in need in detroit. go to cnnheroes.com to vote for her for cnn hero of the year or any of your favorite top ten heroes. thanks for watching. our coverage continues. . the president's own justice department on the president's own orders investigating the president's own conspiracy theories about the 2016 russia probe and largely debunks them. john berman here in for anderson. it is breaking news, and it is big. the justice department inspector general's report on the fbi's crossfire hurricane investigation is done. cnn was first to learn that a former fbi lawyer is under criminal investigation for allegedly altering a document related to the 2016 surveillance of trump campaign adviser carter page. tonight, there's more, much more. in "the new york times," this is the lead, a highly anticipated report by the justice department's inspector general is expected to sharply criticize lower-level fbi officials as

well as bureau leaders involved in the early stages of the trump/russia investigation, but to absolve the top ranks of abusing their powers out of bias against president trump. that's according to people briefed on a draft. according to "the times" it concludes the fbi met the legal standard for opening the investigation and that none of the evidence to launch the investigation came from the controversial steele dossier. the report, which is expected to arrive early next month, came up in what was described as and appeared to be a tense oval office meeting late last week caught on camera between attorney general barr, the president, and others. according to "the times," the draft debunks a series of trump conspiracy theories and insinuations about the fbi, fired fbi director james comey and fired acting director andrew mccabe and these two mentioned just this morning. >> and when you look at strzok and page with the insurance policy where, you know, the two lovers, the two great lovers

from the fbi, where he's saying, oh, she's going to win 100 million to nothing, but just in case she loses, we have an insurance policy. well, that means, you know, we're going to take him down. we're going to take down the president. you wouldn't -- >> even as the president was saying that this morning, it's likely he already knew that it wasn't true. he likely has already been told perhaps in that oval office meeting that the investigation that he himself ordered, while it does identify a number of mistakes, real mistakes, a measure of sloppiness and perhaps wrongdoing on the part of the lower level fbi attorney, it debunks most, if not all, of the big stuff. joining us with details is adam goldman who shares a byline on "the times" story. thank you so much for being with us. let's start, which might be the bigger headline here of what the report doesn't say or doesn't find. go ahead. >> well, one of the main takeaways is the report doesn't

say that the fbi, in particular its leadership, weaponized this surveillance tool, right, the fisa to spy on the trump campaign. what it does say is that while putting together the application to obtain this secret wiretap, they made a number of, you know, serious mistakes and omissions. it was basically unprofessionalism by the agents and officials and lawyers putting this thing together. >> what is the difference in this case between violations of procedures, serious though they may be, and what would amount to a finding of political bias, which they did not find in this case? >> i mean if they had found that the fbi had moved forward and gotten this wiretap, this fisa because of political bias, that would have been extremely damaging to the fbi. i mean, it would have been a major black mark on the fbi's

history right up there with some of its worst. >> and it is my understanding from your reporting that this report will find that the investigation, the launch of the investigation met the legal standard, correct? >> yeah, it's going to debunk a number of republican right-wing conspiracy theories that have asserted that this investigation, the opening of the russia investigation in july of 2016, code name crossfire hurricane, used information from an ex-british spy named chris steele and the information he had compiled. they said that is false. they also said that the information used to open that investigation didn't come from the cia, right? it wasn't being done by john brenn brennan, right, the puppet master in all of this according to these conspiracy theories. and also two other important points. well, in particular one, also

that the fbi wasn't working with this multi-professor named joseph massoud, who had made an offer of assistance and coordination to a former campaign official name george papadopoulos. >> it does, though, mention christopher steele, i understand, at fairly great length. what does it say about him? >> i think one of the takeaways from christopher steele, it's understanding that the i.g. isn't going to say that the fbi shouldn't have used this political research. but i think what will come out is that, you know, the way that steele was portrayed in this application, this warrant, you know, this surveillance application was misleading. some of the information was just flat-out wrong. >> all right. adam, stick around if you will. i want to bring in cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin, phil mudd, former fbi senior intelligence adviser and former cia counterterrorism official,

and our counterterrorism analyst. a lot of titles for you, phil. still you're going to have to wait because i'm going to go to jeffrey first. what do you make of this? this is one of the things the president and his allies have talked about for some time, that this campaign was launched on false premises. this report does not find that. >> including impeachment hearings. the phrase that i think of when i read adam's brilliant reporting here is deep state. one of the main hypotheses of the entire trump presidency has been that the deep state, the fbi, the cia, the state department people who are apparently, according to the president, secret liberals, have been out to get him from the beginning and using their powers to discredit the trump campaign and now discredit the trump presidency. and what this report does, it seems, based on adam's reporting, in a conscientious way to say that's not true.

