hello. i'm ana cabrera in new york. i want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. president trump this weekend is technically still on trial. but now that the outcome of the impeachment process is pretty much set there's very little suspense and very little uncertainty left. so the focus now shifts to iowa. that is where the men and women fighting for the democratic nomination for president will finally see in the first real votes for the 2020 race for the white house. no more polls or mock elections. the iowa caucuses are monday. our cnn political director david chalian joins us in iowa. cnn had planned to bring everyone the final poll in the demais moines register tonight. that is no longer happening. please explain to us why. >> reporter: it was brought to cnn's attention earlier this

evening someone questioned for the survey raised an issue the way their interview was conducted. that means the results of the poll would have been compromised. we weren't able to determine exactly what happened during this person's interview, and we don't know if it was an isolated incident. so out of an abundance of caution cnn and des moines register and the company who conducts the poll decided not to release tonight's poll. we take the standards that we apply to our polling very seriously. and to keep the highest possible standards we wanted to present this information to the public and explain why we didn't proceed with releasing this poll this evening, ana. >> okay, david chalian, i'm glad you are there. i know you'll have much more coming up live from des moines, but first to the campaign trial. some influential democrats appear to be fighting more among themselves against the freshly

impeached donald trump. and instead of looking forward, they're rehashing the past. here we are friday night the sitting democratic congresswoman booed former presidential nominee hillary clinton. this was at a bernie sanders rally in iowa. the moderator mentioned recent comments from hillary clinton where she criticized her 2016 opponent bernie sanders. listen to this hillary clinton comment and then see what happened last night. >> unfortunately, you know, his campaign and his principle supporters were just very difficult and really constantly not just attacking me but my supporters. we'd get to the convention, they're booing michelle obama, john lewis. i mean it was very distressing and such a contrast between what we did to unite in '08 and all the way up until the end, a lot of people highly identified with this campaign were urging people

to vote third party, urging people not to vote. it had an impact. >> iowa, we have three days. i don't remember if you guys remember last week when someone by the name of hillary clinton said that nobody -- we're not going to boo. we're classy here. >> no, i'll boo. boo. you all know i can't be quiet. no, we're going to boo. that's all right. the haters will shut up on monday when we win. >> that was michigan congresswoman rashida tlaib, a major surrogate for senator bernie sanders booing a fellow democrat from the stage. tlaib expressed some remorse today on twitter saying her disappointment with hillary clinton got the best of her. senator sanders and former vice president joe biden are heading into the iowa caucuses monday sharing the lead among the democratic candidates. we have live team coverage all across the state of iowa. let's start with cnn's ryan

nobles. he is with the sanders campaign tonight. any raeaction there to that friday night booing incident? >> there has been some reaction to it, ana, but honestly the sanders campaign wants to move on. they are more focused what's happening here in iowa over the next couple of days, this massive rally taking place behind me and the energy they believe is behind their campaign going into this crucial stage of the democratic nominating context. i did talk to michael moore an hour ago. he's the filmmaker, he was at that event last night where that controversial statement was made. and essentially moore's argument here is, yes, there is still some angst still particularly in the democratic wing of the party as to what happened in 2016, but we should not misinterpret that. this is more where the energy in the party is and he believes the energy is behind bernie sanders merchandise listen to what he

told me an minute ago. >> burnl ae sanders is number one in the polls here in new hampshire, across the country. your own cnn poll last week said he's number one with nonway voters. he's fighting for health care for all americans, day care, a minimum wage should be doubled, on and on. when people hear that that's why they're for burernie sanders. we're thinking about how many people have lost their homes because they couldn't pay the medical bills. that's all we're talking about, that's all we're thinking about. >> reporter: and that is the focus of this sanders speech tonight. here behind me he's continuing to hit on these issues he's talked about for the last 40 years. sanders himself repeatedly on the campaign trail this weekend has said the following refrain, if voter turn out is high, they will win. if voter turn out is low, they will lose. that is the standard they're holding to on monday night, and

right now they feel that voter turn out will result in a victory for bernie sanders. ana? >> ryan nobles there live. we hear the cheering continuing behind me. senator warren also addressed the clinton booing incident and this divide and the lack of unity in the democratic party at this moment. what did she say? >> well, ana, congresswoman tlaib booing hillary clinton this is an incident hat has created a lot of concern among democrats, concerns that the party isn't unified as we head into the election and voting actually starting in just two days. and we are just coming out of an event that elizabeth warren held in iowa city, and when she spoke to reporters after the event, cnn got a chance to ask her to react to congresswoman tlaib booing hillary clinton. this is what she said.

