listen to this. >> i think that ken starr is a lunatic. i think that ken starr is a disaster.ated the way that the president handled it. it was a long and terrible process, i think that ken starr was terrible. >> at that time ken starr was the independent counsel leading the impeachment arguments against then bill clinton, but go ahead. >> you know, just as there is a tweet for everything, there seems to be a video clip for everything. and clearly in the president's eyes, ken star has resurrected himself, and probably largely, because he watches him everyday on fox news defending his point of view. ken starr is somebody who thought that bill clinton having an affair with monica lewinski was impeachable, and he believes that the president holding up to aid to ukraine for personal political gain is not impeachable, and so the president likes him now, and he is going to put him on the team, and i could not think of anyone who is really a more polarizing legal figure maybe perhaps than alan dershowitz than ken starr. >> chris cillizza, what do you think? >> well, to gloria's point

ken starr went on twitter that he is depressed about starr taking the gig. he told me that starr recommended an impeachment against clinton in part because clinton abused the constitutional authority of lying to the public and receiving six invitations to evoke executive privilege and all as a way of deflecting and in this tweet, he said it is far worse. so how do you explain this? >> well, it is exactly right. it is as we are talking about it, and the news has been unfolding, it is not clear why you would pick someone like ken starr, because it is to make two tracks of arguments and respond to the arguments made, and then attack the person making the argument. generally speaking, you don't want so much attention made to the out of proceeding comments made in the past by a lawyer, because this is a political process, and ken starr has as much name recognition as any lawyer in the country and associated with the opposite of what he is standing for now, and to the extent that the public sentiment matter, it does. and that is how it is going to affect the way t

giuliani, ken starr, alan dershowitz and robert ray. what does it tell you about his defense strategy? >> they're going to try to muddy the water. they got people who are pretty much sycophantic for the administration, ken starr and dershowitz have both been -- not just sycophantic, but also running counter to the mass prp preponderance of legal thinking. i don't think they're going to try to refute the facts. they have been pretty clear on the record that they don't believe that what the president did was impeachable. most legal experts disagree. >> congressman, thaufrn for coming in. >> okay, kate, good to see you. >> thank you. >> one of the more outrageous piuses of new information that has come out has come to light, courtesy of rudy giuliani associate lev parnas is the allegation that the then u.s. ambassador to ukraine was under surveillance by allies of president trump. this came out in the form of text messages released by parnas to the house intelligence committee. and that was then released publicly tuesday. since then ukrain

president, you wanted ken starr. a lot of it is in the records. >> and for people still around, look at what they were saying then, and very hypocritical what they're saying now. can we talk once again, you guys talked about the clinton years. this is not an accident that this president chose these lawyers for a couple reasons. one is he likes people who play lawyers on tv, who are actually lawyers, because that's how he consumes information, a lot of information. he also happens to know alan dershowitz very well. but also he is obsessed with the clintons. and he has been, hillary clinton and so forth. so to be able to get all of these players who were involved on the other side during the clinton years, it is very telling of who trump is and who you trump thinks. never mind that i'm going to have to go back into my storage and find my grungewear, my flannels, and i'm going to pop n nirvana at the top of my play list. >> dana is right, we are here now, and the president who was impeached is the president who says blu

you'll remember that ken starr was the prosecutor in the clinton investigation and actually had bill n himself testify under oath, under penalty of perjury in a grand jury proceeding. interesting that starr wants to block witnesses from the white house that the president has refused to allow us to hear from under penalty of perjury when he had the president of the united states under penalty of perjury in a grand jury proceeding. i'm not sure how he can justify supporting any effort to block the key witnesses like mulvaney, like others when he was able to get the president himself. >> i want to talk about witnesses in a second, but before i do, just strategically and quickly here do you think it was the right move or it is the right move to have it be fluid and not locked in yet, that for example, congressman ratcliffe, jordan, are not going to be on the president's team? i know some of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle had been pushing for that not to happen. >> yeah. i think if some of the names that had been floated would have been just so overtly partisan, polarizing.

