>> tomorrow we'll be in the shadow of the capitol with our coverage of the state of the union address, tomorrow night. >> that's right. we'll have results from the iowa caucuses. >> we'll be there. please get dressed. i don't care how late you were up. >> sandra: the 2020 presidential race officially kicking off here in iowa as the state gears up for the caucuses tonight. it is everyone's game. good morning. i'm sandra smith. >> ed: i'm ed henry. we're here for the main event. 2020 democrats making their final pitch to voters all weekend long zigzaging across iowa. a win could mean momentum for the fight for the democratic nomination to face off against president trump who takes the stage tomorrow night in the state of the union. >> this is the time to come up

with the big solutions and get out there and fight for them. >> this is the campaign where the working class of america is going to say loud and clear enough is enough! >> i'm reluctant to give him any nicknames. he loves giving people nicknames usually derogatory. i have a nickname. former president donald trump. >> we're going to build a beautiful blue wall around these states and we'll make donald trump pay for it. >> as a moment like this history has taught us we can't take the risk of meeting a new challenge by falling back on the familiar. >> sandra: griff jenkins kicking off coverage here in des moines this morning. chilly morning. good morning. >> it is indeed. good morning sandra and ed.

it's up to the iowa voters as they go to caucus sites, 1600 across the state. i can tell you one thing we certainly don't know who is going to win this one. remember a voter's first choice in candidate has to reach a 15% threshold or otherwise they will have to make a second choice. consider this, the last four democrat nominees have gone on to win in iowa that's very important with this open race we really don't know who will win it. a sense on the ground here, ed and sandra, this is sizing up to be a four-way race. sanders is surging and has had the largest crowds here. he is running neck-and-neck with biden in the recent polling. buttigieg and warren are crossing the state with a lot of energetic events. their crowds have been growing in final days. and buttigieg and warren have been the most frequent second choice when i've been man on the street interviewing all these voters from one side to the other into the state.

then there is this. for the first time the democrat officials are going to tabulate the results three ways. there will be a first expression, a final expression, and a state delegate equivalencey. the last one has been traditionally how they determine the winner. but this new rule may allow multiple candidates to claim some sort of victory. only time will tell now. polls open up, caucus sites at 7:00 p.m. central tonight. hopefully we'll know late tonight or early tomorrow. >> sandra: we'll see. that's the big question. griff jenkins in des moines. we'll get new reaction from one of the candidates this morning. pete buttigieg joining us in a few moments to discuss his campaign and whether his strategy for courting democrats in rural counties will pay off. stay tuned for that. >> ed: a fox news alert back in washington house impeachment managers and president trump's defense team return to the senate floor in a short time to make closing arguments in the trial.

that begins 11:00 a.m. eastern time as it heads for a final vote on wednesday. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is following the action since the beginning and back live on capitol hill this morning. good morning. >> good morning. the finish line for the senate impeachment trial is in sight. senators will hear the closing arguments ahead of the iowa caucuses. tomorrow senators will have an opportunity to speak 10 minutes each ahead of president trump's state of the union address. wednesday more speeches from senators ahead of a late afternoon final vote. it's expected the president will be acquitted the lead impeachment manager will still make his case. >> i'm not letting the senators off the hook. we're still going to go into the senate this week and make the case why this president needs to be removed. it will be up to the senators to make that final judgment and the senators will be held accountable for it. >> today a key republican expressed concern about the impact on future presidents. >> the democrats have set the

bar so low for impeachment that it doesn't matter who the next president could be or depending on what party is in charge in congress. that we could see an ever-constant rotation of impeachment proceedings. >> exclusive interview with sean hannity president trump was asked if he will be able to work with speaker nancy pelosi and chuck schumer and the democrats. >> president trump: i would like to. it's hard when you think about it because it's been such i use the word witch hunt, hoax, i see the hatred. i see the -- they don't care about fairness or lying. you look at the lies. >> mandatory attendance on the senate floor for the senators on the final phase of this trial in about two hours. >> ed: we'll be watching. thank you. >> sandra: let's bring in byron york from "the washington examiner" and fox news contributor.

it's nice to see you in person for a change. you will kick things off for us this morning. so many different scenarios in iowa. what's the most likely sen ario you see this morning >> the least likely is that there will be one clear-cut big winner in the caucus. i think more of a muddled result is more possible for the first time democrats are releasing the first vote totals to everybody's initial preference. so you'll get to see how support is really spread out. the republican caucuses they've always counted the votes and the one with the most votes wins. doesn't work that way in the democratic party. we'll see a number of people claiming to have done very well. >> sandra: what is the strategy on the part of the president? he sat down with our own sean hannity taking democrats on in a big way. here is the president. >> president trump: i don't think she wanted to do this. i think she knew what was going to happen and it's her worst nightmare has happened. i don't think she will be there too long.

i think the radical left -- she is sort of radical left too, by the way. i think the radical left will take over. >> sandra: that was a president in a new interview talking about nancy pelosi saying the radical left is going to take over calling on her demise as far as leadership. >> that's consistent with the president saying a socialist will be elected if you choose a democrat you'll have a socialist in the white house. the president is messing with the democrats big time. in 1984 ronald reagan who had no renomination worries at all, came to des moines on caucus day and democrats were very upset having a big caucus. they said it was a presidential stunt and not worthy of a president. donald trump knows about that and darned if he didn't come here to des moines on thursday, held a much bigger rally than any other democrat has held. he also has an a-list of surrogates. family, cabinet members,

members of congress spreading out in the republican caucuses tonight. stepped up social mead ya. he is running a big campaign in iowa. you think is it because he is afraid of those never-trump challengers? no. he is trying to win the general election now while democrats are struggling with their caucus. >> sandra: while impeachment continues on capitol hill as it will a couple hours from now, byron, you look at the situation there. you heard from adam schiff saying one way or another the truth will come out. what does that mean about what happens next with democrats, the president, and impeachment? >> specifically john bolton's book will come out next month. we can see what he says. i think it's more consistent with what adam schiff has been saying for two or three years. democrats have always suggested that whatever has been discovered in an investigation is only the tip of the iceberg. there is some really big, dark truth that is out there that will be uncovered.

they went 2 1/2 years with the russia investigation. had a mueller report. that didn't happen. now they're saying it will happen with ukraine. >> sandra: and that will all continue this morning. there is a possibility, by the way, finally, byron, the house could decide to subpoena john bolton. will they go that route? >> absolutely. the big question will be why didn't do you that earlier? there is no doubt bolton has been running around waving his hand saying please subpoena me and nobody has done it. great to be here. >> sandra: ed. >> ed: we'll get voting tonight. interesting. when you have john kerry overheard allegedly saying maybe i'll get in here. sounds like democrats are nervous whether bernie sanders will get momentum. kerry running from that. >> sandra: caucusing begins today. the trial continues later this morning on capitol hill. >> ed: let's not forget officials confirming the first coronavirus death outside of china this morning. u.s. airports scramble to

enforce new travel restrictions. the latest on the effort to contain the outbreak coming up. >> sandra: rival campaigns warning bernie sanders could claim victory tonight before the iowa caucuses are concluded. how could it shape the outcome? karl rove has a lot to say on that and will join us next as we come to you live from des moines, iowa, on this monday morning. >> if the turnout is high, we're going to win. [cheering and applause] our job together is to create the highest turnout in the history of the iowa caucuses. [cheering and applause] [ applause ] thank you. it's an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. i love you! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ that's ensure max protein, with high protein and 1 gram sugar. it's a sit-up, banana! bend at the waist!

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>> ed: the death toll on the -- meanwhile there are now 11 confirmed cases right here in america after three more were reported in the state of california. the department of homeland security is imposing new travel restrictions. rerouting flights if anyone on board has been in china over the last 14 days. we will have much more on this important story later in the show. >> sandra: the political world

focused on iowa today. top democrats may be watching bernie sanders very closely. political reporting that rival campaigns are warning the sanders campaign not to claim victory after the first vote in the caucuses tonight. let's bring in karl rove, former deputy chief of staff to george w. bush. great to be in person with you here in des moines. a bug in the corner of our screen. iowa caucuses doors closed. countdown clock. the doors close promptly at 7:00. so tell us about the change in rules this year and why there may be multiple candidates declaring victory. >> in the past they've simply at the end of the evening announced one number, the state equivalent. the sde, which is how many people are going to go on from the caucuses to the state convention for each candidate. they've also had a percentage

on that. for example, 49.8 for hillary or 48.6 for bernie in 2016. tonight, these titles make me think like science fiction movie doing time travel or something. we have the first realignment. everybody walks in the caucus and we have the first alignment, everybody says here is who i'm for. stand with the people you're for. then they find out if they've got how many people are in the room and whether or not your candidate has 15% or more of the people in the room. if not, if your candidate doesn't, you have to now decide will i go home or am i going to go to the second realignment? the second realignment and then report that number. so >> sandra: what does it mean for declaring victory? multiple major news organizations say they won't declare a winner, only declare a winner based on the final

delegate count. >> a lot of change could happen. think about it. we have -- depending what poll you look at we have between 75 and 85% of the support is going to candidates at or above the 15% threshold level or near the 15% threshold level. but that means that you have anywhere from 15% to 25% who are either undecided or for a lesser candidate. therefore tom steyer or yang or tulsi gabbard. those people, representatives in those caulks need to make a decision who am i for. >> sandra: the strategy of bernie sanders and his campaign. rivals are warning he and his campaign may plan to gain the iowa results and claim victory before the caucuses are actually over? >> we don't know whether or not it's true. it might seem logical. if you look at the polling data.

it -- we don't have a lot of this. but what is the second choice of the people in the caucuses? bernie has a smaller share of the second choice. that's typical of a frontrunner. the guy who has been leading here in the last couple of weeks. the last month or six weeks. it is typical that person would sort of be getting to their upper limit. when you say to people who is your second choice? biden, klobuchar, warren, buttigieg, they the end to perform better than he does. the idea would be he would say -- he will look the best on the first alignment. i'm not certain that they've necessarily done that. it is a smart move by all the not sanders people to say -- to point it out and jump on it. it makes bernie look weak and sets it up to focus people's attention more on the second number. the second realignment number, than the first number. >> sandra: if they weren't pointing this out as they are,

we'll see if that's true or not, that could give bernie sanders a leg up to declare victory before the caucuses are actually over? >> you know what? it will take place during a limited number of hours and at the end of the day, they've got now a way to collect this data so that in the past it took a long while to do it. most of the precincts will report via an app. >> sandra: do you have a likely scenario? >> it will be a long night. it will be so close even while the vast amount of the votes come in by the app some people won't use the app and phone in their numbers. my gut tells me we're likely to have a crowded field. we'll have a surprise. we might have klobuchar getting delegates that border minnesota. buttigieg might do better than expected. we're likely to have a very close field. >> sandra: great to see you. we'll see. >> ed: we'll be watching. meanwhile, fox news alert from

london. isis claiming responsibility for another stabbing attack in the british capital. what we're learning this morning about the suspect. >> sandra: plus pete buttigieg as karl mentioned making his final appeal to iowa voters. a look at his campaign and chances in the hawkeye state when he joins our show live next. >> it is difficult to believe how far we have come from a year ago when we first turned up in a coffee shop in ames thrilled because there were dozens of people there. although most of them were just there to get a cup of coffee.

