that's what we saw in pat cipollone and basically what we saw from the beginning of the process weeks ago. >> let's pick up right at that point. as long as the phrase in the senate is not an oxymoron. if cooler heads in the senate prevails, none of the witnesses are on the witness from pelosi, though it won't be lacking for action, is everyone straight up and down just referring to the senate trial as the president's firewalls still? >> that's the thinking of capitol hill right now. they'll be sorely disappointed if they are expecting the senate gop to follow the tactics in the house. gop leaders made it crystal clear they don't want it to turn into a circus. mitch mcconnell is defending a tough match. a number of vulnerable republicans are up for reelection. they need to have a thoughtful and serious trial in order to cast this historic vote on impeachment. the other thing to keep in mind is a simple math problem. republicans can only lose three republicans for any maneuvers they want to do and any witnesses they want to haul in. from the senators i was talking to this week, there we

cipollone, and so far there is no indication from the white house that they would agree to have any of these witnesses of course come forward. jeremy diamond, cnn, the white house. >> all right. so what a week to watch in washington. let's talk about it with our guest thomas gift. he's live for us in london. he's a lecturer in political science at university college london. thanks so much for coming on, thomas. >> thank you, natalie. >> let's even begin to break this down. we just heard there that the senate minority leader chuck schumer is wanting to ask for witnesses from the majority leader mitch mcconnell. but very slim chance that will happen because it's almost looking like this trial won't really be a trial. what are your thoughts? >> well, i would agree with your assessment. i do think that one of the main unresolved questions is how the impeachment trial in the senate will be conducted. chuck schumer's calls for new witnesses reflect a broader desire by some democrats to turn this into more of a full-fledged process that's designed to ensure all of the relevant information

we do know that the pat cipollone the slated to lead the team as well as others are slated to be here at the end of his trip. we'll see if that's what he does. as we know, president trump can easily go off script. we know when he's here he is surrounded by a lot of friends who can help him, steer him towards his instinct which is not necessarily the one the white house wants to go in. >> kristin homes, thanks so much. >>> we don't know who speaker pelosi will appoint to be house manager in trump's trial. this comes as negotiations over the rules remain at a standstill. >> i admit, i'm not sure what leverage there is in refraining from sending us something we do not want. we'll see whether house democrats ever want to work up the courage to actually take their accusations to trial. >> our founders when they wrote the constitution, they suspected there could be a rogue president. i don't think they suspected we could have a rogue president and the a rogue leader in the senate at the time time. >> joining me right now, marshal cohen, what is the latest on where things go from here? it ma

that's something the white house has been considering for weeks now, and pat cipollone, white house counsel, long slated to take the lead role in presenting the president's defense, but sources tell cnn president trump has been quizzing aides and advisers on werthhether they bee cipollone is ready for the pressure of a televised trial. he's not just interested in being acquitted he wants to be vindicates, have his symbolic day of court when it comes to that senate trial and is placing just as much a premium on the theatrics of the trial as the fact he is likely to be acquitted by senate republicans. sources also tell cnn president trump is considering roles for some of his favorite conservative defenders in the house. people like congressman jim jordan, mark meadows, some of those republicans at the white house just before the president left for mar-a-lago meeting with cipollone about that role potentially involve them presenting a minority response to democrats, the house managers yet to be named by pelosi, would present the articles of impeachment. president trump here in mar-a-lago is gr

cipollone in the senate? >> a lot of things are still up in the air. look, i think it's a little bit laughable, frankly, that some of our democratic colleagues are bemoaning the lack of procedure. we got here because schiff and nadler engineered a broken point in the house. it is why he is anxious to go to trial. he wants to put on his case, his evidence to prove his innocence. i think at the end of the day, i think he will be acquitted. and i expect it will be bipartisan. i think there will be a couple on moderate democrats compelled to vote in favor of the acquit al once they see how vapid this case is that they are advancing. >> you call it a broken process. there is of course a debate that all of this is moving too fast or too slow. you were part of the public hearings. do you think it was rougushed. >> it was rushed. it moved 20 times faster than the bill clinton impeachment proceeding. and the reason, remember, is our democratic colleagues, nancy pelosi and others, were breathless in the sense of urgenc

saying that he thinks he is going to be listening and taking his cues from the white house counsel pat cipollone, but he's also telegraphing a message to the president saying he thinks by the time they get to the opening statements of the impeachment trial it'll be so clear democrats have this thin argument they won't need to call any witnesses. that's him snooling to the president this is what he thinks they should do. in the end we'll see if cooler heads prevail, if mcconnell gets his way here and if mcconnell will get what he played for. >> it's so interesting back with president clinton when the senators were scrupulously avoiding any sense of interchange with the white house. now it's right out in the open. it's like nunes part 2. there's sfoeds to upposed to be individual in their oversight and holding them to account but yet they're basically accounting to the white house. very interesting to see. >>> so at this point impeachment is all but certain. still have a couple of steps but that's the way we're moving. but what is uncertain is what will this look like in the senate? what

