angus king of maine. also tonight my conversation with the husband of christina mauser, who lost her life in the crash that killed kobe bryant, his daughter and seven other people on board that helicopter. with advil, you have power over pain, so the whole world looks different. the unbeatable strength of advil. what pain? skip to the good part with alka-seltzer plus. now with 25% more concentrated power. nothing works faster for powerful cold relief. oh, what a relief it is! so fast! heartburn and gas? ♪ fight both fast tums chewy bites with gas relief all in one relief of heartburn and gas ♪ ♪ tum tum tum tums tums chewy bites with gas relief they can save you these. in fact, if you had a dollar for every time they said it, you'd have a lot of dollars. which makes it hard to believe, especially coming from a talking lizard. pip, pip, cheerio! look, all i, dennis quaid, know is that esurance is built to save you dollars without skimping on service. and when they save, you save. the only way to know how m

iraq war veteran, tammy duckworth and angus king. and the culture wars. the secretaries of defense and state both say the united states will not attack iran's cultural sites contradicting the president. >> i'm wondering whether you would push back in your role -- >> you're not really wondering, andrea. you're not really wondering -- i was unambiguous on sunday. it is consistent with what the president has said. >> but the president has -- >> every action we take will be consistent with international rule of law. >> coming up here, former secretary of state leon panetta with his reaction and attack mode. bernie sanders unloading on joe biden saying he doubts he can defeat trump as joe biden gets ready to defend his record. >> joe biden voted and helped lead the effort for the war in iraq, the most dangerous foreign policy plunder in the modern history of this country. i don't think that that kind of record is going to bring forth the energy we need to defeat trump. ♪ >>> and good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where secretary of state mike pompeo n

senate, senator angus king, independent of maine who caucuses with the democrats. senator, thank you very much after a long day's journey into the night, spending a few further minutes with us. any evidence to you that so much as one mind has been changed after all these hours and a wrap up so emotional that adam schiff briefly lost his composure tonight? >> i wish i could say yes to that, brian, but i haven't really seen it, although in talking to some of my republican colleagues after the session just casually, the argument -- i'm going to make a bold prediction here. the argument seems to have shifted to nothing really happened here to, yes, something untoward happened, but the election is in eight months. let's just let the people decide. i think that's the -- i think you're going to see when this all boils down at the end of next week that's going to be the primary armagedd primary argument. the problem is what adam schiff said in his argument, what may happen between now and then. it wasn't touched on, but one of the important points i hope will come out even

we'll talk to her fellow senator angus king, and what constituents are saying on the subject when wee. e how l i can eat and still enjoy myself all day long, i wake up every morning to see how much weight i've lost and how much better i look. myww join for less than a $1 a day. as your broker, i've solved it. is complicated. that's great, carl. but we need something better. that's easily adjustable has no penalties or advisory fee. and we can monitor to see that we're on track. like schwab intelligent income. schwab! introducing schwab intelligent income. a simple, modern way to pay yourself from your portfolio. oh, that's cool... i mean, we don't have that. schwab. a modern approach to wealth management. ♪ ♪ country roads, take me home there's a booking for every resolution. book yours at any price, at booking.com >>> senators are closer to the facts of the impeachment trial and serves on the senate intelligence committee. in addition his counterpart on the main delegation is republican senator susan collins. so his insight is doubly welcomed tonight. we spoke with senator king just

joining us now is senator angus king, he is a member of the intelligence and armed services committeeeat state of maine. thanks for being with us this morning. we learned moments ago that the secretary of state mike pompeo will also brief the press at 10:00 a.m. this morning, this of course before the briefing later today for the gang of eight in congress. what questions do you have for mike pompeo, the secretary of state, who says the united states is safer as a result of the killing of general soleimani and also says that the attack was based on an imminent threat without producing the evidence? what questions do you have? >> well, i think there are two or three issues to start with, one was should there have been consultation with congress and was it an imminent threat? what does the intelligence say? i have not yet seen that intelligence, i'm having a briefing this afternoon at the intelligence committee, hopefully we will be able to dig into that. john, i really think the more important question is not whether it was legal or consultation or all of that, whether it was a smart mo

we'll talk to her fellow senator angus king, and what constituents are saying on the subject when weyou can get a satisfaction guarantee. you can also wonder why our competitors don't offer that. schwab. a modern approach to wealth management. don't offer that. ♪ new fixodent ultra dual power provides you with an unbeatable hold and strong seal against food infiltrations. fixodent. and forget it. diarrhea? pepto diarrhea to the rescue. it's 3x concentrated liquid formula coats and kills bacteria to relieve diarrhea. the leading competitor only treats symptoms it does nothing to kill the bacteria. treat diarrhea at its source with pepto diarrhea. my hands are everything to me. but i was diagnosed with dupuytren's contracture. and it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. thought surgery was my only option. turns out i was wrong. so when a hand specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. like you, my hands have a lot more to do. learn more at factsonhand.com today. like you, my hands have a lot more to do. i must admit. i h

