ben tracy is at the white house. we begin tonight with nancy cordes on capitol hill.cy. >> reporter: norah, the impeachment managers are walking the senate through all the evidence step by step-- every phone call, every email-- as they lay out why they believe this senate should be the first in u.s. history to remove a u.s. president from office. >> president trump has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance. >> reporter: lead impeachment manager adam schiff launched his opening arguments by honing in on a three-day period from last summer. >> that alone is grounds for removal from office of the 45th president. >> reporter: it started, he said, on july 24, the day special counsel robert mueller testified about his two-year investigation into russian election interference. >> did you actually totally exonerate the president? >> no. >> reporter: one day later, president trump asked the ukrainian president to do him a favor and investigate his campaign rival, joe biden. >> the very next day, he's on the phone, president trump is on the phone with a di

ben tracy is at the white house, ben, it seems like just yesterday or the day before the white house was reportedly a defcon 2 concerned about witnesses, whether are they today? >> we can tell you the alert level has been lowered a bit here at the white house. they are no longer on defcon 2, there is now cautious optimism that they're going to get through this without having witnesses and perhaps getting an acquittal by the end of the weekend that's what people here at the white house are focused on. they are not going too far into this thing that we think we have this in the bag. but i can tell you there is already talk here among some senior aides about whether or not there will be some democrats that would vote to acquit looking at people like doug jones in alabama. or joe manchin in west virginia. that is the thought process here, that is a big change from 48 hours ago when there was panic setting in when mitch mcconnell announced, i don't have the votes to block the witnesses. but the white house has been in very close contact with the majority leader, they have largely left thi

maurice. >> dubois: ben tracy at the white house tonight, thank you.undreds of police were out in force as gun-rights supporters rallied outside of virginia's capitol. the tightened security came after more than a week of threats and violence and after the governor declared a state of emergency. jeff pegues reports tonight from richmond. >> reporter: 22,000 gun-rights supporters came out today, many armed to the teeth, some dressed in fatigues, others with handguns on their hips. >> i carry it with me every day. >> reporter: and rifles draped across their chests.>>ou s peopo stand up and keep their guns because it's our right to do that and defend ourselves in a time of danger. >> reporter: thomas steele came here from west virginia. >> i actually brought two guns, but i brought smaller guns. i usually have an ak-47, but that's quite the scary rifle. i decided to bring out the .22 because nobody is shooting nothing today. >> reporter: governor ralph northam declared state of emergency which banned all weapons on capitol building grounds and brought wit

ben tracy is at the white house, but we're going to begin with nancy cordes on capitol hill. >> reporter: norah, even as this trial gets under way, new evidence continues to emerge, and what these 100 senators are going to have to decide at the end of the day is whether all the evidence, taken together, warrants the removal of the president from office.od? d >> repord u" after chieftice john roberts took the reins in the senate trial. >> will all senators now stand. >> reporter: his first act, swearing in the senate, which will serve as the jury. >> you will do impartial justice according to the constitution and laws, so help you god. >> we do. >> reporter: lead house manager adam schiff offered this refresher on the charges. >> president trump solicit the interference of a foreign government, ukraine, in the 2020 united states presidential elec. t> reporter: just today, a non- partisan government watchdog agency announced that the white house office of management and budget violated the law last summer when it followed president trump's order to withhold millions in aid to ukraine. >> i

as ben tracy reports this comes as the president offers new detail about letting them order the killing of the top general of iran. >> it could have been military base sis, could have been a lot of is other things, too. >> reporter: president donald trump as he ordered the strike against qassem soleimani as he was planning on large scale attacks upon u.s. facilities abroad. he gave more details to fox news than they got from the white house during closed door intelligence briefings this week. >> this is an after the fact rationalization that was impulsive and route with danger. >> the administration's jus sticks is suddenly much more specific. days ago secretary of state mime o mike pompeo said this. >> we don't know precisely when and we don't know when bit it was real. >> the ire rack kyes are so furious about the u.s. striking the boarders that they are demanding the u.s. withdraw all its troops from iraq. >> prenot audio) >>> woe trained them. they speak different publicly. [ no audio. ] plop >>> it is ridiculous. she should have send them a long time ago. it just be littles the pro

