the breaking story from t"the washington post". white house review showing extensive effort to justify trump's decision to block ukraine military aid. one of the authors is on the phone with us right now. thanks for jumping on the horn, the story just coming out authored by you. give us the summary. i read the headline but this is just coming in to us through your reporting. >> yeah, thanks for having me. the story we have been hearing for a little bit of time privately at the "washington post" was that the white house was doing an internal records review to figure out what happened with the way they had handled ukraine's military aid and the president's decisions. there was a protective move but what we learned is in the white house records review there is the chief of staff, mick mulvaney and the omg discussing after the president had blocked aid to ukraine trying to figure out how do we justify. what is our legal reasoning and public justification for holding up this aid? the timing is interesting, too, because the search for a

this is new reporting from "the washington post." ments include e-mail exchanges between acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and white house budget officials from early august. president trump ordered the hold in mid-july. the reporting also says white house lawyers are expressing concern that the review has turned up some unflattering exchanges and facts that could at a minimum embarrass the president. tom hamburg is the investigative reporter at "the washington post." he and his colleagues broke this explosive report today. what exactly do these documents reveal, tom? >> ana, what they show is that there was extensive discussion going on

the story was fake "washington post" con job with an anonymous source that doesn't exist. the justice department already ruled that the call was good. we don't have freedom of the press. the degenerate "washington post" made up the story about me asking bill barr to hold a news

jonathan, your colleagues at the "washington post" broke this story. how and could this affect the impeachment proceedings? >> it will affect the impeachment proceedings in that it's new information. one of the contentions during the hearings was the white house was limiting the release or preventing the release of e-mails, also the state department. that came up in several of the witnesses who testified. so, what this does is a few more drops in the bucket, a few more pieces, i should say, in what happened and what was going on. the key thing in the story that richard didn't talk about in his great report is that mulvaney's request, quoting directly from the story, mulvaney's request came days after the white house learned there was a whistleblower complaint. >> let me make sure that we have this right. this came from mulvaney, the chief of staff, after they were made aware there was a whistleblower? >> that is correct. what that points out, that the acting chief of staff was trying to find a way to basically back fill explanations why there was a hol

here is what jeff bezos personal newspaper, "the washington post" "washington post" said yearbook is part of a larger effort to create an framework for trump and to contort his impulses to agaito acoherent worldview. your response? >> i don't think i contort anything and the democrats fdr and jfk, they all had nationalist tendencies, but the democrats turn their back on nationalists and what the more cosmopolitan direction. that is why this force was therefore donald trump to pick up and it's a natural force. it's a powerful force and it's very old, efforts to eradicate it throughout history have failed. the last clip you should before i came on about, he's white and he's a nationalist, so was alexander hamilton, so was abraham lincoln and teddy roosevelt. it's disgusting to have encountered this, their people on the left as you know, if they're not accusing someone else of bigotry, they would be rendered practically mute. >> laura: people in your own magazine, the national review have written about nationalism in a very negative way and you are a very open minded editor. you have al

according to "the washington post" the head of the office of management and budget and two of his subordinates will defy subpoenas in the probe. "the post" citing two white house officials that he's sought to build a relationship with the president for some time and sees standing against the impeachment inquiry as a way to bolster that. president trump as the "the post" reports has at times questioned the loyalty of acting chief of staff mick mulvaney's aides. but omb has assured the president they will not show up nor will they help the democrats with the probe. the news comes after several current and former white house and state department officials defied previous white house efforts to stonewall the inquiry and testified anyway. telling lawmakers at the president froze military aid to ukraine to pressure its leaders to launch investigations that were sought by president trump. >> all right, "the washington post" is also reporting that a growing number of senate republicans are ready to acknowledge that the president used military aid as leverage to pressure ukraine to investigate former v

this is new reporting from "the washington post." and according to "the post," the documents include e-mail exchanges between acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and white house budget officials from early august. president trump ordered the hold in mid-july. the reporting also says white house lawyers are expressing concern that the review has turned up some unflattering exchanges and facts that could at a minimum embarrass the president. tom hamburg is the investigative reporter at "the washington post." he and his colleagues broke this explosive report today. what exactly do these documents reveal, tom? >> ana, what they show is that there was extensive discussion going on inside the white house, indeed inside the executive branch after the president decided in july to with hold the congressionally mandated military aid to ukraine. and it reveals some pretty heated discussions behind the scenes. >> and do they actually expose the real reason the aid was put on hold? >> you know, it doesn't quite take us there. what's apparent from

