first of all, what more can you tell us about this stunning news about mitch mcconnell? it is pretty amazing when you think about it. >> reporter: well, senator mcconnell, i think, is fed up with president trump, especially given what happened last wednesday in the u.s. capitol. you have to remember that senator mcconnell is somebody who cares deeply about the senate and the institution of congress. he has never wanted to be president. he has always wanted to be senate majority leader. that was his lifelong goal. in two days last week, president trump basically fettered away his majority leader status on tuesday, and the next day a pro-trump mob stormed the capitol and desecrated the building that mcconnell reveres. in a two-day span, wolf, i think senator mcconnell was deeply hurt by what happened and politically, if we're being totally candid, i think he sees an opportunity now to purge president trump, get rid of him from the republican party and move on, make a fresh break. >> you think if there's a senate trial and there almost certainly will be a senate trial, is it

reaction to what we're learning tonight in the reporting by "the new york times," especially, about mitch mcconnellsically a cooperative telephone call with joe biden about the procedures for an impeachment trial in the senate as well as the additional reporting that mcconnell, himself, might, might, axios is saying, vote to convict donald trump in a senate trial. >> yeah, lawrence, i think it's important to contextualize what we're seeing among republicans right now, and i mean that on a couple layers. first, to contextualize it around the fact that had donald trump not incited an insurrection against the united states, against the capitol, against the senate and the house members, he still would have full control over the party. so the notion that this is the breaking point is significant because these are people that for four years have allowed donald trump to get to this moment. and then secondly, i think the verdict is still out. we don't know if this -- if this is a real crack within the republican party because the people we are seeing come out, mcconnell included, are not really surprising

the number 3 in republican leadership, and wolf, this comes just as we're lerj about concerns mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader has, about donald trump's conduct. and mcconnell is indicating to his colleagues privately that he believes impeaching donald trump could be a way to push trump out of the party, get rid of trumpism altogether. wolf, he has not said -- >> hold on, manu, for a moment. i want to go to the floor of the house of representatives where there is a moment of silence right now in honor of those fallen police officers . >> pursuant to clause 12a-1, the chair declares the congress in recess for a period less than 15 minutes. >> a moment of silence, a dramatic moment indeed in honor of those two police officers who died as a result of what happened in that attack on the u.s. capitol last wednesday. so, manu, let me just get back quickly to mitch mcconnell. he apparently hates -- and that's a strong word -- hates the president of the united states right now. we heard jonathan martin of the "new york times" say it's very possible mitch mcconnell might even vote in favor

wrong i think of mitch mcconnell goes against this whether behind the scenes or in a more public fashion i do not think that he can turn around i do not think that the democrats will command 17 republican votes and that's on the assumption that all democrats in the senate go along with it i think that's likely by the way so i think breaking ranks in the democratic party in the senate right now is very unlikely democrats are very united and we know that they will have more senate votes in the republican party than they have the 1st time around. but i do not think that they're going to get to 17 i can see them getting to 6 or 7 something like that and therefore if they are not going to be able to get to 17 republican senators with them. they ought to actually relax about the timing because there could still be a benefit in going through this trial but the major benefit would be discovery namely that we have enough information that they have the ability to call witnesses that the senate can resurrect their ability to demand that witnesses come and testify before them which was sorely tried

what we saw from mitch mcconnell is that yes, while there's a 50/50 split in the u.s. senate right now, he's not going to bring the senate back with a emergency session. there's not a love lost between mcconnell and the president. there's a lot of senate republicans that blame the president for losing the majority and look, even if mcconnell was not to vote to impeach, he could give a signal to the rest of his caucus that they can vote their own consciouses. >> neil: phil, if you think about it, it is a stunning fall from grace. you think about where we were after the election. the president protested a lot of what he saw. but quickly morphed into robbed, stolen, everything was shot down and even administered by judges appointed by donald trump that dismissed it as well and then last week. i'm thinking of a figure that did get 74, 75 million votes that could have been a credible threat on the national front as a conceivable candidates for president four years from now even if the senate doesn't move on any of this and thereby negate that possibility. i wonder if it's ev

mitch mcconnell no se enfocó tanto en donald trump, pero sí en la democracia.mitch mcconnell como chuck schumer utilizaron la palabra insurrección, una palabra que también utilizó joe biden cuando hablo sobre los incidentes que ocurrieron el día de hoy en el capitolio. fíjense, mitch mcconnell, chuck schumer y joe biden utilizando la misma palabra para describir lo sucedido hoy. >> mitch mcconnell normalmente no está de acuerdo con los demócratas. éstas no para protestas ni rallies, eran personas que buscaban usar violencia contra nuestros líderes políticos, y violentar en efecto nuestras instituciones democráticas. divisiones políticas, diferentes opiniones, todos los líderes políticos han dicho ya. joe biden en su discurso hoy en la tarde lo dijo en inglés, ya basta. aquí ojalá que los diputados y senadores que al principio dijeron que tenían oposición a la certificación, que reconsideren y apoyan el proceso que es algo simbólico. que ha sido con poco drama. >> muchísimas gracias victoria por estar siempre con nosotros comentando las noticias que suceden. que

