morning, stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. >> hi there, it is monday, november 4th, and we stwart what is not happening, four witnesses scheduled to testify at part of the impeachment inquiry now saying nope, we're not showing up. two members of the national security council. the top advisor to mick mul v e mulvaney. but we do not know if any of them are actually going to up. i want to start with garrett haake on the hill, 13 people have already testified. there is still more to go, what do we know about many week. >> i would not be surprised if 13 ends up close to the final number. two we learned have subpoenas

overnight, but won't be showing up. most of the witnesses here are folks on the national security council, very close to the president himself and potentially folks over whom privilege might be exerted. on wednesday a couple witnesses who democrats have been trying to get for quite some time, and wednesday and thursday you have rick perry and john bolton. the big fish here. household names to anyone that follows politics, and someone that systems would like to see down the road. bolton's attorney says if he gets subpoenaed he might show up. so a frustrating week for democrats as they prepare to turn the page on this inquiry.

we were hold that we will see transcripts as soon as early this week from the 100 plus hours, and as i look at the calendar i'm keeping an eye on next wednesday when congress is back in session and they have enough time to set something up. so gearing up to a big change as early as next week. >> a lot to dig into. thank you so much. let's bring in joyce vance. ned price, ncs spokesperson, and joel ruben. ned, let's start with you, these officials deciding not to show up, two are national security officials. what were democrats hoping to get from them?

>> they were supposed to be guardians of the law, they are senior legal security officials. we know they were not safeguarding and upholding laws and parameters the national security coordination and oversight, but new this case they seem to have been a key part of the cover up or at least one of them. the senior lawyer on the nsc staff was the attorney to whom several white house officials complained in the immediate moments and days after the july 25th phone call and rather than raise his concerns up the chain of command, he decided to place the draft transcript on the code word classified server. it is said to have the most

covert of details. and instead, it seems that he really started what then unravelled into a much larger and broader cover up. so i expect that is what democrats wanted to find out. why did this individual think it was appropriate and why did he think it was the right decision. >> mick mulvaney who did confirm there was a quid pro quo did not show up on the sunday shows but kellyanne conway did, and i want to their her defense of the president. >> there was a time when military aide was held up because the president wanted ukraine to look into the bidens. >> i don't know, but i know they have their aid. >> the president didn't release the aid until the story was out. >> you're trying to make that

causation. >> from a legal perspective, is that a defense? they got their money? >> they will decide, if about 20 republican senators, if less than are willing to break with the president, that will be the test, but the facts don't hold up. just remember at the start of this the president's defense was that there was no pressure on the ukrainian president. most republicans retreated saying there was pressure but no kw quid pro quo, and even if this one was corrupt, it is not impeachab impeachable. the problem with the time line is kellyanne conway tried to lay it out yesterday. if the aide was not released until the whistle-blower came

forward, and they reported the complaint to congress, had that whistle-blower them come. forward that aid may not have been delivered to ukraine within so i think if it had not come forward, they might have gotten the investigation they wanted, announced, and executed this corrupt deal. >> joyce, legal experts including you said plain and simple this is witness intimidation, so what if it is, the president would say yep, i'm intimidating them, that's what i am. what are the actual consequences?

>> well it will depend again on the senators. the fact of the matter very simply is if we were in any other context, a criminal investigation, this would be intimidating a witness. this could be used to enhance a sentence, a general action resulting in a guilty plea, and it is part of a overall appearance of guilty knowledge as this investigation moving forward. that is evidence of a sort that folks in the administration knew what they were doing was wrong. now the president is trying to tarnish the origins of this investigation, and this will continue as they try to make word salad out of a quid pro quo and bribery.

