>> the late show with stephen colbert is next. >> the news continues streaming on cbsn bay area. have a great weekend and a merry christma captioning sponsored by cbs >> hershey chocolate. i like hershey chocolate. ♪ ♪

>> announcer: it's "the late show with stephen colbert." tonight, president grump! plus, stephen welcomes: congressman adam schiff. and musical guest sharon van featuring jon batiste and stay human. and, now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! ( band playing ) >> stephen: come on! hey! it's the holiday season, that's what it is! that's what it is! ( cheers and applause ) oh, my goodness! welcome one and all, ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, to "the late show."

i'm your host, stephen colbert. the big story continues to be donald trump's allergic reaction to the constitution. ( laughter ) tonight, i'll stab you with the epipen of fun in the latest installment of "don and the giant impeach." ( cheering ) >> i have the right to do whatever i want as president. >> stephen: today, the house judiciary committee debated whether to send two articles of impeachment to the house floor. but first, they spent hours proposing highly specific and asinine amendments. like one from florida congressman and human/hangover hybrid, matt gaetz. ( audience booing ) gaetz argued that democrats are focused on the wrong biden. >> this amendment strikes the reference to joe biden as the center of the proposed investigation and replaces it with the true topic of the investigation, burisma and hunter biden. it's a little hard to believe that burisma hired hunter biden to resolve their international

disputes, when he could not resolve his own dispute with hertz rental car over leaving cocaine and a crack pipe in the car. >> stephen: wow. wow. listen, i've got to say, i feel sorry for whoever got that car after hunter biden. ( laughter ) you know how much they charge if you return the crack pipe unfilled? ( laughter ) it's pretty ballsy for a congressman to bring that up when he was arrested for d.u.i. in 2008. ( audience reacts ) now, you might not have known that, but georgia's hank johnson did. >> the pot calling the kettle black is not something that we should do. ( laughter ) i don't know what members, if any, have had any problems with substance abuse, been busted in a d.u.i., i don't know, but if i did, i wouldn't raise it against anyone on this committee. ( cheers and applause )

>> stephen: wow. wow! that is a master class in passive aggressiveness! "i wouldn't want to say anything negative about a certain member because he's such a fragile little bitchy-boy. but -- ( laughter ) i yield back the remainder of my time." the judiciary committee tried to wrap things up at a reasonable hour because there was a congressional ball at the white house at 7:00 tonight, and a number of judiciary members-- particularly republicans-- were expected to attend. "we have to get to the ball! we have to get to the ball! before the president turns into a pumpki-- ah, shoot. too late." ( laughter ) "too late, i forgot. we have to get to the ball!" ( cheers and applause ) ♪ some day! if the articles of impeachment do pass the house, trump would stand trial in the senate early in the new year.

and one senator says, the trial would take "approximately two weeks in january" and would feature no witnesses. oh, that's going to be some compelling television. ( laughter ) reminds me of the famous courtroom scene from "a few good men." >> do you have an answer? ( laughter ) i'd like an answer to the question, judge. did you order the code red? ( laughter ) >> stephen: wow, he's good. cruise doesn't need an acting partner. that's how good he is. >> jon: yeah >> stephen: now, the president's putting a brave face on in public, but impeachment seems to be getting to trump. aides say he has appeared distracted and unfocused during conversations. yes, distracted and unfocused-- unlike the old laser-focused donald trump. (as trump) "my fellow americans, i come to you tonight to announce that american ground forces are-- hey! there's a guy i know! anyway, china, give me dirt on joe biden. bing bing, bong bong bong!

flush your toilet 15 times." "good night." ( cheers and applause ) but it's not just impeachment but it's not just impeachment that's getting on his nerves. it's why he's being impeached. one adviser said, "frankly, i think he's a little surprised it's the ukraine thing that's done it." yeah, me, too! after all the shady deals he's been involved in, he gets tripped up by a phone call? trump getting impeached for ukraine is like paul newman winning an oscar for "the color of money." he definitely deserves it, but it should've happened way before this. ( cheers and applause ) ( piano riff ) trump is also annoyed at how impeachment is playing out on tv. he's reportedly fixated on how the news media is portraying him, with one adviser saying,

