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exclusive new reporting and getting calls from donald trump, and what one former mar-a-lago employee turned witness says he was offered by the former president. and happening now, new details emerging on the pitch that the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is making to the u.s. lawmakers behind closed doors right now. the surprising topics that he is touching as he pleads for new money. also on capitol hill, the house republicans are intending to take a big step forward towards the impeachment inquiry toward joe biden as others are calling it baseless and a sham investigation. where things are now. i'm sara sidner with john berman and kate bolduan. this is cnn "news central." all right. in the breaking news, the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is about to meet with the house speaker mike johnson. he is trying to break through

all of the u.s. politics and secure aid that he says that he desperately needs now to fight vladimir putin. we are getting new details about how he is trying to persuade u.s. lawmakers what subjects he is willing to discuss, and some that he is not. manu raju is on capitol hill. and nick paton walsh is in ukraine, and standby for one moment, because i want to go to manu first on how exactly this pitch is going so far. >> well, he did make the case that the money is needed urgently, and especially the air-to-land missile systems, and to push back on the russian aggression, and he says that without aid, the migration is going to be worse in europe and potentially the united states. this is coming as the united

states is holding up aid to ukraine. we are looking at the pictures right now of volodymyr zelenskyy walking on capitol hill. this is what he had to say. all right. it looks like he did not address the remarks but he is walking into the meeting that is currently on going with, he is going to meet with speaker johnson, and at a critical moment here. and what zelenskyy's pitch is that aid is needed immediately, and even as the u.s. lawmakers are grappling with the issue of tightening laws with the border of mexico to prevent an influx of migrants, and that debate is nowhere resolved at this moment, and this is where ukraine aid

could be halted, but i am told that it could still come through, and senate majority leader chuck schumer made clear the warnings that zelenskyy made behind closed doors, and he said that it is time for the congress to act. >> even as many of the republican colleagues talked about how we are winning this war, and if we get the help that, if he gets the help he needs, he will win. on the other hand, he made it clear, and we all made it clear that if we lose, putin wins, and this is going to be very, very dangerous for the united states. so we cannot let putin through any surrogate dictate what we need to do for ukraine. >> reporter: now i am told in the meeting with the senators how the aid would be spent, and the accountability. he insists no corruption, and the people in the country buying yachts of sorts, and from that, the u.s. aid, and the question

is if it convinces enough ultimately be needed from the united states to help his country beat back the russian aggression, but wiring money urgently as the white house says it needs to happen this month or ukraine is in the risk of closed captioning in the war against russia, but as they change the dynamics on the hill, it appears he has not as it moves to speaker johnson in a matter of moments. >> thank you, manu. we go to nick paton walsh who is in zaporizhzhia region, and as we can tell, the winter is not waiting for the u.s. congress to figure out how the deal with the politics here, and the fighting season is not waiting for the u.s. congress, and so what is the view from there? >> yeah, i am sure that president putin is not waiting either.

it is the final moment when western resolve is so clear, and unified with the russian invasion seems to be stalling, and if not to crumble at some degree. it is clear that the disconnect, and the wall there is something that could ultimately have a price tag and guaranteed result with the life and death result here, and the people that we have met on the front lines that have kept them alive, and the money may soon disappear, and what it means for the occasion we are knowing of shelling, and have heard in the town to the south that we were injured and that cell phone service is knocked out, and the ukrainian

attacks as well as the ukraine infrastructure as winter is here is being targeted. the front lines, static to some degrees, and the kherson river is on the other side there, and unlikely an advance, but it could be if it is seeing the first war the u.s. argument that they don't want to be dragged into another war. but the argument is that ukraine is doing the fighting, and not ended up in into the nato borders, and be dragged on until january, and they are thinking, do we have until january. nick paton walsh, thank you. stay safe. right now, we are watching as the house rules committee is

