that wraps up this hour. right now, more news with hallie jackson. hey there. >> i appreciate it. and we do have more news because at any moment we are going to hear from president trump. right now he's on the south lawn talking with my press corps colleagues. he has answered questions. some of it relates to the impeachment investigation, and possibly relates to new excerpts out this morning from the anonymous book. and maybe on mike bloomberg, who looks ready to run and shake up the crowded democratic 2020 field. we're going to have more on what his people are telling us. on capitol hill nbc news has learned that they're ready to release testimony from two

officials, hill and vindman, who talks with investigators. but the white house chief of staff is not talking. that's what one administration source is confirming this morning. add mick mulvaney to the no-show list. we've got our nbc news team here with the latest from the nation's kpnatio nation's capitol. we are waiting to hear what the president had to say. let me start with john then allen, national political reporter for nbcnews.com and our nbc news road warriors are here as well. john, let me start with you, and the lay of the land. a long-time bloomberg adviser told nbc that bloomberg is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned and saying he would be able to take the fight to trump and win. every candidate thinks they can take the fight to president trump and win. why does bloomberg think he's so special? >> i think what he's saying is the other candidates in the field aren't that special and he's been watching the democratic primary advance and

he's particularly concerned that the others won't be able to do that. what a bludgeon for president donald trump to use against those who are currently in the field, whether it's joe biden or elizabeth warren or bernie sanders. i know certainly in new york and in other places in the country, moderate democrats, and particularly those in the financial industry, are looking at elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and they're a little worried that one of them will win the democratic nomination. certainly they would like to see somebody who is a little more moderate. so bloomberg looks like he's on the edge of getting in and that might open the flood gates for other candidates to jump in. perhaps 1,000 flowers ready to bloom. >> john, thank you for that. i want you to stand by. i know i said at the top of the show that we had not heard what the president is talking about. it just popped into our email. president trump is taking questions on the impeachment investigation on the testimony that is set to be released today from fiona hill and alexander vindman, talking about the impeachment inquiry, as well as an endorsement of jeff sessions.

he has not made a decision yet. kristen welker is with us from the north lawn. i know hans nichols is on the south lawn. we can't show this to you yet, and i know we talk about this every time the president takes these questions. there's not a live feed. we're going to get notes and they're going to run the tape and we're going to turn around and play it on the show. give us other highlights of what you're seeing from the text messages and emails that we're getting from our colleagues actually out there? >> reporter: so hallie, this is ongoing. so these are the headlines that we have so far. as you point out, one on the testimony. of course we're getting transcripts of the testimony that's already been given. president trump saying i'm not concerned about anything, the testimony is fine. i have no idea who they are. that's a reference to some of these top officials who have been talking to lawmakers behind closed doors on capitol hill. he says they're very fine people. all that matters is one thing, the transcripts, what they do is they go all over washington. let's find ten people that hate

trump and put them up there somewhere honest and fair, in no cases that i have seen have i been hurt. so they're sort of undermining some of the witnesses who have said some damaging things about him, but trying to make the broader point that the transcripts make it clear he would argue that there was no wrongdoing. now, he goes on to say this is just a continuation of a witch hunt. this is a continuation of a hoax. it's a disgraceful thing, he goes on to talk about the stock market, says it's been high. on that sessions endorsement that you mentioned, hallie, president trump saying we'll have to say. i haven't made any decision. of course our reporting indicates that he actually might be campaigning against jeff sessions. he was pressed again on the transcripts of the july 25th phone call with the president of ukraine and he says i had a good call with the president of ukraine, it was perfect. so reiterating a number of the talking points that we have heard from president trump in the past. now, again -- >> while you're talking, kristen -- and i'll tell you, you don't know this because i

know you're reading your notes. but hans just texted us, our nbc colleague who is out there and says that the president is still talking. says he will release another transcript, which is interesting, and says that the president does not want public hearings, which is interesting given the calls for transparency that you have seen so far from the president's conservative allies. >> reporter: it's really interesting, rallhallie, becaus course the white house has made the case that they don't have to comply with the impeachment inquiry for a number of reasons, because initially there wasn't a vote. now there has been a vote. examine they make the point that this has been taking place behind closed doors. that is going to change next week starting on wednesday, there are going to be public hearings. and the fact that you have the president essentially saying that he doesn't want public hearings is a bit of a contradiction to one of the key talking points at the white house. so we'll have to see how that plays out. the other thing i'm watching for, what is president trump going to say about these

