witt out of time. see you tomorrow at noon eastern. up next, kendis gibson take things away. you got it. >> enjoy the rest of your saturday. hi, everybody. i'm kendis gibson live at msnbc world headquarters in new york. lawmakers may have left for the holiday break but it hasn't died down in washington over president trump's impeachment. house speaker nancy pelosi and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell are stuck at an impasse where the process goes from here. president trump at mar-a-lago plotting his next steps hitting back at an evangelical magazine

calling for his removal from office, and at the widow of late congressman john dingell telling msnbc his words have consequences. and still going strong. 44 days until iowa, pete buttigieg and elizabeth warren are trading shots over wine caves and fund-raising. plus, pro-trump account unfriended. a massive disinformation campaign just removed from facebook amid the historymaking week in washington. those lawmakers i mentioned are home for the holidays as a senate impeachment trial remains very much in limbo. house speaker nancy pelosi, refusing to send articles to the senate until rules of the trial are decided. that could actually take a while. now this after openly feuding with senate democrats and republicans there, now apparently at an impasse over what the trial will actually look like. joining me now, nbc news national political reporter,

who's been following all of this. what do we get a sense is pelosi's plan? >> pelosis plan, kendis, use the reser leverage while she has it. once over to the senate, the house part is done and democrats have majority of the house won't have a lot of influence how it plays out. to the extent she has leverage now in terms of times when democrats in the house move to actually send the articles of impeachment over to the senate, she wants to hold those back to see what kind of concessions democrats can get alongside their minority leader in the senate, chuck schumer, how this trial will play out and whether there will be opportunity to bring in new witnesses and new testimony. >> on the other side, mitch mcconnell, they are not speaking anymore right now. pelosi and mcconnell. what's his strategy? >> mcconnell has been speaking but speaking to trump's lawyer

pat cipollone, white house counsel, as they try to find out exactly how they want this to work out in a way best for the president. what mcconnell's theory here is, the sooner this gets over with, the better for president donald trump. as well as for those vulnerable republicans in the senate up for re-election next year. he's been pushing for a senate trial, basically both sides have presenter, that make their case. here's the evidence. here's our argument and case closed. a quick vote to acquit the president on both of those counts, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. of course, he's getting a lot of pushback from democrats saying, hold on. slow this down and have an opportunity to provide new witnesses to provide new information about what happened. >> this report from bloomberg with a lot of us scratching our heads, saying what? bloomberg article, arguing that if the arms are impeachment are not sent to the senate, they beg the question right there, is trump really impeached? is that true? does the constitution require a

vote at all? >> kind of a nerdy argument playing out among constitutional scholars in the ivory towers about whether that step of sending it over to the senate is actually what formally impeaches the president. most scholars we've spoke to, the house voted to impeach the president. he's been impeached. end. day, 50 years from now, look at the encyclopedia entry for donald trump i don't know if we'll have books, if we do, look back at the encyclopedia and first line, "impeached bif by the house of representatives." >> thank you. and near pr bby, someone who co answer that question about the constitution. and why president trump believes the false conspiracy theory that ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. according to the "washington

post" it's because putin told him ukraine was the culprit. joining me, nick ackerman, former assistant watergate special prosecutor and u.s. southern district of new york attorney. what we were talking about with josh. if the senate does not get the articles, is president trump still impeached 8? >> absolutely. no question about that. like the grand jury. hand up the indictment. they could wait a week to hand up the indictment to the jump and he's still indicted. what this amounts to. the question now is, is there going to be a real trial? >> okay. not the seaccep semi at terrifi president trump is impeached. how dangerous is it putin himself may have planted this whole seed about ukraine? >> extremely damaging. the context of the entire russia situation and donald trump's dealing with russia that goes

back to the '80s. had three bankruptcies, couldn't get money from any bank, black balled by every bank in the united states and the world, and the only place he could get money was from the russians. a long history of getting money from russian oligarchs, all of whom report directly to vladimir putin. you've got the fact during the 2016 campaign he was welcoming russian help during the campaign and sam time trying to negotiate a deal for a trump tower in moscow in which vladimir putin would have a penthouse apartment. so the question is, you know, was this an instruction frb pom putin? a suggestion from putin? what is going on between donald trump and putin where when they have private meetings donald trump takes back the notes from the interpreter so nobody can actually see them. >> as you know, putin was on tv this week with his very long press conference as he does every year and was defending president trump and the

impeachment trial. talk about giuliani for a second here, because he seems undeterred by his client's impeachment, fresh from another trip to ukraine. giuliani is at the center of a right-wing documentary investigating the impeachment inquiry, and the bloomberg post did this article in which you're quoted. titled "giuliani keeps the household going even as trump is impeached." you worked closely with giuliani here in the southern district of new york. what is this strategy? >> i think the strategy is to deflect. take attention away from the facts. that's what the republicans have been doing throughout this entire proceeding. to take attention away from the facts. they don't address the fracacts. they don't address the fact nearly $400 million of the people's money appropriated by the u.s. congress to go to the defense of ukraine, which is trying to defend itself in a real war against the russians, and he's using that to shake down ukrainian government so

they'll announce an investigation into his chief political rival, joe biden. i mean, he doesn't want the investigation. he wants the announcement so he can use that throughout the course of the campaign to keep hitting biden over the head and raise the phony inference that biden did something wrong. that's the same thing that giuliani has been dock in ukraine for the last week. trying to raise the phony inference that biden has done something wrong. >> last night the president of the united states retweeting something defending the russian president. interesting times. >> absolutely. and dangerous times, too. >> dangerous times. leave it there. thank you so much. appreciate you being here. let's talk about politics right now. and the race for 2020, with just 44 days to go until the iowa caucuses clearly the gloves are off some of the presidential candidates. pete buttigieg and elizabeth warren trading jabs this week at the latest debate over how each candidate has funded their bid for the white house. >> the mayor just recently had a

fund-raiser that was held in a wine cave full of crystals and served $900 a bottle wine. think about who comes to that. >> this is the problem with issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass. if i pledge -- if i pledged never to be in the company of a progressive democratic donor i couldn't be up here. senator, your net worth is 100 times mine. >> yeah. it got interesting. road warriors, joining us now. vaughn hilliard in las vegas with mayor buttigieg. ali vitali with the warren campaign. and is it sutter home that has a $900 bottle of wine? you can't get sutter home for that? >> okay. i -- i've not have one of those but i do know that oftentimes

when it comes to fund-raisers you bring in folks and attract them in different ways, and perhaps in the case of pete buttigieg one fund-raiser, one of 18 he held over the last week and a half on behalf of his campaign that was down in the wine cave and of course, elizabeth warren brought that up in the debate just the other night. to note, pete buttigieg, when i asked him about those fund-raisers, he said it's going to take whatever the democrats can do to defeat donald trump. just look at the apparatuses around the trump campaign and rnc. about $150 million cash on hand from the last reporting period. pete buttigieg's campaign meanwhile, cash on hand, just $25 million. do whatever it takes to raise those funds, he makes that case. buttigieg pushed back on warren as well. there's $10 million, part of her presidential campaign, brought over from her senate campaign when elizabeth warren was doing more of those traditional fund-raisers. go and meet folks behind closed