today white house counsel pat cipollone met with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell on capitol hill. earlier tonight mcconnell spoke about strategizing with the administration. >> everything i do during this i'm coordinating with white house counsel. there will be no difference between the president's position and our position. but we'll be working through this process hopefully in a fairly short period of time. there's no chance the president's going to be removed from office. my hope is that there won't be a single republican who votes for either of these articles of impeachment. sean, it wouldn't surprise me if we got one or two democrats. this is a really weak case, and that's why you will see bipartisan opposition to the articles over in the house. >> here for our lead-off discussion on an early friday morning, maya wily, former u.s. assistant attorney for the southern district of new york with a new school here in new york. kurt bardella, the former spokesman for the house oversight committee, also happens to be a former republican who left the party to become a democrat. he's

the action to pay attention to is pat cipollone is having lunch right now. and you have cipollone urging senate republicans to be come gres si aggressi aggressive. >> he's been told by some of the people he trusted most and he'll be impeachmented. how are they likely to feel about reports that rudy giuliani did again. democrats intense by their scrutiny of rudy giuliani's role in the pressure campaign against ukraine government, rudy giuliani has been in europe continuinging his efforts to sh the focus of wrong doing by president trump's political rival, is this helpful? >> it is not helpful at all. now inside the capitol, they know they have to try to keep it together with moderate republicans in the house. thesis are representing suburban district and say this is a bridge too far. you see vice president pence, at the capitol and urging them to stick together and stick with president trump and that's the rallying cry coming from the vice president as he tries to hold these people together. the face that they put on in terms of support for donald trump havin

but pat cipollone, the white house counsel, he is going to take the lead in the senate trial. he's been working with more than two dozen lawyers to mount an aggressive defense for the presidentov over the last sever weeks. they've been going through research and what past presidents have done as they mount their defense to make this argument that the president did nothing wrong, that he is well within his rights as president. in terms of the thinking in the white house, jim, the belief that the hearings over the last several weeks have not really swayed public opinion to a great degree. that is a belief in the white house. they don't believe the hearing yesterday in front of the judiciary committee was enough to really move public opinion. and we are expecting a letter from the white house tomorrow by the deadline to respond to jerry nadler of the judiciary committee, jim, saying whether or not they're going to participate in this next hearing. i'm told by sources it's unlikely that's going to happen, jim. >> pamela brown, thank you very much. pelosi held a second press confer

they haven't even let pat cipollone he or jay sekulow, too good lawyers, they haven't let them participate in it. i was an average lawyer but i did it for a long time and i need to participate to be able to reflectively represent someone. you can't do it starting januarn january 4th. you just can't do it. >> martha: trey gowdy, we will see you soon. thank you very much. >> trey: yes, ma'am. >> martha: watching the breaking news this evening, newt gingrich and a fox contributor, thank you for being with us tonight. what is your reaction to what we are seeing so far? the g.o.p. put out an assessment of this information, this report that will formulate sound into articles of impeachment. >> newt: facts matter. the g.o.p. analysis is very compelling. but i think with adam shift in the democrats, facts don't matter. they wanted to impeach trump, many of them want to impeach trump before he was sworn in. "washington post" reported on the very day of trump's inaugural that there was already an effort underway for impeachment. i think schiff is totally dense honest, dis- reliable and i don't think

. >> pat cipollone calling the inquiry baseless and backed up by what we have seen over the past few days. lawmakers continue to grab articles of impeachment. rudy giuliani traveled to kiev to meet with several ukrainians. trump's supporter dan everhart returning to the crime scene to live stream moon dancing. here is the president talking about rudy's trip on saturday at the white house. >> well, i just know he came back from some place and he's going to make a report to the attorney general and to congress. he said he got a lot of good information. i have not spoken to him about that information, but rudy has been one of the great crime fighters the last 50 years. and, he did get back from europe just recently and he has not told me what he found but i think he wants to go before congress and also to say to the attorney general and the department of justice. i hear he found plenty. >> i want to recap, it is at its core about the president of the united states soliciting for political gain. it is a move literally out of the trump play book in the art of the deal. the president write

white house counsel pat cipollone will take the lead in the senate trial. talking regularly with lawmakers, mounting a robust defense in the past weeks of president trump. researching what past presidents have done preparing to argue in the senate that trump was well within his rights to put conditions on a pleating wi ime president of zelensky and hold up white house aid. and the chairman's letter inviting it to participate in the next hearing. the expectation, that the white house will turn down that invitation. >> pamela brown at the white house. thank you. >>> join us tonight. house speaker nancy pelosi taking questions on the impeachment, the 2020 election and more in a live cnn town hall moderated by jake tapper at 9:00 eastern only here on cnn. >>> we have much more on this historic day with house democrats working to draft articles of impeachment. we break that down. >>> also, rudy giuliani keeps digging in on debunked conspiracy theories making a surprise visit to krukraine wita pro-trump news group. he is under investigation. what's he up to? >> a

