coverage continues. let's turn it over to chris for cuomo primetime. chris. >> thank you, anderson. i am chris cuomo. there never has been an impeachment trial in this country with no witnesses. you can't say that anymore. our disgrace is now defining us. the acquittal, forgone conclusion, but we knew that. this skipping of process and perversion of process, and it is the first time that we have seen a party in power try one of its own and they have brought every point of cynicism now to bear as truth. the question is where do we go from here? let's get after it. so the current schedule makes it look this way. by next wednesday we will probably have the vote and acquittal of president donald j.

trump. depending on the politics they say the acquittal on the democratic side has no value. why does chuck schumer say that? because this was not a real trial. this is what the republicans are exposing themselves to. they know it comes at a price, but i do not think they understand how big of a price that it is. let's talk about what happened today and what it means in terms of process and what it means in terms of the reality going forward you have the big brains, professor. i believe we talked about it often, i believe you can make good faith argument the president did what he said he did. it was wrong. the reasons he did it were wrong but not worthy of removal. but no witnesses. what kind of stain does that put on the senators that vote that way and in this period of history? >> i believe it will be a very big stain. you pointed out how this is the

first time in american history when a party's leaders and coalition put one of their own on trial. about you they didn't and played defense the whole way out. to put it in perspective, the only time in american history we had a presidential impeachment trial or any type of impeachment trial that did not result in witnesses, extraordinary. why is that? the most common answer that we are getting as republicans scramble for an explanation is that it is the house's fault. blaming the house like senator murkowski did makes no sense. she is blaming the house for not getting information that the president was refusing to give. some point historians see that and they see what the senate did. you can add it together and it is clear that the republicans are now complicit in the cover up. >> the logic problem, the idea of the president's side saying

these people are going to clear me but they don't let them testify. have you ever had anyone hide an alibi from you? >> no. no. that does not happen. trials as we experience them as prosecutors are a search for the truth. all trials are a search for the truth but here it turned on its head. usually you have prosecutors with all of the power. they can subpoena the witnesses, the documents, that means the criminal justice system has a strong built-in protection for the defendant. the defendant here held all of the cards because he would not allow the prosecutors to have the evidence. the fact that it wasn't a search for the truth, the defendant would not let anything out does not have any creedance at the end of the day. >> people don't like it. i say first of all, i don't blame the defense council. they did a good job and put the senators in a place they were willing to do this and that was their objective. i don't blame the president that

much. i liken him -- you mine frankenstein's monster. frankenstein was dumb. yes. yes. i don't mean to call the president dumb or a monster but they did this to themselves. they wanted to capitulate the power. now what stops the president from saying you are in my party. you are in my party. i am going to crush you if you don't do what i say. i am going to come where you live. isn't that the president? >> it is. and this is why the process is so important. it is about process and not results. when i tried a case early on in the seventh district of new york. we lost. go in and talk to the judge. the judge said it is not about the outcome but about the process. was it a fair trial? yes. you live with it and you move on. i don't think we can say that about what we saw from the senate. i think it sends a terrible message to the united states and

the senate itself bears responsibility for it. donald trump is a party to it. his lawyers are a party to this. they are trying to win. the senate let it get shut down and they didn't have to. >> but they wanted to cover themselves out of fear. mike is with us, mentor of mine through the entire year-long process. this idea that we are going to deny the process. i argue we have seen nothing like it throughout the rest of this, you know, journey that we have been on. what does it mean to you, mike? >> i thought the really remarkable thing about lamar alexander's statement last night, which was the decisive statement signaling there would not be witnesses is that he actually accepted the house's case that they had made their case on the facts.