"the coverage bugs him." (as trump) "i don't get it. why does the media always paint me as the bad guy? anyway, somebody photoshop me to look like thanos." ( laughter ) there is some good news out there. always nice when you see something nice happen to a nice person. yesterday, "time" magazine named their person of the year, and this year it's 16-year-old activist, greta thunberg, seen - - there it is. ( cheers and applause ) that's nice. seen here being better than you. ( laughter ) thunberg became an international celebrity this year for calling on world leaders to step up when it comes to climate change, like this. >> how do you respond to the fact that basically nothing is

being done about this without feeling the slightest bits of anger? i should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you all come to us young people for hope. how dare you. i'm here today to say our house is on fire. my name is greta thunberg. i am 16 years old. i come from sweden. and i want you to panic. >> stephen: my name is stephen colbert, i'm 55 years old, and i'm way ahead of you, sister. ( laughter ) ( applause ) ( cheering ) ( piano riff ) this year, the finalists for person of the year included: the hong kong protesters, the whistleblower, nancy pelosi, and donald trump. so trump lost to a 16-year-old girl. but he's been on the cover multiple times before, was magnanimous in defeat, and he

congratulated her, saying she deserved the honor. just kidding. ( laughter ) he tweeted, "so ridiculous. greta must work on her anger management problem, then go to a good old-fashioned movie with a friend! chill, greta, chill!" ( audience booing ) first of all, teens don't go to movies anymore. they stay home and tik tok their vape pens on fortnite. ( laughter ) i don't know. teenagers scare me. also, remember, thunberg is from sweden, so a "good old-fashioned movie" there is probably something called "the saw maker's widow," that's just four hours of max van sydow staring at a broken clock. ( laughter ) but, since thunberg is swedish, let me put this in culturally appropriate terms -- mr. president, go "fjuk" yourself.

( cheers and applause ) which -- ( piano riff ) -- which -- ( piano riff ) -- which i can say on cbs because fjuk is an island in sweden. it's lovely. they have a lighthouse. and you know where to stick it. ( cheers and applause ) ( piano riff ) but thunberg doesn't need my help, because she clapped back to trump's tweet by changing her twitter bio to "a teenager working on her anger management problem. currently chilling and watching a good old-fashioned movie with a friend." yeah! yeah! ( cheers and applause ) fjuk yeah! again, look it up. it's an island. they have a sunken steamboat that you can see partially sticking up from the water. that's evidently a plus. they advertise it. ( laughter ) then, adding insult to injury to my retinas, trump's team tweeted

a photoshopped image of the "time" cover with trump's head on greta's body. ( audience reacts ) that's horrifying. but i'm guessing not the first time trump has forced himself onto a young woman. ( audience reacts ) oh, yeah. yes. yes. yes. >> jon: oh, my! >> stephen: joke is based on a true story. ( laughter ) trump is doing whatever he can to not think about impeachment. last night, he threw a white house hanukkah party. oh, he must have been so excited. (as trump) "let me get this straight: every night, you're religiously obligated to eat fried potatoes? and you have to wear tiny hats that cover your bald spots? then smear me with cream cheese. i'm in." ( laughter ) ( applause ) one guest of honor was fox news personality and cat looking you dead in the eyes as it bats that microphone right off the table,

