this is "nightline." tonight, teachable moment. the history lesson unfolding. >> let's look it up. >> reporter: and the next generation of american voters weighing in. >> like lily said, i think it'd be more private to talk to trump privately and not right at the table with everyone. >> reporter: dissecting today's hearing in washington from the classroom. the russia expert wrapping up the impeachment hearings. >> i did say to him, "ambassador sondland, i think this is all going to blow up." and here we are. >> reporter: plus, mr. rogers revisited. "a beautiful day in the neighborhood" with your nicest best friend now on the big screen. his wife meeting the leading man. >> how do you think your husband would have reacted by being portrayed by this guy? >> reporter: revealing what it

was like to be married to a television treasure. but first the nightline 5. number one in just sixty

>> reporter: good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight, history unfolding real-time in a civics class in pennsylvania.

teacher and students examining under the microscope a divisive impeachment hearing. here is abc's david wright. this president believes that he is above the law. >> you're going to impeach and remove a president for this? >> 70% of americans say trump's actions tied to ukraine were wrong. >> today's hearing marks the merciful end of this spectacle in the impeachment committee. >> reporter: the impeachment showdown in the hallowed halls of congress is beaming across the country into living rooms and classrooms. years later, i can say with confidence that this country has offered for me opportunities i never would have had. >> reporter: a history lesson broadcast live and in real time. for these middle schoolers in new bethlehem, pennsylvania. >> your thoughts on dr. hill? what's your initial takeaway caden? >> her ancestors have done a lot for america and for us. >> reporter: a teachable moment. >> as a civics teacher, i find it my responsibility to try to showcase this, this moment in

this moment in time is an historic time. where the leader of the free world is under investigation for impeachment. >> which two presidents have been impeached thus far? >> reporter: a lesson in civics. >> emma? >> andrew johnson. >> reporter: and civility. >> and elliott? >> bill clinton. >> reporter: and how our democracy works. >> the impact of the successful 2016 russian campaign remains evident today. our nation is being torn apart. truth is questioned. >> let me just ask this, because i think it's interesting. this is some difficult stuff. >> if you can make our leader, if you can make it look like they're an illegitimate leader, what have you just done to our country? >> you made it look weak. >> you made it look weak. do you think russia would benefit from that? >> yeah. that's what she is kind of trying to unpack here. >> you're 13, 14, you're not expected to be experts in foreign policy, but someday you will. >> reporter: what these students, and their parents and grandparents take away from this process is really what matters most. >> it's like a very important process that needed to happen. >> i don't think it's even close to over yet and it's already

been going on for a long time. >> so remember yesterday? >> sondland. >> sondland, what his title is or what he what he is. emma. >> the ambassador of the -- >> the ambassador of the -- it's ok if you don't know. >> yeah i forget. >> reporter: this is small town america. trump country. in 2016, he won the surrounding counties by a landslide. nightline was here. my colleague terry moran paid a visit dr harmon's class shortly before election day. >> all right, we're gonna look at today, political ads. >> reporter: these students called it. their straw poll, lined up just like how their parents would vote days later. >> hillary clinton 48, donald trump 340. donald trump with a landslide victory here at redbank valley. >> reporter: today, a much different process. rarer than any election. >> what did he mean by president

trump benefiting from an investigation into joe biden? >> trump's going against joe biden in the 2020 election. so if people find out that biden has done something wrong, they might not vote for him. >> reporter: but the students get what's at stake. >> he's not arguing that trump didn't do anything wrong. he's just saying that it's not impeachable. >> i think he will be impeached but i think the senate won't convict him. >> reporter: today's most relatable bit of testimony came from david holmes, a foreign service officer serving in the us embassy in kiev. he told the committee about a phone call he overheard in july. >> i could hear the president's voice through the earpiece of the phone. the president's voice was loud and recognizable and ambassador sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time, presumably because of the loud volume. >> reporter: ambassador gordon sondland was with holmes at a restaurant in kiev reporting back to president trump about their meeting with the ukrainian president. >> i then heard president trump

ask, "so, he's gonna do the investigation?" ambassador sondland replied that "he's gonna do it." >> i feel like it's just weird that it was at a restaurant. >> like lily said, i think it'd be more private, try to talk to trump privately and not right at the table with everyone. >> it was a little weird how he said he was holding it away from his face even though it was on speakerphone. >> what do you think emma? >> i mean if it wasn't on speakerphone, it would have to be extremely loud for him to hear it. >> reporter: that's exactly what president trump picked up on. inviting his supporters to try it. tweeting, "never have i been watching a person making a call, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. i've even tried, but to no avail. try it live!" >> the unfortunate truth is that russia was the power that -- >> reporter: another moment that cut through today, this one from fiona hill. >> is it sophia hill? >> fiona hill.