>> i understand that during primaries people can get heated. but what's important is we've come together as a party because we have one really important job, and that is to beat donald trump. and our best chance to do that is when democrats work together, when we get out there and fight for the things we believe in and we bring as many people as possible into our party. >> so interesting as you heard there, senator warren chalking up this incident to politics sometimes getting heated. and it was also notable that this question allowed senator warren to talk about party unity, which is something that she already wanted to talk about as she has made her pitch in iowa this weekend on electability. and a part of that message has been that she believes she can win over supporters of bernie sanders from 2016 and even supporters of donald trump from the last election. and i just want to paint a picture for you, a bigger

picture sort of scene of what it has been like to cover senator warren just this weekend. the energy has just felt different. i think voters are obviously keenly aware that voting is about to get under way. senator warren herself has been extremely energetic. this is candidate who often doesn't lack energy, but it has seemed even more so this weekend as she has really delivered her closing and final message. and just to give you some perspective, too, on how much campaigning senator warren is trying to cram into these final days especially since she has spent it last week in washington, d.c. for the senate impeachment trial, she announced earlier today that she is scening their famous photo lines this weekend in iowa because she doesn't have time for that, unfortunately. she said she wants to preserve the time to visit as many cities as possible this weekend. so just goes to show how much urgency there is this weekend in iowa as these candidates are

fanned out trying to deliver their final messages before the caucuses. ana? >> all right, thank you, m. j. as these candidates rush to try to reach as many voters as possible, we want to reach as many of the campaigns as possible so let me bring in arlette saenz. how is team biden feeling heading into monday? >> reporter: joe biden is wrapping up his third event of the day here in water loo, iowa. he's actually shaking hands with people and reporters are waiting to ask him a few questions, but joe biden has been here on the ground for the past week. and he has been stressing over and over that he is the best candidate to face president trump and defeat him in november. this is something biden has been hammering away as he's campaigned through the state. and what he's essentially trying to do here is something he started to do at the very beginning of his campaign. he tried to frame this as a

face-off between himself and the president. he doesn't mention his democratic rivals by name in his stump speech, but he's really trying to stress to the voters that the president is most concerned about facing him in a general election. now, you did hear biden today offer vote wrz a little suggestion what they should be evaluating when they look at these other democratic candidates. one thing he says was that you need to select someone who isn't just simply making promises, who actually can get things done. that could be seen as a snub, a slight at bernie sanders who biden has often said some of the policy as that have been proposed on the more left side of the party aren't as realistic, able to actually become legislation. but take a listen as biden over the course of the day ozreally trying to draw a contrast, paint a contrast between himself and the president in both values and leadership style. take a listen to what he had to say earlier tonight. >> everyone knows who donald

trump is. we have to let him know who we are. no, that's what we have to do. we choose hope over fear. we choose science over fiction. we choose unity over division, and we choose truth over lies. >> reporter: so joe biden there sending a rallying cry to democrats about what they should be sending a message with their caucus decision, and he is betting that caucus goers and people across the country that their first priority is going to be defeating president trump, and he thinks he's the best one to do that. >> arlette saenz with the biden campaign, thank you. you spoke with buttigieg right before his campaign event earlier in iowa.

you talked about his effort to court what he is calling future former republicans. explain. >> reporter: that's right, ana. we're here at the last event of the day for pete buttigieg in cedar rapids, but it has capped what's been several days of really a world wind tour of iowa where he's gone county to county to county with the idea being speaking to those voters that he believes he can get. they might have been people who voted for president obama in 2008 and 2012 and flipped to vote for donald trump in 2016. the buttigieg campaign is staking so much of their strategy here in iowa on showing they have the ability to reach not only registered republicans but former democrats and what he calls future former republicans. i asked him about what's behind that strategy, and here's what he had to say. >> i think it's a mistake to take any vote for granted, and it's a mistake to write any vote off.

