welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. big news from the supreme court today. the justices say they will hear two cases exploring whether the civil rights act and sex discrimination laws should be interpreted now to protect gay and transgender americans from pork place bias. plus, president trump and the president trump organization are suing congress in an effort to keep his financial records secret. today's lawsuit is the latest confrontation over new house investigations and comes hours before democrats discuss whether the mueller report should change

their go-slow approach on the impeachment question. an iraq war veteran seth moulton is candidate 19 in the democratic race for the presidential election. selling his ideas to the liberal base is his challenge. >> i'm here to tell you and america that i'm running for the president of the united states. i think our party made a mistake by waiting until there will would be some smoking gun in the mueller report, and there's not a big smoking gun like we were hoping for. >> we begin the hour with new confrontations between the president and house democrats and what the president's public insistence he's worry-free today, after starting a big new legal battle with congress amid a democratic debate over the big question of impeachment. today president trump and the trump organization filing a lawsuit. that lawsuit challenges a house oversight committee subpoena for financial records from the trump organization's accounting firm. the new legal confrontation an important escalation, but

impeachment is the big show, something the president insisting last hour he's not the least bit worried about. the president also taking the movement to remind everyone he's the boss. >> thank you. >> are you worried that your staff is ignoring your orders as the mueller report portrays? >> nobody disobeys my order. >> the mueller report would take issue with that. tonight house speaker nancy pelosi will convene a conference call after new progressive demands impeachment should happen now. the current state of uncertainty creates some hemming and hawing like this a member of the house democratic leadership. >> well, this is one of the hard ones. we have to make a judgment as to what's been for the american people. i've been really disturbed by what i've read in the mueller report, particularly the interactions between the president and his counsel don mcgahn. we're going to have to make a hard call on this. you know, the easy ones are where we know there will be blowback but there's no question about what we should do. we have to carve a path knowing

that there's going to be some competing interests here, but i've got to tell you. this is one that we're going to agonize over. >> let's go straight live to manu raju up on capitol hill. a new confrontation in the fight over records, and a big conference call for the democrats tonight. >> reporter: yeah. they are going to lay out in the conference call about what they plan to do. the democratic leaders in the days and weeks ahead and what the democrats will probably emphasize is they are going to mount a rather aggressive investigation to look into potential obstruction of justice. they want to have significant hearings. bill barr being the first one followed by special counsel robert mueller. other individuals will undoubtedly be called before the committee as well, people who are outlined in that report like don mcgahn. he's one of five former white house officials who the committee has already authorized subpoenas for. they will soon be issued probably to those individuals to get records and testimony, but there was a faction within the democratic caucus that is pushing leadership to go harder, to push for art calves

impeachment, to begin impeachment proceedings, and that's when nancy and her lieutenants at the moment are trying to tamp down. now at the same time investigations pursuing on other fronts including into the president's finances, and you saw that lawsuit filed today by the trump organization to prevent financial firm from turning over documents related to the then individual trump's allegations that he may have inflated his net worth to purchase the buffalo bills football team. those allegations were raised by michael cohen in his public testimony. the trump organization says that that subpoena by elijah cummings to get those records exceeds constitutional limits. they are trying to prevent that firm from complying with a subpoena, so a new front in this fight between the white house and house democrats over oversight and investigations, now it's up to the courts to decide what the democrats can see. john? >> new front. it's getting hard to keep track of all the legal challenges facing the administration and the question of how much power does congress have.

manu, appreciate the live reporting. with me in studio to share their reporting, cnn's abby philip, abby keagle and jackie kucinich of "the daily beast and elliana johnsson with "politico." at the end of the easter egg roll, the president says nobody disobeys my orders, the mueller report the president's aides saved him by punting, walking away, waiting a few days, but it's not just in the mueller report. from hour one of this administration we have had aides telling us pay no attention to what the president says. watch what we do. he says and tweets a lot of things, and we massage them or ignore them. i guess i understand it as a test of his macho, but it's just not true that nobody disobeys his orders. >> definitely not true, but i think one of the things that really drives this president crazy is the perception that he's being managed by his aides, and so -- that's what he's really pushing back against, and

the president i think -- the mueller report paints a picture of a president who is not so much managed by his aides but simply disregarded. i think it also raises a question about how the country is being governed. the president is duly elected, and in many questions the country is being governed by his senior aides who on many important questions rexer sizing their own best judgment. these people were not elected, but, you know, in a real crisis is the president simply going to be disregarded by aides who are going to exercise their best judgment? it's troubling. >> to that point, i just want to get on the record when the president says something like this. read the mueller report. if you don't trust the media, read the mueller report. this is not 18 angry democrats. this is cory lawn dusky in his own words under penalty of perjury, hope hicks under penalty of perjury, don mcgahn in his own words under penalty of perjury and on and on and on says the president tells us to do things and we just don't do it.

