ambassador of the eu could be in big trouble with the president of the united states and his aides, but also in big trouble potentially legally, as well. jim acosta at the white house, thanks very much. >> we will continue our special coverage of all of the breaking news right now with erin burnett "out front." "out front" next, breaking news. the state department aide testifying behind closed doors about ukraine launching investigations and said he cared about big stuff like the biden investigation. plus the former ukrainian ambassador testifies about fake smears against her and the president tweeting another smear at her. was it witness intimidation? and roger stone, guilty. the message his verdict is sending to a key impeachment witness about to testify. let's go out front. and good evening. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, the breaking news. damning new evidence that ties trump to the investigations into joe biden.

this evidence is first hand. cnn has just obtained the opening statement. this is from david holmes, an aide to top ukrainian diplomat bill taylor. this is -- this is -- this is an incredible document, okay. holmes is telling lawmakers behind closed doors about a july lunch that he had with the ambassador of the european union gordon sondland and this lunch happened in kiev. it was at that lunch that sondeland announced he was going to call president trump, and then this is what happened according to holmes. so let me read this crucial part and we'll read as much of this as we can to you, but i want to read this part to you. he says i heard president trump then clarify that ambassador sondland was in ukraine. ambassador sondland replied, yes, he was in ukraine and went on to state that president zelensky, quote, loves your ass. i then heard president trump ask so he's going to do the investigation? ambassador sondland reply, quote, he's going to do it, adding that president zelensky will do, quote, anything you ask

him to. holmes continue, quote, after the call ended ambassador sondland remarked that the president was in a bad mood. as the ambassador sondland stated was often the case early in the morning. i then took the opportunity to ask ambassador sondland for his candid impression of the president's views in ukraine. in particular, i asked the ambassador sondland if it was true that the president did not, quote, give a blank about ukraine. ambassador sondland agreed that the president didn't give a blank about ukraine. i asked why not? ambassador sondland stated that the president only cares about, quote, big stuff. i noted that there was big stuff going on in ukraine like a war with russia and ambassador sondland replied that he meant big stuff that benefits the president like, quote, the biden investigation that mr. giuliani was pushing. this is all in black and white,

and i just want to be clear on this. this call between the president of the united states and gordon sondland, gordon sondland was holding the phone away from his ear because the president was speaking so loudly and that is how david holmes was so directly able to hear the words of the president of the united states, and i also want to be clear on this call and there were otherses at that lunch also who heard this call between trump and sondland. this development is making sondland's public testimony next week if anything, more important. it already was central, but now this is it. manu raju is out front live tonight on capitol hill. manu, this is pretty incredible. i am reading here literally what you were able to take a picture of on your cell phone, this is the opening statement that you obtained and it is incredible. what more are you learning from david holmes' testimony today? >> yeah, and he's alarmed, he says in this sworn testimony about the president's push for the ukrainians to investigate

his political rivals, and he makes clear there are other witness e too, to this phone call between president trump and the ambassador to the european union gordon sondland. he says that there were four people at this launch in ukraine in which the president was speaking apparently so loudly that he pulled the phone, that he pulled the phone gordon sondland did so that other people around the table could hear what the president said and the president made it very clear in that phone call that he wanted to see investigations happen and gordon sondland made it sound like they were going to happen and the president was happy with that because that is what they wanted to do and this came the day after the president made that ask directly to ukraine to investigate the president's political rival joe biden as well as this theory that the ukraine may have been involved in the 2016 election interference. this shows the depth of the president's interest in ensuring that ukraine would investigate his political rivals and it

undercuts the defense that the president was merely interested in rooting out corruption in ukraine. according to this testimony, what the president was dead set on was ukraine investigating joe biden. also in this testimony, erin, david holmes testifies about this aide, and there were roughly $400 million in security aid that had been withheld and he says that president zelensky of ukraine was supposed to go on cnn and make an announcement that this investigation was going to happen. he makes clear here, erin, that he was concerned that president zelensky would go on it on national television and personally commit to a specific investigation of president trump's political rival. that didn't happen. but couple of days later the aid was released and sent to the ukraine. >> thank you very much, manu. this is pretty stunning stuff, as you said. i want to go to congressman david swallow, he just attended david homes' deposition and i

