now for our steak and unlimited shrimp. outback steakhouse but dad, you've got allstate. with accident forgiveness they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. indeed. are you in good hands? >>> welcome back. democrats in the judiciary committee are about to hold their first vote specifically on the issue of impeachment. s

you had first senator romney and senator sass. don't get out of your skis.creaming impeachment but let's get the facts here. let's be thorough about this. let's do our jobs. i can tell you tonight, erin, i've spoken to senators and aides who say there is some there there and we need to answer these questions. >> and no doubt they're going to want to do it carefully and thoroughly but many of them are going to want to do it right and hopefully they'll do what's morally right. >> question of courage. will they come out and say so publicly because they understand what the president will do if they do. >> thank you very much, john king. >>> next, how voters in a crucial battleground state feel about pelosi's push for impeachment. >> it will show people a president can't do these things and just get away with it. full of flavor. color. full of... woo! full of good. so you can be too. try our new warm grain bowls today. order now on doordash. try our new warm grain bowls today. yeah, i've had some prettyeer. prestigious jobs over the years. news producer, executiv

you have some republicans, i saw ben sasse from nebraska. we put his quote up earlier, not saying nothing to see here. >> i think it's pretty notable that post 4:00 p.m. today when the whistle-blower's complaint was finally made available to members of congress that there hasn't been a republican who has come out with as force fortunately of a defense we've seen of president trump earlier in the day. i think this just increases the amount of pressure that the acting dni joseph mcguire will be under tomorrow when he has to publicly testify in front of the house intelligence committee behind closed doors and in front of closed doors. he's in a pretty precarious situation. as my colleagues reported today, he threatened to resign if he was not able to be forthcoming with the information that he is aware of with regards to the whistleblower's complaints. you know, he's already come under scrutiny and severe criticism for the way he's handled the complaint until now, and i think tomorrow will be a real test with the intelligence community watching

there already appear cracks in that facade with republican senator ben sass calling it very troubling. republican senator mitt romney calling it troubling in the extreme. republican senator pat tumy calling it inappropriate. governor pence in the vice presidential debates of 2016 called it pretty basic stuff. >> now y'all need to know out there, this is basic stuff. foreign donors and certainly foreign governments cannot participate in the american political process. >> indeed. now so much of what we do know about this scandal has been admitted by president trump or rudy giuliani. stated out in the open. this afternoon sitting with zelensky the president noted how much military aid the united states has given ukraine while calling hunter biden corrupt and says zelensky is known for fighting corruption. >> when biden's son walks away with millions of dollars from ukraine and he knows nothing and they are paying him millions of dollars, that's corporation. that's a horrible thing. that's a horrible thing. >> sometimes anderson, it almost seems like president trump is all by daring the l

sass cracks. >> you like that this is interesting.le we spend a lot of time talking about the ipos come to market now np talking about the lack of the profitability. talking about the growth and the multiples investor are willing to pay but here is one for last year. down 20% on the disappointing outlook. now down about 40 some percent from the all-time highs made a couple of months ago i think these are names you want to keep an eye on because they speak to investor sentiment in a which. there are some others. we saw the slack ticker work, that listed through a direct listing back in june. that's also down 40% below its highs right after that listing broke price earlier, you know once they break price it's hard to get back. not that it was a traditional ipo. but there is other names out there. i think it's important to look at these for sentiment i'll take a step further look at service now. look at workday down 23% big market cap companies, the companies that have do profitability marginally on an adjusted basis on the gap basis the

senator ben sass, he repeatedly called the complaint troubling. maguire and the i.g., they are scheduled to go behind closed doors, this time, in front of the committee. >> sunlen, thank you for that. >>> the transcript does not contain a quid pro quo related to u.s. military aid, in exchange for investigation of the bidens. that the u.s. asked the ukraine for a favor, though. he says, there's a lot of talk about biden's son. a lot of people want to find out about that. whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. there's no evidence of wrongdoing, by biden or his son. >> president trump mentions biden three times and attorney general, barr, five times. that is raising questions about what barr knew and when. barr refused to open the investigation, even though the attorney general for the community asked d.o.j. to look into the matter. that is igniting concerns that barr's justice department is serving as a shield for the president. barr has minimal involvement and career prosecutors made the decision. >>> a defiant president trum