i think it's a bit interangry mitch mcconnell to don't trump. because there is a bit of i told you so. everybody knew that trump was a ticking time bomb and they were hoping they would get to january 20th before the bomb went off. and sadly, we didn't make it. >> we want to go to garrett on capitol hill. we saw the senate. what is happening with the house? >> the house is getting the chamber back in working order. we may not see them in session until 9:00. we know more of the rioters were in the house chamber than in the senate. they are trying to get their act together to get going. again, the irony is once we resume, this may end up being a shorter night overall than what we expected before things turned violent earlier today. the spirit seems to have gone out of the pro trump rejecters. you mentioned james lankford and the comments he made, to bhakac away from his objections, and steve dain essays the time has come to okay knowledge joe biden's the game. and other than cruz, we are starteding to see an acquiesces to reality, and you seement t

before the end of this week, chuck schumer would have used that so-called nuclear option and then mitch mcconnell would be utterly powerless. completely and utterly powerless. which might still happen at some point. >> i think it's likely that it will still happen. i mean, we'll see how senator mcconnell and the minority republicans behave in the minority and whether or not they actually want to have anything to do with legislating on even very popular noncontroversial things, but if they continue to behave as a caucus the way mcconnell has led them for all the years that he has been a leader then the filibuster will be dead before i turn 48 and my birthday is april fool's day. and so we've -- i mean, we'll see, but it -- i mean, you can see the writing on the wall. they're either going to legislate or they're going to let the minority run roughshod over them. chuck schumer is in no mood for that. >> rachel, you were in the room with him. i sense you could feel that determination. >> yeah. yes. exactly. i mean, there was no equivocation. he wasn't -- he didn't -- first of all, he didn't agree to

mitch mcconnell has always been strategic in his maneuvering. that is what he is thinking ahead to while the president is not getting much foresight into anything and is burning the white house down on his way out. host: jacquie alemany is joining us, the author of the washington post power up column. ahead of a very busy week in washington. we will get to the phone lines to call in. .emocrats, (202) 748-8000 republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. jackie alamein he will be with us until about 8:45. -- jackie alamei the weekend before the, leading up to the election in november. the president went to rome georgia and rallied and the were about 30,000 people that came out during the pandemic to rally behind this president. his appeal is undeniable. if anyone thought trump come him losing the election would make a big dent or be the end of trumpism i think a lot of people were mistaken and republicans to understand that which is why obviously there is a schism in the party and use some people hugging the president and others bac

i mean that is a major turning point, when the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has -- by the way, no one in mcconnell world is pushing back. >> right. >> no one in mcconnell world is pushing back. zero people will tell you this report isn't true. obviously, the mcconnell people want this out there that he thinks impeachment is a good idea. significant. >> i'm glad you were working your sources last night. there's no question he obviously wants this reporting out there. that he's pleased with this. he thinks this could help purge trumpism from the party. let's be clear, mitch mcconnell stood by two months while this president fomented disinformation about the election while he tried to steal the election in vain from joe biden. only now, we can assume, because he was personally attacked during last week's insurrection. there's no question that all of the lawmakers are dealing with the trauma of what happened. mitch mcconnell stood by for years, not just for the months leading up to now, for years, all to remake the fed judiciary. i understand the reporting that he hates the presid

and likewise, you know, the reporting on mitch mcconnell, this is not mitch mcconnell coming out publicly and saying these things, this is whispers behind the scenes and being confirmed, you know, off the record. when he comes out and says something publicly on this is perhaps when the tide will really turn, and other republicans will feel like they have political coverage, come out and support impeachment. you know, the house vote today, or in 2019 when they impeach trump, there were no republicans who voted in support of it. you now have prominent republicans, including house number three liz cheney, saying that she would vote to impeach trump, and that may give political cover to other republicans to do the same. francine: stephanie, thank you so much, our senior writer covering the white house, stephanie baker. coming up, much more on the historic week in washington. we will have more on not only what mitch mcconnell will do next, but we will have more on security surrounding inauguration day. this is bloomberg. ♪ this is bloomberg. ♪ francine: economics, finance, politics. this is "b

learned a lesson-- he had to keep donald trump on his side. >> mitch mcconnell is a very smart politician. i think he understood the trump base, perhaps better than most. and he understood that the trump base was probably not loyal to him, but was loyal to trump, and he needed th. so what mitch mcconnell did was to try and patch things up with the president, to try and say supportive things as much as he could, and say nothing any other time. >> ...will not replace us! you will not replace us! >> narrator: then, an ominous harbinger of things to come. >> ...the torch-wielding white nationalists coming face to face... >> ...a demonstration by white nationalists at the university of virginia in charlottesville. >> what you had in charlottesville was the alt-right people, many of them marching in trump's name. >> this is trump's america! >> we could see them marching with torches, and it looked like something out of nazi germany. >> narrator: neo-nazis and white nationalist protesters were forming, protesting plans to remove a statue of robert e. lee. >> hello, how

