there is a body of evidence, documentary and otherwise that administration figures from the president on down to include the vice president do not want the american people to see or know. and the question is will they succeed? will the cover-up succeed, or will the senate insist on what we were not able to obtain in the house? and that is a white house that will comply with lawful process. >> congressman adam schiff of california, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, sir this has been quite an odyssey for you including the type of figure and the type of target from the president and his supporters in a way that's never really afflicted you preefb previously in your career. know this has been an incredible time in your own life, in your own career. thanks for being with us on so many of these nights and thank you for being with us tonight. >> thank you. >> that's going to do it for us

for at least right now. but stay with us. now it's time for the "last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening, rachel. and of course we're going to hang on every word the chairman had to say about what is happening with the naming of managers for the senate trial. and does nancy pelosi have a way of negotiating with negotiating with mitch mcconnell to get a fair trial? >> the issue of mcconnell's strategic thinking on this is a little bit of a black box. lots of leaks, lots of, you know, competing arguments between the white house and mcconnell's camp supposedly. we do know that mcconnell is going to speak tomorrow about what he's calling an unprecedented impeachment, which i think is him trying to unlock the door that says he should follow previous precedent for the way the senate trial is conducted for president clinton. nancy pelosi is good at this game as is mitch mcconnell. she does hold some cards here. no one has ever tried to leverage the conveying of articles of impeachment between two houses. i mean, we saw history and drama

tonight, but now there is a whole new drama that is going to be fascinating to watch. >> yeah, and we saw it at that brief news conference speaker pelosi had with chairman schiff and other chairman where she was asked very clearly about are you sending the articles over, and she would not commit to even semdi sending the articles over. and that fits with what harvard law professor laurence tribe, the case he's been making. we know he's conferred with other house judiciary committee members and other house members about this possibility of holding the articles in the house until mitch mcconnell agree tuesday a form of trial that the house thinks is fair. and so that's -- we're in middle of that drama right now. that drama is under way. >> that's under way as of right now. and if you think about the president right now, i mean the president as a man he's never had very many accountability moments in his life.

he's never really gotten in trouble for very many things. he's gotten into scrapes but declaring bankruptcy is not exactly getting in trouble. he's in trouble, and this is a place that he's sort of never been. we don't exactly now how he's going to react, but the way it stands right now he's been impeached as only the third u.s. president to ever have that happen to, he's not mounted a defense and he's articulated a desire to mount a robust defense in the senate. that cannot happen, that cannot start until the senate trial starts, and the senate trial can't start without the articles. so if the president really wants to mount this defense because he can't stand twisting in the wind as an impeached undefended president, then nancy pelosi and donald trump may be pulling in the same direction here. >> yeah, and inside the house congresswoman -- has been the one who's been pushing this idea about hold the articles until mcconnell agrees with what is basically now the schumer request with how to conduct the

trial. she actually said this on the floor today when he was making his speech in favor of the articles of impeachment. he's going to join us in this hour and tell us exactly what he can tell us at this stage about the momentum for this idea. something's happening, rachel, because nancy pelosi could very simply have answered of course the articles prepared. we will be delivering them tomorrow. it is absolutely routine when the house of representatives passes something that virtually immediately gets delivered to the house. there have been instances where it's physically been run over to the senate after it passes the house and sometimes the other way from the senate to the house. for her to just leave that and not answer the question about when, when do the articles get to the senate tonight means this is drama is absolutely on the idea -- has life. something is happening with it tonight. we're going to find out what he can tell us about it, and we'll

know more tomorrow. >> and just moments ago more fuel for that thesis of yours, can which is me asking congressman schiff what's going on with that and him saying i'm not going to speak to the speaker's timing and i am not going to talk about what happens next with the senate trial. we are focused on what happened tonight. i mean, he's the one who's raised the most pointed questions in leadership for from the podium tonight standing next to nancy pelosi and for him to refuse to engage on that at all, leaving those questions more pointed than ever, i think you are onto something. >> and there was another big clue today with steny hoyer telling politico, yeah that's something we've been discussing. and steny hoyer is the dead center of the establishment leadership think in the house. for him to admit that it was under discussion was surprising to me. 24 hours ago, rachel, i would have said to you, oh, impossible. it just can't be done, it won't happen, and we're watching it

