i'm brook baldwin. thank you for being with me. let's go to washington. "the lead" starts right now. ♪ both sides in agreement on one thing, that today is a sad day in the united states. "the lead" starts right now. breaking today, speaker pelosi saying the democrats have no choice but to go ahead with articles of impeachment against president trump as the speaker warns a reporter not to, quote, mess with her over whether hatred for the president is driving impeachment. and where in the world is rudy giuliani during all of this? apparently in ukraine meeting with a conspiracy theory pusher with a kgb pedigree, plus smoking joe. biden explodes on a voter in iowa, calming him a liar, challenging him to a pushup and iq contest. what caused so much tension in an iowa town hall? ♪

welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin with our toll picpolit and history with president trump almost certain to become the third u.s. president to be impeached by the house of representatives. speaker pelosi announcing earlier today house democrats are moving forward with articles of impeachment against the president. pelosi saying that mr. trump left her with no choice but to act. members of congress are now faced with these two key questions. one, what do we know about the president's actions, and two, do they rise to an impeachable offense. we know according to the president's own words, he asked the president of ukraine to pursue an investigation of his political rival, joe biden, as well as an investigation into a debunked conspiracy theory that ukraine, not russia, interfered in the last election. we know, according to key witnesses, president trump conditioned a white house meeting and badly-needed aid for ukraine, at least in part on ukraine announcing these

investigations. we know that the white house meeting with ukraine has never happened and that the aid was only released after a whistle-blower came forward and members of congress protested. and we know the administration has prevent he congreed congres learning more, exerting executive privilege and ignoring at least 71 additional requests for information including subpoenas, documents and testimony. now, does it all amount to high crimes and misdemeanors and an abuse of power? does the lack of testimony from key senior aides to the president undermine the case, or does it just add to a case of obstruction of justice? cnn's phil mattingly reports that members of the house may have to decide what they think pretty quick, maybe even within the next two weeks. >> today i am asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment. >> reporter: 12 words for history. speaker nancy pelosi making clear president trump is almost certainly on a path to be

impeached by the house. >> it is heartbreaking, but the president gave us no choice. >> reporter: sources tell cnn democrats are considering articles including abuse of power, bribery, obstruction of congress and obstruction of justice, even as some democrat sources say have told leaders they remain wary of expanding the scope beyond the ukraine investigation and into elements of special counsel mueller's report, pelosi refusing to get into internal deliberations. >> my chairman will be making recommendations as to what the articles of impeachment would -- >> reporter: but the timeline for a final vote coming more into view as the house judiciary committee announced its next impeachment hearing for monday, teeing up a possible committee consideration of articles by the end of next week and final floor votes on the articles the week of december 16th. house republicans continuing with complete unity to oppose each step of the process. >> today with the speaker's announcement she has weakened

this nation. >> reporter: as their senate counterparts met this week with top white house lawyer to plan the president's defense, the actual structure of the senate trial though still unknown. >> it is impossible to answer your question right now. >> reporter: senate leaders plan to meet and try to hammer out a bipartisan roadmap forward. there remains no guarantee one will come to fruition, leaving open the possibility that a white house push for live testimony from people like hunter biden and the whistle-blower may be subject to a simple majority vote in a chamber where republicans control 53 seats, something one democratic senator told cnn would be like, quote, rolling a hand grenade into the chamber. >> the house will be in order. >> reporter: the kind of institutional schism firmly under way in the house, as seen on live tv when in a rare show of anger pelosi fired back at a reporter. >> do you hate the president, madam speaker? >> i don't -- i don't hate anybody. >> reporter: representative -- >> i don't -- i don't hate anybody, not anybody in the

world. so don't -- don't accuse me. >> reporter: i did not accuse you. >> you did. >> reporter: i asked you a question. >> reporter: walking back to the mike reason for to make her point for all to hear. >> as a catholic i resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me. i don't hate anyone. i was raised in a way with a heart full of love and always prayed for the president. so don't mess with me when it comes to words like that. >> reporter: jake, it was an extraordinary moment when you saw the speaker say that. when it comes to the decisions that need to be made over the next couple of weeks, the biggest is the articles of impeachment. democrats right now, while they're closely holding what the internal negotiations are, are signaling that they will, in fact, include some elements of the mueller report letted relat obstruction of justice in the articles of impeachment. it appears they will move forward but we'll vo have to wait and see. we'll get answers next week.