that didn't happen. >> phil, you know, michael horowitz, who is the inspector general of the justice department, is seen as a straight shooter and a hard hitter. if he finds wrongdoing, he calls it out. so what does it say to you in this case that when it comes to the senior levels of the fbi, he says there was no political bias here? >> boy, i'm with jeffrey toobin on this. i've been watching this going on for a year-plus thinking there is going to be a sledgehammer come down. i mean i went to catholic school and grade school. catholic school, you can't do this anymore, but the nuns would slap you on the back of the head if you did something wrong. they're not going to bring a sledgehammer down unless it's a serious offense, although i never actually remember a sledgehammer in grade school. this is not a sledgehammer. this is not saying there is a da deep state, that the leadership of the fbi did something wrong. this is a slap on the back of the head saying you guys screwed this up. you mentioned the i.g., the inspector general. i never met an i.g. i like.

the i.g. is known for saying, if you didn't shine your shoes right today, you're going to get whacked. among my colleagues, this report is really embarrassing, but it is not what many people would have expected, that is, at the leadership levels of the fbi, there is a deep state effort to take down the presidency with an investigation. this is actually, in my world of inspector general investigations, relatively modest. >> adam, the major finding that has gotten all the attention so far was that this line attorney falsified a document. that is the allegation here, and that is a serious charge. there is a criminal referral for that. but to be clear on what it was, it was falsifying a document on a renewal for the fisa application, not even the original fisa application. and would the fisa application still have been accepted even if that hadn't been altered? >> yeah. let's not minimize that, right?

this is a false statement. it's a serious charge. i'm not certain whether what he did during the renewal process was actually material to the application and whether or not, you know, a judge would have determined there was probable cause. i want to hit on something, though. what's important -- one of the important takeaways here is that, you know, the president and his allies have been calling this a witch hunt, a hoax, right? this was a legitimate, properly predicated law enforcement investigation, right? let's remember that. they had articulated reasons to investigate, and the i.g. has backed that up. and like many, many, many investigations -- and you have a former ausa on tv with me -- will tell you not all investigations end in charges, right? and this is what we're seeing now. so this idea that somehow it was a -- you know, it was a hoax is false. the other important takeaway here is, look, this was maybe

the most important fisa ever done in the history of the fbi, all right? and they screwed it up, okay? they couldn't get this one wrong, and they got it wrong, okay? so let's remember that. and that raises questions about what do the other fisas look like. >> let's also remember how much donald trump has invested in the idea that the fbi improperly investigated him, going way back to the beginning of the administration, where remember he said obama wiretapped my campaign? i mean that's out of this investigation. total lie. a total lie that the president told. and all of -- and we now know that all of his claims about how the deep state were out to get him, total lies. >> go ahead, adam. >> i was going to say, you can see trump has already pivoted to, well, we've got to wait for durham, right? we've got to wait for durham, right? i don't know what durham is going to find. you know, it sounds like this

kevin kline smith, the lawyer who is accused of wrongdoing, the false statement, is an add-on to what durham is doing, you know, looking at the intelligence community assessment of russian interference. you know, it's not clear where this is going to head, and let's just be frank. is any of this going to matter? the inspector general of the department of justice is going to put out a report with facts. but the truth has been so eroded these last few years, you know, what's the public going to take away from this? >> phil, again, you've been on the inside here. is it embarrassing for these fbi, you know, officials who will be named as being clumsy at best and criminally at worst? >> oh, hell, yeah. this isn't clumsy. if that lawyer -- and i gather that lawyer has left his position in government. if that lawyer was in government, i think he should be fired immediately, not like last minute. i mean like now. that person needs to go.