happen. >> we're watching it happen. and it's going to happen overnight and it's going to happen tomorrow morning. it's going to happen the course of the day. there was unexpected drama today for what seemed like it should have been just a forgone conclusion. there was a lot of drama today, but it continues. >> thank you, rachel. this is the most important day in the trump presidency because this is the day that donald trump officially became a marked man forever. donald trump is now a marked man in he isry. he will wear the scarlett letter "i" forever in history, the impeached donald trump. and i'll have much more to say about that and what that means for our history, for our democracy and how we got to this hugely important historic moment in a special last word at the end of this hour. we begin tonight with some of the people who cast votes to impeach the president of the united states. donald trump is now the third

president in history to be impeached. donald trump is the first republican president to be impeached by the house of representatives. donald trump is the first president to be impeached in his first term. all but three democrats voted to impeach the president. no republicans voted to impeach the president. the only independent in the house, justin amosh, who left the republican party after he announced his support for impeachment based on the mueller report voted in favor of both articles of impeachment. leading off our discussion tonight is democratic congressman sean patrick maloney of new york who cast his votes in favor of both articles of impeachment tonight. he is a member of the house intelligence committee. we're also joined by ambassador wendy sherman, an msnbc global affairs contributor. and john heilemann is with us, a national affairs analyst for nbc news and msnbc. he's the editor-in-chief of the recount. congressman maloney, what was it like today to go through that marathon session on the house

floor ending with those two votes? >> well, it was a day of history on the house floor. but not one of celebration. i think most of us are crystal clear that it's not good for the country that this president or any president would engage in this misconduct resulting in impeachment, so it's a somber day but one i think that we feel -- we feel proud about because we've done something important. we've made a contribution to improving what's best about the united states and our constitution and traditions, and we are going to hold the president accountable. >> 85 tays, we are only 85 days away from nancy pelosi announcing the official impeachment inquiry. i for one have never seen something like this move through the house of representatives with such precision and such speed and such clear coordination between committees,

members of the leadership, chairmen, members of the committee like yourself. tonight when we got to that point that would seem to be routine, that question in the press conference with nancy pelosi about sending the articles to the senate, which seems like the next high-speed move, we don't quite know where we are. can you enlighten us what's going on inside the house of representatives and with the democrats about sending to the senate and naming mitch mcconnell in the process? >> well, i think what you're seeing the speakers say is the american people have a right to expect a fair process in the senate and that she cannot exercise her responsibilities in terms of appointing managers and the other things she must now do without some sense of what the senate is going to do. the sent has to do its work. it's bad enough that the sent has sat on hundreds of bills the house has passed and that mitch mcconnell brags ubbeing the grim reaper, but here he needs to lay

out the procedure so that the speaker can take the step she needs to move forward. and all she's saying is this should be a fair process. i don't think anyone seriously contemplating not transmitting articles to the senate. we take our responsibilities seriously, but we have a right to expect fairness. >> but, congressman, are you contemplating holding back those articles until there's an agreement with mitch mcconnell? >> i am not going to get ahead on the speaker on this. that is her decision to make. anybody watching nancy pelosi throughout this process has seen her strength and the resolution with which she has discharged her duties. she's kept her caucus together and lowered prescription drug costs, a budget, a defense bill, an intelligence bill, a major trade deal. tomorrow will do more to protect state and local property tax deductions and she's upholding the constitution. nancy pelosi doesn't need any help from me.

but what she's saying is mitch mcconnell has to be fair. >> wendy sherman, as a former under secretary of state in your youth you watched the nixon impeachment investigation by the house judiciary committee. you then saw president clinton's impeachment by the house of representatives. in all of that i imagine that you never expected to see both another impeachment of a president ever but an impeachment of a president that is based on his conduct with another country, with an ally in which he was trying to get a foreign country to do him a favor though for his presidential campaign. >> indeed, lawrence. i think we all know that president trump likes to have the most of everything. well, he got the most tonight hooch he got more votes for an article of impeachment than any of the two presidents who had articles of impeachment brought