>> the white house counsel counsel's job is to protect the office, not necessarily the president as a man himself. if you actually look at the mueller report, that seemed to be what don mcgahn was doing by ignoring the man, the current occupant of the office's orders because trump would have gotten himself in a lot of trouble if everyone had said yes, sir, and had done what he wanted. so in some cases these aides were doing what their jobs actually are. >> and so the president's team is pushing back. again, all of these aides to the president -- their argument essentially is all these people the president hired lied, because if you read the mueller report they are quoted. they are not summarized what they said. they are quoting what they said all under penalty of perjury when they gave the injuries so the president's defense is everybody i hired is now lie begun what i did if you boil it all down. this is one of the president's former lawyers john dowd saying -- rudy giuliani said this yesterday on "state of the union" and dowd today saying the president's white house counsel

who through his attorney has stood by everything he said in the mueller report, especially the incident of president calling don mcgahn saying fire john mueller, john dowd says it never happened. >> when did president trump said go out there and fire mueller? >> he never did. it's an "f," pleat "f." it's so poorly done and things are mission. there are parts of it that just aren't right, and i would say they have a junior writer from the "new york times" do it. >> again, it quotes people by name. we can dispute it. here's my question there. i get the public relations part. john dowd and rudy giuliani, both veteran attorneys, making a public relations case, not a legal case for the president, but if they are going to continue to say this does that not open the avenue for democrats in congress to say, well, you say it would be excessive for us to call all these people back up. if you're going to dispute what don mcgahn says, have a seat, mr. mcgahn and raise your hand and answer questions. >> that's an important point.

the difference between john dowd sitting a on a fox news set and don mcgahn sitting in front of federal investigators, it's a crime to lie to federal investigators. if, for example, all of these individuals go over to capitol hill and tell their stories under the penalty of perjury, that would be a completely different story, and it has -- you have to wonder, you know, the white house is expending a lot of time right now trying to undermine the building blocks of the mueller report, that they also claim vindicates and exonerates the president on all counts. what's left? if you're saying all the stories that went into this amount to absolutely no, and it would be one thing if the mueller report were standing on its own, but it's building on two years of reporting in the media that basically corroborate this pattern of behavior. remember, the woodward book talking about gary cohen taking papers off of the president's desk, pulling out of a south korea free trade agreement and nafta would be devastating to the economy, and would endanger

national security. there are all these stories that have been out there for two years. what's

to the akz and say, h to the caucus and say, hey, slow down. the speaker will corral the sheep. jerry nadler, the chairman of the judiciary committee and adam schiff, two fierce critics of president trump in this. listen to their take on the impeachment question. >> do you think that this is impeachable? >> yeah, i do. i do think that this is -- if proven which hasn't been proven yet. if proven some of this would be impeachable, yes. obstruction of justice if proven would be impeachable. >> i think without question within the realm of impeachable offenses, when mitch mcconnell will not stand up to the president either, it means that an impeachment is likely to be unsuccessful. now it may be that we undertake

an impeachment nonetheless. >> if that's the -- it's like the democrats saying, sure. it's an impeachable case. the question is is it politically worth making it when not one republican has raised their hand to say we'll be with you. the house, assuming they kept all the democrats could impeach. the senate no way will convict. >> yeah. i mean, i think we're seeing the debate play out in the real time which is interesting because you saw nadler really pause which he hasn't done before and he, too, is agonizing over this question and his committee would be the one that would start this, right, but he's one of the senior lawmakers that's been here for a long time and they saw what happened when republicans pursued impeachment against clinton. >> you alluded to this a little bit, john, and that's assuming all the democrats vote for impeachment which is an assumption, because it is very possible there will be democrats, probably not from -- probably from districts that trump won in 2016 that would not vote for impeachment, so

there's -- there's a lot of factors here. not only what it would do to the country, all of that, but just internal factors that house democrats like nancy pelosi, jerry nadler. >> her case, the speaker's case, is let's keep having the hearings and laying out the facts and let the voters be the jury in 2020. we'll see if she can hold that together on tonight's call. we'll shift to sunday's devastating bomb attack that killed 290 people in sri lanka, including several americans. the fbi joining that investigation as sri lankan authorities are still finding and detonating explosives 24 hours later. again, to be clear. that was a controlled detonation that took place earlier in colombo. meanwhile, we're learning more about the americans killed in sunday's bombings targeting churches and hotels popular with western tourists. secretary of state mike pompeo acknowledging the global scale of these horrific attacks.

