to meet in london to celebrate fate owe's 70th anniversary. brian, thank you very much for that report. thanks to our viewers very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." erin burnett "out front" starts right now. "out front" next, breaking news, damning news from a career diplomat, a key witness who is about to testify publicly calling trump's actions on ukraine injurious to the rule of law saying, quote, rudy giuliani was full of lies. michael bloomberg taking a move and taking a swipe at the current democratic field. the former new york city mayor, is he really now in? is one of two democrats against moving forward to impeachment is he a hero oroville an a villai constituents? let's go out front. i'm erin burnett. injuryious to the rule of lies. you scratch my back, i scratch yours, all words under oath from

a key witness in the impeachment investigation, words used to describe the president's personal lawyer rudy giuliani's role in the ukraine scandal. today we are getting the first look at the transcript from the closed-door deposition of deputy assistant secretary of state george kent. he is an important witness for democrats and he will be one of their first witnesses to testify publicly next week in the impeachment inquiry. kent paints a damning picture of a quid pro quo, and kent telling lawmakers quote, potus wanted nothing less than president zelensky to go to the microphone and say investigations, biden and clinton. and according to kent, this has all been orchestrated behind the scenes by giuliani. kent telling lawmaker, quote, i had concerns that there was an effort to initiate politically motivated prosecutions that were injurious to the rule of law both in ukraine and in the u.s. and if there was any doubt what he was talking about or who he was talking about, kent also

said, quote, it was clear that the investigations that were being suggested were the ones that rudy giuliani had been tweeting about, meaning biden, burisma and 2016. and kent didn't just take issue with giuliani's role in those investigations. he said giuliani launched that, quote, campaign of lies and he said that that campaign of lies was against the then ambassador to ukraine. the woman that giuliani was trying to get rid of and of course, trump did get rid of ambassad ambassad ambassadorio van vich. the fact of the matter remains the fact of the matter and they were extremely close. trump has a lot of faith in giuliani. i mean, just listen to trump. >> he's always looking for corruption which is what more people should be doing. he's a good man. he looks for corruption wherever he goes. everybody understands ukraine has big problems in that regard. >> rudy giuliani was seeking out

corruption. >> corruption, and when it came to ukraine, corruption was code. what for? well, again, just listen to trump. >> we are looking for corruption. when you look at what biden and his son did and when you look at other people what they've done and i believe there was tremendous corruption with biden. >> kaitlan collins is out front at the white house. kaitlan, what is the white house saying tonight about the revelations from kent's closed-door testimony now that we have a full transcript. >> so far they haven't commented and this is what they were concerned about. they know it will help them make their case against the president and his political motivations in ukraine, because here you've got a senior state department official on the record talking about the pressure campaign that he and other senior officials felt not only from the president's allies, but including the president's own attorney rudy giuliani who other officials had been put in charge of all of this and as you can

see from the transcript, that was who the president was saying the president should go to when they had questions of all of this. the white house is essentially bracing for those public testimonies to happen starting next week, but don't forget, it's not just bill taylor going on wednesday and george kent is also going to be there and if it's the same level in detail as what we saw in the released transcript today, that is something the white house is not wanting to deal with as well as new questions that will be raised about the role that rudy giuliani has in the president's space and the rule he has and not only the state department of the shadow foreign policy as well and that is something the white house has not welcomed so far. >> kaitlan, thank you very much. i want to go to democratic congressman eric swalwell who sits on the house intelligence and judiciary committee and was in the room during the deposition. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> a damning picture of giuliani's role here. do you have definitive proof that rudy giuliani was acting at the direct behest of president trump? >> we do and it's a great

question and we have established a straight, sharp line between the president and rudy giuliani. we have multiple witnesses who have told us that the president told them in the oval office on ukraine, talk to rudy. we have the establishment of rudy giuliani as the president's lawyer so there is an agency relationship there. so any act that rudy takes on behalf of the president is an act for the president. lawyers do not act outside of their clients' wishes and also what rudy giuliani was doing for the president is corroborated by the presidential call record, and what's interesting is, in that call record for all the concerns that republicans have raised that this was about bigger issues than corruption the president never used the word corruption. he used the worded bien and he said that word three times and so there is an inseparable line between the two of them. >> all right. this is really important and you're saying you have the direct line from the president of the united states to rudy giuliani loud and clear. >> and also -- >> go ahead. >> the people acting out for the