against them. and he got the first to really be based on concerns about national security. we heard in chairman schiff's final comments right before the vote on the first article what this is all about. it is about interference in our election by another country, not because that country wanted to but because the president asked them to put pressure on them to get an order to win an election. i think we also saw in this one of the real winners out of this is vladimir putin. he likes the fact our country is divided. he likes every american on whatever side you're on is just so scared about what the it future will be, and i am so proud of all of the members, and congressman maloney, thank you since i'm here on this set with you remotely for the courage to stand up today and particularly those moderate democrats who

really had the courage of their convictions. i worked with alissa slotkin when she was in the state department and i was in the defense department. we saw her courage and that of many members. and in that way vladimir putin and donald trump were not the winners. they didn't come in first. they lost. >> john heilemann, a hundred days ago or so before we knew about this phone call the president had with the president of ukraine, impeachment was not going to happen. there was nothing that was going to make impeachment happen in the house of representatives. and any talk of impeachment always seemed to run for a variety of things including the michael cohen case where donald trump was accused by federal prosecutors by participating in crimes and other issues, it always came up against the so-called moderate democrats who wouldn't want to be part of this. turns out they all wanted to be

part of it except for three. there are three democrats who did not vote for impeachment tonight. >> it's a striking thing, and i think the obvious point and you're aware of this i think they were -- those democrats gauging the politics in their districts did not want to be part of the previous possibilities for impeachment, some of which are related as you say to the michael cohen case where donald trump is still a related caconspirator laid out in the mueller report. i think the big difference here obviously was two fold, one was the legibility of this crime, the fact there was this document, this not transcript that at least a semi, demi transcript that seemed to put donald trump with a crime and the fact it was connect today a national security concern, that this was something that cut to the core of what the obligations

of these members are. and a lot of those moderate democrats were national security democrats. they were part of what -- you could see the movement on this was crystallized the moment when that house freshman who were national security freshman who wrote that op-ed in october really gave the sense of the politics is different and we'll see what happens as we head to the senate. and one of the things taken the air for a lot of people is the sense it's a forgone conclusion. and there's a question together with nancy pelosi is where this is headed. >> congressman maloney, i think one of the things most difficult for people out there to believe is there was no political pressure put on democrats in the house to vote for impeachment. speaker pelosi said it again tonight at the press conference. i know for people who have worked in the house and senate

know every once in a while the vote comes along where the leadership in fact does not pressure the members and the members are able to vote their conscience, vote their own choice on this. what can you tell us about how this vote was approached especially by those members, the so-called moderate members, the freshmen who represent districts that were previously represented by a republican. as you watched them get in line to vote for articles of impeachment in the last few days, last couple of weeks. what can you tell us about what you saw in their decision making? >> it's not them, it's us. you're talking to someone who won a district that donald trump won that beat a republican. i'm one of them. and let me tell you there was absolutely no pressure. to a person those members, many of those new members believed so strongly in the right and the wrong of this. and just to pick up on what wendy said and what john said, let me tell you something right

now the republicans are getting ready to go to wawar. i don't want democrats getting ready to go to sleep. this is not over. this is just beginning. and those members you're talking about, they need all of the people who watch this show who have been hopeful that the house democrats would live up to our responsibilities. we need your help. it is now time for everyone to get in the game, and there's a role to play. make your voices heard, get involved, be active because the republicans are going to war against those members you just spoke about. and they are not getting tired, believe me. they are just getting started. right now there are ads running, they're in the mail and online and i'm really hoping that democrats understand now is the time to get active. and all americans of good faith who believe in the rule of law and constitution, you need to stand up right now. >> congressman, you know, one of the points i'm going to make at the end of this hour is that,

yes, there were 230 votes cast on that floor today, but none of those votes would have been cast -- there would not have been an impeachment proceeding at all if the republicans had held onto control of the house of representatives. so, yes, you're one of the people who got to vote today but it is only because the voters turned out last year to deliver a democratic majority to the house of representatives. what you're saying to those voters who did that is that their work isn't over, that this is just a beginning. >> absolutely. and may i say this is about speaking to people who don't already agree with us. i think part of the dynamic we've gotten into america is that we watch our own shows and we have our own algorithms and we're not used to speaking across lines of difference. but now is the time to do that. now is the time to engage with people of good will and good