doors, and you essentially make your case that your candidacy is worthwhile being pitched. this is the first election cycle in which bernie sanders and elizabeth warren made it the new thing to not accept's super pac money and not hold the closed doors fund-raisers. something republicans and democrats alike have long done and pete buttigieg is committed to continuing to do. >> and vaughn hilliard, deflecting on the sutter home question and making it into a legit answer about mayor pete and his campaign. meantime, senator warren. you know, a strong summer. you follow her all the time. early fall as well, but leveled out in the last couple of months. is there any sense among the campaign she peaked too early? >> reporter: that's not the sense that i'm getting. look at new nbc/"wall street journal" poll that came out this week. the race settled back to where it started pretty much earlier in the year. we've gone through a year of

campaigning. for things to settle back where they were with the exception of pete buttigieg, one of the few candidates who broke through out of nowhere and of course is one of the core four you see consistently at the top of these polls, but the polls shake-ups are not something that this campaign, the warren campaign, has ever hinged its hopes on. when up and when down. it hasn't changed the way they've necessarily been campaigning. though in recent days and recent weeks we have seen the senator start more questions here like the event that just wrapped up behind me. taking more questions from voters, trying to have more personal moments with them. that coincided with the back slide in the polls. another shake-up is coming and not just for elizabeth warren. it's for her and the other four senators in this race right now who will have to contend with wanting to be in iowa and new hampshire and nevada, south carolina to make their casends a having to be back in washington, d.c. for the senate impeachment trial. a lot of uncertainty around that. namely, how long it will last,s when it will start making it hard to plan around.

definitely one of the things that's coming. i talked to voters here in iowa who really value getting the facetime with these candidates. one voter i talked to said, yeah, it could be detrimental to the candidates because voters like to be out here seeing them face-to-face. at the same time the voters are watching arnold understand there's a responsibility for those in the race who are also senators. one voter says he thinks people will understand but certainly a disruption without a clear front-runner. seen several from popcorn moeth moments in the polls. a concern where voters are starting to decide, kendis. >> they are. quickly here, vaughn. mayor pete is out there on the west coast, or in the west, trying to get to a certain demographic. >> reporter: exactly. he's actually in las vegas right now and presently just inside in the building behind me here,

presently talking to a group of local teamsters and then going to a soulfood restaurant for lunch talking to the black community here in the las vegas area before a community roundtable with latino leaders. part of pete buttigieg's late push to expand his reach. you see him continually over the last month and a half sit atop iowa polling and doing well in new hampshire. when you look beyond, very much, south bend mayor, really making his play and trying to introduce himself to the rest of the country. >> vaughn hilliard joining us and ali vitali, suburbs of iowa city. honest, not real wine unless it's in a box. thanks, guys. full circle. two investigations into controversial hand gestures seen on air during the army/navy game that found students playing the so-called circle game. not flashing signals associated with white supremacy. both the u.s. naval and military academies conducted investigations after cadets and

midshipmen were seen making this gesture. at first glance resembles an awkward okay sign. the anti-defamation league says the gesture recently emerged as a white power signal claiming it represented the letters w.p. for white power. in contrast, the circle game is a game people tend to trick each other into looking into an okay-like hand gesture made somewhere below the waist and you get punched afterwards. joining me, an expert on this. msnbc contributor former u.s. navy intelligence officer, and also i note, author of "the plot to betray america." thanks for being here. okay. you're a navy man. >> oh, yeah. >> what do you make of these investigations and the result? >> well, when we had this discussion last week right after the army/navy game i said that this investigation would start the very minute they would get back on the buses and that's precisely what happened. both west point and the naval

academy took a look into it. got their senior management and their senior non-commissioned officers there and interviewed everyone, and determined that what you have were a bunch of young men who were playing a game on national television. now, make no mistake. they take a very dim view of this. granted it was a game, but they should have known the implications of playing a round on television to the good order and discipline of the academies, also their conduct. i believe the academies did a thorough investigation and, yes, that these young bhen playing the circle game or called in the navy "the make you look game." problem, doing it on camera in front of the nation. now you see how everything they've didn't has been misinterpreted. i'm certain they have all been reprimanded to a certain extent. through letters of counseling in their service record, and that, you know, naval criminal investigation service and the

army c.i.d. will watch to see if any of them do have white supremacist or white nationalist inclinations. >> a normal game within the military academies? >> it's a game within the armed forces that you should not be playing when you are presented on a national platform. and, you know, every person who's ever served in the armed forces is listening to me saying, you know, the chief is right. because the chief's job is to recalibrate young men like this so they don't embarrass themselves, the sea service or the armed forces on television and hopefully that's what's being done now. >> you don't think the report about, the initial reporting saying it's a circle game that cadets -- when asked about it? gave them an out? >> not at all. i've played this game. guilty of it. stuck on ships and submarines with nothing to do and it's a stupid, ridiculous little game that kids play, and young men who are bored play.

>> they didn't have "fortnight" when were you in the navy. playing games these kids shouldn't be playing. >> right. could have played "candy crush" or "farmville" but they don't. >> exactly. >> i do believe if the military says that's what it is, that's what it is. however, everyone is going to get a service-wide lecture on the use of the okay symbol and you will not be seeing this game played again. >> it is not okay. no matter what the game is, i guess. thank you. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. thousands of vacationers, coming up. >> yep -- >> oh, my god. >> you had one job. two ships collide. what happens? we'll tell you, next. plus, a massive search and recue operation comes to a

close. the missing mom and newborn and close friend now under arrest. close friend now under arrest. ( ♪ )

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oh, my god. oh [ bleep ] -- >> stunned passengers reacting after two carnival cruise ships collide in cozumel in mexico. at least six injured. an investigation is under way how that could actually take place. the cruise line told passengers it may have been caused by wind

gusts and strong currents. carnival says both the ships are sea worthy. back here in the u.s. and a disturbing twist in the disappearance of a central texas mom and her newborn daughter. heidi broussard found dead, however, her weeks' old daughter was found alive. now a woman broussard considered one of her closest friends is facing kidnapping charges as investigators try to piece everything together. nbc's sam brock is following the mystery with the latest developments from southeast texas. sam? >> reporter: good afternoon. standing in austin, texas, at the very apartment building will heidi broussard and her baby went missing more than a week ago and sadly the saga ended in houston, texas, her body found in the trunch of a car thursday evening. what role if any did heidi broussard's friend play in this crime? a massive search and rescue operation ending on this houston

doorstep after a week-long hunt for heidi and her baby margo. authorities found the 3 week old infant alive and well but the probe into heidi's death is just getting started. >> multiple teams of investigators at different jurisdictions as we speak still investigating the case. >> reporter: the latest startling. strangulation. place of death listed trunk of vehicle. biggest question, how heidi's friend of 20-plus years maygen humphrey ended up at the center of it all charged with kidnapping, attempting with a corpse. >> i was shocked. i didn't expect this. >> reporter: one of heidi's closest friends is trying to piece together odd facts. how humphrey had heidi's baby in her house after heidi told friends she was pregnant. >> do you believe the suspect was ever pregnant? >> i don't.