going to lead a impeachment vote against president biden. if this resolution survives committee rules vote, it could head to the floor of the house as soon as tomorrow. lauren fox is watching this happen, and we are watching with it in real impeachment inquiry vote. >> yes, one thing to keep in mind about this impeachment inquiry vote, the house investigating this judiciary oversight, they will continue their work. if you can remember, speaker mccarthy or the former speaker mccarthy had announced a vote a few months ago, and this was the vote to for mallize it. but this is the committee who

through a to ensure they will complete the investigation. our haley talbot sent this report that bacon thought it was an essential step, but he did not belief they would vote on a article of impeachment against joe biden because they did not believe they would find crimes of high crimes and nimisdemeano. >> this is necessary, because we are an impasse, and the facts are reaching a stone wall, and we have no choice to fulfill the constitutional responsibility is to take the next step.

we are not making a political decision, but it is a legal decision. >> that is the argument that you are hearing from many of the republicans who had been on the fence prior to this, but it is simply going to bolster some of the subpoenas that the judiciary and oversight are making. that is of course the argument they are making at this moment, but sara, the question is becoming, inevitably what h happens? do they vote on the articles of impeachment against the president, and what happens in the meantime? >> well, a number of unanswered questions, and we will be eager to see what they vote today. >> joining us now is the congressman from pennsylvania, and charlie dent, and great to see you again, congressman. you have heard from speaker johnson, this is not a political decision, but a legal decision, and what do you think of this inquiry? >> well, of course, impeachment

is a political process, and it is not really a legal process. the house republicans have made a compelling case to impeach hunter biden, but the fact is that hunter biden is not a federal official, and the republicans have not yet demonstrated any connection between hunter, and so they have not made this case. this impeachment is like a missile launch. once you launch it, you cannot recall it. so once they launch it, it is likely to go to the impeachment. so once it is launched, it is not going to help the republicans, but it is damaging to the president both emotionally and if you are the president, you don't want to have that aired because of what his son has done, and business

dealings, but at the end of the day, americans are concerned about what is affecting their lives and hunter biden is not affecting their day, but i would say they have made this decision, they are going to go forward. >> warren has just quoted one republican, congress bacon, and the way he puts it, he believes it is not inevitable. and do you see a scenario -- i am guessing not since we are talking about rocket launches -- but do you see a path where they would not go to the articles of impeachment? >> well, i would say that the gop is launching inquiry, and they have done it without a vote, and now voting on it, but i would suspect that the

hardliners want an actual impeachment vote but that does not mean that don bacons of the world, and he is a good friend, are not supportive of the actual impeachment, and we don't know how they will vote when the time comes, but i would suspect that the question comes at that time, will the republicans bring up the impeachment resolution if they do not have in fact the votes to pass it. that is another question that we could spend a lot of time talking about. >> and i am sure that we will down the road. you have been talking about the folks who have been pushing this like congressman bacon, and what do you think that means for the republicans in the swing districts who must be nervous about where this is headed and what it could mean for them? >> yeah, i think that most of them would probably not rather deal with this issue. i don't think that it helps them in any way. i won't say it is going to hurt

them terribly, and just as when donald trump was impeached the first time, it was not a big political issue for most of the democrats in the swing districts, and not much of an impact for them in 2020. and the same for the republican, and if i were in a swing district, i would rather not have to defend the inquiry into hunter biden. that would be an enormous problem for them. but at the same time, i don't think it is the issue that most voters are going to be casting the vote for. it may not hurt them, but it may not help them as much as they would think. >> and i feel like we are going to be hearing we can walk and chew gum at the same time coming up. >> thank you. >> thank you. john? >> and now, we are hearing that in jack smith's mar-a-lago's

inquiry, we are hearing that nikkkki haley isis p picking up endodorsement.