faith and listen but also to an engage and say doesn't it matter that an american president follow the law? is it okay this president, any president can smear an opponent, undermine our system of government? we need everyone involved. this is just getting started, and believe me the republicans are getting ready to go to war, and we must not go to sleep. >> congressman sean patrick maloney, thank you very much for starting us off on this most historic night so far of the trump presidency. really appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> as rachel and i were talking about at the beginning of the show congressman earl -- on the house floor today said this. >> i vote proudly for these two articles of impeachment, and then i hope the house retains control of the articles until the speaker and leader schumer can negotiate agreement on process and witnesses from mcconnell so that the next stage will be open and fair so that

donald trump will ultimately be held accountable. >> and joining us now is congressman earl blumenhauer. you spoke about on the house floor today, that holding back the articles until mitch mcconnell agrees to what you see is a fair trial? >> i can tell you i've talked to over 40 members including the speaker, people in leadership, committee chairs, rank and file. all are deeply concerned about rushing ahead and giving mitch mcconnell control of this. i said on the floor and i strongly believe we should be in no hurry. we should have guarantees about access to witnesses. remember they were talking about all of the hearsay. well, donald trump and the republicans have refused to allow key people to testify. having a schedule that makes

sense and is fair, understanding the rules of engagement. these articles of impeachment that we passed don't expire next week, next month, next year. they don't even expire next congress. it's not self-executing. this is under control of the house of representatives and of course our speaker. nancy pelosi has demonstrated she is a maser of the legislative process. you've seen this in terms of the things going forward, the historic trade agreement that she helped move forward, the impeachment in record time, so she understands the game. she has played donald trump like a fiddle. i think she's going to be focused on the best way to ensure a reasonable outcome and is not likely to surrender advantage any time soon. >> harvard law professor laurence tribe wrote an op-ed piece about this in "the washington post" this week a couple of days ago advocating

holding on -- delivering, transmitting the articles to the senate until you can get that fair trial negotiated. did that have an impact on the -- did that help you in your argument with the other democrats? >> oh, absolutely. professor tribe is deeply respected in congress. he is an reknowned expert, and he has a way of framing these issues in a way that even members of congress can understand. and having him add the weight of his opinion, his scholarship makes a big difference. this is something, however, that i think most members of congress understand. mitch mcconnell is not making a pretense of fairness and objectivity. he's working hand in glove with the trump white house. he's got his opinions firm, what he wants to do. i don't even see how he can take the oath that is required before you go into impeachment session. there's no reason for us to move

forward to empower him until we get a sense of what's going on. and i think this tool can be extremely useful, and the weeks ahead also give us an opportunity to get more information. there are court cases that deal with access to tax returns. remember bolton wanted to have a court ruling about whether or not he should appear. so there are many shoes that could fall, the record continue to be built. we give nothing up. >> and john heilemann, mitch mcconnell seems to have stepped into this with his public comments about i do not intend to be an impartial juror. and he specifically used the word impartial, which is the word that appears in the oath he has to take as a senate juror in an impeachment trial. and with the public now massively supporting a fair trial in the senate including republicans -- republican voters supporting a fair trial in the

senate with witnesses, mitch mcconnell at least in the external politics of this maybe not outside of kentucky but in the country is on the wrong side of the politics at this point. let me go to john heilemann on that. >> lawrence, i think you would agree you have in mitch mcconnell and nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, these are all three masters of procedure. they are are tactical and strategically savvy. i think that is the case as you just indicated there is a more fundamental thing going on here. you wouldn't want to fight mcconnell on tactics and procedure. but we know occasionally mitch mcconnell get appeals wrong. he got it on obamacare and looks as though he's gotten it bad here. he's learned over time he can do things procedurally that are untoward and not pay a political price. the denyingmeric garland a

confirmation hearing may be the most egregious example but he's learned that process fouls don't come with political penalty. in this case because impeachment is such a high profile thing and process for a lot of voters equates with fairness, i think it's right to say he's misread the politics of this pretty badly and the polls show as you indicated not just the country writ large and not also strong majorities of republicans who want to see a fair trial and want to see witnesses called forward, witnesses of fact, that is a -- these are not small majorities, these are large majorities. mitch mcconnell as i said misplay the politics on this and gives nancy pelosi on what would normally be a fair fight strategically, procedurally and gives the whip hand i think right now her and chuck schumer together. >> wendy sherman you have lindsey graham also saying he's not impartial, literally saying i don't intend to be a fair