angus king from maine. his reflections there. in a moment we'll talk to pat toomey. he's on deck when our coverage continues. quick break here. back after this. millions of patients are treated with statins-but up to 75% persistent cardiovascular risk still remains. many have turned to fish oil supplements. others, fenofibrates or niacin. but here's a number you should take to heart: zero-the number of fda approvals these products have, when added to statins, to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. ask your doctor about an advancement in prescription therapies with proven protection. visit truetoyourheart.com you will see at vgreat and look great.ee "guaranteed" we say that too! you've gotta use these because we don't mean it. buy any pair at regular price, get one free. really! visionworks. see the difference. but i did pick clarity by knowing i have a treatment that goes right at it. discover piqray, a treatment that specifically targets pik3ca mutations in hr+, her2- mbc. piqray is taken with fulvestrant after progression on hormone therapy and helps people

joining us now, independent senator angus king of maine. you agree, is it time for nancy pelosi to send the articles of impeachment to the senate? >> well, i can shethink she's i standoff with mitch mcconnell. i think it's going to happen in the next couple of days. i think we're ready to get started over here and we're going to -- this is sort of internal argument that will be forgotten in a few days. i think the important thing is, what's this trial going to look like? and the important issue there is whether there's going the be evidence and that's where mitch has been very squishy about whether there will be a vote, when there's going to be a vote. john bolton is like the guy in the front row with his hand up saying call on me. and with the republicans and mitch mcconnell saying we don't want to hear that evidence, they won't wash with the american people, i don't believe. >> have you spoken to any of your republican colleagues in the senate who want to hear from john bolton? >> well, i've gotten some sort of vague feelings that they do

well you heard mitt romney say that he thinks a number of senators a leaning that way and angus king who is an independent senators says his bold prediction is somewhere in the region of 5 to 10 republicans will demand to hear evidence from john bolton no the white house is already lining up some of the defenses that can put forward one of them being of course that the conversations between john bolton and donald trump should be covered under executive privilege don't trump hasn't invoked that it any point the here's the thing don't trump was tweeting about the conversations with john bolton earlier today that makes it very difficult to argue that these conversations are privileged if they're privileged that privilege for everyone including the president so it makes it more difficult to go to court and say you can't hear from john bolton because those conversations should be protected under law at the hearings over for monday and that means that the republicans have got one more day to put forward the case on behalf of the president in the last few years we heard from alan dershowitz

the democratic party has 45 the other 2 seats are held by independent senators bernie sanders and angus king both of whom caucus with the democrats so 20 republicans would need to turn against him and so far none has said they would that speak to michael isikoff now he's the chief investigative correspondent for yahoo news joins us live from washington very good to have you with us again on al-jazeera michael so is this a foregone conclusion or do you expect perhaps defections from the republicans or even within the democratic party. well there there's an assumption that the ultimate out outcome acquittal of the president is a pretty safe bet at this point but there are a lot of wild cards out there into how this could go i was talking with a member of the president's legal team not long ago today earlier today and basically this is going to there are 2 possible routes this can go one is the white house preferred route which is they each side presents their case this week the democrats go for 2 days thursday and friday and then the republicans go. into you know on saturday because they will

control here, the other thing you will hear about is the bidens, the democrats brought up with angus kinghe thought this is a gamble for the house democratic manner to cite this earlier but that was a free bottle because he expected the president to go after the bidens. shannon: what can we expect tomorrow morning when the president's defense team get their turn? >> this was a way to set up the rest of the week as jay sekulow said think of this as a movie trailer. it will only be three hours but it enables them to establish the narrative and counter what democrats have been doing as you go into the sunday shows. that will be key but the issue of the bidens will be number one. shannon: hopefully you can squeak in a little rest this weekend. for our next guest a busy day first attending the annual march for life rally and then scootering and biking to get to the senate floor in time for the last day, senator mike lee, did you get it done? we have various modes of transportation. when the city road is closed down for the march for life. >> i had to get back for jury duty so i got back as qui

listen to senator angus king of maine. >> the question about witnesses is an important one because fromresident's point of view of this trial winds up in the next 24, 40 hours with no witnesses he can say i was acquitted but he can't say he was exonerated. there will always be in ascarerisk. >> the president of the united states is about to be acquitted on a sham impeachment charge, the only bipartisan vote was against impeachment and we will likely see a bipartisan vote for acquittal and i think most americans have made up the russian conspiracy theory, the president was exonerated by the mueller report. they made up the ukraine conspiracy theory, the president about to be acquitted by the united states senate. they did to brett cavanagh, they've done it to donald trump, democrats see through this, americans see through this, republicans see through this, they know this was never about impeachment, it was a campaign strategy because they know they cannot beat donald trump at the polls, they must do it via a coup in the calls of congress. what is your take on where things stand at a cri

