there is the front gate of mar-a-lago.ven if you don't have $200,000 even if you can still go drive down ocean drive and see that. as the living room of the place. donald trump had the place meticulously restored. everything that was there when he bought it in 1,985 he lived there as private residence until about 1,992 everything that was there has been redone to the nines. most of the original furniture remains from marjorie post. she had the original and the house itself was really patterned after the she palace in rome. i do a lot of the furniture was copied including the dining room table that seats 32 joule and goldleaf encrusted that weighs times manufactured in several pieces you might imagine. she had that removed before her death to the hillwood home in washington dc but commissioned a copy a reasonable copy of it. that is the table that sits there. this is pretty much all original furniture. there are some alcoves up there you can't quite see there is one here. she used to there were always 32 guests for dinner p

. >>> mar-a-lago a spy? another majority security preach at the president's south florida mansion. for the second time in nine months a chinese national forced her way onto the property raising concerns about espionage just one day before president trump is set to travel to the residence he calls his southern white house. i am wolf blitzer. you are in the situation room. tonight we are tracking the deepening standoff in congress warehouse speaker nancy pelosi is refusing to turn over the new articles of impeachment to the senate until the majority leader mitch mcconnell sets the terms for a rile. the house just adjourned for the year meaning there wasn't be any action on impeachment until at least january 7th at the earliest. president trump pinning his helps on swift vindication from his fellow republicans in the senate now distressed by the looming delay. a dedemocratic of the judiciary committee and our correspondents and analysts will have full coverage of today's top stories. let's begin with manu raju. he is up on capitol hill. manu, what is the speaker now waiting for. >> re

they met at mar-a-lago.ut a report in "the new york times" marks the president's decision as all of the more controversial. cnn's barbara starr has the story and first i have to warn you, there are disturbing images in this report. >> reporter: members of s.e.a.l. team seven alpha platoon broke their own code of silence in 2018 with their opinions about retired special operations chief eddie gallagher and some making accusations that the elite s.e.a.l. committed murder and potential war crimes. >> the guy got crazier and crazier. >> reporter: these are portions of recorded navy s.e.a.l. interviews published by the "new york times." where team members tell investigators their views on the platoon leader. >> the guy was toxic. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: eddie gallagher was acquitted of premeditated murder when a witness changed his story. when another officer said he caused the prison's death, not gallagher. >> did you suffocate him? >> yes. >> how? >> i held my thumb over his etg. >> he said it was an act of mer

and finally an actual counter intelligence risk walked into mar-a-lago today.ounter intelligence investigation by federal authorities, yet he was at mar-a-lago just like he was invited to the white house by president trump. and that really boils down to president trump inviting a known counter intelligence risk into mar-a-lago where president trump is supposed to be doing official business. >> he was seen dancing, socializing, a grand old time. thank you for being here. happy holidays. i'll see you in the new year. debate over fashion on capitol hill. we're used to seeing congressman jim jordan without a jacket. but look he got dressed up for impeachment last week. now he's going viral. you're live in the cnn newsroom. to avoid screening for colon cancer. i'm not worried. it doesn't run in my family. i can do it next year. no rush. cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92% of colon cancers. you just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab. there's no excuse for waiting. get screened. ask your doctor if

briny breezes is about 12 miles down the beach from mar-a-lago.ber that trump recently changed his primary residence from new york, new york to palm beach, florida this fall. and that apparently gave a local real estate broker who lives at briny breezes an idea. he thinks trump should buy briny breezes and turn it into his presidential library. and he thinks the sale price should be a billion dollars. according to the "palm beach post," "james aaron arks an avid trump supporter, says he thinks he can convince the president to buy the land and turn it into a personal monument. arena says has the ball rolling by reaching out to his friend, rapper and palm beach county resident vanilla ice, who is close to the trump family." "vanilla ice ran it by donald jr., arena said of the president's eldest son. he called me back and said, man, i think they're really into it." but briny should not get too excited. the dally beast reached out to donald trump jr. and got a denial. "don hasn't spoken to anyone about building a presidential library and has never eve

brianny breeze is about 12 miles down the beach from mar-a-lago. changed his residence from new york, new york to florida this fall. that gave a real estate developer an idea. he thinks trump should buy briny breezes and turn it into his presidential library. james arena, an avid trump supporter says he thinks he can convince the president to buy the land and turn it into a personal monument. arena says he has the ball rolling by reaching out to his friend, rapper and palm beach county resident vanilla ice who is close to the trump family. quote, vanilla ice ran it by don jr. he called me back and said man, i think they're really into it. but brinys should not get too excited. "the daily beast" reached out to don jr. and kwot a denial, quote don hasn't spoken to anyone about a presidential library and has never even met vanilla ice. that's ice, ice cold, baby. mr. ice has tweet aid denial. i don't know donald trump, jr. i don't understand why they said that. but if they want me to build a library in palm beach on the ocean, i'm in. then he took the