$8000.00 rpm which guarantees lots of driving pleasure it's a blast to downshift and then stomp on a day sass and the sound inside is just what you'd expect it to be a from a pedigreed sports car. so at the end of the day is the g.t. 86 really the impossible dream a sports car that one make a serious dent in your retirement fund. other human almost says all in all he thinks it's absolutely correct to call it a sports car and in it's price to performance segment aside from the super o.b. r.e.c. it has virtually no competitors. there's the mazda m.x. fyvie adds but depending on the engine i can have up to 70 less horsepower under the hood from the. armies of tradesmen i've spent a good part of their lives in the driver's seat of the very 1st generation of the v.w. bus called simply the t one. driver christophe powers taking one of the more than 1800000 t. ones built for a spin the v.w. bus was the right vehicle at the right time. going to all that christophe recalls its history starting in 1947 as west germany was still rebuilding from the 2nd world war back then trades people urgently needed t

but senator ben sasse -- ben sasse is a republican -- saying, quote, republicans ought not to be rushing to circle the wagons and say there is no "there" there when there's obviously a lot that is very troubling there. he also said that democrats should slow it down as well. congresswoman jackie speier is calling the complaint explosive, goes on to say it reveals how -- these are her words -- how grotesque and twisted the attorney general's opinion is. i'm going to talk to her in just a moment as i mentioned to chris just a while ago. >>> the house speaker nancy pelosi is refusing to answer questions, refused to answer them as she left the scif, saying that the white house retroactively classified the whistle-blower's letter. acting dni joseph maguire set to testify before the house intel committee in open session tomorrow. so we may get some answers then. so stand by. we might get some more answers when he testifies. that as sources tell cnn that nancy pelosi wants to keep the impeachment inquiry tightly focused on the president's conversation with the leader of ukraine, a conversation

senator ben sass, he repeatedly called the complaint troubling. thi they are scheduled to go behind closed doors, this time, in front of the committee. >>> the transcript does not contain a quid pro quo. that the u.s. asked the ukraine for a favor, though. he says, there's a lot of talk about biden's son. a lot of people want to find out about that. whoev whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. there's no evidence of wrongdoing, by biden or his son. >> president trump mentions biden three times and attorney general, barr, six times. barr refused to open the investigation. that is igniting concerns that barr's justice department is serving as a shield for the president. barr has minimal involvement and career prosecutors made the decision. >>> a defiant president trump, with diplomacy as the brountd of t background of the u.n. painted himself a victim of the vicious democrats. >> it's a hockes, folks. it's a joke. impeachment for that? >> he has some support. a "wall street journal" op-ed, by 19 members, including the ranking

but senator ben sasse -- ben sasse is a republican -- saying, quote, republicans ought not to be rushing to circle the wagons and say there is no "there" there when there's obviously a lot that is very troubling there. he also said that democrats should slow it down as well. congresswoman jackie speier is calling the complaint explosive, goes on to say it reveals how -- these are her words -- how grotesque and twisted the attorney general's opinion is. i'm going to talk to her in just a moment as i mentioned to chris just a while ago. the house speaker, nancy pelosi, is refusing to answer questions, refused to answer them as she left the scif, saying that the white house retroactively classified the whistle-blower's letter. acting dni joseph maguire set to testify before the house intel committee in open session tomorrow. so we may get some answers then. so stand by. we might get some more answers when he testifies. that as sources tell cnn that nancy pelosi wants to keep the impeachment inquiry tightly focused on the president's conversation with the leader of ukraine, a conversation th

asian shop as a note interested in products made in that part of the world this is probably not the sassing you'd associate with a multinational luxury brand but it here in a remote french village that lou eve we ta'en had chosen to stass up shop and pissed is why the whole luxury chain depends on our designs when the artisans leave the artists following. what is taking place here is the convergence of artists of artisans in the same place which shores the longevity of the luxury business in france france is number one in the world in luxury it's because of these leather workshops. in. this region and western france was once renowned for its leather industry some 400 factories once made shoes that were distributed across the entire country in the 1990 s. production moved to countries with lower wages only a museum remains to tell the story of a golden age he did worked in the industry for 44 years says. if they'd foreseen the crisis a bit earlier we might have turned towards luxury goods because we had the expertise and if we'd gone into luxury goods we could have charged higher prices i th