>> thank you, phil mattingly. jamal, let's start with you. i have heard democrat aides say that the push back should be on whether or not they're rushing this, which is a concern i have heard from democrats, not just republicans, that the pushback is that it is a danger to the republic, that the president has shown a pattern of trying to get other countries to interfere in the election. that was the subject of the mueller report, that's the subject of the ukraine scandal, and if congress doesn't step in and do this now, then no hoes what they will do. do you think that is fengtiveff? >> it is effective if democrats can stay on message and be sure everyone stays in the same zone, which is that the president used it to benefit himself, not the country, and it is a danger what he is up to, it could work because people will list ep. here is the thing. the people nervous about this, fighting donald trump is like fighting a virtual reality

octopus with augmented weapons. you have to use every single tool you have if you want to take this president on because he will use every single tool that he has, and democrats can't get caught in a vise of hoping there will be a referee somewhere calling fouls and say, no, no, donald trump, you are out of line here. they have to be the ones to do it. i think that will benefit them politically and history will look back, even if they lose, even if the senate doesn't do it, doesn't convict him, history will look back and say the democrats got elected, stood up against donald trump and they did. >> amanda, congressman francis rooney, a republican from florida who is retiring, he has shown one of the few republicans in the house to show an open mind about this, even though he voted against the impeachment inquiry. he has not made up his mind about impeachment, he says. in an interview with cnn minutes ago he said that democrats have been rushing to judgment. he said it might be enough to vote against impeachment because of this rush. do you buy that if republicans

slowed -- i mean if democrats slowed it down that that might be better in terms of trying to get more republicans on board is that just a kennard? >> i think the only chance they have of getting republicans is if they do slow it down, because i think they're very vulnerable on the bribery charge they're about to make. to get that charge to land, to stick, as jonathan turley mentioned yesterday, i think they have to get documents somehow showing a connection between the white house and omb. on this note earlier today, the acting director of omb is on another network talking, took a flimsy question about defying a subpoena. i feel like you have to get there. this is really -- the democrats have to make a big decision. do they want to go big, rush this quickly, make it about democracy being at stake, the integrity of elections and just stamp the litter "i" on his chest in january? or do they want to drag it out in the hopes of maybe getting two or three republicans in the

senate? that's their choice. >> isn't omb at the white house? i think omb is part of the executive office of the president. >> i was referring to russ who is running the place and is currently defying the subpoena but doing interviews with another network. >> i think i can guess which one. vivian, house republican leader kevin mccarthy of california made this argument using the speaker's own words from earlier this year. take a listen. >> she laid out a criteria, the speaker of the house, telling the american public in march of this year that impeachment was so divisive that it would divide the nation, that the only way we could move down it had to be compelling, it had to be overwhelming and it had to be bipartisan. the stand that she gave to the nation, that she gave to her own conference, she will not hold her own self to. >> i think pelosi would argue that it is definitely compelling and it is definite ling overwhelming. what is the response to the idea it is not bipartisan, at least in terms of votes? is that a failure of the democrats or is that because republicans are refusing to look

at the facts? >> i think it is actually a product of the times that we're in right now where no one was under the impression that this wouldn't be a massively partisan endeavor going into it. nancy pelosi more than anything else was aware of that, and that's why for months she was cautioning what this would do to the country, and the impact it would have overall on just the state of the party itself going into an election year and what it could do to some of the democrats going in and fighting, you know, for their seats in districts that are very impeachment weary. so this is something we are looking at this year and saying, well, okay, we built up this case allegedly that the president has abused his power and that's what democrats are insisting, but at the end of the day a lot of democrats still wanting to keep that narrow because of the fact that if they bring in the mueller investigation and possible obstruction of justice, then it just gets -- they lose their focus. so that is something that the party itself cannot agree on, and that's where we are kind of going into this election year,