we are learning new exclusive details of a phone call that donald trump made with a former mar-a-lago employee who became a key witness in the jack smith documents case. the former staffer told

prosecutors that trump offered him incentives after he left his job at the resort. katelyn polantz has the exclusive details digging this up. what happened with this relationship and happened here? >> well, sara, this is about a person who worked at mar-a-lago for a long time, and very ingrained in that community and left his job at a crucial moment. he had witnessed quite a few things that ended up in the indictment of donald trump. he had moved boxes, overheard conversations that became part of the charges against donald trump and two others. this employee left his job a little bit after the fbi search when it was apparent that there is an ongoing criminal investigation and then shortly got a call to him on his personal cell phone which rarely happened that trump found his cell phone through one of his contacts and found out why he was leaving mar-a-lago, and then they had a pleasant conversation, and then trump got

word back to him that he was a good guy. that is a blip on the radar of this person as he is leaving his job at mar-a-lago, but he had a couple of other conversations that stuck out to him that was unusual, and people talking to him about why he was not using a trump-paid lawyer for his legal representation in the classified documents investigation as people were approaching him to speak to investigator, and wouldn't he want to have tickets to the upcoming trump-sponsored golf tournament, and that donald trump would like to see him, and also repeated reminders that he could return to his job at mar-a-lago if he want to. >> why in the big scheme of things does that matter to jack smith? >> well, this mpattern of communication does not become

repeated between the co-conspirators, but this former employee spoke to investigators about how these things happen and the unusual pattern, and this is an obstruction investigation, before it was charged and not anything about this particular aspect of it charged, but there is just a really curious situation here of the timing that these contacts are coming at a moment in time where there are a lot people around donald trump in south florida, and a lot of people with insight into mar-a-lago, and clearly a behavior in trump world of people keeping tabs on one another. >> katelyn polantz, you are keeping tabs of this. thank you. >> and now, there is a question if a former president has a special imunity, and this is going to the supreme court. they said they will expedite the

request. and with me is the lawyer for the january 6th committee. the supreme court says they will expedite it, which is a good sign for jack smith, but when will he know, and when the will the prosecutors know, and how quickly will they move here? >> that question is up to the supreme court, but jack smith is hoping by the early january, all of this is settled, and that allows for the pretrial motions to move forward for judge chutken and if there is a stay, nothing happens. no pretrial motions or filings, and impossible to have a trial in march, and that is what he wants. >> if you are looking for the citizens guidebook here for the supreme court, they will look for ways out and saying we don't have to decide on this right

now, and what is the escape route here? >> they could direct the appeals court to deal in an expedited fashion, and not decide on themselves, but to keep the decision reporting on the case-out. nothing is more important than this. i suspect they will take pit on. >> and it is a fundamental constitutional issue, and not much case law beyond nixon here. and it would be nice for the court to weigh in. and let me ask you about your work with the january 6th committee a little bit, but might jack smith have evidence of donald trump's twitter use, and the digital experts of what he was writing, and how he was using twitter and exactly when on january 6th, and why might that be relevant? >> one thing that i would want to do is to put the phone in the former president's hands, and

generally the program that the president used the twitter account, and others did. why it is critical is that when he was asked by mark med dose and others to standdown, he didn't. he went out to tweet out defamatory language to say that mike pence didn't have the courage as needed. if the attorney jack white can put out that the former president is watching the activities on television, and also, the plea to ask the folks to standdown, and then he is tweeting out more inflammatory information, and that is going to show the intent to obstruction and inflame, and that is one of the charges. >> and if you had that capability for the january 6th

committee, how useful would that have been? >> when i was a former prosecutor, it is critical. get that phone, and put in their hand, and if you can put the phone inside of their hands, you can get inside of their mind. >> thank you, counselor. that is interesting in a way i had not thought about before. >> and joining us is a town hall presidential town hall. and now, today, president zelenskyy is about to go into a meeting with his toughest meeting so far with house leader m and what might his pitch be.

new this morning, sources say that nikki haley is about to pick up a endorsement from the new hampshire governor chris sununu and it could happen tonight as there is a rally in manchester, and the rival ron desantis is trying to downplay the boost for haley putting out this statement saying that what happens in new hampshire is going to significantly be impacted by the outcome in iowa where the true trump alternative is going to emerge. clearly ron desantis is putting everything into being that alternative. he's in iowa tonight appearing in the cnn presidential town hall.