>> fiona hill. did you see what her title is? does anyone know her title? let's look it up. we can google it. according to google she was the administration's top russia expert, until she resigned from the national security council in august. >> reporter: she testified about how she clashed with ambassador sondland over ukraine. >> i actually said to him, "who put you in charge of ukraine?" and, i mean, i'll admit i was a bit rude and that's when he told me the president which shut me up he was absolutely right. because he was being involved in a domestic political errand, and we were being involved in national security foreign policy. and those two things had just diverged. >> reporter: so at the end of five days of testimony, it seems pretty clear that the democrats are going to move forward with articles of impeachment against the president. the question is going to be, what are those articles? >> why isn't it just impeachment equals removal from office? do you know what i'm asking? willis? >> it has to go through the senate to -- >> yeah, it has to go through

both steps. >> reporter: perhaps with that next step in mind, today the president launched a charm offensive, inviting republican senators who will likely decide this case to lunch. interestingly, the redbank students debated if trump should testify in his own defense. >> we'll start with elliott and just work our way over. >> no. definitely not because i think he's going to blow it and say something and ruin it for himself so i think he shouldn't. >> ok. claire? >> the people at these hearings and stuff are like professional at asking all these questions and stuff and i just don't know if trump would be able to answer all the questions like correctly i guess. >> reporter: eighth grader seth barrett also talks politics at the dinner table. his parents, adam and wendy, went to redbank when they were kids. they recently sold their family dairy farm. adam found work right away. proof they say of the strong economy under trump. >> people vote with their pocketbooks and their wallets 90 percent of the time.

unless that are there's some catastrophe, i think he'll get reelected. they're following impeachment. >> we teach our boys it's ok when they talk about these things in school. you're going to have different opinions than your friends. and that's ok. you don't need to get upset. you don't mean to say mean things to one another. just be fair and listen to them, because that's what the whole united states is about -- like to get along and difference of opinion. >> reporter: you can follow complete impeachment coverage at abcnewscom. up next, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood with mr. rogers on the silver screen. ♪ may your holidays glow bright

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>> reporter: for more than three decades, mr. rogers was welcomed into the homes of millions of children. now his life's work explored in a new hollywood film. here's my "nightline" co-anchor juju chang. >> reporter: for 33 years, he welcomed everyone to his neighborhood. blazer off. sweater on. sneakers tied. a routine both comforting and mesmerizing to millions of children, making mr. rogers one of the most cherished figures of all time. now tom hanks is putting on that cardigan to recreate "a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

>> it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. >> reporter: the two time oscar winner and the real mrs. rogers, joanne, sat down with us for their first joint interview. >> how do you think your husband would have reacted by being portrayed by this guy? >> i think he might have been speechless. >> is it true that tom was his favorite actor? >> yes. >> well, he -- i was an actor he liked. >> that's not true! >> i think brad pitt might have been fred's favorite actor! >> and he saw "forrest gump" 40 times i bet. >> what do you think he saw in tom? >> you know, i'm sittin' right here, you know. you don't have to put her on the spot! >> what i could say is what i think of tom. easy to be a friend >> if people said of me what they have all said about fred, i'd be the luckiest man in the world. everybody said, "when you talk to fred." >> they have. >> yeah? okay, i'll take that. they say, "when you talked to fred, you felt like you were the only person that mattered in the world." >> reporter: the film explores fred's brand of radical iisce to etou.