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it's smart. it grabs people's attention. it works. it's why comcast spotlight is changing its name to effectv. because being effective means getting results. >> ed: 2020 democrats making their final appeal to voters as the 2020 race kicks off in iowa tonight. here live is democratic presidential hopeful pete buttigieg. thank you for coming in. i don't know if you want the endorsement from karl rove. he said a moment ago he thinks you might exceed expectations tonight. >> i would hate to come on tv and set an expectation to come in ahead of expectations. we feel a lot of strength on the ground. we had a fantastic pair of events yesterday in the iowa city and des moines. we've been in a lot of the counties that famously switched

from president obama to trump and we're seeing folks come out of the woodwork not just diehard democrats but some more independent-minded folks. disaffected republicans looking for a change. wanting to turn the page and looking for a campaign that welcomes them and demonstrate we have what it takes to defeat donald trump in the fall. >> your staff tells me your captains will be important to rally support for you. a lot of trump voters who went obama in 2012 and went trump in 2016 and looking for something new. what is your appeal to trump voters in rural areas? >> this is going to be a campaign that invites everybody in to be part of the solution. it is not saying we're going to agree on everything. farmers are getting killed as a result of the trade war, consumers are feeling the imfact of that. >> ed: are farmers being killed by the trade war when the president just signed usmca into law and basically that will mean jobs? >> it is helpful, the usmca

after the democrats insisted on some improvements. i think it's a good package. the trade war never should have happened in the first place. my point is when you see tax policies favoring corporations over the middle class. refinery waivers at the expense of farmers in the midwest there is an opportunity to talk to voters who haven't connected with the democratic message in a long time. it's about what we're for. making sure we're dealing with climate change. we're delivering an economy where one job can be enough. that we're supporting rural communities as well as parts of our cities that have been left behind. >> ed: you said a moment ago bringing people together and reaching out to trump voters yet you were on cnn yesterday doubling down on the claim you've made that trump supporters are at best you say looking the other way on racism and then the president at the super bowl has an ad last night that quotes alice johnson an african-american wom who got a second chance because of the president. let's play the clip and you can react.

>> i'm free to start over. this is the greatest day of my life. my heart is just bursting with gratitude. i want to thank president donald john trump. [cheering and applause] >> ed: how can you attack not just the president but 63 million people in america who voted for him when you have african-american women like alice johnson saying this is a president who gave me a second chance? >> i think that president trump's decision to sign the first step act when it came to his desk is one of the handful of things i could agree with him on. it doesn't change the incredibly cruel and divisive racial rhetoric that comes out of this white house that is one of the many reasons that i'm meeting not only democrats but republicans who tell me that they struggle to look their children in the eye and explain to them how this is the president. >> ed: are you the right messenger to question the president on race when as mayor black leaders were critical of

what you did with police-involved shooting and other matters. why are you questioning the president? >> because the president is wrong. he is wrong to attack women of color. he is wrong to compare people to animals. he is wrong to assault entire cities in his tweets. again, you don't have to be a died in the wool democrat to know it's wrong just as a lot of republicans in congress and senate even if they provide cover for the president can't actually bring themselves to say that he is a good leader. it's revealing. look, this is an opportunity to turn the page, to turn the page on this president and frankly within my party to turn the page on some of the internal fights that we had in 2016. >> ed: are you the man to lead that effort? there is an op-ed that the "washington post" ran over your leadership. experience you bring to the table. it's a mayor from out in california christine shay who writes it takes a huge ego to think that mayoral experience alone would empower anyone to go to the west wing. from leading a town of a few hundred thousand to a country

of 330 million. the chance of a rookie mistake is high and the stakes could not be higher. that's a mayor. >> i agree the stakes could not be higher but washington experience is maybe not the kind of establishment experience that we're seeing out there that's traditionally what people expect in a presidential candidate. it is not what americans are looking for. the experience of being on the ground, leading a city. we have a little bit of a different system in indiana. there is no such thing as a city manager in my city. you are the executive and there is no one else to call. it is not just that. we're talking about the situation room, maybe it's time to have somebody in that situation room who knows what it is to be sent into war on the orders of an american president. not only in terms of the experience i bring to the table and look, let's be honest. this is a job that should be daunting for any human being. and yet every person who has ever done it, good and bad presidents and in between one thing they have in common is they're mere mortals and human

beings. >> ed: you mentioned your military experience. gallup ran a poll in terms of the president handling of the he con knee in the 80s. handling terror and some of those issues come up in the high 60s. how do you run against a president who has incredibly high approval numbers on issues like handling terror, handling his work in foreign policies and the situation room and handling the economy? >> part of the president's unpopularity has to do with his let's say mixed relationship with the military and on security matters. the fact that for anybody who is in the post 9/11 conflicts to hear the president of the united states say the traumatic brain injury is no big deal. when he took advantage of the fact that he was the son of a multi-millionaire to fake a disability to avoid serving when it was his turn. somebody needs to challenge him on that and i'm prepared to go toe-to-toe with him. >> ed: there are three tickets out of iowa. do you believe you'll have one? >> absolutely.

we're seeing on the ground a tremendous amount of energy. volunteers are out in every precinct in the state. we think we'll have the organization to compete to win and to go on to new hampshire and beyond. >> ed: we wish you luck and appreciate you coming in today. thank you, sir. >> sandra: is john kerry really considering a run for the white house in 2020? the details on what the former secretary of state had to say about a brand-new report when former dnc chairwoman donna brazile talks. >> it was the difference in a lot of history as a result of falling short. i know something what it takes to win the presidency.

>> sandra: as we all know the iowa caucuses are the first presidential nominating contest of the year. there are a few changes in 2020 compared to past campaigns. mark meredith is here in des moines with a look at that. >> good morning. iowa prides itself being the first in the country to help choose the next president. the way they do things here is different from some of the primaries and states we'll see over the next several weeks how they conduct their primaries. first is that the individual parties are the ones that run the caucus, not state government. we see the rules of the iowa caucus vary by party. democrats and republicans don't do things the same way. third, perhaps the most fascinating to watch in all of

this is the caucus goers for the democrats show their support by standing in a section of a room devoted to their candidates. participants have to be in line by 7:00 p.m. central tonight to take part. first-round candidates need 15% support of those in attendance in the precinct to remain viable. once those candidates have that 15% support, those people that chose that candidate they're locked in and don't have a choice to choose somebody else. supporters of non-viable candidates. those who didn't have 15% get a second choice or they could form an uncommitted block meaning after the first round if someone voted for tulsi gabbard they didn't have enough support they could choose to support bernie sanders. at the end of the night the party doesn't just declare one winner overall. instead they will be announcing three results, tallies of the first rounds of the caucus, the final alignment numbers and how many state convention delegates candidates are getting. >> we've made a lot of changes to the process. these will be the most

transparent caucuses and most accessible that we've ever held. by the nature of our process it is transparent. >> this year iowa is doing something known as satellite caucuses to allow people hawkeye residents that are working out of state to still take part in the process. when the results would will come in, that's anyone's guess. official efs -- officials are hoping it comes in quicker than it did four years ago. >> sandra: thank you. >> tomorrow night is the beginning. it is the beginning of the end for donald trump. [cheering and applause] >> ed: that is bernie sanders making his final pitch to voters. brand-new tonight and joining us now is donna brazile. former dnc interim chair and fox news contributor. good morning. >> i'm excited to be here. so it begins once again. another political cycle and it

is remarkable state. >> ed: what will happen? >> i don't know. i do believe the voters, a large turnout tonight. i believe the voters have so many wonderful candidates to choose from. tonight we'll say to america we'll take this opportunity to select one or two people. there may be three tickets or four tickets depending if greyhound is still running. they are going to caucus tonight energetically, positively, to pick the next president of the united states. i do believe that will happen. >> ed: you say this is a great field. we've heard that from so many democrats. someone sent me a clip during the break. chris matthews this morning saying i'm not happy with this field. none of these folks on the stage, he says, can beat donald trump. >> you know, i recognize that the challenge of taking on an incumbent president is difficult even in good times. but we live in a country that i

think many americans, those who voted for hillary clinton, many americans who did not vote, they want a different way. they want a leader who can unify us and bring us together and i hope tonight the iowans pick someone to unify the country. >> ed: is the leader john kerry maybe, the former nominee? this report yesterday from nbc news that john kerry is at a hotel in dee moin and overheard saying bernie will drive the party off a cliff and maybe he has to get in. >> i heard about it. and here is my recommendation to all leaders, all surrogates. leave your phone in your bedroom or put it in a vault. give it to sandra perhaps. don't talk in the hotel lobby to your friends about what is happening. because you will be overheard. >> ed: more importantly the content of what he said to be fair to senator kerry he tweets out as i told the reporter i am absolutely not running for

president. i'm proud to campaign with joe biden who will win the nomination, beat trump and make an outstanding president. i have 30 seconds. john kerry has been on the ground with joe biden the last couple of days. if he is blabbing to people i think bernie is bringing us off a cliff, does that suggests joe biden is not a strong frontrunner? >> he knows joe biden. i want to tell democrats, stop this so-called bed wetting. we have a strong group of americans who are running. i'm confident that one of them will be able to take on the sitting president of the united states who will be a tough -- when i say tough, he will be tough to defeat. but we must go out there and positively and get ready to do it. >> ed: a tough message from donna brazile. >> stop the bed wetting. i'll give them some depends. stop it. >> sandra: thank you, donna. who will president trump prefer to take on in a general

election? he weighed in on that yesterday in a brand-new exclusive interview with sean hannity. we'll have that for you and fresh reaction from the trump campaign coming up. mercedes schlapp is joining us. "america's newsroom" live from the river center in des moines, iowa as we continue. what does help for heart failure look like?