understand there's not much you can say, obviously as that is ongoing. i just want to give you a chance to say, when you were sitting in that room and you heard him deliver this opening statement, what was the feeling you had? >> good evening, erin. we're still interviewing mr. holmes. we're on a break, but it is gratitude is the feeling that i and others had that mr. holmes flew across the world to honor his subpoena. the president has told people to not cooperate. the secretary of state will not give us any documents for this investigation and mr. holmes like so many career foreign service officers like ambassador yovanovitch today and george debt a kent and taylor, and we learn more. >> i want to just be clear here. we understand that at this lunch and the way, of course, that holmes is describing it, he's saying that there was a meeting sondland had and he wanted it to

be one-on-one with ukrainian officials so afterwards he takes out mr. holmes and others to a lunch and they sit on the outside terrace and they order a bottle of wine which they share between the four of them and then all of this happens. you know, the point that i'm making here is that he's saying, presumably, because the president of the united states was speaking so loudly, gordon sondland held the phone away from him and that is how holmes and others at the table were able to hear what the president said. is it your understanding from all of the information now that there are at least three others who heard the president talk on that phone call who were at that table? >> ambassador sondland is coming next week, erin, and what i can tell you because ambassador taylor testified to this earlier this week is he was told by one of his state department employees about the phone call you just described and i think if we all take a step back and think about what we know about president trump, there's no one in the world who has a hard time believing the account that ambassador taylor gave, asking

the ukrainian president to investigate his opponents and connected with the eu ambassador and asked where are we with the investigations? that sounds like all of the evidence that we have in this case. next week will be a big week. this was a big week today and i am very much looking forward to presenting this case even more to the american people. >> in the opening testimony here, the word biden investigation is put in quotes by mr. holmes. ambassador sondland says, you know, the president only cares about big stuff, oh, right, because there's a war going on here. no, no, no. i mean big stuff, like the biden investigation. it is very clear here that that's what was meant. this is put in quotes. the biden investigation. biden being the operative adjective, correct? >> the evidence we have so far, erin, from the witnesses who have testified publicly is an obsession that this president had on investigating joe biden and his son, not for america's

interest, but for his own selfish interest, and what is so appalling about that and the reason it's an abuse of power is not only did it benefit the president of the united states. it harmed ukrainians. because security assistance was not coming, people died. >> i want to ask you about the other hearing. >> oh, right. there's another one. >> this opening statement and i can't emphasize how it could be, and what we heard from marie yovanovitch moved many, democrats and republicans on capitol hill. the president was -- i want to just ask you about that testimony. during that testimony the president of the united states tweets, quote, everywhere marie yovanovitch turned bad. she started off in somalia, how did that go? then fast forward to ukraine where the new president spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. it is the u.s. president's absolute right to appoint ambassadors.

by the way, just looking at the phone call it was the president of the united states who spoke unfavorably about her. what did you make about the attack on marie yovanovitch? >> it didn't work. ambassador yovanovitch proved herself to be fearless, committed and a tough, tough anti-corruption diplomat and the president smeared her when she was through his agent rudy giuliani when she was in ukraine, and smeared her on the july 25 phone call and even smeared her while she was testifying. we view that as witness intimidated intended to chill her testimony and chill the testimony of other, but more importantly, this is what guilty people do. innocent people don't worry about what anyone says because they figure i'm innocent. the process will work. i'll get off. this is how guilty people act and it didn't shake this ambassador, and it didn't shake mr. holmes. he's talking to us right now and it's not going shake anyone who has come forward. >> congressman, because you are on the judiciary committee, is this something you would consider adding as a former

article of impeachment, this intimidation or is this a point that you're making? >> possibly, but erin, our primary focus is the use of taxpayer dollars to have the ukrainians investigate the president's political opponent. agai again, in the nixon investigation and the clinton investigation the cover-up and the obstruction of justice were bigg bigger than the underlying crime and the underlying crime is very, very big and offensive to our values and intimidating a witness is obstruction of justice and there's big evidence that occurred today. >> thank you very much for your time. >> they're on a break and going back into the holmes deposition right now as it continues. more on that breaking news. we have much more on the damning testimony of the state department aide as we have it right now. tonight he's proving this trump statement is not true. >> i hardly know the gentleman, but this is the man who said there was no quid pro quo.

