>> as eloquent as president zelenskyy's words were tonight there was a moment towards the end of the's remarks that spoke powerfully. he presented the ukrainian flag to speaker pelosi and vice president harris. yellow and blue covered and signatures. it is the farthest thing from the ordinary souvenir. it came just 24 hours earlier from his visit to the front lines in bakhmut, signatures from the troops there, they're way of saying thank you for this country's help. it is a historic night, and of course, cnn is going to continue to cover it like no one else. erin burnett picks it up right now. >> good evening, i'm erin

burnett welcome to the special edition of cnn tonight. ukraine will never surrender, those are the words of a defiant ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy, preparing now to return to his war torn country. a country that until today, he had not left for ten months. this is the only time, and he did it to meet with president biden and to deliver that passionate speech before congress. we are standing by now for his departure from joint base andrews in maryland. a departure, just to be clear here, that comes with the highest security. zelenskyy has a target on his back and now of course, they know where he is going. he is going home. they got the most of his mere hours in the united states, meaning for roughly four hours with president biden at the white house, then side by side with the house speaker nancy pelosi as he headed to capitol hill. this is, by the way, the last time pelosi will preside as a speaker over a joint meeting of congress. zelenskyy received a rousing standing ovation, as he appeared in his olive green, his sweatshirt with his triton on the front, that is his wartime uniform instead of a

suit and a tie. the ukrainian leader thanking the american people for standing with ukraine, asking for their continued support. >> and your support is crucial, not just to stand in such fight, but to get to the turning point to win on the battlefield. we have artillery, yes. thank you. we have it, is it enough? honestly, not really. >> not to really. then he went on to talk about how ukraine has defeated russia in the battlefield for the minds of the world. and he congratulated america for uniting the global community. at the end of the speech, zelenskyy presented speaker pelosi with ukrainian flag that anderson was just showing. this flag specifically signed by his forces who are fighting right now in the

completely devastated town of bakhmut. >> we will win because we are united. ukraine, america, and the entire free world. >> today's consequential speech coming as walensky is now getting some much needed support that he has been asking for. today, the u. s. announcing that it will deliver his patriot missile systems to ukraine. part of a nearly two billion dollar aid package. earlier, during a press conference with president biden, zelenskyy and biden were both asked whether ukraine could receive the tools and weaponry needed. all of the numbers, the

amounts needed to actually defeat putin. >> his answer is yes. [laughter] >> i agree. >> you could hear the laughter, it may have felt a bit odd. it certainly did to me. it was an awkward laughter. it is no joking matter. this is the reality. it is the u. s. that has been arming and providing zelenskyy with what he needs to defeat, and fight putin. today, putin was adamant that russia will not back down. insisting that he has just begun beefing up his military. zelenskyy, of course, has said that he is target number one for putin and that is clear. the trip that he made, it came with serious risks. russian forces now will clearly track his every move home. when he came out, everybody knew that he was out coming to the u. s. until he was already out of ukraine. but now on the way, back the world knows where he has been, and zelenskyy knows it. just today, the head of ukraine secret security services said the agency who is now purging its

ranks, putting out traders who could be helping putin. we have so much to cover over this next hour. i do want to begin with phil mattingly because he is live at the white house. phil, what more are you learning here as zelenskyy is preparing to go home? >> you know, it was a consequential and to a very dramatic day when president zelenskyy gave his remarks to that joint meeting of congress. it was one that white house officials here we're watching very closely. president biden was watching the remarks live. top security officials were as well. in part because of just how keen their level of kenow earnest is about how important those members, those lawmakers that were gathered are for the future of the u. s. support when it comes to ukraine, and also when it comes to the durability of the public support in the u. s. for the war in ukraine. president biden has been unequivocal for months, and again, once again repeated it today in public comments standing next to president zelenskyy. the u. s. will support ukraine for as long as it takes, no matter how long it takes. but that is required to have congressional support as well. and congressman, and

senators are very responsive to what their voters say and want. therefore, at the white house, as they watch these remarks play out. some of the remarks were not necessarily welcome in terms of the areas where they might have been slightly critical without the white house has suffered its support up to this point. but they understood the import of it and maintaining the support going forward is essential. delivering what president biden made clear, very clearly today throughout the course of the day, that in his mind there is no other option. and they continue that support going forward. >> all right phil mattingly, thank you. let's go to kyiv, and will ripley, and zelenskyy is now on his way to where you are, to kyiv, home. how do people their view this trip? >> well, the reality is of course this is a triumphant moment. people will feel very proud of their president for giving that primetime speech in english, and for securing billions of dollars of additional aid and weapons. but the sad reality on the ground