again, this is new from "the washington post" columnist david ignaceous. the reporter who broke the mike flynn talking to the russian story back in january 2017 before anybody else. this is ignatius writing on the editorial page that broke the ukraine scandal that has now led to impeachment proceedings against the president, and here he argues it looks like this may be round 2. president trump working with rudy giuliani, the extortion of the government of ukraine, getting them to do things to help trump in exchange for something that country desperately wanted and needed from the u.s. government. and one last point. you might remember that last year there was a "new york times" report. we actually talked about it on the show. it was a report from "the new york times" last may which suggest said when ukraine dropped those manafort cases and they stopped helping the special counsel's office here with their own investigation of manafort, "the times" reporting suggested last year when they shelved those manafort cases, ukrainians were not only in the words of

and the "washington post" is saying it is kind of a little bit of favor with the president. what happens if the director, or one of the senior members of the omb actually ignores this subpoena, and does no go through. >> congress has three tools, and we have heard a lot of them. criminal contempt. civil contempt. and inherent contempt. wer theoretically they ask the sergeant of arms of congress to physically arrest the person and bring them before congress. it is not a realistic option with the president. it might be with individual members of the executive branch. but criminal contempt takes time. civil contempt takes time. criminal contempt, the crazy thing about it, the statute says that in order to enforce criminal contempt, you know who has to enforce it, the d.o.j., part of the executive branch and the d.o.j. takes the position if they don't feel like charging someone with criminal contempt they woe don't it. so congress may have all of this power to subpoena but really no functional enforcement mechanism. >> wow. >> it will land on the d.o.j.'s desk. >> it could. >> l

there's another one to the washington post. we wouldn't be talking about vindman being told to keep his mouth shut were it not for leak. there's been tons of leaks coming from the democrats to shape the story, to shape the narrative which meadows and these republican guys are doing. have they gone over the line? i don't think we know that. they are helping the white house sort through publicly released. that's what's in news reporting from cnn. they are sorting publicly released materials. that's the case i don't see a problem at all. whether they are going over beyond characterizations i'm sure they are tempted to do that. it's fair to say the democrats all have clean hands but look at these terrible republicans over here. >> one of the things the white house and republicans have complained about is the white house doesn't have its lawyers or representatives in the room. if these people are part of the legal planning strategy, we're talking about meadows and jordon, they do have people in the room, to an extent, yes? >> i thin

there's another one to "the washington post." we wouldn't be talking about vindman being told to keep his mouth shut were it not for a leak. there have been tons of leaks coming from the democrats to shape the story, to shape the narrative, which is what seems to be meadows and -- these republican guys are doing. now, have they gone over the line? i don't think we know that. the cnn reporting says they're helping the white house sort through publicly released materials. if that's the case, i don't see a problem at all. but whether they're going over beyond broad characterizations, i'm sure they're tempted to do that. are they getting away with what they can get away with? yeah. but i don't think that it's fair to say the democrats all have clean hands, but, boy, look at these terrible republicans over here. >> you know, it's interesting because one of the things that the white house and the republicans have complained about is that the white house doesn't have its lawyers or representatives in the room. >> right. >> on capitol hi

the tweets slamming "the washington post" from the president began just before the story broke last night and have continued today, even as house democrats are questioning a top foreign policy adviser to the vice president, jennifer williams. meanwhile, a no-show today, former national security adviser john bolton. more on that coming up. joining me now, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. nbc's geoff bennett on capitol hill. "new york times" white house correspondent michael crowley. msnbc justice and security analyst matt miller, former chief spokesman for attorney general eric holder. welcome, all. kristen, let's start with you. and the president dining this report, but now it's been confirmed by multiple news organizations, "new york times," "wall street journal," and others, first broken by "the washington post," that he asked his attorney general to clear him of any wrongdoing. >> andrea, i think it's important to point out that we have seen this tactic from the president in the past. the he vigorously denies a story on twitter and then there's even more evidence mont