white house counsel pat cipollone saying the white house will not be sending an attorney to that hearing. cipollone spent much of the five-page letter he sent to nadler on sunday night complaining about the house democrats' impeachment process so far. for example, complaining that the president and administration witnesses have been denied due process, but specifying that the white house would not be taking this opportunity to have representation at wednesday's hearing. again, the first in the judiciary committee throughout this impeachment process. i want to read you part of the letter that cipollone sent to nadler. he wrote, as for the hearing scheduled for december 4th, we cannot fairly be expected to participate in a hearing while the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear whether the judiciary committee will afford the president a fair process. he goes on to write, accordingly under the current circumstances, we do not intend to participate in your wednesday hearing. this had put the white house in a tough spot because of course administration officials and trump

>> i think that the lawyers, the full-time lawyers, pat cipollone and others who are around the president are probably a bit frustrated. this is my hunch, but i pay close attention. the extent to which mayor giuliani has the president's ear. because the president is a receptive audience for those conspiracy-like theories and using his twitter account or access to the airwaves, inclined often to spread them. i just don't think that unless rudy found something in ukraine that's new, i don't think they're grounded in fact. >> michael smerconish, thank you. we watch you saturday mornings right here 9:00 a.m. eastern on cnn. >> thank you. >> thank you. >>> president trump also is saying today he doesn't mind if his impeachment trial is long or short, but we know the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is consulting white house lawyers on how it should play out. democrats, by the way, say that's unconstitutional. >>> plus, cnn learned the white house is restricting who could listen in on the president's calls with foreign leaders in the wake of this whole ukraine controversy. that news for y

for example, pat cipollone was on capitol hill yesterday skoepg out particular venues, what room the trial might be held in as well as offices for the staff who might be stationed over there. >> we should mention financial aid for ukraine was part of the trump impeachment inquiry. the bottom line is, is ukraine getting aid? >> amara, it's an interesting question because in that spending bill, the draft of it, the democrats wanted to insert language that would require the government to release security to ukraine, laying out the specific rapid timeline for the release of ukrainian aid. white house officials pushed back saying that was an infringement to determine the timing of when that aid would be dispersed. it certainly was a point of contention with negotiations over the spending package on his way to florida yesterday. >> sarah westwood in west palm beach, thank you. >>> joining me now is brittney shepard, national politics. thank you for joining us. good morning. >> good morning. >> let's talk about president trump's aids being concerned about the two weeks he's in mar-a-lago. t

cipollone, to the house judiciary committee, that this white house will not be participating in any of these impeachment hearings carried out by the house judiciary committee. in that letter, cipollone calls the impeachment inquiry completely baseless, and he also warns that impeaching trump, introducing those articles of impeachment, something that this house judiciary committee may very well do this week, cipollone calls that a reckless abuse of power if indeed house democrats move forward as we expect them to. the messaging from the white house, though, in that letter and in tweets from the president, remarks from the president, is essentially "get on with it." this white house is saying, look, if house democrats are going to impeach the president, which indeed house speaker nancy pelosi indicated last week is likely where this is headed, the white house really wants that process to be done with. that is because they are looking forward to the senate, which is controlled by the republicans -- >> we're going to new zealand for police comments on the volcanic eruption on white isla

. >> his office says it'll coordinated with white house counsel pat cipollone e, a disclosure that had democrats in disbelief. >> that's a >> yet to be determined whether the senate trial will be long or short. president trump said either way is fine with him. >> do you prefer a short process in the senate or a more extended process? >> i will do whatever they want to do, it doesn't matter. i'd like a long process because i'd like to see a whistle-blower who is a fraud. >> as the judiciary committee voting on articles of impeachment, president trump was finalizing phase one of a trade deal with china. >> a lot of rules and regulations, a lot of things covered. a phase one deal, but a lot of big things are covered. i say affectionately the farmers are going to have to go by much larger tractors. >> the details are murky, pending legal review. china has also agreed to buy an additional 40-$50 billion in agricultural projects over the next two years written exchange, the u.s. will cancel your tariffs canceled to go into effect december 15th, cancel tariffs in chinese goods from 15% to 7.5