a multinational luxury brand but it here in a remote french village that louis tang has chosen to sass up shop and this is why . the whole luxury trend depends on our designs when the artisans leave the artists follow what is taking place here is the convergence of artists of artisans in the same place shores the longevity of the luxury business and fronts france is number one in the world in luxury it's because of these leather workshops. in. this region and western france was once renowned for its leather industry some 400 factories once made shoes that were distributed across the entire country in the 1990 s. production moved to countries with lower wages only a museum remains to tell the story of a golden age he did worked in the industry for 44 years. even. if they'd foreseen the crisis a bit earlier we might have turned towards luxury goods because we had the expertise. and if we'd gone into luxury goods we could have charged higher prices i think if we had we could have maybe held our own for much longer i don't know the factory worked out didn't survive but now the tradition is

multinational luxury brand but it's here in a remote french village that louise we tang has chosen to sass up shop and this is why. to question the whole luxury chan depends on our designs when the artisans leave the artists follow. what is taking place here is the convergence of artists of our designs in the same place which shores the longevity of the luxury business in france france is number one in the world in luxury it's because of these leather workshops. in. this region and western france was once renowned for its leather industry some 400 factories once made shoes that were distributed across the entire country in the 1990 s. production moved to countries with lower wages only a museum remains to tell the story of a golden age he did worked in the industry for 44 years. if they'd foreseen the crisis a bit earlier we might have turned towards looks really good because we had the expertise and if we'd gone into luxury goods we could have charged higher prices i think if we had we could have maybe held our own for much longer i don't know the factory worked out didn't survive but now

political fence who had a chance to digest the complaint called it disturbing republican senator ben sasse saying off camera quote there's obviously some very troubling things here i found the allegations are deeply disturbing. i also found them very credible i can understand why the inspector general. >>found them, credible. >>president trump insists he did nothing wrong during his phone call with ukraine's president i fully support transparency on the so-called whistleblower information. i'm reid binion reporting. >>bay area representative jackie spear says that she was in disbelief after reading that summary of the phone call between president trump and his ukraine counterpart, she spoke with our partners at cnn, here's what she had to say. >>i describe it as explosive and john dropping. could not believe what i was reading and while i can't refer to whether or not the phone call was included in this whistleblower complaint. i can tell you the totality of that complaint is. so disconcerting that a president the united states. n that was so illegal. >>democratic presidential candidate ju

george: i'm a little cross with friend, ben sasse, from nebraska who endorsed mr. trump. who the endorsed him. which then probably tchilled -- probably killed the primary challenge. ben is better than that. there are a number of senators, republican senators, who are trying to claw back congressional power. senator portman of ohio. toomey of pennsylvania, particularly with regard to trade. the idea that a president can impose tariffs, which are taxes, paid by americans, collected at the border. unilaterally. is an outrage. there's some there. but i would be kidding myself and you if i told you there was a plucky stout cohort in the republican party just waiting to get back to the true faith. >> if you're a republican and lined up behind donald trump because of political pragmatism as was the case it seems with ben sasse, do you think that irrevocably taints you and future, or do you think you can come back after we aside and trump perhaps move to another era? george: what do you say? oops? [laughter] i took little detour but i didn't mean it? what do you say? rightoes the

for their third day with a total 40,885 bucks from stockton, california, it's the champs, it's the sassily.

you need to look at ben sass and romney.ney can do, he can go to other adults in the senate or ben sass or susan collins and he san jose listen t can say listen -- it is not okay to ask a foreign country to dig up dirt on a political adversaries. my group republicans for the rule of law has a million dollar ad buyout now where we're asking republicans just to say something. don't say i haven't read the whistle-blower complaint. it's only nine pages, go ahead and read it. it's time to stand up and say something, republicans. >> this is interesting. when you see this ad buy, are they going to be able to say, uh, these are republicans saying let's do the right thing or are they going to say sarah longwell's group are not really republicans. people continue to accuse republicans who are critical of donald trump as being republicans in name only or not really republicans because the argument is that donald trump owns the republican party right now. >> yeah, sure, we're all until the polling changes to some degree and the momentum

it's the sass family. [cheers and applause] and from lawrenceville, georgia, it's the obu family.nd applause] everybody's here tg