>> why would someone lie about a pregnancy? >> she want add baby. all i can grasp. she want add baby. >> reporter: adding, due date december 1st, same at heidi's. police declined to answer questions about motives or where this investigation goes next as neighbors try to process it. >> very upsetting. i'm sorry. just the thought, you know? that she's been over there for a week. >> reporter: no murder charges filed at this time but law enforcement officials left open the possibility that that could change. as for the family, heidi broussard's mope planning a vigil hoping the community can come together and grieve together following this horrible tragedy. back to you. >> thanks to sam brock in the austin area where that texas mom was from. a scathing editorial coming from what in may consider and unlikely source. a small but prominent christian publication calling for

president trump's removal from office. is there a shift when it comes to evangelical support for trump? you sure about this?

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a prominent evangelical

magazine "christianity today" shocked readers and the trump white house way scathing editorial calling for president trump's removal from office citing his moral deficiency is. the president quickly firing back on twitter calling the magazine far left and progressive. last night the magazine's editor mark galli responded directly to the president's tweets right here on msnbc. >> mr. trump is obviously willfully ignorant about "christianity today." we're hardly a progressive or leftist magazine nor a particularly political magazine. we're a religious magazine with spiritual purposes. >> and joining me, jennifer ruben. thanks for being here. the editorial comes on the heeling of the president's impeachment. and galli says it was a ukraine scandal which ultimately caused him to change his mind. here's a little bit more of what he had to say. >> there is a place for the give and take in political life, but

there also comes a time when the ends do not justify the means, and as i argued in my piece i think we've gotten to that point. >> how significant would you say this editorial was? at least for support from the trump presidency? >> the evangelical community, at least the white evangelical community has been one of "the" most supportive communities in terms of president trump. i tend to think that that's not going to be affected by this at all. but i do think that at the margins, the magazine may resin nate with people, evangelical or otherwise, may like some of trump's policy but realize he is, as the editorial said morally deficient, done impeachable acts as the magazine said and i think perhaps resonance with some of those people. remember, this is, i think, going to be a very close election. that's where the country is in terms of the electoral college

and the population. so at the margins if there are evangelicals or non-evangelicals, simply people of faith who do not think donald trump is the sort of person they want in the presidency, do not think he is a role model for children, either stay home or decide to vote for the democrat, that's a problem for president trump. >> and the president as you know enjoys 80-plus percent support amongst evangelicals. the campaign recently launched a new campaign called evangelicals for trump. they have an event planned in miami on january 3rd. do you get a sense that they feel under pressure to act? >> i don't think they necessarily feel pressure to act on this. this is what trump does with anyone who criticizes him. whether debbie dingell, whether it's "christianity today" whether it's a republican in congress. whoever. is, trump attacks and attacks in a vicious, personal way. you saw his initial tweet was

along the lines that, look how much i've done for you. you want a bunch of communists running the country? show me respect. look all i've done for you and for religion. he take as very transactional attitude towards these and a personal, vicious one. i think it's not unique to this situation that he would leap into the fray and under siege in general now because of impeachment and so perhaps his trigger is faster than usual. >> this magazine fairly well known among evangelicals. founded by the late billy graham. not the first time that "christianity today" called for a presidential removal and impeachment. they did so in 1998 with bill clinton. what's different this time around? >> i think it's not different. i think what they're calling their membership and their flock to do is to treat these two things equally. in fact, i quote from comments made during the impeachment trial that this was a man who

was unfoyt serve in the presidency. he lied. of course, he engaged in extramarital affairs. they're saying to followers, to people of faith is, you need to have the same standard for both of these people. it shouldn't be guided by whether they pr in favor of certain policies that you favor. it should be what the behavior is, and that people should look at that, reflect that through their own moral and religious code and act accordingly. it's a remarkably straightforward argument, kind of refreshing, because it's so rare these days. everyone has decided at least on the republican party that whatever they believed in a year, two years three years ago, doesn't really matter. the one thing they must do is show allegiance to donald trump. and that's a bit of idolatry in the religious sense and, of course, leaves them to do all sorts of hypocritical and really sort of false things in defense of trump. so it's kind of unusual.

refreshing, even, that you have moral leaders acting like moral leaders, religious leaders acting like religious leaders. >> wow. look at times we live in. the "washington post" jennifer ruben. thanks to you. appreciate it. happy holidays to you. >> you, too. jennifer ruben mentioned that attack right there on debbie dingell. congresswoman from michigan. there is new reaction from her today to president trump's stunning statement regarding the longest-serving congressman in u.s. history. debbie dingell's late husband, john dingell. you see him there. he passed away last february after serving 59 years in michigan and washington deceit. the president's comments came after the late congressman's wife, debbie dingell, voted for his impeachment and this morning spoke with my colleague david gura. >> i was in a state of shock when i got the first media call telling me that, what the president had said and my immediate reaction was about my

husband, who i love, and am having a hard time this holiday, had a hard time at thanksgiving, he was a man of faith, and having someone joke about his or even -- it was serious to me when i'd heard it, that he might be in hell sort of -- it rattled me. >> joining me now political white house correspondent and associate editor anita kumar. anita, the president crossed over many lines in this three years in office. you're there at the white house every day. you get a sense that many within the white house feel as if he may have crossed over a line that he shouldn't have be with this? >> i do. i mean, i think you could sort of see that when stephanie grisham, white house press secretary, did media interviews after that rally, after the impeachment vote. obviously there to talk about impeachment but asked about it and her answer was, you know, she said she was, she was sorry. didn't say the president was sorry. she was very sorry for the

congresswoman's loss. she did -- she did go there but didn't fully say that the president was sorry and i felt she had a little bit of a tough time answering. clearly knew she would get that question. what the white house has said, what she said and hoping other spokesperson has said, the president feelseneder attack. obviously he is under attack about impeach mrcment and hitti back. congressman dingell is not around to attack him. this is someone hoon hwho has d. he's hitting back at other people, hitting back at his wife playing as if the president is the victim here. >> and in the reporting on politico you note that sources saying that trump is bitter about the vote, the impeachment vote. he's annoyed with the media coverage and worried about his legacy. you see the headline there. elaborate a little more on this and how pivotal was this week in the trump presidency? >> well, i mean obviously very pivotal as he became oath the third president in history to be

impeached. he went through a range of emotions, i understood from talking to people that spoke to him and are close to him. that is understandable you would go through a lot of emotions, sort of a roll e coaster ride of different feelings. what everybody told me, he's very angry. really -- was angry. went through a range of emotions, and it's come back to anger. that anger is turning into an energy. making him even more committed to running for re-election, winning re-election. so he's, he's channeling that anger, if you will, into that energy to do that, but, sure, he is bitter and upset, and he feels he didn't do anything wrong. that democrats are just going through this partisan exercise. so he was when he went to that rally, where he talked about congressman dingell, went to that rally in michigan, was feeling very angry. it was the day of the vote. actually the evening of the vote. he watched the vote behind the stage at that center, the arena

in battle creek, michigan and then went on to the stage. he had seen the vote, knew it was coming but wasn't fully aware what it would be until watched it on television and surrounded by a bunch of aides and the vice president. >> after that, followed um with his longest rally well over an hour right there in michigan. anita kumar, thank you. a dramatic election year about to unfold with a president's impeachment trial happening at the same time as the presidential race, the impact it could have on his re-election campaign as well as the democratic senators who are running for the white house. and tomorrow, ari mel borje borje -- melberg recaps this historic week only on msnbc. storic week only on msnbc. let's be honest,