sty a jaded mag journalist, played by actor matthew rhys. >> everyone this is lloyd vogel. he is a wonderful writer. >> reporter: and the unexpected ways in which mr. rogers helps him reconcile his own troubled past and fraught family relationships. >> do you consider yourself a hero? >> i don't think of myself as a hero, no not at all. >> what about mr. rogers? is he a hero? >> i don't understand the question. >> well there's you fred and then there's the character you play mr. rogers. >> reporter: the story is loo loosely based on mr. rogers and

a journalist. he discovered he was a kind person who had a profound impact on the people he touched. >> he had this like intuitive understanding of what people needed. in that moment. >> reporter: born in 1928, he developed mr. rogers neighborhood in 1968. he was the evening one on television who spoke directly to children. >> it's not what we have in this life that matters. it's what we do with what we have. >> reporter: providing answers to their most compelling questions, including pain, sadness and bullying. >> i know a little girl whose

mother and father got a divorce, and those children cried and cried. >> the great episode, which he dealt with best, he talked about the death of his dog when he was young. >> my grandmother heard me crying, i remember, and she came, and she just put her arm around me. >> and he says, and i was really sad for a while. part of being alive is to be sad. ♪ but the very same people who are sad sometimes ♪ ♪ are the very same people who are glad sometimes ♪ >> reporter: he reminded us of our similarities. >> each person has a birthday! that's one thing that everybody has. >> reporter: and celebrated our differences. >>. ♪ there's only one in this wonderful world ♪ ♪ you are special >> reporter: yet, for all the goodness mr. rogers radiated

on-screen, you might be surprised to hear it didn't come easy for him. in the movie, your character says that your husband had to practice kindness. >> how does it feel being married to a living saint. >> i'm not fond of that term. and if you think of him as a saint, then his way of being is unattainable. you know, he works at it all the time. it's a practice. he's not a perfect person. he has a temper. >> i think he was perfectly human. imperfectly human, i should say. >> perfectly imperfect. >> yes. >> reporter: how do you think he practiced being kind? >> fred was a minister first and foremost. and the program was his ministry. >> reporter: and that's how he communicated it. >> yes. >> nobody asked joanne if she got mad. >> reporter: did you get mad at him? >> oh, yes. >> reporter: he got on your

nerves, like every good marriage. >> oh, yes. i would come in, just talking about having a hard time at the car dealership. and he would say something like, well, you just don't know what that man was dealing w yith, ani would just want to go -- >> that response is not marriage therapy 101. i don't think that's what a husband should do. >> reporter: hanks originally passed at the role but jumped at the chance to work with someone he admired. >> i can't imagine anyone else playing this part. >> fame is a four-letter word. what ultimately matters is what we do with it. >> he makes it look easy. >> he always has. and that, i think, goes unattributed and how difficult what he's doing. he goes into the minutia, so much so that you forget.

in order to do that, you achieve greatness, which he does. >> reporter: how did you channel your inner mr. rogers? >> by sheer terror. i wanted to slow down. and that is the opposite of what is usually required in making a movie. movie making is like the circus tent be beiing set up. it was rough in every way. >> hey, mr. rogers! >> reporter: what do you want audiences to take away from this movie? >> i want them to enjoy it. ♪ it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood ♪ ♪ a beautiful day for a neighbor ♪ ♪ could you be mine ♪ would you be mine >> i hope they will come out and say, i wasn't expecting that. i feel a little better. ♪ won't you please, please won't you be my neighbor ♪

>>that was wonderful. >> our thanks to juju. the movie is out now. and next, naughty or nice, it's double trouble for st. nick. ♪ oh, ho! oh, ho, ho, ho! you... you got me. uh, what do you want? i've got uh, ai robots, i've got vr goggles. i want your sled, please. no. [ chuckles ] timmy. it'd be a shame if this went viral. for those who never compromise. the mercedes-benz winter event. whoa. he was pretty good this year. for your worst sore throat pain try vicks vapocool drops. it's not candy, it's powerful relief. ahhhhhh! vaporize sore throat pain with vicks vapocool drops.

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>> reporter: finally, tonight, santa and his newest little helpers. no, you're not seeing double, that's 28 set of twins and their moms posing for an epic holiday photo op yesterday near chicago. the tiny tots, some maybe a little naughty, some nice, now becoming part of the adorably chaotic event. >> i love seeing the faces and all the outfits. >> reporter: seems like there outta be a clause in santa's contract for all that double duty. >> reporter: tis almost the season. that's "nightline." you can always catch our full episodes on hulu. thanks for the company, america. good night. sfloo

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