bribery is in the constitution as a prime that is per se impeachment worthy. so as we move forward, the question is up to the people in the senate, but the minds of the american people need to be informed. >> so it seems like every time, at least in the last few minutes that i'm asking about the legal ramifications, the answer is that it is political, it is up to congress, wiare there no rea legal implications here? >> first, there are if you think about it. what the president is doing is he is asking members of congress, republicans, to unmask a whistle-blower. to commit a crime. he is enlisting them in a

contra criminaltivity. this is a piece of paper. this is a document, it depends on us as people. to import a proceeding, there should be political ramifications beyond just your back and forth in the house this week and next week as the proceedings go forward, it is constitutional vie about. >> the president and why would they release them. now the depositions are expected to be released this week. we know the way they work, the witnesses come back to the hill and review them. what in the world is he talking

about? >> i think the old saying here applies be careful what you ask for. for weeks they have been demanding the release of the transcripts and now they're getting them. i think that president trump may have been under the misimpression that congress works the same way that his white house does, and that document that congress can release can be doctored or tailored to fit congress's prerogatives, that is just not the case. the transcripts that could be released this week will be the transscricripts done by out offl stenographers. they will have signed on a very literal dotted line saying yes,

this is my sworn testimony. if there was anything m mistranscribed, misheard, they would have the opportunity to input that feedback into the transcript before it was released. the president is trying to distract from the underlying detrail of our national security, his oath of office, of the american people when he put his own political interest ahead of the national interests. when you see the transcripts it will be clear that they won't hold up. >> the whistle-blower's attorney is now offering to answer more questions, written questions, and the president is saying that is not good enough, but the president didn't sit down with robert mueller, he answered written questions. on what grounds can the president make the argument that written answers weren't enough, they worked for him.

>> of all of the people we don't need to hear about the despite being a sitle president, who you would like to think has a higher burden of brooproof, but it is different here. the reason that he wants to submit written answer social security a well documented fear that people in the trump administration want to mere him, endanger his ruin his career. there are whistle-blower protections in existing law for a reason. whistle-blowers are not supposed to be known, there is a system by which they're allowed to

submit their concerns confidentially. they have been neglected. the only thing that is relevance is if the president did what he did. >> corey lewendowski performed for an audience of one and it worked and the president loves it. russell vote is probably going to testify. he has sought to build a rip with president trump for some time and sees standing firm against the impeachment inquiry as a way to bolster it. >> what do you make of that?

>> yeah, what you're hearing is a political campaign if is a legitimate impeachment proceeding and the courts have heard that. if it is this week or next week, he will try to rally the trooped of the republicans as they see them in the senate. this goes to the bigger point that we're watching the republicans who took and's oato the constitution and they're shredding it in front of their eyes. right now they're under mining

the rule of law and the democratic forms. >> thank you so much. up next, we are one year away from election day 2020. and one candidate surging in the important state of iowa. we'll take you to the ground for what voter there is are saying and thousand could shift the entire democratic race. later, a stunning investigation of the president's preferred means of communication, twitter, why it is not what president tweets but who he follows that you need to pay attention to. you need to pay attention to as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchemel... cut. liberty mu... line? cut. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. cut. liberty m... am i allowed to riff? what if i come out of the water? liberty biberty... cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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welcome back, this morning we're a year away from the election in 2020. with joe biden, elizabeth warren, and pete buttigieg hold the head spots in iowa. vaughn hilliard is on the ground in iowa and steve kornacki is here to break down the polls. >> first, the nbc-wall street journal poll, this is donald trump ie aprooeapproval rating,

where it has been for a long time now. one interesting thing there is despite all of the drama, the revelations, all of that, his approval rating is kind of stable and has been stable. that is even though 49% of the people in this poll now say they support impeaching and remauving him from office. what does that look like. it looks like election day 2016, 48% voted for mikt ohillary cli. you might see the poll conver converging with attitudes towards trump that has been there all along. if it grows the republicans get nervous. you have questioning about republican defections it kind of

looks like the divide that we have been living with for the last coupling years. this is the national poll and democratic primary race. biden still in second, sanders, that is a strong third for him. he is strong in the national polling right now nap is another name to keep an eye on there. in terms of the general election we tested biden and warren. now the interesting thing here is remember there is the national popular vote, that's what this measures, and then there is the electoral college. new polling out today shows six key battleground states. so this looks like one thing nationally in terms of the popular vote, the electoral college, the key battleground votes might be a different

story. >> first, stephanie, if i can say about the national polls, the same can be said here when you're looking at the primary battle here. last week, it showed elizabeth warren and sanders in a statistical dead heat, i think you saw that reflected here when there was more than 10 thousand democrats on hand. and there is an undeniable resurg jens in campaign is flushed with cash, activists, and volunteers. i met a woman at a stock car race and she said what is going on, and i said it was a democratic event, she said i'm kind of interested in this guy