alan dershowitz and judge ken starr.starr, he is famous for investigating clinton those years ago. what do you remember of him because he obviously studied with him? i remember him as being very affable, very nice. it was a bit different than what i've remembered of him during the clinton impeachment proceedings, but there is nobody more qualified than professor alan dershowitz, who famously helped get o.j. simpson off on what seemed like an airtight murder case, so bothjudge ken starr and alan dershowitz, you really can't get much better than that. and how will the senate trail differ to the house of representatives trail, because there are obviously technicalities 20 them that are quite important? during the health proceedings, that was really like a grand jury. it was to draw up the articles of impeachment which are akin to an indictment, and they heard from any witnesses. we may not heard from any witnesses. we may not hear from heard from any witnesses. we may not hearfrom any heard from any witnesses. we may not he

said, does ken starr know he's ken starr? and i -- i think that kind of, you know, captured the whole thing, that there was so little self-awareness in his -- in this sort of pious presentation of the dangers of sort of hyperactive impeachment, and you kind of watched it saying, do you know who you are in this conversation? do you know, have any understanding of the role you played? and if there is a single person in the country who stands for the kind of defining impeachment down it is ken starr, and for him to -- i'm not going to try to replicate your irony as dead rant, but, you know if there's a single person who represented the ills that he's talking about, he is it, and for him to stand up there without any apparent awareness of that is genuinely bewildering. you know, the other aspect of starr and professor dershowitz' presentation that is more serious and also very upsetting is this attack on the idea that an abuse of power can be an impeachable offense without criminality associated with it, and i'd just like to resp

this is what donald trump said about ken starr back then. >> i think ken starr is a lunatic. i really think that ken starr is a disaster. i hated the way the president handled it. it was a long and terrible process. i really think that ken starr was terrible. >> former prosecutor and a cnn legal analyst. what's your read on these guys? >> well, you know, hearing the president say that, we have to remember he went to hillary clinton's -- to the wedding, to the chelsey wedding, didn't he? >> that was years ago. >> it doesn't count. he's now changed his opinion about ken starr obviously. the selection of starr is really interesting. starr is an exceptionally talented lawyer. he served as an appellate judge, he was the solicitor general of the united states. he argued those cases before the u.s. supreme court, but as chancellor of baylor university, he was forced out in guess what, a sex abuse scandal, not involving him personally but involving him not investigating complaints of students who had made allegations of sex abuse. so all of the attorneys, as a matter of fact who were

in ken starr, he also has a man considered a hero to the right.independent counsel in the 1990s, it was his investigation and the finding that bill clinton lied under oath about a relationship with an intern that led to the then—president's impeachment. happy new year to you. away we go now... more recently he has been a contributor to mr trump's news network of choice, speaking out against the current impeachment. in alan dershowitz he has got one of the most high—profile lawyers in the country — one who represented mike tyson, oj simpson and convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. he has also been vocally opposed to the impeachment of president trump. both are likely to bring showmanship to the historic events of the coming weeks. and of the coming weeks. we will have more on that st later and we will have more on that story later in the bulletin. the united states is beginning screening passengers arriving at three airports from the chinese city of wuhan. they're looking for symptoms of a new respiratory virus that has killed two people and infe

alan dershowitz and judge ken starr.ating bill clinton all those years ago. what do you remember of him because you obviously studied with him? sure, i remember him as being very affable, very nice. it was a bit different than what i've remembered of him during the clinton impeachment proceedings, but there is nobody more qualified than professor alan dershowitz, who famously helped get 0.j. simpson off on what seemed like an airtight murder case, so bothjudge ken starr and alan dershowitz, you really can't get much better than that. and how will the senate trial differ to security forces in chilly have used tear gas against protesters. there have been months of protests against the president, with people demanding social changes and changes to the constitution. brazil plasma culture minister, roberto alban, has been sucked after using parts of a speech by nazi germany's propaganda chief joseph goebbels in a video, sparking outrage. music by hitler's favourite composer, richard wagoner, was played in the background. he c

i ken starr. ken starr is trying to play public opinion to his advantage. ahead, jeffrey. >> you know, i think susan made such a good point. the whole argument that starr made when hi was independent counsel was about accountable, cooperation, telling the truth. >> now look what he's doing. >> there's going to be a feast of the house managers, the democrats, you know, finding clips where he will be saying the opposite now in defense of donald trump. i think they are really leading with their chin by putting starr up there. the other point to make is that it's not just alan dershowitz who represented he jeffrey epstein. so did ken starr. you know, that will be part of the story, too. >>> i want everybody to stand by. our team on capitol hill are getting new information. how democrats have just released new documents, lots of new documents involving lev parnas. we're going through that, we're going to update you. stand by. been using this awesome new app called rakuten that gives me cash back on everything. that's ebates new name. rakuten, it gets me cash bac

