reports." here is stephanie ruhle from "velshi & ruhle." >> i don't get to see kristen welker in the flesh often. it is certainly a treat. >> great to see you. >> coming up this busy hour on "velshi & ruhle." newly released e-mails showing the office of management, you know them as the omb asked the pentagon to freeze aid to ukraine on the same day president trump asks president zelensky to do him a favor. pete buttigieg is taking both sides from the party. mayor pete is just not experienced enough for the white house. overseas, north korea expanded a factory associated with the production of nuclear missiles according to the analysis of photos provided to nbc. the revelation is fuelling

concer concerns. we'll begin today with the latest on the impeachment inquiry. here is what's happening now. the office of management and budget advised the pentagon to holdup aid to ukraine on the same day president trump asked ukrainian president zelensky to do us a favor, investigate the 2016 elections and former vice president joe biden and his son hunter. rudy giuliani is promoting baseless conspiracy theories, debunked storied otherwise known as lies about joe biden. and ambassador yovanovitch committing perjury. mitch mcconnell says he hopes nancy pelosi will send impeachment articles to the senate asap, he does not appear to be particular to hold an

actual trial. >> we can't take up the matter we don't have and so hopefully they'll be on the way over at some point. >> nancy pelosi seems confident in her decision to hold the articles even as republicans are accusing her of fearing for what the senate trial will look like. telling "politico" this. i am never afraid and i am rarely surprised. i am pretty sure that's about to be on a t-shirt some where. joining me now, ken dilanian, heidi and our congressional affair at the fbi. heidi, to you first, on july 25th, let's go to these names slowly. mike duffy from the omb e-mailed

the pentagon to say quote "based on guidance i have received and in light of the administration's plan to review assistance to ukraine, including the ukraine security assistance initiative, please hold off on any additional dod obligations of these funds, pending directions from that process." walk us through that. is it a mere coincidence that president trump speaks to zelensky and duffy says to the pentagon, hold off on assistance. >> that's so important for the timeline to put the timeline into context here. you have the e-mail essentially formalizing that the administration had been talking about previously. you see this formal hold being formalized then let me add this data point. the next day is when sondland is

over heard on a phone call with president trump loudly saying they have essentially consummated the deal. yes, zelensky will do it. he'll do anything you ask him to. you have within a 48-hour span here. you have the whole being formalized and the deal being consummated. i would leave it to the american people to determine whether that's coincidence. the one thing i can say with certainty that critical documents are being withheld from congress. no documents had been given to the white house, these documents were given as part of a free information act released and other words that were forced to come out and many of them blacken out. the democratic argument at this point that we are withholding the articles until mitch mcconnell agrees to give the public these very documents along with the witnesses who say

they have more information like john bolton. john bolton have already said through his lawyers that he knows more and he wants to share. mick mulvaney is a gate keeper for these documents. >> gregg, this falls into things that make you go hmm? could the ongoing battle compel duffy to testify before congress now that we have learned all this. >> it could potentially stephanie, as a former prosecutor, i don't think this is a coincidence. this seems to be evidence of a scheme that we seen unfold with several witnesses while we should remember that all it takes is one person mainly the president to order something like this to happen, it actually takes a lot of people and a lot of moving parts to execute on it so the idea that there are many people, many witnesses to what happened and documents including

e-mails should not surprise anybody. with this release, we are starting to see some of that evidence to come out and i suspect there is a lot more. this is one piece of it. >> heidi, does this revelation benefit the democrats after? they voted to impeach the president, they told their story. >> sure, it does. their argument is unless we have a fair trial, we are not going to know whether the president did all these things and the whole argument that republicans used that we heard about for weeks in the house that the president was denied due process. mitch mcconnell says himself, no due process now but maybe a little later. well, many people are pointing out this morning that it is the constitutional role of the house to bring charges and the senate to hold trials. you have witnesses and evidence. how can you have a fair trial,