pete boouttigieg. until just recently until the last debate i really came to like mayor pete. >> pete buttigieg? >> yeah, he has a small town type of feel to him. >> this is ever moving campaign and we're three months away from the iowa caucus now. he is over up in mason city about to tour a corn ethanol plant. we're in grinell, iowa. stefanie? >> joining the conversation, a chief political reporter for the democrat register and steve kornacki still with me, does the national polling echo what you're seeing on the ground in the state of iowa? >> it does i think right now in the polling that we're seeing here out of iowa really reflects this narrowing of the field

we're seeing. the top four are pulling away from everyone else and that includes a surge of people pete buttigieg, but we're still seeing joe biden and bernie sanders hanging around as well. >> the latest polling has these four candidates very close in the lead. will these candidates go after her medicare for all plan? it's not that any of the rest of them don't want anyone covered, they're arguing that this is not the right way. the majority of americans don't want to scrap what they have, they just want something better. >> we started to see it in the last debate and i suspect the other candidates will pick it up, warren becomes the front runner but she is walking around with a target right now. the rest of the candidates don't want to run away from the rest

of the field. they see the question of medicare for all. there is a long his tire of candidates that got hot in ohio, got hot in the early states, and then fell apart when the scrutiny came on them. >> hillary clinton lead by 19, giuliani lead by 12. given that history, isn't this thing anybody's game in. >> yeah, you put that poll up from iowa and you have those four who are very close right now. the other thing i would not count out is the possibility that someone not in that top four maybe klobuchar, maybe booker, i keep coming back to this example, but howard dean surged in 2003. no one was talking about john kerry or john edwards. one and two in the iowa caucuses

was kerry and edwards. >> everyone wants good health care. who is the large voting block that wants to scrap private insurance and go for government? >> i think you're seeing a lot of people who are going all in and going for medicare for all. we're really interested here in iowa because we stwu congresswomen get elected and flip republican seats here, talking about protecting the affordable care act, protecting people with pre-existing conditions. and so how is this playing in those districts right now in we have people are who are doing very well. they are purking the conversation further to the left than what we saw voters decide in 2018. we are seeing that pete buttigieg is doing a lot better

in sue burr ban areas. they come back to the medicare for all plan. so there is a lot of attention in the iowa elector rate. >> is anyone on the ground talking impeachment? >> you're starting to see it on the trail a little more than we did previously. when the conversation was around the russia investigation and the mueller report we didn't really see that infill vat into the iowa caucus goers, but we're starting to see it more that the candidates will emphasize over and over that they need to walk and chew gum at the same time. they need to articulate a vision and address what the president has done. thank you for helping us understand what is going on. the next debate is not in iowa, it's in georgia, and it is 16 days away. it will be moderated by four of

our own. we're going to have exciting new news to announce, don't go anywhere. first we have to turn to the state of yalz thousands of acca thousands of acres continues to burn. after weeks of silence, president trump finally weighed in seeing the governor should get his act together and threaten today cut federal funding if they don't do a better job on forest management. here is the issue. this is all despite the fact that the federal government controls 5 controls 57% of the states 33 million acres of forest. the government said you don't believe in climate change? you're excused from this conversation. you're excused from this conversation pain happens.

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welcome back, we're

energying another huge week in the impeachment probe. 11 people are set to testify this week and this morning we learned that the first four will not show up. the biggest question after that is will any of the others. if they don't show up, what will the democrats do? will they move forward without this key testimony. we're also looking to see how transparent the transcript will be. will republicans get on the same page, we're dilling into that today and the rest of the week. and the institute of politics matt gorman publicist. the former aide to jeb bush and mitt romney. and he sat down with the president in an interview just

last thursday. republican senators are now trying to say even if it was not an impeachment defense. >> it sf a legal strategy, i will give them that, but in one of the ways in which you try to deal with doing something that some people might find to be wrong is to basically say, to own it and say there was nothing wrong, you're not running from it. the summary transcript, it is exactly what they're reading, they're just saying flft is nothing wrong with it. >> that is not what they did until denying it didn't work. >> it is true, they have been jumping around from strategy to strategy to strategy. i think what was clear to my