here is that the majority of people even if they are up at this very late hour might not be able to watch it because they do not have electricity. they do not have heat. a lot of people don't have water. so daily survival, and figuring out how to keep the kids warm, how to get them fed, how to function in what was a very developed and, you know, modern society up until president putin started trying to bomb them into the stone age. these relentless russian airstrikes, including air raid sirens nationwide just today are a fact of life. so that is a pressing concern for people. yes, they want as many weapons as possible, especially how we have talked to soldiers, or retired military who say that they just need as many weapons as they can get. they want not just patriots for defense, they want offensive weapon so that they can try to take back crimea, which putin seized almost nine years ago. they want to be able to regain ground to the east, and the south. right now they are holding, they're holding the lines, but they are not able to

regain it. especially as russia uses the mercenaries. there's also the concern of a potential new front with russian troops assembling to the north in belarus. you covered that issue extensively on your program. and this could be the huge challenge facing the ukrainian military, perhaps weeks away, or months away depending on when, if and when vladimir putin decides to make his move when he has those hundreds of thousands of mobilized congress trained and ready to go, even though they are ill-equipped as you have reported about. there are still huge numbers of them. the opinion president, despite this usually triumphant moment, and historic speech, he comes back home to the reality that this we're, is not even far from over. some fear it may just be beginning. >> thank you very much will, we have a live in key tonight. i want to go now to the general mark kimmitt, along with doug landon. a veteran of the cia service and the author of the recruiter spying, and the lost

start of american intelligence. thank you very much to both of you. general, i just wanted to start with watching this tonight, zelenskyy just left the capitol, he is preparing to go home. he meets with biden earlier today. he just arrived this morning. so he comes, he goes to the white house, he meets with the president of the united states, he goes to the capitol, he does his speech. just yesterday, yesterday he was in bakhmut getting the flag be presented to nancy pelosi. just to show everyone what bakhmut looks like, what he is seeing every day in a war zone that he has not left for ten months. he lives in a bunker. he has not left one single day. he has got a target on his back. this is what he is seeing. a country filled with mines, and rockets, and then he lands. no sleep, and he lands in washington d. c.. general, how hard is this on human level for someone to do? >> tremendously hard, especially for a leader, especially for a commander who understands that he has the entire weight of his military,

in this case's entire nation on his shoulders. that is one of my concerns. i do not see a lot of depth in the leadership, the low president zelenskyy. one wonders how much he can keep this up. but then got he is because he's doing a marvelous job, both this president and his military commander. >> and i should emphasize, the actual math of the time given what it is like to travel through ukraine, no one has special powers there. to get from there to hear, there was no sitting anywhere except for maybe a train briefly or military plane. doug, to that point i want to play again a moment that zelenskyy walks into that joint meeting of congress. right after we have contextualized this a bit. let me just play it and let everyone watch. [applause]

he seemed emotional for an instant or to their. doug, what do you see it when you watch this and you see this leader, but also this man, this human being coming into that moment? >> thanks, erin. what we see now is the information battle. and zelenskyy's conscious effort to show himself as vulnerable, i think it is good for local politics. he came here with high expectations, and high stakes. he has to challenge the messaging that the russians are trying to use, and amplify. but this is not america's battle, we have more to lose by being in it. where why he is trying to convey, what he believes to be the cases that it really is our war. and that ukraine is just a

part of what putin seeks to do, which is much broader, and really is about coming out to the west for his effort to try to reverse the fortunes that he believes the west took away from russia. >> and general, i want to play a moment from the press conference earlier today with president biden. just in terms of when you are talking about, what his goals are, that he needs continued massive support from the united states. let me just play this. >> maybe i sound naive, but can we make a long story short and give ukraine all capabilities that it needs, and liberate all territories around it sooner than later, thank you. >> his answer is yes. >> i agree. >> general, that was that sort