mark levin. here's how trump introduced levin. >> we have a man that i have, by the way, great respect: mark levin. where is mark levin? ( applause ) what a show. where is mark? where is mark? he's over here. lee, send him up here, will you, please? mark, come on up. come on up here. mark, the great mark levin. what a show. come on, mark, wherever you may be. where are you? i saw him. is that mark? come on, mark. get your way up. ( applause ) make a path. mark, i don't know how-- come on. come on. come on up, mark. he's so big. right, mark? come on over. >> stephen: wait, you say you saw mark levin in the crowd? that's not possible! mark levin... has been dead for 30 years! ( laughter ) he never escaped that steamboat when it sunk off the island of fjuk. ( laughter ) trump was-- trump was-- ( cheers and applause ) ( piano riff )

trump was sure to give his wife credit for her contribution to hanukkah. >> i want to thank our great first lady. she's done the most incredible christmas decorations. ( cheers and applause ) >> stephen: oh, no! he forgot which holiday they're celebrating. (as trump) "i especially like that christmas candelabra with eight candles. it's your birthday, jesus. blow them out and make a wish. ( laughter ) anyway, we're finally saying 'merry christmas' again. this angry santa with the black fedora knows what i'm talking about." ( laughter ) trump also invited television pastor and 64-year-old 12-year- old, robert jeffress. fun fact about pastor jeffress that might be relevant in this context: he's previously said that "jews are going to hell." pastor, they're at a hanukkah

party with you and donald trump. they're already in hell. ( cheers and applause ) we've got a great show for you tonight. representative adam schiff is here. when we return, though, "meanwhile!" join us. ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) (paul) the holidays at sprint are truly a magical time. (sprintern) speaking of magic, i turned my iphone 6s into the new iphone 11. (paul) it's true, trade in an iphone 6s or newer -in any condition- and you'll get the powerful new iphone 11 for just $0 a month when you switch to sprint. (sprintern) yeah, an iphone 6s for an iphone 11. or trade in your beloved iphone 7, trusty iphone 8, amazing iphone x... (paul) ...take them all to 11. (sprintern) see, i told you, magic. for people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay.com

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss into the sun ♪ all we need is somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ sweden's greetings. enjoy your first payment on us when you lease a new volvo. now through january 2nd. ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing "carol of the bells" ) >> stephen: jon batiste and "stay human," everybody! ( cheers and applause ) jon, was that a jazzy carol of the bells, is that what that was? >> jon: yes, that's what that was. >> stephen: i love that. very nice. >> jon: it's that time of the

year. we've got to do it our way. >> stephen: have you done any of your christmas shopping yet? >> jon: i haven't done it. i've got to get in the flow. >> stephen: i do, too. it's focus. my heart has to go into it or else i'm just buying everybody gift certificates from starbucks. >> jon: and they can tell. >> stephen: they can tell. john, speaking of ringing the bells, ring the loudest bells and let everybody know, tonight, we have congressman adam schiff will be out here in just a little moment. ( cheers and applause ) an historic day. an historic evening. >> jon: very historic. >> stephen: got so much to talk ow to waheknhat w you know, speaking of which, i spend most of my time right over there, harvesting the biggest, most beautiful news wheat to craft into the gorgeous artisanal bread loaf that is my monologue. but sometimes, i forget a slice on the counter, where it develops mold, which contaminates a nearby topical

petri dish, which i scrape out then sequester the fungus in isolation tanks, then purify it to make the penicillin of news that is my segment -- ♪ >> "meanwhile!" >> stephen: or words to that effect. what are you, a judge? meanwhile, good news for anyone who doesn't feel like cooking this holiday season: a company in the u.k. is selling christmas ( audience reacts ) it's perfect for anyone who's ever said, "i wish my food looked more like a core sample." ( laughter ) as you can see from the cross section, each layer of the canned meal contains a different course. it has everything: scrambled egg and bacon, two mince pies, turkey and potatoes, gravy, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts or broccoli with stuffing, roast carrots and parsnips, and christmas pudding. and if you eat your way all the way to the bottom, there's a special prize: confronting what

you've become. ( laughter ) ( cheers and applause ) ( piano riff ) meanwhile, gwyneth paltrow's lifestyle brand just released its holiday ad, and it's goop- tastic. >> the holidays are here. because they never turn out how you imagine, you must cherish the joy of getting ready. first, put on a record to set the mood. oh, yeah. do everything in slow motion. make this feeling last. >> stephen: "that feeling? being creeped out by this disembodied british voice. slower, gwyneth, take your time. how did i get in your house? don't worry about it. or if you must worry... do it slowly." ( laughter ) but the moment getting the most attention is the ad's ode to self-care. emphasis on the self.