implicitly he was rejecting the president's defense. i think it will be really interesting to see how many other republican senators when they give their closing speeches and they justify their votes for acquittal follow alexander's lead on that. because that goes to the core facts at issue. you put on top of that we have still got john bolton's book come coming the certainty that john bolton will be promoting his book on your show and many others in which he will be asked the key questions that he would have been asked if the trial allowed witnesses. the public in the end will be better educated than the senators who took the fateful vote tonight. we will see how it plays out

politically and the cost to the president. you take alexander's statement together with what is likely to come and it is pretty ominous, at least for the defense the arguments that the presidents' lawyers were making as it went to the facts. >> i think you won't be able to slip it past people because they are not sophisticated with the law and in the weeds. this is different than clinton. a lot of senators attached boy he is a dog and i don't like what he did. we will see what type of snakes this book is able to chase out. it's bad. it is bad what he did but it is not worthy of removal. isn't it ruined by the suggestion i was ruined by the process? >> i would think so.

the problem is that the senators who are saying that. they are saying i think he did something bad but i do not think that it rose to the level of an impeachable offense were cutting short the inquiry. they were asking for no witnesses. no documents. nothing. they looked at what the house presented which was a strong case and missed some of the most important things in it. but they can't reach the conclusion that it is not serious enough to be an impeachable offense without talking to the most relevant witness of all, john bolton who said he spoke to the president of the united states about his actions. the senate doesn't think they need to hear that. that's not relevant. it seems quite relevant. >> mike is right, the shock effect of you think they proved the case? but the rationalal is really for you to decide. but i am not going to give you the information to decide it. and then comes rubio, you know,

loves to quote from the good book. he has a bible passage for us every week. this is wrong but i am not going to vote to remove because it was hurt their division. aren't they the cause of the division. >> if the abuse of power is something different like the president personally and financially profiting off of the office. let's say that is what we are talking about. it makes more sense to say there is an election coming up. this abuse of power is about manipulating the results of the election. it is like he is going to cheat in that election. that is why we needed to remove him. it misses the point to say there is an election coming. >> i still take that argument, that jennifer is putting down and rightfully so. if you had witnesses. i listen to them. i believe they would net to

neutral to positive for the president. you would not be able to bang me by saying i did this unfairly. >> the gold medal for worst excuse is a tie between rubio. rubio said the standard was met. but it would hurt the country. that is a new one. and the tie for the gold medal is murkowski saying i voted for no witnesses because the process was broken so i will break it further. >> she stands for a problem she created. now they talk next week, why do you believe the republicans have apportioned or allocated as much time as they have to the speeches for votes when they wanted to speed it up? >> that is a good question. what is your answer? >> right, yeah. i thought senator mcconnell would go for a quick motion to dismiss acquittal tonight and be

done with it. obviously he ran into problems with schumer threatening to have amendment after amendment that would keep the process going along. the only explanation i could come up with is that if democrats are going to be denouncing the president and laying out all of the arguments that some of your guests have been making, republicans want equal time defending the president or defending their votes for acquittal. i think that at this point we have pretty much heard all of the arguments. i am not quite sure how much public appetite there will be on either side to keep listening next week. we now know the outcome. >> can i make one other point? >> please. we knew the outcome from the beginning. >> yes. >> this was sort of the problem

with adam schiff's argument, his closing argument for why the house had to impeach the president in the first place. because if he does not and he gets a way with it he will do it again. that is what schiff kept hammering as the reason why the president had to be impeached. schiff knew the political makeup in the senate. the unlikeliness the president would be removed from ouffice. the need to impeach the president in the first place, you know, he was going to be even stronger once he got the inevitable acquittal. it could be argued that the house would have been smarter not to impeach him but to keep investigating and pursuing the facts. keep the subpoenas in court. you know, you can make an argument that they would have been and the country would have been better off. >> i think it is written and

written soon. they may be accused of overthinking it and under planning it and when they decided not to hit him with an abuse of power does not communicate that to the american people. mike, thank you very much. each and all of you thank you as always. the truth is going to come out. why? because the white house leaks. they may not talk about the president out in the open but do it when he is not around and bolton's book is coming out. the next two guests i have are still jurors. what do they think the path is for them and the fellow democrats, next. $9.95 at my age?