>> this is america's fight, too. any evil-doers be brought to justice expeditiously. >> officials think a local islamic group with local backing is responsible. they received intelligence and they are apologizing for not acting on that intelligence in time. >> then there were 19. the newest member of the democratic presidential field seth moulton is different promising he'll get it right on healthcare. xus nx. lease the 2019 nx 300 for $359 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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elizabeth warren. moulton quick to point out though that he's different. >> i'm not a socialist. i'm a democrat, and i want to make that clear, and maybe that's a ditch ren shator for me in this race, you know. we talk a lot about healthcare, for example. i think i'm the only candidate who actually gets single-payer healthcare, so i think healthcare is a right and i think every american should have access to good affordable healthcare. i made an election to get my own healthcare and that's single payer and it's not perfect so if i'm elected i won't force you off your private healthcare plan. >> welcome to the fray, seth moulton. what's the lane? >> it's unclear. i mean, it's kind of the -- assuming biden gets in. it's sort of the biden lane, the globe charlayne, you know, the n -- the klobuchar lane. not going full into this. right now it seems more like he's doing this to raise his

public profile. >> for the next election. >> why not. >> in part, that could well be true because you don't pay a price. when you first started in the president, you ran for president, you lost and you were considered a liars and now you build an email list and fund raising machine and in a wide-open field we don't know to some degree. he wants to be next generation, a little bit of the pete buttigieg thing. more centrist, klobuchar and biden. >> it is notable, we should say really quick that the next generation of democrats that are trying to fill that void, three of them are veterans. i mean, that's really saying something in this field. >> buttigieg, gabbert and moulton. >> these wars have been going on so long that three candidates are veterans. >> and he wants to make that the linchpin of his candidacy. he wants to make it about i actually served. i don't just talk about patriotism. i am a patriot. he said that repeatedly in his

rollout this morning, and i think that is also a critique of the president. he made is pretty explicit that this is a lane that democrats don't really take trump on on. trump is talking make america great again. he's hugging flags wherever he goes, and there's no one really sort of going up against him on the patriotism thing, and that's what moulton wants to do, you know. it's a question though will that actually work because i'm not sure that, you know, trump's appeal to patriotism is the same way that set moulton is wanting to appeal to people. you know, trump's is kind of more like a gutteral thing, like people feel -- people feel that he's just sort of like -- you know, he loves america so much he's willing to do anything, whether that's backed up by fact or not. moulton is trying to make a rational appeal to voters on that, and we'll see how that works, but that is the difference between, you know, gabbert isn't really running on her service in that sense and

neither is pete buttigieg so that's a differentiator. >> this is seth moulton trying to get at how he differentiates himself. >> this generation saved our country from tyranny. it's time for our generation to step up and do the same. it starts with growing our economy, with the new jobs, the green jobs, the tech jobs and advanced manufacturing jobs that are going to take us the world leader in the next century. it starts with tackling climate change and making sure that we have a planet without an expiration date. as a veteran of combat and of the armed services committee in washington, i will cut the massive weapons programs we don't need so that we have the money to invest in the future. >> he's interesting in that he doesn't fit an easy ideological box. i'll cut military spending and i'm a veteran. i know how to do it. liberals will like that. let's fight climate change. progressive and liberals. bernie sanders is wrong. we're not going to go to medicare for all. >> there's no downside for him running and in running in this lane he carved out a path.