here's what trump said once about ken starr. >> i think ken starr is a lunatic. i really think that ken starr is a disaster. >> well, your future is in his hands now. plus the president reportedly called his top military brass quote a bunch of dopes and babies. >>> last night we brought the story of andrew yang's wife evelyn who said she was sexually assaulted by her doctor. >> i remember trying to fix my eyes on a spot on the wall and just trying to avoid seeing his face as he was assaulting me. >> tonight, 15 more women have come forward just since that piece aired 24 hours ago with allegations about the same doctor. we made usaa insurance fr members like kate. a former army medic, made of the flexibility to handle whatever monday has in store and tackle four things at once. so when her car got hit, she didn't worry. she simply filed a claim on her usaa app and said... i got this. usaa insurance is made the way kate needs it - easy. she can even pick her payment plan so it's easy on her budget and her life. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa ♪ ♪ we

but i got to say this about ken starr. immediately after the clinton impeachment, he became if a professor in law. he said he believes an impeachment investigation, the cop te context was clinton, here said the president had a higher level of truth and transparency, that even though the president is afforded the same legal defenses, he has a higher duty to cooperate in congress's search for the truth. this would be a notable shift for ken starr in the trump paechlt, defending a man in donald trump had refuses to allow his team to cooperate with the congress. >> this is obviously a bit of a political process as much as it is a legal one. your old colleague in the chamber, senator usan collins, faces continued scrutiny on her stance and face as new morning consult survey found that susan collins has surpassed mitch mcconnell as the most unpopular u.s. senator. her net approval rating dropped ten points since the end of december and stants atds at a 5 disapproval rating. how much do you think, senator nelson, is her reelectio

i really think that ken starr was terrible. >> robert ray was starr's successor, alan dershowitz. he was highly vocal during the russia investigation. dershowitz has been resisting joining the trump team. in a statement, the legal team pointed out that dershowitz voted for hillary clinton. these three attorneys join four others defending trump, jane ras kin and pam bondi, a former federal prosecutor, and she's also former florida state attorney and the team will be led by the white house counsel pat cipollone and the president's private attorney jay sekul sekulow. that's the full picture for the trump defense team. with me now cnn legal analyst jan rogers, she's a former prosecutor. you heard the sound we dug up from then private citizen donald trump, starr, lunatic and disaster let me add to that the monica lewinsky from today, this is definitely an are you kidding me kind of day. obviously she's alluding to ken starr's name. what did you make of ken starr, alan dershowitz being named to this team? >> i think it's a mistake, brooke. i think it's going to backfire on them. listen,

. >> i think ken starr is a lunatic. i really think that ken starr is a disaster. i hated the way the president handled it. it was a long and terrible

about the addition of ken starr to the defense team. >> i was fairly interested in their picking ken starr. i mean, you know on your own network, donald trump called him a lunatic when he was going after bill clinton. i'm looking at as a former prosecutor, as a lawyer. i see kenneth starr, a man who pushed the weakest impeachment case certainly in my lifetime, and now he's up here to defend the strongest impeachment case in my lifetime. that's their choice, but it's a weird choice. >> we move on now to mr. dershowitz. he has a history of defending controversial figures including but not limited to o.j. simpson, who he helped to beat a double murder charge. both he and starr have represented convicted sex offender and accused child sex trafficker, the late jeffrey epstein, who also had dealings with donald trump. this evening dershowitz spoke with our colleague ari melber by skype and seemed to be trying to distance himself from his role on trump's legal dream team. >> i will not be involved in the factual aspects of the case. my sole responsibility is to analyze and present the const

ken starr landed in waco running.veled in baylor university's youthful energy as the fatherly big man on campus. he became president in 2010 and was the face of baylor as the school was enjoying a renaissance. led by a blossoming football program. >> what they really wanted to become sort of like a southern notre dame. i mean, they had really high aspirations, and they were moving in that direction. >> reporter: four years ago, it imploded amid a sexual assault scandal that rocked the university. paula levine wrote the book "violated," exposing rape at baylor amid college football's sexual assault crisis which, in part, chronicled ken starr's role. >> there were horrible actions being done to women. women were being ignored. victim blamed. cases just not going anywhere. women not getting the services that they were entitled to under federal law. >> did you get a raw deal? >> i'm not going to say that. >> reporter: in may of 2016, following an independence investigation, ken starr was fired as president. the report det

sources are telling cnn they include ken starr, the former independent counsel who led the investigationhment, constitutional attorney alan dershowitz, a fixture on cable news, and robert ray, who succeeded starr during the clinton investigation. and as that is not all. let's get to it, kaitlan collins has the new reporting. what are you learning and hearing about the president's legal team? >> we have been hearing there