>> do something for others, but don't forget about number one. yes, that is a vibrator. ( audience reacts ) ( laughter ) >> stephen: first of all, the salesman told me it was a back massager. ( laughter ) secondly, taking the good stuff for yourself is not in the spirit of christmas, gwyneth! have the people at goop never read the holiday classic: "how the grinch stole sex toys"? meanwhile, researchers have discovered that "plants may let out ultrasonic squeals when stressed." finally, something to throw in the faces of all your smug vegan friends. you hear that, safron-with-one-f? that's the sound of your kale begging for mercy on the way

down your throat! ( cheers and applause ) ( piano riff ) come on! have some cheese! have some butter! a team of researchers "placed microphones capaulicenou ble ngeset fecrooftomatotind too plants, then either stopped watering them or snipped their stems." who the hell are these researchers? ( laughter ) "i need a million dollars to torture the tomatoes to see if they... scream. ( laughter ) it's personal. a caesar salad murdered my parents." ( laughter ) meanwhile, sometimes, not always but sometimes, a story is so inappropriately phallic that most networks won't even go near it. but we here at "the late show" have the courage to create a meanwhile sub-segment -- >> "peen-while!" ( laughter ) >> stephen: peenwhile, in

kansas, one person's holiday lights may have gone too far. >> santa is going to see more than a chimney on the roof of one lenexa home when he flies in on his sleigh. we're blurring it to keep it p.g.-13. ( laughter ) >> stephen: there it is. they're blurring it, so you can't see it. but we can see it here in the studio. how to describe it, how to describe it-- let's just say that someone's hung by the chimney, and... ( cheers and applause ) right over here. and santa's not the only one swinging a big sack this year. we'll be right back with adam schiff. ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing )

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( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) >> stephen: hey, evedy!rywe folks, my first guest tonight is a california congressman who serves as chairman of the house intelligence committee and is currently leading the committee's impeachment investigation. please welcome to "the late show" congressman adam schiff. ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) thanks for being here! thank you for making the time to be here at what i have to imagine is a very busy time for you and not just because it's the holiday season. >> yes. >> stephen: um, i have here a copy of the articles of impeachment that congressman nadler has drawn up in the

judiciary committee. you did a very good job in the closing to have the intelligence committee's investigation a couple of weeks ago. ( cheers and applause ) and a lot of people on either side of the aisle from you want to make this seem confusing. can you explain in the simplest way possible what these articles of impeachment are about? >> thank you. absolutely, and there are two articles, the first is the president's misconduct with ukraine. the president essentially tried to shake down the leader of another country by withholding hundreds of millions of dollars of military assistance to a nation at war with russia in which ukrainians are dying every day and did so to coerce that country into helping his reelection campaign, helping him cheat in his reelection campaign by investigating and smearing his rival.

that's the essence of article one, the abuse of his office to coerce foreign interference in our election. article two is just as significant because it is the obstruction of congress' investigation, the coverup by the administration of that misconduct. if this president or any president can simply say to congress we will give you no witnesses, we will allow no documents, no matter what subpoenas with lawful process we receive, it will mean that this president and a future president can be as corrupt, malfeasant and negligent as they choose without any accountability. so that's the heart of it, a shakedown of a foreign country to help his reelection, and the coverup of that shakedown. >> stephen: the first one seems fairly easy to understand, even though i would say your opponents in the house want to make it seem complicated or too hard for the american people to follow. have you thought about using the little jingle we used here at "the late show" to explain how simple it is. are you familiar? >> i am familiar with the jingle.