that said, there's a difference between mistakes on the periphery of the investigation. those mistakes are significant. i agree with adam. this is -- this cannot happen in a fisa application. i don't agree that this is the most important fisa application ever. it may be the most public. it's not the most important. that said, this is embarrassing. but if you compare it to the core of the investigation, what did the leadership of the fbi say and do? what happened in terms of roger stone's interaction with wikileaks? why did don junior suggest that he wanted to accept information from a russian lawyer? this is embarrassing on the inside, and on the outside i think it's chump change. i don't think it's that significant at the core of the investigation. >> can i make one point? >> go ahead. >> for the most part i agree with phil. let's remember this fisa application, the investigation in the carter page was a small part of a massive, sprawling investigation into russian

interference. this fisa -- you somebody said it was, you know, 10%, even less. i mean carter page was not a big player in this, so let's not magnify the significance of this. this was a huge investigation, and that's part of -- i think that's part of what's going to be the criticisms that, you know, the fbi didn't bring more people into this, right, because they were afraid -- actually were afraid it was going to leak, which it didn't. >> adam goldman, thank you for reporting. phil, thank you. jeffrey toobin, i appreciate it. next, remember yesterday when fiona hill warned against embracing another conspiracy, which also happens to be russia's cover story about the 2016 election? well, the president must have been tweeting at the time and missed it because when it comes to embracing, he is all arms and all in. what he said today and why he should know better. why lawmakers should too. keeping them honest. and later, the next steps to the impeachment of a president,

what they are and new reporting on how soon they might happen. >> announcer: "anderson cooper 360" brought to you by alka selzer plus for fast cold relief. alka-seltzer plus. now with 25% more concentrated power. nothing works faster for powerful cold relief. oh, what a relief it is! so fast! motor? nope. not motor?

it's pronounced "motaur." for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. for those who were born to ride, the holidays are here and so is t-mobile's newest, most powerful signal. and we want to keep you connected to those you love, with the new iphone 11. so t-mobile is giving you an iphone 11 on us for each new line of unlimited.

for yourself, or up to a family of four. keep your family connected, and hurry into t-mobile today, to get up to four iphone 11's on us. only at t-mobile. robinwithout the commission fees. so, you can start investing today wherever you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

select chuckit launchers are november 22nd$4.99!tsmart! 25 ounce beggin strips are only $9.99! and don't forget - our black friday deals start online thursday at petsmart.com! petsmart! 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. ♪ its potential just keeps growing. - [narrator] forget about vacuuming for up to a month. shark iq robot deep-cleans and empties itself into a base you can empty once a month. and unlike standard robots that bounce around, it cleans row by row. if it's not a shark, it's just a robot.

tonight's breaking news that the justice department's investigation of the 2016 russia investigation has debunked a number of president trump's conspiracy theories about it comes at what you might call an apt moment. a moment when the president and his supporters are pushing yet another conspiracy theory that, yes, also happens to absolve russia of meddling in the 2016 election despite being told this too is nonsense. and just to remind you, the u.s. intelligence community determined in late 2016 and 2017 that the russia was to blame in a very big, very systematic top-down way. first candidate then president

trump was briefed on it. his own intelligence officials have testified to it. yet the president has never bought it. instead embracing conspiracy theories about the fbi and deep state and for months now he's also been pushing a conspiracy theory blaming ukraine. he talked about it again today during that nearly hour-long phone interview on fox. and by our own fact checker's counsel, he made at least 18 false statements. this is what he said about ukraine, the russian hacking of the dnc and the company crowdstrike the democrats hired to investigate it. >> it's very interesting. they have the server, right, from the dnc, democratic national committee -- >> who has the server? >> the fbi went in, and they told them, get out of here. we're not giving it to you. they gave the server to crowdstrike or whatever it's called which is a country -- which is a company owned by a very wealthy ukrainian. and i still want to see that server. you know, the fbi's never gotten that server. that's a big part of this whole thing. why did they give it to a ukrainian company?