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the calendar is not a friend to all of those senators returning to be president. five senators are in the race for the white house and they'll be busy in the next couple of months. they'll have to balance long days and extended weekends dealing with impeachment just as americans go to the polls and caucus sites. here to break it down, democratic strategist joel payne and opinion editor at salt lake city's "desert news." welcome to you both. how are the senators running for president having to recalibrate their campaigns ahead of the iowa caucuses? >> a lot of challenge.

a little over 40 days out until the iowa caucuses begin. there are some practical realities and political ramifications for all of those in the senate. one is, just the fact that the longer this is drawn out, the longer nancy pelosi holds on to those articles, the more she is the face of the democratic party and there's not a clear agenda making it hard for any of the candidates. senators aside. to really get momentum and a clear agenda and message for the american people. the practical part of that, again, is really looking at the timing issue. you have to be there for those hearings. they're going to have to make adjustments and make sure they have boots on the ground, a strategy, structure and set of disciplines to actually execute while they will be back in washington doing the work there in the senate. >> meantime, you write, who stands to benefit from all this? the moderate lane of the candidates or the more liberal wing? >> all i can look at is what we've seen overish the last eight weeks or so. i think the candidates and

candidacies benefited most, biden, buttigieg and klobuchar which obviously aligns with a more moderate version of democratic orthodoxy. i certainly think that warren, sanders, the progressive wing, certainly has a strong chance apartment the nomination still, but clearly in this time a lot of us are focused on impeachment and thinking about donald trump as the foil for hover the democr whoever the democrats go up gerns, settled in or the moderates. amy klobuchar experienced a boomlet, pete buttigieg on a long wave and joe biden stabilized. >> raising more than $1 million in the 24 hours after the last debate. what does this mean, the whole impeachment battle? the top tier candidates who don't have to deal with the impeachment trial. >> yes. i agree with joel in terms what this actually means for that moderate lane. also interesting from both sides

of the aisle, because both sides raised tens of millions of dollars off impeachment as a campaign issue and all of us as citizens should think about that part of the weaponization of this whole thing. i do think it gives advantage to joe biden and buttigieg. those folks who aren't going to have to be stuck in washington going through trials and hearings and those kind of things. although knowing someone like a cory booker a few moments in a senate trial to do things that would get attention and probably give him momentum as well. >> that's the interesting thing there, joe. who stands to benefit more? what's more valuable for a presidential candidate? being there and getting this national publicity out of trial -- being in iowa in february before the caucuses? >> i think most valuable is actually being able to own the narrative in the democratic party. interesting this happened here. normally around this time in a cycle, the party out of power

has started to kind of move their power center to whoever the front-runner is. in this case, like a biden or a warren or sanders. really the most powerful democrat in the country is nancy pelosi. she is still the potential leader of the democratic party and i think a lot of democrats, frankly, still see her as almost a spiritual leader of the party and the person who's pushing the agenda. a lot of democrats circled around her as opposed to circling around any of these candidates with any critical mass. it's a trick that we don't always see in these presidential primary cycles but happened this time where nancy pelosi hasn't hadn't to relinquish that power yet. go back to 2007-08, barack obama and hillary clinton, clearly they were spiritual leaders of the party even before obama got the nomination. it hasn't happened in this cycle. curious to see if that switch will happen for most democrats around the country. >> interesting. fascinating to see a year ago nancy pelosi fighting to become speaker again. after the 2018 election, and

there she has it fairly entrenched. thank you guys, both of you. happy holidays to you both. it was a massive pro-trump network and it was all fake. accounts with tens of millions of followers now kicked off facebook. how artificial intelligence was used to create this large-scale disinformation campaign. and as the decade comes to a close we want to know, what do you think was the biggest story of the 2010s? is that what it's called? 2010s? i guess so. right? go to msnbc po.com/decadestorie and tell us what you think. ries and tell us what you think. my focus is on the road, and that's saving me cash with drivewise. who's the dummy now? whoof! whoof! so get allstate where good drivers save 40% for avoiding mayhem, like me.

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this is mind-boggling to me. fake facebook posts. social media giant facebook took down more than 600,000 accounts tied to the pro-trump conspiracy using fake artificial intelligence to simulate real identities. follow me on this. the accounts pushed anti-impeachment and pro-trump messages otherwise posing as everyday americans on facebook.

nbc news tech and media reporter ben collins is following the story. you kind of broke the story actually. he anyone tos re he kind of broke the story. >> face faces created by computer, randomly generated. you can make one now. this person doesn't exist. get a brand new face. >> okay. >> these do not really exist. not real americans. in fact, run by people in vietnam simulating americans. catch that, for example, there was -- >> an example? >> a couple. one, a handsome guy, got basic things about american on. for example, you can kind of see something's off here. something wrong with the eye. disclration in toloration of th. that helped them catch these accounts. not a real person.

>> and many accounts, i mean, how many millions? >> 55 million. >> 55 million? >> twice, almost twice the amount -- >> mind-boggling in itself. >> right. 600 accounts pushing this but reached 55 million. >> 55 million people. basically what were they pushing? >> like we said, anti-impeachment stuff. pushing also basics things. how to tie a tie in a weird way. things that lured beam in over the course of time because he wanted a specific political moment. we have an election next year. ramp that army up for a very specific vote. >> have we been able to push back? who is responsible for all this? >> yes. the media group is tied to a religious sect, and this is not a joke. they believe donald trump was sent by heaven to destroy the communist party. they have been working tirelessly to get out messages saying that the president is

party to a coup, taken over by democrats. all of this stuff. that's the point of this thing. to build up political sentiments over time that say, hey, actually there's a consensus that, you know, the president is being impeached over some fraud. that's what they want. they want to see these ideas very slo slowly, look like americans even though they're not. >> and stoking. we don't believe -- any sort of russian association to all this? >> not that we know of. i will say they spent $9.5 million on ads. we don't really know where they got that money. >> interesting in itself. if they were able to link up and find these 600 accounts, how many more might be out there that are stoking these conspiracy theories to millions of people? >> oh, my god. these are the ones we caught because they were so bad at it. right? you know. they were specific in their messages. used really fake-looking prof e

profil profiles. didn't spell great. things like that. data showed all tied together. didn't do a lot to mask the fact this was large trolling operation. other people are a lot more sophisticated. other countries, china and russia, are a lot more sophisticated. so people who take the time to protect their trolling operations, protect their botnets are not being caught. we'll have a reckoning with this over the next year. >> moral of the story, somebody has more reach than kim kardashian-west, you know there is something to it. >> right. >> appreciate it. thank you. presidential legacy now marked and marred with impeachment. coming up, the mood inside the trump administration as it prepares for a trial in the senate. before we talk about tax-smart investing, what's new?