. >> reporter: the letter from the white house counsel, pat cipollone rejected quoting earlier this week when mr. trump called on them to impeach him quickly, if you're going to impeach me, do it now fast so we can have a fair trial in this senate. the house speaker is appearing to just do that as the house is on course to impeach the president by the holidays. >> they're moving very fast. >> let's get more on the refugee of defending the impeachment inquiry and the house is moving forward tonight. phil mattingly joining us. the impeachment inquiry moving forward without any involvement by the trump white house. >> reporter: that's right. moving forward, one day after speaker nancy pelosi instructed her chairman to draft articles of impeachment, it has been made clear by the white house they will not participate in any point that is moving quickly and almost assured president trump will become the third president in u.s. history to be impeached. >> reporter: tonight, the white house making it official, the white counsel in a two-page blistering letter to chairman jerry nadler saying it i

white house counsel pat cipollone visited the senate for a walk-through of the chamber. >> right. >> has any violation of the senate oath of office in your view taken place? >> no, not on the walk-through itself. i think that cipollone is allowed to go to the chamber. that's where he has to defend the president and so he wants to get the lay of the land, if you will. so i think that's appropriate. i also think it's appropriate for senator mcconnell to speak to the white house about some of the procedural matters that will take place. i don't think it's right for them and i do think at this point senator mcconnell and senator lindsey graham made it clear they cannot take in good faith the oath of office to be impartial jurors and that if i was a house manager i would move for there to be a dismissal of them as jurors. and i don't know if that will happen, but i think when they predetermine the outcome, they cannot sit as impartial jurors and that's their oath under the constitution. >> so who would do that? who would be in charge of this dismissal of jurors. if that motion was to be m

i mentioned during the debate, the letter that we received from pat cipollone, they didn't assert privilege that could go to court and we could argue about. no, they said that they didn't agree with impeachment and no one would be a witness and no evidence would be provided. that is obstruction of congress. and if that is allowed to stand, our system of government will be forever changed. as to the abuse of power, the president engaged in probably what would constitute bribery but we didn't have a criminal code when the constitution was established. what he did was even worse. he violated the constitution. he violated his oath of office to see that the laws would be faithfully executed and that he would not misuse his power. there is no greater affront to the constitution than what he has done and he should be impeached and removed from office. >> congresswoman, thank you so much for your time. >>> from peace of mind to a terrifying invasion of privacy, up next how a bedroom camera was hacked and how it can be prevented. prevented. ♪oh there's no place like home for the holidays.♪ ♪fo

cipollone would defend it, but the people who are in real control are the senators. the 100 senators. it's their show, under the constitution they have sole authority to decide whether a president is acquitted or convicted. >> what are the rules on the books? how will this actually work? >> okay. i know you've said all day with your guests, the constitution itself only provides the barest of structure about the two responsibilities of the house and senate, but there are rules the senate adopted over the years. the once they'll start with date to 1986. they've got all sorts of great little nitty-gritty points there about what time they would start the trial. who would present, and how many -- how many people could open. how many people could close. up see there, you know, one to open. two to close. and how questions would be put to any witnesses, and you see under the rules there that any questions would have to be in writing and then they're given to the presiding officer who would be the chief justice who would then ask them of witnesses, but i should tell you, broo

cipollone whose letter in the previous month was more of a trump tweet than a serious legal argument. i think they're taking it more seriously. they're bringing up valid points. they don't know what the structure is. they know as much as we do right now. >> to that point, the president is a very effective communicator, using twitter and other platforms to get his side out. the house speaker nancy pelosi has decided, because she is the leader of the house democrats and these are her decisions, that she is now a front person for this as it goes forward. to your point about what will the article say, what specifically will you charge against the president of the united states, jake tapper tried to get some answers last night. >> no. this isn't about politics at all. i don't think that the 2020 election is going to ride on this. we're operating collectively. it's not going to be somebody put something on the table. we have our own, shall we say, communication with each other. >> okay. >> i'm not going to answer -- with all due respect, i'm not going to answer one charge. we're not writin

white house counsel pat cipollone wrote a letter to the house judiciary committee's chairman jerry nadler an demanded an end to the inquiry, calling it "completely baseless."me while, house republicans said today that they want toes hearmony from hunter biden, the fort'r vice presidson; from house igence committee chairma adam schiff; and from the anonymous whistleblower. the death toll from a migrant boat that psized off mauritania rose to 63 people today. w the vess headed to spain's canary islands when it ran out of fuel wednesday and overturned off the coasof west africa. some 150 migrants weboard. most were from gambia. the u.s. sanctioned three iraqi militia leaders today he killing of anti-government protesters.se the men are acof leading iranian-backed paramilitary groups that shot at demonstrators. more than 400 people have been killed since october, in a crackdown on protests demanding reforms. toy, a senior state department official left open the possibility of imposing more sanctions. >> we're not done. this is an ongoing process. these designations don't prejudice future desi

cipollone. at one point he was expected to come down herehe president. as of now that seems to be up in the air. it's clear the president cannot put this out of his mind. despite the fact he's on his golf course, at his resort, surrounded by people who spoor him, he's clearly elsewhere. >> his mind is in washington. do we know if any white house officials have been down there with him? >> it's been a rotating cast of characters. the first couple of nights we saw robert o'brien, we saw his acting chief of staff mick mulvaney, we saw his former press secretary sara sander was there as well as his current press secretary. and half of them are leaving where more of them are coming in. they are expected to really rotate in and out here. we know one of the biggest concerns of his white house aides was that a long time here, numerous hours, numerous days, which is what he's slated to be here for, could lead him to be more open to outside influence. they wanted to make sure that he had people around him