>> that's just a lie. so keeping them honest, crowdstrike is an american company co-founded by an american citizen who was born in russia, not ukraine. there is no single server and the dnc did not give any server to anybody. that's not the way it works. the president provided no evidence to support his claim, saying only that's what the word is. and the funny thing is his own top former russia expert says the word, that word he was talking about, comes from russia. >> there's some questions and statements i've heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country and that perhaps somehow, for some reason, ukraine did. this is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and problem gated by the russian security services themselves. >> a fictional narrative, she says. the woman who literally wrote the book on vladimir putin, who has spent her entire career studying russia who's had access to all intelligence on russian

interference in the 2016 election says the ukraine allegations are part of the kremlin's cover story, and a leader of the free world is embracing it. so are republican lawmakers despite many of them being told otherwise. cnn has learned intelligence officials have in recent months briefed senators and their aides, reiterating the case that fiona hill made yesterday that blaming ukraine is part of the russian effort to deflect blame for 2016. and so far the most powerful individual on earth is convinced. joining us now is democratic congressman denny heck, who serves on the house intelligence committee. congressman, thanks so much for being with us. president trump has long said this claim that ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. are you surprised to see your republican colleagues, especially those with an intelligence background, especially those who presumably were briefed by the intelligence community, get onboard with this lie?

>> john, at times i can't tell if they're self-deluded or that cynical. i vacillate between those two. it's got to be one or the other because the facts are what they are. they all seem to have remembered that old expression about the big lie, if you tell a big lie enough and keep repeating it people will come to believe it. but here's what i say. what they should really consult is the more enduring wisdom often quoted by abraham lincoln. you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. facts matter, john. >> this briefing that "the new york times" reported cnn reporting that members of congress were briefed by the intelligence committee that this is a russian effort to blame ukraine -- were you aware of these intelligence briefings? >> yes. >> and were they convincing and should they have been convincing to the republican members who were also briefed? >> it's no longer arguable,

john. this is all a fiction that is being propagated by them as a part of the big lie theory. they're going to tell this big lie, and they're going to repeat it until enough people believe it that it will help provide them for a defense for president trump for his misdeeds. that's what this is about. that's what the motivation is, or they're just incredibly, as i suggested, self-deluded. >> let's talk about the next week of your life, congressman. we understand that the house intelligence committee which you're a member of will spend the next week drafting this report which will go to the judiciary committee, laying out what you have found as part of this inquiry. will it stick to the testimony that you heard, what we all heard in the public hearings, or will there be more into it we haven't seen? >> john, just to be clear the next week of my life is going to involve an awful lot of giving of thanks for the many blessings and sleep because the fact is it's been an incredibly long and arduous two weeks.

our able staff is in the process, as you and i speak, of drafting the report, which will then be shared with the members, and we'll have an opportunity to review it at that point. and i am presuming, but it has not yet been confirmed, that we will take it up the week we get back and mark it up in the intelligence committee, which is a term that means we'll vote upon it. >> the president said in an interview today that he doesn't expect to be impeached and white house officials in background briefings were claiming that they didn't think the president was going to be impeached. do you believe that's wishful thinking at this point? >> so we have to clarify our terms here. for somebody to be impeached means for the house to pass it. >> that's what i mean. that's what i mean. that's all i mean. i mean that the house will vote to impeach the president. the president said he did not think the house would vote to impeach him and white house officials are suggesting the same thing. my question to you is are they deluded? >> well, tbd.

the fact of the matter, we haven't written the report yet. there are a lot of members of the house who while many were paying close attention to the dramatic events, others were at work on their legislative business. so they're going to have to digest all this. we will transition this to the judiciary committee at some point in the near future where they will be responsible for crafting articles of impeachment should they decide to do that. and in the meantime, john, let's not forget there can be other developments. obviously today ambassador bolton felt as though he had an irresistible urge to tease the public through his twitter account that he had information. i have called upon ambassador bolton time and time again, do your patriotic duty. come forward just like three other people who work for you did. colonel vindman, dr. hill, and tim morrison. do what they did. have the courage to put country first. >> so far it's just a tease, though. congressman heck, thank you for being with us.