trump blasting that impeachment case. >> i think ken starr is a lunatic. i think ken starr is a disaster. >> reporter: this time starr is on the other side defending a president. monica lewinsky today tweeting this is definitely an are you expletive me kind of day critics note starr was pushed out as president of baylor university after he ignored allegations of sexual assault by football players and then harvard constitutional law professor allen dershowtz the democrat that voted for hillary clinton and one of the top defense attorneys in the country for o.j. simpson and jeffrey epstein. those associations leaving advisors and allies to caution against selecting dershowitz but the president praised his performances on tv. >> alan dershowitz saying there is no crime. >> reporter: dershowitz arguing. about military aid to ukraine. >> he never stopped the money but making sure there was no corruption completely within his constitutional power. >> reporter: president trump hosting the lsu tigers blasting the democrats' case. >> a lot of presidents, some good,

that's what ken starr is arguing.n was accused of and found culpable of an actual specific crime on the books, perjury and obstruction of justice. and that in this case there's a policy difference, not a crime, being alleged of president trump. that's the case he'll make on the floor. it's interesting to see him come forward. he'll bring a lot of the baggage of the last impeachment to this debate and people will start making comparisons and saying if then this, then that. and import the 21-year old fight into his fight today. >> and we're not the only people who are having friday flashbacks. monica lewinsky tweeted today, this is definitely an are you f-ing kidding me kind of day. we are blurring things out. >> i keep saying this about the times we've living through. if you wrote this in a novel, your editor would say it's too improbable. if you had asked peter and me if we imagined a world in which ken star having been criticized for perhaps going beyond the bounds of what an independent counsel should do and aggress

and adding a few familiar names to help on defense. >> what do you think of ken starr, mr. president? >> reporter: among them, kenneth starr, a prosecutor whose work led to president clinton's impeachment and who trump has publicly railed against. >> ken starr is a lunatic. i really think ken starr is a disaster. >> reporter: and robert wray. and constitutional lawyer alan dershowitz who gained fame during o.j. simpson's trial. and the including the possibility that damaging witnesses could be called to testify. >> i should be their number one witness. >> reporter: among them, lev parnas, rudy giuliani's ukraine fixer who is under indictment for campaign finance violations. >> i'm the one that got all of the dirt, supposedly? why aren't they calling me to testify? why do they need biden? call me. ask me what biden did wrong. >> reporter: parnas telling cnn that he witnessed the top aide ambassador marie yovanovitch should be fired. >> to my knowledge, the president fired her at least four times, five times, even once in my presence. >> reporter: but trump is sticking to his

in ken starr he also has a man considered a hero to the right.dependent counsel in the 1990s it was his investigation and the finding that bill clinton lied under oath about a relationship with an intern that led to the then president's impeachment. happy new year to you. away we go now. . . happy new year to you. away we go now... recently he has been a contributor to mr trump's news network of choice, speaking out against the current impeachment. in alan dershowitz he has one of the most high—profile lawyers in the country, one who represented mike tyson, 0.j. simpson and jeffrey epstein. he has also been vocally imposed —— opposed to the impeachment of president trump. both are likely to bring showmanship to the historic events of the coming weeks. earlier i spoke to jacquelin thomsen from the national lanournal, and asked her what implications these appointments had for the trump legal defence. i think we can certainly expect a show during this coming impeachment trial. the president has long been claiming that he has done nothing wrong invol

the irony that ken starr is involved, donald trump probably didn't think through this really well when he decided to use ken sta starr. >> last question here, who are these documents for? this has been a question i've asked throughout this entire process. it was certainly a question during the course of the impeachment inquiry during those hearings. are these lawmakers presenting these cases to chief justice john roberts, members of the senate, or is it to the american people? how cognizant do they have to be of what the people think of all of this? >> i don't think it's for the average joe and it's not for chief roberts. the reason why is he's kind of handicapped. he's hampered in terms of his ability and power to do anything. it's a 51 senate vote to be able to make changes and getting witnesses, et cetera. it's really for can i convince the people who may be theoretically on the fence to maybe change their mind about voting for things like witnesses. >> katie fang is going to be back here in later in the hour. we just talked a bit about this, the white house announcing president tru

ken starr versus ken starr. katy said this morning, does he know he's ken starr?one of our nation's foremost legal minds, lawrence tribe. he joins us next. lawrence tribe he joins us next what does help for heart failure look like? it looks like this. ♪ the beat goes on ♪ entresto is a heart failure pill that helps improve your hearts ability to pump blood to the body. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. ♪la-di-la-di-dah don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. ♪the beat goes on yeah! when youyou spend lessfair, and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one. for small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. shop everything home at wayfair.com than rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pi