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we make ideas grow. from an everyday solution... to one that can take on a bigger challenge. we are solving problems that improve lives. breaking news. david holmes, an aide to the top u.s. diplomat to ukraine, bill taylor, confirming in his opening statement to congress that he overheard president trump talking about a possible probe of the bidens by ukraine with the eu ambassador gordon sondland. it is a call, of course, president trump says he does not recall. it also appeared to contradict trump on how well he knows sondland. so in this testimony, holmes

says, quote, after the call, ambassador sondland remarked that the president was in a bad mood as the ambassador sondland stated was often the case early in the morning which is very odd considering trump has claimed he hardly knew sondland once sondland changed his testimony to say that there was a quid pro on ukraine. >> let me just tell you, i hardly know the gentleman, but this is the man who said there was no quid pro quo. >> out front now, our national correspondent, jim sciutto, laura coats and david axelrod who was senior adviser to president trump and host of "the axe files" on cnn. let's just start with this basic thing because it's basic yet significant. the president of the united states says i hardly know the gentleman. we're hearing testimony today that back in july, ambassador sondland who was put through to the president when he was sitting at a restaurant outside in kiev early in the morning and he remarks the president was in

a bad mood as the ambassador sondland stated was often the case early in the morning they spoke frequently. >> the president is not credible. he give a million dollars and entrusted him to run this alternate track foreign policy on ukraine outside of the purview on eu and we know from this transcript that he spoke more than once with the president by tefsh lephone with sondland and he knows his habits and he knows his moods and sondland had a familiar way of talking to the sitting u.s. president, that phrase, the ukrainian president loves your ass is not conversation when you're speaking with someone unfamiliar. >> two people that are familiar with each other, friendly with each other and have a quick code in terms of, you know, that they've talked about something so often it doesn't have to be

spelled out and yes, he says he loves your ass, that's -- that's what sondland said. >> of course, think about this last night we were talking about the idea of someone that had so little discretion as to hold a public phone call with the president of the united states in an area where it could be intercepted, it could be overheard and compromised in some way and make the president of any country vulnerable. now we're learning this person was so apparently intoxicated with the proximity to power, potentially was showing off about who he can get on the phone and that person took the call. imagine the limited scope of people you all have in your lives right now that you would have a public call, put it on speaker phone for the entire world to hear not having discretion and this is about an issue involving national security, a $400 million worth of military aid that was already appropriated that's not from a political slush fund, erin. that's u.s. taxpayer dollars and you think about the idea this

was something that was so in the works, it had been put into foundations for so long and they didn't think to have a discreet enough conversation and they were that emboldened and so much for the nonhearsay argument, huh? >> david axelrod, he's sitting in a restaurant and i suppose whatever with the connection, right? he describes it and places a call in the mobile phone and i heard him announce himself several times, gordon sondland holding to the president. it appears he was transfer through several layers of assistance and speaking loudly or the connection is such that he holds it away from his ear and has no problem with everyone else at the table hearing which indeed was the case. i think we need to do it again, these key lines, all right? holmes testifies i heard president trump then clarify that ambassador sondland was in ukraine. ambassador sondland replied y he was in ukraine and responded

president zelensky loves your ass. and i heard him ask, he's going to do the investigation? i added, he is going to do it, and adding that president zelensky will do anything you ask him to. this is not hearsay anymore. >> no, it's not. note to files, if you're going to shake down a foreign leader, don't send an amateur to do it. that's one of the lessons here. gordon sondland, there's a reason why he was using sondland. he was not a career diplomat and not part of the professional foreign service, and he knew that if he went through those people as we've seen, they would object to what he was doing. so he went through sondland instead because sondland was not a diplomat in truth, he is a political donor who was kissed into this position by the president and he was running a political errand for the

