>> reporter: now there's also a question of political favoritism. >> we have someone who was convicted of killing someone in front of his wife at his home, who pulled the trigger. >> reporter: state lawmakers say they want to investigate this case because the family of the man pardoned raised more than $20,000 last year to help bevin. >> bottom line, if it looks like a duck and taubes like a duck, you got to look into whether or not it's a duck. >> our thanks to natasha. we'll hand it offer to chris for "cuomo prime time." >> j.b., thank you very much. i appreciate it. it's friday night. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." the big unknown is if the president will control the senate the way he did the republicans in the house. it looks like he just may. the question, how is that okay? you're going to hear from one of the president's closest confidantes and rudy giuliani back at the white house dishing

ukraine dirt. and is the plot that set off this whole mess still under way? what do you say, let's get after it. we know the full house votes next week. two articles of impeachment, they passed earlier in the judiciary committee, two party line votes, 23-17. how is the president feeling about it tonight? >> i think it's a horrible thing to be using the tool of impeachment, which is supposed to be used in emergency. it's a scam. it's something that shouldn't be allowed. and it's a very bad thing for our country. >> and democrats argue that he is what is bad for our country, by failing to uphold the law and abusing his power. that's why the congressman last night made his historic aye vote. actually, he made it today. he'll be part of the judiciary committee that passed these first two out of the committee. it's all history. now it goes on to the full chamber vote. the question is what happens

next? he joins me now. appreciate it. after a week, not the kind of history you hope to make when you go to congress but here we are nonetheless. the outrage from your colleagues on the right, i would often read on your face that you were picking up some it have as fained, like you were looking on like where is this coming from. do you believe some of their outrage of the process and outrage of how this was going was pretend? >> look, there's no question that they were talking about process for most of the evening because they really couldn't answer the facts. they couldn't respond to the overwhelming evidence that the president of the united states attempted to coerce a foreign leader to corrupt our elections by dragging them in to help him cheat in the 2020 election and used hundreds of millions of taxpayer money as leverage. what was just shocking is there was no ability or willingness of our republican colleagues to acknowledge is that okay?

is it ever okay for the president of the united states to reach out to a foreign power to get him or her to win reelection and to cheat in this way. the truth is, if we let that happen, we will have lost that democracy. you know who gets to decide who gets to be the american president? the american people, the citizens of this great country. all throughout the night we tried to ask them is this okay? i asked what about your own election, would it be okay for you to each out to a foreign power? would it be okay? raise your hand. what they talked about was process, process, process. they kept saying why didn't you bring us witnesses? >> first of all, we had 17 witnesses, over a hundred hours of testimony, but the real answer is the president is a danger to our democracy. this is a crime in progress. we have an election right around the corner. if we don't stop this by holding the president accountability and moving forward with articles of

impeachment, he will think he can continue to behave this way. it will be a message to him and other future candidates that you can seek foreign assistance. if you're facing tough elections, pick up the phone, call the iranians, the russians. the most sacred right we have is the right it decide our own future by electing our own president. this is the heart and soul of our democracy. the president abused the enormous power of his office and betrayed the national security interests of his united states to advance his own personal interests. it's exactly what our framers talked about, when the president abuses the power of his office to advance his own personal and political and financial interests. that's exactly what we have. >> if there's such urgency, why didn't you drop the articles in the articles of impeachment and say it's a bribe? the crime bribery, here's what he did.