as is the president redefined the presidency. >> very quickly on ken starr. at one particularly surprised you because -- >> because it opens the door to allegations of hypocrisy. every time starr defends president trump there's going to be a quote from him saying the opposite. so, for example, republicans with the rules of law issued an ad quoting starr in the clinton impeachment saying this guy abused executive privilege, that's an impeachable offense and trump is orders of magnitude of that and an unusual choice. >> like there's always a tweet with ken starr and always a clinton anecdote. >> exactly. >> neal -- >> thank you. >> first of many conversations to have on this topic over the coming weeks. enjoy the last weekend before this gets started. >>> "the new york times" said it best. bad timing for jury duty. how will the senators running for president handle the impeachment trial without losing momentum? the supreme court moved today, the move today could be the first step in electing a president by popular vote. yes, that might happen. i'll have more for

and with the inclusion of ken starr on the team a buzz worthy comment from monica lunesky who of course was investigated and threatened with prosecution by starr back in the '90s. she tweeted this is definitely are you kidding me kind of a day with an expletive added. >> former florida attorney general pam bondi will be part of the president's defense team at the impeachment trial. pam, good morning. >> good morning. >> we'll ask you about the new documents, that new evidence in a moment. but first take us inside the president's defense strategy, how you're preparing for tuesday, what's happening behind the scenes right now. >> well, i can tell you, you know, pat cipollone, it's been a joy to work with him side by side. he's one of the brightest lawyers i've ever met, jay sekulow. this team has been ready to go, the white house counsel working with jay. we've been ready. we were ready last month, we're ready now and we'll be ready next week. because impeaching a president is one of the most monument s things you can do in this country. and the way this got started our founding fathers h

you see ken starr there.ident clinton of trying thwart the legal process throughout. and by the way, when ken starr was independent counsel, there were witnesses called in the senate trial. >> there were. so on that point, the obstruction, the second article of impeachment, we'll hear ken starr making the exact opposite arguments he made before. fwhaus president has obstructed. he's not been willing to provide witnesses, not able to provide documents. those there exact opposite arguments that ken starr made before. >> is that on their defense? is everything seen through such a partisan lens, forgiving what they said then against a democratic president? >> so much of this legal team strategy or this impeachment team strategy really seems to be pr. public relations. i think that's why we saw allan dershowitz on tv all weekend. a serious lawyer, a person approaching this historical proceeding with a seriousness of purpose would have been hunkered down preparing this weekend. not on tv. they know that's what thei

robert ray joined ken starr's team in 1999. i wonder if robert ray was a demand on behalf of ken starr, if i'm going to join your team i want robert ray to join me. you are exactly right, this will be played out on television, it's clear what the president has appealed due for a very long time, he wants people to communicate their ideas through that box. >> harris: i would add to that with robert ray that he actually issued and took over for ken starr at the end of whitewater and issued the final reports on the whit whitewater scandal and monica lewinsky scandal, as you all know i don't like to call it that. >> bill: we had ken starr on a few days ago, i was confused, i don't know if you were but was saying, if you are asking for a prediction as to witnesses, he said yes we will and i said give me some names and he said john bolton, hunter biden. but then he seemed to backtrack and his answer as to whether or not that was the direction this trial would have. i was confused. i wonder if at that point he had an idea as to whether

it was ken starr's investigatiot an finding tt bill relationship with an intern that led to the then-president's impeachment. >> fox news cnews contributor, ken, how you doing? aleem: more recently he has been on mr. trump's network of choice. mr.z dershow represented o.j. simpson, mikictyson, and cod sex offender jeffrey epstein. he has also been vocally opposed to the impeachment of president trum both are likely to bring showmanship to the historic events of the coming weeks. nada: for more on the hirings i spoke with a reporter for "the washington post." they are clearly being chosen because of their tv expeence. what does this signal about the white house strategy for this trial? >> that is exactly right. this is a president who cares about the tv lineup that he has from his legal team. these are people we regular appearances on fox news, which is really in the president's eyes the most important thing to him, that ese people can robustly defend him on televation. eing said, the president had ati limited array of s available for people who actually wanted to join his defense team -- for exa