going into this -- you know, the end of this phase of it and a possible senate trial. democrats themselves are not exactly on the same page, and so that's something that is concerning nancy pelosi beyond anyone else. >> some democrats want to bring in child separation at the border or the muslim ban. they want to bring in all sorts of things. >> the kitchen sink strategy. listen, if you are one of the 43 front-line democrats and some of those are the ones weary of impeachment post mueller report -- >> what do you mean by front line democrats? >> these are the democrats that won in districts where trump won in 2018, so essentially 43, people like joe cunningham in south carolina won. so those are the folks that want to keep it their row. those are the folks that didn't want to impeach. listen, nancy pelosi was one of those people. adam schiff was one of those people. they were basically holding back the flood gates of people who were in the democratic caucus who thought that the mueller report was enough. so today you had nancy pelosi

saying she's confident in this moment but also sad and full of humility and, you know, it is a moment. in hearing her talk about it, i have to say -- i mean my stomach kind of drops every time i hear her say it because it is such a big moment for the country. >> she has resisted for quite sometime. we have a lot of questions for nancy pelosi. tune in tonight for a special cnn town hall, house speaker pelosi is going to join me live right here in d.c. to talk about what is next for the impeachment inquiry, taking questions from voters. that's at 9:00 p.m. eastern tonight only on cnn. first, another example of timing. president trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, is apparently in -- guess where? ukraine. wait until you hear who he is meeting with. plus, joe biden calling a voter a liar. what set off this campaign trail outburst? stay with us. >> let him go. let him go. look, the reason i'm running -- >> "the lead" with jake tapper is brought to you by salonpas. try it for your pain. what do yoe for back pain?

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bro br and we're back with the politics lead with house democrats ready to move on articles of impeachment. the white house is mounting a defense with a likely trial in the u.s. senate with president trump himself revealing much of the playbook. the president is already saying he wants to call as witnesses joe and hunter biden and perhaps even speaker nancy pelosi. cnn's pamela brown is live for us at the white house. pamela, you have some new reporting about how the white house is preparing for the trial. >> reporter: that's right, jake.

the white house is phoning used on both the communications and legal strategies as they set their sights on the senate trial. the president's lawyers here at the white house have spent the last several weeks doing research on what past presidents have done as they build the president's defense. fresh from his checkered nato trip in london, president trump today asking how democrats to speed up their impeachment inquiry, tweeting, "if you're going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the senate." >> fast and narrow is not a good recipe for impeachment. >> reporter: but a hurried impeachment process was condemned by the house republican's sole witness in wednesday's judiciary committee hearing, law professor jonathan turley. >> you are trying to remove a doull elected president of the united states and that takes time and work. >> reporter: and echoed by senior counsellor to the president, kellyanne conway. >> if you are going to do something as serious and as unusual, indeed somewhat

unprecedented as impeaching a president of the united states, you can't rush it. >> reporter: according to sources familiar with the matter, white house attorneys have spent weeks preparing for a senate trial, crafting the president's legal defense, which white house counsel will lead. >> i think if you go to a trial, that will be more familiar and we'll be -- and we are very ready for that. >> reporter: the president laying out part of their strategy on twitter, saying he wants house intel chair adam schiff, speaker pelosi and joe and hunter biden to testify in the senate trial. >> if they have nothing to hide, then they should be happy to come and tv. >> reporter: amidst the impeachment fight, trump's personal attorney rudy giuliani finds himself in ukraine according to a ukrainian lawmaker who posted on facebook that he met with giuliani in kyiv. the lawmaker is known for publicly pushing the debunked conspiracy that ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, was part of a pro-russia