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>> we feel a lot of strengths on the ground. we've been in a lot of the counties that famously switched from president obama and trump and we're seeing folks come out of the woodwork. not diehard democrats but more independents, disaffected republicans looking for a change wanting to turn the page. >> sandra: that was pete buttigieg a few moments ago on "america's newsroom" hoping to make a big splash in the nation's first 2020 contest here in iowa. he is facing some heavy competition in the battle for delegates when the iowa caucuses kick off officially today. joining us now ari fleischer former white house press secretary and fox news contributor. good to have you here. first up you heard a bit from pete buttigieg. he is also making the case that those obama supporters that went over to trump in 2016 may be coming back. here he is making the case.

okay. we don't have that sound right now. he very thoroughly laid out the case talking to ed. >> he has a good reason to believe that. not only the obama/trump voters. i think some people see pete buttigieg's candidacy as an attractive one compared to the other democrats. can he get base democrats out? i think it's bernie tonight. i think it's impossible to look at iowa and the makeup of the voter in iowa. the youth in iowa. liberal component in iowa, bernie's strength. and not see bernie winning. the other thing is the biden demise. i called him yesterday senator months ago. he is increasingly feeling like yesterday's presidential candidate. there is just something deflating watching joe biden's events. >> sandra: if it's bernie's night what does it do for momentum? >> huge. he lost iowa to hillary by 3/10

of 1% margin. this propels him in new hampshire where he is strong and the contest opens up when you get to south carolina and nevada and the other states. >> sandra: okay. joni ernst, i want to move on to the idea what happens next with the precedent that may have been set with the impeachment process and democrats. joni ernst is making the suggestion that the impeachment of president trump paves a way for impeaching joe biden should he win the presidency. she says i think the door of impeachment has been opened. joe biden should be careful what he is asking for. you know we can have a situation where if it should ever she continues, be president biden immediately people the day after he would be elected would be saying well, we're going to impeach him. >> i hope not for the same reason this is a waste of time and wrong procedure. you let the people decide these things, not congress. i hope this isn't a precedent. this should not have started against president trump. it doesn't mean republicans

should do it to president trump successors. leave elections up to the voters. this is one of the pleasures being in iowa. you feel the energy and what we're doing is letting the people decide who the president is as opposed to being in washington where 535 people decide who the president is. this is how democracy should work. >> sandra: iowa caucuses, impeachment trial continuing later this morning. and the state of the union tomorrow night, ari, what a week it will be. what tone do you expect the president to take? >> rise above. i like to hear the message the white house put out about huge optimism is what the president will talk about and where he should be. the worst thing the president could do is talk about impeachment. impeachment is what politicians and washington press corps wants to talk about it. the public aren't talking about it. you see it everywhere you go. david axelrod from a democratic focus group. rise above. set yourself high. that's what the americans want to respond to. >> sandra: we were talking to

byron york at the top of the hour making the case with what you're seeing with the president. the new interview with sean hannity last night. the attacks on democrats that he has already launched the presidential campaign. >> for years. the only thing i didn't like on the sean interview. bernie sanders is not a communist, a socialist. communism was an oppressive political system. we're america and never have a country or people like that. socialism is bad enough in and of itself. sit a terrible economic system that per pet waits injustice and poverty for all. stick to that. >> sandra: he made that comment a rapid fire on what he thinks of when sean would name off each individual candidate. final thoughts on the attacks on mike bloomberg. >> interesting. he has the money and they like his money. they might not like him but they like his money. >> sandra: great to see you.

>> ed: thanks, sandra. a comeback 50 years in the making. the kansas city chiefs winning their second super bowl championship. a live report on that big game from miami coming up. >> nine minutes left in this game. i told her it will never happen in my lifetime. she said yes it is. >> i said they do this to it. >> unbelievable. s or total?... eh, not enough fiber- chocolate would be good- snacking should be sweet and simple. the delicious taste of glucerna gives you the sweetness you crave while helping you manage your blood sugar. glucerna. everyday progress while helping you manage your blood sugar. >> man: what's my my truck...is my livelihood. so when my windshield cracked... the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me. >> tech: hi, i'm adrian. >> man: thanks for coming. ...with service i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

>> ed: a comeback for the ages. kansas city chiefs defeating the san francisco 49ers in a thriller of a fourth quarter to win the super bowl 31-20. it is the chiefs first super bowl victory in 50 years. our man on the scene is phil keating live in miami. home of this year's super bowl on fox. we were watching in des moines, phil. we had a great time. the whole fox team. you got to see it in miami. what a game. >> it was great game. a super hot halftime show. everything the big game is supposed to be on a beautiful night in miami. when the countdown clock hit zero and the game was over hard rock stadium erupted into a

confetti storm of red and gold for the kansas city chiefs. an electric fourth quarter come from behind win for the chiefs and quarterback patrick mahomes. game was fast paced and up for grabs in the first half. both teams scored. halftime the game was locked down tied at 10-10. second half the 49ers dominated taking a 20-10 lead all the way until about six minutes left in the game. that's when super bowl mvp mahomes turned it on and san francisco's defense and offense crumb el had. mahomes after his comeback. >> we executed. you play a defense like that you won't have success. i'm glad our guys kept fighting and we found a way to get it in the end. >> to the very entertaining halftime show.

shakira and j. lo performing as dancing as medley of hits. very well produced. the dancing. the crowd loved it. fireworks on stage as well. records were set. mahomes is youngest quarterback to win the super bowl mvp at 24 years old. >> ed: what about the dancing? >> wonderful halftime show. i'm not sure what all i can say on tv. >> ed: let's keep it clean. >> sandra: what a game. all right. the u.s. announcing new travel restrictions from china as the coronavirus death toll increases by the day. the latest efforts to contain that outbreak next. americans come to lendingtree.com to compare and save on loans, credit cards and

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>> ed: good morning. caucus day in iowa. the 2020 presidential election season officially kicking off. democratic candidates making their final push by iowans cast their first votes. we're live in des moines. i'm ed henry. good to be together. >> sandra: i'm sandra smith. much more on the caucuses in a moment. in the philippines, a teams at john hopkins tracks the worldwide spread of the deadly outbreak of coronavirus that

began in wuhan, china. >> ed: there are 11 cases in the united states. >> most of these cases had exposure in wuhan, china. both of them were remaining in one residence since they came. that's why i don't think these two cases change the risk to the general public. >> sandra: rich edson has a latest from the state department as u.s. officials restrict travel. what more are we learning? >> good morning. officials say they're going to run more flights to evacuate american citizens from china from the area where this outbreak began. secretary of state mike pompeo is traveling in uzbekistan. the u.s. government is coordinating with china on the logistics of those flights. >> we anticipate they'll happen in the next handful of days and we'll return those american citizens. we may end up bringing citizens back from other countries as well.

we're working through the details on that. we hope also to bring medical supplies in the context of those aircraft traveling into the region. >> china's foreign ministry says the u.s. government hasn't provided any suck stantive assistance to us. the first to evacuate personel its consulate and first to suggest partial withdrawal of staff and put a travel ban. it can create and spread fear, a very bad example. china says the virus has killed 361 people there. now more than the sars outbreak did 17 years ago. "the new york times" reports local chinese officials initially down played and sensored information about the virus. the state department has raised the travel advisory to china to its highest level, level 4. warning americans don't go there. the federal government is routing all americans who have traveled to china in the past 14 days to enhanced screening before entering the united states. and american officials say they'll prevent any non-american citizens who try to come into the u.s. and have

been to china over the past couple of weeks, they mostly won't likely be able to enter the country. sandra and ed, back to you. >> sandra: rich edson at the state department. thank you. >> ed: meanwhile president trump back in the white house this morning as he goes over his remarks for the third state of the union address that he will deliver. that tomorrow night. just one day before the final phase of his impeachment trial. the republican majority senate expected to vote for acquittal. >> we'll turn the page on impeachment at 4:00 wednesday. all republicans will vote not guilty. i think we'll pick up a handful of democrats. i'm glad the trial is coming to an end. >> ed: gillian turner is live on the north lawn of the white house with the president's next move. >> good morning. that final senate impeachment vote is now just over two days away which means tomorrow when president trump delivers what is his third state of the union address he will be sandwiched

right in between today's iowa caucus votes and wednesday's final impeachment vote. expected to be an acquittal as you mentioned. after 8:00 p.m. last night as the halftime show was getting underway during the super bowl president trump revealed his thinking on the address saying his administration has accomplished most of its goals. more than any other president in the first three years. he also said he wants to keep thinks message tomorrow night, quote, very positive. take a listen what he told fox news sean hannity over the weekend. >> president trump: we'll talk about the achievements that we've made. nobody has made achievements like we've made. so many different things. >> white house officials confirm to fox news they say the theme of tomorrow night's address is the great american comeback. they also say to look for the president to lean heavily on specifics when it comes to the economy. military posture and veterans, healthcare, immigration and of course national security. they say to look for special mention of the u.s. relationship with iran. the wild card for the speech

is, of course, impeachment. so far senior officials have declined to comment whether the president will touch on it at all. it is totally up to him. over the weekend he did blast democrats handling of the trial so far. take a listen. >> president trump: they don't care about fairness or lying. you look at the lies, you look at the reports that were done that were so false. i think they just want to win and it doesn't matter how they win. >> ticking through a list of the top democratic contenders going into iowa president trump says he is not too concerned about any of them. he says his campaign believes they'll win the state of iowa in 2020 by a landslide. he is holding fast to his favorite line about the election today which is that this is really a competition between american freedom and socialism. ed and sandra. >> ed: gillian turner live from the north lawn. thank you. >> you bet. >> throw out a name.

whatever comes to your mind. we'll start with joe biden. >> president trump: i just think of sleepy. i watch him. he is sleepy. >> bernie sanders. >> president trump: i think he is a communist. i think of communism when i think of bernie. you could say socialist. he is true to what he believes. elizabeth warren is not -- she can't tell the truth. bloomberg, very little. i think of little. i would love to run against bloomberg. i would love it. >> sandra: president trump weighing in on the 2020 democratic field in an exclusive super bowl interview with sean hannity. let's bring in mercedes schlapp trump 2020 campaign advisor. welcome. nice to see you. bernie sanders is certainly a target of the president. he is picking on multiple candidates. when it comes to bernie sanders he calls him a communist. sanders says the caucuses are the beginning of the end for

president trump. how does the campaign respond? >> bernie has to be concerned with his own problems with the democrat national committee and democrat establishment trying to take him out. he has his own problems to deal with. when you look at bernie, he is that socialist candidate. he is attracting some of the youth. he has pulled together an interesting coalition when it comes to iowa. the question becomes is that you look at independent voters and look at those democrats who have turned over to trump and said i'll support trump on his policies and they are very concerned of how you would see a government takeover here in the united states. fundamentally change the way our country runs. i think you are talking about on healthcare, take away 180 million private insurance. it would impact individuals. i think that people are saying that's just too far for me. >> sandra: a specific strategy on the part of the trump campaign to drive this divide between bernie sanders and the democratic party. >> i think the democrats are

creating their own divide. i think it is a chaotic process. the party is trying to figure out their identity. will they move far left? i think the candidates are attracted to those far left policies. and quite frankly what you see with the democrats in congress alone is that they have done not very much. they haven't been willing to work with the president on comprehensive immigration reform or took them to get usmca passed. there is a sense of just hatred towards the president and their unwillingness to work with them. the democrats will have a problem selling their so-called economic policies of tax increases to the american people. >> ed: you mentioned usmca. pete buttigieg was trying to say the trade war is hurting the american consumer. i noted the president signed usmca. a lot of jobs for america. pushback there. how to your broader point does the president get some movement on trade, on immigration reform?