i think ken starr is a lunatic and a disaster. i hated the way the president handled it. it was a long and terrible process. i really think that ken starr was terrible. >> now, you can't make this stuff up. now he is welcoming the man he once called a lunatic to his defense team. the team defending him at the most moment of his life and monica lewinsky now weighing in tweeting, and i am quoting here "this is definitely an are you effing kidding me kind of day." it is monica. all this, all of these new developments. all of this new evidence with the impeachment trial of president trump set to get underway tuesday, 1:00 p.m. breaking news, new evidence released by house democrats tonight. welcome. thank you so much. boy. kenneth starr, monica lewinsky, bill clinton and donald trump. we heard from a lot of folks. the 90s all over again. we have new documents from parnas showing text messages that appear to be more evidence that ambassador yovanovitch was surveilled. >> just to remind people of what was going on, there was a plot to r

earlier this week, ken starr said, maybe, yes. >> predict there there will be witnesses. think the top one is tom bolton and then the president wants hunter biden. >> the charges are against president and taking funds and using them for his own political purposes. this case is not about the former vice president or his s son. >> tomorrow the president's legal team will fire response to the legal impeachment to the house and sunday or monday they will file a brief with the senate outlining the president's case. jordan secular who will be helping his father, jay, gave a glimpse on "fox & friends" this morning. >> a subsequent active defensive president trump and of the office of the president and his article to powers for future presence in the future. >> sources working with the president's legal team tells fox news tonight "if you believe in the separation of powers, believe in article number two where the president is operating on foreign policy and he's operating at the zenith of his constitutional power. they also contend that the articles of impeachment that were file

i think that ken starr is a disaster. >> but now starr is on trump's defense team.oining robert ray and alan dershowitz as the president's ready for tv. he took over when starr stepped down and seems ready to stand by him again. >> there may not be the votes to dismiss this outright, i think you can look for summary proceedings in the united states senate without witnesses. >> reporter: dershowitz was part of the dream team. >> if your honor didn't see, everybody else saw. >> reporter: he represented mike tyson and patty herst and jeffrey epstein. >> balack lives matter is eng dangerring our legal team. >> reporter: he will present the oral arguments against the impeachment charges. >> they are the kinds of broad general, vague, open ended criteria that can be weaponized against any president. >> reporter: the defense team also includes former florida attorney general pam bondy. leadi i even with all that legal fire power a question remains. >> one of the issues is will the president follow legal advice. >> reporter: even as the president stacks up all this big name

monica lewinsky so we have to look at history and how ken starr deposed this president. which is different this president has not been deposed because he chooses not to bill clinton was deposed. it took a while, b.c., but he did it. at the end of the day, there was a vast difference between this trial and that trial. it started with whitewater, a land deal that went wrong to bad to sexual relations with an intern. now this is about a president of the united states consulting with other governments about trying to investigate other candidates that he's running against. this is not about the people's business. this is about his personal business for a win. so the bottom line, people need to look at history, use critical thinking. again we're not in an alternative fact universe. this the about a serious, a serious issue for the united states, the people. >> there is no doubt. >> the people need to see the truth. >> no doubt on that, april, it is incredibly serious. it doesn't get more serious when it gets to being the president of the united states and possibly removed from

you have ken starr, robert ray.ou have all these sort of peonalities from the 1990's and that investigation which brings a lot of baggage that a lo republicans on capitol hill do not want to relive. that didn't work out ver t well fom. but i think there is a divide. and this just sort of amplifies it between what they wt in this trial which i think is low key pretty quick affair that looks fair but in the end steangly moves a to an acquital in short order. what the president has t wanted fr very beginning which is a therical trial where people come and vigorously defend him from whate dors be an illegitimate inquiry. he watch a lot of fox news. he has seen ken starr talking about the impeachment. he's seen alan dershitz for years defending him making legal arguments about why these actions do not rise to the lel of impeachment defenses. he really wants to see that. in the end he gets toe decide who his team. is it will be interesting how p thys out on the backdrop of what mitch mccon snell planning. w robert: doe kn

back in 1999 president trump called ken starr a lunatic and disaster. granted, that was 20 years ago. how do you go from that characterization and so-called lunatic and disaster to now support you and defend you in what may be your most critical defense of your life? >> i will tell you this, donald trump has the right to retain whoever he wants to defend him. he said those dramatic things about ken starr many years ago, maybe makes for a couple awkward interactions. to me the bigger issue for ken starr is his record as independent prosecutor who went over bill clinton in a couple respects. first of all, he spent years fighting like mad to throw bill clinton out of office for lying about sex in a civil deposition. now he's going to defend this president who's been indicted for attempting to supreme court a foreign country to interfere with the election? second of all, if you look at the way ken starr ran that investigation, he turned over heaven and earth to find any dirts he could on bill clinton. he talked to monica lewinsky's ex-boyfriends, white hous