we'll join you next week in giving thanks. i only wish i could join you in getting some sleep. appreciate you being with us tonight. >> thank you, john. a quick programming note. this sunday be sure to watch the cnn special report "all the president's lies" hosted by jake tapper at 9:00 p.m. eastern, and it's just one hour. still ahead, more on the next steps in the impeachment process and what sources are telling cnn is one of the big unresolved questions about the potential vote on president trump's fate. most people think of verizon as a reliable phone company. (woman) but to businesses, we're a reliable partner. we keep companies ready for what's next. (man) we weave security into their business. virtualize their operations. (woman) and build ai customer experiences. we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. like 5g. almost all the fortune 500 partner with us. (woman) when it comes to digital transformation... verizon keeps business ready. ♪

hey. ♪hey. you must be steven's phone. now you can take control of your home wifi and get a notification the instant someone new joins your network... only with xfinity xfi.

download the xfi app today. democratic sources tell cnn the impeachment of president

trump could come before christmas. as we mentioned just moments ago, aides and leaders plan to hammer out a report next week to spell out the case for impeachment. back with me is jeffrey toobin and joining us, another cnn legal analyst, jennifer rodgers, also david gergen, a cnn senior political analyst, who has served four presidents, republican and democrat, including one who has been impeached and one who resigned, so knows a lot about this type of thing. >> i'm batting .500. >> jeffrey, how do you see this process playing out? we know the intelligence committee is going to write this report. then it goes to judiciary. do you think we'll still be getting new information as this goes on? >> probably some. i think there's one big question the democrats have yet to resolve, which is how to structure the impeachment. there are really sort of two broad options. one is that it's just ukraine, that it's just the abuse of power in connection with the president's interactions with ukraine. the other option includes the

obstruction of justice discussed in the mueller report and the obstruction of congress in terms of the failure to respond to subpoenas, allow witnesses to testify. so a narrow impeachment based on ukraine, a broader impeachment with obstruction, that's a question nancy pelosi, jerry nadler, and adam schiff largely are going to have to resolve. >> and david gergen because i'm going to ask you, david, politically speaking, what's the wise move, do you think, from democrats? more limited or broader as jeffrey was just describing? >> >> i used to think it would be the more limited option because that -- i thought that would be easier to understand. i think it's been harder to explain it to people. there are so many different figures who are introduced over these hearings. the democrats did an awfully good job amassing the evidence, but i'm not sure they got through to the public on giving them a convincing narrative of what happened. under those circumstances i would be exploring whether you bring in the obstruction questions, as jeffrey said, or

not, and i would lean toward bringing in obstruction because i think there are additional elements that have been forgotten, and there's a path -- there's a narrative about the president's entire activities as president. the trail that we have seen, the amount of obstruction, the amount of dismissal of the rule of law, i think that's a pretty powerful case. if you can make it simply with great clarity, i would lean in that direction. >> so procedurally, jennifer, it's interesting, the house intelligence committee is writing a report, but the judiciary committee will write the articles of impeachment. i was told this morning they'll hold hearings on what constitutes an impeachable offense. that's interesting. the question is when it gets to judiciary e the rules say that the president can have his own lawyers there. they can participate in those hearings if they're open hearings. do you think that the white house should do that? do you think that would behoove the president to have his people there or should they keep their

powder dry until the senate trial? >> i think they will participate but the rules say if they block witnesses and documents and information that the democrats want to put on, then they might not be able to participate so we'll see how that shakes out. but i have yet to meet a lawyer and certainly this president isn't like this either, who can stop talking. so i think they will want to go ahead and make their case whether it's through cross-examination or making speeches or something. i find it impossible to believe that they will just sit there quietly while this information comes in. >> this monday, just days from now there is a ruling on don mcgahn, the president's former white house counsel about whether he needs to comply with subpoenas months and months and months ago having to do with the mueller investigation, back when we were all in our early 30s. what happens there, jennifer? if, if this judge said mcgahn has to testify what does that mean for john bolton or some other figures? >> i'm not exactly sure. that was a subpoena about testifying because of the mueller investigation out of a different committee. you know, look, all of these case, every time the

administration or a witness who's complying with their stonewalling request loses in court, it does send a message that other people will lose, but it's not binding on those other people. so if mcgahn is ordered to testify in front of the oversight committee, presumably they'll set something up and he'll do, but i don't know that bolton will. >> i don't think mcgahn will do that. if congress wins on monday is the administration will appeal and they're entitled to appeal and this thing is back on a slow boat to nowhere. this is the reason why adam schiff decided in the intelligence committee that we're not going to court because we just don't have time. now, that's a decision that i don't know that was correct, but it is true that the very act of going to court is a guarantee of a multi-month delay to a real resolution. so, yes, monday will be important. but it certainly will not resolve this question once and