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welcome back, everyone. i'm kendis gibson at msnbc world headquart headquart headquarter. until agreement on what the impeachment trial will look like, house speaker nancy pelosi won't send the arms of impeachment to the senate. where does that leave the impeachment process? find out. nbc news political correspondent josh letterman joins me to break it down. josh, what is at the crux of the whole senate trial? what do republicans want as

opposed to what democrats want? >> so at the crux of this current impasse, kendis, will we do this fast or take our time and really drag out a full senate trial? democrats want to have a trial where they're able to bring in new witnesses who can provide new information about what happened with trump in ukraine. mick mulvaney, acting white house chief of staff. john bolton former national security adviser. budget officials in the wahite house. they want to have a quick process, the republicans, quit side, and then defense and senate quickly votes to acquit the president and move on to other business. >> what's behind the strategy pelosi has holding the articles of impeachment back? >> pelosi is worried once the impeachment articles go to the senate that's basically it. no influence over the process.

trying to say it's totally inappropriate mitch mcconnell and republican senators who will have to take an oath to be impartial jurors in this senate trial are making public comments, mitch mcconnell in particular saying they won't be impartial. already made up their minds, thinking it's a weak impeachment case and the president clearly won't be removed from office. even though democrats know that's the case and it's very, very unlikely the senate will vote to remove him, given the politics, in don't think it's appropriate to make those public comments and think that let's people know there's going to be not a fair trial here. she's trying to say, look, you've got to give us at least some of these concessions so that there's a process here that plays out that allows people to see exactly what happened with the president. >> yes. does have a strategy she's working out at least in the next two weeks. we'll ask her daughter christine pelosi about that strategy in the next few moments. josh, appreciate your time. >> sure. thank you. so the impeachment tuck of war hanging over the white house

as we head into the holidays. president trump is in mar-a-lago this weekend and our oh kelly o'donnell is traveling with the president and joins us from west palm beach. kelly, good to see you. what are you hearing now? how is the mood within the administration postimpeachment? >> reporter: certainly anticipation about what comes next and almost under any circumstances we would have had this holiday break. even if there was not this debate over exactly how will a senate trial play out? if the date was set and specifics known, there would still be a waiting period, and in any kind of a vacuum like that, other things can come up. so the president is certainly going to have the opportunity to talk with friends, spend time with family. tonight he'll speak to a group of young conservatives who are gathered here for a convention, and that will give him some of that energy that he often tries to soak up from friendly crowds. the president, of course,

pushing back against democrats and trying to keep his republican allies unified. that unity is the thing he is touting more than anything else at this point, because of the show of strength, since a couple of democrats did vote not to go ahead with impeachment and the president seizing upon that. but certainly this is a challenging time for the white house. it's also an exhausting time. it's been a very busy year. it's been eventful. staff and advisors for the president just like everybody else have holiday things to do and many taking breaks. the president will be here a couple of weeks. a mix of family time, golf and some business like tonight's speech to the group i mentioned, but impeachment hangs over all of it. this is the holiday season where that is a new dimension for this white house and the president could be using this time to think about his state of the union, for example. speaker pelosi in a parallel universe invited the president to address the nation and the congress february 4th.

he accepted that invitation. a lot of work goes into that. so that could be one of the things they try to focus on. the particul the president tried to talk about accomplishments. they built an event before coming to florida where he talked about the defense authorization act, which gives members of the military service branches a pay raise. four to five military in terms it of military equipment and create as space force. in addition, the president signed two bills that fund the government for the next several months into the fall. all of that provides the president some things to say that he's trying to focus on the business of being president while the shadow of impeachment certainly hanging over him. kendis? >> they've gotten a lot done in the last couple weeks. nbc's kelly o'donnell joining us from south florida. thank you. happy holidays to you. pressure from putin. new reports reveal president trump's belief in the conspiracy theory that ukraine, not russia,

interfered with the 2016 election came from russian president vladimir putin himself. the "washington post" reporting that putin planted the seed that has now been propagated by republicans despite national security briefings debunking the theory. 's in a press conference this week putin went to bat for trump calling the impeachment process domestic political in-fighting. joining me now is michael weiss, editor at large at "the daily beast" and author of "isis, inside the army of terror." i note also, you noted the president's tweet last night. he says this is a total witch-hunt and basically retweeted talking about putin coming to his defense. what did you make of that? >> look, it's every interest -- vladimir putin has every interest, i should say, to plant a story suggesting ukraine, a european ally of the united states, invaded by russia, is the actual mastermind of this

whole conspiracy to take down donald trump. they hacked the dnc, tried to undermine his campaign and now created this immort al stain on his legacy through impeachment. putin is a master controller. what do you think about impeachment? he says i think it will go away. senate equit and democrats with sour grapes trying to delegitimate donald trump. the goal to do what you and i are doing now. to talk about it. vladimir putin supports donald trump's theory impeachment is a witchhunt. he's planting a bit of -- an active measure in a sense. polluting the immediate ecosphere by suggesting, sign posting to the world, you know what? sigh really support this guy and he supports me and a wink and a nudge. isn't it? putin and his security services denied they did anything. anything untoward. sergei live rov sa-- live rov s

next to secretary pompeo a few weeks ago. suggest, cards on the table, we did it, we know you know we did it but we're going to deny it. >> they made jokes about it. what do you make of the president saying total witch-hunt when talking about the reaction to this? >> he's always deferred to putin. campaigning i like this guy's jif. gets things done. militarist, authoritarian. doesn't have to worry about democracy. has a parliament that rubber stamps everything he wants to do. why not defer to him still jl a guy since in office he's said i want to get along with russia. the institutions of government including the executive branch, the state department and cia push back against russian aggression. sanctions on nordstrom 2 and at

his core, ignore collusion, that donald trump is an asset or agent. i never believed that. same reason he likes president erdogan in turkey and victor or baht in hungary and likes vladimir putin. a new world order is emerging in which nationalist strong men eroding democracy, eroding liberalism are rising to the fore and donald trump seeing brethren in he's autocratic leaders around the world. putin especially so. >> and xi jinping as well. what does it say putin's word reportedly that so much influence with this president? >> well, look. over our own intelligence for that matter. putin's first job was a case officer at the kgb. an expression in russia working with people. it means, a kgb case officer recruits and runs assets. has to understand human psychology, a read of someone's character and temperament. donald trump because of the