with bob costa pointing out that senator ben sasse's comments in particular caused a stir.he gop. >> relate troubling things here, republicans ought not just not circle the wagons and democrats should not use the words impeachment before they knew anything about the actual substance. the administration ought not be attacking the whistleblower as some talking points suggest they plan to do. >> i did read the transcript. it remains troubling in the extreme. it's deeply troubling. >> joining us here on the set, danny cevallos, nbc legal an sift and senior writer at roll call niels lesniewski. i want to address what mcconnell said first and foremost yesterday when he said there was not a direct quid pro quo, ie we will hold the money unless you decide to investigate what happened here with biden. talk us through your reaction to what mcconnell had to say about this. >> first, we can't over-focus on the quid pro quo aspect of it. for two reasons. quid pro quo is not even necessarily even required to find an impeachable smartphones. the impeachable offense. quid pro quo is releva

$8000.00 rpm which guarantees watts of driving pleasure it's a blast to downshift and then stomp on a day sass and the sound inside is just what you'd expect it to be from a pedigreed sports car. so at the end of the day is the g.t. 86 really the impossible dream a sports car that one make a serious dent in your retirement fund. other human animal says all in all he thinks it's absolutely correct to call it a sports car and in its price to perform a segment aside from the super o.b. r.e.c. it has virtually no competitors there's the mazda m.x. 5 he adds but depending on the engine that can have up to 70 less horsepower under the hood and from this kind of end it seems as if. armies of tradesmen have spent a good part of their lives in the driver's seat of the very 1st generation of the v.w. bus called simply the t one. driver christophe powers taking one of the more than 1800000 t. one spilled out for a spin the v.w. bus was the right vehicle at the right time. now it's in on it christophe recalls its history starting in 1947 as west germany was still rebuilding from the 2nd world war back the

from stockton, california, it's the sass family! [cheering and applause] all right, folks.'s

it's the sass family. and from chicago, illinois... [cheering and applause] the brown family.hoo! whoo! whoo!

mitt romney and senator sasse voisd voiced a few concerns. there's been a few saying there's nothing to see, this is mood media overplaying their hand. there are some key republicans still standing with the white house. there is a belief in the white house that they know this is serious. it's an easier story to understand than the muller investigation. it was two years and opaque. this is simpler and moving quickly. they feel like they know this is going to be around for a while. it's serious but they think they can get through it. >> in talking about joe biden's son and claiming impropriety, i am struck by how little they have to push back on when you bring up the president's own children and the deals they've been making overseas. >> and the president refusing to back down from the original talking point, the idea that this is about joe biden, about corruption. i was with him when he was with the ukrainian president. he was asked should ukraine continue to investigate joe biden? his answer was basically yes. he feels like he's pushing out t

sass a chef how he would describe the calling every scene here. in this is happening now would that have on. the hollow only ship. this is what happens in the week on wall here he combines mushrooms prawns and fried thai rice to make a delicious soup. this is a dish with a taste that's hard to resist and it's only one highlight among many on my own miri journey through taipei. only it's hard to pinpoint just one favorite national dish big. because it seems the time they're very proud of everything that they everything that i've been presented is a little work of art in that self and then the different tastes and station not one dish tastes like the other it's very diverse thank you for coming to this how on it's been a wonderful experience thank you for introducing me to tyrolese cuisine i am a fan. thank you since in this is. my last diary entry my colleague mary journey to taipei is coming to an end now before i arrived i've heard that this place is a foodie's paradise and after spending a couple of days here i can definitely agree with that ass

if we were in charge, if the republicans did that and jen had the same sass that cory did, they would have dragged her out in handcuffs and strip searched her in the rotunda. >> i will say your twitter feed on the day of the lewandowski hearing should go in the smithsonian. it was excellent. but this is the point. again, i want to come to jen on in a second. i was thinking of your reaction to the lewandowski hearing because what has the speaker sbded -- decided to do, to put the impeachment inquiry into the hands of the judiciary -- no, no, the thought was, we have six committee chair, we're going to dump all this over to judiciary, because that's where the articles of impeachment have to originate. >> the problem is schiff is a much better chairman than nadler. he's much more mentally and aisle. he's much more aggressive. >> what would stop the speaker from deciding we need a different quarterback on this team? >> as a quick update. we've seen last night that she has tapped schiff to lead the impeachment investigation, to focus on the ukraine and to refer articles to nadler. then it