$9.95? no way. $9.95? that's impossible. hi, i'm jonathan, a manager here at colonial penn life insurance company, to tell you it is possible. if you're age 50 to 85, you can get life insurance with options starting at just $9.95 a month. okay, jonathan, i'm listening. tell me more. just $9.95 a month for colonial penn's number one most popular whole life insurance plan. there are no health questions to answer and there are no medical exams to take. your acceptance is guaranteed. guaranteed acceptance? i like guarantees. keep going. and with this plan, your rate is locked in for your lifetime, so it will never go up. sounds good to me, but at my age, i need the security of knowing it won't get cancelled as i get older. this is lifetime coverage

as long as you pay your premiums. it can never be cancelled, call now for free information. you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. use this valuable guide to record your important information and give helpful direction about your final wishes to your loved ones. and it's yours free. it's our way of saying thank you just for calling. so call now. >> despite democratic efforts republicans voted down any idea of new witnesses, documents and amendments. acquittal, all but certain. let's get perspective on how it played out and what to expect in the days and weeks ahead. we spoke to two jurors, both

democratic senators. first up tammy duckworth. senator, thank you so much for joining us. >> good to be on chris. >> whether it is in d.c. or back home in illinois people are go to say to you, so, is that it senator. is everything just broken? there is no more anything but politics. is that it, even the senate has fallen. the house has fallen. the president. we can't trust you guys anymore. what are you going to tell people? >> we are going to tell people we are still working hard and that the truth will come out and that we must uphold the constitution. i intend getting up every day and living by the oath that i have sworn from now on to defend the constitution. >> the hard sell is that senators are coming out on the republican side now and saying what they would have never said until it was convenient. what he did was wrong.

what he did was probably impeachable. what he did was impeachable but probably not removable. this was wrong but too much for removal. that makes it all the worse. lamar alexander saying you should decide mr. and mrs. america but all voting after saying it is wrong to not give people access to the witnesses and proof, what is worse than that? >> i think that it is a perversion of our process in this country. imagine if there was a murder trial going on and somebody gets up saying hey, i was in the room and i saw who committed the murder and then you vote not to allow the witness to testify in the trial. americans know that is absolutely wrong. i don't think history would judge my colleagues kindly for voting against those wanting witnesses. >> the legacy they are concerned most with is the legacy of how the president felt about them.

is this proof positive trump is the most powerful presence in republicans lives? >> i think so as far as republicans are concerned. he has some sort of a hold over them and it is unfortunate because now they are putting the president and the party ahead of the people and simply that is not the oath any of us took to become senators and impartial jurors in this trial. >> you are not the best person to ask the question because your life is a testament to bravery. but how do you explain that a president that checks none of the boxes of what the party is supposed to care about has this type of power over them where they will not even vote for what they know 75% of the country wants? >> i can't tell you why. you will have to ask them that.

>> i do and they are too scared to tell me. >> you have to be able to stand up. they worry about the election year. i think they need to be worried for november of this year. i don't think the people of the country are satisfied having representation where their senator is voting not to have witnesses and evidence. you know, the truth will come out. the truth will come out. i think it is going to come out over the next weeks and months as mr. bolton's book is leaked and more evidence comes out from lev parnas. the truth will come out. those that voted against allowing the american people to vote against seeing the evidence will be judged poorly. >> it is a much more dangerous vote than the acquittal vote. it showed you were afraid of the truth. criticism for the process going forward. why don't the democrats just let it end. you know they are going to acquit. why do we have to spend days on

this? >> we are not in charge of the process. this was mitch mcconnell's call. he decided to do this we have no say in this process whatsoever. as you saw in the four votes we took tonight it is partisan and party line. >> now 64 troops that have been affected by tbi after the shelling at the base in iraq done by rangeiran. the president said i heard about the headaches and are not as bad as the other injuries i have seen. >> i think the president is wrong in this case and let me tell you something about traumatic brain injury, the hidden wounds of the war in iraq and afghanistan. these are lifelong injuries that will be compounded throughout