>> there is no higher crime than abuse of power. that includes a whole range of activities, including bribery, potentially. they're going to see that in the judiciary committee and hopefully in the senate, but this is what our framers spoke about when they spoke about articles of impeachment. the constitution is the supreme law of the land. so violations of the constitution is a crime. it's a constitutional crime. >> why not say bribery? >> because this is much worse. abuse of power is worse and it includes bribery and a range of other activities, using the power of your office to advance your own political or personal interests and not the public interest. the framers spoke about using that office and they talk about foreign interference and about corrupting elections. so abuse of power is actually the worst in is the president using the office to cheat in 2020 and using the hundreds of millions of taxpayer money as leverage to coerce a foreign leader to help him cheat.

and this is a crime in progress. rudy giuliani just came back from ooh crane. this is ongoing. >> we don't know what he's doing is illegal. >> this is an ongoing effort to get a foreign power to announce a bogus investigation that will smear his chief political rival. the president had to objection to military aid to ukraine in the last two reers. only in 2019 did he suddenly become concerned why? because joe biden was up by double digits. >> let's say you can find some stink on what happened with biden and burst ma, say that ukraine did things that everybody was supposed to know the answers say they didn't. it still how you went about doing it that gets you in the soup. but something else i thought was interesting. they were banging you over the heads, the republicans. they don't have a good enough case. it not strong enough. why didn't you guys make the case, hey, this is impeachment,

this is the indictment. we're investigating the allegations. we're bringing forth a little of allegations of what we think there is sufficient poof to prove but we're not in the proving business, the senate is. >> for two reasons really. one is because the evidence is raelg overwhelming. there's no dispute about the facts. the president of the united states used the power of his office to coerce a foreign leader into our election and to corrupt it. the second thing is we met a very high standard because you don't want to move forward with articles of impeachment unless you have confidence you can actually prove knows offenses. even though you're right and a charging process is normally probable cause, i think we understood look, this is serious, in order for us to move forward and be confident and i think ev recognizes we can. the evidence is overwhelming. >> one of your brothers said to me on the democrat being side,

i'll knipe his name out of it. one of your colleagues made the point i didn't want this either, the idea that someday, oh, cicilline, how do you feel about that being your legacy? >> nobody runs for congress to say i'm here to impeach a president. we ran on taking on corruption and washington and getting government to work for the people again. we've passed nearly 400 pieces of legislation, 2 5 bipartisan bills that do many of those things that are sitting on mitch mcconnell's desk. that's why we ran to being when you're confronted with the president of the united states kaemting to corrupt our elections, we take an oath when we start, i will protect and defend the constitution. this is a is on the but we owe

it to this generations and future generations, we need to say we did everything we could toboro ticket our democracy, a people get to use then own president. >> david ciccoline, thank you very much. thank you for spending time on the show. >>. >> the clerk: thank you. >> few people know sack will but we do have someone who consults with the president, understands the media business and understands his objectives. chris huddy we'll talk about what matters and why next! allers that trap 99% of allergens, so they don't escape back into the air. if it's not from irobot, it's not a roomba™ have you ever worked with dr. francis?

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to handle it. the president is a fighter and an attacker. he's trying that right now. take a listen. >> it's a very sad thing for our country but it seems to be very good for me politically. >> i have a hard time believing that. i understand the idea of projecting that maybe but it's tough. chris ruddy, wouldn't you know? he's the head of news max and understands politics very, very well. the best for you and your holy days. >> i can't believe it. this is a terrible thing, i never imagined i when he's not putting it on for the the record is tremendous in terms of jobs and the economy and we've talked about that before on your show. i think it's a stain on the

democrats. i saw him on wednesday night at the white house and we chatted privately briefly about what nancy pelosi is embraced as he. >> she spoke, she's one of the top ceos in the country. they ask her about impeachment. she didn't want to talk about it. she made it very clear she didn't want to talk about it. i think the president's right. she's running away from it. that's why you were it up, tack tackage this is volitional. nancy pelosi talks about this often. i don't think anybody should brag about it.