political party and attended a kgb camp when he was younger according to his website. >> reporter: jake. >> pamela brown, thanks so much. let's chew over this. amanda, let me start with you. trump's legal team planning this defense in a theoretical senate trial. for those not familiar, if the house does vote to impeach it is not the end of it. it then goes to senate and they serve as jurors whether or not to remove the president from office. the trump team and republicans want to bring in joe biden, hunter biden, talk about burisma, talk about that. is the strategy just to muddy the water so the focus is not on what the president did? >> yes, that's what the white house is like because they're interested in causing chaos. i don't think it is in the senate's interest at all but given the fact rudy giuliani is meddling as we speak, think all senate republicans should be put on the spot, do you condone rudy giuliani continuing to do this.

the white house can get away with not answering the question. would you accept anything he produced into the senate in a trial? that question should be answered now, don't wait for it to happen. >> it is interesting because we can't get house republicans, including manu raju tried to get kevin mccarthy to answer the basic question, is it okay for the president to get a foreign government to investigate a rival. you can't get them to answer that. >> i think it was june 17th that george ste stephanopoulos sat d in the white house with him where he said he would take a phone call with information. little did we know he was weeks away from doing that. history will not be kind to them and i bet voters may not be kind to them either. >> we'll see. vivian, meanwhile president trump, his personal attorney,

rudy giuliani, is in ukraine. pictures show him with ukraine lawyer with russian fsb training, a guy known for pushing debunked claims about hunter biden and ukraine meddling in the election. now he wants giuliani to set up a, quote, unquote, anti-corruption group in ukraine. i have heard republicans say that they really wish giuliani would just stop, that this is all bad for the president, but he's not stopping and nobody is calling for him to. >> on the contrary. he's made it very clear on twitter around elsewhere that he's going to vindicate himself through investigations of his own. so he has, you know, made it clear he is going to continue doing what he is doing because he believes that the bidens are hiding something, and so he's trying to expose that by making these connections. but do you know who is most unhappy with rudy giuliani's presence in ukraine? the ukrainian government. a number of officials coming out in pun in tblic in the last cou hours saying, why is he here? one dropped a profanity -- a

senior official dropped profanity saying it is not a coincidence and we don't want him here. they more than anyone else want to distance themselves from this controversy, and seeing rudy giuliani popping up again in kyiv or wherever he is in ukraine is disconcerting not only to a lot of republicans but also to the ukrainians as well. >> emily and malik, call logs that the house democrats released seem to show giuliani in contact with phone numbers associated with the office of management and budget. giuliani told cnn's dana bash in a text message, quote, i don't remember calling omb, not about military aid. never knew anything about it. today kellyanne conway told reporters, you don't know what they were talking about. then, of course, we heard kellyanne conway say there incredibly that, you know, if hunter biden and joe biden have nothing to hide, why don't they testify. >> rudy giuliani, same thing. if you have nothing to hide you should come forward too and testify, release some documents. say under oath what you were

talking about. listen, rudy giuliani obviously key to this investigation. you hear on this call or you see from this transcript or from the call the president saying rudy is my guy, talk to rudy, he is the point person, the point guy running this whole operation. so telling i think that he is calling omb, i don't know if he is calling to talk about the yankees or something, but likely, right? if we know all of the facts about this, that there is this money being held up, the $400 million in aid to ukraine as they are talking about these deliverables, it is likely that he was discussing some of -- some of the business. listen, mick mulvaney himself said that, you know, part of the money holdup was to do with some of these investigations. >> yes, the 2016 investigation. >> the 2016, that part of it. he didn't admit to the bidens. so these folks can tweet and run around and have kellyanne conway come to their defense on "fox news", but, listen, they should come before congress and -- if

they've got something to exonerate the president, by all means come, say. >> we should note people were wondering, i hear a lot of conservative and republicans wondering about the phone records. who come there isn't outrage that the house sfwel jens committee apparently subpoenaed the phone records of johnson moll, a former columnist for "the hill" and devin nunes. i was told today that they did not subpoena the phone records of devin nunes and john solomon, and that maybe other records were sought and if you were talking to others it might have come up. coming up, are democrats making a miss moving forward with impeachment so quickly. we will have a member of the committee in charge of drafting the articles of impeachment. when will we see them, what will they include, that's next. this holiday season