ben sasse, who has become good -- we had arguments before but doesn't matter, ben sasse was there.had a great group of people. as we were sitting in the oval office talking about farmers, i realized all of these people have to make sure that we win -- him andwin because farmers will be totally put out of business. many businesses will be put out. i don't even know what they are thinking. what are they doing? i sent to some of the people -- set to some of the people, strong republicans, i said you really have to make sure that we win because if you don't, this country is in such trouble. i used to talk about 2016 as being a very important election and it was. in its own way this is -- i will never say more important but i can almost say of equal importance because everything we have done, and the biggest gains are to come because the hard work of getting it approved, you were involved, it was so hard. we got things done. the tax cuts, all of the things we did, we would have had health care done and we will get it done if we get back the house and keep the presidency. we would have h

it actually damages the sass fault. >> we put a club on it, locks on it, locked the doors. we'll be okay. but we came back in the morning and the truck was gone. >> reporter: the alameda police department is now investiating. as for the likelihood of finding the truck with the bikes in it -- >> if they knew the bikes were in there and were stolen, maybe the bikes were taken. if not, maybe they abandoned the truck and we can recover. >> yes need secure bike storage when we're doing programs. so it's a lesson for us. >> cycles of change needs donations now more than ever, especially to replace all of the stolen bicycles. the elementary school is one of several donation drop-off locations. the others are in oakland and alameda. this woman and her daughter decided to donate this bike. in alameda, melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. >>> uber is wrapping up its safety features as it comes under fire over allegations that the company is putting profits ahead of passenger safety. abc 7 news reporter lyanne melendez has moore. >> reporter: uber is guaranteeing riders that when you get into

. >> so -- >> seth: yeah, there's some -- there's some added -- some sass that you don't see in gileadseth: do you -- how did this come about how did this show come about >> this -- i had been dying to do a comedy. jason winer who -- >> seth: i went to college with. an old college buddy of mine, jason winer. >> oh, really? oh, wow. well, he is wonderful. he directed "modern family" lot. i love "modern family. i really wanted to meet with him. and lesley wake webster, her grandfather went through a very difficult time at the end of his life, was a big choir director and ended up in this church in kentucky and it's got a real kind of "parks and rec" feel with this added musical element. it's a lot of fun. >> seth: and - >> and i play a broken man >> seth: you play a broken man >> yeah, that's my wheelhouse. >> seth: will we see you sing? is that going to happen? >> you will. >> seth: okay. >> you will. [ laughter ] you will at some point >> seth: it was just an anniversary as mentioned on the emmys when you - >> yes >> seth: and jimmy smits, 20 years-- >> 20 years. >> seth: on sunday of

sony paydu sass that visit could accompany a purchase agreement. >> there is more than just purchasesere. there are structural reforms the chinese knowhat we have to have over non-tariff issues as well. and we hope t tt these purchases or agreements or these talks this coming week can lead fruitful and giveomentuenas we said in the further discussions of a trade resolution. >> the goal of deputies this week isn't to broker a deal. it's toab set the for a meeting among principals next month and aet meetingen the country's two leaders after that. and adviser to predent trump tell the south china morning post if he don't get a bigeal soon tariffs could sky t rocket. more nightly business repor kayla tausche at the white house. l >>> time tk at some of the upgrades and downgrades. we begin with shares of costco rperform from un market perform at bernstein. the analyst says that investors are overpaying for the quality of earnings, dividends and defensiveness. price target $230 that stock fell1.5% to close at 287. o .83. g u.s. steund downgraded to underfrrm to outperform analyst speaking

republican senators mitt romney and ben sasse have said as much, so did congressman will hurd and mike turner. the complaint says the president not only tried to get a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 election while he was president, but also that his white house tried to cover it up and that has also happened before. according to white house officials spoke with this was not the first time under this administration that a presidential transcript was placed into this code word level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive rather than national security sensitive information. so again, we ask, what if there was no whistleblower? joining me, covering capitol hill, msnbc correspondent garrett headacaike, "washington" and msnbc karen lentic and former assistant director for congressional affairs at the fbi, greg brouwer. folks before we dive in take a look at what the president is saying now and how he's defending himself. this was him moments ago at andrews. >> what these guys are doing, democrats, are doing to this country is a disgrace and it shouldn'