look, i want to not only win against donald trump but win so big it sends trumpism itself into the dustbin of history. and i think to win would send out the shock waives to reunite senate gop leaders with their conscience. it seems right now the language of political power and winning and losing is the only thing they'll respond to. >> reporter: and while on the ground here in iowa buttigieg has been focused on reaching some of those flipping voters from 2016 to 2020, but there's also some questions being raised by some of his own supporters about whether he can reach his fellow democrats and unite the democratic party. he said to one supporter today to remind their friends who might want to vote for bernie sanders and elizabeth warren that their medicare for all proposals, for example, would actually result in people who work in those industries out of a job. so there's still a lot of questions here whether buttigieg's message is going to

reach some of the more progressive voters, and it's also something we've heard a lot of his own supporters having some anxiety about. i think democrateris are concer they'll be able to come together with one nominee and on a united front. >> thanks for your reporting one and all on your reporting from the trail. you have the caucuses monday, tuesday the "state of the union" address. wednesday and thursday we have back-to-back presidential town halls for you live from new hampshire. so don't week our whole week of special coverage right here on cnn. we'll be right back. at t-mobile, start 2020 off with a deal on iphone 11 that will have you seeing double. all on t-mobile's newest, most powerful signal. get twice the deal, with 2 lines of unlimited for $90 and 2 iphone 11s on us. only at t-mobile. when i needed to jumpstart sales. build attendance for an event.

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chief national correspondent john kaine. let me start with you because before the break we saw rashida tlaib booing hillary clinton at an event for senator sanders. this sounds like deja vu a little bit. how does the party in 2020 bridge this gap? especially if this becomes a long primary fight? >> well, it's that last part that you said is the most important especially if it becomes a long primary fight because that was exactly what hillary clinton was getting at with the series of comments she made first in the upcoming documentary and the podcast that say released. this is a real undercurrent that has been going on for more than four years now. and the fact it continues and hillary clinton isn't even on the ballot is very telling. and it's also -- i was talking to some sanders supporters today about this -- empowering for them. at this point so close to caucus

day, so close to when people are actually going to the polls, you know, they're trying to harness the anger, to harness the offense that they are taking to these comments. >> and can i just add something to that, dana, i heard pete buttigieg in an interview with abbey philip, our colleague today on cnn, and i went to go see senator sanders give a speech in iowa today. and he on a couple of occasions in his remarks today talked about unifying the party. he made the case for why he thinks he's the absolute best one to go up against president trump and defeat him. but he also said, you know, that he -- and he thinks he could speak for every other person on the stage, knows that the ultimate goal for the party is to defeat trump, and they will get behind whoever is the nominee. he talked about the need to unify the party again a couple of times in his speech.

and when i heard that my ears perked up a little bit because he knows he has to continue to assuage any concerns from the non-supporting side of the party for him, and buttigieg had this in his remark, too. and i think these candidates understand -- look how they're closing. all of them are closing on electability arguments and message and policy but that core issue of electability because we have seen all yearlong nothing matters as much as defeating the president. and they have to make sure that they're not doing anything to dissipate from that. >> iowa democrats you pick it up a lot because obama won the state twice and democrats loved it. they were part of the birth of obama. they sent him on a victory and then trump won it. so democrats get mad about that, they get viscerally mad about that. so unity to them matters. the bad blood does still exist. bernie sanders has tried to move past it, you're dead right about that. he understands how important it

is to his growth especially if he can get a win here and early momentum it's key to his growth. some of his supporters like the congresswoman last night, they're a little tickly about this. >> there's an interesting dynamic though this year in iowa because there are so many candidates and there isn't a clear, clear front-runner. there's a big group right at the front. elizabeth warren has seen her poll numbers slip a bit and recently her campaign has been down-playing the significance of the early nominating contest. she's sort of changing her message from i have a plan to i am the most electable. how well does she have to perform there in iowa in order to keep her campaign from stalling out? >> look, i mean all of these candidates have the ones who are really campaigning aggressively here in iowa. they do have to do well. with someone like elizabeth warren who i don't know if you guys agree, who's got a tremendous amount of support not