other big issues with the state of the union address. he will be acquitted we expect on wednesday. how do you push the reset button? what's the restart for the white house to try to work? >> the reset button. republicans need to win the house of representatives. there is no question that nancy pelosi is listening to the far left and it is i think one of the reasons why she moved towards impeachment. so it's that group, the squad and the far left members i think basically pushed nancy in that direction. it has put the party in jep ar daoe. our goal to get things done for the american people is making sure we win the house. >> sandra: how much of impeachment will get in the way of that and the democrats continued efforts to take down this president? as we know the trial continues on capitol hill this morning but adam schiff indicating i should say not ruling out subpoenaing john bolton in the house. where it goes next. here is adam schiff and i'll get your response. >> i'm not letting the senators off the hook. we're still going to go into the senate this week and make

the case why this president needs to be removed. it will be up to the senators to make that final judgment and the senators will be held accountable for it. >> sandra: president has to run a campaign through that. >> no question. remember, the impeachment was a partisan scam. this was -- it was democrats' willingness and obsession with removing this president. it has failed. if they are going to continue down this pathway as we continue to see -- the president will attack voters. i have been spending time in iowa. every time i'm asked former democrats here or democrats voting for trump. raise their hands. at the rallies you talk many times one-third of the rally goers are democrats. we're developing a strong coalition with independents, democrats and strong approval. >> ed: when i landed here on thursday night i saw air force one. the president was here rallying

your troops ahead of these caucuses tonight. we have a race board looking at the president versus hillary clinton in 2016. he won the state as i recall by about 150,000 votes. six electoral votes. talk about his strategy. you are here eric and lara trump will be here and 80, 85 surrogates for the president here on caucus night. what message are you trying to send to democrats? >> we won't take iowa for granted. we'll play in a number of states. we have the most sophisticated grassroots organization that we have seen. it is definitely very different from 2016. i tell you the enthusiasm is there. we're going to go to new mexico and minnesota and colorado, arizona. we're expanding our map and through the leadership of brad parscale and the president being the messenger he is we'll talk about what we've delivered and the president delivered for the american people. >> sandra: who poses the

biggest threat today from iowa? >> the president will take on any contender. we have the results to show it. you talk about the economy, you talk about the trade deals where it was status quo for decades. this president took on china and he was able to establish a phase one trade deal, able to work with mexico and canada. it is results. when you look people will say do i have more money in my pocket? can my kids benefit? can my family have a better life? under president trump is what we've seen. economic prosperity through and through. the democrats can't compete. they don't have an agenda. their agenda is impeachment and socialism. radical policies that don't align with mainstream america. >> ed: mercedes i have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of you on "america's newsroom" between now and november. >> congratulations, great you are here, ed. >> sandra: thank you. as iowa prepares to caucus today the final poll had to be scrapped. what happened exactly? >> ed: little mystery there. bernie sanders remaining

confident he will pull off the win tonight. rivals reportedly wearing his campaign is plotting to game the results. why are they raising alarm bells this morning as the high-stakes contest finally gets underway tonight? >> it is the beginning of the moment when we tell the billionaire class and the 1% this country belongs to all of us, not just a few. [cheering and applause] ommended memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. rakuten is free to sign up and it's in over 3,000 stores. i use it to buy makeup... travel... ...clothes, electronics. to me, rakuten is a great way to get cash back on anything you buy. sign up today and rack it up with rakuten.

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>> sandra: fox news alert. we're getting reports of a deadly shooting on a greyhound bus in southern california. highway patrol saying one person has been killed. five injured and a suspect is now in custody. the bus was headed north from los angeles to the san francisco bay area at the time

of the shooting. still no word on a possible motive. we're watching that. >> ed: we're live this morning in downtown des moines. only hours before the caucuses finally kick off all across the state of iowa. voters here in the hawkeye state preparing to cast their votes in the nation's first contest in the 2020 election. >> sandra: what they don't have available for reference is iowa's highly regarding cnn/des moines register poll. it was pulled saturday after questions how interviews were conducted. >> ed: we have a polster and fox news contributor. thank you for joining us. cnn had a special plan saturday night. let's roll out the poll. what went wrong and why don't we have sort of this final look, final snapshot of where the race is? >> good news is we have a final snapshot coming from other media sources and universities. there is tons of polling going on in iowa now. if you're a registered voter in

the state of iowa and ever thought about voting democratic and have a telephone you are getting called by pollsters. in this case normally the polls being conducted there is something wrong with one interviewer. you can throw those interviews out and replace them with someone else. because of the tv special, because of the time frame that poll had to come out or had to not come out. there was no delaying it. we have a good sense of what's going on heading into the caucuses tonight. bernie sanders has momentum from other polls. it is disappointing being a poll sfer that you don't have a last data point. there are plenty of others out there. >> sandra: there is some concern. you saw the political headline. rivals are warning that bernie sanders may claim victory before everything is concluded. what impact would it have? >> somewhat significant impact in the sense winning in iowa is not about the delegate count. iowa doesn't have tons of delegates. it is the momentum and narrative coming out of it. if bernie sanders is able to take the first count and say

look, i won, the state delegate equivalent that will come later on in the evening, while that determines who gets the delegates if the narrative has been set early it will be tough for anybody else to break through. >> ed: you talk about the first alignment with the caucus system where say bernie in one precinct could beat joe biden 30% to 28% and others don't make the 15% threshold and klobuchar and yang supporters go to alignment and biden is ahead you are saying bernie can look in the raw vote total i won. >> that's right. because it comes first it sets the tone for what everyone is talking about the rest of the night. you could have a case where if all of a sudden it gets reported bernie sanders won on the first vote. what if you have folks supporters of yang or dull see gabbard. a candidate who brought in a unique group of people for the democratic process but might not have an appetite for anyone

else. if their candidate is not viable they have a option of going home. >> sandra: let's back up and look at the broader view as we sit in des moines historical importance of this state and how important iowa is in this particular election year. >> iowa is important. it is one of those states that voted for barack obama and then flipped and voted for donald trump. not just by a little but a lot. iowa is in some ways a state that is very good at predicting who gets elected president in the general election. you want as a democrat to have a strong showing here not just because you want to have the momentum going into new hampshire and the rest of the process but able to show you're able to win in the kind of state that also voted for donald trump in the general election. electability is key to so many voters. to show well that you can do well in a state that broke for donald trump is important. >> ed: the president had a big rally the other night. all over local tv and papers, big crowd waiting in hours for

the cold speaks well for him. what about for the democrats what we keep hearing from democrat official s that the turnout will be record high? >> it shows among their base. i think certainly in this year where there is no other competing contest, no republican caucus on the other side. all the energy is focused around the democrats. because they have so many folks in their field they may not each democrat may not love everybody who is available. democrats are happy and satisfied with the choices that they have so i think you are seeing that reflected in the turnout? >> sandra: do you have a likely scenario? >> i know the polls are close enough i would be foolish to give a conclusion. bernie sanders has to be happy with the momentum he is seeing tonight. >> sandra: president trump taking aim as we saw in a new interview at mike bloomberg saying that he would love to face him this november. what does he think about the

other candidates? >> ed: we'll get into that. plus could the president overshadow the entire field in iowa? his impact on the caucuses and beyond with our a-team live here in des moines straight ahead. >> sandra: bring them in. [ applause ] thank you. it's an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. i love you! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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>> sandra: it is a big day for 2020 democrats. a lot at stake as the candidates gear up for tonight's iowa caucuses. ellison barber is in downtown des moines where candidates will have watch parties later today. >> good morning, sandra and ed. as you guys know, this weekend was full of a whole lot of community events, town halls, super bowl parties, candidates had very little, if any, down time. their volunteers stayed very busy as well making phone calls and some last-minute door knocks. the candidates are trying to make their final pitch to

voters. a lot of them, of course, we've seen campaign sort of in the final days try to narrow their focus on supporters. they are still talking to people not sold on their candidates and trying to convince them their person is the right one for the job. most campaigns seem to be zeroing in on likely iowa supporters. we spent time in different campaign field offices this week. as volunteers made calls, knocked on doors, again most of the campaigns most of the volunteers we saw working were focusing on reaching out to people they have identified as supporters. they want to make sure they know when and where to show up and that maybe they bring some of their like-minded friends. turnout is key. senator bernie sanders made that argument, that point directly to some of his volunteers. take a listen. >> if there is a low voter turnout, we'll lose. if there is a high voter turnout, we are going to win. [cheering and applause]

our job -- i know you are doing that today -- our job is to bring out our family, our friends, our co-workers. bring out everybody you know. >> from the beginning one of the key ten either of former vice president's bidens campaign has been electability. he thinks he is the person most likely to bring back the obama coalition and convince independents and disaffected voters to vote for him in the general election and beat president trump. in the final days we've seen all of the top candidates zero in on making that exact same pitch. >> in a moment like this history has taught us we cannot take the risk of meeting a fundamentally any challenge by falling back on the familiar. >> can a woman win? across america in competitive races women are out performing men. our number one job is to beat

donald trump, women win. >> senators klobuchar, sanders, warren are back in d.c. to get back to the closing arguments in the impeachment trial. we expect all of them to make it back here to iowa tonight. ed and sandra. >> sandra: ellison barber in des moines. thank you. >> tomorrow night is the beginning. it is the beginning of the end for donald trump. [cheering and applause] >> ed: bernie sanders trying to make it all about the president as he makes a final appeal for support ahead of tonight's iowa caucuses. >> sandra: he is a top contender in the hawkeye state but party leaders think he could be a liability for democrats if he runs.