juror. lindsey graham of course was one of the house prosecutors of bill clinton in his senate impeachment trial, speaking passionately for those articles of impeachment. mitch mcconnell voted for those articles of impeachment, he voted to remove bill clinton from office in the senate impeachment trial, which did include witnesses as chuck schumer has pointed out. and here they are going to an extreme that no democrat went to at that time during the clinton trial. there was no democrat saying i absolutely do not intend to be an impartial juror, i do not intend to be fair, and they do this as if we don't have the video of what they said about this. >> not only do we have the video, but we have people saying decidedly from mick mulvaney to the president of the united states exactly what they did and why they did it which was to extract a favor, though, from

ukraine to interfere in our election and to pressure joe biden in that election routine. but i think even more important here, lawrence, is the facts -- where the facts in the clinton impeachment. i was in the administration at the time, and we all understood what happened once the facts came out. here the republicans aren't so much disputing the facts as saying that the process is wrong. they're not defending donald trump. they're not defending his character. he is off on a two-hour tirade right now at his rally. more than that i think at this point. and we haven't seen the impact of those headlines that were shown tonight as "the washington post," "the new york times," usa today comes out tonight, impeach. it's a powerful word. >> i think we know at least one

piece of what mitch mcconnell is going to say at 9:30 on the senate floor. we're going to her him say the house of representatives cannot deitate the procedure to the united states senate. >> and we don't have to, and we don't have to empower mitch mcconnell. i think he's stirred up a potential hornet nest because there's a reason mitch mcconnell is the least popular senator in the united states in his home state. lindsey graham is getting a little pressure. this changes the equation for many people who are running for the united states senate. getting people involved, the american public does not support kangaroo courts and blatant expression of tilting the playing field. i think this changes the politics, the public per session. and i think time is on our side to be able to at least get fairness and maybe beyond. >> congressman who is pushing the idea of the hour in the house of representatives, thank

you very much for joining us tonight. wendy sherman, john heilemann, thank you for joining our discussion. and when we come back senator cory booker joins us to react to this historic news tonight. the president of the united states is impeached. senator cory booker will be a juror in an impeachment trial of president donald john trump. president donald john trump. [sneeze and sniffles] are you ok? yah, it's just a cold. it's not just a cold if you have high blood pressure. most cold medicines may raise blood pressure. coricidin hbp is the... ...#1 brand that gives... powerful cold relief without raising your blood pressure.

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we have legislation approved by the rules committee that will enable us to decide how we will send over the articles of impeachment. we cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the senate side. so far we haven't seen anything that looks bigger fairer to us. so hopefully it will be fair. we'll decide what that dynamic is. >> joining our discussion now is tenter cory booker, democrat from new jersey. he's now a candidate for president of the united states, and he will be a juror in the impeachment trial of president trump. senator, thank you very much for joining us tonight. and i want to just get your reaction to this history made on the house floor tonight. donald trump impeached by the house of representatives on two articles of impeachment. 230 votes for the first article of impeachment. >> i think there's a sadness

that has to hangover the heart of america right now. this is sitting president that has to be impeached based on conduct on its face that violates our collective values. and it's not a time of happiness. it's truly great gravity for this country, the democracy and principles for which it stands. and this is just a very unfortunate moment in our history that we're at right now. >> it was a very dramatic day watching this ritual unfold in the house of representatives, passion on both sides, some real eloquence i think on the democratic side. and then even with all of that nancy pelosi managed to make more news in that short press conference after the vote with chairman nadler there with chairman schiff, chairman neal where she did not commit to sending the articles of

impeachment immediately to the united states senate. she made it very clear that as of tonight she's holding onto that those articles in the hope, it seems, of negotiating something that resembles the fair trial that chuck schumer is asking for in the united states senate. do you think it's possible for a speaker of the house to negotiate that kind of process with the republican leader of the senate? >> well, first of all, i just want to compliment and thank nancy pelosi. i think the way she's handled this, she's handled pit with the decorum and dignity it deserves. he's not been engaging in the partisan theatrics that have often marked washington proceedings. and i'm grateful to her and whenever times of darkness arise look for the light workers, and i think that's what she's been. and now i think she is rightfully questioning in this constitutional process that's laid out by our founders where senators literally take another