>> stephen: jon. >> ♪ just one thing you need to know ♪ ♪ trump said "do us a fa >> stephen: we're happy to send you a recording of that to play at your next hearing. ( cheers and applause ) >> i think we're going to pass on the song but thank you for the offer. >> stephen: okay. because to me that phone call is, in itself, the hot, glowing red doorway that you looked at and said i think there's a fire behind that door and when you opened it up, the firemen are setting fire to everything. giuliani throwing gasoline on everything. lev parnas, igor fruman, perhaps mike pence, mike pompeo knew, everybody knew this efforts to smear the ambassador or to dig up or generate dirt on joe biden happened, it's not just the

phone call. >> that's exactly right. some of the republicans would like to say to the president as well, it's just a phone call, p lycayore?alu going it is much more. the phone call is one of the dramatic incidents in a months' long scheme by the president to coerce his ally into doing his dirty work to help his reelection. it began with the firing of the ambassador, it happened long after she was smeared and recalled, it channeled other people, the three amigos, working with rudy giuliani to try to get them to make these announcements of these investigations into biden and this bogus conspiracy theory about the 2016 election, and what's significant here stephen is the president didn't even care whether the investigation got done. he just wanted it announced so biden's name would be smeared. that was what he wanted, and he

was willing to sacrifice our national security, withhold military aid to a nation that is fighting our fight, fighting against russian expansionism, fighting for its own democracy, willing to do that to help his reelection campaign. so there's a lot at stake here. americans may say, well, why should we care about ukraine? well, first of all, we should care about an ally but this is really about our own national security. it's about whether we can expect our own president to be looking out for us rather than his own reelection and sacrificing our security for his political purposes. it's about us. it's about our constitution. it's about our expectation for what a president of the united states should do, and the founders, you know, i have to say, there were three things they were concerned about and they're all present here, they were concerned that an unethical person would become president and abuse their power. >> check.

they were concerned that unethical president would seek to have a foreign power seek to interfere in our affairs. and they were concerned they would do so in the context of an election, try to prejudice an election. ( laughter ) so we have all of these -- ( cheers and applause ) >> stephen: let me ask you about the senate. so correct me if i'm wrong, if the articles, which are still being debated as we speak, i think, in the house and judiciary committee, if they get voted on next week and the house votes to impeach, the entire house votes to impeach, the majority, then it goes to the senate. evidently, the word is that, as i said in the monologue, there's speculation that it would be a two-week trial in the senate with no witnesses. what kind of trial has no witnesses? >> well, apparently, the kind of trial mitch mcconnell may want to have. so in the senate, the senators are going to have to decide. do they want to hear from people like bolton and mulvaney, or are they simply going to say we don't want to know anymore

because the truth we've already seen is damning enough. it's already hard enough for us to justify to the country why a president who would do such things should remain in office. we don't want to see or know anymore. it's see no evil, hear no evil, do a lot of evil, seems to be the philosophy. >> stephen: congressman, we have to take a little bit of a break, to pay the bills. stick around. when we come back, i'll ask the congressman about the other people who he'd like to talk to who have not responded to their subpoenas. stick around. ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) running out of time? don't worry. we've got new gift ideas arriving through christmas eve. so, you can spend much less, but gift much more at t.j. maxx, marshalls and homegoods.

