so that end that's our broadcast on a tuesday night. thank you so much for being mere with us. good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. ♪ president trump is hitting back after democrats unveiled articles of impeachment yesterday at a rally last night, he bashed the impeachment probe. as, quote, flimsy and pathetic. but the house is expected to pass the articles before leaving for holiday recess. plus, attorney general william barr once again comes to the president's defense despite a watchdog report concluding the fbi had adequate reason to investigate trump's 2016 campaign. barr is arguing that he believes the bureau may have acted in bad faith. and a shoot-out in jersey city. it that leaves a police detective, two civilians and two suspects dead, what authorities are saying about a possible motive.

good wednesday morning, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian welcome with ayman mohyeldin back in the chair. >> i don't know if my voice made it back. >> yeah, you missed some stuff. we begin with another head-spinning day in washington. within one hour yesterday, house democrats unveiled articles of impeachment against the president and delivered his largest legislative win of the year, a trade deal to replace nafta. the day began with those articles of impeachment, charging the president with abuse of power and obstruction of congress. he's accused of ignoring and injuring national security of having corrupt motives and of trying to cover up his own repeated misconduct. democrats warn that in allowed to stay in office the president will, quote, remain a threat to national security and the

constitution. watch this. >> now, some would argue why don't you just wait, why don't you just wait until you get these witnesses the white house refuses to produce? why don't you just wait until you get the documents the white house refusing to turn over? the argument, why don't you just wait amounts to this. why don't you just let him cheat in one more election? why not let him cheat just one more time? why not let him have foreign help just one more time? >> it is not about speed. it's about urgency. one of the charges against the president of the united states is that he was violating his oath of office by asking a foreign government to intervene in our election. undermine the integrity of our elections. if we did not hold him accountable, he would continue to undermine our elections. >> this is kind of a whiplash

morning, dealing with impeach at 9:00? >> hey, the day is young. >> and the reason they announced it on the same day, one hour later, they announced impeachment, a few guys standing behind her. they announce impeachment. and then an hour later, she announced that she's going to do usmca. you know why, it's a huge deal and it plays down the impeachment because they're embarrassed by the impeachment. but today the house democrats announce these two flimsy, pathetic, ridiculous articles of impeachment. the house democrats are walking back from everything they claim with today's announcement. they're now admitting there was no collusion. there was no obstruction of justice. and there were no crimes whatsoever. there are no crimes, it says it. there were no crimes. they're impeaching me and there are no crimes. this has to be a first in

history. they're impeaching me. you know why? because they want to win an election, and that's the only way they can do it. >> democrats will begin marking up the articles tonight and into tomorrow morning. they're expected to be voted out of the judiciary committee. this week, a full house vote is also expected next week. >> and meanwhile, republican lawmakers jumped to president trump's offense attacking the impeachment process and accusing democrats of acting with political motivation. >> today, we watched them introduce two articles of impeachment. that change the course of congress to take away due process for any point of where we are. it is a fear that alexander hamilton had that came to fruition in this congress. i just hope no congress ever repeats what we're going through today. >> they're not impeaching the president because they can enlist an impeachable offense. they're impeaching him because they're afraid he will get

re-elected. >> they're riding abuse of power which is so ambiguous and so vague which really there's nothing that can define what that is, they make it up on the fly. and obstruction of congress, are you kidding me, after 70 days they're going to charge the president with obstruction of congress. that's not the way this congress works. >> a new poll on quinnipiac shows that the president stands on the top of impeachment. 45% of the voters support trump's removal from office. 51% say trump should not be impeached and removed. that is up three points since last month. broken down by party, 3% of republicans, 44% of independents and a staggering 83% of democrats. >> all right. joining us here on set the team is back together, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos and nils wisniewski. danny, let's talk with you,