oath that they're going to be objective. i think she clearly has concerns when you have people like mitch mcconnell talking about them being in lock step and working with the president of the united states. that's not how this process was supposed to be managed. the congress is an independent branch of government. it has a responsibility to govern this process with objectivity, that will be an oath you swear. so i think her skepticism as you mentioned is understandable, but i have every confidence we will find a way forward what we need to have in the united states senate. an airing of the truth and facts and hopefully a trial that brings forth the evidence as well as first-hand witnesses like mulvaney and others that can really give us unquestionable first-hand knowledge of what the president's conduct and behavior was. >> we can all hear that your voice has been strained by the campaign trail.

we appreciate your joining us tonight. i just want to get one more question here about mitch mcconnell. are you surprised he went so far in his public comments to say he has no intention of being impartial when the word impartial actually appears in your oath as jurors in the united states senate? >> yeah, surprise is a small -- doesn't even fully cover it. you know, there's a great speech where he talked about the documents, lots of countries have had a really well written constitutional documents, and they were worth nothing because the spirit of this people was not resonant with the principles of their documents. this is one of those moments where folks 20 years from now, 50 years from now, a hundred years from now are going to look back when they have a test of history. and i think it is truly disappointing and discouraging and damaging to our republic when mitch mcconnell who is the head of the senate right now

does not deal with this in an objective way with gravity for what a process is going to be, for him to speak in a way that is spit in the eye of the constitutional intent is ugly, frankly. and it is worrisome and troublesome. we have had traditions in this country and we have had processes that have helped us to sustain, and this is an affront to those traditions. >> senator cory booker, thank you very much for joining us from the presidential campaign trail tonight on this important night. we really appreciate it. thank you, senator. >> thank you, very, very much. and when we come back in tonight's last word, i will look at how we got to this hugely important moment in our history and in our democracy tonight. dt so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease

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with our votes today we can bear true faith and allegiance to the vision of our founders. and we can show future generation what it truly means to be americans first. vote yes. >> gentleman yields back. gentleman from georgia. >> and joining our discussion now we have tom coleman, a former republican congressman from missouri. also with us former republican david jolly and they are both

analysts. the congressman said at his rally tonight after he got impeached he's the first president who's not committed a crime, not charged with a crime. what is your reaction to that? >> well, first of all, thank you for having me on the show. and i've looked at the declaration of independence and actually a precursor to our constitution, the constitution says nothing about having to have a crime to be impeached. it's very clear. the president doesn't understand the constitution. i doubt if he's ever looked at the constitution. so when he says these things some people will believe him, but there's no basis to it. he can be impeached for what he was impeached for tonight, he can be removed from office in the senate for abuse of power or obstructing justice or obstructing congress. >> what was your feeling tonight watching republicans on the house floor, of whom were there when you served. can you explain what has come

over the republicans on the house of representative snz. >> lawrence, do not know. it was sad. i know some of them. i think it has something to do with this psychological feeling of a cult. that's not the only thing i can think the republican party has become, and it's not the republican party that we served in. it's different. and the people who identify themselves not office holders that think it's the old republican party, it's not. it's the trump party, and you can leave it. i have left it, david has left it and, you know, it's okay. because just because you were at one time a republican doesn't mean that this is party for you today. >> david jolly, we have this breaking news of the night just when you -- the house of representatives goes out there and makes history. nancy pelosi makes history by in