of awkward laughter because of course, it is not funny, but there was that moment when the question was why can't you just give everything to them? why can't you just give ukraine everything it needs and at this over with to biden and to the united states? tonight, zelenskyy, in addition to this address, he met with crucial people. one of whom was kevin mccarthy was going to be the gop speaker of the house in days. mccarthy's caucus is not united on what they are going to do. will the u. s. continue to fund, as it has been funding? there's a lot more patriot missile systems that ukraine is going to need and want. they are only getting one right now. >> right, i think they will. once republicans have the power, and that responsibility that comes without power, they are going to recognize the importance of this mission. but i also think that that is why zelenskyy came. he is worried about us. he has seen support start to wane. he is not stopping, his troops are not stopping, but if he loses america in this, he is going to lose this fight. he is here not

only to demonstrate they're doing a good job, but also to tell americans to hang in there. >> and in terms of the timing, we had ten days warning on this, that is what we understand, only ten days ago did the start. the sudden unexpectedness of it. and obviously seems very purposeful ahead of the transfer of power of congress. and at christmas. >> i think he couldn't have found a better time. this was not serendipitous. he didn't just come up with this thought. he thought deeply and his advisers thought deeply about where are we, what is happening in america, if we lose america we are going to lose this fight. i need to get over there and explain to the american people, and the american congress what we need from them. >> and doug, zelenskyy also said today that he is quote, here on the same podium as the president of the united states, and he said that that sends a clear signal to putin. very, very clear about that. what signal does it send? >> he is sending signals to

different audiences. one way, he is sending a signal to his domestic audience which has great expectations for him to come back with a shopping bag full of new toys, and money, and such. and to putin, showing that solidarity with the united states, this is really what putin attacked ukraine over in the first place. the believe that ukraine was falling into the western world, and to the american world. there is a whole lot of messaging going on here. messaging, as the general said, it is very critical here in solidifying the support in the united states, but also the continued support and union of european allies in the west. >> i want to ask one other thing about the optics here that are so much more than that. today, what zelenskyy war, we just saw him on the screen. he wore his green pants and his green sweatshirt with ukrainian triton. this is what he wears every single day. every single day that we have seen, he has warned us. this is not a shallow point about wardrobe. close now to find the

leadership to the world. they define a settle in a very powerful way. there was the dramatic unveiling of the flag at the end of the speech that he did. but what do you make of this, of this it almost seems that he kind of stumbled into this uniform as it may be, but it has become something to the world now, symbolizes him and ukraine. >> yeah. first of all, it shows solidarity with the soldiers. i am wearing virtually the same uniform as you are. but he understands, as doug said, the power of message. the power of the narrative. it is iconic. he realizes that he has much responsibility as a leader to rally the world behind him as his troops do to kill russians. so he is very intelligent. obviously his background, he understands how to talk to an audience and he is capitalizing that, and leveraging it too great, great the film and in mission. he is set up for himself and his people.

>> general kimmitt of london, i appreciate it. next, zelenskyy says that american help is not charity. it is an investment. so, how much of an investment does zelenskyy want the u. s. to make? let's speak to an american who has been advising the commander of the ukrainian forces, plus biden says that his meeting sends a critical message to putin. so, will the russian president retaliate or is it all hot air? and the january 6th committee tonight releasing dozens of transcripts from witnesses. this actually is just happening amidst the siege. they reveal what mike flynn, roger stone, and others told the committee. secret had ph balancing minerals; and it helps eliminate odor, instead of just masking it. so pull it in close. secret works.

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happy holidays from mercedes-benz. see your mercedes-benz dealer today for exceptional offers. >> just in, the ukrainian president zelenskyy is very pleased with his visit to the u. s. today. this is according to a source close to zelenskyy, who also told our jake tapper that his meetings with president biden were biden announced that the u. s. was and missiles to ukraine was sincere, the meeting of congress was great. so of course, that is the way that they are perceiving this right now. this is where he warned us. >> it is just a matter of time before they will strike against your other allies. if we do not stop them now, we must do it. >> something heard in georgia, moldova, kazakhstan, and other places. joining me now, dan right, special adviser to the commander of chief of ukraine's armed forces. one of the only