president understood that. people at the state department knew that rudy giuliani was carrying out the president's policy. >> so kent, in the testimony and the transcript that weir all now seeing today, congressman, you, of course, were there, he is receiving from bill taylor and i want to quote from the testimony according to what kent said, taylor indicated that he had talked to tim morrison and tim indicated that he had talked to gordon sondland and gordon had told him, tim, and tim told bill taylor that he, gordon, had talked to the president and potus wanted nothing less than president zelensky to go to the microphone and say investigations, biden and clinton, and the reason i quote this to you is because this sounds like a giant game of telephone. this is what this person said this person and this person said he talked to the president said, but you are saying you've got it directly from the president. >> we also have it directly from tim morrison's opening statement which was released and it's pretty clear now that, and this is established by ambassador

sondland's addendum that he released yesterday, that the president told ambassador sondland there's no quid pro quo, but zelensky has to investigate the bidens. and so the president can say there's no quid pro quo, but if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck. you can say it's not a duck, but it looks a lot like extortion. >> the first two witnesses that you plan to call next week, george kent and bill taylor who is the top diplomat in ukraine and we've seen the transcript of his testimony as you referenced, you know, he does say directly he didn't have a conversation with president trump directly and certainly not one about a quid pro quo because he didn't talk to him directly, what has made you decide, congressman, that these are the best two witnesses to come out on this first day publicly? is it a matter of scheduling or you do believe that what they have to say even though they didn't have direct conversations themselves is the most powerful stuff you've got. there's serious evidence of defense dollars for dirt scheme

that's being run here and george kent saw one part of that scheme and bill taylor on the ground in ukraine saw the other ground of the scheme and bill taylor also saw how desperately the ukrainians needed these dollars and he'll provide a human element to this. he went to eastern ukraine and he saw the ukrainians mourning their dead and he testifies to what it means to have radar equipment, medical equipment and anti-tank systems that can stop the russians from killing ukrainians and every second that this president selfishly held up that aid, those were ukrainians who were losing their lives. >> and of course, we do know the department of defense was asked and delivered within a day their analysis which was that this aid should be released and given and it added up in perspective. one person who was in direct contact with the president is the former national security adviser john bolton. i know you've all asked him to testify and he hasn't yet been subpoenaed. "the washington post" is reporting that bolton is willing to defy the white house, and willing to testify if a federal

court clears the way, and i know you're waiting for a decision in a test case on this issue involving the former white house counsel don mcgahn which could come at the end of the month. you're talking about text hearings next week and it could completely change your time line. is john bolton necessary? >> with or without bolton we're moving along. we would, of course, welcome his cooperation in this investigation, but we're not going to chase people into the courts any longer. we have very sufficient evidence, but we also have three people who worked under ambassador bolton who have shown the courage to come forward to defy the president and to provide truthful testimony and so we will move forward with what we have and we believe right now that that's sufficient. >> from what you've had behind closed doors you can cherry pick. >> we have enough to have public hearings and evidence is not a conclusion. it has to be tested before the public and what we have so far warrants going forward to the public in this inquiry. >> i appreciate your time

tonight. she was on the ukraine phone call and an aide testifies that it was not normal. so what did she mean by that? that was behind closed doors and we know a lot about what she said and michael bloomberg preparing to jump in the 2020 race. he says the current field can't beat trump. the roger stone-trump connection and a dramatic day in court. phone calls painting a revealing picture. some farms grow food. this one grows fuel. ♪ exxonmobil is growing algae for biofuels. that could one day power planes, propel ships, and fuel trucks... and cut their greenhouse gas emissions in half. algae. its potential just keeps growing.