the new letter from white house council pat cipollone all but tells house democrats to get lost saying, quote, as you know, your impeachment inquiry is baseless and has violated basic principles of fairness. telling cnn the administration will not cooperate with the proceedings. aides to the president are making it all about house speaker nancy pelosi predicting she will pay a critical pace on president trump. >> if they actually go forward with the impeachment articles that nancy pelosi solidified the fact that she will not be speaker of the house next year. >> wow, wow, wow. >> reporter: white house explained pelosi was barreling toward impeachment before the judiciary committee's friday deadline to decide whether to cooperate in the process. >> i do think it's somewhat interesting, though, that nancy pelosi said to move forward with articles of impeachment, even though we hadn't responded to the letter but that shouldn't be a shock because she also wanted to move forward with articles of impeachment before we actually released a transcript. >> reporter: but the white house officials

cipollone, saying, no, that's not what we want. that's not the votes we want. let's move on. >> he'll be down in mar-a-lago over the christmas break. this is going to be starting in january. we don't know where the president is going to end up once this begins in january. he's hearing from a lot of outside people. he said, i wouldn't mind doing a long process, i'm fine with whatever. he probably isn't fine with whatever, but lindsey graham, mitch mcconnell and others are trying to suggest to him that a short process without witnesses is a good thing. he could have talked for a couple minutes and switched to economy. >> it also quickly turns to, i'd prefer a longer one. lily skpchlt there has been this effort to push him approximat y approximately. >>> kaitlan is outside. kaitlan, to that point, the president wants a show. he wants republicans to call him the whistleblower. whi whichly the president would like to get hunter biden called in. what the majority leader has said to the white house. i promise you will not be kwliblgtd or

he said yesterday he thinks his white house counsel pat cipollone will be the person leading the defense. you hear from people like senator lindsey graham saying they believe the president should bring in someone from outside the political realm with a good knowledge of constitutional law. whether or not the president is going to do that is still something open for discussion, but, of course, something to keep an eye on as he's spending these two weeks at mar-a-lago. a lot of critical decisions to be made, brooke. >> kaitlan, thank you. >>> the next step in this impeachment process, so hard to discern. the man in charge of returning the trial is at odds with nearly everyone else involved. talking senate majority leader mitch mcconnell who can't agree to ground rules with minority leader chuck schumer in part because senator schumer wants to call four white house insiders as witnesses. >> leader mcconnell is plotting the most rushed sterile and most unfair impeachment trial in modern history. his plan to prevent house managers from calling witnesses to prove their case is a dramatic break

the president also told reporters he is all but settled for pat cipollone to be his attorney during the senate kbreechlt trial. the how has passed his new trade deal between canada and mexico. all week long the republicans have been saying the democrats hate this president but they did approve his trade deal. >> a major major victory on this deal with canada and mexico. for that, let's discuss the latest developments with a democrat who served on the judiciary committee. senator thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> the house is leaving for the holidays as you know without sending the articles of impeachment to the senate. do you support this decision by the speaker nancy pelosi? >> i think it makes perfect sense for the speaker to say that the senate should establish its rules as to how we are going to proceed with the impeachment trial before she appoints her managers. i think that's a perfectly reasonable position to take. and that's the position she's taking. >> what concessions can the speaker hope to win from the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell when he isn't even eager

the only thing that looks certain is that white house counsel pat cipollone is expected t

you saw pat cipollone, the white house counsel walking through where the white house is on this issue. it's not something we've seen in the house, and it's a shift for the white house. they've talked about no trial at all or trying to shift the trial. the reality is they don't have the votes to do that. republicans on capitol hill and the senate have told the white house, you don't have 51 votes to dismiss this trial, we're going to have to move forward. i think the interesting element here is the role of senate republicans. john, they can't talk during this trial, so in terms of how they will defend the president, it will larging e inly be laceb resolution, who they have come testify. they want joe biden to come testify, people like the whistleblower to come testify. not all people are on board with that. i talked to republicans who want to avoid that at all costs, not because of what it would turn the process into, but because of the senate. they're worried about turning this into a circus. one democrat said if witnesses started coming forward like that, it would be like a hand gren

one notable absence is the white house counsel pat cipollone who, initially, we were told was expected to arrive at mar-a-lago and spend some time with the president. he has yet to arrive. it's unclear if that plan has changed. or if he may wind up showing up at mar-a-lago, a bit later on the schedule, as we get closer to congress getting back in the session in the new year. boris san shez, cnn, traveling with the president in west palm bea beach, florida. >>> there are also questions what's next for u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo, pompeo has been clear he's not interested in running for the senate and any reports are, quote, completely false. still, there are signs that pompeo, what he says may be different from what he does. things like this, his brand-new social media file that reads husband, father and proud american. a softer look than the buttoned down state department look. some question whether that's a sign if he is indeed interested in a run for senate. and a source says the white house is looking for a list of possible replacements. treasury second steven mnuchin is sai