there was indication as to which direction they were going to go with regards to the articles of impeachment. we have the answer now. obstruction and abuse of power. two articles of impeachment. what do you make of them? >> i think they represent the house's best effort to get a conviction. the reason is this, instead of throwing a bunch of articles against the wall and hoping for some of them to stick, they're focusing on some of the easiest to prove offenses. they don't want to be locked into elements of crime. if you get people thinking about crimes, they start thinking about beyond a reasonable doubt and the extraordinarily high burden that prosecutors need to make out in a criminal case. instead, democrats are starting to talk about how abuse of power is not a crime. and that represents at least to me, if you look at this as some kind of game theory, that these two articles are their best shot of actually getting a conviction. that appears to be the mission. if they just wanted to attack the president and bring out all

of the bad things they think he did, they would throw all of the articles up against the walls including things that relate to mueller. >> nils, when we look at the polls on impeachment, there's a slight majority against the president's removal. do you expect democrats to shift their strategy to try to address this issue? >> the number that really stood out to me in that poll was the 3% of republicans supporting impeachment. basically, the margin of error. so, that's the part of this that's really tricky is how divided the two parties are. the fact that the voices who sometimes you'll see on television in the republican party who are supportive of the impeachment proceedings are basically a rounding error. and so with the parties that far divided. i'm not sure what articles nancy pelosi and the house democrats

could have come up with that would have changed the discussion here. >> danny, walk us through here what comes next. this mock-up which begins at 7:00 a.m., which is the house judiciary committee presenting their opening statements and then presenting their articles of impeachment continuing tomorrow morning. after that take us through the process of this markup and what we can expect down the line? >> markup is probably going to have the same fireworks from last week. and then the articles have to get through the judiciary and then next week they have to be passed by the house formally. there are a few stages but they're expected to sail through because the house is controlled by democrats but i would expect fiery debate that we've seen in the last week. >> i was looking at the clinton impeachment in preparation for all of this. there were four articles of impeachment brought up by president clinton at the time. two of them he was found guilty. two of them he was not. do you see any sort of

similarities in this situation in which there's a possibility that trump could be found guilty of one article of impeachment and not another? >> well, just to clarify, they may vote on articles of impeachment, but the constitution requires, ultimately at the senate he's found guilty, convicted of any article of impeachment mandates removement. and that's a really important strategy consideration. yes, the articles of impeachment, for example, in one makes it through and one doesn't, it may make one to the senate or both may make it. that strategy plays into that and that's why you see charges of abuse of power because that's considered the easiest to prove. and any conviction, any conviction means automatic removal. there's no such thing in the senate of an article of impeachment but, well, we convicted him we're going to let him stay. we're going to censure him or something else. no, very important. when they put together the language of these articles which

are written in very easy to understand english and simplicity. >> niels, only 44% of independents support the removal. do you think the administration is looking at those numbers? >> they certainly are. and i think to danny's earlier point, part of what is really going son here, too, why the articles were chosen, is because we're not going to get into debates about reasonable doubt. you're not necessarily going to have the opposition numbers uptick -- opposition to impeachment numbers uptick, as a result of them, i don't think. >> danny cevallos here on set. thank you guys, both. talk to you in a bit. four people including a police officer are dead after an hour's long shoot-out in jersey city, new jersey. the crime scene sprawled out near a cemetery yesterday average where a 15-year detective joseph seals

approached a suspicious u-haul truck. police say a man and woman fatally struck mr. seals before fleeing to a kosher supermarket. and more three victims died from gunshot wounds. the two suspects were also found dead. the suspects used an ar-type weapon in the shoot-out. while no official motive has been determined as of yet the mayor of jersey city tweeted last night that investigators believe the suspects, quote, targeted the location they attacked. bill de blasio has instructed the nypd to assume alert in the wake of the targeted attacks. mayor de blasio will be a guest this morning on "morning joe." still ahead, what president trump calls a silver lining on impeachment as democrats come to terms on nafta. plus what ought to be a hurdle for the border wall

doesn't stop president trump from boasting about the construction. we'll have those stories and a check of weather, when we come right back. searching for a way to help stop your cold sore?