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get powerful relief today, with thermacare. new testimony tonight from someone in the white house, one of the few people on trump's call with the president of ukraine, jennifer williams, an aide to vice president mike pence testified under oath today. she said she had concerns about the call saying it was unusual, specifically what does that mean? she said it was political, not a normal diplomatic call.

there she is arriving for her testimony. the house could vote to impeach trump during weeks. >> manu raju is on capitol hill. >> democrats think it is realistic, particularly in light of the steps that they took in recent days that show that they are on track to get this done. if they were to pursue impeachment it could happen before christmas. look at what happened just this week. not only did adam schiff announced hearings, public hearings next week, but there is expectation that those hearings and those witnesses could be limited and there will be the dozen or so witnesses that came behind closed doors and they're not all going to come and testify publicly. there's expectation that can only last a couple of weeks and also after that the committees will draft a report detailing the recommendations about how to proceed going forward and assuming they do move on articles of impeachment that will be taken up by the house judiciary committee and the first two weeks of december before it could be taken up by the full house, and by the third week of december.

what was also a significant decision was by adam schiff deciding not to pursue a subpoena for john bolton, the former national security adviser who said he would now come and testify by a subpoena and they also withdrew a separate subpoena because that witness had been fighting the manner in court and that could delay the from seedings further. so when you add these steps together, democrats are making it clear that an impeachment could happen before christmas and it would be historic and the third time in american history and about 25 years after bill clinton was impeached in 1998 in late december, that could be the same timeframe we're looking at here, but still at the moment, erin, nancy pelosi has not announced what she plans to do, but christmas is certainly a possibility. >> all right, man you.

out front now, elliott williams, former counsel to the assistant general, and assistant in f nevada. jennifer williams was a current aide to vice president pence and she was on the phone call with the president of ukraine and president trump and said she was worried about it. a source said she suggested to house impeachment investigators today that she does believe and this this is crucial u.s. aid to ukraine could be held up because of what she heard president trump talk about on that call, right? joe biden and the favor. she's the first person on the vice president's national security team to testify, and she's saying there could have been a quid pro quo. how significant is this, greg? >> i think it's very significant, erin. i'm surprised that she was allowed to testify being that she's a current employee, but she's a foreign service officer, as i understand it, detailed to the vice president's staff. >> it's the state department that enabled her. she did defy the white house

obviously, but a state department employee. >> right. no surprise that a career professional like her, having heard the call would find it to be surprising and political and without putting words in her mouth, i assume she thought it was inappropriate and so the question remain, though, what did the vice president know? he may have been out of the loop and he apparently maintained that he didn't know about this and more interesting is that he maintained having seen the record of the call, he doesn't think there was a quid pro quo. doesn't think the president did anything wrong and that's hard to square with everyone else's observations and opinions about this call. >> elliott, one white house official called williams, jennifer williams, who testified today, quote, the most professional person in the building. she's an employee. for all practical purposes, she's risen to being detailed to

the vice president. she's now risking her job and entire career, everything in defying the white house wishes to testify today. >> in fact, what we've seen time and again is that the president and others are willing to go after people who do risk it all in speaking out and so much loyalty is prized as something in the white house. what i found so remarkable there in her testimony is sort of this idea, when she calls it unusual and i think a lot of people are struck by the fact that she or many people were political appointees and i'm not certain that she's classified as a political appointee, but this question of can people behave in a political manner in the white house? and even though the president is elected. even though he installs critical appointees around him there is still a standard of conduct that people have to follow in the highest levels of the white house and someone, when a senior employee is that troubled by it you've crossed the line and it's just clear once again what we're seeing is a number of folks, and

even political appointees, at times raising concerns with the conduct of the president and people around him. it's stepping up to and over the line. >> carrie, you know, williams testified today that she did make a note of the call. she didn't raise her concerns to superiors which i think is important to note and she did have her concerns and she put the transcript of the call which we have all seen and the topic of military aid and the president says first a favor and she puts it in pence's briefing binder and here's pence being asked about that being put in his binder. here is his response. >> i am told that it was delivered to me, but i receive literally helpeds literally hundreds of transcripts over the time and i don't recall reading it specific. >> do you buy that? does that make sense? >> it's plausible. so if it goes in his daily briefing binder, it depends on what his practice is. so different senior executive leaders in government have

different practices. they often take a big briefing binder. it could be thick. i'm not quite sure what the size of vice president pence's is on a daily basis. i think it's plausible that he maybe did or maybe didn't read that specific transcript that night. i think it does raise a question on if she thought it was significant, is the only thing that happened that she marked a transcript and put it in a binder or did anybody mention it to him and it certainly doesn't seem like the vice president -- they weren't frozen out and they certainly weren't aware she was on the call and she could have been told about it. and to your point, there's the transcript and his involvement with ukraine he wasn't going to call. he spoke on the phone with president zelensky himself and he meat face to face when president trump was staying home with the hurricane and he met with zelensky and now he's very careful with his words and his