cipollone and other senior officials expected to be here and perhaps unanswered questions surrounding what the white house's strategy for the trial will be will be answered when he's able to get to the staffers and prepare. >> we'll see about that. sarah westwood live in florida, thanks so much. >>> talk a little about all of this. open up the conversation. we have cnn legal analyst paul callan a former prosecutor. also here, cnn correspondent josh campbell and cnn congressional correspondent phil mattingly. hello to you all. thanks for being with us. phil, to you first. what are you hearing on capitol hill about what pelosi needs to see in order to turn over these articles of impeachment to the senate? that seems to be where this all starts. >> yes. i mean, that's the beginning frame of it, right? the expectation now from democrats is actually aligned between the house and senate. you've seen senate democratic leader chuck schumer push on this idea that he wants an agreement to have at least four witnesses, either country or former administration officials involved inned ukraine alle

rudy giuliani, acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and pat cipollone, who's expected to lead the president's defense in a senate trial. more members of trump's impeachment team are expected at mar-a-lago in the coming days to keep the president up to date on the potential senate impeachment trial. with one caveat. at mar-a-lago aides say, "there is less control over who gets face time with the president and who might be able to whisper an idea in his ear." so who knows who'll be whispering in trump's ear this christmas? the usual suspects, all the president's men, or just an enterprising someone taking no chances at mar-a-lago? man: sneezes skip to the good part with alka-seltzer plus. now with 25% more concentrated power. nothing works faster for powerful cold relief. oh, what a relief it is! so fast! (air pump motors) (lamp crashes) ♪music it's the final days of the wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. what do we wburger...inner? i want a sugar cookie... wait... i want a bucket of chicke

on sunday, white house counsel pat cipollone released a refusing to appear thanvsaid," anation to an academic discussion with law professors does not begin to provide the president with any semblance of a fair process." today, 3600 milefrom washington, president trump attended a nato heads of state summit in london. alongside italy's prime minister, he called the hearing lffair, and declared him innocent. >> the word impeachment is a dirty word, anit's a word that s only supposed to be used only in special occasions. high crimes and misdemeanors. en this case there was no cr whatsoever. not even a little tiny crime. >> today the committee starts consideration of the most awesome power constitutionally vested in the house of representatives.n >> schifrin: i74 the housear judicicommittee passed three articles of impeachmen including obstruction of justice and using the government for political purposes.tn >> our next wis is admiral bud ebney. >> schifrin: in 1998 the judiciary committee he months of hearings into president clinton before pasng four articles of impeachment, including pe

cipollone. so far there is no indication from the white house that they would agree to have any of these witnesses, of course, come forward. jeremy diamond, cnn, the white house. >> let's talk about the week ahead. i'm joined from england by natasha lynn stat. she's a professor of government at the university of essex, natasha, thanks for coming in because it's going to be quite a week. let's first focus on that schumer letter to mr. mcconnell requesting witnesses. what do you think the chances are of that happening? >> i think there's absolutely no chance of that happening. the republicans have absolutely nothing to gain by this trial being long, by it dragging on, by it involving more witnesses and by allowing some of these documents to come forward. what they want is for this trial to go as quickly as possible and then they can move on from this because the more people that are involved, for example, if they were able to get john bolton to testify or mick mulvaney, none of these witnesses wou

meanwhile white house counsel pat cipollone and white house legislative affairs director there on the right, eric euland, who was great in groundhog day, were on capitol hill today doing a walk-through to prepare for a senate trial. the two also met with majority leader mcconnell in his office. just last week, mcconnell said he was coordinating a senate trial with the white house counsel. indeed he is. today the majority leader said he has no meetings scheduled with cipollone over the christmas break. meanwhile, "the new york times" has new reporting tonight on how the president has been handling impeachment. the times reports that by thursday morning, trump was eager for information, watching tv for clues about what pelosi might be up to. quote, almost as soon as pelosi said she might delay sending the articles of impeachment over to the senate, mr. trump started surveying advisers about what it could mean. why do you think she's doing that, he asked one person after another. the "times" also reports before the president was impeached, quote, some of mr. trump's advisers tried to con

pat cipollone, the white house counsel who is expected to lead the president's defense team, is anticipated to be here in mar-a-lago. we assume to work on that impeachment behind closed doors. they're also expecting several of president trump's big top aides, including his son-in-law jared kushner. >> all right, kristen holmes, thank you. >>> let's talk more about this. a great panel of experts here on this boxing day. marc ma margaret talib, michael zelden, a former special assistant to robert mueller at the justice department. margaret, let's start with lisa murkowski, the alaska republican who gave an interview to a local television station up there in alaska that is catching the attention of people across the country. listen to what she had to say yesterday. >> in fairness, when i heard that, i was disturbed. to me, it means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense. and so i heard what leader mcconnell had said. i happen to think that that has further confused the process. >> so margaret, we always assumed that murkowski might be a potential republic