excerpts that have been obtained by msnbc of the book called "a warning", of course written by the anonymous person who claims to be a senior trump administration official, paints a picture of a president who poses a danger to the country. of course the administration out overnight calling that book fiction, lies. what will president trump have to say about it? i bet he'll have some strong words. >> let me go to geoff bennett now, because as the president is talking about impeachment, and we are hearing this from our colleagues, you know from our days at the white house, they're out there and they're going to run this back in. hans is texting and we're getting emails. so far i haven't seen specifically a mention of mcmulvaney, the president's acting chief of staff who is not g going to show up. i want to know what reaction you're hearing from lawmakers, if anything, and looking ahead to the other testimony that may get released today. >>. >> reporter: well, the reaction from democrats to mick

mulvaney's no-show on the hill is fine. mick mulvaney, if he wants to not obey his oath of office, if he does not want to obey these dully authorized subpoenas, that's up to him. that was the take-away in the statement that house democrats put out yesterday. they make the point that they have now more than 100 hours of testimony from some 15 witnesses. democrats i'm told believe they have everything they need. they have evidence and testimony to build the case against president trump. and going back to kristen said, she said president trump told reporters he has no idea who fiona hill and alexander vindman are. that goes directly to the heart of the case that democrats are building, that president trump would not know, he says, who the top russia director on the national security council is. he would not know the guy who was responsible for ukraine policy. why would he not know them? because he was instead listening to rudy giuliani, who he

deputized to run this shadow foreign policy in ukraine. that is precisely what fiona hill and lieutenant colonel vindman testified to. we're told that the house investigative committees are going to release the transcripts today. but we've already reported that fiona hill told house investigators that it was giuliani and gordon sondland who circumvented the process to run the shadow foreign policy. going so far as to cut out john bolton, who guy whose job it was to be the national security adviser. vindman based on my reporting goes beyond that. vindman told the investigators that president trump directed white house officials to put a contingency on the highly coveted offer of a white house meeting between presidents trump and squlzelensky, to put a contingency on the aid that was meant to counter russia

aggression, and that vindman speaks directly to a quid pro quo. you can see how adam schiff is tightly controlling this narrative, releasing the transcripts day after day, the damning evidence day after day, leading up to the public hearings next week. and even the public hearings, hallie, we've talked about this before, even that is intentionally to build the case block by block of the story that democrats want to tell, the story that they're building against president trump. that you have taylor who speak explicitly to the foreign policy, how you have gordon sondland, giuliani running outside of the usual processes to lean on the ukrainian officials to get the ukrainian officials to manufacture dirt on the bidens. and then a day later you'll hear from marie yovanovitch, the widely respected career department officially who unknowingly ran afoul of their irregular back channel that was built at president trump's behest. that is the theory that

democrats are laying out. >> and it's interesting and we're getting notes in now from the other reporters who are out there. if you've ever seen one of these things air on tell vig, it's loud, the chopper blades are going. the president is saying they should not be having public hearings. that is a quote, calling it a hoax, apparently, which is just fascinating. the president also talking about joe biden. so i want to -- kristen and geoff, i'm going to ask you to stay next to your cameras. it is unpredictable when the president may wrap up speaking. it may be in ten seconds, ten minutes or 30 minutes. i want to go to mike, who is joining us as well as ali vitali. because the president likes to talk about joe biden. he is one of the front-runners in this race, along with elizabeth warren. you know who else the president may want to be talking about is mike bloomberg. given that the president enjoys taking on his political

opponents and mike bloomberg is signaling he may be one of those opponents, talk through what you're hearing from biden folks and bloomberg folks as this all develops. >> hallie, if you remember in february and march when we were in full stand by mode about whether joe biden was going to enter the race in the first place, as was the case with michael bloomberg. when he ultimately said he wasn't going to run, he was staying out of the race because it was clear to him that joe biden is getting in. so it's hard not to look at the renewed speculation as anything other than a vote of no confidence by michael bloomberg in joe biden's ability to take the fight to the liberals, to elizabeth warren and bernie sanders, but ultimately to donald trump. i've been talking to biden advisers since this news broke. they're not saying anything on the record yet. we expect joe biden when he comes to file later at the secretary of state's office it's inevitably going to be a question that he's asked. what i'm hearing from biden world more broadly is if michael

bloomberg wants to get into this race in part because of his fear that the party is drifting too far to the left and we all know he has a lot of money to put behind the message, that plays to joe biden's favor. because joe biden has been making that case, that he's the more electable candidate and he can ultimately win in these battle ground states and beat donald trump. what they're also saying is unless you can show that another candidate in this race can win the kind of support that joe biden enjoys right now from african-american voters, no one else is going to knock biden off from his position and they don't think mike bloomberg, because of his record in new york, can win the black support in this election. >> ali, what ru hearing from the warren campaign? >> i can't help but think this is a fight they're relishing. you look at her twitter yesterday, she welcomed him with a link to her wealth tax. and if you click the link and go through, one of the options if you say no, i'm not a billionaire is to say, you're