only point was on corruption and ukraine and here's what he said about the meetings that he had. >> the president's focus has been, as my focus was in my meeting with president zelensky. on president zell knensky's eff to deal with the ukraine and to enlist more european support. >> it's all fine and good except for the word corruption when it comes to ukraine and president trump has meaning and that meaning is joe biden and i will play again president trump because he says what he means and here he is talking about ukraine. >> we are looking for corruption. when you look at what biden and his son did and you look at other people what they've done and i believe there was tremendous corruption with biden. >> is it possible pence didn't know corruption meant biden? >> again, vice president pence is being very specific with his words, and his talking point that this was about, quote,

unquote, just corruption. that talking point maybe worked eight weeks ago, but it doesn't work anymore when now we have the summary of the phone call and we have witness after witness after witness. people who are incredibly credible and serious and public servants for their entire career all saying that the corruption that rudy giuliani, the president's proxy was discussing with ukraine and what multiple individuals in the state department were being directed to discuss with ukraine, was conductinging an investigation of theed by ebbs and that was the political vice president pence is being careful with his words and the question is did he know that this greater conspiracy to extort information from the ukrainian government was going on? >> does it add up to you, greg?

>> yeah, well -- look, the u.s. government does and has for a long time spent a lot of time and effort and money helping foreign allies fight corruption. it's in our best interest to do so and we do that, but nobody really thinks that president trump cares about corruption and other countries, generally. as carrie pointed out. all of the witnesses seem to be focused on the same version of events which is the president was focused on ginning up, getting the ukrainians to gin up so-called corruption investigations with respect to particular americans who happened to have the last name, biden. >> whether or not vice president pence knew about that specific effort, that's the big question and it is a very big question and the impeachment could come within weeks. peckal bloomberg. it looks leak the former city

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breaking news. former new york city mayor michael bloomberg is laying the groundwork for a 2020 run for president. he's expected to file paperwork for the alabama presidential primary. the deadline to file is tomorrow and he's got to get in now or never. his spokesperson says we need to

finish the onand ensure trump is defeated and the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that. ouch. out front now, patrick healy, joe lockhart, former clinton white house secretary and keith boynkin and former clinton white house aide. patrick, let me start with you. look, from even hearing and talking to people close to bloomberg over the summer. he would love to do it and he's always thought about it and he'll only do it if he thinks the field that's out there will fail and simply cannot beat trump. in this context, that's what is being said here, that he thinks no one running right now on the democratic side can beat trump. >> that is his concern, erin. the sources told my reportedr alex burns that mike bloomberg is very concerned that joe biden may not have the strength and may not have sufficient support to win the democratic nomination

and that elizabeth warren and bernie sanders may not be strong enough to win the general election. mike bloomberg has had a formidable operation around him for years. they've done a polling for years on presidential races and they've looked at the strengths and weaknesses of the field and they clearly see an opening here. we reported a little while ago, mike bloomberg spoke to former senator harry reid and his aides have reached out to jean owe romandi and there is a seriousness here and we all know sort of where mike bloomberg has been before. he thought about it in 2016, and he thought about it earlier this year and ultimately, he did not run. so the reality is we may not believe it until we really hear the words come from his lips because -- >> right. >> he has certainly toyed with this and pulled back before. >> he has this deadline, joe and it's extremely significant and

he's not fully jumping in and he's putting a leg in and david axelrod formerly with president obama says this is a thunder clap with the joe biden campaign and what do you think this is more about? this is more about bloomberg's feel that it won't be in the election, and he doesn't think joe biden can even be the nominee? >> i think it's really about mike bloomberg thinking that he'd be the best president, and if not the best candidate and he's flirted with this before and he's never gotten fully in and he's explored it and patrick's right and he's got a good, political team around him and he senses an opportunity here that if biden falters, there will be -- that vacuum will get filled by warren and sanders and he doesn't think they're electable, and that's not a crazy theory. but the reality is we'll have to

wait and see if he gets in. he's not a great campaigner and a retail politician. on the other hand, he's built an gazation that hits on two very important issues for democrats. gun control and climate change. that's been his focus for the last five years. so while he doesn't have a grassroots constituency, he does have an issue-based constituency. >> keith, here's the thing. he's a billionaire and elizabeth warren is in a battle with billionaires and he's been picking on them individually saying that they're not paying taxes and they need to pay more and that's been her message. bernie sanders and the billionaire class is scared and they should be scared and that's his response to bloomberg today. elizabeth warren, pointing out, welcome to the race mike bloomberg and pointing out how much money he would pay next year, i believe it would be $3 billion under her plan. is this good for her?