colleagues and i in our conversation with the public and what has been clear to me in conversations with republicaning on capitol hill is where they're ending up is an agreement and an narrative from their perspective that yes, you're reading the correct transcript of the call, but your opinion that it is wrong is your opinion, my opinion that it is right is my opinion, and my opinion is correct. and i think this is what you will hear from them most of the time. this is why we have heard some signals that maybe it was a quid pro quo. they're going to come around to the thinking that the way we defend this best is to say this is what happened, yes, but it is not an impeachable offense and maybe it wasn't that wrong to even begin with. >> i think david makes some good points. it has been a broader issue. we talk about the messaging

around this or the worm around this. a perfect example is with the vindman stuff last week. the outrageous statements about him was done immediately after the story popped that night in the very early morning before republicans were able to really market their resources. what the messaging operation of the white house and the republicans need to do is get that guidance out for surroga s surrogates. and so look, i think trump and his own juncommunication direct you're seeing tweets about the transcripts and things like that. it is important they coordinate as best as they can. >> four people are not showing up today, 11 are expected, if they don't what happens next? >> i spent the day with adam

schiff who is one of my best friends. he had to leave early to get on plane to go to washington. he said look we don't know if the people are going to show up. there are three types of witnesses. those that have complied. those that said there is no way they're going and people like bolton and cumberland says let the court decide. the process until now has been very constructive. with breathtaking people they have articulated a record, and the bottom line is you may not need some of these witnesses because of the summary of the call and it really speaks for itself. this needs to go public.

there needs to be a an advancement of the inquiry. >> what about when it does. what about if all of them become public. the president is already sewing the seeds saying it is propaganda. >> of course he is going to say that, he makes stuff up as he goes along. the public will make it's own judgment. my prediction that i said before, 35% of the american elect electo electorate will buy whatever president trump says in is about the 20% that has not yet made a decision. the battleground in this impeachment inquiry is that 20% of the elector rate that is not yet made a judgment. >> stefanie, congressman israel is right on target here. this is what it is all about, the swing voters and independents. people that don't necessarily like the president but they're

not willing to, in a sense, nullify an election because he might be sort of a bad guy. they want to see a real case that impeachment is necessary. and i think when you look at the president's strategy and republican strategy in the last few weeks you have seen it work to some effect, not to great effect. so we have seen impeachment numbers, the public willing to impeach and remove that polling against the president, but it has not moved in such a way that it puts his reelection in peril at this moment. the transcriptions will be a real inflection point this week. you're not getting the whole picture, you're getting leaks from democrats that have a case for making an impeachment. once you see the transcript you will see a better picture of the depositions and the story will be in a whole new light. it will come out and it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to this, will they

have more information to show or will democrats say as we told you, there is no there there, the president is zlus a lot of big trouble. >> over 100 hours they sat down for and spoke to members of congress and it will be interested if we get to hear what they said. thank you all so much. president trump came into office promising to save american coal. now the owner of the largest coal mining company it declaring bankruptcy. so who is better off? plus the hidden dangers of president trump's twitter account. that is next. s twitter account. that is next

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>> listen to this, there is 126 billion global users of twitter, the unvetted content that is helping shape the president's world view. of nearly 12,000 tweets, nearly half of them attacked someone or something with another 1700 promoting conspiracy theories. joining me now to discuss this piece is clint watts. a former fbi special agent

quotes in this very investigation. we know through the times investigation that fake acts tied to intelligence services in china, iran, and russia directed thousands of tweets at president trump. clint, you wrote a book about his information in the intelligence age. >> we have seen the president, you know, how many times have when seen him take in alternative viewpoints that are not rooted in any reality. imagine if we just looked at the amount of time he stairs at his twitter feed as opposed to briefings, foreign policy, or domestic policy and look at those two numbers if is shocking that the president can be influenced in this way. anyone that can bombard the president's twitter feed or

engratiate that. think about how it shapes the president's view and how it impacts our policy, there is four things you tend to believe, that which you see fist, that which you see most, that with a trusted source and that with no rebuttal. it is a reinforcing bubble for the president's views which are often times not just misguided and not factual, but nice guided. >> there is one thing about having the believes privately and another if you're the president. the president follows 47% of the time. some accounts spread conspiracy theories. what is he willing to share? follows follows 47 accounts. >> it's unbelievable who he is

is following, and it shows the break down of the head of the u.s. state. and they have theories without any sort of background. imagine you're working on policy in the u.s. government. why do you have to refute these falsehoods and conspiracies. maybe i need to go to a random set of people and get them to discuss and understand my policy, it just changes the way power and influence works in this country to where someone like kim kardashian has impact on prison reform or issues with armenia than people who have worked their entire careers as public servants, that expertise can't get in there.