we go there with jessica dean who is standing by in des moines. jessica, what does tonight mean for ron desantis? what are you hearing? >> well, kate, you mentioned that, you know, he is putting everything in to becoming the trump alternative. it starts here, and it has been the center of gravity for the ron desantis campaign in this stage of the county, and he and his team believe it is a great team for the message, and a lot of the evangelical voters that make up the republican party here in the state of iowa. that why they are putting so much into it, as you heard, their theory of the case is doing well in iowa, and winning in and the state of the race. tonight is huge if you look at

the des moines "register" you will see that the president maintains an incredible hold here with 51%, and desantis at 19%, and haley at 15%, so he has a two-front battle. haes to beat the former president, and there is a lot of room to make up there, and then in the battle for second place, haley is nipping at his heels. so we have seen him start to sharpen the attack, and they have grown ever sharpener the months that we have been following him, because remember, he is really pitching himself to voters as the former president but without all of the baggage, and the chaos that follows him, and a voter for desantis are the same voters for donald trump in the last election, so they don't want to fend the voters, but they want to give them a reason to come over to the governor's

aside, and this is the reason that they have been upping the attacks on donald trump, and calling him basically a coward for not showing up to the debate stage. aim looking to see how much of that happens on the stage behind me, and what is the reaction in the room. >> i am very interested to see how he presents tonight, and the questions that he gets and how he handles those. it is going to been a important evening. good to see you. >> yeah. >> all right. to talk all about this, and for more on the political world out there with whole thing going on, town hall, and we have the two amazing people here, and cnn commentator s.e. cupp, and political analyst john avalon, and i wanted to have you in here for a little party, but i will bite my tongue. i wanted to talk to you first, s.e., and the wild horse is up first, but ron desantis is forced to report to news out ofhamtham that governor sununu is expected to endorse nikki

haley, and saying that the true trump alternative is going to emerge in iowa, and what are the thoughts on that? >> this is par for the course for desantis, because just as he is hoping to get some momentum, some dais smack comes to take the wind out of the sails. i was just listening to jessica say that desantis is going to be becoming the trump alternative, and he has been becoming for years now. and it is only 35 days to iowa, and when he is going to become trump without the baggage, the trump alternative? nikki haley is going up in the polls, and desantis is stagnant or dropping in some of the polls. so this invention by the donor class that desantis was going to be the trump alternative, it has

not manifesting that on the day of the iowa caucus that is going to appear magically before us is a fantasy. >> ek spoog of which, "register" says that the polls are never accurate when it comes to the iowa caucuses. >> well, he has a point, because the caucus can change a great deal. and rick santorum who nearly won in 2012 over mitt romney had been low single digits two months out, and the caucuses are unlike anything else, and it is neighbor versus neighbor trying to use the persuasion, and donald trump's supporters are so intensely in his corner, that it leaves the candidates to fight for the persuadable, and donald trump is in iowa, because he wants to be. if he does not go with the

organization of the organization, and he got the endorsement of kim reynolds, the governor of iowa and other evangelical leaders like bob vander plaats, it is going to be not because of endorsement, but because of ron desantis, because he has had a hard time connecting with the actual humans in the retail politics move. >> and there is a new super pac going after nikki haley, and interestingly not going after the frontrunner, but going after haley for flip floping, and such things that you will hear on many campaigns. and why se is desantis going after haley. it is very, very clear who the front runner is, and the only thing going after donald trump is the not showing up for the

debate. >> that is the hill sehe going die on. and that is the problem. for eight years, donald trump is on top, and conditioning the environment for everyone to trust him, an discard everything else, and he did it with a lot of republicans who are currently running for president. so now for all of the folks like ron desantis cutting commercials with folks like donald trump reading bedtime stories saying well, he is not debating, so vote for me, and it seems a little bit like too little, too late. it is not believable. you helped donald trump create t, and now you begging the same voters for your vote. the play should have always been for the people not named trump to go after the moderates, independents, and disaffected