americans to meet you repeatedly with ukrainians, and generals, so dan, you see this from so many perspectives. let's start with the patriot missile system that they have, they are now going to get. they've been asking about this, asking for this, this goes years. here they are, they are going to get one. it is going to take months to train the ukrainians how to use them, we understand, and they are getting one battery as you call it for the patriots system. so tell me what this means, what are they getting, how is it -- what is it really going to have in terms of impact and what is it going to make? >> the patriot system is a long anti-aircraft missile. it is about $4 million a missile, it is a very expensive system. it battery is around 100 soldiers. i'm hoping we already have done this in parallel and started training this prior so that we can do it quickly. i'm just saying -- >> you're saying 100, the system that is coming in right now, the one that they are

getting is going to be 100 people. >> 100 people. 100 ukrainian soldiers will be trained in poland or germany, and they will field the system. the system will be to protect kyiv. it is not going to have any effect on the battlefield but it will have an effect on the soldiers on the field whose families are under fire. so when the russians are attacking right now, we are not getting all of their rockets. >> and you're going to continue meeting missiles. so if you're using a bunch of that you have got to get a bunch more, 4 million a pop every time and that is one battery? how many do they need? >> i would say that they need at least eight batteries if they are going to protect the main population centers. but it is a step in the right direction. unfortunately we have been dripping this war, so we started with a few high marks, i would prefer that we go straight to a large number. we have them, we can give them. the state department is concerned about escalation. a very valid claim. but this is a defensive weapon that is only going to attack inbound aircraft, and in brown rock it's. so pilots in the russian pilots, they are not going to be able to hide.

>> there is a certain point where it's like, if you're going to do it, and they say it is the end of the world if you do, it just do it. don't do one of them and be like well, there is a difference between one and two, right? you have also been saying that they need at least eight of those. and that is just one thing we're talking about. there's a lot more that they need. you talked a lot about cluster munition warheads and why you believe that those make a lot of sense, even though they are frowned upon by much of the world. the u. s. has a lot of them and you think that ukraine should have them. you are on the show six weeks ago when they submitted the actual request. where do you think things stand with that? >> i've spoken to the joint chiefs with this. i'm constantly in touch with ukraine about it. at this point we have not given them any. we really need to. they will basically multiply the artillery shells by 5 to 10 times more lethal. i've been in combat on the frontlines, i have seen the artillery, it is high explosive. it's like throwing a dart at an and. we want to throw a flame thrower at a bunch of and. this is how

you increase lethality, and when the war. if we want to win it we need to give them something like that. >> this is the game-changer you think, above all else? >> absolutely. >> where does the biden administration stand on it right now? >> at this point the biden administration does not want to go against the countries that have signed cluster munitions. in eastern europe, none of the countries signed it. romania, they didn't sign it because i knew that if they were attacked by the russians they would need to use this weapon. so ukraine has not signed it, the russians haven't signed it, the russians are using cluster munition, which does not mean we should use. that they use it against civilians, that is illegal, that is a war crime. we would like to give it to the ukrainians to use against military targets, and they will send in teams to clean it up. as soon as a liberated time they will clean it up. that is usual argument. we really need an armored force, tanks, and fighting vehicles. ukraine right now has a good defensive weapon, like the patriot, but they need to go on the offensive to get rid of the russians out of the country. that requires a lot of

offensive weapons which we are not giving them the amount to win the war. >> all right, that is a crucial thing for everyone to understand what they have and what they need. dan writes, thank you very much. as zelenskyy makes history with this trip to the united states, putin's defense minister is calling for an expansion of the russian army. and breaking news, more records just released by the january 6th committee here in these last minutes. we now have transcripts, transcripts from several crucial people. we will tell you who and what they said under oath. mercedes-benz is turning electric... completely on its head. bringing legendary design... and state-of-the-art technology... to a fully-electric suv. the all-new, all-electric eqb from mercedes-benz. see your dealer for exceptional offers on mercedes-benz electric vehicles.

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>> president zelenskyy, preparing to return to ukraine and the war zone after his historic address to congress, sending this plea to the people of russia. putin has lied to them about his invasion. >> the russians will stand a chance to be freed only when they defeat the kremlin in their minds. >> this comes as ukraine's defense intelligence releases what it says is a new intercepted call, this shows a russian soldier painting dire picture of the conditions on the morale. i want you to hear it for yourself. >> where is our so-called new equipment, that [bleep] they are advertising and talking about. i don't have a [bleep] clue. >> everyone is concentrating on the kherson direction. >> we have a lot of five hundreds, a whole lot.