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>> welcome back, everyone. as we mentioned at the top of the show, democratic leaders and the trump administration have reached a deal to replace the deckeds old free trait agreement with an updated u.s./mexico/canada agreement. house speaker nancy pelosi trade agreement is much better than nafta. in terms of our work here it is infinitely better than what was proposed by the administration. the usmca was signed a year ago by the administration. but to labor and administration aspects before grinnibringing i vote, the new deal aims to improve workers' rights and eliminate caveats for big pharmaceutical companies. later in the day, the revised

agreement was signed mexico city from authorities from mexico and canada. and asked for it from the usmca and later rebunk them. telling white house reporters they approved it today, of all days, calling it a silver lining on impeachment. and a federal judge in el paso, texas, blocked the administration ruling that the administration does not have the authority to avert money appropriated by congress for a different purpose. the white house is planning to use $3.6 billion of military funds to build 175 miles of steel barriers. the judge's ruling is a setback for trump who has pledged to build 450 miles 6 be s of based barrier by 2020. during that rally until pennsylvania last night, trump boasted about his success.

>> no issue had the democrat politician more thoroughly betrayed the american people than on the issue of immigration. far left -- i mean, they're fighting beyond the wall. you have no idea. we're building it. i got money coming in from the military. believe me, if i weren't a good developer, you could forget about that wall. i've got here, there, boom, bah. these people fought me and we started winning in court. >> chuck schumer tweeted this, theisen injunction is a win for the rule of law and should serve as a warning to republicans in congress and the trump administration that the power of the purse given exclusively to congress by the constitution cannot be usurped. >> let's get a check of wurp by meteorologist bill karins. thanks for your update. going to be freezing and cold. >> yeah. >> i can see. >> yeah, you're the late night

radio deejay today. >> coming to you live -- >> all of the hits. >> in a nutshell. >> all right. we have snow this morning, in many areas. connecticut is the sweet spot. notice the temperatures, 31 in hartford. boston is 33. 32 is the magic number because that's when we see the snow accumulating on the roads. connecticut that's happening. 4 inches in a couple spots. even as far south as new haven. careful driving southern new england. outside of the big cities, slushy areas, bridges, overpasses could be trouble. so a little rain left over the area over tom of mobile, heading for pensacola and d.c., you're done with snow. and outside of the beltway, that's about it. philadelphia, a little more snow to go. new york city, same for you. it's really connecticut that has a couple heavier bands. that's when you may see snow totals, 3 or 4 inches. in boston, same for you.

you have another couple hours. we're going to get more additional snow out of it. the area hugging the coast, possibly another slushy inch. that's about it. we'll get lake-effect snow after today, too. as far as the airports go early today. we could get delays because of the low ceilings and precipitation coming down. baltimore, washington, d.c. it's going to be short lived. the flight should catch back up. anything this afternoon and evening should be just fine. of course, most careful driving, i-95 and 84 here throughout connecticut and portions of massachusetts. we mentioned the cold yesterday. it was brutal in the midwest and northern plains. it continues today. a high of 2 in minneapolis. that's it. i just saw the windchill in duluth is negative 33. there is cold bitter air confined to the northern plains. the southern half of the country looks pretty good. to sneak tomorrow morning to prepare it for colder windchills. and tomorrow looks to be an

easier day. back to the west, that's when the next storm is coming in. that comes in late today to bring rain and snow to the northwest and the rockies. unfortunately, the next storm is for the east coast. >> okay. >> it's going to be another rainstorm, we don't have to worry about snow. >> is this the part of the year where folks in miami stop watching the forecast. hurricane season is over. it's pretty much 80 degrees consistently. they're like you guys deal with the rest of the problem. >> this actually, from living in florida, is when the rainy season ends and right now it's a transition. january to april is just a snooze. >> fair enough. >> that's when you head there. >> exactly. contradicting accounts from russia foreign minister sergey lavrov regarding president trump's warning on election interference. we're getting to the bottom of who said what, exactly. too shabby!