ostentatious nature of his personality and narcissism, everything he says, tweets, one of the easiest people to read on the planet. for putin it's like a scoop of vanilla ice cream. i think he meets with the president of the united states in the white house or wherever and says, listen. just between ourselves, we have intelligence which suggests we didn't do this. you want to get along with us, we want to get along with you. out to get you since day one, dastardly ukrainians creating in president trump's mind a polluted understanding of ukraine. not only tried to alter the 2016 election through cyber espionage, false. tried to undermine my campaign dispatching operatives to spread disinformation about me and my work with the russianss. false. now, indeed, actually this whole thing was just a, a sinister conspiracy from kev, niev. >> appreciate it. just 44 days away from the

first votes in the president's democratic primary. the iowa caucuses. after the last debate of the year, many presidential hopefuls are back on the campaign trail this weekend, and that includes elizabeth warren and pete buttigieg who made big news for their clashing at the last debate. warren criticizing buttigieg for accepting donations from big donors and buttigieg attacked warren for issues purity tests that he says she could not pass. joining me now, two of our warriors. thank you for being with me. vaughn, start with you again. tell us about the event that pete buttigieg is attending right now? critical one. >> reporter: exactly. this is actually a second stop of the day. an idea of campaign trail. ally and i have done it several months. takes you to places like the strip mall here in las vegas. this is part of a two-day pete buttigieg swing through the

state. stopping leer at this soul food restaurant. meeting up with folks associated with the black democratic caucus here in nevada, so you'll see pete buttigieg entering the restaurant taking part in a little lunch. also hear from folks, talking to mikie sherrill kelly, heads up the caucus who said they have yet to meet with pete buttigieg until today and look forward to talking to him more about his douglas plan and other issues affecting african-american communities. here in las vegas meeting up with latino leaders here later this afternoon. you see in the last month and a half, sat atop the leaderboard over in iowa polling and continues to do well in new hampshire. this is part of his outreach effort here in the months leading up to these primaries to continue to expand not only his communications and touching base, introducing himself to these communities but continuing to sit down and actually hearing from them. we were over in southgate, california, yesterday just outside of los angeles in which he sat down with folks also here

about the impact of super fund sites and pollution, on particularly low-income and minority communities. so you may see the big grandeur of the bright lights and the stage, pete buttigieg 44 days out from the caucus continues to do smaller closed events from re connecting on a greater message outside of iowa. >> how is the campaign responding after all attacks he's endured this past week? >> reporter: exactly. this is a candidate hoop is really, for the most part, you could say taken the high road over the course of this campaign while trying to play the middle road. not only in the debate did you see him hit from the left from elizabeth warren questioning his fund-raising practices. also you saw senator amy klobuchar. kind of trying to take that middle lane as well. trying to be a pragmatic candidate. go after him over his senate experience. the last eight years been mayor

of south bend, indiana. when it comes to experience outside of indiana, that's where amy klobuchar was really trying to press. what does he have to prove? he says he'd be able to win the midwest but lost in his one state-wide bid. he is -- in large part, deflected those criticisms by saying he is the candidate able to speak with a calm approach. you saw a television ad playing in iowa now he put out. referencing donald trump. wasn't so much about the rhetoric of this current president but more so about saying that folks need to turn to somebody, him in this case, who is able to focus more on the people, and i think that's something you see not only on the debate stage, him continue to, with poise, try to communicate to a broader part of the electorate but in the smaller settings, listening to folks and trying to demonstrate that he is willing to listen and willing to grow and learn about -- from communities. as a matter of fact, that he largely has yet to experience across the country today. >> ally, meantime, senator

warren is faced with a tough january ahead. she may be pulled away from the campaign trail for the impeachment trial. do you get a sense from voters how they feel about all of this? >> reporter: it's not just senator warren. the other four senators who are also running to be president right now. they've got a really uncertain time ahead. we don't know when the senate hear lg start or how long it will last making it really hard to plan for a very crucial time in this 2020 race which is the first few weeks before people start voting in iowa. they want to be on the ground in places like the hawkeye state and also in nevada, california, where bernie sanders is today. important to put in facetime with voters and not something the candidates have to plan on with a senate trial hanging in question. when it starts, how long it will last. that said, voters are juggling these two topics. across the country, especially here in iowa, they've been

watching the impeachment proceedings and keeping ing ing eye on the candidates. seeing them face-to-face, one of the perks being a voter in iowa. up close and personal all the time. i asked at the last ward i was at what will it look like if the candidate can't keep momentum on the ground. listen 0 to what they said. >> i do think caucusgoers are educated people, and we take pride in this process here whether the best for the country is another story. we take it very seriously. i think at least for democrats early on understanding is that the impeach innocent was a necessary step, and that they need to take the trial isn't the senate seriously. we'll hopefully forgive them for that. >> reporter: and this idea that impeachment was a necessary step but it's not a thing that the 2020 race is hinging on is something that i've heard from voters over the course of the past several weeks, since these

proceedings officially started. out on the campaign trail when candidates are pressed by voter they're not asked questions about impeachment. they're asked questions about the issues. for a long time now these candidates have had to juggle these two things. the only thing changing now, they have to juggle being in two places at once, kendis. >> very, very tough for many of them, and makes it important for them to have some other people to help them out there on the campaign trail. ali vitali, thank you. vaughn hilliard, just looked it up. the ox tail, fall off the bone. don't need a knife. that's the review. >> reporter: thanks, my friend. >> looking out. coming up, new development in a story that has been garnering international headlines. the wife of a u.s. diplomat now charged in a crash that killed a british teenager. will she be extradited to the uk? a live report from london, next. thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer,

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keeping an eye on a number of several other stories happening right now. a big failure for a key test of a nasa spacecraft that may some day carry astronauts to space. boeing's starliner took off from cape incanaveral but failed to reach its destination. supposed to dl ed td to deliver

clothing and holiday gifts to the international space station. today they say it's healthy expected to land in new mexico come tomorrow. and sydney shrouded in toxic smoke as the country battles catastrophic wildfires. at least one person was killed and hundreds of homes destroyed as countless brush fires burn out of control. this week australia had its hottest day on record and fire season has just begun there. the record was 116 degrees. ouch. now the international firestorm and new charges against the wife of an american diplomat after she struck and kill add british teen and then fled the uk. anne sacoolas seen here declining to speak with british reporters will not return to the united kingdom voluntarily, according to her lawyer. sacoolas left under diplomatic immunity after the august crash that killed 19-year-old harry

dunn. that's his name. following the developments in this case what are we learning about the new charges placed on her? >> reporter: just today we actually heard from the family of harry dunn. they smeared anne sacoolas american saying if she returned she might face as many as 14 years in jail. the sacoolas family said an insult to the british justice system implying the british system would lock her up without giving her any recourse. it shows how untractable this case will be. hard to imagine any lawyer advising her client to return to britain to face trial. even in their grief the dunns appear to understand the charges and extradition charges filed are probably about the best they're going to get in terms of getting justice for their son.