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in our politics lead today house speaker nancy pelosi all but guaranteeing that president donald trump will become the third president of the united states to be impeached, announcing that members of the house judiciary committee are currently drafting articles of

impeachment just one day after the committee held its first hearing. joining me now is a member of the house judiciary committee, congresswoman escobar, democrat of texas. thanks for joining us. >> hi, jake. >> you heard republican witness jonathan turley warning in yesterday's hearing, quote, if you rush this impeachment you're going to leave half the country behind. we heard from congressman frances rooney saying his mind was open about impeachment but he didn't like how the process was being rushed. why not slow it down and at least pursue the angle in the courts to try to get all of the memos, messages and e-mails you want, to try to get the mick mulvaneys and pompeos and boltons to testify? >> jake, we discussed that yesterday during our hearing with our experts and something that is very important for the american public to keep in mind. we are one month away from 2020. the year where one of our most important elections will be decided, the election for the

president of the united states among a multitude of other federal, state and national elections. the issue with ukraine and the urgency behind it and the reason, the very reason why our framers, our constitutional framers included impeachment in the constitution is because if you have a corrupt executive who is willing to maintain power by corrupting our election, there's an urgency there. if we were to wait -- we have already seen that the president has done everything possible to prevent us from getting access to all of the documents, all of the witnesses that we need to. the house judiciary committee, the robert mueller report, we are still fighting to gain access to some of those materials. if we wait for the courts, if we wait for an election to settle this, then we will have waited too long in my opinion, especially after what we heard yesterday about making sure that we have a check on a corrupt

executive who is willing to corrupt an election. >> so what is the check? if the house votes to impeach as we think it likely will and then there is a trial in the senate and republicans control the senate, they have 53 seats to democrats' 47, ultimately do you think the senate is going to vote to convict? are you confident in that? >> i don't have a whole lot of hope in the senate because of what we've seen over the last year with senator mitch mcconnell and the shamelessness of basically standing in the way of the will of the american people. >> so what is the check? i'm sorry to interrupt. >> yes. >> but ultimately if he's not going to be convicted in the senate, what is the check? >> so your question was if i had hope. now, i will tell you, i do think that the american public still has the ability to influence their senators. this is about the sanctity of

our elections for me, jake. if americans want to make sure we maintain that through our elections, they need to pressure their senators. who knows what will happen in the house. i don't want to get ahead of anything we are doing, but the american people have a say and they need to put pressure on their elected leereds aboaders preserving and defending the constitution and our republican. that's truly what is at stake here. >> this probably will not come as a surprise to you, congresswoman, but one of your democratic colleagues, congressman jeff van drew of new jersey, a democrat that represents a district trump won by five or six points, he just came out and said he will vote against the articles of impeachment unless there is something new that he has not seen or heard before. that means impeachment would not be unanimous among democrats, although voting against impeachment ultimately will be bipartisan. >> well, that's true. it will be bipartisan if jeff

holds true to what he said. but the bottom line is each one of us really has to search our hearts, and i will tell you, when i was sworn in, that moment that i held up my hand and took that oath and actually from the moment that i was elected last november, i have felt a very profound sense of humility and responsibility. and that oath to that constitution to up hold and defend that constitution stays with me through everything that i do. my hope is that my colleagues will do a lot of reflecting, will look at what is at stake in terms of russia's influence over our country, our future, our elections, about the fact that we have seen lawlessness like we have never seen in our generation, and that when that moment comes that they will do the correct thing. >> are you worried at all, battleground state polls