what do you see as the impact of him being at mar-a-lago and bouncing some ideas. we know he goes there and polls members on political decisions. he's got all this unstructured time. do you think it'll affect the strategy? >> in my experience with him he does not listen to anybody. if anything he did something which is counter intuitive. if you tell him "a" his first reaction will be to do "z" to prove to you that he can get it done by doing "z." he doesn't like taking input. >> should people use reverse psychology with him? >> you can't do that either. he is smart. he'll sense it. he just has very low self-esteem so he doesn't like anybody else getting any credit. the death nell for an aide would be oh, my god you're in the paper giving him some good advice that he actually implemented. there could be no costars in his environment. i mean, he would never last in a corporate environment. a board and a publicly traded company would have fired him long ago. you look at the insidiousness of his tweeting, lack of character, lack of integrity, his lawlessness, anybody i

he goes golfing and back to mar-a-lago where he mingles with family and friends.ome of those friends we should point out don't have as much access to him when he's at the white house. and they frequently egg on the uglier on insults. jared kushner the president's son-in-law and senior adviser arrived at mar-a-lago on thursday for several days, he's expected to be there. the acting chief of staff mick mulvaney also on hand. he arrived last week. one notable absence is the white house counsel pat cipollone who, initially, we were told was expected to arrive at mar-a-lago and spend some time with the president. he has yet to arrive. it's unclear if that plan has changed. or if he may wind up showing up at mar-a-lago, a bit later on the schedule, as we get closer to congress getting back in the session in the new year. boris san shez, cnn, traveling with the president in west palm bea beach, florida. >>> there are also questions what's next for u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo, pompeo has been clear he's not interested in running for the senate and any reports are,

it is the second time this year that a chinese national was arrested for entering mar-a- lago.n march, yujing zhang made it through secret service checkpoints while carrying a laptop, cell phones, and other esectronic gear. she is awaiting deportation. aechael morell is a former deputy director of the c.i.a. >> if i were the chinese and i knew that the president had classified conversations in a public area, i would want to put ome sort of collection device down to pick up those conversations. ti reporter: a u.s. official told me today that the chinese have been stealing relentlessly and running numerous intelligence operations. that is one reason, norah, why whenever you have an arrest at ar near mar-a-lago, you can bet the feds are going to be paying attention. >> ninan: i mean, setting off real alarm bells, jeff, thank you. a warning tonight about deceptive thieves robbing elderly victims, sometimes on their own door steps. r 'll show you how the scam works and reveal inside secrets from a con man who pulled it off many times. carter evans reports tonight. >> hello! >> repor

that is why the feds pay attention whenever there is an arrest at or near mar-a-lago. jeff pegues, cbs news, washington. >>> two people are trapped and feared dead after a massive house explosion in south philadelphia. police say they received multiple calls shortly before noon yesterday about an explosion and a possible gas smell. more than 120 firefighters rushed to the scene. it took about three hours to get the flames under control. dozens of people nearby evacuated as a precaution. the blast leveled three houses and significantly damaged two others. no word on what caused the explosion. >>> and an investigation is under way into a deadly shooting in westerly, rhode island. an employee at an elderly living facility was killed and two more injured in a shooting yesterday morning. police say a male resident at babcock village shot three women. the suspect died at the scene of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. authorities say the suspect was known to police but did not provide a motive. >>> coming up on the "morning news" now, caught on police body cam, a driv

>> nearly every day when he's at mar-a-lago, he starts it the same. it's tweeting about things. it's then going to his club where we don't always see him playing golf but he's expecting to be playing golf. who knows, we're not seeing who is coming in and out of there that kaitlan noted he could be talking to. one question is, what does he decide about how he wants to respond to nancy pelosi and how he wants to respond to what could potentially happen in the senate while he's down there? we know he's still deciding who he will have representing him. pat cipollone is a leading contender for that. but he has not finalized that. before this, you and i were talking about what could they realistically do even if he wasn't at mar-a-lago? before he makes that decision, there's not very much they could be doing because those are the people who will be arguing the case. >> kevin, as the president is now looking from the white house at what's going on here with the articles of impeachment not heading over to the senate yet, a harvard scholar, noah feldman, who we saw testify before congres