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confusion in part about what the two actually discussed. at a press conference last evening, lavrov denied that trump had warned moscow not to interfere in u.s. elections, this despite the readout of the meeting which stated in part, president trump warned against any russian attempts to interfere with the united states. when asked to clarify, lavrov said he brought up secretary of state mike pompeo's early warning about election interference. >> and earlier, they had a meeting where the two disagreed in the 2016 elections. here's how that exchange played out. >> then on the question of interference and our domestic affairs i was clear, it's unacceptable. and i made our expectations of russia clear. the trump administration will always work to protect the integrity of our election period. should russia or any foreign actor take steps to undermine our democratic processes we will

take action in response. >> translator: we have highlighted once again that all speculations about our alleged interference in domestic processes in the united states are baseless. there are no facts which would support that. we did not see these facts, no one has given us this proof, because simply it does not exist. >> okay. so federal prosecutors told a judge said that they are not opposing former trump campaign aide rick gates' request for probation during his sentencing next week. gates who was former trump's campaign manager business partner pled guilty last year to conspiracy against the u.s. lying to former special counsel bob mueller's team and other related charges. he later testified against manafort. and was also a key witness in the trial of former trump campaign adviser roger stone. in their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors said, gates, quote, should be commended for standing

up to provide information in public testimony. under the terms of his deal with prosecutors gates faces up to 71 months in prison for leading for the two felony counts but may ask for probation without opposition if he continues to fully cooperate. still ahead, attorney general william barr is commenting to surprising coming -- well, not really, to the president's defense. plus, rudy giuliani says president trump asked him to brief the justice department and republican senators on his ukraine findings. what we're learning about his recent trip abroad flex. next. next. when i rent a car, i never compromise.

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♪ welcome back, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian. we begin this half hour with those exclusive remarks from attorney general william barr. now, despite the findings of the justice department's inspector general report, he claims the fbi may have operated out of bad faith when it investigated the trump campaign back in 2016. in an exclusive interview, barr essentially dismissed the idea that the hand-picked prosecutor john durham will have the final say. barr also stood by his assertion that the trump campaign was spied on. >> i think our nation was turned on its head for three years. i think based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely

fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press. and i think that there were gross abuses of fisa. and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the fbi. in one area, i do disagree with the ig. and that was whether there was sufficient predication to open a full-blown counterintelligence investigation, specifically using the techniques that they did. to collect intelligence about the trump campaign. the core statement, in my opinion, by the ig is that these irregularities, these misstatements, these omissions were not satisfactorily explained. and i think that leaves open the possibility to infer bad faith. >> do you still stand by your

statement that the campaign was spied upon? >> oh, it was clearly spied upon. i mean that's what electronic surveillance is. i think wiring people up to go in and talk to people and make recordings of their conversations is spying. i think going through people's emails, which they did, as a result of the fisa warrant, they went through everything. >> so there is backlash to the attorney general's comments as we just heard from him. according to "the washington post," some people within the justice department say they privately worry that barr's latest remarks could have real consequences. one justice department employee told "the post" this, he seems a lot moore of a kool-aid drinker than i expected. and one you start eroding confidence in the bureau that limits conviction in our cases. another added this, it's this internal debate am i violating my own principle by saying here and working under this set of conditions? or am i somebody who should say

so when this nightmare is over, we can just start putting the pieces back together. meanwhile, a group of conservative lawyers who called for, quote, checks and balances, also came out against barr's latest arguments. >> meanwhile, president trump at his rally in pennsylvania last night continued to attack the fbi even use the word "scum." >> the fbi also sends mutt tim undercover human spies to surveil and record people associated with our campaign. look how they've hurt people. they've destroyed the lives of people. that were great people. that is still great people. their lives have been destroyed by scum. okay? by scum. an fbi lawyer forged, took an email, forged, forged an email used as evidence, an act which is now the subject of a criminal

referral. okay. what they did is so unbelievable. oh, i look forward -- i don't know -- i don't know -- keep away -- i look forward to bull durham's report, that's the one i look forward to. >> you can't help but wonder what the morale inside of the fbi is right now, especially hearing a statement like that from the president of the united states. basically inferring that he thinks certain members of the fbi are scum. >> yeah, it's heartbreaking. back with us now from washington, d.c., senior writer at roll call niels lesniewski, good to have you back with us. it seems as show the attorney general are trying to make the durham report which is kind of ironic, the official report they're going to rely on and not the one that came out of the justice department's inspector general which is considered to be the more independent report.