president and now they're paying a price for it, and you've got to believe that tonight at the white house they are banging their heads against the wall about how sondland handled all of this because he's kind of blown their cover. >> i mean, because jim then it continues. holmes testifies i asked ambassador sondland, so this is after sondland hangs up with president trump and then they talk about the call at the table. holmes says i asked ambassador sondland if it was true that the president did not give a blank about the ukraine. sondland said the president did not give a blank about the ukraine. and the president only added that he cared about big stuff. he meant big stuff that benefits the president like the, quote, investigation, end quote, that mr. giuliani was pushing. the reality of this is that this is in plaque and white. s. >>. >> this is the central crux of this story. it's why it matters.

the president was willing to let loose a u.s. ally with ukraine, at war with rush a invaded by rush a for five years. 13,000 people killed in this war relying on u.s. military aid just to have a chance in that fight against a much bigger rival and the president was willing to take that away for the pure intention as described by his appointed ambassador to the eu as described by him as being his real focus which is an investigation of a political rival. it's right there. this was the question at the start of this. was the president willing to sacrifice an ally to his own personal interest? you have one of the president's own appoint sees saying that's exactly the case. >> david, does this -- is there any room for question here after this? >> well, i mean, it depends who's asking. i think the republicans will find room for question. they'll probably, you know, question -- no notes were taken. holmes said they'll question that. i mean, they will go at what

they can go at. i don't know whether it changes the dynamic. i don't expect that republicans will march out now, well, now that i've got this evidence clearly, we were right all along and there was plenty of evidence that doesn't makes this much of a surprise. >> i suppose that is true. i will note that we do understand that there could be the other people at the table, there could have been up to three people who heard this because he was holding it away from his ear when there were four people including himself at that table. >> out front next, blistering testimony from the president's former ambassador to ukraine. >> interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an american ambassador wo does not give them what they want. >> ago member of trump's inner circle lied. he lied to protect president trump. he's now guilty. convicted. is trump about to pardon him?

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tonight, president trump giving democrats new ammunition. the president attacking former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch during her public testimony tweeting in part, everywhere marie yovanovitch went turned bad. she started out in somalia. how did that go? fast forward to ukraine where the new ukrainian president spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. immediately after that tweet, yovanovitch was asked to respond. >> what effect do you think that has on other witnesses'

willingness to come forward and expose wrongdoing? >> well, it's very intimidating. >> it's designed to intimidate, is it not? >> i mean, i can't speak to what the president is trying to do, but i think the effect is to be intimidating. >> well, i want to let you know, ambassador, that some of us here, take witness intimidation very, very seriously. >> alex marquardt has more on ambassador yovanovitch's hearing. >> our ukraine policy has been thrown into disarray and shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an american ambassador who does not give them what they want. >> a blistering opening statement by ambassador marie yovanovitch highlighting her often dangerous decades of service as she took aim at the smear campaign to oust her from her post. >> i mean, there is a question as to why the kind of campaign

to get me out of ukraine happened because all the president has to do is say he wants a different ambassador, and in my line of work and perhaps in your line of work as well, all we have is our reputation, and so this has been a very painful period. >> the president has criticized yovanovitch repeatedly including on the july 25th call with president zelensky calling her bad news and saying she would go through some things. >> i was shocked and devastated that i would feature in a phone call between two heads of state in such a manner where president trump said i was bad news to another world leader and that i would be going through some things. so i was -- it was -- it was a terrible moment. >> terrible and threatening. >> it sounded like a threat.