we have our a-team. fox news contributors. marie to you first. bernie sanders closing argument by joining our movement you are joining a fight for human solidarity. will that work? >> we'll see. he and joe biden are stuck at the top together. they're within the margin of error in the polls we've seen in iowa. what will be very interesting is where amy klobuchar supporters, where other candidates who don't make that threshold, where their supporters go. what i've heard from voters on the ground from democratic voters is watching the impeachment trial, watching donald trump in his interviews and rally this week in des moines has fired them up to nominate someone who can beat him in november. there is quite a bit of concern about bernie sanders hurting the top of the ticket for his race anddown ballot races. we'll see record turnout probably. a lot of talk about democratic infighting. we saw that in 2016 with the republicans. they came together. primaries are okay. i think democrats are so fired

up to beat trump in november. >> ed: marie is talking about the idea of taking on the president. we had pete buttigieg on the show earlier. unity and winning over trump voters but trying to slash the president as well on the issue of race and other matters. let's hear him. >> the president is wrong. he is wrong to attack women of color. he is wrong to compare people to animals. he is wrong to assault entire cities in his tweets. again, you don't have to be a dyed in the wool democrat to think it's wrong. a lot of republicans in congress and senate providing cover for the president can't actually bring themselves to say that he is a good leader. >> ed: yet the president's campaign had the super bowl ad about the voice of alice johnson. a black woman saying this is the president who gave me a second chance. >> i thought it was really interesting. they had leaked one of their ads that we were all expecting. this national ad. unemployment at record lows and

stronger than ever. the fighter plane and a good ad. then what they actually sneak in there early in the game is the criminal justice reform act. a concrete accomplishment talked about by a lot of politicians for many years. he perhaps got it done and caught a lot of people's attention. a savvy move by the campaign. i'm curious to see on the question of democratic unity. i think marie is right that at some point they will almost all come together and say we have to beat this incumbent. the bernie or bust people are a tough sell on that message if it is not bernie sanders. i don't think the dnc is doing itself any favors by already changing the rules midstream to help someone like mike bloomberg. that feeds the type of theorizing from people who already think the establishment are out to get bernie. you have to set rules and stick by them or else it looks like there is a thumb on the scale. >> sandra: kevin mccarthy made

that point yesterday. >> bernie has not been able to campaign. biden has not been able to put it away. now they're changing the rules to let other people on stage to run against bernie. you watch what pelosi said yesterday warning people not to vote for bernie. they did it to him four years ago and try to do it to him again. >> i'm not sure kevin mccarthy needs to make that argument for democratic voters. the point is a good one. michael bloomberg is dangerous to president trump in a general election. a lot of money to spend. he appeals to more moderate an independent voters. how michael bloomberg comes into play on super tuesday will be interesting particularly if he is on the debate stage. coming out of iowa we'll look to how joe biden does. he needs to do strongly but he doesn't need to win. we'll be looking how pete buttigieg does who you spoke to this morning. new hampshire bernie is predicted to do pretty well in a week. of course we head into nevada

and south carolina. joe biden strongholds. he is still at the top of democratic polling with black voters. other candidates are not anywhere close. talking about trump super bowl ad. democrats look at that ad and say if trump is making a play for those voters we should nominate joe biden because he has such strong support in that community. >> ed: incumbent not staying silent. he has the stage tomorrow night. state of the union. he sat down with sean hannity, super bowl interview basically. played a little word association when it came to michael bloomberg short. here is what he said about bernie sanders. >> president trump: i think he is a communist. he is far beyond a socialist. see true to what he believes. >> a genuine communist. that is a backhanded compliment from president trump. that answer first of all whether you want to use the term socialist. democratic socialist.

comeist. bernie sanders elected in the middle of the cold war to honeymoon in the soviet union. commitment to the cause. i think there is a strange paradox about bernie sanders which is now twice has been a serious contender for the democratic nomination. and he still kind of feels a little bit unvetted. i saw a video of him the other day that i had never seen before as a younger man singing soviet songs in a bar in russia. i was like how have i never seen this? i think it's part of the angst you are seeing among the democratic establishment or the non-bernie large wing of the party saying if he becomes the nominee they aren't saying he is totally unelectable. i don't know if that word means anything anymore. so many unknowns about this guy and how voters react to him when he is no longer this person who is quasi-lovable in theory but might be president. the dnc has a file on him they're waiting to unleash. if not you better believe the

republicans do. >> sandra: i want to finish with the criticism or observation from rahm emanuel. democrats may be blowing their chance. he says progressives seem to be forgetting donald trump. >> dnc or hillary clinton or anything else that comes up on the campaign trail. i agree with that. democratic voters believe that. right? most democratic primary voters are more moderate. they say overwhelmingly that above all else they want to beat donald trump. i think the hand wringing we see among some of us, media, pundits, people in washington is one thing. voters on the ground. people going to caucus sites tonight their number one priority is to beat donald trump. the reports we've seen this week the trump campaign is conflicted on bernie sanders. some say he has the socialist tag that will hurt him and others say he has support from trump supporters. maybe he is a bigger threat

they're thinking. an interesting debate in the trump campaign. >> you might have to reach out to john kerry. he was on a cell phone yesterday saying maybe this field is not so great. >> i saw those stories and saw him at the biden rally last night and folks saying people have been saying this to john kerry for a long time. i would love to work for john kerry again. he is supportive of vice president biden. they're very good friends crisscrossing the state in support of him. he loves being in iowa. he had a magical run in 2004. he is not running. he is fully, fully supportive of joe biden. >> ed: the door is shut, guy. >> don't be on your cell phone in a hotel lobby. >> ed: what a great a-team. thank you for being here. we are just hours away from the first in the nation caucuses right here in iowa. up next we'll look at how local businesses across the state are cashing in on the political drama.

>> sandra: it is the political show that takes center stage in iowa every four years. a big moneymaker for small businesses. con el mcshane is here to break down the numbers. a huge impact on the local economy. >> what's interesting about that, this time of year in a non-caucus year is usually very quiet. >> the first part of preparing for the caucuses is the physical material but getting mentally prepared for all the attention. >> mike draper is the man behind ray gun. a quirky t-shirt shop known for its creative catch phrases? the midwest and politics. >> bernie sanders, i wrote the damn bill. >> bernie came in to get his

picture taken with us and this shirt. >> talk about 2020 a little bit. we had a bernie sanders look. tell me what else you have in terms of the candidates that's selling well. >> we carry all the candidates' books. >> we can reenact the debate. did you call me a liar, what? >> january normally a sleeper sales time gets a big boost during caucus years and des moines business owners must be prepared. >> normally we staff way down for january after december but you'll usually have about 10% more floor staff in january during the caucuses as you would. your sales over regular january will be up from 25 to 30%. >> draper is sharing the wealth. baker brittany owns one sweet kitchen. she teamed up with ray gun to sell cookies in draper's shop. >> we have iowa-shaped cookies. we reached out to them and they

thought of slogans that they sell on shirts and we put them on cookies. >> tell me about this january versus last january. >> projecting 20% more revenue from cookies and caucuses this january. the cool thing about that and all the foot traffic is you don't know the trickle down effects who will call later for cookies. >> i think i'm sold. good cookie, very good cookie. >> sandra: didn't your mother ever teach you not to talk with your mouth full? >> i left half of it at the desk in the store. what i left. >> ed: did you get a refund? >> sandra: a great piece. >> it is interesting. we went around to a number of other businesses, restaurants and like, hotels, occupancy rates are up. i think something of the order of 15%. this stuff short term like we

were saying in the piece normally this time of year is quiet around here. it will be interesting to see what it's like in a week or two. it's real. the businesses know it. every four years let's get extra people on and make as much money as we can off the journalists and everything. and the super bowl doesn't hurt, either. any time busy last night. there were a lot of chiefs fans in iowa. not that far from missouri. >> ed: i picked up a hat that references the quarterback for the chiefs says patrick is ma-home. >> the owner of the place gets the copyright on these catch phrases. everybody comes here and want to grab something that makes them laugh and remember their experience at the caucuses. >> sandra: what did you get ed and me while you were shopping? you came away empty-handed? >> you can have half a cookie. >> ed: i knew that was coming.

check him out. big kansas city comeback as quarterback patrick mahomes rallies the chiefs to victory over the san francisco 49ers. that was on fox and we'll recap it next. near record lows,s i want to tell as many veterans as possible about newday's va streamline refi. it's the closest thing to automatic savings that we've ever offered. at newday, veterans can refinance their mortgage with no income verification, no appraisal and no out of pocket expenses. and we've extended our call center hours so that every veteran can take advantage of these near record low rates. ♪ ♪

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>> ed: call him the comeback kid. 24 years old. patrick mahomes named the mvp after guiding the kansas city chiefs to a big come from behind win over the san francisco 49ers in super bowl liv. let's bring in gerad max on your sirius xm radio. one lucky man to be there for that game. i'm jealous.

>> didn't think it would go that way. i was saying a few years ago when the falcons led the patriots 28-3 i had to keep changing the story i was writing and to tell after the game and then it happened again. there is a common factor here. back then the offensive coordinator of the falcons was kyle shanahan, the same head coach of the 49ers. last night san francisco went the final 22 1/2 minutes not scoring at all. the comeback kid as you talk about 24 years, 138 days exactly, ed. patrick mahomes is the youngest mvp winner in a super bowl and the poise that he showed when his team was down 20-10 and then battled back scoring three touchdowns in the span of 5 minutes and 1 second. i look at mahomes going forward. a passing of the torch from the tom brady nfl to patrick mahomes becoming a brady type. i think more like a peyton

manning for dan moreno. for kyle shanahan, he will have to answer the question blowing the huge lead against the patriots and here against the kansas city chiefs. kansas city, think about it. this team 50 years in between super bowl victories. the longest stretch ever before. somebody turned to me last night got the late touchdown 24-20. 31-20. guy next to me says i just won my office super bowl boxes because of the final score. >> ed: you may suggest that tom brady is being replaced by mahomes as the big dog in the nfl. >> if the 49ers won maybe grap

-- we're lucky we'll have great quarterbacks around the nfl for some time. the chiefs, what will they do for him? thrilled for andy reid. a great guy and great story. he has gone through a lot. >> sandra: a great game and fantastic coverage by fox. if you decided to go to bed after halftime you missed the comeback. >> ed: i got the hat i talked about patrick is ma homey. thanks for coming in. it has the chiefs colors and everything. >> sandra: moments away from closing arguments beginning at president trump's impeachment trial in washington we'll take you there live when that begins. and it's off to the races in iowa. we are covering the caucuses from every angle here from "america's newsroom" in des moines. we'll be back with a brand-new hour. >> 2020 is our moment in history. if you believe that this is our

time, our chance, then i ask you commit today to caucus for me. e refinance than ever. the newday va streamline refi is the reason why. it lets you shortcut the loan process and refinance with no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. one call can save you $2000 every year. call my team at newday usa right now.