the only thing appears set in stone at the moment is that white house counsel pat cipollone is expected to presented the bulk of the president's defense before the senate and likely to be assisted by some of his deputies. while president has been spending time down here in mar-a-lago, he is about halfway through his two-week trip, he has been firing or attacks on nancy pelosi on almost a daily basis and shared a tweet yesterday that contained an uncorroborated name of the whistleblower and taking backlash for that decision. president was spotted on the golf course yesterday with a senator. perhaps some of those unanswered questions about the senate trial could be addressed while the president spends more time in west palm beach. >> sarah westwood for us in west palm beach, thank you very much. >> thank you. >>> so we have a bit of a switch from former vice president joe biden regarding any testimony he may give in president trump's impeachment trial. what the presidential candidate is saying now about what he would do if he is faced with a subpoena. >> she came to los angeles. >> ladies

. >> nbc news has confirmed that white house counsel pat cipollone is expected to represent trump during the senate impeachment trial although this doesn't rule out the possibility of additional counsel. this week we've learned trump's allies in the senate are aiming for a short trial even as trump is pushing for a robust defense. he was asked about that earlier today. >> do you prefer a short process in the senate or a more extended process? >> i could do -- i'll do whatever i want. look, there is -- we did nothing wrong, so i'll do long or short. i wouldn't mind a long process because i'd like to see the whistle-blower, who's a fraud. we're dealing with a lot of corrupt people. there was nothing done wrong. to use the power of impeachment on this nonsense is an embarrassment to this country. >> the president's tv lawyer, rudy giuliani, is back in the news in addition to reportedly being under investigation by the feds for his work in ukraine. this morning he was at the white house where we've confirmed he met with the president. giuliani's just back from that corruption investigation t

today white house counsel pat cipollone met with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell on capitol hill. earlier tonight mcconnell spoke about strategizing with the administration. >> everything i do during this i'm coordinating with white house counsel. there will be no difference between the president's position and our position. but we'll be working through this process hopefully in a fairly short period of time. there's no chance the president's going to be removed from office. my hope is that there won't be a single republican who votes for either of these articles of impeachment. and, sean, it wouldn't surprise me if we got one or two democrats. this is a really weak case, and that's why i think you're going to see bipartisan opposition to the articles over in the house. >> here for our lead-off discussion on an early friday morning, my what wiley, former u.s. assistant attorney for the southern district of new york now with a new school here in new york. kurt bardella, the former spokesman for the house oversight committee, also happens to be a former republican who left the part

in an angry letter, pat cipollone wrote ," adopting articles of impeachment would be a reckless abuse of power by house democrats and would constitute the most unjust, highly percocet attempt at impeachment. house speaker nancy pelosi argues it is the president who has abused his office for his own political benefit. >> our democracy is what is at stake. the president leaves us no choice but to act. because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit. >> reporter: the house judiciary committee will work through the weekend , on track to draft articles of impeachment as soon as next week. but there is debate among democrats about whether to keep charges limited to the president's dealings with ukraine or to broader them to include conduct investigated in the mueller report. >> at least 10 or 11 instances where the president really crossed the line with respect to justice. to ignore that is to allow ignorance of presidents. >> keep it focused, keep it simple. >> that was natalie brand reporting. the republican impeachment hearing is set to start at 6:00 monday

pat cipollone meeting with republican senators telling them they're ready to play defense without getting into details of a strategy, one senator tells cnn. but on capitol hill, four scholars testified about impeachable conduct. >> if what we're talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable. >> reporter: all three of the democrats' witnesses say trump's efforts to pressure ukraine into investigating his political rivals amounts to impeachable behavior. >> did president trump commit the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power? >> reporter: we three are unanimous. >> the republicans' witness jonathan turley says it's premature to move forward. >> i'm concerned about lowering impeachment standards to fit the abundance of anger. >> reporter: i asked sheila jackson about that anger and she says the country will get over that anger if there is impeachment. a critical deadline tomorrow. whether or not the president and white house counsel will appear in future impeachment hearings. so far they have been uninterested. >> all right. keep us posted. because this ann

mitch mcconnell met with the white house counsel pat cipollone yesterday behind closed doors and they -- he plan to coordinate as they go forward and figure out how to deal with this and try to push off these charges eventually getting to a vote to acquit the president in january. but the coordination between the senate majority leader and the president's top aides is prompting serious concern from democrats who say that is not the role that the republican senators who are jurors should play. >> the foreman of the jury, mitch mcconnell, the guy that decides all of the rules, is actually going to coordinate with the defendant. that makes no sense whatsoever. it is an outrage. >> reporter: we do expect though the republican senators are being very clear here, they do not expect there will be enough votes in order to take this president out of office. mitch mcconnell said as much last night. he's been saying that for weeks. he doesn't expect any republican defections at the moment. there are some republican senators including mitt romney who told me this week that he's keeping an open mi