president trump, of course, not at mar-a-lago yesterday. earlier this year, another chinese national, was arrested for trespassing at the club. she was convicted and awaiting deportation. >>> in fresno, california, police arrested a 17-year-old girl on wednesday, saying she tried to take a small plane on a joyride. surveillance video shows the aircraft driving into a circle before crashing into a chain-link fence. they see no link to domestic terrorism. it's unclear how she started the aircraft. no one was injured in the crash and no passenger planes were at risk. >>> the historic impeachment of president trump, set the stage for a new power struggle between nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell. details are next. it's gentle on her skin, and dermatologist recommended. tide free & gentle. safe for skin with psoriasis and eczema. >>> so far, we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us. >> an unprecedented move by house speaker nancy pelosi could delay president trump's delay president trump's impeachment trial in the senate. *- >r >>>> wp >>>

he loves mar-a-lago. it more than bedminster, he likes it more than trump tower, it's the place he's gone the most as president. he has a whole host of friends, the folks that made his custom kitchen cabinets. >> trump's inner circle came and saw him this week, and you mentioned some of them, jerry falwell one of them, giuliani's spokeswoman also there. they're intervening in this war crimes case. rudy giuliani, here is the central player in the ukraine scandal, and he's not concerned at all about the optics of being close to the president in the middle of all this. >> no, i think there are plenty of republicans around the president who are looking at this ask cringing and wishing rudy giuliani wasn't hanging around mar-a-lago right now, but so far president trump has not really thrown him under the bus. he's made a couple moves in that direction, and at the end of the day it's always the people around the president who are very concerned about rudy giuliani's behavior and trump says, i'm happy to look at

mar-a-lago against democratic leaders in the house and senate, quote, nancy pelosi is doing everything she can to delay the zero republican vote articles of inpeachment. that was the early spelling before the correction. she is trying to take over the senate and crying chuck is

as the president spends the holiday week at his mar-a-lago resort in palm beach, the vote making him the third u.s. president to be impeached. he continues to act as his own defense on twitter. this morning, he called democrats liars for the delay, sending articles of impeachment to the senate. he retweeted a post from last night that read, quote, why should crazy nancy pelosi, just because she has a slight majority in the house, be allowed to impeach the president of the united states? got zero republican votes. there was no crime. the call with ukraine was perfect, with no pressure. she said it must be bipartisan.

. >> behind-the-scenes at mar-a-lago president trump is increasingly frustrated with the standstill in the impeachment process. >> we say to president trump, if you are so confident you did nothing wrong, why won't you let your men testify? >> i couldn't remember if i was recording at the time or how the camera was framed. i just -- i saw that trailer coming. i knew i had to run away from it. >>> this is "new day" weekend with victor blackwell and christi paul. >>> president trump is on vacation. twitter however is not. specifically his twitter feed. he's been launching attacks on house speaker nancy pelosi and the whistle-blower. >> the president is clearly frustrated with the uncertainty surrounding his senate trial. cnn white house reporter sara westwood joins us from south florida. we hear that the president has been at mar-a-lago asking advice who should be on his defense team. >> reporter: that's right, victor and christie. president trump growing agitated with this state of limbo and while he's been spending time down here at his property of mar-a-lago he's been quizzing aides,

shown here visiting president trump at mar-a-lago. the president ignoring pentagon leaders, intervening in the case on gallagher's behalf. here's will carr tonight. >> reporter: tonight, in these chilling videos, navy s.e.a.l.s accusing one of their own of war crimes. >> i think he just wants to kill anybody he can. you could tell he was perfectly okay with killing anybody. >> reporter: the men, seen in civilian clothing, were interviewed for an investigation into eddie gallagher's alleged war crimes in 2017, including the murder of a wounded isis fighter in iraq. some of the navy s.e.a.l.s nervously recounting gallagher spiraling out of control, one even calling him evil. >> the guy was toxic. the guy got crazier and crazier. >> reporter: in video obtained by "the new york times" for a documentary series called "the weekly," you can see the teenage isis fighter barely conscious. gallagher is then seen crouching over the injured teen with his medic bag. then a hand reaches up and turns off the helmet camera. one of the s.e.a.l.s descr

and iran, if the violence continues, but he did tweet out this warning while he is down here in mar-a-lago saying that russia and iran on their way to killing thousands and don't do it. and now turkey so far has been unable to stop the violence in the idlib province. and president erdogan says that turkey is not able to handle a fresh wave of migrants. hundreds of thousands could be displeased if this assault continues, but again, turkey saying that they are not willing to accept those my gramigrants. and this isn't the first time that president trump has weighed in on the attack on civilians. in june he weighed in on another sau assault and said a message to the sear yanl presideyrian pres world is watching. and this is just months after the u.s. president withdraw a number of troops. but since then in a white house visit last week, he has reaffirmed the u.s. relationship with erdogan who he has raised. >> and the president saying that he is looking for a potential replacement for secretary of state mike pompeo. >> that's right. and there are increasingly pointed signs that perhaps secret