the peoples' lives. our troops need to know they need to get help. this is a real wound. i can't believe the commander in chief of the military would undermine years and years of hard work by veterans, advocates, medical professionals and the dod to make sure the troops get help for the wounds they received in combat. >> until you balance that over what looks good for him politically. we see even our fighting men and women will be falling victim to be on the wrong side of the president's interests in this case. senator, thank you so much for doing this interview at such an important time. >> thanks for having me on. >> senator, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> so, when you go home and people say why should i vote to put anybody in the senate or the house or the congress. i see the game you are playing. if you have the power, you do whatever you want the rest of us

just watch. this system does not work. we are not the problem. you are the problem. >> sadly that is a terrible message that they are getting from this trial that mitch mcconnell had no intention of making it a fair trial. he wanted a fast trial and that is what they got. as the information came out about bolton, the republicans don't even want to face it. i liken him to a frankenstein. this was created as an opportunity for him by a breakdown in the system. a discount effect on principal, integrity, working together and an increase on party loyalty.

how do you fix it? >> trump has been playing the system. he is a grifter. he is really good at it. as the president of the us he can use the full power of his office and he believes he can do anything he wants under article ii and it looks like he will not be convicted. there are a bunch of republican senators that don't want to face facts. he will feel like this is a license to keep doing more. we should remember but for the whistleblower we would have never found out about any of this. this will be the president unleashed and we are on notice.

they own this guy or he owns them. >> i believe there are good faith arguments that many will accept why there was no removal. no winces, that is about shutting down the process. i wonder how it will reverberate. senator, i think there will be a challenge for democrats and republicans to get the people to believe it is go to put them in a place they don't have high expectations of. >> it is the republicans stone walling the whole process and the president stone walling the ability to make witnesses available. who is actually screwing them over, it is not the democrats but it is the republicans. it is part of my job to put it out there as to what else the president will do next and who

else he will go after. >> if you are not on the side of what he wants, you know, i do not know how you guys are kidding yourselves. you are not getting anything done unless it is what the president wants you to do. you can't expect republicans to go against them. >> the punishment is fast and fierce. more information will come out, not what he did against ukraine but you do not know what else he has been up to. all of the information is going to come out. the voters will see a lying grifter for the president. >> thank you senator.

>> even john kelly says that without a trial and without witnesses the job is only half done. why are he and john bolton speaking out only now? that's next.

>> look, as we are processing what actual of this has actually meant, the impeachment trial was never about what the president did. that always has been clear. it is about what the senate was willing to do and not do.

the irony is that they can vote to hide the witnesses but the truth will come out. what is the price for what they chose to do today, not just acquitting or voting not to remove the president. that is not the problem. let's take it to the political minds, karen finney and scott jennings. i don't get the vote to deny witnesses. i don't know they would have been bad for the president. i think it could have been net to neutral in terms of the perspective of people. it would have shown fairness of process, high ground over the house. allowed you to avoid the stink all over your party for capitulating to the power of trump. >> well, i think the alternative view is that republicans in the senate, and obviously republicans in the house and all over the country did not think

it mattered whether you were not concerned about what the president did or really concerned. but they did not think it rose to the level of throwing the president out of office. i think it is a reasonable decision by the senate to get the trial behind us. we knew what the resulted be. the president would be acquitted. monday and tuesday you will hear republicans express levels of concern about what happened but it fell short of the threshold question should we throw out the president for the first time in american history. the answer was no. >> what will happen monday and tuesday will upset what scott jennings and the american people need people to believe that they knew the facts but they didn't. we have republican after republican saying i only watch fox. there are things i did not know.