not a billionaire but see how much the billionaires would pay under this plan. and one of the names you can choose is michael bloomberg, who would pay about $3 billion if this wealth tax were implemented according to the wealth tax calculator. and that's going to be one of the central pieces of their debate if bloomberg goes full bore. so if he comes at this, income inequality is going to be central to the way that elizabeth warren and michael bloomberg sort of battle for the soul of the democratic party right now. listen to what she told harry smith last night about this issue. >> i don't think that democracy should be about people coming in and buying elections. i think what it ought to be about -- >> is this pointed at michael bloomberg? >> it's pointed at everybody who thinks the way to run this democracy is through the billionaires, the corporate executives, the pacs. it's about how we think democracy works. >> and mike mentioned that when he and i were reporting on this earlier this year, the reason

bloomberg didn't get in was because of biden. now bloomberg's team is saying he's troubled by the field and by the way that things are looking. the question though really is is he troubled by biden and the performance he's seen so far, or is he troubled by warren and the pretty consistent rise that he's seen from her throughout this democratic primary, hallie. >> ali vitali, mike and john as well, kristen welker and geoff bennett, we will see you after the break. we are getting more information on what the president is telling reporters on the south lawn as it relates to the impeachment inquiry and as it relates to another transcript we may see e released from the white house any day. we'll have more after the break. r at average risk. i took your advice and asked my doctor to order cologuard, that noninvasive colon cancer screening test. the delivery guy just dropped it off. our doctor says it uses advanced science. it's actually stool dna technology that finds 92 percent of colon cancers.

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president trump going 22 minutes and counting, still talking on the white house south lawn with reporters on his way to atlanta, answering a series of questions about the impeachment inquiry on capitol hill and about the whistle-blower, and apparently accusing the whistle-blower's lawyer for being sued for treason. >> i want to bring kristen welker back. the last time we saw the president he blew by reporters and didn't want to stop and talk. that has changed as you can see air force one getting ready to take off. the president hasn't gotten into his chopper because he is still talking with our colleagues. kristen, bring us up to speed on the headlines that we're seeing

from our colleagues who are there. >> reporter: he is definitely in a talkative mood today, wants to counter these headlines that we've seen over the past week or so. one of the key take-aways in the latest note and we want to underscore for our viewers this is ongoing and these are rough notes of what the president is saying in real time. but this is yet another note speaking to the president saying he is considering releasing the transcripts of his first phone call with president zelensky, the president of ukraine. that was an april phone call. he says i will give it if they want it. i don't like doing it because it's such a bad precedent, but i will. it was a good call. that was the initial call he had with president zelensky to congratulate him on his election. president trump likely wanting to release that to bolster his case. he of course argues there was no wrongdoing or quid pro quo, despite the fact that you have a number of witnesses testifying that there was in fact one. now, he was also pressed about

one of the big headlines that came out this week that he pressed the attorney general, bill barr, to hold a press conference saying there was nothing illegal about the july phone call with the president of ukraine. on that point he says i never asked bill barr for a press conference. that's fake news. now, on the whistle-blower, in addition to what you're saying, he says the whistle-blower should be revealed. so again calling for the identity of the whistle-blower to be revealed, and to your point saying the lawyer should be sued, quote, maybe for treason. again, that is a quote of these rough notes, which are going out. now, you have the whistle-blower's attorney, democrat, saying that calling for the whistle-blower's identity to be revealed could potentially put the person at risk, in harm's way and could also undermine whistle-blower protections. i want to make one other point, because yesterday we reported that a new york judge ruled that president trump had to pay $2 million as a part of a settlement for using his

charitable foundation for personal and political reasons during the 2016 campaign. so basically a settlement with the president acknowledging as much while he's weighing in on that, he says hi charity was great, i gave a lot of money away. i was sued because new york is a mess. i gave away $19 million. no expense, no rent, 100% of that money was given away and i had to go through a process because new york is a corrupt state. so the type of statements that you would expect from this statement, particularly in the wake of that type of a judgment. but the big headlines relating to the whistle-blower and to the fact that president trump is signaling he is open to potentially, potentially releasing the transcripts or likely the notes of his initial phone call with the president of ukraine, hallie. >> he is also talking about, kristen, something else we were talking about before the break, saying he knows michael bloomberg very well and there is nobody he would rather run against than little michael. we are going to see this from