navy seal special operations chief eddy gallagher was republican a guest of mar-a-lago. new messages obtained by "the new york times" give shocking details about him. kate snow takes a look at the video evidence. some viewers may find this report disturbing. >> the guy got crazier and crazier. >> in 2018, one after another, navy seals expressed grave concerns about their platoon leader. >> he thought it was perfectly okay with killing anybody. >> they are going against this unwritten rule of not taking dirty laundry outside of the seals. >> in navy tapes obtained by the weekly, they accused gallagher of targeting civilians, women and children. >> i saw eddy take a shot a a 12-year-old kid. >> it turned into the platoon being eddy's escort to get him from place to place to get the sniper out. >> team members say they would intentionally fire shots to warn civilians. >> other snipers would shoot so they would run away and hide before eddy would engage them. >> they were trying to protect the civilians from eddy. >> obtaining helmet video never seen before, a young isis fig

president trump speaks from mar-a-lago and the topic of impeachment is unavoidable. mitch mcconnell, though, may like what he hears. >>> plus rudy giuliani's work in ukraine and says he would love to go inside the impeachment trial. >>> as much as the weight of the impeachment and russia are on his mind, no one was forgetting it's still christmas eve. >> is "home alone 2" your favorite holiday movie? >> well, i'm in "home alone 2," so a lot of people mention it every year, right around christmas. they say, i just saw you in the movie. i was a little bit younger, to put it mildly, and it was an honor to do it. it turned out to be a very big hit, obviously. >> we begin this hour at the president's mar-a-lago property in florida where he's spending the holidays. this morning president trump did a christmas eve video call with troops around the world thanking them for their service in our country and answering their questions. but shortly after hanging up, he was right back to impeachment, focusing both on the trial to come and how the house handled its inquiry. >> we're

first boris sanchez outside of mar-a-lago. we know the president has been working on any kind of strategy for the senate trial since he's been down in mar-a-lago? >> reporter: anderson, it appears that president trump has been trying to sort out a strategy for a senate trial while here at mar-a-lago while quizzing allies, aides, advisers over how he should handle things moving forward. the president seeking information from a multitude of sources. we're told by people close to the president that he hears from allies that he needs to bolster his white house legal team. specifically, they've encouraged him to bring on a scholar in constitutional law. the feeling among some close to the president is that white house counsel could use some help. they don't feel like he's going to give the president the tv moments that he's looking for. as you know, anderson, the president wants a show. coincidentally, there was a constitutional law scholar at mar-a-lago over the last few weeks in alan dershowitz, a frequent defender of the preside

mar-a-lago. he sent out a tweet again attacking speaker nancy pelosi. so interesting to see nancy pelosi demanding fairness from senate leader mitch mcconnell, when she presided over the most unfair trial hearing in history of the united states congress, still trying to spin what happened during the impeachment of the house of representatives. he did travel to his golf resort in palm beach and there ways inclimate weather and had an earlier than expected return to maurlg. mar-a-lago. it is unclear who is planning to arrive and in the senate. >> tell us about this search for a possible replacement for secretary of state mike pompeo. >> reporter: there's been a long time speculation pompeo may run for senate in kansas and leave his post of secretary of state. the white house is preparing for that possibility. we have learned there is a short list of names they compiled together. one is treasury secretary, steven mnuchin. he is interested in the position and happy if he got it. he's not aggressively

we do know that when he's in mar-a-lago he tends to reach out and solicit a lot of opinions from a lot of friends. and everyone has a little bit of advice to give the president. so monitor his twitter feed. he has something -- an event here at 5:00 p.m. where he will be talking to a friendly audience pay the group of yuck conservatives gathered around here, the president put it on his schedule. we'll see if he uses that opportunity to frame the impeachment debate going forward really for the next couple days. alex. >> you mentioned the 1 pount $4 trillion spending bill that secures the government being funded through september of next year. can you tell me all that's in it? not all but some of the highlights? >> reporter: a lot of planes, a lot of tanks. there's 22 billion additional defense spending. there's money for opioid abuse, also bunch of other pots of money. look, the president and the paid family leave. the president, when you're working with the democratic congress, ultimately they got to a deal and this was steve manu chen's deal that he cut. it's easy to get to a top line

he is at mar-a-lago now for -- it's more than two weeks. he's not slated to come back to washington until sunday, january 5th, which is the day before things could get started in the senate although there's some uncertainty there. and people around the president get nervous when he goes on vacation because he has free and unstructured time. as much he's enjoys seeing members of his club and he spends virtually every day on the golf course, i think he took christmas off, he has a lot of unstructured time without much access to aides and he has a lot of access to cable television and his phone and he tweets. and we're seeing him really lean in on the attacks on the house speaker, but also sort of trying to rev up the sort of cultural war here, making this divide and making impeachment not as a referendum on his conduct as president but rather about claiming that it's the democrats trying to not just undo the 2016 election, but it's their hatred, in his words, of not just himself but his base. trying to very much pit us versus them. he's leani