what are your thoughts on that, if in fact that does happen? >> that sure seems to be the playbook for the attorney general and for president trump in his campaign. so, i suppose they are assuming that the report which is being produced by the u.s. attorney up in connecticut is going to be more favorable to their situation, when it eventually comes out. but i've seen some reporting that that's not going to be for months now. so, basically, if you're just pushing this off, trying to basically get people not to pay attention to what the inspector general has found. and just basically get this on into the summer, and hope that the next one turns out more favorable to their position. >> i think as we heard, across the board yesterday, the fact that durham even issued a statement with regards to the inspector general but was completely unprecedented.

i want to turn quickly to impeachment here, niels. help us to set the stage on what to expect in the coming days. you heard that the hearing from the senate don't happen until after the christmas break. what should we expect in the next ten days or so? >> so, what i'd be looking at, tonight it's going to be opening statements from the judiciary committee and that markup where they'll actually going through the legislative process for the impeachment. so tomorrow they should get out of the judiciary committee. that, to me, most likely sets up floor consideration in the house, if i had to guess, it would be on wednesday of next week. because they're going to try and process the spending bills first. remember, the government shuts down at the end of next week, if they don't do something first. so, my guess is that we'll see articles of combeeflt impeachme

floor of the house wednesday. and the trade deal, ironically, will be thursday. >> niels lesniewski, thank you so much. president trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani said that the president has asked him to brief him and republican senators on his findings on his trip to ukraine. according to "the washington post," giuliani said he returned from his trip on saturday where he went seeking witnesses and documents that would prove the claims that he made about joe biden's son hunter and to assert his claim that ukraine, not russia, interfered with the election. news was meant with condemnation from lawmakers and even some republicans and therefore it was unclear whether justice officials would be willing to meet with the former mayor to discuss the alleged findings from his trip. joining us is reporter from politico daniel lipmann. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> what is going to be made of

the briefing in washington? >> i think he basically wants to so what evidence he found in ukraine. this was a trip that people did not want to happen among republicans who don't want trump to have rudy giuliani as a lawyer anymore. they think he's not credible. and so, rudy giuliani's ukraine involvement helped lead trump to -- on the path towards impeachment. so, he's only adding -- you know, adding fuel to the fire. and so it doesn't seem like rudy giuliani came up with too much, in terms of interviews, i watched some of those clips from "one america" and really it was kind of thin greuel. >> what have you learned about rudy giuliani's spokesperson? what have you learned about her? >> as profiled in politico, christiana allen is an online student with liberty university, and she has a history of making

up stuff about her resume. she says -- she claims viers tit various titles that she does not have like representative of trump victory committee, a video columnist for the daily caller. i talked to representative of those entities and they have said those are not true, at worst. and at best, they're embroiled titles. i think who rudy giuliani hires as his communications director is someone who does not have credibility and who is not even legal to buy alcohol at the trump hotel where she's spotted a lot at rudy's side. >> one more mind-boggling twist in the saga and personality. >> you want a fudged resume in the trump administration. >> at least you got a profile out of it. >> yeah, that's more than we got from politico. daniel lipmann -- >> yeah, not the most positive profile. >> i'm just kidding. thank you very much.

good to see you as always. >> thanks, daniel. still ahead, the latest in the race for president. new polling has bernie sanders up, elizabeth warren down. and pete buttigieg gives the president the best run for his money. your "first look" at "morning joe" is back in a moment. did you know that feeling sluggish or weighed down could be signs that your digestive system isn't working at its best? taking metamucil every day can help. metamucil supports your daily digestive health using a special plant-based fiber called psyllium. psyllium works by forming a gel in your digestive system to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. metamucil's gelling action also helps to lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so, start feeling lighter and more energetic by taking metamucil every day. (burke) at farmers insurance, we've seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. even a "three-ring fender bender."