>> ed: we start a any hour with a fox news alert live on capitol hill where the president's impeachment trial is resuming any moment now. closing arguments coming from both sides. they're supposed to last about four hours. evenly divided between the house impeachment managers and president trump's defense team. senators will also be able to speak about the articles of impeachment later today with their own speeches. tomorrow as well ahead of a final vote set for conviction or acquittal on wednesday. back to iowa now, though. back here in iowa where candidates are making their final pitch to voters ahead of the first contest in the presidential race tonight. welcome back to "america's newsroom." i'm ed henry. >> sandra: a lot to juggle this morning. i'm sandra smith. we're live in des moines, iowa

this morning where after months of speeches and millions of dollars spent voters will finally weigh in on the 2020 race. you can see in the corner of your screen there we're less than nine hours now until the doors close tonight. there is a whole lot at stake for democrats. president trump has his eye on iowa as well with his rally there last week and campaign team out in full force today. all of this as he prepares for his state of the union address which will be happening tomorrow night as his impeachment trial winds down. mercedes schlapp joined us a short time ago on "america's newsroom," a trump 2020 advisor. >> i tell you the enthusiasm is there. we'll go to new mexico, minnesota, colorado, arizona. we're expanding our map through the leadership of brad parscale and the president being the messenger that he is we'll talk about the results and what we've delivered and what the president has delivered for the american people. >> sandra: chief white house

correspondent john roberts is live with more kicking off our 11:00 local time hour. good morning, john. >> almost expecting a hee haw somewhere there n there. the president paying attention to iowa and focusing a lot of his attention on somebody who is not even playing in iowa. mike bloomberg. both the president and bloomberg had competing ads on the super bowl last night. the president accusing the dnc of rigging the election against bernie sanders tweeting, quote, many of the ads you were watching for paid for my mini mike bloomberg. he is going nowhere wasting his money and getting the dnc to rig the election against bernie. they're doing it to bernie again 2016. in the pre-super bowl interview with sean hannity the president had some choice words for bernie sanders going beyond the label of socialist. also taking aim at elizabeth warren. listen here. >> president trump: well, i think he is a communist.

look, i think of communism when i think of bernie. you could say socialist. he got married in moscow. that's wonderful. elizabeth warren is not truthful. i call her fairytale. everything is a fairytale. this woman can't tell the truth. >> in addition to accusing the democrats of trying to orchestrate a campaign to use bloomberg to take out bernie the president also tweaking bloomberg himself asked by sean hannity what he thinks. >> very little. i think of little. now he wants a box for the debates to stand on. there is nothing wrong. you could be short. why should he get a box to stand on, okay? he wants a box for the debates. why should he be entitled to that? does that mean everyone else gets a box? >> the bloomberg campaign took a swing of president trump accusing him of being a liar who lies about everything

including the block, face hair, obesity and spray on tan. >> sandra: thank you, john. >> ed: more on this with brit hume. good to see you. try to stay away from hair and short and all a rest of it. >> okay. presidential election race in the fall where the candidates are vying to see who has the better hairdo. give me a break. >> we'll leave that to voters. we'll ping-pong back and forth. i apologize in advance if we jump to capitol hill. your thoughts on where we are on impeachment. >> nobody has doubted the outcome from the start. if you assess where republicans are in the senate lamarr alexander in his explanation of his vote spoke for numbers, dozens probably of republicans. >> ed: how so? >> they don't believe what the president did on the phone call

and pressuring ukraine by delaying aid was proper but not an impeachable offense. they say we don't need more witnesses. we'll assume he did it. it is not a big enough deal to be an impeachable offense. it would be different we can now recognize if the aid had not in the end flowed within the congressionally mandated deadline and if ukraine had started an investigation. the additional factor the meeting the ukrainian president was seeking was held. it was a presidential level at the u.n. in the end nothing came of it. >> ed: the additional factor of well there was never investigation of the bidens. ukrainians. >> they didn't do it or announce it. >> the impeachment managers barrel forward anyway. nancy pelosi who said, you know, this has to be

bipartisan, never got that. i was talking to republicans this morning who say they may finally get bipartisanship on the acquittal. >> think about this. pelosi had it right when she didn't want to do this saying it had to be bipartisan. why would that be? you will need republican votes to convict. one reason. the other more important reason perhaps is you want -- you don't want to wield the impeachment punishment and result for something that is less than really egregious. so egregious that even members of a presidents' party will be prepared to vote to convict. >> ed: let's talk about what is happening on the ground in iowa. pete buttigieg is trying to exceed expectations tonight. he is talking about obama voters from 2012 that went trump in 2016 and what he and other democrats are doing to w*ip them over. >> we've been in a lot of the counties that famously switched from president obama to trump

and we're seeing folks come out of the woodwork not just diehard democrats but more independent-minded folks and disaffected republicans wanting to turn the page and looking for a campaign that welcomes them and demonstrate to have what it takes to defeat donald trump. >> ed: you have democrats saying we'll be all about unity and beating president trump and john kerry the former democratic nominee alefjedly on a cell phone saying what will it take for me to get in here because bernie sanders is drying us off a cliff. >> the level of alarm about bernie sanders and his apparent success here. if he wins this and new hampshire. they have a serious frontrunner they think has no chance of winning the election. that's what the kerry call reflects. i saw buttigieg after your interview. you were tough with him. he said he thought it was fine. that's what it is all about.

tough but fair. you didn't burn your bridges. he was going out for a run. >> ed: on your point pushing him about. he has been direct in saying the 63 million americans who supported president trump are looking the other way an racism. i pushed him on the fact the president's super bowl ad last night was all about helping people of all races with the second chance act basically. here he is buttigieg. >> president trump's decision to sign the first step act when it came to his desk is one of the handful of things i could actually agree with him on. it doesn't change the incredibly cruel and divisive racial rhetoric that comes out of this white house that is one of the many reasons that i'm meeting not only democrats but republicans who tell me that they struggle to look their children in the eye and explain to them how this is the president -- >> ed: so when you have this ad that's people of all races who get a second chance. alice johnson, a black woman

who said it is donald trump who gave me a second chance. >> that's a powerful ad considering the source of it. a woman who was benefited from something trump did that was interesting and something you might not have expected from him which is why you have even pete buttigieg recognizing it. buttigieg reflects a view that i think is clear. anything this president does that can be seen as adverse to any minority, immigrants, blacks or whoever, is automatically seen as racist. now, i frankly don't think there is very much evidence that trump is much of a racist. but it's absolutely accepted and believed in the democratic party. i don't think the people who voted for trump in the past think he is a racist. >> ed: quick answer on the big picture. you'll be on all night tonight. your thoughts on the big picture for the democratic race

and who might exceed expectations. >> i don't do predictions. at last we may have clarity in the race. polls have been see-sawing all over the place and tonight at last people will vote, yippee. the way they've set this system up, ed. there are a lot of ways to be seen to win. a raw vote total and delegates come in two ways. a lot of apparent victors tonight. >> ed: thank you for your thoughts. >> sandra: let's go to washington now where the impeachment trial has resumed at the top of the hour. you will hear closing arguments from both sides. the impeachment managers making their case now. the defense will then make their closing arguments and a reminder the senators after that can then debate the impeachment articles for up to 10 minutes apiece over the next three days. let's go back to washington as the impeachment trial is again underway sglao. for this reason will seldom fail with the

passions of the whole community and to divided into parties more or less friendly to the accused in such cases there will also be a greatest danger the decision will be regulated more by the strength of parties than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt. daniel webster and alexander hamilton placed thaifr hopes new, the senate, to be the court of greatest impartiality. to be a neutral representative of the people in determining uninfluenced by party or pre-existing faction the innocence or guilt of the president of the united states. today you have a duty to perform. with fidelity not without a sense of surrounding dangers but not without hope. i submit to you on behalf of the house of representatives that your duty demands that you convict president trump. i don't pretend this is an easy

process. it is not designed to be easy. it shouldn't be easy to impeach or convict a president. impeachment is an extraordinary remedy. a tool only to be used in rare instances of grave misconduct. but it is in the constitution for a reason. in america no one is above the law, even those elected president of the united states. i would say especially those elected president of the united states. you've heard arguments from the president's counsel that impeachment would overturn the results of the 2016 election. you have heard that in seeking the removal and disqualification of the president the house is seeking to interfere in the next election. senators, neither is true. these arguments demonstrate a deeply misguided or intentional effort to mislead about the role impeachment plays in our democracy. if you believe as we do and as we have proven, that the president's efforts to use his

official powers to cheat in the 2020 election jeopardize our national security and our antithetical to our democratic tradition you must come to no other conclusion that the president threatens the fairness of the next election and risks putting foreign interference between the voters and their ballots. professor dershowitz and the other counselors to the president have argued that if the president thinks that something is in his interest then it is by definition in the interests of the american people. we have said throughout this process that we cannot and should not leave our common sense at the door. the logical conclusion this argument is that the president is the state, that his interests are the nation's interests, that his will is necessarily ours. you and i and the american people know otherwise. we do not have to be constitutional scholars to understand this is a position

deeply at odds with our constitution and our democracy. that believing in this argument or allowing the president to get away with misconduct based on this extreme view would render him above the law. but we know this cannot be true. what you decide on these articles will have implications for the future of the presidency, not just this president but all future presidents. whether or not the office of the presidency of the united states of america is above the law. that is the question. as was written in an 1835 work democracy in america the greatness of america lies not in being made for enlightened than any other nation but rather in her ability to repair her faults. in may of 1974 barry goldwater

and another republican congressional leaders went to the white house to tell president nixon that it was time for him to resign. and that they could no longer hold back the tide of impeachment over watergate. contrary to popular belief the republican party did not abandon nixon as the watergate scandal came to light. it took years of disclosures and crisis and court battles. the party stood with nixon through watergate because he was a popular conservative president and his base was with him. so they were, too. but ultimately as goldwater would tell nixon, quote, there are only so many lies you can take and now there have been one too many. the president would have us believe that he did not withhold aid toll force these sham investigations. that his july 25th call with the ukrainians was perfect. that his meeting with president zelensky on the sidelines of the u.n. was no different than a head of state meeting in the