for all. >> john bolton, david, do you think that is a witness worth fighting for for the democrats? >> absolutely. absolutely. it's clear from the last few days that he has a story to tell. there's a part of him that would like to tell it. he's sort of dangling it in front of us. i think it's worth exploring. it may be a boat to nowhere jeffrey says. it may not lead anywhere but i certainly think it's worth exploring because, listen, we've gone through this now so many times that the president is stonewalling. he refuses any of the star witnesses, people who know him well, come testify. he's run over the committee like that. then they claim the committee doesn't have enough direct evidence. you know, the republican claim is not enough direct evidence. john bolton can provide the direct evidence, and he may be the most honest man of all in this. >> he can do it if he wanted to and hasn't done it yet. >> he may find it, you know, but mcgahn -- people think the

mcgahn result may influence bolton's decision. >> yep. we'll see. we'll see. he wants to sell books. that much is clear. david gergen, jennifer rodgers and jeffrey toobin, thanks for being here. still to come, the politics of all this, right or wrong, valid or not. how would the potential impeachment of president trump affect voters' attitudes toward the two parties? (contemplative synth music) - [narrator] forget about vacuuming for up to a month. shark iq robot deep-cleans and empties itself into a base you can empty once a month. and unlike standard robots that bounce around, it cleans row by row. if it's not a shark, it's just a robot.

hi honey, we got in early. yeah, and we brought steve and mark. ♪ experience the power of sanctuary

at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. select chuckit launchers are november 22nd$4.99!tsmart! 25 ounce beggin strips are only $9.99! and don't forget - our black friday deals start online thursday at petsmart.com! petsmart!

dana-farber cancer institute discovered the pd-l1 pathway. pd-l1. they changed how the world fights cancer. blocking the pd-l1 protein, lets the immune system attack, attack, attack cancer. pd-l1 transformed, revolutionized, immunotherapy. pd-l1 saved my life. saved my life. saved my life. what we do here at dana-faber, changes lives

everywhere. everywhere. everywhere. everywhere. everywhere. all right. we've been talking about the future of the impeachment proceedings with the senate possibly holding a trial next year during the prime early months of 2020 campaigning after the trial concludes, if the president is not removed, it will ultimately be the voters who have a final say in all this, not to mention those conspiracy theories about ukraine that the president won't let go. today president trump said democrats, quote, look like fools. democrats, however, clearly believe this is worth it. joining us today, "usa today" columnist kirsten powers and former ted cruz communications director amanda carpenter, author of "gaslighting america."

kirsten, i want to start with you here. four democrats -- again, they think this is worth it. they made the decision after resisting this for a long time, that they had to go through this process. but what do you see as the politics of this? is this winning support for the democratic party? >> well, i think it's risky and i felt that way from the beginning. i think the democrats did the right thing. i don't think you can ignore this kind of behavior. it absolutely required the hearings that we've had, and i think the democrats have actually done a very good job with this. the problem is, is that i think when there's chaos, that is where donald trump thrives, right? chaos and disorder is really where he thrives, and the republicans have made it clear that they didn't have any interest in actually hearing any of the facts and actually holding him accountable for anything. and instead they're also sowing chaos and discord.

so that does work to the president's advantage. that doesn't mean -- we still don't know. there are some polls that have come out that have showed that independents aren't looking that kindly at this. but, you know, we need to give it a little more time. we're not all the way through the process, so i think it still remains to be seen how voters are going to react. >> amanda, do you recognize the republican party that you grew up in and that you worked in for a long time? do you feel as if they are looking at the facts here? >> i mean they've made a decision to get in line behind trump. you know, in some ways i saw echos of this when people got in line behind bush in regard to the iraq war. but this is totally different. this isn't to serve national security interests. this is to serve one person's ego. and so i am very interested to see how this will be handled in the senate because you are moving from firmly democratic territory into trump's