sacoolas' lawyer released a statement saying no way sacoolas will voluntarily return to britain to face these charges. and the 2003 extradition agreement between the u.s. and uk, final decision on almost all decisions system rests with the state department but the state department already defended sacoolas. >> an interesting story also because americans may remember, because i think it was in august, or early september, that the president tried to maneuver some sort of meet and greet between sacoolas and the victim's family aft the white house, to which the victim's family left the white house saying, no thank you. emotional after all that. how is the family now reacting to these new developments? >> that was a very awkward moment. the president basically brought the dunns to the white house and said, well, anne sacoolas is waiting in the next room and everybody was kind of -- you know, overwhelmed by this realization and, of course, the dunns refused to meet with her.

now the dunns, that family, they're overjoyed by this news and even as they continue to try to process the tragedy of their son's death. sky news shot footage of the family when they heard the moment anne sacoolas would be charged with death of their 19-year-old son. extremely emotional moment and later yesterday they addressed the media and here's what they had to say. >> i just want to say thank you to the public and the media. we feel that we've taken a huge step in the start of achieving the promise to harry that we made. >> i'm still in shock from the meeting, and -- i'm sorry. >> hmm. you know, over these past four months the dunns, that family, heard them speaking now, they've struggled to reach this charge, but it's hard to see if this

resolves their pain fi further. >> you can tell it really is still painful. understandably so for the dunn family. nbc's matt bradley from london. thank you very much. coming up, nancy pelosi, the most powerful woman in politics. once resisted impeachment and now will it shape her legacy? up next her daughter christine pelosi joins us next about the historic times in washington. liberty mutual customizes e your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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really this was a historic week in washington with a street will leave a permanent mark on the legacy of president donald trump and with it comes more partisan gridlock. here's nbc's's report. >> we do not have kings. we have presidents. >> when jesus was falsely accused of treason pontius pilate gave jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. during that sham trial pontius pilate afforded more rights to jesus than the democrats afforded this president.

>> reporter: donald j. trump is now only the third president in u.s. history to be impeached, and the first for inviting foreign influence into be u.s. elections. >> article one is adopted. >> reporter: both articles of impeachment passed wednesday largely along party lines charging president trump with abuse of power and obstruction of congress. the president holding a rally in michigan while the votes in washington were being tabulated. >> they have nothing. they're the ones that should be impeached. every one of them. >> reporter: the process next moves to the senate. but a trial cannot start until the senate receives the articles passed by the house. and when that happens, it's up to the speaker. >> the next thing for us will be when we see the process set forth in the senate. >> reporter: the decision to delay handing over the measures created another partisan showdown. senate leaders met thursday to discuss terms of the trial with

no success. >> we remain at an impasse. because my friend the democratic leader continues to demand a new and different set of rules for president trump. >> reporter: democrats controlled the process until now and want to ensure republicans conduct what they consider a fair trial. that includes setting the parameters of opening statements and then calling witnesses who the white house blocked from testifying during the house hearings. >> the president's case, so weak, that none of the president's men defend him under oath. >> reporter: republicans want the senate to first hear both the prosecution and the defense without committing to call witnesses to testify. >> it's like the prosecutors are getting cold feet. in front of the entire country. and second-guessing whether they even want to go to trial. >> reporter: the senate trial will likely come at a crucial time for democrats hoping to take on trump in november.

many who will serve as jurors and at thursday's debate, they stressed importance of a thorough process. >> as a wise judge said, the president is not king in america. the law is king. >> that was nbc's heidi przybyla reporting. the delay creates the possibility of president trump waiting indefinitely for an acquittal by the senate. congress is now in recess until january 7, and while it was a historical week for president trump, it was also a pivotal one for house speaker nancy pelosi. the "new york times" writes from the moment in january she ascended to speakership for the second time she's the only woman to ever hold the office. pelosi has been the orchestra that crescendoed into an impeachment vote she hoped to avoid. and joining me, christine

pelosi. author of a book getting interesting reviews. christine, thanks for being here. what do up say to those who think the whole impeachment without a conviction will propel trump to another four more years of his presidency? >> hi, kendis. good to be with you and happy holidays to all the viewers out there. i think that as i mention in the book, "the nancy pelosi way" part of the speaker's decision to bring forth impeachment was based on the facts and the evidence. what the whole country saw happen with respect to threatening ukraine and first toing them to manufacture dirt on a president's rival for 2020. so i think that no matter what happens, we know that 2020 is going to be very closely fought. we know that the election security money that they put in to the bipartisan spending bill that the president just signed and that the speaker passed this week will be a step in the right

direction, and, look, whether you're a democrat, republican or independent, it's important that american elections belong to americans and we make sure we have no outside interference from russia or any other country in 2020. >> christine, the "new york times" writes of your mother saying that speaker pelosi wants to be remembered for her legislative accomplishments. like passing the affordable care act, but her legacy is tied to the impeachment of the 45th president. wh what has to happen in the senate trial for this impeachment to be considered a success for her? >> i would say two things. first of all, what happens with impeachment is donald trump's legacy. nancy pelosi's legacy, as i mention in the book, is bringing in dozens of new women to congress to preside over a congress that is over 60% women, people of color, lgbtq because she made a's consistent decision over the years to keep supporting candidates who

brought the diversity of america to the congress and that's why she was able to pass historic legislation like the patient protection and affordable care act among others and accomplished so much this past year with this great freshmen class. what everybody is looking for in the senate is a fair trial and as a trial attorney every friday we called ready and when ready had to go over the evidence, the witnesses, and the timeline with the judge before we could then go out and pick a jury the following monday. i suspect that will also happen in the senate. the american people want to know the facts. they want to see a fair process. i'm sure justice roberts, presiding, will make sure that the process is dignified and end of the day, really what matters is that we establish, as i said before, america's elections belong to americans, and that no one is above the law. not the president, not anyone. >> christine, your book, your mother's advice tackling the

hardest things in life. what do you hope readers will take away from it? >> one of the things my parents, nancy and paul pelosi taught the five of us kids over and over follow our own passion, be our own authentic selves and as you see all these diverse people stepping into public serving, marching, volunteers, running and winning, the most important thing for all of us is to remember our our individual north star. what calms you to service, to be larger than yourself? that commitment will sustain you on the very good days and on the very bad days. the best thing you can do for your country, your family and yourself, find something you believe in and keep working at it and expressing your values, and if you've been through pain like our military families, our parents, our families of people killed by gun violence, turning that agony into action for other people. there's really no higher service than that. >> interesting take right there.

one last little bit. do we have the gavel video? okay. nancy pelosi obviously a mother to five of you. grandmother to many. when this gavel happened, and she looked over there, to the side, you've seen that look? >> oh, she could silence an entire car of five kids that way. silence an entire dinner table that way. it is definitely a look that said, don't even go there. you already know, and the funny thing was, so many people on twitter, sending these messages i know that look. that's me talking in church. me talking in class. ma that's my mom looking at me. a grandmom look. avoid that look at all times if possible. >> you notice the stop clapping -- >> yes. >> immediately after that. >> we did, kendis. >> christine pelosi, thank you. happy holidays to you and your family. appreciate your time. >> thank you. the major event looming over

the campaign trail. the senate impeachment trial likely to sideline several candidates at a crucial time. what this could mean for democrats. if you live with diabetes,