independents and democrats, and instead, they tried completely, you know, ineffectively to peel off trump voters at the same time. it doesn't work. you can't do both. >> i can't believe that we are actually 11 months or so away from another presidential election. john avalon, tonight, you know, we will see desantis on the stage, and he has a platform where he can say what he wants. what do you expect to hear from him, and is that is going to move the needle at all? >> not much today, but he has and to those who are going to interregate him and making a positive case for his own being president. he going to have to take some shots at donald trump for contrast. campaigns are about contrast and not simply related to decisions to abandon the debate stage. this is as high stakes as it

gets for ron desantis. he has been talented in the past. and s.e. raises a great point about the sycophant si about a problem there. the but he won a resounding and not be a wooden atomaton that is not connecting with folks. >> s.e. cupp and john avalon, thank you. five weeks before the iowa caucuses, and the republican hopeful ron desantis is going to join cnn moderator jake tapper for a town hall. and now, what prpresident z

len si zelenskyy y is saying g to lawms behindnd those clolosed doors.s

>> all right. this is just moments ago on capitol hill. the house side, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, and you can see his head there amidst that group of people walking down the hallway. we believe he is coming out of his meeting with the u.s. house speaker mike johnson right now. we have been watching him move through the capitol building all morning long and waiting for him to comment if he chooses to do so, but he has not chosen to do

so. but we are getting comment about the pitch he is making behind closed doors from some of the lawmakers themselves who have emerged from the meetings, and then chased down by roving news finder manu raju on capitol hill. manu, what have you heard about what is taking place at these meetings? >> yeah, zelenskyy is actually telling members that he does not expect the united states to fail in its push to provide aid to ukraine, and he said that they are still counting on the money from the united states to pushback against russia even though things are stalled on the capitol hill, and the dynamics have not changed despite the urgent pleas behind closed doors of volodymyr zelenskyy to approve the aid for the air missile systems and the other defense systems to help them fight russia. he says if they fall, it is going to provide a migrant crisis that is going to lead to a surge to other european

countries as well as the united states, but the migrant crisis here in the united states is the reason that it is stalled. the republicans are demanding a change on the policy changes of the u.s./mexico border, and to change things at the border to improve the changes with the aid between u.s. and ukrainian aid. and now, we have just heard that the u.s. republicans and democrats are united on the push to deal with the border issues before aid to ukraine. >> it is doubtful that it is going to paz wiss without real meani meaningful change at the border,

and the house republicans stand together on that. >> and johnson stood in a meeting with volodymyr zelenskyy just now. we expect johnson to address the reporters in a matter of minutes burk but so far, the approach has not changed. immigration first, and ukraine later, but the problem is that there is no deal in sight on the issue of immigration. >> thank you, manu raju. that is the microphone there, and this is where we expect to see mike johnson with the group of expected reporters coming up. kate? >> also coming up, the president of harvard is going to keep her job. why the school's governing body of harvard says they are going to be backing claudine gay after her congressional testimony about genocide.

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let's go back to capitol hill. mike johnson talking to reporters after his meeting with president zelenskyy. let's listen. >> thank you all for being here. just had a good meeting with president zelenskyy. i reiterated we stand with him and against putin's brutal invasion. the american people stand for freedom and they are on the right side of this fight. i have asked the white house since the day that i was handed the gavel as speaker for clarity. we need clear articulation of the strategy to allow ukraine to win. thus far, their responses have been insufficient. they have not provided us the clarity and the detail that we requested over and over since literally 24 hours after i was handed the gavel as speaker of

the house. what the biden administration seems to be asking for is billions of additional dollars with no clear strategy to win and none of the answers the american people are owed. i have also made clear from day one. >> listening to that, had seemed like he pushed him to a different decision. thank you for joining us. more coming up. this is "cnn news central." "inside politics" is up next.