wheelhouse so to speak. mitch mcconnell is going to control this process, and so this will be legacy-making stuff for republican senators who take that vote, for the lawyers who try it, and how they prosecute and try that case. i don't know how this is going to come out. what is adam schiff and nancy pelosi going to send over? is it going to be something narrowly tailored to what we heard presented in the impeachment hearings, or is it going to be a kitchen sink? and what happens when if gets into mitch mcconnell's hands? do they make it quick? do they turn it inside out and try to call hunter biden to testify, and this becomes another one of donald trump's conspiracy extravaganzas? we have no idea. what happens there will determine how the 2020 election is handled. and if trump wins re-election based on how this is handled, that's how it's going to be for a long, long time. >> but there is some risk for

the republicans too as you say in how they handle it, and i think there is some risk in them looking at the facts right now and saying they don't care or it's not enough. it's not without risk for everyone. kirsten, there are a lot of democratic senators, i think six, but to be honest i've lost count, six democratic senators running for president who would have to leave the trail and participate in this impeachment trial. how will that affect them? >> it would be bad. i mean you want to be out on the trail obviously, and i think that the timing of this just isn't great the way this is coinciding when people would be out campaigning and also coinciding with debates. the democratic debate the other night was completely overshadowed by the impeachment news. so i think that while it's true for the early states you're going on, you're trying to reach people mostly through retail politics. you also need to be in people's living rooms. you know, people need to hear that democrats are talking about more than just impeachment.

otherwise, they get the sense that that's all they care about when of course they care about a lot of other issues. the other thing is just to your sort of overall question is right now impeachment doesn't really rank very high in terms of what people are voting on. so that's another thing to watch, you know, so people have feelings about it. but is it going to be what's going to influence their vote? >> finally, amanda, one of the things democrats will say in defense of president, well, his behavior may have been bad, but it's not impeachable. will hurd said a version of that yesterday. do they need -- will hurd, though, said, oh, it's not good foreign policy. he didn't say it's dangerous. is there a way for republicans who might not vote for impeachment to actually say something that has teeth critical enough to make an impact? >> yeah. i mean i guess there's a possibility of censure. i don't see that happening in the senate although that would certainly be history-making. but republicans shouldn't be let off the hook on this question. if you believe it was bad but not impeachable, what are you willing to do to stop it from happening again in the 2020

election because we must also remember this is not the first but the second time that the president solicited foreign interference in an election to benefit himself. >> yeah. a furrowed eyebrow and expressing concerns probably not enough to stop it the next time. amanda carpenter, kirsten powers, thanks for being with us tonight. still ahead, the backstory of how ukraine's president almost appeared on cnn but then didn't and why it's a part of the impeachment inquiry. geico makes it easy to get help when i need it. with licensed agents available 24-7, it's not just easy. it's having-jerome-bettis- on-your-flag-football-team easy. go get 'em, bus! ohhhh! [laughing] c'mon bus, c'mon! hey, wait, wait, wait! hey man, i got your flag! i got your flag, man! i got your flag! it's geico easy. with licensed agents available 24/7. 49 - nothing! woo! the holidays are here and so is t-mobile's newest,

most powerful signal. and we want to keep you connected to those you love, with the new iphone 11. so t-mobile is giving you an iphone 11 on us for each new line of unlimited. for yourself, or up to a family of four. keep your family connected, and hurry into t-mobile today, to get up to four iphone 11's on us. only at t-mobile. of millions of americans during the recession. so, my wife kat and i took action. we started a non-profit community bank with a simple theory - give people a fair deal and real economic power. invest in the community, in businesses owned by women and people of color, in affordable housing. the difference between words and actions matters. that's a lesson politicians in washington could use right now. i'm tom steyer, and i approve this message.

a wealth of information. a wealth of perspective. ♪ a wealth of opportunities. that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management.

to help you grow and protect your wealth. it takes a village to raise to build a bridge. to throw a baseball... to throw yourself into the unknown. to lose fear, to create hope. we believe that it takes a village of over 200-thousand dedicated, passionate, driven medical and non-medical professionals to deliver on our belief in total health for all. we are kaiser permanente. thrive.

time to check in with chris to see what he's working on for "cuomo prime time" at the top of the hour. >> how are you, handsome? >> very good. >> i am thankful to have you in my life as always. you're a great man, great journalist and even better friend and husband. not to me, though. >> what are you telling people?