and i think that it didn't have to come to this. this is one of the reasons i begging you to come on to be. >> i don't trust the state department, i i don't trust these institutions pi i they're ou it moo i'll beat him like o pinata but i did this the wrong way and i shouldn't have. and i will say that. eye bet you he doesn't get impeached. but he is no. how much was this season o him? >> first of all, let me complement you on the first segment, with the congressman from rhode island. i think you asked the big 64,000 question. whereof the crime here? there was no crime. you should only be impeached on the basis of a crime, not because nancy pelosi likes you, doesn't like you, was upset you didn't threat her right when she

showed at the white house or that you have a democratic base that's hysterical. >> or you use your power and try to shut down the investigation and you're asking for it. if he had played it differently, he wouldn't be here. >> she announced an impeachment process without looking at the white house statement, without looking at the complaint, without interviewing anyone. she announced it. >> shofs slow on this. >> you ask we are now on the verge of impeaching the 45th president of the united states and we have no evidence of a crime. the constitution a very clear. anyone can read it, just look it up on the interstet. >> everybody who looks it it up now knows what their concern was

with the pounders paent the president's power is a very, very severe breach of constitutional duty. no question about it. the framers saw it the sale way. alexander hamilton put the word political in caps. >> the ultimate jury is the american peoplethere are five polls out in the last week. >> they're split. >> it's about 45% on the for against the preach. >> i've seen plenty of holes that call it 50 and compete. 60% of the american people said he did certainly wrok. in did and been on your network

and i think everything he did was not perfect but it was perfectly legal. the question is did he break any law? did he breck the constitutional accepted standards of the united states? and there's absolutely no evidence that he has broken any of those. so why are we here on this night making history -- >> there's a lot of evidence that he did what it appear he's did in that rough transcript of the call. the standard, we disagree on it. >> the president's been like a johnny one note on this and some people laugh at it but i actually think he's got something when he says read the transcript. when he says i want a favor, it again refers to investigating the national committee sr offers. that komgs up a half hour later, has nothing to do with the statement. >> no. never say a i'll going to get you with rudy giuliani and bar -- >> i'll put it up right now while you're talkpressured the

ukrainians to fire the local ukrainian prosecutor. and the nutd and he made it feel like a conditional thing. we know this because his staff went crazy. >> i agree it would have been better had he not said it. i agree with alan dershowitz's state that it was a political sin. it pretty clear. he's very free wheeling. i think this is why the american people aren't buying into the impeachment. even this the this the but he isn't, by the way.

it ma and this idea and perjury about a consensual affair was worth it. >> so you still don't have evidence he's committed a crime. i've never known him to enwant to break the law. >> i'm not saying he's a criminal. >> in new york, did he have a pep racial for i think he had a great reputation in to and every major political -- hold on, chris, don't flood the zone. the preds p president was very good at working politicians for what he wanted. that's who he is. and you guys now in the party

excuse his behavior that this is how he is. >> they say this is the way he does it. last night he said this is who he is. he's true to form. this is how he acts so that makes it okay. i think that you guys are not happy -- did do you think i'm out to get the president. >> his followers are out to get me. >> many in the establishment and be establishment are not happy with donald trump. and you know, this is this has been calling for this impeachment. the democrats tr now delivering. this is han moe has had tremendous record coming into this house ut.

>> he's a very big celebrity. no question about it. >> we've never had a politician in the city of the can i, lit the imagination of. >> were you the tr not taking pockets of people who have mutual animus, who you are giving voice to. >> well, he's the president of the united states. >> so he should bring 300 plus point together ro from since you arrived, pennsylvania has. >> you guys were calling for his impeachment -- not you personally. >> but mitch mco'connell aon

february 11, 2018. he said we can't do impeachment unless it has broad baited popt flosh the the least bipartisan someone -- >> i think you're fair minded. the democrat should say why are they doing this and why has it not gotten you 100%? chris, i always appreciate the argument. listen. always. you're always welcome here. >> i know melania watches. >> i invite them all to watch. i wish them the best for the holidays. >> go on his show i this will in any tie the president wants to come on, he is welcome.

i'll give you more than anyone you have to stop thinking about this, as in in when i say all roads go through rudy, it's because he is an expression of the intent here. so i've done a wall. we've done a lot of research today and i'll take you through the questions that matter next. at t-mobile, we're lighting up 5g, and when you buy a samsung note 10+ 5g, you get one free. plus you can experience it on the nation's largest 5g network. so do this. on that. with us. buy a samsung note 10+ 5g and get one free when you add a line. for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease,