according to the washington post fa ct to do.has made 13,aa5 false 01’ office and he has made 13,aa5 false or misleading claims. the washington post makes some claims that are false and misleading as well. this president is the first unscripted president is the first unscripted president we have had in recent memory. most speak almost entirely from a speech when in public. he's a salesman. i do think it would be better if you got closer and double check facts before he went public with them and thus create some issues of confusion, i do not think it purposefully lies. he once said he likes to exaggerate to make a point and if you understand his showbiz background, it becomes more contextual. as a journalist you are candid enough to admit that in retrospect some of the things you have written have been over the top, some of your commentary but you do value some of your commentary but you do va lu e fa cts some of your commentary but you do value facts and you worry about the environment in which we now live because of social media

" when he worked for "the washington post."ved him then. now he's looking into something else and suddenly you can't trust this. what are your thoughts? >> it's fascinating. they can call did a conspiracy theory all they want. it's certainly a conspiracy but it's not a theory. i follow john's work and admire it and i have been following it for a long time. john has government documents from ukraine. legal teams for burisma, their own documents indicating that everything the democrats are telling you -- and by democrats, you mean the media, too, about this case is not true. one of the myths he debunked last week in one of his stories which i read, john, well done, is that the burisma case was closed down so don't worry. joe biden couldn't have influenced the case because the case was not open. that's not true. that's not backed up by facts, laura and the media which previously was interested in this case, politico and even "the washington post" at one point before biden became a candidate now mysteriously that biden is a threat

this is the headline from "the washington post" today. reporting on the first day of the trump impeachment, "testimony puts trump closer to scandal." this was the all the way across the front page headline in "the new york times" today. they put theirs in capital letters. envoy reveals scope of trump ukraine push. this was the l.a. times, testimony builds case against trump. here's the st. louis post dispatch, "pressure campaign, testimony ties trump more directly to ukraine efforts." "historic hearings begin." this was the print edition of politico. "democrats land damning new evidence in testimony." this was one of my favorites actually, the providence journal in rhode island. they kept it simple this is the whole top half of the front page all driven by that big photo and the supporting photos in the supporting cast of characters, but that simple headline, "impeachment begins." if you still subscribe to the print edition of the paper, number one god bless you. that's how i learned how to read as a little kid was reading the newspaper a

an advantage in 2020. >> now, as for what the public thinks about all of this, there is a new "washington post"/abc news poll. it shows that 49% say the president should be impeached andpr removed from office. 47% say he should not. here for our leadoff discussion on a friday night, susan page, washington bureau chief for "usa today," franco ordonez, white house correspondent for npr, and josh gerstein. thanks to all of you for being with us.ou susan, let me start with you. we hearde from the president tonight in mississippi. staunchly red state, staunchly pro-trump state. they've got an election coming up therele next tuesday. that's ostensibly the reason he's there. i have to ask you those clips we played where he addressed the impeachment question there head-on, he demeaned the process, went afteran democrats all of the w things you've been hearing from him on twitter he said in front of that audience. was his real audience in part there republican members of congress? wasbe this an attempt to remind them that in his view, the base of the party is with him and essentially to deliver the mes

thes morning from " washington post co. from somerville, pennsylvania. republican line, good morning. caller: good morning, gentlemen, and thank you for taking my call. first to the caller from south carolina, don't give up face. this is the best government we have, so don't give up faith. i have three quick comments. we watched the hearings yesterday. i was so impressed by mr. kent. i think he was unbiased and everyone would be served well listening to how he answered the questions. this is how we all should approach these hearings. i think he established the efficiently that security and onruption with ukraine is the top of the list in our foreign policy. remember, that is what the president says he was concerned with. secondcally, the whole idea of the litany, the six people a sentence and the absurdity of it, look at the reaction.'s he was actually laughing about it., at the absurdity of and the most shocking part of was when ng for us oflupa was identified as one the whistleblowers and his direct line to the d.n.c. and digging up and clinton, diggin