. >> it shouldn't be pat cipollone. >> the decision from the get go. here's something to keep in mind. the united states was very partisan in 1998. we can discuss whether we're more partisan or not now and it was a partisan environment in '98 and nevertheless, trent lott, the republican understood that the country needed an agreement that democrats could sign on to which included ultimately how many witnesses there would be and whether they would be live witnesses or not and as a result, 100 senators supported the outcome. by saying what he did today, leader mcconnell is basically sending a signal, i don't want to talk to schumer. >> and of course, and that's crucial and it's going to be very hard for chuck schumer to say we're on the same page. >> mcconnell says president clinton coordinated and it's the same argument he makes and the democratic leader at the time and his staff did communicate with the white house and there's truth in what mcconnell is saying and daschle, i'm sorry -- daschle did not speak to president clinton himself and he was mad t

and here, that extraordinary eight-page letter that was sent by pat cipollone, the white house counsel, saying, you're not getting any witnesses, you're not getting any documents. that has never been done before. and that, i think, is a precedent that is really a scary one for members of both parties. because someday there will be a democratic president and the republicans will want his testimony. >>> the hearing of the impeachment is continuing. and an update of the president and whether he's listening to these hearings. >>> the president and another disturbing act, this time on a teen activist, on greta thunberg. hear how she responded when he said she needed to deal with her anger management. braava jet breaks up messes and gets deep in corners. braava jet. only from irobot. the doctor's office might mejust for a shot.o but why go back there when you can stay home with neulasta® onpro? strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. in a key study neulasta® reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1% a 94% decrease. neulasta® onpro is designed to deliver neulasta® the da

white house counsel pat cipollone says, we cannot be expected to participate in a hearing where the witnesses are yet to be named and while it remains unclear if the judiciary committee will afford the president a fair process. he is accusing the democrats to schedule the hearing while the president is at a nato meeting in london. >> the white house faces a friday deadline to decide whether to participate in future hearings. one republican on the judiciary panel thinks the white house should be there. >> i think it would be to the president's advantage to have his attorneys there. that's his right. it would be to the president's advantage to have him testify now. he has to weigh that against the enormous, catastrophic damage that would do to the doctrine of executive privilege. >> the house intelligence committee is expected to let members review its impeachment report today. the vote on whether to approve the report is set for tomorrow. president trump is accused of abusing his power by attempting to coerce ukraine into investigating his political rivals. >>> later this morning, the presiden

cipollone saying he doesn't think he could handle it by himself. and that is not the only person the president is golfing with. on sunday he was seen with trey gowdy, the former congressman from south carolina but the person that mick mulvaney wanted him to bring on inside to help with impeachment before it got started in the house but then the president citing federal lobbying rules said he wouldn't be able to join until january. now here we are, he's been advising the president from the outside and of course the question is whether or not he's going to be someone who could potentially be brought on. but essentially, jim, the president has a lot of decisions to make and still down here. a lot of outside influence as you see on this president which we reported aides had been concerned about and of course the decisions are going to have to be made soon by the time the president returns to washington. >> kaitlan collins in florida, thank you very much. >>> front now jeff markly from the senate foreign relations committee. we appreciate you taking the

we expect white house counsel pat cipollone to be among those representing president trump once that trial gets underway. >> ashley, you were writing this weekend about the legislative agenda and how the holiday legislative tableau has emboldened trump. he has suggested that house speaker nancy pelosi is embarrassed by the impeachment inquiry. he said he believes the trial in the republican controlled senate where he's expected to be acquitted of the house charges could be beneficial to him and he sees impeachment as perhaps the best episode, the grand finale of a reality show presidency in the words of one long-term confidante who talked with trump. >> the president is conflicted on this. in part you see that with what he's saying about what he wants to see from a senate trial. on the one hand he has been convinced by mcconnell and other republicans that he wants a short trial. he understands it's not necessarily good for him. on the other hand, he'll talk about wanting a long trial tor talk about things that would create a long trial, talking about how many witnesses he would like

that is from the white house letter from pat cipollone on friday dismissed this as baseless and said it would be a reckless abuse of power for democrats to move forward in introducing those articles of impeachment. the message, though, from the president i think we'll continue to see this week is what we laid out in a tweet late last week, which was if you're going to impeach me, do it fast. the president and this white house really want to get past this process in the house of representatives where there is a democratic majority. instead they're shifting their gaze. they're moving on and looking towards the senate where the president will face trial if indeed he's impeached as we now expect him to be. the senate controlled by the republicans and the president, and his white house saying they believe they can get a fair trail over there. >> i want to bring in white house correspondent and associate editor for politico anita kumar and correspondent april ryan. what are the legal risks of the president's team not appearing at tomorrow's hearing? >> jeremy is right. the white house feel