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the president seems excited. >> he says he has a lot of good information. i hear he's found plenty. >> the president doesn't seem to get it. this isn't about what can be found out about hunter biden or burisma or even about ukraine and election interference. the president is being impeached for how he arguably abused his power to get that information. you see, the ends don't just justify any means. injecting the former mayor into official u.s. policy raises questions. now the big of them is what was rudy's role? trump's personal attorney as he said here. >> they asked me about the locations related to my client. >> but what if he was just if i,

i'm acting like someone who spent most of his life straightening out government. then when it came to light, he shifted to this. >> you know who i did it at the request of? the state department. >> all right. different answers. let's take them all. if he's the president lawyer, where's the money? he says he working for free. because from and if it becomes to be seen as part of the campaign, millions in legal services and even michael coen had to is julianna's donation have never been listed on campaign disclosure forms. i at this if he were doing this

for the campaign, then there goes the president's main impechl if flower drk being inserted directly into u.s. foreign policy. there's a reason people involved in the diplomatic course goes through significant rest that giuliani might have some standing pu and working with dubious answers as to why and with indicted guys with the wrot kinds of russian connections. that schemes with stewart squieb could be more helpful than this guy. >> thank good nobody's accusing of any more. >> that would a look sflks now

julianny has come back from it 7 in you know, all along according to him. but. it for and with his duty to execute his office faithfully could still be wrong. no one was stopping the president from going to bar when testifies lizies in the nat naught it looks dirty at a minimum. as an impeachment trial looms, many democrats are worried it's going to be unfair. the chief juror, mitch mrk connell says he's in total coordination with the likely future defendant. does that sound clear? and fair? we're going to take it up in

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le. it's how the president used giuliani that has him on the press miss of impeachment. does the way this was done, is that what crosses all the lines?

cuomo owes kaurt is in session. eli cokonig, go. you can kpom back with all the dirt you ever want on the bidens and with ukraine. how you go about soliciting it is what this impeachment is about. is that true or enough? >> i think that's a great point. there's only one of pro possibilities as to what giuliani is doing, he's out there overseas digging up political dirt or running some kind of vigilante investigation. rudy has toll d us he's utility there looking for dirt on the bie bidens. you know how we know he's not really digging out corruption? a, department of justice has nothing to do with this and, b,

what's the plan here? ukraine is going to indict joe biden based on rudy giuliani's investigation and then we'll extradite joe biden? >> what does it matter? who knows what he's doing? >> number one, we don't know what he's doing. it could be criminal. it is a federal crime to solicit certainly of value. and number two, it's about what donald trump is about to be impeached on. >> they seem to feel if they get information that something was bring with burisma and what they did with biden or something was wrong with the dnc server vis-a-vis ukraine and this was all okay, do you buy that? >> i don't know what giuliani -- he's been all over the place. it's hard to determine what role he's playing at any given moment. >> it kind of matters. >> i don't know. >> but it matters.

>> i don't think any of us know at this point. >> but it matters. >> it might matter, chris, but i got to tell you, to date there's been no ability to nail that down and, quite frankly, never a real touch to the president of the united states as to -- there's been no testimony or anything else that puts it directly on the president of the united states. rudy giuliani could be over there advancing his own interests for all we know. >> hold on a second. jimmy, jimmy, let's be fair to rudy giuliani. elie, you heard all the testimony as well as did jiem, as did i. nobody is saying that rudy went rogue all on his own. all of them are saying we were told to work with judy by blank, somebody close to the president. >> one of the most consistent themes we heard from the witnesses over the past couple of weeks was rudy was at the center of this and donald trump put him there. if you need any more proof of