that's how we come up with he's now the 26th trip down to mar-a-lago. he's made a couple of dozen to new jersey. that's how we get up to $118 million. each trip to mar-a-lago is $3.4 million, by the way, so it's not nothing. >> and then the qstion becomes so some portion of that, the question is how much does the u.s. government actually hand over to these trump properties. the president goes and golfs or stays at one of his properties. he's got security. the secret service, i remember, was getting charged for the golf carts. do we know -- do we have any inkling of what the answer to that question is? >> well, the easiest way would be for the white house to tell us, right? it's our money, the taxpayer money so we should find that out. i've asked many times and they're not at all interested in letting us know how much they're charging for top white house staff, how much for the secret service to be staying at trump properties. but there have been lawsuits from groups that have looked into this and my estimate right now is it's at least $3 million has flo

he is spending the second week in mar-a-lago.has settled into something of a daily routine and most of his aim on twitter at nancy pelosi between golfing and mingling with friends and family herm at mar-a-lago. the president really wants to get on to that senate trial. he wants his symbolic day in court. he was is not just to be acquitted by the senate but to be vindicated by a process he hopes will be fair. he has told reporters this past week that he is still open to doing whatever senate majority leader mitchell mcconnell wants to do in terms of the structural of the trial. mcconnell has said he prefers no witnesses, no more document collection, simply to hear from the house. now president trump has also been soliciting advice from allies and aides here at mar-a-lago what the white house strategy should be for handling impeachment. a lot of unanswered questions how the white house will approach this. president has been asking for example he should bring on his fiercest members from the house to perhaps present part of his case

. >> so, john, it looks like the president will be at mar-a-lago into the new year. what is -- what's going on behind the scenes there as we talk about all the impeachment drama here in public? >> to this point, he's largely stayed out of sight. the first week of the vacation he's dedicated mostly to golf and twitter. next week, we expect him to ramp up some activities, including that event in miami you mentioned. to start this evangelical coalition, sort of in response to that rather scathing op-ed in that evangelical newspaper, christianity today, it really stung the president since the evangelicals are a significant part of his base. there had been some talk as the senate trial might have started on the 6th or 7th of january, the president might cut short his vacation. we now don't expect that to be the case because it doesn't look like this is going to start that week. this is something as we play the clip there, the two things to be true at once in terms of the president's response to impeachment. on one hand, it's personally, it infuriates him, he knows this is

but in -- but in mar-a-lago, it's even more so. and that opens up the risk. he's chatting with somebody. something gets in his mind and it goes into his mind and out of his tweet. >> well, speaker pelosi's gambit of holding the articles isn't -- is a high-risk strategy. and one of the ways that it could come out well for her is if president trump puts pressure on mitch mcconnell to get the trial going. and so maybe one reason the aides are worried is that during this down period, the -- the president is going to lose discipline. and start fuming about the fact that maybe there won't be a trial. and maybe he won't be acquitted. and maybe he'll start saying things that will compromise mitch mcconnell's strategy. after all, mitch mcconnell is really good at saying no. we saw it with the merit garland story. he basically stood there while people were arguing they had a moral responsibility to -- to at least have hearings for president obama's nominee. he didn't care. in this case, trump could put pressure on him. >> right. in a sense, you're seeing that. mcconnel

david, the president of the united states on his way to mar-a-lago. as we've noted before, he can get himself worked up down there. what do you think happens to him over these next two weeks as he stares this in the face? >> terrific question. i think it's exactly the right question to pursue. listen, in the nixon case and in the clinton case, the past two cases of impeachment or impeachment proceedings, the proceedings brought an end to the controversy. richard nixon left office, and we opened a new chapter in american history. and bill clinton essentially was very contrite. you know, he went back to work, and that ended the clinton thing. in this case, i think donald trump is going to emerge very differently from nixon and clinton. he's not going to be contrite. he's not going to take responsibility. i think he's going to be embittered. he's going to be embittered for the rest of the time he is in office, and that makes it more difficult. but i also think that if he comes out of this, you know, feeling vindicated, he's going to be emboldened, and he