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( cheers and applause ) >> stephen: hey, everybody! welcome back. we're speaking with adam schiff about the impeachment process as it rolls on. trump evidently wants something a little more elaborate than mitch mcconnell wants. he wants to call a bunch of witnesses, including adam schiff. do you think it would be a smart thing to call adam schiff to testify in front of the senate? do you have any evidence at your fingertips that the president has perhaps abused his office? >> well, yes, i do. but i'm no more a fact witness than you are. perhaps they should add you to the >> stephen: i would bewi honoret (. cheers and applause ) i'm ready for my closeup. >> and some of the republican members have echoed the

president's talk about well, we should get adam schiff to testify. it just goes to show, there is no bottom to the degree to which some of my colleagues will prostrate themselves to please the president. >> stephen: what happens when the camera's off? do they ever say, "look, we know this is a huge problem but we just can't say that out loud"? is there any of that going on backstage? >> there is. >> stephen: so what do you say to those people? >> well, i'll have to say-- ste>>en(: yayugouhtdoerlw ) >> i have to tell you, one of my favorite twitter responses to the hearings was a woman who tweeted after watching the hearings, now i know what to say when my mother is giving me advice again-- i will listen to her patiently and then i will respongemahema" "k thd,thean ( laughter ) the republican members, my colleagues in the past-- they don't do as much anymore--

used to confide, they would pass me in the corridor and they would say, keep doing what you're doing. but i have to say that i'm not interested anymore in the private misgivings of members. they need to speak out. they need to vote their conscience, their conviction. they need to vote their constitution. >> stephen: all right. so let's talk about some of the people that the republicans are saying-- "why don't you wait to get these other documents or get these other witnesses?" because i would like to hear from some of the other people. you've subpoenaed -- have you subpoenaed mick mulvaney? >> yes. >> stephen: okay. robert blair, top aide to mulvaney, who was on the call? >> yes. >> stephen: mulvaney said there was a quid pro quo. >> yes.

>> stephen: why not hawl his butt in there the way sam irvin said to butterfield, if you don't come in here, marshals will pick you up off the street to come in here and testify in the watergate hearings about the secret tapes. why not send him? >> he should testify. >> stephen: what can you do to compel them? >> well, we can compel them by holding the president accountable by impeaching him, for one thing. but here's what they are trying to do, they would like nothing better for us to go to court, win in the district court, win in the court of appeals, wait for the supreme court on this claim of absolute immunity. and then, when that is all done, and that will probably take at least a year to wind the way ckl ugh the courts, it will comw k mulvaney to us before our committee. we will ask him the question, he's no longer absolutely immune from testifying, and he will say, well, now i'm going to claim executive privilege and i'm not going to answer the questions you need answered. then we have to go back to court and a year later we get him to come back and answer the questions. >> stephen: you can't do a two- fer, like we want to talk about executive privilege at the same

time? >> no, but the practical effect of the argument "why don't you wait till you get mick mulvaney before you impeach" is to say "why don't you wait until after the president cheats again in next election" and then try to do something about it. that's just not the right remedy and this is exactly why i think the founding fathers provided an impeachment clause. the real test here is, does that clause still have any effect? or has that clause now become overcome by another worry the founders had, and that was over the power faction. and that's how they referred to parties. as the excess of factionalism now meant that this remedy in the constitution is now a paper remedy? we better hope to hell isn't, because if it is, we may never be able to hold a president accountable, they can be corrupt as they want without any remedy. >> stephen: we have to take one more break. you please stick around.

when we come back, i'll ask the congressmen how history will see this. don't go away. ( cheers and applause )

if you see wires down, treat them all as if they are hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911 and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) ( cheers and applause )

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>> stephen: all of us have to ask ourselves that. hey, everybody, welcome barks, talking to adam schiff, chairman of the house intelligence committee about the impeachment process and where we go from here. what is the worst case scenario here? let's imagine the impeachment vote goes through next week and goes to the senate and however that trial is brought about, whatever the procedure is, he is not removed from office. after that, wouldn't he be a completely untethered tiger? because he knows he's not going to get impeached again. he can do anything he wants. if he can get away with this, he can get away with anything. won't he be super trump after that? >> the reality is he feels that way, already. this has been the only accountability he has faced. as he said not long ago, under article two, i could do whatever i want. you know, one of the things, and i would think i was in the same place you were, stephen, i