that, look at the reporting today. when rudy giuliani landed on his trip, donald trump asked him, what did you get? you can't deny that connection. >> can you give me a quick contest and then i want to go to another topic. go ahead, jim. >> look, i just don't -- i don't think we have all the facts here. and rudy giuliani again has been all over the place. i don't think he's doing enough service to the president of the united states in whatever role he's been serving in. certainly being over in ukraine this week is not a good thing for the president or for the president. >> now he's at the white house. elie, the senate. why is it wrong for mitch mcconnell to coordinate from the white house and taking clues about how to conduct his senate trial? >> mitch mcconnell is the single most important person who this impeachment. he is judge and jurors. he's the most powerful judge in

controlling the senate majored, he'll have the primary say over how this things runs, this trial runs, and he's one of 100 jurors who has the ability to sway the majority of jurors and he's almost boasting he's in complete coordination of one of the parties to this and all but guaranteed an outcome. it's a use approximately point of to an actual criminal or civil case. he'd bewhen the democrats are going to come out and say -- start claiming this is dirty. >> daschle said he let the staff know what was coming but they did not kword freight. -- coordinate. >> let's talk about what the house democrats did during th

process. they cold the entire process they didn't give the white house an opportunity to get into depositions and participa participate. >> that was investigative. that was investigative. when it came to the judiciary, they gave them rights and more rights. >> there was a real law that and neither did either case. >> the president had no access to it in either case. >> they do this investigation they're in the willing to finish because they're not willing to compel witnesses to come in because it's all about timing and politics. don't give me this that now mccobble is coming in and he's gaming the system? this is how the system works. they exerted their power. when it comes to procedure and how this -- >> yes, they are in control. >> how the trial took place in the senate -- >> mcconnell is in control. >>er that going to control the procedures. >> i'm not saying he shouldn't.

that's not my point. it was never my point. >> you try to make this a court of law when it's convenient for you. >> i hear you. the timing of this thing the cray will i'm saying that going and coordinating with the white house seems dirty. thank you to both of them on a friday night for coming in and making good arguments. with her supposed to all. you don't want dirt on your hands while you're doing that job, though. you want to see better than kbha you're overseeing. that's the argument. mike bloomberg's never been afraid of tough fights,

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if nothing changes, president trump is on the cusp of bearing the stain of impeachment. for all the feigned desperation and cries that the case is not complete by his devoted house defenders, the only bar

democrats had to meet for articles of impeachment was proof to sufficient -- to justify an allegation. let's be honest. that's all it is. the president may have abused his power by leveraging ukraine the way he did things. that's what they say. now, when i say it like that, it doesn't sound that conclusive, does it? that's the point. this idea that impeachment means you have to have the case closed in the house is bogus. i don't know why democrats didn't make more of this point and set the standard. i also don't know why they waited as long as they did when they were talking about impeachable acts during mueller or why they let the dossier author keep being maligned as anti-trump after it came out that he's friends with trump's daughter, or why former v.p. biden didn't jump all over the right attacking hunter biden's mental health struggles and launch a campaign of awareness to counter the stigma that they tried to weaponize. but the bottom line is the bar is low for what amounts to an indictment in the house, and they have the proof, and more

importantly the votes. everything that matters in terms of trials the way you think about it comes next. that's the guilt phase. the job of testing what the democrats say they found belongs to the senate. you see there, straight party line vote. the senate, they and only they are constitutionally bestowed with the sole power to try all impeachments. now, you'll notice you didn't see anything in there about the president having a role in the planning of his own trial, right, which would make sense. but once again this president's pull on his party seems to trump all. and the adherence to any oath doesn't seem to matter other than the loyalty oath to him. >> everything i do during this, i'm coordinating with white house counsel. there will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can. >> so the guy leading the jury and also kind of the judge says