democrats argued without the critical witnesses and the documents. witnesses that the president is demanding do not have the information about why he withheld the aid. he's trying to get folks like hunter biden to come before the senate, hunter biden has no idea why president trump withheld the aid to ukraine, he was not in on omb meetings or the office meetings. democrats are going to fight here but it can't go on forever. they know the public is on their side, 70% of americans want those witnesses including 64% of republicans. >> all right, ken, let's talk about rudy giuliani and conspiracy theories he's now pushing. nbc news just wrote about it. rudy giuliani is alegend. there are four whistle blowers

that yovanovitch silenced -- is there any truth to these stories, please tell me. >> stephanie, it is hard to render a judgment until we have seen whatever evidence rudy giuliani choose forward. i can tell you this much. i know from talking to rudy giuliani's associates. they were making an effort to get some of the ukrainians over here to talk about the conspiracy theory that ukraine interfered in the election. it is plausible that yovanovitch denied visas to some of these people for completely proper reasons because a lot of these people were tied to russian back parties in ukraine and we have to remember the context here. rudy giuliani is under criminal investigation. number two, it is becoming increasingly clear that the whole idea that ukraine interfere was a product of vladimir putin and his intelligence services. there is been classified

briefings of members of congress describing and a plot by russian intelligence to insert this narrative into the debate and they succeeded. this could be considered one of the most successful operations in history. they got a major party of the united states of the republican party, ukrainians somehow interfered in the 2016 election. so far we have not seen any evidence of that yet. >> greg, rudy giuliani has not put any evidence to ken's point on this and a lot of other things he claimed. >> we know he's under several investigations for his ukraine dealings. what are these fact-finding missions rudy giuliani on and are there no consequences? >> it appears that simply trying to double down and triple down and whatever he could do to try to perpetuate this myth that

he's onto something here. these classified briefings that can mention. i have been in many of them and i will tell you that without telling you exactly what was briefed by the fbi and the intelligence community during those briefings, i will tell you key members from congress know exactly what happened and more importantly not happening. we see this myth continue to be perpetuated and not just by rudy giuliani but by members of congress as well. he's holding up his list of known communists. he's never going to deliver on any of these evidence but he loves to talk about it and certainly there is an audience for that. >> is it naive to say it is bizarre. some of the documents that rudy giuliani is citing were provided by a ukrainian lawyer with kgb training. is rudy giuliani used to spread

this information and well, it is bizar bizarre, is this is true, it is a lot worse than bizarre. >> i would agree. bizarre is one way to describe it. it is more serious than that especially given the fact that he again, has an audience of elected members of congress. some who served on the gang of eight of the small group that is on the receiving end of sensitive briefings and the president. it is more than bizarre, it is frankly dangerous. >> mitch mcconnell reaffirmed today that he's not impartial and impeachment trial. >> do you think chuck schumer is impartial? >> no. >> bernie sanders is impartial? >> let's quit the charade. this is a political exercise. >> heidi, does he have a point? is it fair to assume, this thing is going to go down a party line

vote. >> i am not going to give any character judgment other than to say it is the constitutional role of the senate. once the impeachment articles are received to hold a trial. trials have witnesses and trials have documents. you can probably surmise this will be a party line vote and with mcconnell already forecasting that the president will be acquitted. there is no way they'll get 20 republican senators to come over when you have not a single republican defection in the house. the bigger point is how the public perceives it. 70% of americans want to see these key white house officials who have been refuse to testify. my prediction is that after that point is made that nancy pelosi will eventually send those articles over and the public will render the final verdict

here on whether or not this is a fair trial. >> all right, thank you all so much. ken dilanian and heidi and greg brower, more criticisms of 2020 candidate, pete buttigieg, war over words. that's next. boeing ceo boei boeing's ceo is dealing with the 737 max crisis. you are watching "velshi & ruhle." watching "velshi & ruhle. you have a brother in the second battalion? yes sir. they're walking into a trap. your orders are to deliver a message