breaking overnight, president trump pushing back against a report in "the washington post." the report says he asked bill barr to hold a news conference to publicly clear him of legal wrongdoing, in his call pressuring ukraine to investigate joe biden and his son. "the post" reports barr refused, citing people familiar with the matter. but barr's justice department did send out a memo, declaring there was no campaign finance crime connected to the call. trump advisers told "the post" the president said to aides in recent weeks, he wishes the attorney general had agreed to hold a news conference. late last night, the president slammed "the post" and cnn, for reporting the story, which he called, quote, totally untrue. >>> republicans struggling to come up with a clear and coordinated defense in the impeachment inquiry. they've given up on the no quid pro quo mantra in the face of damaging testimony from several senior diplomats. listen to lindsey graham, a trump ally, trying out the incompetence argument. >> what i can tell you about the trump policy toward the ukraine, it was

post office again! >>> thousands line the streets of washington, d.c. to celebrate their baseball team's first ever world series title. the washington nationals beat the houston astros to claim the title of champions. cnn's natasha chen has more on the celebrations in the u.s. capital. >>> there was a sea of people in red and white with not an inch to spare on the sidewalks along constitution avenue. they watch as buses went by with their favorite players. they watched them raise the championship trophy. and then people came to this stage behind us to come up to the microphone and really thank the fans. the players, the owner, the manager of the team, they gave a special thank you to the fans who really did not give up on them. at the beginning of the season, the nationals were down 19-31. the repeated message here was that they actually had a very small chance to get to this point. and so to defeat those odds is a really big deal. of course we are in the shadow of capitol hill, of course, in congress there are political fights happening every day. inst

an advantage in 2020. >> as for what the public thinks about all of this there is a new "the washington post"/abc news poll showing 49% believe the president should be impeached and removed from office. 47% say he should not. here for our lead-off discussion on a friday night, susan page washington bureau chief for "usa today," and white house correspondent for npr, and senior legal affairs contributor for politico. thanks to you for being with us. susan, let me start with you. we heard from the president tonight in mississippi. staunchly red state. staunchly pro trump state. i have to ask you those clips we played where he addressed the impeachment question there head on, he demeaned the process, went after democrats, all of the things on twitter he said in front of that audience, republican members of congress, was this an attempt to remind them that in his view the base of the party is with him and essentially to deliver them a witness? you don't want that base turning on you, do you? >> you know, this has been a very successful argument for president trump. you look at the impeachment vo

by the way, that word though was left out of "the washington post" today. i don't know why. that is somebody's fault over there. >> the house democrats say that is the piece of the puzzle l they don't have. >> they say that but they have the president's conversation which alerted -- and mick mulvaney the former congressman from south carolina the omb director the president's acting chief of staff says quid pro quo. that's where we started this discussion with nancy pelosi the speaker recognizing in that conversation impeachable behavior. >> right. but mick mulvaney obviously took that back. he said it once but took it back. the thing they don't know is exactly who called up omb and how that happened with that information. that's the one piece that cooper has shed a little light on. >> i think impeachment, the process is much more like a rico charge, who is running the operation? this president is running the operation. i've worked in politics all my life. the boss runs everything. never blame the staff ever. it's not haldeman, not erlichman, it's dick nixon. criticizing the

robert costa, national political reporter for "the washington post" and moderator of washington week on pbs. and shannon pettypiece, veteran journalist, senior white house reporter for nbc news digital. good evening and welcome to you all. robert costa, i'd like to begin with you and your beat, which is spending a lot of time on capitol hill. do people in congress seem to comprehend the gravity of what starts tomorrow, or is this going to be more of a rolling gravity situation, if you will? >> at the capitol today, walking around the halls of the senates by the trains over at the house of representatives, it's clear that lawmakers in both parties understand the gravity of this moment. an impeachment process. the president of the united states, his presidency on the line. the challenge for both parties is how is this going to play nationally as we go into a re-election year for president trump? democrats believe this is the critical phase, the public phase to tie all this testimony that reporters have pored over and let the average citizen who is out there working hard at a job or wit