>> did you feel threatened? >> i did. >> yovanovitch quickly called out rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer for leading the smear campaign against her. >> i do not understand mr. giuliani's motives for attacking me nor can i offer an opinion on whether he believed the allegations he spread about me. >> republicans didn't defend giuliani's role or his parallel policy in ukraine. >> i'm not exactly sure what the ambassador is doing here today. this is the house intelligence committee that's now turned into the house impeachment committee. >> they argued that the president has the right to recall any ambassador he like, but yovanovitch said the way she was attacked with no defense from her bosses and suddenly pulled out has created a chilling effect. >> not only in embassy kiev, but throughout the state department because people don't know kind of whether their efforts to

pursue our stated policy are going to be supported and that is a -- that is a dangerous place to be. >> what was clear in this hearing today was how profoundly disturbing this experience has been for yovanovitch. a 33-year career coming to a crashing halt after she had been asked to extend her tenure in kiev, then yanked out of her post by a 1:00 a.m. phone call and told to get on the next plane home and then when she read the transcript of the july 25th call about her going to go through some things, she said the color drained from her face and she had a physical reaction and it's no surprise that yovanovitch thinks there's been a chilling effect. >> everyone is back with me. laura, the tweet from the president attacking yovanovitch which he sent while she testified and the sitting president watching today and sending this, is this witness intimidation? >> i think it falls into the

category. the president of the united states is to fully and faithfully execute the laws and is not to change the testimony of the witness and not retaliate against them for doing so and here you have the president of the united states using language to discredit this witness and to every other witness on the docket next week from the whistle-blower and beyond, the president has a very clear message, do not testify and if you do you will have the same behavior done to you. >> david, a trump campaign source is telling cnn tonight that that tweet was, quote, idiotic and saying that it made yovanovitch more sympathetic. >> yes. >> it was very clear that many republicans felt she was and found her to be entirely credible. could his tweet backfire? >> oh, without question, and i think it did today. i think the republicans had to spend half their time paying tribute to her illustrious history and credentials to try and compensate for what the

president did. they also talked, by the way, about the fact that the president was very interested in getting the javelin missiles to the ukrainians and the president was interested in fighting corruption and she was all for the missiles, and she was a renowned corruption fighter. so why was she yanked out of there summarily and one suspects is because she was a corruption fighter and he was plotting what she would view as a potentially corrupt act. >> we should note, jim, she fought for a law establishing the independent anti-corruption court in ukraine. there was no one who fought more against corruption than marie yovanovitch, and his lawyer lieutenants are, as well. here they are. >> i have the right to speak. i have freedom of speech just as other people do. >> president trump is right to want to defend himself. >> i don't know that it was an attack on the witness. it was really a characterization of her resume.

>> i don't know if he's trying to actually buy into the president blaming an ambassador for the disaster of somalia, but it appears -- >> take this in line with all we know about the president's treatment of this ambassador, beyond the tweet today, he endorsed a campaign to remove her, right? he said in a call, we have the transcript, things are going to happen to her, bad things which the ambassador took as meaning threatening things were going to happen to her and that's exactly what happened. we all have freedom of expression. can you intimidate a public witness in the midst of an impeachment trial? that's for the american people to decide. >> thank you very much. next, i'll talk to a republican who was in the room and has been in the room with david holmes who is testifying now. what does he make of this new testimony? and roger stone found guilty of lying to protect donald trump. he is the sixth person in trump's inner circle to be convicted. only one thing's more exciting than getting a lexus...

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breaking news. anything you ask him to. that's what david holmes, a career foreign service officer who served in the u.s. embassy

in ukraine testified that gordon sondland told president trump on a call about what ukrainian president zelensky was willing to do for trump, and the president of the united states was talking so loudly on this phone call that sondland held the phone away from his ear at a restaurant and holmes along with others at the table heard president trump's replies. trump saying according to holmes, quote, so they'll do the investigation? after the call which again, we understand at least three others at the table may have overheard, holmes says, quote, i asked ambassador sondland if it was true that the president did not give a blank about ukraine. ambassador sonde larland agreed the president did not give a blank about ukraine. i asked why not? sondeland said the president only cared about big stuff. i noted there was big stuff going on in u kran likraine lik with russia and big stuff like the quote, biden investigation. mike turner has been in the room with david holmes and he was