. >> dana talked earlier to start angus king. he made the argument that this is not about punishment. let's listen. >> the question is are you going to be punished for it. it's not punishment, it's prevention. and the keyword here is remorse. the president hasn't expressed a scintilla -- >> would that matter? >> well, it matters because that says the only way to prevent him from doing it again is to remove him from office. >> so, even, you know, tim, president clinton apologized for his actions back during his impeachment. how much does remorse matter? maybe in the senate versus in the public opinion? >> well, i think -- i think remorse matters, but more importantly, a course correction matters. i think senator king is at getting at something really important. a number of people argue that house democrats knew from the beginning they couldn't get 67 senators. why bother going ahead with impeachment? well, i'll tell you why, because you want to make doing this kind of foreign policy, using our national security structure to furthe

california, chris murphy and richard blumenthal of connecticut, joe manchin of west virginia, and angus kinge who think it's time for pelosi to send those articles of impeachment over so the senator kinsenatecan get to wor. now some of them are trying to clarify that they support pelosi's position over senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> what we are seeing is, mitch mcconnell aiding and abetting a cover-up. let me repeat, aiding and abetting a cover-up. that's not just rhetoric, that's a profound disrespect and degrading the constitution. nancy pelosi is absolutely right to insist that mitch mcconnell respect the constitution. >> we have not heard much for the democrats that are running for president, but one would expect they would be eager to get moving as well with 2020 contests in iowa and new hampshire on the horizon. >> trace: if you would think, what about republicans? what did they say? >> mitch mcconnell is clearly trying to signal that the speaker of the house doesn't have any power over the senate, and the senate judiciary chairman is saying speaker should stop dragging her

. >> senator angus king of maine, an independent but caucuses with you, said he predicts anywhere between 5 and 10 republicans will vote along with the democrats for witnesses. now that's senator king's prediction. it's your job to know. so this morning, do you think you have the votes and where do you think the votes are? >> i hope angus is right, but i can't tell you the number of republicans who are likely to vote for witnesses. i do believe that the information coming out relative to john bolton is certainly relevant to the impeachment complaint itself. and i do believe he as well as mick mulvaney and the tworths members of the administration all should be called as witnesses. >> pat toomey, the republican senator from pennsylvania, has suggested that he would be open to what he calls a one for one swap, if you get john bolton, then the republicans will get to call someone, presumably hunter biden. where is thinking on that possibility? >> we're not trading baseball cards. we're not kids sitting around here picking their favorites and putting them in the middle of the circle. we're ta

>> potentially, and angus king and others who are like-minded politically are saying that publicly. but there are republicans saying that privately. this is in keeping with what we see generally in the trump era, republicans say things privately and not publicly. but there is concern even among some really big hawks privately to him, like, really? this is how far you want to go? this is the guy who just one step further -- the only other person you could take out who would be higher would be the ayatollah. is this what you want to do? obviously the president was determined to do that, and what you've seen in the five or six days since is scrambling to try to come up with an explanation for why. and the whole question of imminent threat, they are eventually, starting today, going to have to go to congress and tell the people who do have the ability to get classified briefings what they really saw. and so, you know, they can't say publicly but they will know whether or not it was legit. >> and we will hear beginning tonight and in more briefings tomorrow whether those members -- again

and angus king says it would not be an exoneration without witnesses.what has happened could be another division in the country after the trl and i think senate republicans are consideringeriously the idea of an investigation into the bidens in some form. just talk during th trial? i don't know but it is in the air for after this trial judy: fascinating. yamiche, the president has taken off for michigan and iowa. what is he saying right now about the trial? yamiche: he and his legal team are saying that the trial is going well today. his attorney said his statements were being taken out of context. he got a lot of pushback. the president going after his own interests as well as the interest of the count one and the same and he got a lot of pushback. he is making the case that he is being taken out of context. ofseveral memberhe president's legal team are saying that. the president in michigan was supposed to be talking about trade but then turned to impeachment. he is supposed to be on his way to iof for a campaign rally but he is focused on impeachment

republican senator mitt romney says he would like to you or bolton has to say and angus king says oulton'sny would be crucial. >> i can't imagine with a straight face how anyone around here could say we don't want to hear the evidence. by the way, i have no idea what john bolton is going to say. he could extricate the president from this entirely, or he could incriminate him. >> harris: marco rubio has a straight face and he is saying... the hill is reporting mitch mcconnell has the votes to block democrats demands for witnesses. the power panel. judy miller, prize-winning journalist and author. dan henninger, deputy editor for "the wall street journal" editorial page. senator marco rubio saying let's keep it in the scope of what's been collected in the impeachment case already. we don't need to hear from john bolton. >> i think the republicans want this over as quickly as possible. they don't want a long set of potentially complicating witnesses. no one knows what john bolton is going to say. mitch mcconnell doesn't want to hear from him and we know that the president doesn't want to hear