>> what does that mean? >> five hundreds, those are the ones who [bleep] throw down their weapons and so you can all go [bleep] yourselves. i'm not going to fight anymore. and then they just [bleep] off. that is a 500 for you. >> joining me now, retired former army commanding general for europe. and the russian investigative journalist whose website focused on russian security services, and has been blocked in russia. he's also the author of the russian exiles who fought against the kremlin. thank you so much to both of you, as you have been covering all of this for ten months here, all of us together. and general, putin now says that he has no doubt that russia's goals and ukraine will be achieved, he said it on the same day that zelenskyy is in washington. but the defense minister of russia has announced a massive increase in the size of the russian military. from 1 to 1 and a half million personnel.

obviously 100,000 of them or so are already dead in ukraine. but they are announcing a mass increase. is this real, could this really happen, or is it just total fluster? what do you think? >> i think a lot of it is bluster. the point is that mr. putin continues to announce what he is going to do in terms of mobilization of forces. in las vegas, this is called throwing good money at your bat. he continues to attempt to mobilize forces. he has seen a great range within russia itself of young 18 to 24-year-olds leaving the country, trying to depart to avoid this kind of stuff. he has proven, decidedly, that he does not have the equipment. there is no doctrine that these soldiers are following that is effective. their leaders are corrupt, and immoral, and

they're actually contributing to the failure as opposed to preventing it. there is a lack of ability to adapt to the battlefield conditions, and the final thought is any modern army that perform as well on the battlefield has trust in their leaders, their equipment, their doctrine, and the support of the people. the russian soldiers do not have that. so it doesn't matter how many he is mobilizing, it just means that more of them are going to die on the battlefield. >> andre, you know, the general talks about trust. it doesn't exist between the russian soldiers themselves, the ones who are already there, and you conscripts, and their commanders. that latest intercepted phone call, i know that you and i have talked about so many of these, but the one that we just heard talking about people pulling a 500 and just f bomb, i'm not fighting anymore, walking off. this is in line with so many calls, and videos that we have heard and

seen that show a dire situation among the russian troops. major equipment issues. putin knows about all of this, doesn't he? or does he not know about all of this? is he in the dark and has no idea about how bad things are, what is the reality? >> to be honest today when he decided to speak to his military commanders he looked a bit delusional. it looks like he still believes that he is in total control of the whole situation. he constantly was talking about the new objectives for the war that he was confident that we are going to win. we are going to increase our army, and he constantly addressed his generals as the only audience. and the problem is that with that performance, some kind of dissent that we had in public opinion on russian social media,

that is by the kremlin and russian security services, it is a picture which actually sees this and it is why he still believes he is in control. >> today, putin says that we need to continue to support and improve the readiness of russia's nuclear weapons. what do you think that putin's next move will be here? he has been so clear that there would be one in response to the patriot. what does he do? >> he's not going to have much of an effect on the patriots, to be honest with you. and as you have talked to some of your last guests about the size of this, it is a relatively small battery that is going to have six launchers around ukraine, and around kyiv, it's going to be heavily guarded. he doesn't have the capability to attack them. what we have seen mr. putin and his military do is attack more of the civilian

population that he has ukraine's military. so, you know, the comment about continuing to polish his nuclear capability is something that he has been saying, and threatening since the beginning of this war. and he has made a lot of bad mistakes, both operationally and strategically. this would be a huge misstep on his part. i think that he knows that the repercussions or the use of any kind of nuclear weapons would be catastrophic. because that is what president biden and others within the administration has told him in his administration. this is just more threats, more bluster by mr. putin. i sure hope that his nuclear forces are a lot better than his conventional forces, because his conventional force has not shown any capability whatsoever. >> general, thank you to both of you this evening. and next, there was a major meeting between world powers in the past 24 hours. and this one was really important. it was between russia and china, and it was the same day that