the president's mouth as soon as we turn around the tape. he's still talking, so i'll be transparent with you, we may get it in five minutes or at 11:15, depending on how long the president wants to speak. kristen, stand by for me. i want to bring in matt goreman, a republican strategist who has worked a previous campaigns. i want to get your reaction to what we've heard from president trump so far this morning, specifically this idea that he does not want, he says there should not be public impeachment hearings. that horse sois out of the barn >> yes. and that's a big change from what republicans were saying prior. these folks need to see the light of day. it's a broader issue because it seems like republicans have not been able to get the same message on this. trump is his own communications director, and that's fine, but i think you see members of congress are very nervous to get out ahead of the president and go out on a limb because that limb might break. >> he says he's not concerned

about any of the testimony so far. >> there's reason to be in some of these things. but i think some of the fr frustration you see among republicans is there's drip drip drip of transcripts. they could release all these things, but they're packaging it up and elongating the story. >> one of the things the president is talking about is jeff sessions, the guy he fired as attorney general and the guy who happens to be making it official today to start the process of taking back his old senate seat. the president was asked if he would endorse jeff sessions in this race. he says he hasn't made up his mind. it's interesting because donald trump has a lot of power in this position. he is extremely popular in alabama. he is somebody who enjoys wild approval and he is somebody who has not been shy about how much he dislikes the guy who recused himself from the russia investigation as attorney general. i want to bring in vaughn hillyard, sessions team is out with ads calling jeff sessions a

traitor. what are you hearing? >> jeff sessions hasn't won a race since 1996 when he first ran for the u.s. senate. a good number of his aides from his previous runs and his time in the senate still serve over the department of justice. others are in the white house like steven miller, and then you have others that are on the outs like rick deer born and cliff simms that are not in the good graces of the president. so jeff sessions is trying to figure out how to run this campaign, he's got $2.5 million in the bank, yet at the same time recall when he was on "meet the press" earlier this year when chuck todd asked donald trump what his biggest mistake or regret was through his presidency to date and he said his biggest mistake was jeff sessions and making him the attorney general. so last night jeff sessions ahead of the senate run took to the national airways and when asked directly that question of whether he regretted recusing himself from the russia probe, this is what he said. >> no, i did the thing i had to

do under the rules of the department of justice. the senior advisers told me that this is what the rules required, the regulations required, and i read them and i don't think there was any out for me. but i know how painful it was for the president. >> it's quite marked that we have not heard president trump actually go after jeff sessions at this point, because this is a very competitive republican primary. you have the likes of former auburn football coach who has money and is already running ads against jeff sessions. you also are the alabama secretary of state who said he was going to be looking and reevaluating his position in this race. you've got congressman bradley burn who was part of the group of lawmakers on capitol hill that entered the skiff. you also have of course rory moore. this is a mace that march 3rd, the democrats are knowing march 3rd is super tuesday. at the same time there's going to be the alabama republican primary and the question is what

role does jeff sessions play in that overthe next five months. >> matt, your reaction. >> alabama is the state where trump has the highest approval rating. and sessions last ran a contested primary in 2008, he won more than 92% of the vote. i saw a poll today that had him at 30%. that's a serious problem and that's all trump. so he really needs to see if he can do the reconciliation with trump. >> thanks to the both of you. i told you that the president was still speaking on the south lawn. he has wrapped up as both of you were speaking. 25 minutes and a q&a session with reporters. they are running the tape back inside the white house, getting ready to hit play and after the break you're going to see it right here on msnbc. and save in more ways than one.

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i want to bring in now democratic congresswoman debbie dingell. thank you very much for being with us this morning. >> good to be with you. >> i know you were just getting plugged in in the studio, but president trump spoke for about 25 minutes. we're about to play the tape. he made several comments that i would love to get your reaction to related to what's been happening on your end of

pennsylvania avenue on capitol hill. specifically that he believes there should not be public hearings because he says this is all simply a hoax. what do you make of that? >> i actually find it very interesting. i'm someone that thinks that we've got to be very careful and very methodical. i was someone that understood the importance of closed hearings because of national security issues, republicans were pressing for these hearings to become more public. i do believe we need to be transparent, release as much information as possible, include the american people as much as possible. so now that things are becoming public, this all began because a republican president trump appointed inspector general said that he found a report to be credible, urgent and a potential threat to our national security. the american people need to be part of this process. they need to understand what the

issues are. and that means having as many public hearings as possible. >> based on the evidence that you have seen so far -- we're not at public hearings yet, but based on the transcripts that have come out, what you have seen, do you believe that you have seen enough to support voting for the impeachment and removal of the president at this point? >> when we voted before we came home for the veterans day work period, it was about process. it was how we were going to follow the facts and gather the information. we were going to get the right and appropriate witnesses. the white house has been blocking a number of critical witnesses. i believe in following the process. i want to follow what the facts are. no one is above the law. and i am not going to decide what i am going to do until these hearings are completed, and those that are on the committees of appropriate jurisdiction make the recommendation. we owe it to the american people to be open and transparent and fair. >> i have about -- i'm so sorry, i have folks talking in my ear