. >> interesting prediction by the independent senator from maine, angus king. meantime, robert costa of "the washington post," who joins us in just a moment, reporting tonight that republican senator pat toomey of pennsylvania is talking with his colleagues about a possible deal to call two witnesses to the impeachment trial, one from the republican side and one for the democrats. here at the table for our leadoff discussion on another consequential night, two pulitzer prize recipients from "the washington post," philip rucker, white house bureau chief, and investigative reporter carol leonnig. they also happen to be co-authors of the new book "a very stable genius." we'll talk all about it later in the hour. also with us, anita kumar, associate editor for politico, who was in the senate chamber for today's proceedings. there i'll say it. room where it happened. and steve kornacki, our national political correspondent. and with us from washington tonight, michael schmidt, pulitzer prize-winning washington correspondent for "the times" along with robert costa, n

. >>> i woke with maine senator angus king, with his assessment where the vote count stands. before air time i spoke with his counterpart from hawaii democratic senator mazie hirono. >> senator, the reporting tonight that mitch mcconnell says republicans at this point do not have enough votes to block impeachment of witnesses, are you surprisedpy that and is that in line with what you've been hearing? >> that seems to be what's happening with the republicans. and faced with the bolton bombshell that he, in fact, was told by the president that he was connecting the holding of the aid to ukraine to investigations, you know, that's the kind of direct evidence that the republicans have been saying they wanted and here you have it. so i think there was hand wringing, and there were people saying, look, we can't just turn our backs on this because i don't think they want to be accused of continuing with a rigged trial. >> some senate republicans like james lang ford have been saying they've gotten to be able to see john bolton's manuscript before they vote on whether to include wit

joining me now is angus king of maine.gence and armed services committee. you've been briefed by the trump white house. is there anything you've heard from the administration so far that convinces you that killing soleimani was worth the risk. worth all the unintended consequences? >> that's a good question. what i haven't been able to determine we were talking today to people close to the ground. we weren't talking to policy people, tomorrow there's a briefing with secretary pompeo. they're more on the policy level. i'm sure that's going to be -- the question is, did they weigh the risks and benefits. the fallout has been pretty negative. your prior guests mentioned, by the way, i second the motion that he's won of our most distinguished diplomats. the iranian regime was on the heels. and we've unified them, people two weeks ago were protesting against the regime. now they're protesting against us. that's one of the most significant outcomes of this thing, along with whether we're going to get expelled from iraq. there's

we've heard similar sentiment from angus king who is independent but caucuses with democrats. joe manchin. i wonder what you think nancy pelosi and the democrats in the house gained from waiting. >> well, they obviously gained some time. and i am not sure what else they've gained. i think they were hoping for some leverage. i think hopefully maybe to put some pressure on the president to see what he would do next. perhaps put some pressure on mcconnell. perhaps give the senate democrats some opportunity to come together and put some extra pressure on those swing republicans. those few republicans that might have broken away in favor of witnesses. it's hard to see at least visibly whatever the speaker may have gained at this point. she certainly got a lot of attention for it. and at this point maybe the other thing i would point out she might have gained is we have had revelations since she began to hold the articles. revelations in the news that have hurt the president. more information about what's been going on in the administration but actually fortifies the democrats' case

because there are three democratic senators, angus king who is an independent, but the caucus is withts. chris murphy and richard blumenthal. he's saying it's time for the trial to begin. has pelosi's tactic run its course? no? >> well, i think she still has all the options. she could, for example, announce publicly that she is not sending the articles to the senate until after the election. and that way she'd make them an election issue in many states where republicans are running and wouldn't want those to be an issue. secondly, she can say, i'm sending them to the senate, but i'm sending them with the heads up that if the senate doesn't give a fair trial, the house of representatives is going to go to the supreme court and take these under judicial review. now, there is a friend of mine who has got a piece coming out in the washington post tomorrow, cleveland attorney jim robenault, has dug out some of the case law. and walter nixon, when he was impeached, went to the court and took it all the way to the supreme court. the supreme court ruled against him 9-0 on whether or not they