. >> behind the scenes at mar-a-lago. president trump is increasingly frustrated with the standstill in the impeachment process. >> we have a perfect case. they had no case. >> we say to president trump, if you are so confident you did nothing wrong, why won't you let your men testify? >> i couldn't remember if i was recording at the time or how the camera was framed. i just -- i saw that trailer coming. and i knew i had to run away from it. >>> this is "new day" weekend with victor blackwell and christy pole. >> good saturday morning to you. we are starting with a developing story out of hawaii. the remains of six people have been recovered after a tour helicopter crashed on the island of kauai. that was thursday. one person is still unaccounted for. >> the police say the debris was found in a remote area of a state park north of the city. the faa and ntsb are investigating of course and cnn's josh campbell has more for us from hawaii now. >> the search for the location where tourism helicopter went down here in hawaii w

he is down here in south ef mar-a-lago. i think last year the president did something similar. there is no indication. as the president gets ready to begin this video conference, and i want to know will he give any owning to either side here, particularly the democrats, of movement. that would be an indication. if the president indicates he is open to movement, then maybe mitch mcconnell will be open. i think the likelihood of that is fairly slim based on what i'm hearing from the white house. >> i do think that after the new year you may start to see some movement on negotiations. right now every indication from mitch mcconnell publicly, from chuck schumer and more, it is that everybody is feeling like they're in their positions, they're not going to move, and they want to hold their spots here and see if the other side will budge in any way. >> okay, you have a standing invite to come back and talk to us if the president starts that press conference. and we have our guests joining me now including john allen, and julian manchester reporter for the hill. barbara, let me begin

that's how we come up with he's now the 26th trip down to mar-a-lago.s made a couple of dozen to new jersey. that's how we get up to $118 million. each trip to mar-a-lago is $3.4 million, by the way, so it's not nothing. >> and then the question becomes so some portion of that, the question is how much does the u.s. government actually hand over to these trump properties. the president goes and golfs or stays at one of his properties. he's got security. the secret service, i remember, was getting charged for the golf carts. do we know -- do we have any inkling of what the answer to that question is? >> well, the easiest way would be for the white house to tell us, right? it's our money, the taxpayer money t. we should be able to find that out. i've asked many times and they're not at all interested in letting us know how much they're charging for top white house staff, how much for the secret service to be staying at trump properties. but there have been lawsuits from groups that have looked into this and my estimate right now is it's at least $3 millio

what is the mood at mar-a-lago, sarah? >> well, good morning, guys. and president trump is showing signs of increasing frustration with this extended state of limbo surrounding his senate trial. as neither congressional democrats nor congressional republicans are showing any signs of budging. house speaker nancy pelosi continues to withhold those articles of impeachment from the senate. president trump is it clearly agitated. he does not want to have this kind of uncertainty surrounding his trial. he does not just want to be acquitted by the senate but he wants a chance to clear his name. to have his symbolic day in court. now, while he's heading into the second week of his trip down here at mar-a-lago, sources tell cnn that he's been quizzing aides and allies here at his resort about who should represent him during the senate trial. now, the only thing that's certainly about the white house's strategy is that white house counsel pat cipollone still expected to take the lead in terms of presenting the president's defense. but there may be roles for ou

the president begins now his second week at mar-a-lago. you're hearing decisions who would defend him once that trial date is established? >> reporter: that's right, jessica. that's something the white house has been considering for weeks now, and pat cipollone, white house counsel, long slated to take the lead role in presenting the president's defense, but sources tell cnn president trump has been quizzing aides and advisers on werthhether they bee cipollone is ready for the pressure of a televised trial. he's not just interested in being acquitted he wants to be vindicates, have his symbolic day of court when it comes to that senate trial and is placing just as much a premium on the theatrics of the trial as the fact he is likely to be acquitted by senate republicans. sources also tell cnn president trump is considering roles for some of his favorite conservative defenders in the house. people like congressman jim jordan, mark meadows, some of those republicans at the white house just before the president left for mar-a-lago meeting wit

he will be leaving the white house shortly heading off who mar-a-lago to spend the upcoming holidays. he will be signing a defense spending bill that he will be signing before overall the mostic spending bill to keep the government running despite everything happening. there will not be a government shutdown according to white house officials. those bills will be signed. >> thanks very much. thanks so much for joining us. let me get right to the news. house staffers are using the holiday recess over the next several days to prepare for a senate trial. do you want the speaker to send the articles of impeachment to the senate as soon as you're back in session january 6th, 7th, along those lines. >> i think it's really about are the senate rules going to be fair. i think it's entirely appropriate for the speaker to say in this unprecedented moment where foreman of the jury saying he's koor coordinating with the defendant and will not be impartial. i'm talking about mitch mcconnell. i think it's appropriate that the speaker wants to see what this trial will look like before she names the