he tried to oust nancy pelosi and failed so he won't rise in the house and he could run for senate in massachusetts which is what we thought he would do in massachusetts anyway. >> one of the interesting pieces was the role his wife plays and listen to the message. it's interesting. >> a person that takes on donald trump needs to be a tank. needs to be a tank that no matter what is thrown their way, what fire, what lies, what wittol, that tank keeps moving and that's us. >> tank. >> fascinating. >> yes. it's a toughness argument that he's making against trump that he's sort of a bulldozer, and i think that's people see trump, too, so in a lot of ways all of these ways in which people describe themselves in this race, a lot are a contrast to the president, and i think that's what she's trying to say

there. this guy is a veteran, he can take on the president. >> but he also had his wife, his sister and his mother speaking in that interview, and that's not an accident either. >> that's not an accident. >> for a guy running in a democratic primary where 60% in some states of the voters will be women. he gets the demographic part of it. a little breaking news. the president. united states just tweeting this. my friend herman cain, a truly wonderful man has asked him not to nominate him and i'll respect his wishes. the president sending that tweet out saying he'll not go ahead with that nomination, after a lot of republican senators, a lot of republicans raising questions about whether, a, her mincain is worthy of the job and, b, could be confirmed. it's getting awfully crowded in here. we'll talk next about what democratic candidates are doing to try to stay fresh to voters

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welcome back. manage you're one of the 19 democrats running for president in 2020. you probably wake up every day and over morning coffee you say how in the world do i get attention out on the campaign trail? senator elizabeth warren making good on her push. she wants you to think of her as the serious diverse policy candidate. today unveiling a sweeping education proposal saying the plan would cost $1.25 trillion. it would be bigger and better she says than any plan proposed

by any of her rivals. >> it's not just paying the tuition. it's how they pay for books. it's how they pay for the expenses of having a baby taken care of if they already have a child at home or being able to cover commuting expenses. >> you are already a co-sponsor of bernie sanders' free college bill. >> mm-hmm. >> how is your plan better than that plan? >> well, it goes further. >> so is it fair to say that your bill is more progressive than bernie sanders' bill? >> well, it's certainly bigger. >> now you see her life in new hampshire where there's several town halls tonight. walk us through this plan and the senator's hope that people will come to see her over the weeks of campaigning as the candidate with a specific policy plan for just about everything. >> that's right, john. i mean, this is a giant proposal. probably one of the most ambitious plans on this topic that we have seen come out of the 2020 field in terms of the scope and size, and there are really two parts to this, right.

first there's the student loans part of it. she's proposing forgiving $50,000 in student loan debt for anyone whose income is less than $100,000. that amount gradually gets smaller and anyone whose income is higher than $250,000 a year they are not eligible for any student loan debt forgiveness. the second part, of course, is the free college portion of it. she's proposing that all two and four-year public colleges are tuition and fee-free and in addition to that show's proposing making giant investments, including $100 billion into pell grants really aim at helping lower income students and students who of minority backgrounds be able to pay for things that are not tuition, so we're talking about things like food, transportation and board, so all of these things she says will make up a plan that she straight up said goes further and is bigger than bernie sanders' plan. i thought that statement from

her was so interesting because, remember, there are now 19 candidates in the democratic field. that means that there are probably going to be 19 distinct different plans on this topic, so we're probably going to see a very robust debate when it comes to this topic and so many other topics that are going to be so important as the democratic race continues on. john? >> m.j. lee, live from march. appreciate the reporting and the interview with senator warren. the first phase of the gain, say 19 candidates in the democratic nomination of the right now it's 19 candidates to get to labor day where you're going to have the first two debates in the summertime, an nbc debate and msnbc debate and cnn debate and then the race will reset. after the debate some will have time to raise money so elizabeth warren hopes to be on the debate stage and no matter what issue comes up, here's my plan hearings he's my plan, and here's my plan and to stand out that way. >> right, and by going to the left bernie sanders on this, she's staked out new ground.

there's going to be also the candidates that do have a lot of substance. she's never going to be criticized for not having substance whereas some of her largely male competitors don't, so she really is trying to stake herself out as that liberal idea factory, and she certainly is well on her way. >> there's a big contrast that she's making in the way that this plan is being described. a lot of times when we talk about policy in presidential races, it's sort of an exercise in, you know, moderatism, like how can you create a bureaucracy around fixing some issue, but this plan seems to be the opposite of that. it's a big probe sal. it's kind of out there and it's detailed and i think she's willing to go big on those proposals and also do it in a way that makes people see that she's thinking about how it would actually work, and that's how you differentiate yourself from just saying oh, i'm for free college tuition. i'm for medicare for all but not

having really gone through all the paces what have that actually looks like and also not boring people by saying, okay, it's going to be -- we're going do sort ever incrementalism on some of these problems that democratic activists want big solutions for. >> and it's relevant to an issue like healthcare, education, college costs, that anywhere you go in the country. that's what people are going b.if you go to the democratic town halls, that's what comes up. how do you stand out in a field with 19, by the end of the 20 and this i love from lisa lehrer writing about amy klobuchar. she isn't trying to lead a political revolution. while primary voters may flirt with flashier candidates in the end they will settle down with a steady midwestern senator in 2020. steady? >> we'll see. you know. the elizabeth warren thing is so interesting to me because i think it does reveal who she