indicate that a majority of voters in those states oppose impeaching president trump, a narrow majority oppose it. nationally it is different. nationally a narrow majority supports impeaching president trump. but in the states you need to win back the white house, the states you need to maintain your house majority, the voters are not there. are you worried that this is going to hurt democrats? >> i am worried in general about 2020, jake. i mean i believe that we are on a precipice, a dangerous precipice of a country in so many ways, not just, you know, with impeachment but on everything that we've had to bear witness to, everything that we have been through as a country and what lies ahead. but we can't let -- i can't let that fear or concern blind me -- and i can only speak for myself. i can't let that fear blind me from my obligation to my oath of office, and my obligation to try to make sure that we retain the

republic that so many people fought and died for. >> all right. democratic congresswoman veronica escobar of texas, thank you. if i don't talk to you, merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> thanks so much. presidential candidates are supposed to win over voters, not get into shouting matches with them necessarily. apparently the former vice president did not get that memo. that's next. by the way, that's why i'm not sedentary, i don't like it up -- well, not officially. nervous? yeah. yeah me too. don't worry about it, we'll figure it out. i'll see ya in there! just ok is not ok. at&t has america's best network, now with our best plans, at our best prices, starting at $35 a line for 4 lines. new from at&t.

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in our 2020 lead today, former vice president joe biden firing back at a voter today after the retired farmer questioned the former vice president's age and fitness nor

the job and accused biden of sending his son to work in ukraine to sell access to president obama. take a listen. >> if you on the other hand sent your son over there and work for a gas company he had no experience, there's nothing, in order to get access for the president, you're selling access to the president just like he was. >> a liar, man, that's not true. and no one has ever said that. >> i seen it on the tv. >> i seen it on the tv. >> no, i know you do. that's why i'm not sedentary. i don't like it up -- in. >> let him go. let him go. >> look, the reason i'm running is because i've been running a long time and i know more than most people know and i can get things done. that's why i'm running. you want to check my shape, let's do pushups together, let's run, let's do whatever you want

to do. number two, number three, no one has said my son has done anything wrong and i did not on any occasion, and no one has ever said it -- >> i didn't say you were doing anything wrong. >> you said i set up my son to work at an oil company. isn't that what you said? get your words straight, jack. >> hear on msnbc all the time. >> you don't hear it on msnbc. >> i did. >> you didn't hear it at all. look, i'm not going to get into an argument with you, man. >> i don't have an argument with you. >> yeah, you do. look, here's the deal, here's the deal -- >> it looks like you don't have the backbone trump does. >> let the guy talk. let him talk. >> any other questions? >> yeah. >> i'm not -- >> i knew you weren't. you think i thought you would

vote for me? you're too hold. >> well, that escalated quickly. so jamaal, this is -- this has been a good week for biden. beyond that, john kerry is going to endorse him tomorrow. there's been a bump of other good news for him. he is still high in the polls. is that the right way to handle an accusation from a -- by the way, that guy was saying trump is bad and you're not better. he was not a trump supporter. i think he was according to "the new york times", it was an elizabeth warren supporter. is that the right way to handle that? >> listen, i think passion is always important. showing people that you take it seriously is important. the vice president almost wanting to get into fisticuffs with this guy in the back alley. >> that's the right word for it. >> exactly. he got a little too hot. but, you know, listen, they have -- the bidens have a member of their family with real health problems, and i think the vice president as i understand really takes very personally what goes

on in his family. i can imagine he is reacting very negatively -- >> are you talking about hunter's struggle with addiction? >> yes. >> what do you think? >> listen, there has to be a better interest though for once i want to see a voter take him up on one of these challenges. >> yeah. >> let's actually go right now. that put aside, there are questions about hunter biden. it obviously was bad judgment to accept a position on the board of burisma. he has to be an idiot not to know they were trying to buy the influence. >> and people in the obama administration was making that argument we heard from the testimony. >> how dare you insult my family, that's not a good look. that's not the only board he sat on. he was sitting on the board of amtrak. you want to talk about how joe biden used his influence for amtrak because a lot of people would disagree with that spending. let's get into that. >> joe biden has a fine line to walk right now because in 2016 a lot of democratic voters didn't