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she rose, she rose, she became strong, but then she opened that fresh mouth of hers and it stopped. it stopped. i don't see her as -- i don't think she makes it. but you don't know, crazier things are happening in the democratic party. >> i think the president is sounding really nervous. you know, the president has started talking about my student loan debt forgiveness plan. he started talking about the two cent wealth tax. i think the president is very uneasy and he should be.

>> so, that was elizabeth warren last night responding to president trump's latest attacks. meanwhile the latest poll from iowa has warren nose-diving in the caucus state. tied for first place. two months ago. warren is now down four points in 11th place. joe biden, bernie sanders and pete buttigieg are in a statistical tie. buttigieg at 18%. a nine-point game for amy klobuchar has her hitting double digits for the first time at 12%. buttigieg performs best, 46 to 45. a statistical tie. trump leads biden by four points. sanders and warren by seven points. and pete buttigieg has released his client list for when he worked at the consulting firm mckinsey. among some of his clients, blue

cross blue shield of michigan. the canadian grocery chain loblow's and best buy. the mayor told msnbc last night he doesn't know what happened at the company after he left two years prior. and says he doubt his work led to job cuts. buttigieg released a statement on the release of the client list saying now voters can see for themselves that my work amounted to mostly analysis and transparency and keeping my word. and with an interview with the atlantic he called mckinsey as amoral as the american business community in general or at least the corporate community could be. but i never worked on or was asked to work on things that i had a problem with. still ahead, the winners and losers of nafta 2.0.

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trump lashed out immediately, of course, he said the articles of impeachment were weak articles. he tweeted he's done nothing wrung. it's a witch hunt, read the transcripts. he did all of his hits but it makes no difference the house will vote to impeach possibly as

early as next week. and then the case will go to the senate, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has not indicated when the trial had been held or how long the trial will last. but he did announce that the verdict will be not guilty. >> there you go. welcome back. time now for -- welcome back, time for business. we want to dig deeper into that trade agreement between u.s., mexico and canada, after winning over house democrats. giuliana tannenbaum joins us live. good to have you with us. break down the winners and losers of the newly revised ummca. >> we do have an agreement from trade representatives from all three of these countries, canada, mexico and united states. they've all signed this usmca deal, clearing the way to potentially seeing it go into

effect early next year. before we determine who the winners and losers are, it's important to know that this does need approval from legislative bodies before this moving forward. that's where we are in terms of the time line. now, another trade topic i want to bring up for you, u.s./china, we're looking at the december 15th deadline where the u.s. has threatened to impose fresh tariffs on chinese goods. "the wall street journal" saying that we could see a delay on that time line. president trump seems to be undecided on what to do. the market is a little cautious ahead of that day. and it's also a day for markets. we have seen audod saudi aramco to market. they came to markets with shares soar 10% on its debut hitting the upper limit for index over in saudi. and that puts the valuation number at winding road with numerous

setbacks but the day has finally come. >> yesterday a new york judge sided with exxon mobil in a case involving climate change. what can you tell us about this? >> well, this has been a case that's been going on for years. this verdict that we got ends a four-year saga, actually, for exxon mobil. this was a case around a $1.6 billion lawsuit brought about by the new york attorney general's office alleging that they had misled investors about the true cost of climate change, but the key here is that exxon mobil was found not guilty in this case, and it was dismissed with prejudice, which means that the case cannot be brought again on these facts in new york. and this is an important case because of course exxon mobil is the united states's largest oil company. very big decision there. >> live from london for us, thank you. coming up next, a look at the 1 big thing from "axios."

democrats charge the president with abuse of power. we're going to lay out the next steps that's likely to have the president impeached before christmas. and backlash against william barr for mischaracterizing and lying about the report on the russia probe. "morning joe" is just moments away. ♪ everybody... with low prices and free shipping on millions of items at amazon. ♪ i suffered with psoriasis i felt gross. people were afraid i was contagious. i was covered from head to toe. i was afraid to show my skin. it was kind of a shock after... i started cosentyx. i wasn't covered anymore. four years clear. five years now. i just look and feel better. see me. cosentyx works fast to give you clear skin that can last.