angus king. chris murphy. joe manchin. all saying it's time to send us the articles. and without the support of her party in terms of holding the line on this, it looks like she's holding an increasingly losing hand. >> we do have senator joe manchin on our program later. we have a lot of questions for him. racha rachael, thank you very much. >>> so the 3 million americans in puerto rico on edge this morning after a series of powerful earthquakes. experts say there could be more to come. we have a live report from the island next. you always want to be able to deliver relief for your patients. get them out of pain, get them out of pain fast. we have a new product out there: sensodyne rapid relief. if you use it on monday, by thursday, you'll be enjoying that chocolate ice cream again. they can start it, and 3 days later, i know that they're going to have the results they were looking for. americans come to lendingtree.com to compare and save on loans, credit cards and more! but with the new lending tree app you can see your full financial health, monitor your credit s

senator angus king's book it's got highlighted notes throughout the entire book.e has been reading this very closely, but it's not just academic. there's some senators who are turning to prayer. senator carper said that people are coupling up to him saying they're praying for him. senator tim scott a republican of south carolina said that he's not only just talking to his colleagues who went through the impeachment in 1999 but he's turning to prayer as well. because it's very important to him. also, not every senator who is preparing. senator cramer, excuse me, senator kennedy he said that this is a waste of time and a waste of money. when it comes down to tuesday they'll be sitting in the seats and they should do yoga, because they'll be in the seats for a lot of hours. no one said they're doing yoga, so we'll see how they'll be physically fit to do that. >> you're on the front lines of the yoga beat. thank you so much. senator won't be able to text or talk during the impeachment trial as well. >> nope. >> we'll have a lot more on that coming up in a bit when we

diane feinstein, angus king, joe mansion, all the corners are saying, i think it's time to do this.k schumer can't tamp them down as nancy pelosi can in her caucus. >> there's not been a republican speaker who has been able to control his members at all over the last several speakers that we've covered. but speaker pelosi without question is -- yes, they trust her. she said it's coming soon. what i noticed over and over on capitol hill is they're looking at the date february 4th. that is the date the president is coming over to give the state of the union. nancy pelosi has reportedly told people she would like the trial to be underway so he is not cleared of this at the time he's in the house of representatives. that's about three weeks or so away. it's hard to control exactly the timing of this, but that's one thing mentioned to me several times. who knows. we know it's happening soon. she can't wait forever and she said that. she controls the cards ask no one knows but her. >> no one knows but her. she did say soon. it depends on the definition of soon, i guess. we don't know who

that seems to be filtering teino the se independent angus king of maine is saying now it would not be an exoneration with no witnesses. so even defining what has happened could be another division in the country after this trial. one more thing, judy, i think that sena republicans are consering seriously the idea of an investigation of the bidens in some form, a hearing, a more formal investigation? i don't know, but it's 'ssomethg thn the air right now ter this trial is over. >> woodruff: fascinating some yamiche, meantime, the president himself has taken off for michigan and iowa today. what ig he sayinabout this trial right now? >> well, both he and his legal team are saying this a trial that's going well for em. alan dershowitz was tweeting today. he said essentially his statements are being taken out of context. yesterday he got a lot of pushback because he id the president going after something that's in his interest d in the interest of the country can be one in the same. he got a lot of pushback. as a result he's been trying o really make the case that he's being taken out of

iraq war veteran, tammy duckworth and angus king. and the culture wars.of defense and state both say the united states will not attack iran's cultural sites contradicting the president. >> i'm wondering whether you would push back in your role -- >> you're

independent senator angus king who caucuses with the democrats said quote if he comes he should be prepareder questions. on the other side texas g.o.p. senator john cornyn said the president should conduct his other business rather than be distracted by this. tucker. >> tucker: trace gallagher, once again, with the single most interesting nugget from the day's proceedings. great to see you. thank you. >> you too. >> tucker: congressman mike johnson of louisiana is serving on the president's defense team and joins us tonight in studio. thanks so much for come on. >> glad to be here. >> tucker: is the president going to go to the gallery and get hackled by the democrats? >> i would love that tuck puck if he did that and hypothetical needless to say, what do you think would happen? >> i think he would intimidate greatly the managers who are putting on this false case. we are in to the third day of the hoax now. i love what senator blunt said this morning he summarized it. bless their hearts as we say in the south. they have about a one hour presentation the problem is we saw it for six hours o

senators dianne feinstein, joe manchin, jon tester, richard blumenthal, chris coons, and independent angus kingo caucuses with the democrats are reportedly saying they are ready to proceed with a trial. so nancy pelosi, i will hand them over when i see what they are going to do. mitch mcconnell told her what they were going to do. >> jason: there is a reason why the constitution says the sole power rests. and sole is very, very clear. if they had a case, they would do it. i don't think mitch mcconnell will bring up the witnesses even though the president i think would like to see this long drawn out and getting some people testifying. but i have to tell you, it is to shame what they are doing, i think they made the stroke. they have a weak case. i don't think it serves the country well. it continues on. and nancy pelosi is about as pompous as i have ever seen her. >> harris: the longer this goes on, now there are different scenarios. i was reading that there was a thought that house republicans might go over and defend the president in the senate, senator mcconnell did not like that idea. what