recently visiting president trump at mar-a-lago. >>> the tourist chopper down. the tour helicopter vanishing off hawaii. the urgent search for survivors at this hour. a pilot and six passengers on board, including two children. what authorities revealed late today. >>> the massive explosion. a powerful blast ripping through an airplane facility. nitrogen gas exploding. the building collapsing. nearly a dozen people injured. >>> overseas, the deadly plane crash. at least 12 people killed. more than 60 hurt. a baby among the passengers rescued. a survivor describing the moment the plane started to come apart. >>> up in flames. the historic home destroyed by fire. the house that stood for 120 years, crumbling to the ground in a matter of hours. >>> the new lawsuit just filed after reports of hackers gaining access to home security cameras, claiming they can see and hear you. >>> and this just in. veteran radio host don imus has died. controversial, offensive, and always outspoken. a career spanning nearly 50 years on the air. >>> and good evening. it's great to hav

plus, rudy giuliani kicking off the holidays with a party at mar-a-lago. and i sit down with a man behind the movie "just mercy." ♪ may your holidays glow bright and all your dreams take flight. lease the glc 300 suv for $439 a month with credit toward your first month's payment at the mercedes-benz winter event. i'climate is the number 1ove priority.sage. i would declare a state of emergency on day 1. congress has never passed an important climate bill, ever. this is a problem that continues to get worse. i've spent a decade fighting and beating oil companies... stopping pipelines... stopping fossil fuel plants, ensuring clean energy across the country. how are we going to pull this country together? we take on the biggest challenge in history, we save the world and do it together. >>> cnn has obtained new satellite images of north korea. they show the expansion of buildings linked to the production of long range ballistic missile launchers. it's a disturbing revelation as the world waits to find out exactly what north korea's kim jong-un had in mind when

>> that's the problem, neil, you can't really lock down a club like mar-a-lago.e a number of members who pay a very high amount of money, about $200,000 initiation fee, plus their monthly bill, so it's a very exclusive club and for that reason, you just, you can't shut it down like you can the white house or camp david. neil: you know, the chinese have always been suspected of spying on us and locking in and copying data from corporations who want to do business there, even if they don't, and spying on military operations, but when you can work your way up to the most powerful man on the planet, at that gets a little scary. >> it's a problem, neil. you know, that facility down there, you've got the ocean out there in the front so unless you put a seal platoon out there with rigid inflatable boats and you put platoon of marines around the compound like you have at camp david, it's very difficult and having done a number of sites at private clubs when i was on the presidential detail, one of the first rules of doing a site at their places is don't inconvenience the

he's now the 26th trip down to mar-a-lago. and that's how we get up to 118 million.ach trip is 3.8 million. so not for nothing. >> so some portion of that, the question is how much of the u.s. government hand over to the trump properties. he golfs or stays at one of his properties, he has a security ret new. the secret service was getting charged for the golf carts. do we have any inkling of what the answer to that is? >> the easiest way would be for the white house to tell us. so i've asked many times and they're not interested in letting us know how much they're charging for top white house staff frr staff, for secret service to stay at trump properties. there have been lawsuits from groups and my estimate is at least $3 million has flowed back to trump's own cash registers and probably more. that's probably just secret service and top white house staff for lodging, food and beverage. we don't know for what other things they're being charged. and these lawsuits take time. so a group kcalled property of the people, just last month, put out numbers based on the last

notably about those guests you mentioned, a colorful crowd here at mar-a-lago as always.esterday cameras captured the president alongside alan dershowitz. someone who's been speculated to potentially be joining the trump legal team. keep an eye out for that. also here alex ovechkin, the stanley cup champion washington capitals player captured on social media giving a jersey to president trump last night. >> michael shear, bringing you back into the conversation, the president has been using impeachment to rally his base, but what kind of impact are we seeing on independent voters? the independent voters are the most significant in any election. are we getting a sense of whether it has really moved voters? >> the polls have suggested that the sentiment of the general public has not really moved over the last several months as all of this has unfolded on capitol hill. we saw the ins and outs and the back and forth. but the american public has remained remarkably steady. i think generally speaking in democrats, republicans and independents. i was struck actually there is no

. >>> the president, first lady, and their son barron arrived in mar-a-lago late last night. >> the president also signed a 1$1.4 trillion spending bill to prevent a government shutdown. >>> cnn white house reporter sarah westwood joins us from palm beach, florida. president trump started this holiday in let's call it a bit of a limbo. how focused will he be? we're hearing from those around him. >> that's certainly going to be a topic of discussion here in florida over the holiday break. the president will be well staffed toward the latter half of his trip he'll have his white house counsel and other senior staffers here with him, and there are a lot of decisions to be made about the white house's legal defense over this holiday break, who will be presenting the opening and closing arguments, for example, whether there are roles on the team for people outside of the white house such as the president's fiercest defenders on capitol hill. sources say the white house is considering perhaps adding some of the president's conservative allies from the house to that team, but there are also concerns