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we don't have a super pact, we don't want a super pac. we don't go to rich people's wine caves. this is a campaign of the working class of this country by the working class and for the working class. >> senator bernie sanders became the latest 2020 contender to take mayor pete buttigieg for his fundraiser that took place in a wine cave. it was elizabeth warren who sparked the wine cave war last week framing as a close doed do dinner among billionaires. >> josh, let's talk with mayor

pete, he leads the field in wall street donations as far as democrats go. is that a political liability? is the ultimate goal to defeat president trump and we know he's raising money hand over fist. >> he certainly is. a lot of the voters we were talking to here, they're finding these arguments petty. it is a liability because it is easy to caricature mayor pete this way. this is not an issue because as shannon and others reported on, president trump is going to take money from rich people and poor people and anyone in between and that's why you hear pete arguing he should not be tieing one hand behind his back as democrats trying to defeat the president. >> why does the pete buttigieg

simply say fund raising is an imperfect process, there is way too much money in it. if elected president, i am going to fix the system. at this point, pave the game and not the player. >> i think frankly the coalition that pete buttigieg is trying to cobble together does involve a lot of wealthy people, voters along the coast, he's been reluctant to engage in that sort of class work fair that we have seen elizabeth warren and bernie sanders making those kinds of arguments and he tried to back away from that knowing it may be harder to bring those along later in the game. >> is the trump campaign laughing at this fight between democrats over wine caves when the president is in the throws of impeachment and he's being impeached for soliciting from a foreign government to help dig up dirt for the president and all the while he's raising money

for the impeachment. >> in these days, big milestone when the inquiry was announced, the trump campaign raised $5 million. the biggest funds were on these days of impeachment been in the headlines. you go ahead democrats, you go ahead and fight over wine caves and who has small donors, we'll rake in the money because campaigns are expensive is their arguments. trump's campaign had $125 million in cash at the end of the third quarter. they're just bringing the money, go ahead. fight among yourselves. in addition to that, they don't feel that money and politics is one of the top issues driving vote voters. they think voters are concerned of healthcare, the economy and immigration and everyone democratic primary are not placing their votes based on concerns of money and politics.

it is much bigger than that and like an argument that healthcare may be impacted by money and politics. that's not what these fields are driving voters up the field. >> both president trump and mitch mcconnell consider the record number of judges on the bench. in the three years president trump in office, he'll put the same number of judges, it took obama over the course of eight years. this is something that thrills the republican voters. are democrats focusing on this at all, shannon? >> look at the debates. how often have judiciary appointments or nominees come up during a debate? i can't think of any key moment if if had been any at all. i talked to republicans and they are shocked by this. it is a surprise and they don't know how to explain it and especially when you have an aging you neo liberal supreme court population.

you would think if there is ever election of the supreme court among the democratic candidate would be this one. when we list off that number of judiciary appointments, a lot of that credit goes to not donald trump but others in his administration like don mcgan went after these judicial nominees. other conservatives saw their moment and now trump made it a real key selling place to keep republican base together despite everything else that's going on. that selling points work with white evangelical voters.

>> it was not long ago that mitch mcconnell's work that blocked mayor garland from a supreme court nomination. now, two supreme court justices, they're hoping for a third and this record number of federal judges. most of them are under 50 and a lot under 40. they'll be sitting on the bench for decades. should it not be a bigger priority for democrats. we may not like president trump policies on trades. look, he's getting it done when it comes to these conservative judges. on the other side, we are seeing democrats getting questioned over this. amy klobachar under a lot of fire so the number of trump, she's kind of in the middle this is certainly first and foremost on the minds of voters on both sides of the isle.