i want to turn back to this is story from the "washington post." and that is the inner agency emails exposing what really appears to be a lot of justification from omb and mulvaney to withhold military aid for ukraine. given what the "post" is reporting, what questions does this raise for you? >> it raises profound constitutional questions. remember, the framers set it up so that congress would have the exclusive power to appropriate money. so we voted $391 million to support ukraine in its efforts to defend itself against russia which was engaged in active military hostilities against ukraine. the people held it up as part of this political plot to get information that i wanted and to get a statement that he wanted from president zelensky saying that the bidens were under investigation. that upsets the constitutional balance of powers and congressional control over spenkd. the spending. there is a law called impoun impoundment control act, it was adopted after watergate where nixon did something similar. the president has to come to congress if he

the washington post also reported that several other players were wrestling with that decision.ity is certainly very familiar with politics reining over everything that's happening here, they're tuning that out at least for today, these few hours where they're so kpooited to see all of their players and family and friends coming down constitution avenue as i'm sure our other camera is showing us the excitement from the crowd, some of them have been here since 2 in the morning. we are toward the end of the parade where all of the buses and the convertibles and players are ending up here. the stage is where there are going to be speakers and performers lart performers later on. of course this is a big moment, 95 years in the making, one person said they waited their whole lifetime waiting for this. some people were wearing shark costumes and holding shark balloons as baby shark has become the theme, especially for parra, one of the players who likes to go up to the plate with that theme song. everyone here very energized despite how early they came here. i'm surprised they're stil

same thing with "the washington post." it's a phony paper.rd: i'm going to go out on a him and say he wasn't happy with the coverage of the hearings. [laughter] more negative than he would like. but when he says, well, if i are a great day -- which is questionable -- and the press printed everything bad, does he want coverage that's not reflect i have of what happened in that -- reflective of what happened in that hearing room? it wasn't a great week. >> i will say in talking to various senior white house officials, they actually think that the president is leaning into? , that he feels like -- into this, that he feels hike the way these impeachment proceedings have gone, it has not actually created the kind of momentum for impeachment that could have been possible or looked like it might have been possible a few months ago and that that's a situation where, looking down the road, they see the potential for a perhaps bipartisan vote to acquit the president early next year on these grounds in the senate -- howard: bipartisan vote -- >> -- as s

what's ahead the washington post warning that the u.s. republicans are wall no less with russia probably look at all the rest. that's geysers financial survival they say money the balance or. close to it is it this is the central plank supported by a government kind of problem right now so you stop to. think. patiala choose to morning donald trump's been accused in a major american newspaper of being disloyal to the united states and a damning washington post opinion piece the columnist also said it's time that the republicans were called out as russian propagandists a senior correspondent has been taking a look. we're going to go in a journey you and i a trip into another dimension a magical place written a new rated by the washington post where there are assuming the russian agents in the united states they will soon outnumber americans themselves president trump has been disloyal to the united states not only and given russia a leg up in its war against ukraine but also in broadcasting his propaganda and for that republicans are just a

this is motivated by trying to get advantage in 2020. >> a new "washington post"/abc news poll. it says 49% believe the president should be impeached and removed from office. 47% say they should not. susan page, franco ordoniez, and gosh gerstein join me, thanks to all of you for being when you saw susan, let me start with you. we heard from the president tonight in mississippi, staunchly red state, staunchly pro trump state. they have an election there next tuesday, that's ostensibly the reason he's there. those clips we played where he addressed the impeachment head-on, demeaned the process, went after democrats, he said in front of that audience. was his real audience in part there republican members of congress, was this an attempt to remind them that the base of the party is with him and essentially to deliver the message, you don't want that base turning on you, do you? >> this has been a very successful argument for president trump. you look at the impeachment vote we saw in the house and there were zero republican defections, even among some republicans who have been cri

it's like this bombshell "washington post" reporting. it doesn't feel like the investigation is complete. is it too soon to vote and hand this over to senate republicans? >> i think it is. what's going to happen is the house intelligence committee is going to write up a report and send it to the house judiciary committee. the judiciary committee can further investigate this before writing articles of impeachment. i hope they do. i think they should. they also have to look at issues like was paying off stormy daniels something that should be included in an article of impeachment. michael cohen, his personal lawyer, is now serving time for it. should the mueller report obstruction of justice instances, ten of them, be part of the articles. these all have to be examined and filtered and further witnesses may be called. this week we expect a decision by the district court in the district of columbia on mcgahn's claim of privilege. >> the former white house counsel. >> yes. a definitive opinion on that could well result in not only mcgahn com