here. very quickly, with mcmulvaney not testifying the president said he would be open to having him appear, but he doesn't want to add legitimacy? do you feel it would be appropriate for articles of obstruction? >> i believe the people that testified need to be looking at that, yes. >> thank you so much. so president trump now at the white house. >> i'm not concerned about anything. the testimony has all been fine. for the most part, i never even heard of these people. i have no idea who they are. they're some very fine people. you have some never-trumpers. it seems that nobody has any first hand knowledge. there is no firsthand knowledge. all that matters is one thing, the transcript. and the transcript is perfect. mark levin last night on television, who is a great

constitutional lawyer, he broke it down and said what trump said -- he was respectful, he said what president trump said was perfect on the transcript. what he said on the telephone call with the president of ukraine was perfect. he said nothing else matters. what he said was perfect. and he analyzed it, every line, every paragraph. it was not complex. it was perfect. nothing else matters. with that being said, every one of those people can't sell themselves out. so they go all over washington, let's find ten people that hate president trump the most and let's put them up there. now, in some cases they really turned out to be very much honest and fair, but in no cases have i been hurt. in no cases that i see have i been hurt. >> what do you say to the millions of people that don't believe you? >> they shouldn't be having

public hearings. this is a hoax. this is just like the russia witch hunt. this is just a continuation. when you look at the lawyer for the whistle-blower, i thought it ended when they found out that the lawyer was so compromised. the lawyer is a bad guy. so you look at that. i thought that was the end of it. this is just a continuation of the hoax. it's a disgraceful thing. in the meantime, we've got the best markets we've ever had, stock markets. we have the best unemployment numbers we've ever had. we have the best employment numbers we've ever had. we have almost 160 million people, we've never been even close to that. but unfortunately you people don't want to talk about that. >> can you tell me whether a tariff roll back will be part of -- >> they would like to have a roll back. i haven't agreed to anything. china would like to get some kind of a roll back, not a complete one. we're doing well with china and frankly, they want to make a

deal a lot more than i do. i'm very happy right now. we're taking in billions of dollars. i'm very happy. china would like to make a deal much more than i would. >> will you endorse jeff sessions in his alabama senate run? >> i haven't gotten involved. he said very nice things about me last night. but we'll have to see. i haven't made a determination. go ahead. [ inaudible question ] >> i don't even think about it. >> what do you say to the millions of people who just don't believe you, that your transcript shows that you did something wrong? what do you tell them? >> i'll tell you what, it's a very simple thing. i had a very good call with the president of ukraine. i assume that's what you're talking about. the call was perfect. now, they're after -- i have a second call which nobody knew about, and i guess they want that call to be produced also. you've heard that, john. so i have a second call. i had a second call with the

president, which actually i believe came before this one, and now they all want that one. and if they want it, i'll give it to them. i haven't seen it recently, but i'll give it to them. but i had a call before this one with the president of ukraine. i understand they would like it and i have no problem giving it to them. i have no problem. >> mr. president, on the bidens, did you ask bill barr or anyone in the department of justice to investigate the bidens, and if not, you didn't ask them, why would you ask the president of ukraine to do something you weren't willing to ask your own justice department? >> we are looking for corruption. we're giving hundreds of millions of dollars and we're looking for corruption. and all you have to do is take a look at biden and you'll see tremendous corruption. because what he did is quid pro quo times ten. and let me just say -- be quiet. >> did you ask the doj? >> are you ready? i never spoke to them about

anything. it's up to bill barr. bill barr can do whatever he wants to do. but i saw the same tape on television and the tape shows that joe biden is a crook, he's 100% crooked. and the fake news, which is you and you, you don't want to do anything about it. his son walked out with millions of dollars from ukraine. millions of dollars from china. he doesn't know anything. he walked away with a stash. it's a corrupt deal, it's a corrupt enterprise, and if the press did it right, it's a hell of a story. [ inaudible question ] >> we're looking -- assuming we get it, and i never like to talk about things until we have them, but it could be iowa or farm country or some place like that. it will be in our country, but it could be some place like that. i think we would go more in the farm belt.