do you see any candidates making this a priority, they may not have brought it up ordered pairs asked about it in these debates. it is something that impacts every aspect of our lives. >> it does and the fact that a lot of these judges are much younger than some of the judges and they're going to serve lifetime appointments for decades to come. that's why you see democrats making the argument that they can't afford to let president trump to have another term because of the end of the eight years, the judiciary would have been over hauled by the president under the republican terms that it will take decades for democrats to try to bring that back for the left. >> all right, thank you, josh ledderman and shannon pettypiece. a tech company bloomberg assembled in secret this spring. a bloomberg's spokesperson says

hawk fish will be the primary digital agency for the campaign. i want to bling in our political finance reporter, brian schwartz. help us understand this. team bloomberg who had been urging not just the public but other candidates before mayor pete buttigieg got into the race. pay attention to trump's digital campaign, that's where his magic is. have bloomberg created the counter for trump? >> yeah, this came about right after the 2018 congressional midterm earlier this year. he sat down with his team and they basically thought themselves how are they going to provide that counter to president trump and the republican national committee data operation. they basically went to a bunch of silicon valley and new york tech investors.

they told him, gave guidance on this and him and his team and regrouping earlier the spring just before he decided to run for president, okay, let's put this thing together. this is going to be a data analytics and company and they're thinking to help democrats with digital ads and assistance with voter data. he then ran for president. and connecting with voters. >> do oththe build up is all veh behind the scenes and there are no other candidates we can see that are using their own company. they do turn to vendors to be fair to bloomberg. they do similar work but no other candidates either running for president or the democratic primaries are turned to their

own business to help them with voter data and to kind of plug into see what voters really want and how they put together these ads they have online right now. >> it can't be a surprise. the reason bloomberg is successful as he is, his entire background is data and analytics. this company, are they working just their campaign or other democrats running for office? >> they're leaving that possibility open. that's what the campaign told us on cnbc. they told us they were open to speaking and working with other campaigns down the road. they make this very clear. the bloomberg campaign is their big contact so far. and that is really who their primary company is right now. that's who they are working with directly. the other democrats we don't really know if they're going to be working with congressional or

the house race or senate races. it does not appear if they're going to be working with democrats running in the primary. do we know who's running hawkish? having an advisor like peter teal was a huge win for the president as far as understanding digital strategy. you mention entrepreneurs, advising bloomberg, who's running for hawkish, any big name? >> the cmo for facebook. >> gary brigs? >> a close adviser we have been told. one of the people he spoke with of the build up creating this company was ron conway. a big billionaire democratic donor keep in mind who also does a lot of investments into tech

out of silicon valley. this story brings in tech politics and business news all into one and that's what we are seeing here with mike bloomberg trying to use data through his own company to help with 2020 campaign. >> he began the company with mayor bloomberg, i knew him and i spent five years working for bloomberg media before i came to msnbc. if mayor bloomberg does not get the nomination, will they take the full force of hawk fish and demote it to whatever candidate does get the nomination? >> they did not say that to me. remember they created this originally to held democrats aro across the board. if he does not make it through the primaries, next year, they will turn to democrats and use this company to help them as

well. >> did they use this company several weeks ago, mayor bloomberg, helping democrats in swing districts, defend themselves during impeachment inquiry, did hawk fish help to do that? >> so again it seems like that's what their role is here. >> quickly before we go. when did you say hawk fish was started, this year? >> this year was when they crafted and spring of 2019, i guess they launched it behind the scenes. no one really knew anything about this except the people close to mike bloomberg and people start looking at it. >> in 2018 when the midterms

happened and mayor bloomberg pouring tons of money into the democratic candidates. hawk fish did not exist back then. that was bloomberg giving money and not digital capabilities. is that right? >> they did tell us that early this year, they were involved somehow with the virginia and kentucky elections. they did not say how proud they are helping and which campaign they are assisting. >> brian schwartz from cnbc. >> the ceo of boeing is out. we are looking at how the company is plan to move forward after a year of crisis including two major crashes that killed a total of 246 people. a carjacking suspect choked to death and it is all caught on camera. we'll dig into this disturbing new case. you are watching "velshi & ruhle." new case

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itreat them all as if, they are hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911 and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. breaking news from boeing this afternoon, boeing's ceo is fired.