"the washington post" now reporting that a confidential white house review has uncovered hundreds of documents showing an extensive effort to come up with an after the fact justification for why president trump decided to withhold military aid to ukraine. the white house counsel's review of documents was triggered by the ongoing house impeachment inquiry. according to the "post" the documents include early email ex changes between acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and budget officials after trump already ordered the hold in july. the report says white house lawyers are expressing concern that the review has turned up some unflattering exchanges and facts that could, at minimum, embarrass the president. joining me, jeremy diamond. any reaction? >> reporter: we do not have a reaction from the white house. we've reached out for comment from the press office as well as the office of management and budget. we do have a statement in this "washington post" report from a spokeswoman where she says there was a legal consensus at every step of the way that the money could be withheld to cond

"the washington post" clolumnis josh rogan is here.remained silent and even threatened not to sign this. why the change of heart? >> president trump signed the bill because he knew it would be a bill no matter what. if he vetoed it, it would have been overridden. that's fine. we should celebrate that he did the right thing. at the same time, he issued a statement saying he wanted chinese and hong kong leaders -- which doesn't make sense. the people of hong kong appreciate that the united states government decided to note that they are struggling for a democracy and freedom and human rights and the things that the chinese government promised them when they took over hong kong in 1997. they are literally dying in the streets to advocate for those things and if the chinese cracks down on them and kills them there will be consequences internationally. >> and i suppose it's symbolically meaningful in terms of sending the right message. one of the reasons president trump stayed quiet on the protests is because of the ongoing trade talks with

no sweat. >>> we have breaking news tonight from "the washington post."p wanted attorney general william barr to hold a press conference declaring that president trump had broken no laws in his phone call with the president of ukraine. william barr didn't do it, and "the washington post" reports that donald trump has privately complained that, quote, he wished barr would have held the news conference. joining us now is matt miller, former spokesperson for the attorney general eric holder and an msnbc contributor. matt, not surprising, it's one of those trump stories where it is both shocking and not surprising of course, of course. he asked william barr to hold a press conference when the transcript of the phone call with the president of ukraine came out and have him simply absolve donald trump of any wrongdoing. >> that's exactly wright, lawrence, it is a completely inappropriate thing for a president to ask an attorney general to do. but you could see why trump would do it and actually follow through and grant that request given that this is basically

"the washington post" now reporting that a confidential white house review has uncovered hundreds ofup with an after the fact justification for why president trump decided to withhold military aid to ukraine. the white house counsel's review of documents was triggered by the ongoing house impeachment inquiry. according to the "post" the documents include early email ex changes between acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and budget officials after trump already ordered the hold in july. the report says white house lawyers are expressing concern that the review has turned up some unflattering exchanges and facts that could, at

the "washington post" had a story this morning, and the president went "washington post"al all over itit said i asked william barr to hold a press conference to declare that the president had broken no laws. as it pertains to this ukraine thing. he wanted him it to go out and proclaim his innocence for him. barr said no, and trump is now saying that didn't happen. in a series of rage tweets this morning, he wrote, a fake "washington post" con job. totally untrue. just another fake news story. lowlife reporters. pure fiction from a garbage newspaper. he said this never happened and there were no sources, which means it definitely happened and there are multiple sources. my big question is, does he ever do any president work? it seems, or is it all just rallies and tweets now seriously, when is the last time you heard about trump doing something that wasn't related to him getting impeached? i think it happened three times this year. the president also complained that media outlets don't use fact checkers anymore, they just write whatever they want, which, that's rich. donald trump claimi

biden's lead over warren in the "washington post"/abc news poll, sanders has five points. >>> joe biden and bernie sanders are panning elizabeth warren's medicare for all plan. warren released her $20.5 trillion proposal next week. it puts big burden on the wealthiest americans, drawing criticism from her two chief democratic rivals. >> i have a plan that shows we can do medicare for all, without raising taxes one cent by middle class families. it's all fully paid for by asking the top 1% and giant corporations to pay a fair share. >> she's making it up. look, nobody think it's $20 trillion. >> i'm not going to say it is free. nothing is free. health care is expensive. >> until now, sanders and warren are careful not to cross each other on medicare for all. although, sanders is careful not to attack her plan. >> i think that will have a negative impact on creating those jobs. i think we have a better way. a 7.5 payroll tax that is more progressive. >> bernie and i have a different vision on how to pay for it. but let's be clear. we're headed in the exact same direction. >> warren claims