should the american people expect to see ken starr take a bigger role going forward?> well, you'd really have to address that question to the president's defense team. i think that they were added to the team for what the president perceives of their expertise. i'd be surprised if they didn't play a role after such a public affiliation. >> so house managers, they are going to make their closing arguments today. trump discharged today, the focus of congress, ken starr is dismissing that saying, it really is unwise. it's made up. there's no such thing of obstruction of congress. let me ask you from a legal standpoint, is that true? how can there not be, really, because if congress subpoenas documents, testimony, et cetera from the executive branch, then what is the recourse if the white house refuses to cooperate? >> that must be a quote taken out of context. it's clear that obstruction of congress is a real thing. for one thing, there's a criminal statute passed by congress and signed into law by earlier presidents that makes it a crime to obstruct congress. makes it a

including ken starr and alan dershowitz. >>> in new york city, the deadly gas explosion that made national headlines, leveling several buildings, killing two. tonight, the major new headline. >>> and our person of the week. she's been known as rose, as sue ann. she fights for animals. and tonight she marks a giant birthday. who is our person of the week? >>> good evening. it's great to have you with us here on a very busy friday night. for millions it has already been a rough ride home tonight. a monster winter storm bearing down on much of this country. more than 100 million americans under alerts from the rockies all the way into the northeast. drives facing blinding snow and gusting winds. this is moorhead, minnesota, where cars areffhe highways tonight.jesl off the taxiway in kansas city. runways shutting down. more than 4,000 flights delayed or cancelled already. tonight, news coming in of a deadly avalanche hitting a ski resort near lake tahoe. at least one person killed. the storm heading to chicago and then right into the east. several major cities in the path. we have the timing a

ken starr's presentation was just wild to watch.idea that he amongst anyone available to the trump team would be lecturing congress on the overuse of impeachment is pretty wild. >> let me ask you about that, sir. >> sure. >> just to dig in, around the country in every way, we were talking about it in newsrooms, ken starr was trending on twitter, all the different ways people see this. in the senate chamber, did you see, did you pick up any hint that any republican colleagues thought this wasn't the most effective merge? >> i didn't talk to any republicans. we were sitting in our chairs for the entirety of the time. i would imagine that many republicans understand the great irony of the point ken starr was making. >> you mentioned also that it felt like a campaign commercial. these were arguments at times that were just the nicest way to put it is irrelevant to a senate trial of the president that is to say whether unemployment is better or not, would not acquit richard nixon, it would not acquit a johnson, it would not acquit a judg

lawyers are named for the president's defense team, including former clinton impeachment players ken starr and robert wray who you've seen on this show. this announcement prompted this tweet from monica lewinsky. this is definitely an r -- f'ing kidding me kind of day. remember, what starr and his team, what they put her through, those are hard memories about a time that if you compare it what's happened here, this is child's play compared to what the ken starr investigation was about. they started with land deals and whitewater and ended with a tryst. so for those who complain, boy, they just keep searching for something on trump. you started with foreign interference, you ended with foreign interference. by comparison, it's not even close. also named to the trump defense team, alan dershowitz and let break it all down with asha ran ranga rangappa and jimmy schultz. do you think the president said, yeah, i like him now, i saw him on fox, he's good. you called him a lunatic once. i saw him on fox once, he's good. >> i know robert wray, i know they're all accomplished, dershowitz is a perso

remember ken starr had bill clinton testify. they had witnesses in there. he went from a financial investigation down to finding body fluids on a dress. his entire background as it to that is not congruent with the position he's put forward now. they will argue against witnesses, for ken starr to come in today and argue against witnesses is sort of like an elephant saying you don't need a trunk. he is so whetted to the position of an in-depth investigation of putting evidence forward at the time. again he had clinton testify. >> he did. >> he suspend clinton and clinton agreed to come and testify and the subpoena was withdrawn. so he's taken positions which were contrary. the problem with na is it causes you to lose credibility usually with the trier of fact. i think ultimately this time remember while the senators are jurors, the trial of fact, the people that we're talking to and i think you will see much of this trial focused on are the american people. >> right. >> and he's taken positions to me that may be called into question the sincerity of the posi