we will get two senators on the record, democrat chris murphy and angus king. is moments away. t? yes sir. they're walking into a trap. your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrow's attack. if you fail, we will lose sixteen hundred men. your brother among them. we need to keep moving! i can't see! you keep hold of me! come on! what the hell are you doing lance corporal? trust me! americans have come to lendingtree.com to shop and compare their loans and credit cards for over 20 years. now with the new lending tree app you can go beyond loan shopping and see your full financial health, including your free credit score, ongoing credit monitoring, your current cash flow and financial future. then it automatically compares your current loans and credit card payments to their network of lenders and shows you where you can cut your monthly bills. download it now to check your financial health and see how much you can save. do you have concerns about mild memory loss related to aging? prevagen is the number one pharmacist-recommended memory support brand

i think that's what congressman angus king was saying.so impressive about the eight-page letter that pat cipollone wrote in october that said we are not cooperating at all, regardless of what you request. that is a chilling concept and i think angus king comes it up well. >> do you believe that? >> i do. and we'll see this play out in the impeachment inquiry next week, had you the profound at the same time being made. in the opening statement, i'm newer in the next three day, the white house is saying we can't proceed with witnesses because you had the opportunity in the house and you didn't proceed with witnesses. at the same time, literally, at the very same time, the white house, the administration, the justice department, is arguing in court that the house has no business subpoenaing witnesses and getting witnesses to testify. in fact, i think cleverly and wisely, house republicans have gone back to that court and filed a letter saying they're making completely different arguments now. so the idea that the process argument is going to

take a listen to senator angus king of maine. >> i hate to question about witnesses an important onem the president's point of view, f this trial winds up in the next 24 or 48 hours with no witness witnesses, he can say, well, i was acquitted, but he really can't say he was exonerated. there will always be an asterisk by this trial, no witnesses. >> mike: kayleigh, your reaction? >> that's ridiculous. the president of the united states is about to be acquitted on a sham impeachment charge. the only bipartisan vote was against impeachment. we could barely likely see a bipartisan vote acquittal. are you sensing a trend, america? i think most americans are. they made up the russia conspiracy theory. the president was exonerated by the mueller report. they made at the ukraine conspiracy theory, and the president is about to be acquitted by the united states senate. this is what they do. they did it to justice kavanaugh, they've done it to president trump twice, democrats see through this, republican see through this come american see through this, because they know this was never about i

earlier tonight i spoke with maine senator angus king who's gone back and forth throughout the day with his assessment of where the vote count stands, whether democrats will be able to persuade four republicans to join them. just before air time i spoke with his counterpart from hawaii democratic senator mazie hirono. >> senator, the reporting tonight that mitch mcconnell says republicans at this point do not have enough votes to block impeachment witnesses, are you surprised by that and is that in line with what you've been hearing? >> that seems to be what's happening with the republicans. and faced with the bolton bombshell that he in fact was told by the president that he was connecting the holding of aid to ukraine to investigations, that's the kind of direct evidence that the republicans have been saying they wanted and here you have it. so i think there was hand wringing and there were people saying look, we can't just turn our backs on this because i don't think they want to be accused of continuing with a rigged trial. >> some senate republicans like james langford, they've bee

. >> when i spoke with angus king, an independent senator from maine yesterday, you know, a lot of republicans think that the democrats opened the door, the democratic house managers to the bidens because they talked about them so many times, citing them 226 times in the presentation on thursday, and he said, you know, calling hunter biden is about like calling him to be a witness in the oj trial. that was the quote from senator king. he says it comes down to relevance. so, if they ever get to a vote on witnesses, one wonders if this will be a question that the chief justice will have to resolve, obviously, they'll have to vote. when you talk to senators here neil, they talk about that vote maybe being right on the razors edge. lindsey graham, the senator from south carolina, chair of the judiciary committee indicated he would not be for calling the bidens, he would maybe like to investigate the bidens outside of the scope of this trial. if they vote for witnesses, it's ollie, ollie offen free. we have no idea how long it could go. if we work through the questions next week and vote for no wit