>> thank you so much, clint. i highly tlemd pierecommend thi it is disturbing. now we turn to the heart land. they're now or continue to be on great financial strain. according to the department of agriculture farm income will reach -- here is the issue, it comes with a massive but, nearly 40% of that income, or $43 billion will come from the government in the form of disaster assistance and aid due to the ongoing trade war. chapter 12 bankruptcies specifically for family farms have soared. they're up 24% over the last year and reaching their highest levels since 2011. if you think it is about the little farmer, it is not. you know who is winning? the big corporate farm and those

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could very well decide the fate of the 2020 election. coal miners certainly thought they would be better off than they were four years ago, thanks to president trump, who came into office cheering clean coal and pledging to save american coal companies. but at the end of last week, america's largest private coal mining company announced it's going to be filing for bankruptcy. murray energy facing debt and liabilities as the market shifts away from coal energy to renewable sources and natural gas. joining me now, brittany patterson, and ohio valley resource. and back with me, former congressman steve israel. how are the coal miners taking this news? and i realize there's all different coal miners and they've got different priorities. >> yeah, stephanie. i would say the first thing to state is it's hard to overstate how important coal is here in west virginia, both culturally

and economically, and coal miners i've been speaking to, some have been appreciative of the president and its focus on coal and recognizing that in west virginia. but i think similarly, i'm increasing increasingly hearing from miners who recognize the economics of coal right now and they are seeking other employment or job retraining. >> steve, does west virginia see this as a broken promise on the part of the president? he didn't deliver for them. obama actually gave quite a bit in grants to these regions. or is it at least he tried, at least he cares, he talks about us. no democrat is ever going to help me? >> option b. this is the year of alternative facts and the voter disconnect. if they love donald trump, no matter what the statistics and reports say, no matter how poorly they're doing, they're voting for donald trump. >> brittany, does that seem to be the case or are they thinking

about their pensions and saying maybe i need something different? it's amazing to me that plans that bloomberg has put forward like beyond carbon, which said let's retrain people in these communities, people aren't interested in it? >> i think there are two things going on here. the first is, murray energy's bankruptcy comes on the heels of some other very chaotic bankruptcies here in the region, including blackjewel. we saw thousands go without their paychecks. they're just getting their checks and they're still having trouble cashing them. i think murray's energy's bankruptcy has put a highlight on the pension and health care obligations that these companies are often able to get rid of during the bankruptcy process. it doesn't really seem like miners and their families are protected throughout this process. >> stunning. steve, this is a terrible situation for the coal industry, for west virginia. do democrats even try to dig in

or is it a lost cause? >> as a matter of good public policy, they should. but as a matter of electoral politics, west virginia is not a battleground state. they're going to focus their resources on those seven states which are critical for a democratic presidency. >> they're going to focus on it to win a presidency but we've all got to folk it on it to help those americans. thank you so much. we'll be right back. >> tech: so you think this chip is nothing to worry about?

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that wraps up a very busy

hour. i'm stephanie ruhl. i will see you again at 1:00 p.m. about ali velshi. check out the modern ruhles podcast wherever you get your podcasts. coming up right now, more news with my friend hallie jackson. >> thank you much. and as we come on the air right now, subpoena stonewalls from administration officials with our sources telling us these four people here are expect to be no-shows. not appearing at today's closed door depositions, like house democrats had wanted in the impeachment inquiry. this new white house road block comes as the whistle-blower, offers to bypass democrats and answer questions directly from republicans on the intelligence committee. and now the president who only submitted written answers, now says written answers are not acceptable. so that's confusing. but the clear strategy submit republicans are reportedly considering, acknowledging there was a quid pro quo, but it's not illegal and it's not impe