[ inaudible question ] >> i'll see how it all goes. you have some very good candidates. alabama is a place where my approval numbers are very good. i think i won by 42 points. i love alabama and i'm going to go watch a very good football game on saturday, which is tomorrow, with lsu, that's going to be great. we'll see what happens. he's got tough competition. i mean, you have the football coach who is doing very well, you have some good people running in alabama. let's see what happens. [ inaudible question ] >> wooe'll see what happens. we're getting along very well. they want to make the deal far more than i do. i will tell you they want to make it far more than i do. but we'll see what happens. we're taking in right now -- and you know as a reporter of

finance, you know what i'm saying. they've devalued their currency and we're taking in billions of dollars of tariff money from china. i like our situation very much. they want to make a deal much more than i do. but we could have a deal. [ inaudible question ] >> from the day i came in here, i've had problems with phony stuff, like a phony dossier that turned out to be false. like false investigations that i've beaten. so a lot of my behavior was shape by the fake news and by the other side. that was a lot of my behavior. the fact is that we created the greatest economy in the history of our country, with all of that stuff going on behind me. nobody else could have done it. rush limbaugh said he doesn't know a man in the world that could have done what trump did. i don't know leon cooperman, but

whoever leon cooperman is -- i know of him, he can have his own view. but in the meantime i'm making him rich and i'm making a lot of other people rich, including the working man and woman. they've never done so well as they've done right now. our jobs are the best they've ever been. everything about our economy is just about the best it's ever been, including unemployment. so i think in light of all of the things going on, and you know what i mean by that, the fake news, the comeys of the world, all of the bad things that went on, it's called the swamp. and you know what happened and you know what i did? a big favor. i caught the swamp. i caught them all. let's see what happens. nobody else could have done that but me. i caught all of this corruption that was going on and nobody else could have done it. on top of that, we have the best economy, greatest economy we've ever had, the best job numbers we've ever had,

african-american, asian-american, hispanic, the best ever. so i think we've done a great job. and tell leon, who i've seen but i don't know, tell him congratulations, because he did very well with trump. [ inaudible question ] >> i've been dealing with india on a lot of different things. the prime minister is a good friend of mine. you saw me at the event, 55,000 people, it was great. and we have a lot of things happening with india. we have a very good relationship with india. he wants me to go there. i will be going at some point to india. [ inaudible question ] >> my charity was great. i gave a lot of money away. i was sued because in new york it's a hornet's nest and they sue you for everything.

yet on a really bad thing, the clinton charity, they left her a alone. that's one of the reasons people leave new york. i gave $19 million and i took no fees, no rent, no nothing. 100% of that money was given away and i had to go through a process for years with new york, because new york is a corrupt state. it's a corrupt state. it's a shame. i gave $19 million away, and what happened is instead of saying thank you, great, they hit me with a lawsuit and it was started by a man who had to get out because he beat up women. that's the kind of a place it is. [ inaudible question ] >> we're going to be coming out with a very important position on vaping. we have to take care of our kids, most importantly. so we're going to have an age limit of 21 or so. but we'll be coming out with something next week, very

important on vaping. we have a lot of people to look at, including jobs, frankly, because it's become a pretty big industry. there's also -- you know, when you mention vaping, you're talking about e-cigarettes and you're talking about a lot of different things. we're coming out with a big paper next week. [ inaudible question ] >> we're talking about the age, we're talking about flavors. we're also talking about keeping people working. there's some pretty good aspects. we're very close to a final report, john, and we'll be giving it next week [ inaudible question ] >> we're going to be raising the age. >> can i just come back to the first transcript of the call with zelensky from april 21st? it's my understanding that the white house council isn't particularly keen to release that. will you overrule him? >> well, they don't want to give all this information on a scam.

it's a witch hunt. i'm okay with releasing it. it doesn't bother me. i know what i said. it was fine. but no, they do want to have the second call, which is really the first call, the one before this. i had a call, i'm sure it was fine. i make a lot of calls. but i have no problem releasing it. i'm very transparent. nobody is more transparent than i am. and if i wasn't, and if i didn't release it, it would have been a problem. because the fake whistle-blower said something about the call, many things that were wrong. when the whistle-blower came forward, he talked about this horrible call. it turned out to be a perfect call, as i say, mark levin said this was a perfect call. so they lied. they lied. the whole thing is a scam. this is a scam by the democrats to try and win an election. now they want my first call. i have no problem giving it to

them, other than i don't like giving calls to the media when i'm dealing with foreign nations. but i will give it if they want it. >>. [ inaudible ] sondland said at the beginning of september he presumed there was a quid pro quo, then there was a telephone call with you on september the 9th. had he ever talked to you prior to the telephone call? >> let me just tell you i hardly know the gentleman, but this is the man who said there was no quid pro quo, and he still says that. and he said that i said that. and he hasn't changed that testimony. so this is a man that said, as far as the president is concerned, there was no quid pro quo. everybody that's testified, even the ones that are trump haters, they've all been fine. they don't have anything. but now they want the first call with the president of ukraine. if they want it, i'll probably give it to them. but they really want it badly.