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>> tonight, a united front. president zelenskyy speaking to how crucial the united states support has been, and it has been incredibly bipartisan. for ukraine, in its historic speech to congress. >> our two nations are in this battle. you have succeeded in uniting the global community to protect freedom, and international law. >> zelenskyy's words coming as russians made a point today, publicly meet with china, the same day that zelenskyy visited washington. the same person who said that if the u. s. provides patriots to ukraine at this a legitimate target for all of nato, they have met with xi in china. china does not call the invasion a war at all. joining me now, democratic senator who sits on the foreign relations committee. senator, i want to ask you about that meeting in a moment. but, first you are

there in that room tonight. or zelenskyy, president zelenskyy came in, an emotional entrance, he referenced a peace plan that he discussed with president biden. you know, do you know any details about what this is? >> do i know any details about his discussion with president biden? no. but i know that he gave an electrifying speech. there were, as you're screening showing, rounds and rounds of standing ovations. he reminded us about the courage, the determination, and the sacrifice of the ukrainian people. he thanked us, he thanked the american people. he thanked president biden. and as you know, we are working tonight to pass the upcoming year of spending bill that would provide an additional 45 billion dollars in humanitarian, economic, and military support for the brave ukrainians who continue to fight to expel the

russian occupiers from their nation. >> senator, do you think that the 45 billion will get them through next year in terms of the military needs that they will have? just referring to the patriots, they are getting one battery, they are going to want more than that, they are going to want, who knows, right? six, seven, eight, whatever they are going to want their gun to one more. does you 45 billion cover what they need or is congress going to have to pass more money when you are dealing with the republican house? >> i am optimistic that the 45 billion will meet ukraine's needs for the coming year. both for economic support, and military support. but frankly, that is in part because we are counting on our european allies to continue to be strong supporters of the ukrainian people both in taking in, and supporting ukrainian refugees, and then continuing to provide military and economic support. the united states is not carrying this burden alone. it is the ukrainian people who are doing the fighting, and it is our european partners in nato, and in other places around the

world who are also contributing to the cost. yes, the united states is the single biggest contributor, and depending on the turn of the war in the next couple of months, it is possible that we would need to provide more. but i think that the significant appropriation, aaron, would send a very strong signal to putin that the united states stands united in bipartisan support of ukraine going forward. >> it is significant that you say look, europe needs to do more, and i think that we all know that in part the u. s. has been kind of drip, drip, because europe has. this has been the same issue. the meeting today with zelenskyy and his appearance in front of congress came, senator, as dimitri, who has issued so many threats, nuclear and otherwise, but also threats about the patriots system specifically met with the aging pin. what is your understanding of the meeting and what happened there and what it was about? >> public reporting on the meeting suggested president xi

cautioned russian leadership to not be more aggressive on ukraine. for a long time, china's position globally has been that the respect national sovereignty. they have been put in a very difficult position by having aligned themselves with putin. and putin having now carried out a brutal invasion of ukraine, as you said in your introduction to this piece. they don't call it a war, they don't call it an invasion, and keep calling for negotiations and for peace. but this puts them in a tough spot internationally because china's long commitment to territorial sovereignty is something that is clearly being crossed by russia's ongoing aggression and occupation, unintended annexation of portions of ukraine. >> i appreciate your time, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> the senator is still in washington along with the rest of the senate waiting to pass that law seeing if they can indeed do that, and get home

for christmas. thank you. next, the breaking news, the new records that i referenced released by the january 6th committee coming out now. we have 34 transcripts, right now 34 transcripts trying to go through them. we will try to give you the information, who said what, when, and how. and ukrainians are making do with just a few hours of power a day. wait until you see this image. i really want to play it for you. this is a teacher in kyiv. i will show it to you in a minute.

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>> breaking news from the january 6th committee. we have just gotten 34 transcripts. 34 transcripts of interviews with key witnesses. this includes the former president trump's national security adviser, michael flynn, former trump lawyer john eastman, longtime republican operative, roger stone, as well as far-right conspiracy theorist alex jones. so we have gotten 34. keep in mind, there were thousand people who testified. we are going to get a lot more. but 34 is a lot and some of these are important, big ones. and we are also learning, just in these past minutes that the committee's highly anticipated report, which had been expected today will now be released tomorrow. perhaps it decided to wait because the eyes of the world were on president

volodymyr zelenskyy. let's go to sara right now who has been going over these transcripts. there is a lot. but some of them are quite turns, should i say. >> i think that that is a good way of putting it. this batch of transcripts, what they really have in common is that these are witnesses who do not want to answer the committee's questions and in many of these cases invokes their fifth amendment right against incrimination. so when you look at the eastman transcript he is asked about legal memos that he wrote. roger stone, remember, he was convicted of lying to congress in the russia investigation and later pardoned by trump. he pled the fifth every question that he was asked. and jeffrey clark, the former doj official, he had pretty competitive set of two depositions with the committee, in the first one his lawyer presented the committee with 12 pages of their objections, and