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welcome back, joining us from washington with a look at "axios" a.m., editor and chief for "axios." talk to us about "axios's" 1 big thing. >> a china surveillance scoop. big breaking news this morning from "axios's" new china expert. she's been digging through thousands of pages of world bank documents and discovered that chine chine chinese schools had ptsed to use world bank loans to fund surveillance activity. the chinese government has built a -- the world bank has been running a loan program for some

schools there and we discovered in some of the procurement documents that the schools wanted to use the money to build sort of a blacklist system around the schools, able to monitor people on these blacklists and trigger authorities whenever a camera picked up one of these people. it speaks to the challenges of working in china, particularly in western china. the loan program did not disburse the funds to those particular surveillance activities. they spent about $50 million on schools in that region, and they didn't discover it immediately because the documents were in chinese. it talks about the moral hazards of working with a lot of these kind of organizations, particularly in western china where a lot of these technologies are being used for surveillance. >> president trump could be impeached by christmas, what is "axios" reporting about the positive aspects of his presidency that supporters might highlight while home for the holidays? >> there's something under the christmas tree for both sides of the aisle this year. for the trump supporter in your

family, you can talk about great economic numbers, near record low unemployment, stock market at record high, and then the big news yesterday, the nafta 2.0, the new trade agreement with mexico and canada, and so trump supporters are like greatest president ever, and of course for the democrat on your shopping list, the president's about to be impeached. that's sort of the split screen moment, within an hour of each other yesterday we had the impeachment articles introduced and then we had the deal on the trade deal announced. one thing to look at on the politics of that, democrats are looking at that trade deal as a way to show that impeachment isn't stopping everything they're doing, about the 30 democrats in trump positive districts can go back home and say look, we're impeaching the president but we're also moving forward with important legislative business including the trade deal. >> ox ios has some reporting about which 2020 democrats are gaining the most attention on social media. take us through it. >> "axios" is seeing how news moves on the internet, a little

bit of data we've dug under the r u -- up. tulsi gabbard polls very low in the polls but an internet favori favorite, looking at more right leaning news organizations have been pushing a lot of her stories driving a lot of interactions. tulsa gabbard story that got the most attention on the internet is when she called hillary clinton a queen of corruption. i think it speaks very much to how news moves on the internet and how sort of very partisan, distinctly sort of out there positions can definitely attract a ton of attention. >> let's turn our sights so what's happening later today and the rest of the week. what do you got your eyes on? >> the big next thing, like the impeachment articles are out. we're expecting the house to vote on those soon. the committee to vote on those soon. those will move to the full house. that's a foregone conclusion. what i'm really looking ahead to is what are we going to learn

about the senate trial? who are going to be the managers of that? who are going to be the stars of the show and over the $64 million question is how much of a party line vote will this be? will no republicans break ranks and will the president be acquitted in the new year? >> what are you expecting to hear from the hearing this morning at 10:00 a.m. from the inspector general? >> a lot of that -- this gets back to sort of the same kind of christmas gifts. there are people on both sides of the aisle who can find what they want out of that report. the fbi did violate a lot of its principles, but a lot of the conspiracy theories weren't brought to fruition. they weren't validated at all. at the same time, for a lot of these hearings people have moved into their camps. they believe what they believe. when you look off the internet as far as a split screen, what mike loves to do is show different cable channels, like you're living in different universes. you can live in your bubble on facebook. you can live in your bubble on trump or nancy pelosi. it's completely different

worlds. i don't see any movement of that happening. >> nicholas johnson live for us in washington, d.c., thank you. you can sign up for that newsler by going to signup."axios".com. i'm yasmin vossoughian, alongside ayman mohyeldin, "morning joe" starts right now. >> this country is so respected, and we were not respected four years ago. we were laughed at. >> oh, there's a lot of laughing, but it's happening right now, and it's not good for us. good morning, and welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, december 11th, along with joe, willie and me we have former aide to the george w. bush white house and state department,