oval office. that his only interest in having ukraine announce investigations into the bidens was an altruistic concern over corruption. ukrainians interfered in our 2016 election, not russia. that putin knows better than our own intelligence agencies. how many falsehoods can we take? when will it be one too many? let us take a few minutes to remind you one last time of the facts of the president's misconduct as you consider how you'll vote on this important matter for our nation. those facts compel the president's conviction on the two articles of impeachment. >> mr. chief justice and senators, over the past two weeks the house has presented

to you overwhelming and uncontroverted evidence that president trump has committed grave abuses of power that harmed our national security and were intended to defraud our elections. president trump abused the extraordinary powers he alone holds as president of the united states to force an ally to interfere in our upcoming presidential election for the benefit of his own reelection. he then used those unique powers to wage an unprecedented campaign to obstruct congress and cover up his wrongdoing. as the president's scheme to corrupt our election progressed over several months, it became as one witness described more insidious. the president and his agents wielded the powers of the presidency and the full weight of the u.s. government to increase pressure on ukraine's

new president to coerce him to announce two sham investigations that would smear his potential election opponent and raise his political standing. by early september of last year, the president's pressure campaign appeared on the verge of succeeding until, that is, the president got caught. and the scheme was exposed. in response, president trump ordered a massive cover-up unprecedented in american history. he tried to conceal the fact from congress using every tool and legal window dressing he could to block evidence and muzzle witnesses. he tried to prevent the public from learning how he placed himself above country and yet even as president trump has orchestrated this cover-up and obstructed congress's impeachment inquiry, he remains

unapologetic, unrestrained and intent on continuing his sham to defraud our elections. as i stand here today, delivering the house's closing arguments, president trump's constitutional crimes, his crimes against the american people and the nation remain in progress. as you make your final determination on the president's guilt, it is therefore worth revisiting the totality of the president's misconduct. doing so lays bear the ongoing threat president trump poses to our democratic system of government, both to our upcoming election that some suggest should be the arbiter of the president's misconduct and to the constitution itself that we all swore to support

and defend. donald trump was the central player in the corrupt scheme by his private attorney rudy giuliani. early in 2019, giuliani conspired with two corrupt former ukrainian prosecutors to fabricate and promote only investigations of wrongdoing by former vice president joe biden, as well as the russian propaganda that it was ukraine, not russia, that hacked the dnc in 2016. in the course of their presentation to you, the president's counsel have made several remarkable admissions that affirm core elements of this scheme including specifically about giuliani's role and representation of the president. the president's counsel has conceded that giuliani thought that convince ukraine to

investigate the bidens and allege ukraine election interference on behalf of his client, the president. and that the president's focus on these sham investigations was significantly informed by giuliani, whose views the president adopted. compounding this damning admission, the president's counsel has also conceded that giuliani was not conducting foreign policy on behalf of the president. they have confirmed that in pursuing these two investigations, giuliani was working solely in the president's private personal interest. and the president's personal interest is now clear, to cheat in the next election. as giuliani will later admit for the president's scheme to succeed, he first needed to remove the american ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch,

an anti-corruption champion. giuliani viewed her as an obstacle who, and i quote, was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody. working with now-indicted associates parnas and fruman, giuliani orchestrated a bogus month-long smear campaign against the ambassador that culminated in her removal in april. the president's sudden order to remove our ambassador came just three days after ukraine's presidential election in late april which saw a reformer zelensky swept into office on an anti-corruption platform. president trump called to congratulate zelensky right after his victory and invited president zelensky to the white house and agreed to send vice

president pence to his inauguration. three weeks later, after rudy giuliani was denied a meeting with president zelensky, president trump abruptly ordered vice president pence to cancel his trip. instead, a lower-level delegation led by three of president trump's political appointees, secretary of energy rick perry, ambassador to the european union gordon sondland and special representative for ukraine negotiations kurt volker attended zelensky's inauguration the following week. these three returned from ukraine impressed with president zelensky. in a meeting shortly there after with president trump in the oval office they relayed their positive impression of the new ukrainian president and encouraged president trump to schedule the white house meeting he promised in his first call. but president trump reacted negatively. he railed that ukraine tried to

take me down in 2016. and in order to schedule a white house visit for president zelensky, president trump told the delegation that they would have to, and i quote, talk to rudy. it is worth pausing here to consider the importance of this meeting in late may. this is the moment that president trump successfully hijacked the tools of our government to serve his corrupt personal interest. when the president's domestic political errand as one witness famously described it began to overtake and subordinate u.s. foreign policy and national security interests. by this point in the scheme, rudy giuliani was advocating very publicly for ukraine to pursue the two sham investigations. but his request to meet with president zelensky was rebuffed by the new ukrainian president. according to reports about

ambassador bolton's account, soon to be available if not to this body, then to bookstores near you, the president also unsuccessfully tried to get bolton to call the new ukrainian president to insure he would meet with giuliani. the desire for ukraine to announce these phony investigations was for a clear and corrupt reason because president trump wanted to politically benefit, wanted the political benefit of a foreign country announce than it would investigate his rival. that is how we know without a doubt that the object of the president's scheme was to benefit his reelection campaign. in other words, to cheat in the

next election. ukraine resisted announcing that investigations throughout june so the president and his agent rudy giuliani turned up the pressure. this time by yielding the power of the united states government. in mid-june the department of defense publicly announced it would be releasing $250 million of military assistance to ukraine. almost immediately after seeing this, the president quietly ordered a freeze on the assistance to ukraine. none of the 17 witnesses in our investigation were provided with a credible reason for the hold when it was implemented and all relevant agencies a posed the freeze. in giuliani -- if ukraine announced the sham investigations. according to a july 19 email

the white house has tried to suppress this drug deal as ambassador bolton called it was well-known among the president's most senior officials including his chief of staff, mick mulvaney, and secretary of state mike pompeo. it was relayed directly to senior ukrainian officials by gordon sondland on july 10th at the white house. everyone was in the loop. although president zelensky explained he did not want to be a pawn in washington politics, president trump did not care. in fact, on july 25 before president trump spoke to president zelensky, president trump personally conveyed the terms of this quid pro quo to gordon sondland who then relayed the message to ukraine's president. later that morning, during the

now-infamous phone call president trump explicitly requested that ukraine investigate the bidens and the 2016 election. zelensky responded as president trump instructed he assured president trump that he would undertake these investigations. after hearing this commitment, president trump reiterated his invitation to the white house at the end of the call. now no later than a few days after the call, the highest levels of the ukrainian government learned about the hold on military assistance. senior ukrainian officials decided to keep it quiet recognizing the harm it would cause to ukraine's defense. to the new government standing at home, and to its negotiating posture with russia. officials in ukraine and the united states hoped that the hold would be reversed before it became public. as we now know, that was not to

be. as we have explained during the trial, the president's scheme did not begin with the july 25th call and it did not end there, either. as instructed, a top aide to president zelensky met with giuliani in early august and they began working on a press statement for zelensky to issue that would announce the two sham investigations and lead to a white house meeting. let's be very clear here. the documentary evidence alone, the text messages, the emails that we've showed you, confirm definitely the president's corrupt -- definitively the president's corrupt quid pro quo for the white house meeting. subsequent testimony further affirms that the president withheld this official act.

this highly-coveted oval office meeting to apply pressure on ukraine to do his personal bidding. the evidence is unequivocal. despite this pressure by mid-august president zelensky resisted such an explicit announcement of the two politically-motivated investigations desired by president trump. as a result the white house meeting remained unscheduled. just as it remains unscheduled to this day. during this same time frame in august the president persisted in maintaining the hold on the aid despite warnings that he was breaking the law by doing so. as an independent watchdog recently confirmed that he did. according to the evidence presented to you the president's entire cabinet believed he should release the aid because it was in the

national security interest of our country. during the entire month of august, there was no internal review of the aid. congress was not notified, nor was there any credible reason provided within the executive branch. with no explanation offered and with the explicit clear, yet unsuccessful quid pro quo for the white house meeting in the front of his mind, ambassador sondland testified that the only logical conclusion was that the president was also withholding military assistance to increase the pressure on ukraine to announce the investigations. as sondland and another witness testified, this conclusion was as simple as two plus two equals four. if the white house meeting

wasn't sufficient leverage to extract the announcement he wanted trump would use the frozen aid as his hammer. secretary pompeo confirmed in an august 22 email it was also clear that vice president pence was aware of the quid pro quo over the aid and was directly informed of such in warsaw on september 1 after the freeze had become public and ukraine became desperate. sondland pulled aside a top aid in warsaw and told him that everything both the white house meeting and also the security assistance were conditioned on the announcement of the investigations that sondland, giuliani, and others had been negotiating with the same aide earlier in august. this is an important point. the president claims that

ukraine did not know of the freeze in aid, though we know this to be false. as a former deputy foreign minister admitted publicly, they found out about it within days of the july 25th call and kept it quiet. but no one can dispute that even after the hold became public on july -- on august 28th, president trump's representatives continued their efforts to secure ukraine's announcement of the investigations. this is enough to prove extortion in court. and it is certainly enough to prove it here. if that wasn't enough, however, on september 7th more than a week after the aid freeze became public, president trump confirmed directly to sondland that he wanted president zelensky in a public box and that his release of the aid was

conditioned on the announcement of the two sham investigations. having received direct confirmation from president trump, sondland relayed the president's message to president zelensky himself. president zelensky could resist no longer. america's military assistance makes up 10% of his country's defense budget. and president trump's visible lack of support for ukraine harmed his leverage in negotiations with russia. president zelensky affirmed to sondland on that same telephone call that he would announce the investigations in an interview on cnn. president trump's pressure campaign appeared to have succeeded. two days after president zelensky confirmed his intention to meet president trump's demands the house of

representatives announced its investigation into these very issues. shortly there after the inspector general of the intelligence community notified the intelligence community that the whistleblower complaint was being improperly handled -- was improperly withheld from congress with the white house knowledge. in other words, the president got caught and two days later on september 11th, the president released the aid. to this day, however, ukraine still has not received all of the money congress has appropriated and the white house meeting has yet to be scheduled. the identity of the whistleblower moreover is irrelevant. the house did not rely on the whistleblower's complaint even as it turned out to be

remarkably accurate. it does not matter who initially sounded the alarm when they saw smoke. what matters is that the firefighters, congress, were summoned and found the blaze. and we know that we did. the facts about the president's misconduct are not seriously in dispute as several republican senators have acknowledged publicly. we have proved that the president abused his power in precisely the manner charged in article 1. president trump withheld the white house meeting and military assistance from ukraine in order to pressure ukraine to interfere in the upcoming presidential election