sees as her primary competition, and that's sanders, and i think both she and sanders have made the calculation that there isn't room in this race for both of them as the race moves on, so she's trying to get to the left sanders, not just on this issue but on a host of others and communicate to progressives that she is the candidate for them. klobuchar, it will be interesting to see who she begins to aim her fire at and whether she looks at biden as the race row gresses and makes a generational argument and what the arguments that she begins to mix. i don't think we've seen her real target another candidate specifically in this race. >> the sanders point is fascinating because they are friends so it's a friendly rivalry at the moment. we will see if that continues as we get through things in a crowded race. to that point join us live from sayed mohammed haqqani tonight right here on cnn. our town hall event. senators klobuchar, warren, bernie sanders, kamala harris and south bend buttigieg all on

the same stage back to back. get some coffee. the president says herman cain has taken himself out of the running to be on the federal reserve board. he's not the only one of the president's potential picks facing scrutiny. comments made the president's other fed pick steve moore about women in sports. just trust me, stay with me. you'll want to hear them because they will haunt him. ♪ to inspire confidence through style. ♪ i'm working to make connections of a different kind. ♪ i'm working for beauty that begins with nature. ♪ to treat every car like i treat mine. ♪ at adp we're designing a better way to work, so you can achieve what you're working for. ♪

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topping our political radar today, some important developments as the president looks for two people to fill spots on the fed, herman cain no longer a possible pick for a seat. the president saying that cain has asked that he not be

nominated. meanwhile, a cnn "k" file discovery could spell trouble for another person being considered for a fed seat. stephen moore said he wanted to get rid of un-american aspects of march madness basketball tournaments, meaning, get this, quote, no women. two years earlier moore criticized female athletes for advocating for pay equality saying they were asking for, quote, equal pay for inferior work. moore told cnn that the comments were a spoof. i have a sense of humor. another big development, the supreme court about to take up an important issue involving gay and transgender rights and will decide whether the there's discrimination based on sex and gender identification. the supreme court is divided on those everyone use and they will decide on three separate cases. >> president trump and melania trump all smiles on the white house lawn for this year's

easter egg roll. this year's event expected to draw 30,000 including some 74,000 colors eggs. the tradition baits back to the 1800s something that the president noted in his opening remarks. >> this is 141 years that we've been doing this. i don't remember the first one, but the last three years we've had an awfully good time. happy easter, enjoy yourselves, and i'm coming down right now to be with you. the first lady is coming with me and maybe i'll get this great easter bunny to come with us. thank you very much, everybody. happy easter. >> the president was going to nominate two people. herman cain and stephen moore for spots on the fed. the nominations have not been made. white house sources saying it's going to come. herman cain pulled out and lucky, privileged, honored to have four accomplished ladies at table when stephen moore says it's a spoof that he says why would you want equal pay for

inferior quality basketball? there should be no women involved in march madness. if you read this reporting and you should that all female reporters should be banned from basketball except for one if she wears a halter top. >> it's almost as funny as someone who has the tax problems that stephen moore does to be nominated to be on the federal reserve. i mean, it real -- it's just so funny. it's like women. >> for a spoof, it's really unfunny to be honest, and he actually commented in one of -- in the story that women had written to him to complain about his columns and he basically brushed it off. he didn't tell them that it was a spoof at the time, but this is just a spoof of a larger problem for this white house. this is a president who finds his best advisers among the people who gain attention for saying really outlandish things on the internet or on television, and they -- they

sort of come into his inner circle and then he puts them up for jobs and doesn't vet them, and i think that this is what is is happening with moore. it's what happened with herman cain, and even with moore this is one approximate but the real problem people had with him, as you pointed out, his lack of actual economic experience and i think that might prove tonight bigger challenge. >> he wrote in any of these, any area of life where, quote, men can take vacation from women, a i'm going to take one for the team and maybe i'll take heat for t.until his work came out about this potential nomination, stephen was a cnn contributor here. we should have down that research, too. >> back to the cain nomination, the president said cain has nord him or asked him not to nominate him for the federal reserve and the president is going to respect his wishes. he's dodging the fact or ignoring the fact that many republican senators have said they were unwilling to vote for herman cain so he would not have been confirmed in he was