only nebraska's ben sasse and utah's mitt romney have publicly expressed concern so far, romney calling call "deeply troubling." >> o'donnell: i know, major, you covered the 2020 campaign so closely. what about joe biden? i know he is trying to stay focused on the issues like healthcare and the economy, but what impact does this have, if any, on his candidacy? >> it's interesting, norah. if biden wanted to fight on this ground, he would. clearly, for whatever reason, he doesn't-- letting the president answer far more questions about this controversy than he is. the democrats that i've talked to today say, for them, this suggests biden feels some measure of danger here, or at minimum, appears reluctant to engage the president directly on corruption. and biden's ability to stand up to mr. trump is at least one way-- possibly a very important way-- that democratic voters are trying to measure him as a potential nominee. >> o'donnell: all right, major garrett, always good to have you, thank you. there is breaking news in america's vaping crisis. late today, a death was reported in georgia.

have come out swers are the ones who have agitated the president in the past like mitt romney and ben sassenebraska and will heard who sits once the intellig republican who not only sits in úa swing district but retiring and also a former cia msofficer f.>> what are the risks then to democrats for tepursuin this st as you see it? >> there are considerable l risks. first of nancy pelosi knows the reason she is in charge of speakers the midterm elections went well for the democrats in thlarge measure because were focused on things that voters cared about, namely, healthcare in particular. so the risk is, if democrats are seeing is shifting focus away from something and ters don't care so much about it, that was what happened with the mueller report. it never really capture the public's ima voters just did not care about it and the democrats were smart in the midterms not to focus on it. the risk is going into an election year where your have this sense ofgridlock of course and partisanship. trump is already blaming democrats for keeping the do- nothing party eve though e house has been passin

quote real troubling things here and quote senator ben sasse of nebraska i think he said one republican that's all the democrats want to do with all this they want to start getting this into a bipartisan a bipartisan effort so it's not seen simply as so easily characterized as yet another which comes from the democrats or the republicans and all in trouble saying look this is what they're doing again they failed in russia gate i called beatrice of the election in 2020 so now they're going to try and impeach me again the point is how serious is this was a complaint also so. basically belittling the whistleblower complaint because he said it was secondhand and that is true from what we understand the whistleblower didn't himself or herself hear the telephone conversation but may have been alerted to the concerns of some people in the white house and we're having here in dribs and drabs of what may be contained in the whistleblower complaint or at least what the next step might be from some members of congress are saying look what what this is showing us is clearly there are concerns from

. >> reporter: at least two republican senators including nebraska's ben sasse who was recently endorsed by president trump are calling the developments troubling. the whistle-blower complaint will be the focus this morning as the acting director of national intelligence testifies on capitol hill. our mary bruce is there. >> reporter: democrats are telling us that what they've seen of this whistle-blower complaint is deeply disturbing and troubling and they want to know why the acting director didn't stand up for the whistle-blower and why he overruled the inspector general who deemed that complaint to be an urgent concern. >> reporter: supporters of the president holding firm citing reports that the whistle-blower did not have firsthand knowledge of the call between trump and the ukrainian leader. >> to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane. >> reporter: and, guys, after two years of the russia probe, democrats are faced with the added burden of having to make their case to an already scandal weary public. janai and kenneth. >> all right, ooips there in washi

. >> how significant a a the statemts by senator sass of nebraska, the senator of utah, raising ccernsblicans >> they're president significant because i think it's clear that irey speak for a number of their colleagueses who are just afraid to say so. the dynamic can change quickly. if you have more evidence coming forward i this impeachment on the house, if you have a vote on the houseoloor t actually im aach the president and it kicks over to the senate, it could be a very different calculus. the senators to vote to convict the president. they only need -- it's a two-thirds majority of the chamber. and there's a world in which could actuay happen. >> and trump has always been of theserustf people. a lot of people privately don't like the president. there are these main stayn establishment republicans who the president has made their life ver difficult. so i agree i don't think it's likely but i just don't think it's guaranteed that he'll be fine.ar >> and of the thing that may open these cracks widra, public onion. for now, a new pbs newshour poll shs americans are still divided on t