joining us now is independent senator of maine, angus king. morning, senator. >> morning, alisyn. you? >> i'm well. i may have gotten more sleep than you. did you go to sleep yet? >> i did. i had a few hours but i'm ready to go. >> you look fresh as a daisy. tell us what those 13 hours -- before we get to the substance of what happened, give us the collar in the room of what those 13 hours were like. i mean, how were senators sitting still? how were they entertaining themselves? what was going on there? >> believe it or not, they were listening. and i sat and scanned the room pretty frequently. i took a whole bunch of notes last night. and one of my notes was everybody seems to be listening. the rule was no phones, no electronics, no staff. and everybody had to be in their seat. and so the first observation was people were listening. and when i saw adam schiff making important points, i looked around on the republican side. i saw a few furrowed brows. but i think that was one of the first things. another thing is sort of funny that happened. the chief justice came in, we started t

independent senators bernie sanders and angus king both of whom caucus with the democrats so that takes them up to $4647.00 this means we need 20 republicans to turn against for the democrats to be successful in this trial and so fun none of them have said they would do that so there's a little reminder there of what numbers would actually be needed for a successful conviction in the senate joining us from washington d.c. now alan baron former special impeachment counsel to the u.s. house of representatives and thank you for joining us thank you for staying with us as well through the news we've been dealing with as well what do you make 1st of all all of what you have seen so far with that the haggling if you like over the rules the changes to the time period. well it was inevitable that there would be haggling over the rules by the changes the time period i assume you mean that it's now go the. presentation by the democrats will go over 3 days presumably 8 hours a day i think that was a throwaway concession i think mcconnell probably knew he's pretty savvy guy he probably knew that th

are you falling more to the angus king camp that there's hidden supporters or not?hould be. i would hope the senators took their oath seriously to do impartial justice and impeachment process in this case they should be demanding witnesses. unfortunately we haven't really seen that. i hope that senator king is right but senator white housena whitehouse may be on the ball. >> the more you learn that he has incriminating stuff to say, the less the white house wants to strike a deal. >> mitt romney is also thinking about history and precedence and what is the senate going to look like in the future? it's a body he wanted to be a part of and he is a part of, and if they don't at least try to call witnesses, then you end up in a situation that what does the senate stand for? that doesn't mean mitt romney will vote to convict the president of the united states, i'm not saying that. but it sounds like he is trying to make sure the senate is still the austeer body everybody thinks it is. that argument i would think has some weight with republican senators. they want to see

. >> with us to hopefully shed some light on the truth, here is senator angus king, independent of theat state of maine who caucuses with the democrats. how do you keep true north on your compass? how do you remind yourself what's true and what's through the looking glass? >> i think a general point, and then talk about the question about who interfered in the election. the general point is this morning i was making notes, we were getting a lot of discussion of the trees but not of the forest. not of the basic shape of the case against the president. talking about the -- he talked all around the transcript but didn't talk about the fact that the first words out of the president's mouth after the president of ukraine said we need those javelins was i'd like you to do us a favor, though. i don't think there's been enough emphasis on the word "though "though." that involves an exchange. i'd like you to go to the store, i'll go if you give me the money, though. that's what that meant. then the next words out of the president's mouth were crowd strike and the ukrainian theory. i served on t

the democratic party has 45 the other 2 seats held by independent sentences bernie sanders and angus king both of whom caucus with the democrats say 20 republicans would need to turn against donald trump and so far none has said that they would so that's an hour is very unlikely she had returned his life for us on capitol hill as she had right now on the senate floor that counting votes taking votes i think all in a subpoena to subpoena state department documents that's like it's go along party lines as the previous votes have already all part of this setting out of the rules of the game. in fact actually that has been voted on already of the republicans remaining united 5347 seconds 2nd the motion or amendments to the original motion for mitch mcconnell to get documents from the state department has been rejected by the sight of the 1st of us to get documents from the white house now a 3rd amendment is being introduced which is going to ask for which is asking for documents from the office of management and budget this is the departments in the government that actually was in charge of p

and then you've got the 2 yellow ones we put in there's independent senators bernie sanders and angus king they caucus with the democrats so that brings the democrats up to $47.00 effectively that still means that 20 republicans would need to turn against donald trump and so far none of them have said they would. agree with us here in the studio system professor of political science at texas a and m. university in doha does that weigh heavily on you when you think about this the fact that we are going through a process which we and i keep pointing out it's not impossible but 20 republicans is a lot to swing over i mean generally we've been saying that it's highly unlikely not impossible but unlikely i would almost go as far as say would be impossible and one of the key differences with eason's for this is one of the things that we've talked about how the republicans the folks a lot of process one of the particular reasons it strikes me they're doing this is because in the clinton impeachment is a good contrast one thing that's been mentioned by some of the republicans is that in previous y