just in iowa, not just in new hampshire because she's from the state next door, but also she's started campaigning aggressively in the south. so she's got the support across the country, she's got money. so if she doesn't do well here especially if bernie sanders does and he kind of takes the progressive mantel, it will be harder for her to catch up, but maybe not at depth here if she performs poorly here. >> i think the steaks are high. i think you could make the case almost for each of the leaders in the field as to why iowa is important for them. i do think, you know, there's a lot riding on it from warren and buttigieg to catapult to show that what they've built over this year is durable. i think that there is some pressure on sanders to show he can re-create the movement that came out and almost won the

caucuses here against hillary clinton four years ago. and there's pressure on joe biden who has most consistently made the case he is the most electable, and this has been the very core of his message. and one of things to prove electability is winning. so i think there's pressure on him. i think it's actually an important state. even though it may be a muddle and will go on in carolina and new hampshire and super tuesday, but i do think it's a pretty important out of the gate marker for each of them. >> and i think maybe and it's a big maybe but all the more so this year because you do have a strategy that's never worked before but with a michael bloomberg waiting because he writes his own checks. the first four contests give you less than 35% of the delegates you need for the convention, so it's about momentum and building your brand. but warren, sanders, buttigieg, biden to a lesser extent successfully raising money so far.

if you're struggling so far and eu you've got a guy that's willing to spend when you get to these big states, it's never happened before. if nobody emerges or if one of the progressives emerges with winning three out of the first four that's when bloomberg is going to stand up and say look at me. so i think getting momentum whether it's elizabeth warren tomorrow is a test of organization -- i'm sorry, monday is a test of organization. >> bloomberg has been been criticized for not having to play the same political game as the other candidates, and this big question mark about the strategy he is pursuing that really hasn't been pursued previously, and he's been criticized for not having to come on the debate stage to make his case to the voters. well, now, we have the dnc just announcing they're changing the rules for the debates. no donor threshold for the upcoming debate in nevada.

that means michael bloomberg could make his first appearance on the stage. i mean, this is something the sanders campaign is now crying foul saying the dnc is paving a path here for bloomberg. is that what happened here? >> well, michael bloomberg would say his campaign would say he's rise in the polls. he's giving money to the dnc. the candidates are trying to say he gave a whole bunch of money to the dnc. in iowa even someone who says you're a sanders supporter they admire pete buttigieg, so iowa voters resent it if you escape at the beginning. bloomberg's play is nobody emerges and he can raise his hand with all that money and imagine how cory booker feels, imagine all these candidates that have dropped out of the race. the reality looking forward is he's now risen to 8%, 10%, 12%

in some of these polls and that matters. if he does get on the debate stage and spending all this money, who knows. >> it already is feeding into the rigged system notion that bernie sanders, you know, is pounding on even andrew yang, others are pounding on tom steyer and it's not just about this particular issue, it's sort of the core of their campaigns, when they're talking about changing the institutions, changing the way we do things, and so when you have something like the dnc saying, yeah, maybe michael bloomberg can come in and we're going to change the rules for him, obviously not directly but that's what the critics are saying. you know, it's the same notion on the other side of the aisle that helped donald trump get elected. it's the rigged system. it's the, you know, taking a whack at everything that

washington and the big institutions are keeping down the little people. it's the same notion. >> okay, everyone standby. our leave team coverage from iowa will continue in just a moment. (paul) i'm going to keep this short and sweet. now you can switch to sprint and get both an unlimited plan and the samsung galaxy s10 plus included for just $35 a month. yup. short and sweet. for people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay.com. robinwithout the commission fees. so, you can start investing today wherever you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood. every breath makes you feel closer to nature.