ben tracy starts us off from the white house. >> we'll be sitting there in our chairs probably on therder of six hours a day. >> reporter: senators are now preparing to be jurors, deciding in just weeks whether or not president trump remains in office. republicans don't have enough votes for a quick dismissal, but they are confident the president will be acquitted. they hope in as little as two weeks. >> he is very much comfortable with the idea this is going to turn out well for him. >> reporter: president trump's formal response to the impeachment summons was a short six pages, filled with contempt, calling this a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and dismissing the articles of impeachment as constitutionally invalid on their face. the white house impeachment managers' 111-page trial memo called president trump's conduct the framers' worst nightmare. >> any jury would convict him in three minutes' flat. the president betrayed his country. >> reporter: house managers met behind closed doors today to splot strategy and are hopinge to persuade at

ben tracy starts us off from the white house. >> we'll be sitting there in our chairs, about probably on the order of six hours a day. >> reporter: senators are now preparing to be jurors, deciding in just weeks whether or not president trump remains in office. republicans don't have enough votes for a quick dismissal but they are confident the president will be acquitted, they hope in as little as two weeks. >> he is very much comfortable with the idea this is going to turn out well for him. >> reporter: president trump's formal response to the impeachment summons was a short six pages, filled with contempt. calling this a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and dismissing the articles of impeachment as constitutionally invalid on their face. the house impeachment managers 111 page trial memo called president trump's conduct the framers worst nightmare. >> any jury would convict him in three minutes flat. that the president betrayed his country. >> reporter: house managers met behind closed doors today to plot strategy and are hoping to persuade a

ben tracy reports tonight from the white house. >> reporter: with impeachment clearly on his mind, presidentmp gave the national champion l.s.u. football team a history lesson today about the resolute desk in the oval office. >> it's been there a long time. a lot of presidents, some good, some not so good. ( laughter ) but you got a good one now. even though they're trying to impeach the son of a bitch, you can believe that? >> reporter: ahead of next week's senate trial, mr. trump is bolstering his legal team. it will be led by white house counsel pat cipollone and mr. trump's private attorney jay sekulow. but new additions include constitutional law professor alan dershowitz and former special prosecutor ken starr. >> my role today... >> reporter: back in 1999 when starr's investigation of president clinton led to his impeachment, business man donald trump had a very different opinion. >> i think ken starr is a lunatic. i really think that ken starr is a disaster. >> reporter: today, monica lewinsky, whose affair with president clinton starr uncovered tweeted, "are you kidding me?" with an

as ben tracy discovered. >> a hhhh!tainly knows how to make an entrance. >> oh, my god! that's wonderful! >> reporter: he brought us here to his new luxury tented camp inside the largest rain forest in cambodia. guests enter the property by racing down one of the longest ziplines in asia. >> what is the response from guests when they realize, they show up and they get to zipline into the hotel? >> so far everybody has done it except for one. >> reporter: bensley calls this shinta mani wild. he pitched the palatial rooms over a raging river and these so-called tents don't come cheap. they are about 2,000 dollars a night. bensley says his design inspiration was jackie kennedy. he created the kind of place he thinks she would have stayed at during her 1967 visit to cambodia. >> what if the king had brought her on a glamping trip? what would that have been like? >> what do you think jackie kennedy would think of this place. >> oh, i know she'd love it. >> his confidence comes from experience. bill bensley has designed more

ben tracy is at the white house with more. >> reporter: good morning. so president trump said he had to act quickly to kill qassem soleimani without notifying congress to prevent what he calls another benghazi. the administration's story about that athlete keeps evolving. >> it was going embassy in baghdad. >> reporter: in an interview on fox news friday might president trump said qassem soleimani was planning to blow up the u.s. embassy in baghdad. then the president reveals more. >> they had large scale attacks planned for other embassies, and if those were planned why can't we reveal that to the american people? wouldn't that help your case? >> i can reveal that i believe it would have been four embassies. >> reporter: that's more intelligence detail than members of congress say they received in closed door briefings on capitol hill this week. >> probably the worst briefing i've seen at least on a military issue in the nine years i've served in the united states senate. >> we left with multiple important questions that were still unanswered. >> this