it is not about criticizing them as people but they don't have the witnesses. how do they make the case that they knew everything they needed to know. the fix you was in from the beginning. the house managers made their case but the case they were trying to get is to potentially get the right number of senators to agree to let the truth come out. i will tell you something, chris. thinking of stepping back, i think it it will be like the iraq vote. when you step back to think about it the question a voter will say to you is did you have the wisdom to see and the strength to stand out or did you go for the cover up people are

busy in their lives but they know what it means to block the truth. >> i do not play the president for this. if somebody wants to give you power in politics, you take it. i am not saying the president is ugly or a monster, he played it beautifully but he is the creation of a party that did not want to stand up for their own values. marco rubio, it is impeachable but i don't want to because it will add to this terrible division. murkowski, i am sad the congress won't have a fair trial. you voted not to have a fair trial. i do not get the wisdom in the

move. they made a judgment they didn't want to throw the president out for it. >> i agree. >> you had these conversations about there was some magic way to spin the rubix cube and it never happened. >> what about accountability. they could have voted to say you know let's have the witnesses. they could have said how about censure. you can't have that. >> they can still do that. >> gee. >> you make a powerful argument for what they should have done in the house. >> you can't blame the house, scott. the house is open for business. if they want to go back in on monday they are more than welcome to do it.

>> if they don't want to play by the rules it does not matter how they play the game. karen, thank you. scott jennings, as always. some of the republican senators who admitted what trump did was wrong and still would not vote for a fair trial. you have a right to be mad as hell about that. the argument next. - do you have a box of video tapes, film reels, or photos, that are degrading? legacybox professionally converts them to dvds, thumb drive, or the cloud.

legacybox is simple and safe, with over half a million satisfied customers. visit legacybox.com today, and get 40% off. about the colonial penn program. here to tell you if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i just turned 80. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you, too.

if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the number one most popular whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. it has an affordable rate starting at $9.95 a month. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed, and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason. and with this plan, you can pick your payment date, so you can time your premium due date to work with your budget. so call now for free information. and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, and it's yours just for calling. so call now.

>> you should be mad as hell and you need to show these people that you will not take it anymore. republicans are voting as expected. a likely acquit the president. is the vote to hold the first trial in history where you willfully avoid the people that know the truth of the president's words and deeds. that takes us to the worst part of all of this, i argue. now that it is safe here come

the republicans admitting the truth. first tennessee senator alexander. i think it was inappropriate and wrong. i think in this case the answer is no. the question is how can he think that you should decide what the convince is and then in good conscious vote to deny you the information to make that decision. and that job of spin there is from a guy who is retiring. it gets worse. florida senator marco rubio, just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a president from office. i will not vote to remove the president because doing so would inflict extraordinary and potentially irreparable damage

to our already divided nation. you talk about damage, you keep your mouth shot, your head down. now you say that he was rightly impeached and deny people access to the proof of the same and complain about division. you called trump a conartist who should be selling fake watches. this is not politics. this is poison. here is another dose. alaska senator murkowski. sad for me to admit as an institution congress has failed. if you are sad, do not be the problem that you are sad about. you vote not to have witnesses you have been harping about. don't let these people play you.

the division is not about us. our soto is not failing. they are the problems, politicians that choose tribe and trump over truth. i am talking about both sides. i am looking at you gop. the first time we have seen a party try one of their own and it sadly has confirmed all cynicism about you people not being able to be about anything bigger than yourself. you may putin jealous tonight now you cower before trump. democrats are not the same. under clinton they went after him over way less important than this. these senators know it. and then the president was under oath. starr was allowed to go from a

real estate mess to a blue dress. now the senate has fulfilleds it responsibility bringing this process to a conclusion i want to say, again to the american people how profoundly sorry that i am for what i said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they imposed on the congress and on the american people. he felt he had been done dirty. now a president that lies to your face. he may as well have grabbed lindsey graham and so many

others and shook them upside down as the currency from their pockets fell like their lunch money. if removal was too much, and that is what you are going to hear. it will fill your screens. they will try to salvage their souls. force them to show it. censure him. they did it to andrew johnson for essentially the same thing. in the movie network there was a famous call to outrage against the politicians and the systems doing you dirty. go to your windows. scream you are mad as hell and you are not going to take it anymore. i hope your voices echo all over this country. denying you due process was wrong. let them know that you know what they did and you are mad as hell. that's the argument.