also in today's hearing with ambassador yovanovitch and i know this has been a very important and busy day for you, congressman. let me start with holmes. you were in the room for his testimony. what was your reaction? >> you know, erin, what is so important about the testimony of holmes today is that it also occurred in secret. you shouldn't be on television reading a script of holmes testimony. you should have it up on the screen. you should have been able to be there. there was nothing classified that's happening and it's continuing schiff's process of going in secret and having these witnesses testify and having a dress rehearsal, if you will and then bringing them out in the public. i can't -- because he had it in secret i can't confirm or deny that the transcript or opening statement that you have is in fact the hoping statement and i can say this. there was no new information that mr. holmes brought forward and everything he has is second hand. >> how is it success hand if he hea heard the president of the

united states saying it. >> and ukraine and the money being withheld and all of that is secondhand and he has no real knowledge. >> well, he heard the president of the united states that he's going to do the investigation, end quote. that's from president trump's mouth. >> well, that's what he says and he says it three months later and he took copious notes about everything else that happened except that, but even so, erin, let's take everything he said it's true and there's a question as to its accuracy and let's take it as true, he's not saying anything that the president didn't say with zelensky with the telephone call notes that we have that the president himself has said. there's no new information here. there's not one thing that he says that the president said to sondland that you don't have in the transcript -- >> so the president did ask -- you now -- you're saying the president did ask for an investigation into the bidens by zelensky? >> in the telephone notes that we all have, he asked him to

take a look at it and that's no different than what holmes is saying that he supposedly overheard a day later. we'll have to find out if that's rue and we'll have to see what sondland says, but even if we take it as true, he didn't say anything that the president said anything that goes beyond from what we already know and from the notes of the telephone conversation with zelensky. >> so when ambassador sondland, when he will obviously testify next week in front of all of us and supposing as you say, let's suppose that he will come out and say indeed, this is true that he did call the president of the united states and the president says are you in kiev and he says yes and sondland tells the president that zelensky loves your ass and the president says great, is he going to do the investigations and sondland says yes, and he meant biden. you're okay with that? >> no, i'm not okay with any of that. >> you said what is the difference? >> holmes isn't coming forward and saying anything different

than what the notes that had been released that you already know of the conversation between president trump and president zelensky. >> i hear you. i guess i'm just confused because i keep hearing that there's hearsay and it's secondhand, but now you're saying okay, it's not hearsay and it is the president and he said it before. it says are sounds like the defense is completely changing. >> you are reporting additional things that holmes testified that should be happening in public. that related to the funds withheld from the ukraine by the president and with respect to the telephone itself if it did happen and the way he's saying it happened, there's no new information and it's not some bombshell and it's exactly just a day later the exact same information. so i -- i don't know that this changes much. and by the way, they can parade out 20 other people who can say the same thing and unless they get either direct knowledge or

direct testimony from people who have new information, this is just the same thing. >> yeah. i guess -- i guess, first of all, the president of the united states is -- he heard his voice and sondland will be direct. so let me just cut to the very bottom of this because you and i know each other a long time and let's just say that ambassador sondland says y the president did tell me to do this, i was directed to get an investigation into joe biden and i was and we were holding up the aid. >> okay. that's not what holmes said, though. >> no, but hold on. but holmes is giving what he heard. i'm saying you're going to talk to sondeland next week and let's say sondland says that -- >> hold on, but congressman, if he says that, what are you going to do? are you going to say it's bad and i don't like it, but it's not impeachable or would you consider it being impeachable? >> i'm not going to speculate on something that's not happened and that -- there's probably ten other things that sondeland could say that could be damaging or devastating, but what i'm saying, which you know to be the