85 days leading them to an impeachment vote on two articles of impeachment and then after that creates breaking news by saying i'm not answering the question about when and how we are sending these articles to the senate leaving open what is cleary some kind of an attempt of the speaker of the house to negotiate terms of a senate trial with the senate majority leader. >> and i think that's a very wise and prudent decision that nancy pelosi is contemplated based on what mitch mcconnell and lindsey graham and others have already said, that there would not be a fair trial in the senate. and i think what we're seeing in nancy pelosi is somebody who understands that today has reflected the strength of the republic, the greatness of the republic in some ways that we have an independence legislative body that's able to hold the executive accountable. but also recognizing the weakness of the moment, that in many ways our national spirit is a little damaged and torn

tonight. republicans don't trust the democrats. they think this is the witch hunt, they truly believe that. democrats don't understand why republicans continue to overlook facts. republicans quoting alexander hamilton as saying the founders didn't want a partisan impeachment. democrats quoted hamilton saying he said that impeachment was to dra address the misconduct of public men. the two sides are speaking past each other, but what they know is they don't trust each other. and nancy pelosi recognizes in this moment that the articles that were passed today said the president betrayed the nation. he subverted constitutional government. and so if you a majority leader mitch mcconnell who said i don't want to hear anything of it, the senate is not going to recognize the gravity of the moment, then why give him an opportunity that behavesane way that offends the constitution? hold back in a way you can give some assurances from the senate they intend to do their job and

honor the oath that the constitution requires that each must do impartial justice. he arguably has violated that oath he has yet to take. >> and jonathan, he's going to take that oath on television, the same guy who on television has said i have no intention of being impartial actually used the word from the oath, is going to raise his right hand on television and take an oath saying i will do impartial justice according to the constitution and the laws so help me god. >> shamelessness is contagious. you know, the problem with trump is that when you're in his orbit you're tainted and you start acting worse than you would otherwise. and in mitch mcconnell's case that's saying something. mcconnell is in a tough spot. we tend to think of him as this ace legislator that always gets his way and understands power

than anybody else around him. but he's caught between three forces right now. nancy pelosi is holding cards. the committee chairs in the senate, his colleagues, they do not want a situation where a precedent is established of the executive not turning over any documents or witnesses. 13 months from now there could be a president warren or president biden and the republican chair of these committees don't want to get stonewalled by that so they have institutional interests in seeing witnesses and documents. and then you have the vulnerable republican candidates who are up this year. and they are clearly going to want to see some witnesses because they don't to explain to their constituents, their independents that they need to win general elections. you know, why this was a fake trial, they need it to be a real trial. so i think by the time this is over, lawrence, there will be a

genuine trial in the u.s. senate. >> how do you see the politics of this for republicans, especially some of those vulnerable senate republicans? >> well, first of all, i think that somebody cited the polls that show two thirds of the republicans believe there should be witnesses in a regular trial. this is an issue of fairness. and i think if the democrats can sell this as an issue of fairness, everybody thinks we ought to have a fair trial, and that's my recommendation tonight. we have in the senate probably four, maybe five republican senators. they are going to be very closely watching this. they cannot go back to their states and say i want an unfair trial. what have you done to make this a fair trial? what have you talked to the majority leader about this? people are going to be asking these questions, they know

they're going to be asking these questions and that's why i think this is going to open up. and there's probably some stuff out there right now we don't know is going to be introduced into evidence. so that's why i said, you know, a month or two ago that we're going to have impeachment, which i was the first republican former or current to call for impeachment back in may and also by the time this gets into the senate and into a vote for the senate, there will be overwhelming support for removal of donald trump. >> david, quickly do you see the politics as that? >> i'm not sure. mcconnell has shown he has a way of doing away with the constitution in a way that minimizes the damage to the republican party. i think if we had an expanded trial the american people would be tuned in more. i think nancy pelosi would be wise to keep the impeachment

articles back until next spring. >> thank you all for joining our discussion tonight. we really appreciate it. and tonight's last word on impeachment is next. and tonight's last word on impeachment is next. so the whole world looks different. the unbeatable strength and speed of advil liqui-gels. what pain?

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what are you doing back there, junior? since we're obviously lost, i'm rescheduling my xfinity customer service appointment. ah, relax. i got this. which gps are you using anyway? a little something called instinct. been using it for years. yeah, that's what i'm afraid of. he knows exactly where we're going. my whole body is a compass. oh boy... the my account app makes today's xfinity customer service simple, easy, awesome. not my thing. and on the 1,063rd day of his presidency donald trump was impeached. that now becomes the single most important fact about the trump presidency. he was impeached. this is the single most

important day in the trump presidency. but because we've seen it coming for a couple of months now, because there was no surprise in the way this historic day unfolded today, some people might not feel the enormity of this moment. much of that is because the classic dramatic structure of washington scandal investigations was violated in this story when the smoking gun appeared at the beginning of the story. it was almost 90 days ago when we first saw the white house written record of president trump's phone call to the president of ukraine and we read donald trump asking for a favor, though. we read the words of that phone call identifying joe biden by name as a target of the investigation that president trump was pressuring the president of ukraine to announce. speaker of the house nancy pelosi announced the beginning of an official impeachment inquiry, and here we are 85 days later with the president of the united states impeached.