here are some of the details on the washington post. me republican senators and advisors are privately discussing whether to pressure gop leaders to stay a lengthy impeachment trial beginning in january, potentially keeping six contenders in washington until the eve of the iowa caucuses were longer. the conversations remain fluid. that's according to more than a dozen participants in the discussion. the deliberations come as the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell faces pressure from conservative activists to swap back as democrats -- impeachment hearings began in the house. foraised a potential hazard the six democratic senators running for president who had previously planned on the final sprint to washington before the iowa caucuses on february 3 and the new hampshire primary on february 11. there is an emergent divide among republicans over the timing. some republicans favor a lengthy trial as a means of defending president trump in creating problems for democrats. others are calling for a swift dismissal. templatecconnell's rem

the washington post had a story that he was like a great religious cleric.re did that come from? >> [booing] pres. trump: the other thing if , obama would have done it. this guy built isis. the caliphate. it was the size physically of ohio, the state of ohio, the great state of ohio. that's a lot of land. 7 million people, and they were the ones, the orange jumpsuits -- i called one of the parents after we did this, and i talked to them and they were, how can you be happy? they were so thrilled that we got this animal. they were so thrilled. but you know what, and you know what? we don't do it because it's right. that story was a massive story maybe one of the biggest ever. bigger than anything. that story disappeared so fast. gone. that's ok, i didn't do it for the story. i did it because it's the right thing to do. but if that were, if i were a democrat -- [applause and cheers] if i were a democrat, they'd be talking about that story for weeks. with me, they don't even want to you know, they actually played it down. actually and i'm happy about this, conan

host: i don't recall it, paul, but you mentioned the washington post. we have a long time washington post correspondent and reporter up next in just a moment. a stick around for that discussion. later, we will be joined by another author to discuss the history of germany post-berlin wall, but first, before we get to those interviews, more from nbc news special report that aired 30 minutes ago today. the focus in this part of the riposte -- the report on the escape tunnels used to get into west berlin. announcer: in 1962, a documentary showed the tunnel under the wall to bring 59 feet -- people to freedom. >> every six feet, they planted and across them, a 4 x 4 which held up the wooden ceiling. the digger, the man with the beard, was a refugee himself. he had fled east germany after 4.5 years in a communist prison. now, he pulled the clay with a spade, twisting in a space three feet by three feet. barely roomier than a coffin. on thursday, september 13, they made their last inspection. in august, the builders of another tunnel had broken through into a

some anonymous sources in "the washington post" tonight are playing down the upcoming report, playingown at the fisa process was totally aboveboard. i guess they are forgetting testimony from andrew mccabe when he said, no dossier, no warrant. today, president trump predicted the inspector general's findings will be historic. watch this. >> what you are going to see, i predict, will be perhaps the biggest scandal in the history of our country, political scandal. but i guess that's the biggest. what's more important -- >> what do you mean by that? >> they are going to be things that are incredible, a fisa report that comes out. it's a story, that's what i hear. if it's a story, they are going to see something. >> jason: joining me is sara carter and the author of "witch hunt: the story of the greatest mass delusion in american legal history." from our fox news legal analyst, gregg jarrett, thank you for pointing us. i want to start with you because donald trump is on the phone, "fox & friends" for an hour. talking about this upcoming report. suddenly, less than eight hours later, magic

i think that was fine, he didn't go to the washington post, he didn't go to congress, he didn't fileomplaint. now all of this comes out and the congress is saying it's impeachment, they're blowing it up, the public‘s not buying it. let me ask you how you think the president's handling this. you say you talk to him, you've obviously been talking to him as this process was initially proposed, it's been ongoing. i noticed in an interview you gave last year to the financial times, you said, "sometimes during the campaign, the kid from the mean streets of queens came out in the campaign and thought, if i'm going to survive, i've got to fight". in other words, sometimes he hits back stronger when he's criticised or attacked. do think that's what we're seeing a bit of, that character aspect of donald trump? laughs well, i'm glad you dug that quote up. i would say not sometimes, i would say he always hits back and maybe punches down, sometimes. actually, even though he grew up quite wealthy, he was in and enclave surrounded by very difficult neighbourhoods in queens in new york city. some ar