my bold prediction is there will be five or ten. >> independent senator angus king of maine, who caucusesve or ten republican senator who's would vote in favor of hearing from witnesses. he did say it was a bold prediction, but it is his prediction. joining us now is the democratic leader of the united states senate, senator chuck schumer of new york. senator, thank you so much for making time for us tonight. >> good evening, rachel. it is bold, but there's no question we're making good progress here and we're a lot better off today than we were yesterday with the bolton revelation. you know, when you hear two people with diametrically opposed stories and one's willing to swear under oath it's true and the other who denies it is not willing to swear under oath and is trying to shut the guy up who's willing to swear, who do you think is right? i think our republican senators are sort of realizing that. so, you know, we're doing better and better, but this is the one place i'd be a little less bold than angus. don't underestimate the power that trump and mcconnell, the squeeze that they wil

angus king. tell us. >> so the way this is going to work, they're going to begin closing arguments by the managers monday morning. and that is as part of the impeachment. so risky for candidates to miss it. i think they're going to begin around 11:00 monday morning. candidates will have to decide whether or not they can afford to miss the closing arguments of the managers in the impeachment trial with the chief justice sitting on the dais. tuesday everything changes. they'll sit fast in morning business. that's like a normal time. when you see the senate floor and it's empty and somebody comes down and gives a random speech. they always say, i would like the speak fast in morning business. you can give a speech with the girl scouts at home or about the iraq war or anything you want. they'll speak in morning business without the chief justice sitting. this will all be done publicly but none of the other members have to be on the florida. it will be lying it normally. is it will be interesting to s

toator angus king of maine, alan dershowitz.enator is seeking more information about the president's personal lawyer, playing a central role in ukraine, saying i am a little bit curious about the giuliani. we of course we'll hear more about what senators are going to ask about at 1:00 p.m. today. host: thanks, john. joining us from capitol hill is three-term emma craddick senator -- three term democratic senator from montana, jon tester. what did you learn from yesterday? guest: it is interesting. it has been a very interesting six, seven days, however long we have been at this now. was,nk that what i learned and i knew this before, an impeachment is a very serious situation, very solemn, and you should take it that way. laying down a case that we should not impeach because it impacts future presidents. they tried to take that back to the framers' point of view. and that was probably the most i got out of the defense. i thought they did a nice job. they put together arguments. the problem that i have with the defense -- and i al

angus king from maine caucuses with the democrats and he thinks bringing in the bidens is a stretch. >> it would be like colin hunter biden to be a witness in the oj trial. he doesn't know anything about whether the president tried to pressure zelinski. it would be relevant. >> our senators being swayed by these arguments? and a lot of republicans indicate they are not moved at all, some -- this issue of witnesses, kevin kramer of north dakota said a couple minutes ago that if they went to witnesses, they wouldn't vote on that it would be opening a rabbit hole. if they don't have witnesses they might have votes on the articles of impeachment by next week. at the beginning of this session, barry black, the senate chaplain, usually his prayers are very poignant, on the issues of the day. he had a message in this morning's invocation. >> lord, you have been our help in ages past. you are our hope for the years to come. we trust the power of your prevailing providence to bring this impeachment trial to the conclusion you desire. >> a very abbreviated session. we expect longer sessions mo

senator angus king and independent remains tweeted this out earlier. over the course of these impeachment proceedings i'm drafting questions that i last of the house managers and white house lawyers. in the days ahead and ordered to get to the truth. i've got some ideas of my own but want to hear from main people. any suggestions? and that's what he tweeted out. in again president's lawyers have 24 hours. the senators then have 16 hours, then it's four hours deliberation on whether or not more witnesses and testimony as needed. norman and washington independent line hello. >> caller: hello how are you. i have three items i don't attempt time i have here. i voted for ross perot and i went worked for wendell wilkie in 1940. so that classifies me is independent. i don't like democrats calling in claiming to be republicans and republicans claiming to democrats. anyhow. the sense of the house, as far as the impeachment inquiry goes was never expressed. there is simply a proclamation by the speaker that said there is an peach meant inquiry. i'm sure that wil

on that point all things considered, and b are tweeting out this afternoon that senator angus king, independent of maine is telling npr's reporting that he expects five-ten at rebel beginning senators to vote in favor of hearing from witnesses like the former national security advisor john bolton in the impeachment trial. also, this morning or this afternoon on twitter, eli struggled tweeting out that new aid from his spokesperson ambassador john bolton putting out a statement simon & schuster state that there was absolutely no coordination with "the new york times" on their part on this story. bolton's team saying that this leak came from the white house. maggie -- who broke the story along with schmitz from the new york times is saying rnc is attacking bolton where mark metals points out that he says the allegations in john bolton's book to nothing to change the key facts and they list them there and it goes on to say furthermore there are glaring issues that "the new york times" story not only does it omit direct quotes from bolton's manuscript but does not cite any named sources but new yor