ken starr is an interesting choice.eachment of bill clinton for lying about a sexual affair. he's had some weird sort of issues in his past regarding baylor university pushing him out because of his sort of -- or push for light treatment of someone accused of a sexual offense there. and hen he also said that donald trump exhibited poor judgment in a tweet when he, essentially, threatened ambassador marie yovanovitch when she was testifying. ken starr said i must say the president was not advised by counsel in deciding to do this tweet, extraordinarily poor judgment. he said the president follows my instincts, sometimes we have to control our instincts. talk about your thoughts on ken starr that donald trump turns to as his counsel. >> i'm not going to like join the chorus of those who say because trump has hired ep seen the's lawyers, that's somehow bad. i think it's dangerous thing in this country to attack the lawyers for the clients that they've represented in the past. we don't want to incentivize great lawyers not

during the clinton impeachment era. >> i think ken starr is a lunetic. i think ken starr is a disaster. i hated the way the president handled it. it was a long and terrible process. >> what's striking -- there's the president criticizing ken starr. alan dershowitz has defended alleged sexual defenders. pam baunondy has been involved the trump university scandal. >> the senate is expected, the president's allies are expected to acquit to participate in the acquittal of donald trump in this trial in the senate, which we anticipate will last anywhere from two to four weeks. we should not underestimate the importance of how they present their case. because republican whose are on the fence about witnesses, are going to make a judgment after two weeks of hearing testimony and being able to question the members of the house impeachment team and the president's defense team. and if they don't like the presentation f the president's team is really bombastic and takes it in all sorts of directions, who knows how they'll react and i keep hearing it from senior rep

for his upcoming impeachment trial in the senate that includes some well known high profile lawyer ken starr and the last impeachment investigation into president bill clinton and was part of the legal team for the convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein as well as also the harvard law school professor alan dershowitz whose clients included former football o.j. simpson move producer harvey weinstein and he also represented geoffrey epstein has more from deborah was on the our correspondent in washington who tells us how president is not taking any chances with this legal team. trump is taking this very very seriously i mean these 2 lawyers that he brought in to be part of this team are celebrity or lawyers that are very very well known in washington and have a long history in this city and really in the nation 1st looking alan dershowitz a long time a law professor at harvard he's considered one of the preeminent constitutional lawyers in the u.s. dershowitz is actually a democrat voted for hillary clinton however he has come out very strongly over the last 3 to 4 months or so before that say

he led the investigation into the impeachment of president bill clinton now ken starr joins lawyers representing donald trump and his impeachment trial. warning about the sale of fake drugs in west africa that was left hundreds of thousands of people dead we have exclusive video of several transactions. we begin with the diplomatic moves ahead of a summit in berlin on sunday to try to end libya's civil war warlord. has met with the prime minister of greece turkey's main regional rival a country that's been excluded from the summit russia and turkey who support opposite sides in the conflict will be at the conference which will try to end the fighting between half the us forces of the un recognized government of fire as. both houses and so those are expected in berlin but russia is downplaying chances of a peace deal. the most important thing now is that after the berlin conference if everything goes as planned and the security council supports the conclusions from the conference if the libyan sides do not repeat their own past mistakes and start adding any additional conditions and blaming each

bill clinton was impeached for abuse of power and ken starr obviously supported that. and now he's on the president's team and he's only available because he looked the other way at a sex crime scandal. so none of the president's lawyers agree with dershowitz about this abuse of power argument. his claim you have to have a crime in order for it to be abuse of power doesn't make any sense because there was no federal criminal code at the time of the writing of the constitution. he's a talking point and not an effective one, in my opinion. >> oh to be a fly on the wall within that trump team as they collaborate getting ready for this. ladies, thank you so much. >>> we have breaking news to share at this hour across the nation thousands taking part in the fourth annual women's march. gathering from new york to d.c. to hawaii and anchor raj. we're going to start with darsha burns who's in washington d.c. for us. good day to you, what are you seeing there on the ground? >> reporter: as you can see, the weather has not been kind to the march today. as you can hear from the n

ken starr coming in with a lot of baggage, but he is also a tv star. president trump praised starr's praise of him on fox news. then we have alan dershowitz. dershowitz says that he's going to present the oral arguments in defense of the president. but he's not going to serve a real day-to-day reole. dershowitz became famous defending o.j. he's defended mike tyson. most recently he defended jeffrey epstein. again, a lot of baggage here. listen to what dershowitz said about his role in the impeachment trial. >> i think it would be unconstitutional, it would set a terrible precedent for this president to be impeached for these alleged articles of impeachment. so i feel very strongly, i will make a strong argument against impeachment. i'm not part of the regular team that will be making strategic decisions. >> reporter: likely part of in is going to be robert wray, the flex one on the list in this announcement. he's also part of the constitutional and historic role, not likely part of the day to day. then moving down the line, you see pam bondi, the former