dennis muilenburg is out. muilenburg now replaced with david calhoun as boeing is trying to clean up its reputation. a nationwide suspension of its best selling planes, the 737 max. let's bring in phil labeau. let's start with this, if they want to clean up their reputation, why would they choose the chairman. a chairman sits above the ceo. is calhoun equally accountable? >> well, that's what some people are asking, should he be accountable as dennis muilenb g muilenburg. they reached this decision over the weekend and met via phone and had a decision they reached on sunday night. the question that becomes, who will we bring in as ceo. david calhoun has vast experience when it comes to running a conglomerate.

and then he went onto neilson. this is somebody who's seasoned in terms of running a major corporation. not only that, i think they look at david calhoun and they say look, he's going to have a long time airline executive who's going to be the chairman and the president of the ceo, calhoun is going to come up a game plan to get the max back on the air and fix boeing's reputation when it comes to airline customers and regulators and etc. >> if he knew the game plan, had he been keeping it a secret over the last year and a half. >> the economic impact of the 737 max, you can't under state it. >> i understand what you are saying. do i think he had a game plan and oh, let me bring this out, i don't think that's the case. david calhoun comes into this

with fresh perspective and they had new commercial airplanes standing deal, i think between the two of them, they realize look, this comes down to more than anything and engineering and rigger and making sure they do all of these steps and pleat those steps as quickly and more importantly as correctly as they should and that was the issue with dennis muilenburg and his leadership team towards the last three months. they were making promises that were not there. i know you are talking to people in the company came in november. that's when muilenburg and his team says we are going to have recertification by the end of the year. that went against everything they were hearing from the faa. people were calling me furious, where are they getting this from. they got 10 to 15 steps that need to be completed. they're no more close to being

completed. they went forward with that guidance out there. i think what you are going to see is a much more discipline approach from dave calhoun. he was on the board and the board bares some responsibility for muilenburg's leadership. they are going with the direction of dave calhoun as ceo. >> let's talk about a company this size with the kind of influence they had that's regulated. to say there is a cozy relationship is under stating it. >> right. the problem is there was a change that was made 15 to 20 years ago where the faa was allowing or was then allowed to say look, we are going to designate certain representatives, they're going to be authorized certain part of the aircraft.

the reason they made that decision because a, they don't have the staffing, for them to come up with the staffing would be ridiculous in terms of what it would do for the budget of the faa. i don't think congress is going to approve that. what needs to change, stephanie is the level of rigger that's going on between those faa regulators and boeing and that is clearly going to change under steve dixon. that's very clear. when you talk with him, he realizes that change needs to be made. do they have the money to hire as many people you would love to see them hired? no, they don't. i doubt they'll get that approved by congress. here is the system and how do we make it more vigorous. >> your regulator does not need to be your enemy but certainly not your best friend. >> phil lebeau from cnbc. a newly released body cam

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our sheriff department in northern california has been put on notice that he'll be fired after putting a choke hold on a man who later died. in a newly released body cam footage, the deputy is seen

putting the victim of a carjacking who the officer thought it was a suspect into a choke hold. he later died in the hospital. the video you are about to see is disturbing. sarah har mmon has the latest. >> reporter: it began with a report of a stolen car. deputy in pursuit of the vehicle reported missing in a carjacking. what they did not know the driver, 52 years old, david glen ward, was the car owner. the deputy can be seen approaching the vehicle, get out of the car. the driver who was physically disabled struggled to exit the car. law enforcement dragging him

through the window. then tasing him. police say the deputy attempted a carotid hold. ward became unresponsive. >> we need medical. >> ward was the victim and not the carjacker. he was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead. a lawyer from blount defended his action. frankly mr. ward caused his own death by taking a number of bizarre actions. there were no indications of trauma to his neck. after shocking footage leaves the community demanding answers. >> an investigation is currently

underway. officer blount is on administrative leave at the m m moment. he had not been fired and if and when that happens, he plans to appeal the decision. >> sarah harmon for nbc news. we hope to see an answer to this question, soon. >> three months after hurricane dorian tour through the bahamas in the hardest hit areas. we'll go to abaco island in just a few minutes. new clues into north korea's nuclear program. is it a test of long range missile imminent? we'll find out. kim jong-un said it may be a christmas gift. may be a christmas gift pagas lo que necesitas. only pay for what you need... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ when youyou spend lessfair, and get way more.