if they want it, i will probably give it to them. i don't like doing it because it sets a bad precedent, john, because every time president xi calls or somebody calls from china, if i speak to kim jong-un, are they worried about me giving the call. but in this case, because the press has been duped into a hoax, and in some cases have really started the hoax, i will give the letter if they want it. i do say this about that call. i think that's a very revealing call. [ inaudible question ] >> that's right, i was invited. i am thinking about it. that's right in the middle of our campaign season, but i am thinking i would certainly think about it. president putin invited me to the -- it's a very big deal, celebrating the end of the war, et cetera, et cetera. very big deal. so i appreciate the invitation. it is right in the middle of political season, so i'll see if

i can do it. but i would love to go if i could. >> bill barr and the doj are not denying that you asked him to have a press conference -- >> let me just tell you, listen, i never asked him for a press conference. it's fake news by the "washington post," which is a fake newspaper. it's made up. and if i asked bill barr to have a press conference, i think he would do it. but i never asked him to have a press conference. why should i? you know why i wouldn't do it? because the phone call was perfect. just read the transcript of the phone call. nobody has to have a press conference. i think if i asked him, and by the way, we confirmed i never asked him. i think if i did ask him, i haven't said this yet and i don't think i will, i'm sure i won't. but if i asked him to have a press conference, i think he would. with that being said, it's fake news. they wrote a fake story. we told them that before they wrote the story. but today when you tell the

press something, it's meaningless, because they write whatever -- it's all fiction. and i'll tell you, they don't have sources. you know what they do? they make it up. not everybody, not john -- not everybody, but they make it up. [ inaudible question ] >> what they want is they want my first phone call. i had another phone call and it's a very important phone call and it came to my attention last night that they want the first phone call. now, the problem i have with releasing the first phone call -- because that was actually the second phone call, and it's a perfect call. but they found out there's another phone call and that's the first phone call. and they want it released and we're considering that. >> how about the pence phone

call? >> which one? that i don't know. i don't know about any other calls. [ inaudible question ] >> you know what it is, really, it's a crooked deal. this is like the fake dossier, this is like everything else. these are crooked people. they lost an election and they lost it big. it was really a landslide from the electoral college standpoint and they lost it big and they still haven't recovered and they're going to lose again. and is weaken me, but it's actually made me stronger. interestingly, if you look at the polls that just came out, my polls are up. the fund raising is through the roof. it's never been this high because people are angry about it and it's made republicans and people that vote for me, not just republicans, really angry. we've really become angry because it's a hoax.

i'll tell you, the whistle-blower, i call him the fake whistle-blower. he gave a fake report of my phone call. when i released that call, all of a sudden everybody disappeared. the whistle-blower disappeared. whatever happened to the second whistle-blower? why isn't the first whistle-blower going to testify anymore? you know why? because everything he wrote in that report almost was a lie, because he made a phony phone call. my phone call was perfect. he made it sound bad. that's why i had to release. so the whistle-blower is a disgray to our country, a disgrace. and the whistle-blower, because of that, should be revealed, and his lawyer who said the worst things possible two years ago, he should be sued and maybe for treason, maybe for treason, but he should be sued. his lawyer is a disgrace, a

disgrace. and then ask him this, where is the second whistle-blower? where is the witness that gave the whistle-blower the information. they all disappeared because adam schiff is a corrupt politician. he's corrupt. he made up a speech and put my voice in it. he made up a speech. had nothing to do with what i said. adam schiff is a corrupt politician that's not giving us due process, not giving us lawyers. and despite all that, we're kicking their ass. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> every one of those people testified absolutely fine for me. they've gone out and gone out of their way to find the people that hate donald trump, president trump the most. they put them up there. everybody has been absolutely

fine. i don't even know most of these people. many of these people i've never even heard of. so what crooked schiff is doing -- he's a corrupt politician. what this corrupt politician does, he looks all over, tries to find people that don't like trump and he puts them up. we're winning so big. my polls are the highest they've ever been. i'm leading in all of the states, every swing state. the fund-raising numbers just came in. they're the highest i think in history. i don't think anybody has ever had -- i'll tell you why. we are winning so big because we're going along. these are corrupt politicians, and that includes nancy pelosi. she's a corrupt politician. she should go back to her district which is horrible. it's filthy. it's drug infested. the stuff is being out to the ocean through their drainage system. you ought to see what's happening in san francisco. nancy pelosi ought to focus on