. >> reporter: gallagher met with trump at mar-a-lago and will campaign for trump if asked, those who know him say. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> and with us is military analysis ron kirby, a former rear admiral and a important press secretary. what is your reaction to the release of the leaked videos. >> there is a few. the times is suspicious for the leak of the videos right after gallagher was at mar-a-lago with president trump and he appeared at a fundraiser. it appears as somebody has an agenda to get this out and embarrass gallagher and the president. and the other thing that struck me, brianna, we talk about the code of silence but they live by a code of honor and they thought it was important to tell their stories to investigators and to be honest and not try to corroborate the details between them but to just tell the truth as they saw it. there wasn't a lot of sophistication. but it was honest and i think that is commendable and representative of the kind of honor that these guys live by. and the last thing was the complication that this will make for rear admiral gre

>> well, i'm a place called mar-a-lago.ll it the southern white house because i really pretty much work -- that's what i like to do is work. >> oh, you're spending christmas in a war zone, i'm in a place called mar-a-lago. but the real head scratcher from that christmas eve phone call is that the president's claim that he really just likes to work while he's at mar-a-lago. take the president's christmas week schedule. sunday morning 10:08 a.m. the presidential motorcade arrived at trump's golf club and did not leave until nearly 2:30. tuesday christmas eve the president arrived at his golf club until 10:13 a.m. and stayed until just after 4:00 p.m. the trump was back again today arriving just after 10:00 a.m. leaving right around 2:30. i'm sensing a pattern. now, we should say we don't know for sure whether he was actually on the links playing golf the entire time he was at the golf club, but with a little help from huffington post we're able to quantify prodly just how much golf this president lays or should i say just how

and finally, i was surprised the president chose to bring chief gallagher, after all of this, to mar-a-lagohere are so many real heroes out there who have never been accused of war crimes, have not posed with corpses, bring some of those folks to mar-a-lago, not this particular individual, would be my advice. >> what's the goal, what does trump get for doing that? >> he feels, and i'm guessing, that somehow this will enhance his standing with the military. and he looks at that i think as a -- both a political voting bloc, it's not insignificant, but also it plays well with his base because there is a lot of support for the military and there should be a lot of support for the military. but in this one, i think his political calculus is not quite right given the level of acrimony and division that is resulting from this within the uniformed military. >> admiral, while you're here i want to ask you about another headline that appeared in "the new york times" earlier this week. pentagon eyes africa drawdown as first step in global troop shift. the report is that it's part of an effort to reduc

who was invited to mar-a-lago this weekend.ive him a chance to thank the president for reversing his demotion. and "the new york times" writes this just as a reminder to folks what this was all about. from his unit, two s.e.a.l. snipers told investigators that one day from his sniper nest, chief gallagher shot a girl in a flower print hijab who was walking with other girls on the river bank. one of those snipers said he watched through his scope as she dropped, clutching her stomach, and the other girls dragged her away. your reaction to any or all of this, admiral? >> let's be absolutely clear. he was convicted on mutilating a corpse, and if anyone wants any sense of chief gallagher, google "chief gallagher's war trophy photo," and you'll see him holding by the hair a dead boy, a teenager, holding a knife to that corpse's throat, and the caption he put on his social networks was "i got my knife skills on." that's not what the military is all about. president trump says we train them to be killing machines. that's wrong. we tra

click, call or visit a store today. >>> as the president spends the holidays at mar-a-lago at his resort there, he is growing increasingly agitated over the uncertainty surrounding a senate impeachment trial. this as he faces two merge decisions. first, who should serve on his defense team, and second, what strategy should that team put forward? cnn political commentators alan stewart and the former for ted cruz. the president has spent a lot of his vacation firing off tweets at house speaker nancy pelosi, and i'm wondering, what does that signal to you about his mindset? clearly he's not happy. >> clearly the president is very upset that people are following the constitution of the united states and want to preserve the democracy, which is the united states of america. the congress of the united states, really, after all the relations given the testimony brought forward before the intelligence committee and the judiciary committee really had no choice but to impeach the president of the united states. and, look, there is going to be a trial. the president is very unhappy. this president

made leading to concern about outside influence on trump as he dines and also the old buddies at mar-a-lago. >>that has a new report in the washington post to shed light on the outside influence, a foreign leader has had on trump. >>former white house officials say they fear russian president vladimir putin led trump to believe it was ukraine not russia that interfered in the 2016 election, one x aides said trump explained the baseless theory by saying quote to him told me. >>reminding many of this moment when he sided with the russian leader over his own intelligence agencies president putin he just said it's not russia. >>i will say this i don't see any reason why it would be for now the president is focused on his impeachment trial and demanding to know when it will be i just left president trump. he's mad as hill that they would do this to him and now deny him his day in court after trump said it's likely his white house counsel will lead his defense team that has been fantastic as white house counsel his close ally senator lindsey graham advocated for this defense strategy thursday nig