then his second up position with the committee he pleaded the fifth roughly 120 times. so it gives you a look of how investigators were not able to get all of the answers that they wanted, but you learn a lot from their questions. even from the witnesses that were not willing to answer the questions, in the questions they ask you can tell that they have been able to obtain emails, texts threads these people are involved in. so it gives you an idea of the volume of evidence that the committee has, even when they are dealing with witnesses who are not interested in answering the committees questions. >> all right, thank you very much. now let's go to ryan goodman, co-editor and chief of the justice security legal blog. okay, so you also have had a chance to go through these. what stands out to you when you go through the 34 that we have thus far? >> part of what stands out to me are the key questions that the witnesses refused to answer, and claimed the fifth. in a jury with a criminal trial, you're not supposed to draw any negative inference. but any civil case you are allowed to do so. the committee itself could have done so. for example,

roger stone was asked did you have any communication of president trump on january 5th, and sixth. the doj official said did you meet with president trump without telling your supervisors? they take the fifth. so i think that the american public can draw inferences, and understand that this is a pretty strong indication of some form of guilt. they are trying to hide something probably incriminating. >> and as you said, the former president trump famously said that you don't plead the fifth if you are innocent. but to your point, you are not supposed to infer in criminal cases. but it is pretty clear, if jeffrey clark would have said no, he should have said no. i have no meetings that my boss would offer. it is an easy question, except if the answer is yes. okay, so what other ones, let's just say when you look through this, and you look at the fifth amendment, fifth amendment, fifth amendment, fostering in some sense. can the doj overcome that? if these

are referring to the doj, can get good answers to this? >> it is a roadblock, but not necessarily for the department of justice. what the special counsel has to faces a chance that he can immunize these people. he can say look, i'm giving you immunity. you are no longer in legal jeopardy. now you have to testify, and you have no choice. but his choice is whether or not to immunize somebody like roger stone, or jeffrey clark rather than prosecute them. and that is a choice that is really his to make because he can overcome the fifth if he wants to. >> he has to make those decisions. now as i said, they had been releasing a lot of transcripts, we have 34, some of these very crucial. what are some of the other elements that we have been looking for because we anticipate a big dump of these tomorrow. >> i think that the bill barr one is an important one. he was a right-hand person for donald trump but he seems to have provided really compelling evidence. i think that the american public, and some of trump's base that he is a person who might change peoples

views. understanding what really went on. pat cipollone is actually seemingly much more forthcoming than anyone ever knew. i would like to see much more about his testimony. >> and the committee was very clear to applaud him for his honesty, integrity and terms of speaking to them. now, just to be clear, we look through the executive summary, depending which printouts you had between 90 and 161 pages. with notes of a big summary to be attached to. and you are also saying that in those referrals we saw four charges that we could get referrals that are much more detailed. why is that important, what are you looking for? >> we have two types of referrals, two tiers. tier one is a referral that people should be charged with the crimes. that is where they have donald trump in their criminal statutes. then we have a second here, that is criminal evidence of wrong doing that should be investigated. that is the one where it is the lawyers who are trying to coach witnesses to lie, or witness tampering, there are people who are so far unnamed, it would be very interesting to know if they are

actually named in the report. >> right, it could be serious criminal liability. ryan goodman, thank you very much. it big night for that committee, and it will be a huge day tomorrow. next, the ukrainian teacher committed to teaching, and just, we are going to play this for you. it is a pretty amazing moment. and it only takes eight minutes to qualify. i went on their website, uploaded everything, and i was blown away by what they could do. getrefunds.com has helped businesses get over a billion dollars and we can help your business too. qualify your business for a big refund in eight minutes. go to getrefunds.com to get started. powered by innovation refunds.

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>> finally tonight, president zelenskyy says putin's invasion won't stop christmas. >> we will celebrate christmas. the power in ukraine growing dire. the expert says the capital

will have no more than 10 hours of electricity per day. a lack of power because of russia's strikes on civilian infrastructure, the attacks taking out power, heat and the internet which leaves kids unable to attend classes virtually and one resourceful teacher has found a way to teach. she is on the street, goes outside, sets up shop in a parking lot at a supermarket. this is a area that still has electricity but look at that. there is something about that that i found to