trust hillary clinton because of the fact there were questions about his role in watergate and her e-mails, the use of the private server. >> white water. >> what did i say? >> watergate. >> oh, goodness. watergate is on the mind these giveaways. >> she did work on the committee but that's not what she meant. >> i stand corrected. >> do you think biden has the same trust issues, perception of corruption issues? >> that's the thing, he needs to go out there and defend himself when he believes and says there's no wrong doing and it has been established even by the ukrainians there was no wrong doing. he needs to defend himself but, you know, at the same time in a way he can come off as credible for voters when they're moving ahead to say this guy is trustworthy and i want to give him my vote. >> i want to play sound with joe biden after the confrontation with the voter in which he was explaining why he reacted the way he did. >> i have overwhelming respect and love for my son, and i find myself occasionally getting

frustrated when assertions are made that are simply not accurate. but as my son will say, dad, just keep your cool, don't let it get to you. >> what do you think? >> you know, i do think -- and you make the hillary clinton comparison. i think men, particularly white men who are seeking positions of power, are often given much more leeway than women are. i think in this instance a lot of voters will see a tough guy and they want joe biden to be tough. >> how would they react if elizabeth warren reacted the same way? >> i'm not sure she would, and hillary clinton talked about it, too. she operated in a much more narrow area of behavior because women are supposed to comport themselves publicly when seeking power in a very different way than men are and we saw it in 2016. donald trump can do anything he wanted and it seemed not to, you know, go to his doom or have any negative effects on him. so i think he was -- i was at an event with joe biden in new hampshire months ago, and

someone, a man yelling at joe biden, get in his face, talking to joe biden about how he should engage with donald trump. i think, you know, people like this. when you talk about joe biden, oh, that's just joe being joe. and joe being joe could be anything, right? it could be joe biden crying. it could be joe biden being sensitive. >> he's emotional, let's say. >> yes, a man can be emotional in a way a woman can't be. >> it is true there's a double standard of behavior, i think it is accurate. the trump administration making a move that could leave close to 700,000 americans without access to food stamps. stay with us. bringing families . this time of year, that's really important. so we're making it easier than ever to become part of our family. that's why our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. the chevy price you pay is what we pay. not a cent more. family is important to us. and we want you to be part of ours. so happy holidays. and welcome to the family. all: the chevy family!

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in our nationally today, nearly 700,000 americans could lose access to food stamps after the trump administration tightened the rules requiring more recipients to work. the trump administration says this move will energize nonworking americans to pursue and get jobs but diane gallagher reports, they say this rule change may have the opposite effect. >> it's very expensive being poor. very. >> he says food stamps helped him survive during tough periods of life and he believes changes being made to government starnt will hurt his community on atlanta's west side. how many people do you know that

have received some assistance? >> people out of ten around here. men and women. >> wednesday, the trump administration revealed a change that the usda mates could result in nearly 700,000 americans losing their food stamps by requiring them to work 20 hours a week before receiving the benefits. his neighborhood, freeman says it's not that e easy. people are dealing with limitations ranging from lack of transportation to control records and look for a job while hungry doesn't help. >> it's going to make it worse and worse. don't have much room for things to get any worse. >> the new rule is set to take effect in april. currently, only working age adults without dependents to have jobs. zwl what we want to do is increase employment. we need these people in the workforce. >> but states can currentry waive the work requirement in areas where unemployment is at least 10% or there are not

enough open jobs available. the new rule would limit states from doing that. now the trump administration has additional proposals it's working on that would change government assistance further. one of those wouldal the terror the way it calculates the poverty threshold, which could mean more than 3 million people would lose their government benefits over time, including half a million children being kicked off free lunch. the other wouldal the terror how they receive utility benefits. >> it was not too long ago they were exchanging quote beautiful letters, but now back to name calling. plus, don't miss our live cnn town hall this evening with house speaker nancy pelosi, it's at 9:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. we'll be right back. like salonpas patch large. it's powerful, fda-approved to relieve moderate pain for up to 12 hours, yet non-addictive and gentle on the body. salonpas. it's good medicine.

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