her district. these are corrupt politicians. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> we're going to atlanta. we're going to have what, as you call black vote. we're doing very well with african-americans. the big factor is they're having the best economic year they've ever had in the history of our country. we're going there and we've been invited and i think it's going to be fantastic. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> i've known michael bloomberg for a long time. if you go back, he's said a lot of great things about trump. i know michael. he became a nothing. he was a nothing. he's not going to do well. i think he's going to hurd biden actually. he doesn't have the magic to do well. little michael will fail. he'll spend a lot of money. he's got some big issues, got some personal problems and he's got a lot of other problems. i know michael bloomberg fairly

well, not too well, fairly well, well enough. he will not do very well. if he did, i'd be happy. there's nobody i'd rather run against than little michael. that i can tell you. >> democrats say by keeping white house officials from going up in depositions, that's evidence the white house is obstructing and could lead to an article of impeachment. >> they're making this up. this whole thing is a phony deal, a phony setup. when you go back to the whistle-blower lawyer who got it started, it's a phony deal. these democrats are corrupt. nancy pelosi is a corrupt politician. shifty schiff is a double corrupt politician. he took my words on the phone call, and they were so good, he totally changed them. he went before congress, made a speech before congress. in the speech, john, he said things that were horrible. it bore no relationship to the call, and then later on he was embarrassed.

let me tell you something, schiff is a corrupt politician. our people know it and they know it, too, by the way. we have the highest poll numbers, we have the most energy. i was with mitch mcconnell and a whole group of people last night. evangelical leaders, all of them, they've never had the energy that we've had and we have now in the republican party, and beyond the republican party, people that were democrats and were there for trump. we've never had the poll numbers. >> can you explain so people understand why you are not allowing people like mick mulvaney and others to comply with subpoenas? >> i don't want to give credibility to a corrupt witch hunt. i'd love to have mick go up, i think he'd do great. i'd love to have almost every person to go up when they know me.

what i don't like is when they put up the people i've never met before. when they put the head of the never-trumpers on the stand. even those people were okay, they were fine. people i never heard of. the people i know, i would love to have them go up. the rest is up to the lawyers. i have to do what the lawyers say to a certain extent. not always, but to a certain extent. but i will tell you, i like to have the people go up, except one thing. it validates a corrupt investigation. adam schiff is a corrupt politician. he's as corrupt as you'll ever see when he makes up my words and reads fake words to congress and he acts so innocent. he's a corrupt politician. okay. thank you. >> 25 minutes of the president largely airing grievances against the impeachment inquiry against democrats, mining for nuggets of news. the president claiming he believes they are kicking

democrats' butts, suggesting he may, in fact, release the april transcript or rough summary of the call between himself and president zelensky of ukraine. distancing himself or trying to from eu ambassador gordon sondland, the man he picked to put in that position and who donated $1 million to the trump campaign. suggesting he may attend the mayday parade. hans nichols is on the south line as we get ready to see the president leave here. a lot of headlines. >> reporter: a lot. i think what we heard from the president as relates to what's going to happen next week and the public testimony is he's opposed to it. that contradicts what the president has been saying up to this point, he wants everything to come out. he's now suggesting he doesn't want to have any sort of public testimony, these open hearings. as it relates to gordon sondland, the president seems to only remember the first part of

his testimony, the part where he said there's no quid pro quo. he didn't seem to be aware of the fact that ambassador sondland revised his testimony and is now saying i now recall that there was a quid pro quo, all the addendums to that testimony. apologies my voice is a little hoarse. we've been engaging with the president on the south lawn. you hit on the couple nuggets, releasing the entire transcript from the first call with president zelensky. the president walked up to it a couple points and walked right back. walked up to it, walked right back. we also have his first comments on the potential entry of michael bloomberg, former mayor of new york city entering the race. we have a new nickname, little michael for the mayor, the president saying there's no one else he would rather run against. one travel agent headline, potential visit may 1st for the mayday parade, marking the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii. the president also suggesting he may be visiting india as well.

>> hans nichols, great work, appreciate it. good luck to you. i leave you in the capable hands of my colleague craig melvin in new york on what is shaping up to be a busy friday. hallie jackson, good to see you. craig melvin here at msnbc headquarters in new york. moments ago, as you just saw and heard, president trump speaking to reporters at the white house defending himself once again against the impeachment inquiry. also, he spoke against the second phone call with the president of ukraine, saying he's open to releasing more details about that call. he talked about a forthcoming report on vaping, raised the idea once again of perhaps requiring those who are at least 21 to be able to vape. he took a shot at a potential newcomer to the 2020 democratic primary field as well. and that is where we are going to start on