does she think that this is great, hey, another billionaire in this race? >> i think it's probably a good message for elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. i think it's a really bad move for mike bloomberg. i don't know if i'm on the same page with patrick and with joe here, but i'm not sure what their opinion is on whether he should run. i just think there's no possible calculous that i can think of that the democratic party will embrace mike bloomberg as the presidential nominee in 2020. i think i see less than 2%, and we have tom steyer in the race and he's a billionaire and trump himself is a billionaire and howard schulz is a billionaire and dropped out -- >> the percentage of billionaires is pretty high. >> it's not high, but you get my point. out of 600 you have four you can name. what do you say, joe?

is this a colossal waste of money and time? is this, you know, i don't know, an ego move? what is this? why now? >> i don't disagree completely with keith's thesis. i think it is very, very difficult with seeing him getting the nomation and there's been a mischaracterization of what the democratic base is that it somehow is ultra progressive and the democratic base is fairly moderate and that's why we won the midterms in 2018 to african-americans, it's women and not just women with college educations. so you know, there is a constituency there. and i just don't see bloomberg being able to capture that. i think he very much wants to be president and i think he might be a good president and he just doesn't want to go through the process of getting elected. >> that kind of wanting to go and be on the ground, at least, you know, historically has not shown that he has that desire. patrick, what he's doing which is the slam here on the current

crop of candidates that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to win and his own adviser saying that tonight. your newspaper, "the new york times qwest "published a newspaper with the quote, anxious democrat establishments ask is there anybody else? establishment may be the key word in that headline, right? is that the case of the establishment and the kind of insiders being completely out of touch with the base who seem to be quite energized by people like elizabeth warren? >> great question. i think it's the establishment sort of center left democrats who may be out of touch with part of the base. as joe said the base is not entirely a, you know, a young, liberal sort of progressive movement, but the reality is you don't hear prominent liberals saying we need another liberal candidate to get in the race and we don't really like senator

warren or senator sanders. we're talking to liberal voters around the country and there's a lot of enthusiasm for warren and for sanders. so what you are seeing with those establishment democrats is, you know, they look at joe biden and they hear the word salad when he gives answers and does not -- the kind of sharpness they want and they look at pete buttigieg and klobuchar and they don't quite see a president there, at least not yet. iowans will be the ones who decide this first with the caucuses and they might have a different take and buttigieg is doing well out there, but we'll see. >> a quick final word. gallup did a quick vote, and three-quarters of voters were satisfied out there with what the president raised and the cnn poll, and that poll shows that joe biden is actually winning in five of the six battleground

states. i don't understand that bloomberg says there is some sort of need for a crisis. >> thank you all very much. potentially a very big development. thank you. next, a democrat speaks out about why he opposes the impeachment inquiry and what do his constituents think? >> do you understand why he in particular would not support the inquiry? >> i ng it's a political decision on his part. >> and phone calls, lots of them, between team trump and roger stone who is currently on trial for obstruction. what do those calls reveal? if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, every day can begin with flakes. it's a reminder of your struggles with psoriasis. but what if your psoriasis symptoms didn't follow you around? that's why there's ilumya. with just 2 doses, a majority of people were clear or almost clear. and over time, even more people were clear or almost clear. all with dosing 4 times a year...

