Good afternoon for Washington. I'm Chuck Todd and this is the Chuck Todd cast on today's

show. We're going to try to keep up with the latest developments in the impeachment saga,

but things are moving very quickly. There may be big developments by the time this podcast

lands in your feed. We're well aware of that, but we're going to try to look at this in

a big picture sort of way so that not to make the not to make this podcast seem completely

irrelevant on the impeachment front. And later does anybody remember the 2020 race? Well,

we know impeachment locks this thing down a bit for a while, but things are happening

under the surface. And what about the Bernie Sanders health issue, which is throwing, I

think a lot of people's thinking about this race up in the air, even as we record this podcast.

Plus, at the end, my full exclusive interview with the Foreign Minister of Iran, Javad Zareef.

So it was a interesting back and forth that I had with him. I don't want to say it was fully

testy, but let's just say it was, it was an interesting back and forth that we had. And I think

you will enjoy that conversation with me today to kick things off Tim Alberta. He's author

of American Carnage on the front lines of the Republican Civil War and the rise of President Trump.

And my NBC news colleague and correspondent Carol Lee, do we have much to talk about?

Not at all. So does your book feel irrelevant now that impeachment's here? Or does it feel more

relevant than ever now than impeachment's here? I think more relevant than ever. And it feels like

it's going to need a new effort. You know, it's the heart. This is the to me, the challenge of

writing about Trump as a book. And I say this is somebody who's been doing it. It is just on one

hand, figuring him out doesn't change, but trying to figure out where the Republican party is going

can. Is there anything that's in the reaction to what's happened in impeachment these first 10 days

that you wish you could include in your book? Boy, that's a good question. You know, and to your

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