>> the inspector general has his report out. trump's defenders ignored what's in the rest of the report. they're not going to like what's in it but the american people should. if we don't have faith in our institutions, what the heck are we doing in a democracy in the first place? second, we have new information about devin nunez that is going to shock people about ukraine. >> i have to wait. have a great weekend and great thanksgiving. up next, i'll speak with fareed zakaria but how he's a key part of the impeachment story. we keep companies ready for what's next. (man) we weave security into their business. virtualize their operations. (woman) and build ai customer experiences. we also keep them ready for the next big opportunity.

like 5g. almost all the fortune 500 partner with us. (woman) when it comes to digital transformation... verizon keeps business ready. ♪ - [narrator] forget about vacuuming for up to a month. shark iq robot deep-cleans and empties itself into a base you can empty once a month. and unlike standard robots that bounce around, it cleans row by row. if it's not a shark, it's just a robot. . 25 ounce beggin strips are only $9.99! and don't forget - our black friday deals start online thursday at petsmart.com! petsmart! too shabby! too much! i can rent this? for that price? absolutely. it's just right! book your just right rental at thrifty.com.

itoh, come on.t! flo: don't worry. you're covered. (dramatic music) and you're saving money, because you bundled home and auto. sarah, get in the house. we're all here for you. all: all day, all night. (dramatic music) great job speaking calmly and clearly everyone. that's how you put a customer at ease. hey, did anyone else hear weird voices while they were in the corn? no. no. me either. whispering voice: jamie. what? he was going to order

investigations into whether there was ukraine influence into the 2016 election. that's where cnn's fareed zakaria enters the picture and he joins us now. fareed, it was going to be an interview with you where the second half of the quid pro quo was announced. >> right. we had been trying to get an interview with zelensky anyway because he's this fascinating character, complete newcomer, standup comic, sitcom actor, also a businessman but a newcomer, totally outside politics, sweeps the parliament elections, talks about making a deal with russia, fascinating character. we're getting somewhere. i interviewed the previous president three times. then it gets very, very close and i get there in early september for a conference i happen to be going to and i said can i meet him to seal the deal? that's the september 13th meeting that apparently the u.s. embassy was frightened he was going to give the interview that day and do the second half of the quid pro quo, announce the investigations into biden and burisma.

they had not confirmed it with us they were still playing, you know. but it looked very good. we were getting down to the logistics, when will he do it, new york, around the time of the u.n. general assembly, which was ten days later. and then the whistle-blower story breaks. the whistle-blower story breaks to congress two days before i get to kiev because the republicans on the committee presumably told them. the aid was released the day i get there. when you talked to ukrainian official, they were delighted but a little puzzled and weren't sure what was happening. thinking back they were probably thinking do we still have to do the quid pro quo? we got the aid, are we now meant to deliver? then when it blew open, "the washington post" reported it, they went radio silent and said there's no interview. >> i think it's what the kids call ghosting. >> just for a while.

they were actually very nice and very professional but for a few days they ghosted us and then they said it's off. >> then i want to ask you another thing which you have a particular expertise in, life experience, which has been remarkable in that so many of these witnesses were not born in the united states. they're americans and now working on behalf of america, ambassador yovanovitch, lieutenant colonel vindman, fiona hill. americans by voice, as you are. what do you make of all this? >> i think it's something people don't understand enough. i'm glad fiona hill used that phrase, american by choice. most americans are american by birth. you don't have much of a choice of it whereas an immigrant is choosing to come to america or to make america his or her home. you know, we sometimes celebrate immigration as this wonderful thing, it's all, you know, milk and honey. it's not. it's a very hard choice.

you're leaving behind your family, your culture, lots of deep ties so the attraction to america is very deep and very profound and i go one step further, then you have these immigrants who decide to make america their home and to make it the place they're going to put their stake in but then they work for the american government. that's to my mind an even higher order of devotion to the united states. and to have these people have their patriotism criticized and have right-wing talk show hosts saying when will some real american testify -- >> that's horrible. >> fareed zakaria, great to have you with us and we're glad you're american by choice. the news continues and i hand it over to chris for "cuomo prime time." >> j.b., my man, have a great weekend. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time" we have two big truth bombs to unpack with you. you know h