he has the same position as the defendant? surely senate majority leader mitch mcconnell spoke, right? wrong. >> exactly how we go forward, i'm going to coordinate with the president's lawyers, so there won't be any difference between us on how to do this. >> that was the second time. he said it again. anyway, to be fair, tom daschle, senate minority leader during the clinton impeachment -- so he wasn't in control, but he was the ranking member of his party. he tells cnn he didn't personally speak to the president during the process, but his team was in constant contact with the white house coordinating the moving parts. what's the difference? one, he wasn't in power of the process, right? he wunts in control. the idea that, well, they all stink, no, not here. there's a big difference between letting the white house know what's going on when you're not even in control and asking the white house what should happen. that's what republicans are doing, and they are continuously subordinating their oath to

oversee just to be loyal to this president. now, look, it's not illegal, but there's another word that keeps seeming to fit so much of what this president and his pals do -- dirty. trump's alleged payoffs to the porn star and the playmate. not illegal, especially since no one seems to care about campaign finance violations. not worthy of impeachment, i don't think. but dirty. #dirtydonald. his conversations with now convicted felon roger stone about wikileaks, information that would hurt hillary clinton, asking russia to interfere more, going after kids, playing on gender and diversity issues, ignoring congressional subpoenas, refusing to release his taxes. all of it maybe not illegal but just dirty. #dirtydonald. and when confronted with this, republicans seem to own that being dirty donald is okay. here's former a.g. michael

mukasey. >> he is not somebody with a great deal of knowledge of or high regard for the usual procedures. >> are you one of the integrity mentors in my life creating a low bar for the president of the united states where he usually does shady things, so let's assume that that's just pro forma? >> no, i'm not creating a low bar for the president of the united states. what i'm doing is telling you he is here running true to form. >> true to form. i also argue also means dirty in this case. now, the best you'll get from republican electeds, not what mukasey is, they'll say trump has a unique way of communicating, or, if pressed, i would have said it differently. so the party that once argued in impeaching bill clinton that they needed to cleanse the office, forget about crimes, cleanse. now, dirty donald in the white house, that's okay.

look, the democrats had it out for him, they say, that this isn't a fair look at the facts, they say. then their main man in the senate says this. >> we all know how it's going to end. there's no chance the president's going to be removed from office. >> so he just did what you complained about them doing in the house. dirty to do what you say you're better than. senate majority leader says he's in lockstep with the white house and that the ending is already written. dirty. so the senators, like the representatives before them, are going to have to decide. you don't have to ignore the obvious to find arguments against removal. you can see the wrong and still do right by this president. at least that way you'll be able to say you took a clean look at the situation for what obviously is instead of just doing this job and this country dirty.

that's the argument. coming up next, a president, zero accountability from his party. he's now going to have even less checks on him within his white house. this is a good bolo. red flags, next. blocks, while some 5g sy t-mobile 5g goes miles... beyond the big cities to the small towns... to the people. now, millions of americans can have access to 5g on t-mobile. and this is just the beginning. t-mobile, the first and only nationwide 5g network.

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too bad. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message because the only way we get universal healthcare, address climate change and make our economy more fair is to change business as usual in washington.

bolo means be on the lookout. sources tell cnn the president's senior aides have further restricted the number of officials allowed to listen to his phone calls with foreign leaders. now only a handful of trump loyalists like mick mulvaney and mike pompeo are going to be allowed to listen. the change, which has been jokingly referred to as the vindman rule shuts out career diplomats like lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, who raised concerns about trump's july 25th call with the president of ukraine. in short, the white house reaction to being accused of

conducting foreign relations the wrong way is to limit transparency. once again, they are doing us dirty. that's all for us tonight. time for watching "cnn tonight" with the man, d. lemon, right now. >> that's the solution? lower the bar? that's the solution? how many more excuses are you going to -- so don't change the behavior, right? just how do we -- >> hide. >> -- hide or how do we change things around? don't try to curb the behavior or say something is wrong. you just keep allowing the behavior to continue, and then you scurry around and do everything, make excuses so that he can continue to do things that are wrong. >> not illegal, arguably within their power. they can do this. but difrty. >> it's not within your i