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with just one full day left now before the iowa caucuses, how do voters in the first in the nation to vote state feel during these last hours approaching decision time?

cnn's jeff zeleny is in des moines talking to voters there. jeff? >> reporter: finally it's their turn. iowa voters are poised to render the first verdict of the presidential race. >> i have never not been willing to take a chance and i think this election we need to take a chance. >> reporter: pat monday has been busy sizing up the field. >> i started first with elizabeth warren, and i was very pro-elizabeth in the beginning. my next candidate was pete. i've heard him speak twice. joe biden, he is a source of comfort. bernie sanders comes off much more compelling in person than he does on the screen. >> reporter: so monday night whose corner will you be in? >> i have committed to caucus for pete. >> reporter: mundy, a retired

teacher has taken full advantage of her front row seat, asking questions with andrew yang and finally coming face-to-face with her top choice. after a year of listening to candidates at town hall meetings and through tv ads voters are making up their minds. >> this is the year to play it safe and go with the proven candidate and that's joe biden. >> reporter: we met john at a campaign stop for buttigieg where he made his final decision to support biden. >> we need to nominate the person who can beat president trump. that's the number one issue. >> reporter: the signs of the season are everywhere in iowa from store fronts to front yards. this time many voters have been slow to choose as they search for the strongest candidate to challenge president trump. their decisions are driven by issues but above all electability. on that front democrats are torn whether to choose a progressive path -- >> i am supporting senator sanders. >> reporter: why? >> i just love his message.

i think that he has integrity. >> reporter: -- or a more pragmatic one. >> my first choice caucus i think i'm going to go with amy klobuchar. my second is uncertain. >> reporter: it's that question of second choice that's critical here. candidates must win at least 15% support in the first round of voting. if they don't, voters turn to their plan b. for hope that's biden. she respects him and is comfortable with him. but after seeing him up close she wasn't electrified. >> i have to weigh this out. i like a lot of the new ideas that tom stoeyers has, but i am good with biden. if he's our guy, i can support him. >> reporter: but not everyone is making that choice. after seeing biden and buttigieg on the same day just before christmas sherry faced a tough decision. >> i've got to think about it,

sleep on it. i don't know yet. >> reporter: we caught up with her again this week. >> mayor pete you've got my vote. as many times as i've seen him i've enjoyed him every time. i appreciate everything he says, smart guy. today really solidified my thought process on it. so i'm going with pete. >> reporter: now, there is no question that those voters have made up their minds, but so many other voters across iowa we've talked to all week have not. there's so many undecided voters here, ana. one of the reasons is electability. we hear again and again who is the strongest democrat to take on president trump. tonight i'm a rally for senator amy klobuchar of minnesota. she of course has been trapped in washington at the impeachment trial all week, so she's back here now trying to rally support. she of course is pressing the electability argument as well. in fact her precinct captain leaders are wearing green shirts that say amy klobuchar can beat president trump.

so it's not a subtle message here from any of the candidates. that is one of the defining issues. but the question is how many voters will turn out monday night at the caucuses? if bernie sanders has been saying, if it's a big turn out that benefits him. if it's a small turn out, it does not. so with a day and a half left of campaigning still undecided. >> it's anyone's game and certainly looks like there's a full house behind you tonight. quick break. we'll be right back. at t-mobile, start 2020 off with a deal on iphone 11 that will have you seeing double. all on t-mobile's newest, most powerful signal. get twice the deal, with 2 lines of unlimited for $90 and 2 iphone 11s on us. only at t-mobile. indulgent, delicious, irresistible., night; fancy feast makes delighting your cat delightfully easy. every recipe, every last detail; another fancy way to show your love. fancy feast. introducing savory centers. paté with a center of gravy!

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tonight fresh reaction from democrats and republicans as the time line for president trump's impeachment trial has shifted with an end now expected on wednesday. senator lamar alexander of tennessee who was a key vote against calling witnesses says he thinks president trump's conduct was improper and crossed the line but not bad enough to justify removal from office. now, democrat like house speaker nancy pelosi are keeping criticism on the republicans' decision to end the trial without witnesses. cnn's manu raju has more. >> how does it feel to be leaving during a trial after a no resolution? >> reporter: a bitterly divided senate taking a break as republicans push for a swift end to president trump's historic impeachment trial. after ignoring democratic complaint that they're holding a sham trial, republicans have now set a schedule that will virtually assured trump is clear a day after his "state of the union" address next week.

monday, 11:00 a.m., closing arguments from the democratic impeachment managers and president trump's lawyers for two hours each. after that, regular senate business allowing senators to deliver floor speeches about their decisions over whether to convict the president. culminating wednesday at 4:00 p.m. eastern, the final vote on whether to remove or acquit president trump on charges of high crimes and misdemeanors. democrats' emotion still raw after republicans voted largely along party lines against hearing from any witnesses or issuing subpoenas for scores of documents blocked by the white house. >> it's deeply disappointing. >> reporter: speaker nancy pelosi tweeting, it is a sad day for america to see senator mcconnell humiliate the chief justice of the united states into presiding over a vote which rejected our nation's judicial norms, precedence and institutions which up hold the constitution and the rule of law. >> mrs. feinstein, no.