it was virtually certain at the beginning of those 85 days that the president would be impeached because the evidence of what became the abuse of power article of impeachment was right there in the phone call, right there in the smoking gun. in all previous political dramas of this sort the investigations began with suspicions, then the investigators slowly collected evidence and testimony, and then toward the end of the investigation they found the smoking gun. in richard nixon's case tapes of his white house conversations. and that was the end of president nixon. in that classic unfolding of an impeachment investigation we don't know what was going to happen next. we don't know what the evidence will lead to in that classic version. but this time we knew 85 days ago when nancy pelosi announced the beginning of the impeachment inquiry. we had every reason to believe then that it would come to this because we have seen the smoking gun already. we had read the words that the

president spoke to the president of ukraine. and because we had the smoking gun some people who supported impeachment quickly shifted past impeachment in the house of representatives to the problem of the impeachment trial in the united states senate. and instead of living in the suspense of the impeachment investigation those people went all the way to the disappointment that the president would not be convicted and removed from office by the republican senate. and that has left some people, perhaps some of you, less able to feel the enormity of what the house of representatives has done in the last 85 days, what nancy pelosi has led them to do for only the third time in history the house of representatives impeached the president of the united states tonight. but none of this was going to happen if the people of the united states of america did not take the power into their own hands and elect a new house of representatives last year. a democratic house of representatives led by speaker

nancy pelosi. the american people did that. the american people put the speaker's gavel in nancy pelosi's hand. the american people rushed to the polls in the last election and gave democratic congressional candidates 9 million more votes than republicans. tonight's lesson in your vote matters is that donald trump is now impeached because of that overwhelming vote for democrats to control the house of representatives. if republicans had kept control of the house of representatives in the last election, then michael cohen never would have been called to testify to congress and explain how donald trump directed him to commit federal crimes in paying off a porn star during the presidential campaign in what prosecutors called a conspiracy against the united states of america. if republicans had kept control of the house, robert mueller never would have been called to testify before the house of representatives. and most important, if republicans had kept control of the house, we would not know

anything about president trump's phone call with the president of ukraine. republicans could have and would have pulled off the greatest cover-up in the history of the presidency. they would have covered it up now and they would have covered it up for history. and the president of ukraine would have, would have given that interview on american television in which he would have announced an investigation of joe biden that president trump was secretly demanding. and we would have no idea why the president of ukraine did that. but now we do know. we know it all because american voters rose up last year and said no to republican control of the house of representatives. the united states senate is not a democratic institution. it was not designed to be. the united states senate represents land, not people. and so in the united states senate republicans are

overrepresented compared to the number of republican voters in this country. the house of representatives is called the people's house because it represents people, not land. the house of representatives was designed to be more faithful to democracy than the united states senate. and so tonight what you saw in the house of representatives was democracy in action. what you saw was the power of your vote, the vote that you cast last year in your congressional district for your member of the house of representatives. that was your vote in action tonight on the floor of the house of representatives. technically, there were 230 votes to impeach president trump tonight in the house of representatives. but those 230 votes were empowered by your votes. your votes made history tonight.

that is tonight's last word. "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. the breaking news tonight, donald trump, the 45th president of the united states, has been impeached by the house of representatives. two articles are now slated to go on to the senate. but there's a catch. the president clearly angered, clearly defiant at a michigan rally, tossing red meat out into the crowd including disgraceful comments about a revered member of the house from michigan. the president tonight asked his rally audience to believe that it doesn't even feel like impeachment, all evidence to the contrary. and when it was all over tonight, there's been a holdup, some jousting between pelosi and mcconnell over the rules for the senate trial, and it has the potential to change everything in the short term. we have all of it for you as "the 11th hour" gets under way on this historic wednesday