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we're about to begin. yeah! i'm a magic cat. i love it. and now for the icing on the cake. [ hiss ] kicking into high gear. sidelined from the trail once nancy pelosi brings impeachment to the senate. how will this affect the whole

democratic primary process? leer to break it down, president of potomac strategy group, and democratic strategist also with us. thank you for being here on this holiday weekend. chris, if you were advising any of those candidates right now, how would you navigate this tricky water right now between impeachment and trying to get voters there to caucus for you in iowa? >> you know, that's a great question, and probably one of the, the one every campaign impacted by this is struggling with. i'm not sure there's a good answer. part of the problem with anyone who's ever done campaigning in iowa, you really can't phone it in. you can't do television interviews. they really like meeting, sitting down, talking. talking with the actual candidates. i think that's part of the challenge, but the question is, if there is a trial, you know, what's going to be the schedule? is it going to be nonstop for

days on days? go on for one day and down another couple days? the problem right now is, once you get past the holidays here, time becomes the bigger enemy for these campaigns. if you have any shot in the iowa, you've got to be down, down there really campaigning hard, and to some extent i think this is just a brutal reality. it's going to be a -- an obstacle if not a negative for senator warren, sanders and klobuchar who actually i think are in a good position in iowa. it's going to become another factor in winning it. >> and you know, the overall calendar is not a friend to anybody who's running. i was looking back at the calendar for early february. 2nd, super bowl. monday iowa caucuses. two state of the union. all of that possibly while impeachment is happening there.

hoop could benefit or not benefit from this whole calendar? the way it's set up. >> yeah. new hampshire, not long after that. i think four, five days later. then nevada. then south carolina. then you're done with the month of february and then you have super tuesday on tuesday march 3rd with text and california. it benefits the candidates not united states senators. benefits joe biden. benefits pete buttigieg. other candidates who are running. it puts the sitting u.s. senators at a real disadvantage. as chris know having worked in the senate as i did, the challenge of impeachment is not just a k4re7bcalendar you are literally sitting at your desk not able to do anything while the impeachment trial is going on. both sides defending their case and you are expected to sit there as juror. not only not allowed to be in iowa. unproductive time in the senate during the trial. >> interesting.

chris, makes for long days for the senators running, but gives them national attention also. won't it? >> i mean, possibly. here's -- this is really, we're in uncharted territory. this has never happened before that i know of in an actual political season. where you are now in the midst of a primary battle with some of the top contenders being kind of trapped in the senate doing nothing other than hearing the case that has already been made. part of the problem is going to be how do they adapt beyond it? and then the other question is, and i was thinking about this today, does it diminish or start to diminish the significance of iowa? that's a big stretch, i know, but if realistically you have so many of the top contenders, or top candidates kind of trapped at a impeachment trial, and then everyone is focusing, you know, who is not in that trial, you

know in iowa. the media will focus on the impeachment trial. be honest. where the tension is going to be. in a weird way, it may kind of lower the significance of iowa. >> yes. that's a debate that many say will happen definitely in the next four years or the next primary and caucus season. all right. matt, big apologies. ran out of time. hope you have happy holidays. thank you. appreciate your time. even more celebrities weighing in on the presidential election. who's endorsing whom and will it actually matter? that's next as we take a look at politics. plus, global citizen, the prize, special featuring jennifer hudson, sting and many more. the star-studded event airs tomorrow, 10:00 p.m. eastern time on msnbc. astern time on msnbc. hi i'm joan lunden.

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ro rowanda, big fan around here and liz who is the host of fox media considerate podcast and also a really, really good dancer with joy ried at parties. it's tough to party with joy. all right. first up, let's talk about democratic celebrities and their endorsing because a lot of them are putting in their endorseme t endorsements with 44 days to go. pete buttigieg and landed the endorsement of, did he get donald glover's endorsement, too? you think both. what sort of role do these endorsements play? >> i think they serve a huge purpose. >> are people wondering who kevin costner is endorsing.

>> celebrity and movie stars we actually care what these people think. yeah, it makes an endorsement. we're also seeing some really exciting things when we have ariana grande looking at trump saying, thank you, next. she is for bernie sanders. she got 20,000 young people registered to vote. cardi b. pulling for sanders. as a journalist, i was really impressed. she asked tough questions about health care, immigration. i love to see especially the young celebrities getting involve d in politics because that is what it is going to take. >> black lives matter questions asked in any of the debates. does it matter the caliber of celebrity. i mean, are we looking at for cardi b. to weigh in. does it really matter that she was there for bernie sanders?

>> i think it matters what everyone thinks. everyone should be involve in the political process and be engaged with it and what we are seeing compared to 2016 and a lot of celebrities are realizing when they did their endorsements maybe it was too late. beyonce and jay-z endorsed hillary clinton a few days before the election. for a lot of people, they regretted doing it too late. >> i think it also makes them h human. you look at jonathan who is stepping up behind elizabeth warren. he said he went to go get his hiv meds refilled and it cost him $3,500 and he's got platinum health care. he's concerned about fighting health care profiting. so, when you look with hind the scenes, yes, it helps these celebrities get our attention. might get our registration and also get our respect as just being other human beings or part of this process like everybody else. >> you know, lizzo is all of us and lizzo this week was confused

with impeachment. what happens next. she kind of weighed in about all of it that caused a whole tiff between her and tommy lauren. but, you get a sense that a lot of these celebrities in the meantime are too tuned in on the impeachment process and weighing in about it, as well. >> i think, look, we are tuned in to the impeachment process because this is our job. but we have to realize that we do live in a bubble and that most americans are, you know, have two or three jobs. they want to put money on their table and feed their kids and get their holiday presents on time. so, i think it's okay not to hold celebrities up to a standard that is, you know, i think unreasonable. >> lizzo has a busy week. she is up in this building right now for "snl." i have been riding the elevator all day trying to see her. >> this is time for everyone to refresh themselves in u.s. history and the way the system works or doesn't.

>> this kim kardashian west photo shoot saying that she appears darker on this magazine. she kind of looks -- >> diana ross or diane carroll. >> it took me a while to even recognize her. >> but what's the surprise? kim kardashian has proven to everybody she loves, she bought, well, it's true. she -- >> if you can afford it, its arer yoare yours. great to see you. >> happy holidays. thank you, guys, for watching i'll be back at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. you can follow me on the twitters and instagram and the news continues with my colleague after the break. ♪

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hello, i'm gigi stone woods. live from headquarters in new york, it has been a week that president trump became the third in american history to be, what happens in phase two of the senate trial is anyone's guess. in the next hour in south florida, the president will have another case to make his case against impeachment. we'll keep an eye on that speech. speaker nancy pelosi still won't say wn