>> reporter: in friday's dramatic vote two republicans mitt romney of utah and susan collins of maine voted to hear from witnesses including former national security advisor john bolton. >> the yeas are 49, the nays are 51. >> reporter: but the other 51 republicans voted to block the effort. with many arguing no matter what the witnesses said or what the president did, it would not amount to an impeachable offense. >> i think he shouldn't have done it. i think it was wrong, inappropriate was the way i'd say it, improper, crossing the line. and then the only question left is who decides what to do about that? >> well, who decides what to do about that? >> the people is my conclusion. i think what we did is a long way from treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. i don't think it's the kind of inappropriate action that the framers would expect the senate to substitute this judgment for the people in picking a president. >> reporter: but many people and

the white house wanted trump cleared so he could use two days of his "state of the union" address to boast about his acquittal. some senators and democrats demanded to speak on the floor. that means president trump will still be on trial while delivering the nationally televised address. the delay also allows the four democratic senators running for president to campaign in iowa ahead of the crucial iowa caucuses monday night. now the focus is on whether any senators buck their party on the final vote including three moderate democrats who have not ruled out acquittal. >> a very hard decision. it's the most serious decision any senator will ever make in their career, and every senator wishes they didn't have to make this decision. >> reporter: manu raju, cnn, capitol hill. >> john king, dana bash and david chalian are back with us. what we had heard over and over again from the president was this was a perfect phone call with ukraine. but now we have some republican senators admitting what he did was improper, yet they don't

want to punish trump for it. can they have it both ways? >> they're going to try, ana, and i think some is the word to focus on there because it's not a lot of republicans. manu's piece there explained there'll be two days on the senate floor. we know a lot of democrats are going to get up and say this is an outrage, we should have called witnesses, republicans are going to be ashamed by what you've done here. my question is how many republicans go to the floor and say what senator alexander said there, say what senator rob portman of ohio has said, that the president was wrong. he should not have held up the military aid pushing for those investigations. very few republicans have been willing to do that so far and we know the president doesn't like it especially when republicans criticize him. so my question over the next coming days is there are a lot of republicans who want to say that. privately they'll say they're trying to put some guardrails up so the president doesn't do this

again. how many will do it i think is the question for the next 72 hours. >> i think marco rubio's statement was one that had a lot of jaw dropping when he says it does not mean it's in the best interest of the country to remove a president from office. dana, how do you make sense of that? >> a lot of people can't. i mean it's -- you know, there are lots of pletsretzel twistin moments happening while people are trying to write these statements. that was probably the twistiest of the pretzels right there, but i think john is right we're probably going to see and hear more of that when the senators go on the senate floor particularly those who are either retiring. now we know what lamar alexander who was retiring at the end of his term is thinking but also those who are up for re-election. there are, again, we've been talking a lot about it, but now

we're really going to hear from these republican senators who are facing lots of -- you know, facing an uphill battle back home whether it's cory gardener in colorado, or susan collins in maine. it's also going to be interesting with people in more purply states like tom tillis of carolina say they're trying to find the balance of not angering the republican base. even in the blue state of maine they really, really like the president but also not completely shunning the independence and democrats that these republicans need historically in order to win their states. and it's very difficult. >> sorry, i'm also really curious to see mitt romney and susan collins, the two senators that voted with the democrats on wanting witnesses, do they want to extend that disagreement with the president and really take it to the floor in some way in their speeches and give a more full explanation to the american

people? or they made their votes, they don't want to continue engaging the president and sort of shy away from that. i'm very curious to see what they do. >> susan collins wants to say what she -- give a more full explanation why she voted the way she did on the witness and more importantly why she's going to vote the way she will on the articles of impeachment. >> in her state the president will probably not win maine but probably one electoral vote. martha mcsally in arizona made a decision to stick with the president. even if they have to reach out to independent voters they know they cannot win without the trump base. we'll see the come november. >> and guess who's on top of the ticket? they're running with the president. >> we learned overnight the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell spoke with the president and got his blessing essentially for when they would hold the acquittal vote, that it's going to come on wednesday instead of before the "state of