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>> tonight, breaking ranks on impeachment. one of two democrats who voited against the impeachment resolution speaking out today for the first time about why. >> i don't believe that we should be doing this if there isn't republican support. i think it's a mistake. i just don't like the way things were handled and if it keeps going like this, i don't want to have my vote behind whatever they end up doing and the word that i hear everyone is tu for voting against this b.s. >> we wanted to know what people think in that crucial district. it is in minnesota so we went there to find out what they think. kyung lau is out front. >> it's a tough district for

him. it's a more conservative district than it was in the past. >> minnesota's 7th congressional district, a land of crop, cattle and conservatives. with democratic roots still showing signs of strength. >> i think i voted for him every time. >> i've been a pretty loyal democrat. >> farmer jim faulk is talking about his longtime democratic congressman colin peterson and peterson is one of only two democrats in the house to break ranks in their party to vote against an impeachment resolution. i don't understand why we would not vote to at least examine that. >> do you understand why he in particular would not support the inquiry? >> ink it's a political decision on his part. >> peteron is in a unique position. he narrowly held on to a seat by four points in 2018, two years after trump dominated this rural district by 30 points. organic beef farmer laverne forbord, already unhappy about

the trade wars' impact by farmers, this democrat believes peterson is out to save his political hide. >> what would you have liked to seen him do? >> vote for impeachment and we ned someone who is good for the country and not just for the republicans and the democrats. >> he says, if it's a young respect rep wi republican with progressive ideas, i'd be fine with that. >> the voters happy with the democrat? trump voters. >> very impressed. happy he did it. >> are you more likely to support him in the upcoming election now? >> probably. yeah. i think i would. you know, just probably for that reason. >> swift county, pat of minnesota's 7th district voted for barack obama twice and then flipped for donald trump. those swing voters on their congressman. >> brave man. it takes guts to break away from your party. >> how many years would you vote for him? >> how many years has he run? >> a political gamble in rural

america that jim says may pay off. >> would you vote for him again? >> i would probably vote for him again just because of my association with the party. >> democrats we spoke with say they understand why representative peterson had to oppose the impeachment inquiry and they also add this, if you were somehow voted out of office, they're not sure if another democrat could ever win in this congressional district again. >> really significant. kyung lau in minnesota and next, phone records revealed in roger stone's obstruction trial. why so many calls on crucial days when data leaked between stone and trump? stone's close friend, kristen davis is out front. and the president's staunch defender in chief, lindsay graham has an odd way of showing support. what i can tell you about the trump policy toward the ukraine, it was incoherent. members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out

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tonight, drama in the courtroom. day two of roger stone, and donald trump and stone x communicated including three times on the day news broke that the dnc had been hacked and lying to congress, witness tampering and obstructing charges in the case that stems from the mueller investigation. kristen davis, a close friend and confidant of roger stone. kristen, thank you for being with me and good to have you in person.

on these phone calls, the prosecutors are laying out, as you know, all of these details on the president's conversations with roger stone and others in the trump campaign, paul manafort, rick gates and other, but when it comes to trump himself on the day the news broke the dnc had been hacked and they first called trump's home number and got no answer and trump calls him back on his cell phone twice and then they have another conversation on the same day and guccifer 2.0 posted online about the hack. >> they're running a presidential campaign. it could be about anything and there was a lot going on in that time period so i don't think we know the context of what they are and i don't think we'll ever know that. >> they're trying to lay out ask look at the time lean. you're saying there's no record of exactly what they were about. >> there are only two people that know that. i don't think that we will ever know. it's a fruitless effort.

>> prosecutors are revealing some of the stone sent to randy credico. stone writes to credico, you are a rat, a stoolie. you back stab your friends. i am so ready. let's get it on. prepare to die. okay. >> yes. >> how do you think that's going to go with the jury? prepare to die. stone texts randy credico. >> well, i've seen the other side of those text messages, and randy credico is saying the same thing. >> liar, liar, liars die. so i think we need to see both sides of the communication. they were frenemies. this is something they've been for 20 years. they both since 2007 with the phony bernard spitzer telephone call, they've been at war, and then they make up and they go to lunch the next week. >> so obviously, this is coming down to -- there is obstruction witness tampering. there are several things at stake. witness tampering comes down to randy credico as well. prosecutors say stone was basically trying get credico to

stonewall the house investigation when he testified to not be honest to congress. he repeatedly referenced frankie panta pantangeli, a character in godfather ii. i want to play the clip because it is very specific. here it is. >> i was in the olive oil business with his father, but that was a long time ago. that's all. look, the fbi guys, they promised me a deal. so i made up a lot of stuff about michael corleone, because that's what they wanted. but it was all lies. everything. i kept saying michael corleone did this and michael corleone did that. >> so he guess to congress and lies for his boss. stone mimics this scene in an email he sends to randy credico in which he says sure, i know roger stone. he was in the olive oil business with my father, but that was a long, long time ago. so i told them roger stone this, roger stone that. you should do pantangeli on erin