case, the testimony that you are currently reporting of what holmes says supposedly happened on this conversation that he overheard of the president of the united states with sondland, there's no new information in that. everything he's saying that he supposedly overheard the president say while he was on the phone with sondeland and it wasn't on speaker phone. >> no, no, he was holding it away from his ear. >> you had a person on before he who said he was on speaker phone. >> there's nothing different than what the president himself has released from the white house in his conversation with zelensky. there's nothing new. it's the same, and if sondland confirms that that occurred, it's still -- i mean, it's a day later and it's the same phone call. >> i think saying he loves your ass and he'll do anything you want him to do, and the president saying so there will be investigations is very significant. >> that's -- well, no, let's unpack that for a second. first off, he apparently won't do anything that he wants him to

because there were no investigations that were opened. none. zero. so it didn't happen and he didn't do anything that the conversations were happening and the second thing is that you're supposing that, like, that there's some other conversations that have happened which we don't have any information about. >> i will leave it there and i appreciate your time as always, congressman. thanks for being with me. >> now there are six, and roger stone is the latest trump associate convicted for breaking the law tonight. this holiday season

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another major story we're following tonight. roger stone found guilty. long time trump associate found guilty on all seven counts. including witness tampering. sixth member of the inner circle to be convicted in mueller-related investigations. five of the six for lying. brynn gingras is outfront. >> what's your reaction to the verdict? >> no comment. >> reporter: roger stone, long

time donald trump confidant found guilty of seven federal charges including lying to congress about his communications with wikileaks. the group who released hacked democratic emails prior to the 2016 election. stone who is no stranger to the cameras has denied the charges numerous times publicly. >> never had any direct contact with julian assange or wikileaks, no advanced notice of the actual content or source of their material. >> reporter: stone's trial was as much about president trump and his campaign as it was about stone. in court, prosecutors revealing new details previously redacted by special counsel. like the efforts stone made to keep trump's campaign informed of wikileaks plans and how the president's people even trump himself allegedly welcomed that intel. >> wikileaks, i love wikileaks. >> the emails and text messages would also show that he was communicating with the trump

campaign about wikileaks plans every chance he got s prosecutors told jurors. calls with trump himself. they show jurors a line graph of stone's communications with top trump campaign officials. highlighting spikes that prosecutors say were key moments in the release of stolen data. jurors also seeing evidence of communication from witnesses. >> how are you doing this afternoon? >> reporter: former trump chief strategist steve bannon who said stone would be considered a, quote, access point to wikileaks and julian assange if the campaign wanted it and former trump aide rick gates who testified about a 2016 conversation between trump and stone regarding one wikileaks plan to reveal that fall. he indicated more information would becoming. gates told prosecutors trump told him, adding it was, in a way, a gift we had not sought but was coming out. the testimony directly contradicts what the president told mueller in written answers to questions posed during the

special counsel's investigation. trump said he didn't recall his conversations with stone and his discussions about wikileaks and the democratic hack. a fact in the report now clearer from the stone trial that democrats jumped on when questioning mueller this summer. >> sit fair then that the president denied knowledge of himself or anyone else discussing wikileaks dumps with mr. stone? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: the question of whether trump will pardon his friend still remains. multiple sources told my colleague kaitlin collins this is something he's been weighing for the last several months and didn't take long after the verdict for trump to get on twitter and say it was unfair but he has some time. not going to be sentenced until february. >> wow, convicted on all counts. thank you so much, brynn. and we'll be right back. 134 to . they answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. and when they were done, chevy earned more j.d. power quality awards across

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historic week with three witnesses testifying publicly in the impeachment investigation of president trump. next week, we'll be packed. eight witnesses including the key democrat of eu ambassador gordon sondland, the million dollar trump donor at the center of the investigation. thank you for joining us. stay with cnn for the latest developments. anderson's next. good evening tonight. new impeachment testimony that puts president trump directly hands on and moment to moment at the center of the scheme to squeeze ukraine into dirtying up an american political rival. our firsthand account provides further evidence that president trump didn't really care about corruption in general or ukraine's well being or u.s. policy in the region. what he cared about, according to the new testimony, was investigating the bidens. the testimony was from david holmes, a staffer and experienced diplomat in kiev. in his opening statement, he describes