the union" speech which is what the white house had wanted. but, i mean, here they haven't even acquitted him yet and yet they're asking the man on trial, you know, is that convenient for him after, by the way, shooting down any new witnesses and evidence? just shooting down any witnesses. what's your reaction to that? >> i don't think there was any pretense of this being impartial justice as it's required to be. i don't think that was the case. but it's not terribly surprising that the majority leader of the president's party would on a schedule matter try to organize with him. and it was my understanding it was the democrats that really wanted to push this to wednesday, to not have this on the state of the union day as the president wanted. while it is perhaps not at all surprising that mitch mcconnell would yet again coordinate a piece of the strategy, i don't -- there's no mystery that the president is going to be acquitted in this trial, so i don't think there's some great alarm that he gave the president a call and a heads-up to when

the vote would be taking place. especially because it isn't to the president's liking of when that would be. >> if i could just add to that, i've been in touch with senator mcconnell's office about this very issue and they have been arguing since the very beginning that it is appropriate for him to be coordinating with the white house. they claim -- their argument is there are three parties to, this there are the senate republicans, the democrats, and then there's the white house about the parameters of this trial. and so they saw this as no different, giving him a heads-up. now, the reality is the big reason why is because the president was very, very clear he wanted this done before he went to capitol hill for the state of the union address on tuesday. and now that is not going to happen. so of course before the tweetstorm came his way it made perfect sense to gift president a heads-up. >> right. so for our viewers that maybe aren't following every little nitty-gritty detail here, we

know this acquittal vote is going to come the day after the state of the union. on wednesday afternoon. john, how do you think that might shape trump's speech? >> well, some republicans are hoping it keeps him somewhat more restrained, that he doesn't gloat, that he doesn't celebrate, that he realizes the vote is the next day. look, the president has some tough choices to make here. how aggressive do you want to be? how critical of the democrats do you want to be? because he's on the ballot in november. this will be a giant opportunity for any president running for re-election. this presidential's going to be running in what's going to be a tough year. most republicans even concede he'll probably lose the popular vote again. but there is a path for him to win re-election. he has a very strong economy right now. does he give an upbeat optimistic let's move on, this has been a bad chapter? i'm mad about it but i'm not going to dwell on it. let's focus on the economy, let's keep going. or does he give an angry you know, the speaker behind me and all the democrats in the room you went on with your angry hoax. we'll see. it's a huge challenge for the president. you know he's raw in the moment. whether you agree or disagree

with him he's raw in the moment about this but if he's thinking about november he may want to draw it back late. >> and watch the president's campaign putting out their super bowl ad. the former message you just described about the economy, that's the message that they're putting $10 million behind to get in front of the every super bowl watcher tomorrow, is a message about the economy and what he's done. then compare that campaign ad to what he does tuesday night at the state of the union and see if it is in line with that or if there's a discrepancy between the two, and i think that's going to he will tuesday a lot about how donald trump plans to campaign this year. >> dana, we know the president does not plan to apologize. >> i cannot imagine that happening. >> no. >> because the president still believes that it was a perfect call. i don't think he will come anywhere near apology territory. i think that's pretty safe to say. >> all right, everybody, thank you very, very much for joining us. david chalian, john king, and dana bash. as well as the studio audience there at drake university in

iowa. it's going to be an exciting next 48 hours. also thank you to our viewers. exactly. exactly. way to roll with the punches there. be sure to tune in for a special week of political coverage here on cnn. we have the iowa caucuses of course on monday. tuesday the state of the union address. wednesday and thursday back-to-back presidential town halls live from new hampshire. you following? it's all next week right here on cnn. that's going to do it for us tonight. stay with cnn and cnn.com. we'll bring you all the latest details from the campaign trail as well as new developments in the coronavirus as more americans have also been diagnosed with the virus. eight total. and another case still pending here in new york tonight. we're on top of it all. i'm ana cabrera in new york. thank you for being here. i'll be back tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. eastern in the cnn

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