robert costa, national political reporter at the "washington post" and moderator of washington week onbs. here with me onset my colleague white house correspondent kristin welker. the president arallying republicans trying to rewrite the narrative of that fateful phone call. >> he is. he's saying stop saying that what i did is not impeachable. start saying what i did is not wrong. that's been his argument since the start. this was a perfect phone call he had with the president of ukraine on july 25th, there's nothing to see here, let's move on. what's so striking about this moment is you have some of his fellow republicans making the case, look, we don't agree with he said, at the same time we don't think it's impeachable. it's a strategy that goes back to what we saw during bill clinton's impeachment proceedings. so republicans taking a similar tack. i think it's interesting to note all of this comes against the backdrop of these public hearings set to get underway this week. you have democrats saying we want to be very focused on that phone call on the question of whether or not ther

you just saw the new one today, the abc/"washington post," i think they had biden up 17.had them up 9. they had warren up fit15. we had her up 8. what was donald trump's approval rating? we merasured his approval ratin at 45%. i believe the number in this abc "washington post" poll is 38%. keep an eye on the approval rating. that will drive a lot of the outcome in 2020. if it is in the 30s, i think you can expect to see numbers in the abc/"washington post" poll, if it's in the mid-40s, it becomes more competitive. if it becomes more competitive nationally, that's where the whole swing state electoral college issue comes into play. as we saw in 2016, trump does not necessarily need to win the popular vote. he could potentially lose it by several points and still be competitive in all of the swing states that will decide who gets to 270. >> yeah, dan balz, just ask al gore and hillary clinton about winning the popular vote. so having said that and understanding that a lot of democrats are getting whiplash, they saw these battleground polls and they saw -- they were within t

according to "the washington post," some of president trump's senior advisers has been

that's the washington post today. follow-up on your conversation with joe a few minutes ago. the history of the whistleblower protection act. late 80's.t was the april of 1989 was the federal 's passage.er act according to the official with the blower -- whistleblower center, the roots to go back to the revolutionary war times. 30, then 1778, on july continental congress passed what could well be the world's first whistleblower law. the national whistleblower center noted " a revolutionary forefathers noted that when someone had conducted misconduct by the highest-ranking people official andaval were being prosecuted, they agreed to act. they spent precious moneys to secure that the blower had lawyers to defend them. they voted to reverse all the records documenting their concerns." if you want more on the history of national whistleblower appreciation day, to the national whistleblower center. back to your phone calls. charles is joining us from michigan. the republican line. good morning. sayer: i would just like to

host: published today in the washington post. guest: senator mcconnell is ofressing what a majority house republicans expressed by voting for a resolution last week condemning the u.s. withdrawal from syria. a relatively small number of troops we had there and in effect, endorsing some of the arguments he is making. it is not the first time that congressional members of political parties have opposed a president's foreign policy stance. late 1930'sk to the and early 1940's, we were debating whether or not to aid britain in world war ii. supported --sevelt britain when it was standing alone against the nazis. host: our guest is michael barone in the book is called how america's political parties have changed and how they don't. let's go to jane joining us from california, crestline. -- democrats line. followinghave been the republican mayor of santa barbara. his father fought -- [indiscernible] lost for lost new york, on a and he ended up in san francisco in 1850's. california after becoming a state, they were almost going to be o

joining me for insight and analysis are eugene robinson, columnist for "the washington post," danielle pletka of the american enterprise institute. reuters white house correspondent jeff mason. and "wall street journal" columnist peggy noonan. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. if republicans were hoping for a robert mueller like disappointment, that didn't happen. indemocrats were looking for that galvanizing watergate like moment, that hasn't happened either. still, the witnesses at last week's impeachment hearing shows a president more interested in his own political fortunes and engaged in intimidation, even committing the unforced error of attacking a witness during her televised hearing. ambassador sondland may feel the need to revise his statement again. perhaps most important, last week revealed just how consumed president trump is with the hearings, despite his respeeted claims to the contrary. how much will it all matter? the