all right. there is another big story going on tonight. the l.a. lakers are playing their first game since the death of kobe bryant, his daughter and seven others. the king, lebron james has just offered an emotional tribute. you will see it next.

beyond the routine checkups. beyond the not-so-routine cases. comcast business is helping doctors provide care in whole new ways. all working with a new generation of technologies powered by our gig-speed network. because beyond technology... there is human ingenuity. every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected. to do the extraordinary. take your business beyond.

the lakers paid tribute tonight to kobe bryant in their first game since kobe bryant was killed in that helicopter crash along with seven others. the team blanketed the arena with bryant's jersey numbers, every seat covered. two special seats adorned with red roses and honored the father/daughter duo and a tearful tribute from lebron james. >> i got something written down,

you know, laker nation i would be selling y'all off short if i read this. i am going to go straight from the heart. the first thing that comes to mind is family. as i look around the arena we are all grieving, we are all hurt and heart broken. when we are going through things like this the best thing you can do is lean on the shoulders of your family and from sunday morning all the way to this point i heard about laker nation before i got here last year and how much of a family that it is. that is absolutely what i have seen this whole week, not only from the players, coaching staff and the organization, but from

everybody. everybody that is here, this is really, truly, truly a family and i know kobe and gianna and vanessa and everybody, thank you from the bottom of your heart as kobe said. now i know at some point we will have a memorial for kobe, but i look at this -- i look at this as a celebration tonight. this is a celebration of the 20 years of the blood, the sweat, the tears, the broken down body, the getting up, sitting down, the everything. the countless hours. the determination to be as great as he could be. tonight we celebrate the kid that came here at 18 years of a age, retired at 38 and became

probably the best dad we have seen over the last three years, man. tonight is a celebration. before we get to play, i love y'all man. kobe is a brother to me. from the time that i was in high school to watching him afar to getting in this league at 18, watching him up close. all the battles that we had throughout my career. the one thing that we always shared is that determination to just want to win. just want to be great. and the fact that i am here now means so much to me, i want to continue along with my teammates, to continue his legacy not only for this year but for as long as we can play

the game of basketball that we love because that is what kobe bryant would want. in the words of kobe bryant, mamba out. but in the words of us, not forgotten. live on brother. >> you see that? off the court james revealed his new tattoo honoring his friend. it says mamba for life. that's it for us. please, stay with cnn for continuing coverage of what's coming next in the trump impeachment trial. $9.95 at my age?

$9.95? no way. $9.95? that's impossible. hi, i'm jonathan, a manager here at colonial penn life insurance company, to tell you it is possible. if you're age 50 to 85, you can get life insurance

with options starting at just $9.95 a month. okay, jonathan, i'm listening. tell me more. just $9.95 a month for colonial penn's number one most popular whole life insurance plan. there are no health questions to answer and there are no medical exams to take. your acceptance is guaranteed. guaranteed acceptance? i like guarantees. keep going. and with this plan, your rate is locked in for your lifetime, so it will never go up. sounds good to me, but at my age, i need the security of knowing it won't get cancelled as i get older. this is lifetime coverage as long as you pay your premiums. it can never be cancelled, call now for free information. you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. use this valuable guide to record your important information and give helpful direction about your final wishes to your loved ones. and it's yours free. it's our way of saying thank you just for calling. so call now.

we are adjourned. they have just defeated a motion to allow new witnesses to appear before the trial of the president of the united states. the president will be acquitted in a bipartisan manner. >> this country is headed towards the greatest coverup since watergate. public health officials are on edge as a novel vie recerus continues to spread. the coronavirus presents a public health emergency in the united states. >> out of lower merion high school, kobe bryant! >> the l.a. lakers are