resisted going down the rote of impeachment out of the same concern that you just expressed, but two things convinced me that this was necessary, both involved the president's conduct. the first is that this is the most serious misconduct we have seen so far. it was one thing when the president invited foreign interference, russian interference in the last election: "hey, russia, if you're listening, hack hillary's emails." in fact, as we found out in the mueller report, later in the day the russians did try to hack hillary's personal campaign. >> stephen: that's called constituent services. >> yes, that's president putin's version of constituent services for his constituent. so the misconduct when you're a candidate inviting foreign interference is different than when you are incumbent president. when a president has tried to coerce a foreign power to intervene, that is a far worse abuse. but the other thing that i think made this so necessary is, the

day after bob mueller testified, the day after donald trump thought, "okay, the mueller probe is finally over," he was back on the phone with zelensky, trying to get a different foreign nation to interfere in the next election. that said to me, this president feels he is above the law, he is unaccountable, there is nothing that can be done. and we are showing him that he's dead wrong about that. ( cheers and applause ) we have to go here in just a minute. but i have to ask one very specific question-- these are some of the other people that have not been called. they have been subpoenaed, but did not comply. charles kuperman, defense secretary of defense mark esper. rick perry, pompeo, rudy giuliani. rudy giuliani is presently in ukraine, making a documentary, he says, still trying to stir up supposed dirt on joe biden.

is the story -- this is really about patriotism. this is really about finding the truth. it's really about holding a president to account for their misdeeds, how can you, as much as you don't want to drag this out, how can you go forward without knowing what the truth is? and if we don't find out now, how many years will it be before these things are unsealed? do i have to do cardio to live long enough to know what really happened here? >> here's the thing, we already do know what happened. the evidence of the president's misconduct is already overwhelming. we had 17 dedicated public servants come testify about how he withheld the military aid, withheld the white house meeting, attempted to coarse this ally in their time of need, we already can prove that overwhelmingly. there is more to learn and more witnesses to hear from. >> stephen: what about lev parnas? did he have tapes? did he give you tapes?

i heard he handed over tapes to you between giuliani and donald trump. did that happen, congressman, yes or no? ( laughter ) >> not the tapes you're thinking about. we have gotten documents and materials, and i can't -- >> stephen: materials are tapes? >> tapes are materials.can' ith, but leme just say this, because you bring up a very important point about giuliani being in ukraine this week. this is not just about prior conduct. it's not just about, although it would be more than enough, the president's inviting russia to interfere, then trying to coerce ukraine to interfere. it is about what is going on today, as the president and his allies continue to try to invite foreign interference in our election. it never stopped. it never will stop, unless we put an end to it. and, so, this is a continuing risk to our democracy. today, you know, as we sit here, the markup continues, and we are

hearing astounding things from republican members who are saying, "it's okay to solicit foreign interference in an election," things i never would have imagined i would ever hear either party say. and, you know, for me, participating in these hearings, watching these hearings, i have to say, you know, for some of our members who are defending the constitution, it is their finest hour. but for others who are willfully blinding themselves to this president's misconduct, it is the most shameful hour. and i wonder how they're going to explain one day when their grandchild comes to them and says, grand-dad, grand-mom, please tell me what you did when that unethical man, that terrible man, that man who was putting people in cages, dividing our country, extorting our allies-- please tell me what you did to stand up to that man? what will their answer be?

for all too many, it will be nothing except shame. >> stephen: well, congressman, thank you so much for being here. ( cheers and applause ) of course, we've all been watching the hearings, and while i can't say it has been a pleasure to watch, it has been gratifying to see someone taking their oath of office and their job seriously. thank you so much. ( cheers and applaus ) i'm ládeia, and there's more to me than hiv.

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>> stephen: well, that's it for "the late show," everybody. good night! captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ♪ are you ready y'all to have some fun ♪ feel the love tonight don't you worry ♪ where it is you come from it'll be all right ♪ it's the late, late show >> reggie: ladies and gentlemen, all the way from within the deep and great state of kentucky, give it up for yr