on his behalf. the sham investigation president trump wanted announced had no legitimate purpose and were not in the national interest. despite the president's counsel's troubling reliance on conspiracy theories to claim the president acted in the public interest. the president was not focused on fighting corruption. in fact, he was trying to pressure ukraine's president to act corruptly by announcing these baseless investigations. and the evidence makes clear that the president's decision to withhold ukraine's military aid is not connected in any way to purported concerns about corruption or burden sharing. rather, the evidence was presented -- that was presented

to you is damning, chilling, and disgraceful. president weaponized our government and the vast powers entrusted to him by the american people and the constitution to target his political rival and corrupt our precious elections, subverted our national security, and our democracy in the process. he put his personal interests over those of the country. and he violated his oath of office in the process. but the president's grave abuse of power did not end there. in conduct unparalleled in american history, once he got caught, president trump engaged in categorical and

indiscriminate obstruction of any investigation into his wrongdoing. he ordered every government agency and every official to defy the house's impeachment inquiry. and he did so for a simple reason, to conceal evidence of his wrongdoing from congress and the american people. the president's obstruction was unlawful and unprecedented but it also confirmed his guilt. innocent people don't try to hide every document and witness especially those that would clear them. that's what guilty people do. that's what guilty people do. innocent people do everything they can to clear their name

and provide evidence that shows that they are innocent. but it would be a mistake to view the president's obstruction narrowly. as the president's counsel have tried to portray it. the president did not defy the house's impeachment inquiry as part of a routine interbranch dispute or because he wanted to protect the constitutional rights and privileges of his presidency. he did it consistent with his vow to fight all subpoenas. the second article of impeachment goes to the heart of our constitution and our democratic system of government. the framers of the constitution purposefully entrusted the power of the impeachment in the legislative branch so it may protect the american people from a corrupt president. the president was able to

undertake such comprehensive obstruction only because of the exceptional powers entrusted to him by the american people. and he wielded that power to make sure congress would not receive a single record or a single document related to his conduct and to bar his closest aides from testifying about his scheme. throughout the house's inquiry just as they did during the trial, the president's counsel offered bad faith and meritless legal arguments as transparent legal window dressing intended to legitimize and justify the president's efforts to hide evidence of his misconduct. we've explained why all of these legal excuses hold no merit. why the house's subpoenas were valid. how the house appropriately

exercised its impeachment authority. how the president's strategy was to stall and obstruct. we've explained how the president, after the fact, reliance on unfounded and in some cases brand-new legal privileges are shockingly transparent cover for a president dictate a blanket obstruction. we've underscored how the president's defiance of congress is unprecedented in the history of our republic. and we all know that an innocent person would eagerly provide testimony and documents to clear his name. as the president apparently thought he was doing mistakingly when he released the call records of his two

telephone calls with president zelensky. and even as the president has claimed to be protecting the presidency, remember that the president never actually invoked executive privilege throughout this entire inquiry. a revealing fact given the law's prohibition of invoking executive privilege to shield wrongdoing. and yet according to the president's counsel, the president is justified in resisting the house's impeachment inquiry. they assert the house should have taken the president to court to defy the obstruction. the president's argument is as shameless as it is hypocritical. the president's counsel is arguing in this trial that the house should have gone to court to enforce its subpoenas while at the same time the president's own department of

justice is arguing in court that the house could not enforce the subpoenas through the courts. and you know what remedy they say in court is available to the house? impeachment for obstruction of congress. this is not the first time this argument has been made. president nixon made it, too. but it was roundly rejected by the house judiciary committee 45 years ago. when the committee passed an article for obstruction of congress for far less serious obstruction than we have here. the committee concluded that it was inappropriate to enforce its subpoenas in court. and as the slide shows, the committee concluded that it was inappropriate to seek the aid of the courts to enforce its

subpoenas against the president. this conclusion is based on the constitutional provision vesting the power of impeachment solely in the house of representatives and the express denial by the framers of the constitution of any role for the courts in the impeachment process. again, the committee report on nixon's articles of impeachment. >> once we stripped the president's obstruction of this legal window dressing, the consequences are as clear as they are dire for our democracy. to condone the president's obstruction would strike a death blow to the impeachment clause in the constitution.

and if congress cannot enforce this sole power vested in both chambers alone, the constitution's final line of defense against a corrupt presidency will be eviscerated. a president who can obstruct and thwart the impeachment power becomes unaccountable. he or she is effectively above the law. such a president is more likely to engage in corruption with impunity. this will become the new normal. with this president and for future generations. so where does this leave us? as many of new this chamber have publicly and in the past few days, the facts are not seriously in dispute. we have proved that the president committed grave

offenses against the constitution. the question that remains is whether that conduct warrants conviction and removal from office. should the senate simply accept or even condone such corrupt conduct by a president? absent conviction and removal, how can we be assured that this president will not do it again? if we are to rely on the next election to judge the president's efforts to cheat in that election, how can we know that the election will be free and fair? how can we know that every vote will be free from foreign interference, solicited by the president himself? with president trump the past is prologue. this is neither the first time the president solicited foreign

interference in his own election nor is it the first time the president tried to obstruct an investigation into his misconduct. what you will determine, you will determine, you will determine whether it will be his last. as we speak, the president continues his wrongdoing unchecked and unashamed. donald trump hasn't stopped trying to pressure ukraine to smear his opponent. nor has he stopped obstructing congress. his political agent, rudolph giuliani, recently returned to the scene of the crime in ukraine to manufacture more dirt for his client, the president of the united states. president trump remains a clear and present danger to our

national security. and to our credibility around the world. he is decimating our global standing as a beacon of democracy while corrupting our free and fair elections here at home. what is a greater protection to our country than insuring that we, the american people alone, not some foreign power, choose our commander-in-chief. the american people alone should decide who represents us in any office without foreign interference, particularly the highest office in the land. and what could undermine our national security more than to withhold from a foreign ally fighting a hot war against our adversary? hundreds of millions of dollars

of military aid to buy sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, radar, and night vision goggles. so that they may fight the war over there, keeping us safe here. if we allow the president's misconduct to stand, what message do we send? what message do we send to russia, our adversary, intent on fracturing democracy around the world? what will we say to our european allies already concerned with this president about whether the united states will continue to support our nato commitments that have been a pillar of our foreign policy since world war ii?

what message do we send to our allies in the free world? and if we allow the president's misconduct to stand, what will we say to the 68,000 men and women in uniform in europe right now who courageously and admirably wake up every day ready and willing to fight for america's security and prosperity? for democracy in europe and around the world. what message do we send them when we say america's national security is for sale? that cannot be the message we want to send to our ukrainian friends or european allies or to our children and our grandchildren who will inherit this precious republic.

and i'm sure it is not the message that you wish to send to our adversaries. the late senator john mccain was an astounding man. a man of great principle, a great patriot. he fought admirably in vietnam and imprisoned as a p.o.w. for over five years. refusing an offer by the north vietnam east to be released early because his father was a prominent admiral. as you all are aware, senator mccain was a great supporter of ukraine. a great supporter of europe. a great supporter of our troops. senator mccain understood the importance of this body, this

distinguished body, in serving the public once saying quote, glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely and who rely on you. ukrainians and the europeans and the americans around the world and here at home are watching what we do. they are watching to see what the senate will do. and they are relying on this distinguished body to be constant to the principles america was founded on and which we've tried to uphold for more than 240 years. doing the right thing and being

constant to our principles requires a level of moral courage that is difficult but by no means impossible. it is that moral courage shown by public servants throughout this country and throughout the impeachment inquiry in the house. people like ambassador marie yovanovitch. her decades of nonpartisan service were turned against her in a vicious smear campaign. it reached all the way to the president. despite this effort she decided to honor a duly authorized congressional subpoena and to speak the truth to the american people. for this she was the subject of yet more smears against her career and her character, even as she testified in a public

hearing before congress. her courage matters. people like ambassador bill taylor, a west point graduate who wears a bronze star and air medal for valor. his proudest honor a combat infantryman's badge. when his country called on him he answered again and again and again in battle, in foreign affairs, and in the face of a corrupt effort by the president to extort a foreign country into helping his reelection campaign. an effort that ambassador taylor rightly believed was crazy. his courage matters. people like lieutenant colonel alexander vindman who came to this country as a young child

fleeing authoritarianism in europe. he could have done anything with his life but he chose public service, putting on a uniform and receiving a purple heart after being wounded in battle fighting courageously in iraq. when he heard that fateful july 25th call in which the president sold out our country for his own personal gain, lieutenant colonel vindman reported it and later came before congress to speak the truth about what happened. lieutenant colonel vindman's courage matters. to the other public servants who came forward and told the truth in the face of vicious smears, intimidation, and white

house efforts to silence you, your courage mattered. you did the right thing. you did your duty. no matter what happens today, or from this day forward, that courage mattered. whatever the outcome in this trial, we will remain vigilant in the house. i know there are dedicated public servants who know the difference between right and wrong. but make no mistake, these are perilous times. if we determine that the remedy for a president who cheats in an election is to pronounce him vindicated and attack those who exposed his misconduct.

>> senators, before we break, i want to take a moment to talk about the staff that works tirelessly on this inquiry for months now. there's a small army of public servants down the hall from this chamber and yes, in that windowless bunker in the capital, who have committed their lives to this effort because they, like the managers and the american people, believe that the president free of accountability is a danger to our democracy. i'm grateful to all of them but let me mention a few. daniel bultman, barbara tarr, patrick bolan, william evans, patrick fallon, john disco, nicholas mitchell, daniel noble,

emily simons, suzanne grooms, krista boyd, norma eisen, barry work, joshua matz, doug letter, terry mcauliffe, wendy parker. some of those staff, including some singled out in this chamber, have made to endure the most vicious false attacks to the point where they feel their lives have been at risk. the attacks on them degrade our institution and all who serve it. you've asked me why i hired certain of my staff and i will tell you, because they are brilliant, hardworking, patriotic, and the best people for the job, and they deserve better than the attacks they have been forced to suffer. members of the senate, mr. chief justice, i want to close this by reading you the words of our dear friend and former colleague in the house, elijah cummings,

who said this on the day the speaker announced the beginning of the impeachment inquiry. he said of the american people, we speak not only by those who are here with us now but for generations yet unborn. our voices today are messages to our future we may never see. when the history books are written about this tumultuous era, i want them to show that i was among those in the house of representatives who stood up to lawlessness and tyranny. we the managers are not here representing ourselves alone are just the house, just as you are not here making the determination of the president's guilt or innocence for yourselves alone. and you and we represent the american people, the ones at home and at work who are hoping that their country will remain what it has always believed it to be. beacon of hope, of democracy,