nominated and many of those same republicans have raised a similar concerns about steve moore. i think now that cain is off the table, the attention will turn to moore, and it makes it less likely not more likely that more will be confirmed because with two bad choices, they were likely to let one go through and ditch the weaker one, by think the scrutiny on moore will now increase. >> and, again, what does tell you about the white house vetting process and the president says -- a lot of this wants people loyal to him? >> i don't think it says anything about the white house investigate process. i think many people in the white house were -- would have -- either did or would have told the president you shouldn't nominate these people. i think the president doesn't care very much, and had the president looked at those quotes i think he would have found them to be recommendations for nominating these people. >> thank you for fixing what i was trying to say. i'm not blaming the vetting process, the system that people decide who they want to be

vetted. >> maybe people are vetted but the problem is when decisions are made like this it's because the president disregards the available information. you can literally do a google search about herman cain and found out all the things about him that eventually tanked his nomination. it's just not really much of a process at all, and that's kind of why we are where we are. this should be actually something that's really's, a federal reserve board seat. there are dozens of people that they can find to fill these jobs. they have managed to choose two people who would probably have the hardest time getting through, and it's just no surprise in a pattern of nominations just like this. >> no surprise. we'll see what comes next. next, the mueller report has some democrats fired up over impeachment, but others warn it could backfire come 2020. anyone can go fast. the question is... is fast enough? ♪ or, do you want speed and style? power and attraction? exhilaration and distinction? ♪

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then and now historical context, as in those who were around the last time impeachment was a real question in american life tend to be on the other side of the question this time. the why is's. president clinton is a democrat. president trump is a republican. a little flashback. the house passed two articles of impeachment against president clinton. you see them up there on the screen. see there. five democrats voted in favor of them. yes, politics matters. the senate then held the trial. let's move this forward and bring it over here. the senate held the trial. you see this here. both counts failed. the obstruction charge on a 50/50 senate split. again, do politics get involved in these things? not one democrat voted to convict. soap as we have the argument now, a lot of democrats are saying how dare republicans read the mueller report and not say, you know, let impeach or at least let's consider it. guess what. there's gambling in the casino and there's politics in impeachment debates. >> well, look. both sides are selectively

choosing their evidence. republicans are by and large focusing on volume one of that mueller report which was about collusion and they are saying that the special counsel was appointed to investigate russian meddling and he determined that there -- that the trump campaign did not collude with the russians. democrats are by and large focused on volume two of that report which was about obstruction of justice and they say there's plenty of evidence here that the president did obstruct justice and he should be impeached because of that, and i think you have members of both parties looking at completely different sets of facts. >> let's go back in time and try to be fair to both parties here or unfair to both parties might be the better way. lindsey graham in the house. in the senate. susan collins was one. republicans who refused to convict president clinton back then. >> he's chief law enforcement officer of the land and he encouraged him to lie. he lied. i think he obstructed justice. i think there's a compelling case that he has in fact engaged in conduct that would be better

for him to leave office and stay in office. >> in the end i just felt that it did not reach the level where it warranted removing a popularly elected president from office. there were certain of my colleagues who expressed disappointment with my vote and tried to show me other evidence that they thought might persuade me. >> interesting honesty about the politics there from susan collins. >> yeah, and i think that she probably -- you know, i would be surprised if she had a different view today about the impeachment question because i think that her view is actually -- could be fairly consistent between then and now. lindsey graham, opened, i mean, could you almost transpose his words from then on to now, and he would be on the other side of the debate. the real issue for democrats right now is not just the politics of impeachment, but it's also the fact that there's a giant potential loophole in the system as it stands now.

the president cannot be charged with a crime as a sitting president so that means that congress either needs to step in or the president just does what he wants, even if it's illegal. that's really the dilemma that democrats are facing. they are saying we might actually need to step in here because we have to do something about -- we have to stand up for this idea that no one is above the rule of law in this country. >> let's see where they get on their call tonight. i want to make one important distinction. president trump is accused of lying repeatedly but not under oath. bill clinton was accused of lying under oath. >> dana bash is in for brianna keilar. she will be here after a quick break. have a good afternoon.

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live from cnn's washington headquarters, i'm dana parish in for brianna keilar. under way right now, they came to worship to be with their families. then they became targets of terrorists. the red flags missed and who the u.s. believes is behind the sri lanka bombings. president trump once called it the red line, and now after democrats subpoenaed his company's financial records, he and his sons are suing to keep