burnett. so is he telling randy credico to not come on this show in reference and to lie? >> i don't know about the reference to you, but i think randy credico is an impressionist. he offered to do bernie sanders today on the stand in front of a jury. clearly not taking the case very seriously. stone just meant go into an imforgets if you don't feel comfortable. i don't think he was trying to influence him. >> he picked a person who lied to congress, had nothing to do with it? >> no, because i mean, there is constant "godfather" references throughout their chain of communications, not just in this one instance. we're going see three or four. >> so kristen, here is the thing. you and roger stone have known each other for a long time. you're very close. stone and trump go way back. they were introduced all the way back in 1979 by roy cohn, right? trump's famous lawyer. he tried to get trump to run for president for decades. look, because of what happened in this campaign, okay, the trump campaign, roger stone

could go to jail, and he could spend many years in jail. you talk to him. does he think it would have been worth it to have been part of this campaign if that happens? >> well, i think roger stone is on trial for his political association for trump, but he also believes in trump, and he has for decades. so, you know, i think that he could have maybe tried to cooperate like some of these other people have done, and he did not. so now he's towing the line. i think that's something he is going to continue to do. >> and he knows he'll get a pardon? >> i don't believe he thinks he'll get a pardon. i think he is taking this like a champ. from the minute he was arrested, i mean, everybody was saying he was going to get arrested. you guys were reporting every week, roger stone is going to be arrested next week. the pressure of that. and he came out of that courthouse and flashed the victory sign because he was going to take this to trial. and i think he is determined to

fight. he doesn't -- you know, he feels he has done nothing wrong. i feel he has done nothing wrong. i feel like this is politically motivated hit, and, you know, i'm hoping that the outcome of this is in his favor. >> all right, kristin, thank you very much. it's good to see you. >> thank you. >> and next, lindsey graham's never wavering defense of the man he once called kook, president trump.

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>> reporter: president trump and senator lindsey graham pretty much on the same page, but when graham said he's not reading the pages of impeachment transcripts -- >> i'm not going the read these transcripts. the whole process is a joke. >> reporter: the jokes flew. la la la. it was compared to sticking fingers in your ears, especially since last month the senator said -- >> if you could show me that trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing. >> reporter: hard to be disturbed if you won't read the transcripts. >> i will just summarize the transcripts in three little words, okay? lindsey, don't look away, lindsey, don't look away. lindsey! don't look away, lindsey! >> reporter: lindsey graham these days was portrayed as off the rails. >> what i can tell you about the trump policy toward the ukraine, it was incoherent. they seemed to be incapable of

forming a quid pro quo. >>', yes, the old he couldn't have committed these crimes, he's too stupid defense. >> reporter: on offense, an anti-trump pac put up a billboard in south carolina, showcasing something graham once said about trump. >> i think he's a kook. i think he's not fit for office. >> he is a race-baiting xenophobic religious bigot. he is becoming a jackass. >> reporter: but now graham jokes about their rocky pass. >> he said i don't have your phone number. i said there is a reason for that. >> reporter: the reason being candidate trump gave out graham's number. >> let's try it. 202 -- >> reporter: gram responded with a cell phone-destroying video. these days, they often talk on the phone, and now graham has joined trump in his reluctance to read. the president wouldn't like reading those old quotes. >> and you know how you make

america great again? tell donald trump to go to hell. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn. >> this is kook land. >> reporter: new york. >> i'm sorry. i always love seeing that reaction of trump. okay. thank you so much for joining us. have a great night. "ac 360" with anderson starts right now. good evening. we start with some very surprising breaking election news. mike bloomberg, billionaire businessman and three-time new york city mayor is preparing to enter the democratic race. his spokesman said he is expected to file the necessary paperwork to get on the democratic primary ballot in alabama this week. bloomberg, of course, has considered running before. you may recall in march he talked about the, quote, difficulty of winning the democratic nomination in such a crowded field. here's what he told cnn's kate bolduan back in september. >> the truth of the matter is when you look at the layout of who's going to vote and where the country is, i would be very unlikely to get reelected -- to