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american military officials believe north korea is preparing for another missile in the coming days or weeks after kuim jong-un's regime announced it had a christmas gift for the united states. satellite photos shows north korea expanded a factory. joining me now from london nbc news correspondent molly hunter.

molly, what do you know? >> hey, steph. that's right. so when diplomatic talks stalled in october, the north korea 234s gave washington a deadline of the end of the year or else and then kim jong-un on the white horse for a major decision coming. meeting with the top military brass according to state media because they were enhancing military capabilities. lots of signs, including the a sate lite photos. lots of clues to lead top u.s. military officials and intelligence officials to believe that a test may be eminent. >> we'll soon fine out. thank you so much. molly hunter from our london bureau. life is a struggle in parts of the bahamas three months after hurricane dorian. the desperation is real. we'll cover that next. as a struggling actor,

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this summer one of the strongest hurricanes to ever make landfall, dorian, tore through the bahamas. nbc's kerry sanders returned. he found that months later the situation for survivors is still desperate and dire. >> reporter: great abaco island looks today like the day after hurricane dorian. even the police station is frozen in time. the cleanup, extremely slow

going. >> there is nothing left. >> reporter: survivor june russell likens the emptiness to another ghost town. >> this is like chernobyl. >> reporter: her family was torn apart by dorian, her 19-year-old son lives in nassau. her 13-year-old daughter on another bah haiman island. >> we feel forgotten. >> where is the bah haiman government in your mind? >> not here. >> reporter: it's taken more than three months for the government to set up trailers for oits employees who will manage the recovery. a mega storm with 183-mile-per-hour winds and a 23-foot storm surge, destroyed the power company, the water and sewer systems, schools, not one structure was spared. >> yes, we are definitely in the mother of aural cleanups. >> reporter: by some estimates if two days dorian created 30 years worth of garbage. right after the hurricane, i reported from this spot, a neighborhood known as the mud.

the damage then nearly impossible to describe. i really hope i don't see anything worse than this because it is such devastation. we have come upon in this bah haiman heat bodies exposed. those who survived the hurricane here and still on great abaco are living the most desperate of lives. if it were not for the american charities, the sustained misery would be intolerable. water mission turned saltwater to drinking water but at a cost. >> now running at about $7 a gallon. >> for fresh water? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: world central kitchen serves free meals. global empowerment mission here, as they were for fires in california, a cyclone in mozambique, the destruction of the amazon. disasters tied to global climate change, described as the worst ever. >> the world's changing.

we got to get ready. >> reporter: for thomts and jack soy with a baby boy due in weeks the future is unknown. >> that is my boy. >> >> reporter: your boy. >> but with all the joy of a boy when's coming, you're living in a tent? >> yeah. we live in the tent. we don't have anyplace we can go yet. >> reporter: 145 miles from florida. but for the foreseeable future, a world away. kerry sanders, nbc news, marsh harbor, the bahamas. >> that is quite a story. we are going to keep covering the recovery efforts down there in the bahamas. thank you, kerry sanders. a reminder that as the decade comes to a close we are wrapping up 2019, we want you to tell us what you think was the biggest story of the last ten years. do it online. nbc news.com/decadestories and what you think. that wraps us up for this hour.

my partner for life and dearest friend mr. ali velshi picks up coverage. >> sorry we're not working together. >> today. >> back later this week? >> i'm not. >> next week. you have yourself an amazing christmas. >> thank you. today's monday, december 23rd. day 91 since the impeachment inquiry began. a trove of e-mails call into question president trump's defense. they show officials from the office of management and burgt advising the pentagon to freeze aid to ukraine hours after the phone call with president zelensky, links the aid freeze to trump's request for an investigation into did bidens, still carried out unofficially by the president's personal attorney rudy giuliani. nubz learned giuliani is pushing new dubious or