but republicans are split you have people like mitch mcconnell warning republicans is not healthy for the party especially before the election talk about the electoral college others are saying this is a litmus test so hearing from the president and this bolsters the case of what they are doing but i imagine we will see a lot of reporters asking senators and lawmakers on the hill today for their response and democrats are calling for their own investigation. and the georgia board of election also calling to have a probe because the president is attempting to tamper with results which experts say is years and to questionable legal territory. >> and the mitch mcconnell leadership era how unusual this republican senate split is? >> the hallmark of the presidency is that republicans in general have coalesced through the unorthodox policies and ways of doing things. we haven't seen much push back in general and now at the end of his term, as he leaves the white house in 16 days joe bidenct is the president-elect no cancer pushing back because mitch mcconnell has realized there could be som

sources also tell cnn that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell believes impeaching president trumpl make it easier to purge him from the party. joining us now are cnn political analyst, maggie haberman. she and her colleague, jonathan martin, broke the mcconnell story in "the new york times" and cnn political commentary scott jennings, who is a long-time campaign adviser to senator mitch mcconnell and can help us understand his thinking. great to have both of you here. maggie, tell us your reporting about where mcconnell is this morning on his thought process. >> sure, so jonathan martin and i reported yesterday that senator mitch mcconnell is pleased by the impeachment proceedings that democrats are moving ahead with. he is not whipping votes in one direction or the other. he wants to see how it plays out, but he believes this moment will make it easier to purge the party of donald trump. and again, he is not saying where he is. i just want to make that clear, but this is notably different than what we saw with mitch mcconnell in the last impeachment, where he held the line very f

mitch mcconnell doesn't leak a lot. we heard a lot of his office yesterday through "the new york times" and other sources says he believes the house is doing the right thing, going after impeachment for the president of the united states. maybe that gives republicans some cover here. do you think that when impeachment passes through the house today, and it will later, there's a chance that still that senate, led by republicans, will vote to convict? >> there's a hell of a bigger chance today than there was 24 hours ago. last night mcconnell's people were telling mike allen that there's a better than 50/50 chance that mcconnell himself would vote to convict and remove trump from office, remove him from politics forever more. it would be one of the most unprecedented votes, one of the most stunning votes really in the history of our republic. and he doesn't do things by accident. he is sending a signal. liz cheney is sending a signal that you have one chance, one chance to be able to take a vote quickly and remove trump f

garret haake, i gave a quickie preview of mitch mcconnell. give a more thorough one because it's going to be the first big speech we're going to hear in a few minutes. >> yeah, so mcconnell will open the senate floor with his remarks and while he's been pretty clear up until this point he doesn't support the action to object to the electoral college count, i don't know we're going to see him take the members who have decided to go that route to task. i think what we're going to hear is him stating firmly his objections to doing so and trying to lay the groundwork here and control this debate a little bit. the thing to understand about mcconnell as katey, alluded to, he spends enormous effort and energy to try to prevent moments like this from happening. he goes to great efforts to prevent votes that might divide republicans, and this is as divisive as it gets. he's also got four new members, brand new republican senators who said they'll stand up to be counted with those objecting to the count here, and he's got to look out for them. he's got

the top republican mitch mcconnell holds giant influence here. mcconnell said he will listen to the legal arguments, meaning a vote to convict is possible. that makes the second public impeachment trial very different. remember, mcconnell was a firm no from the beginning in the first. five or six votes are against the president, but 17 would be needed to reach what's needed for conviction. follow the leader is very much a thing among senate republicans, so mcconnell's choice will very much heavily sway the final math. the president is vexed that his aides and allies, including mitch mcconnell, are not rushing to assist him. the impeachment trial just one of the daunting day one challenges now for the new administration. the coronavirus is raging. the vaccine rollout is behind schedule. just this morning, devastating news from the government, reporting that nearly a million americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits just last week. the president-elect is asking the senate to split its days, taking breaks from the impeachment trial to con

cnn has learned that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is open to impeachment. a source says mcconnell hates president trump for inciting the insurrection and plans to never speak with him again. as of this morning, president trump expressing no regret and he's making new threats. >> federal investigators say they are pursuing thousands of leads on the identities of these domestic terrorists. so they can level sedition and conspiracy charges against this mob. america's most senior military leaders issuing a rare statement, warning their troops about their constitutional duty to reject extremism. metal detectors have now been installed outside the house chambers after multiple house democrats tell cnn they were worried about other members carrying firearms. meanwhile, coronavirus deaths hitting new record numbers. the u.s. reported 4,327 deaths just yesterday. we begin this historic day with cnn's sunlen serfaty. she is live for us on capitol hill. what happens next? >> well, alisyn, this is certainly a history-making moment up here on capitol hill. and notably, i

and mitch mcconnell is key to it. there's a lot of hypocrasy with mcconnell and the republicans that enabled trump on do what he has done. but the republicans are in a point where they have a leverage what happens with trump. i agree, there's similarity that the situation with president nix ob on, with the powers coming to him and saying, either you resign or you are going to be impeached. we are not there yet, but we are on the edge. >> can america ever remove this stain of the stain of this presidency, dan? >>. >> short answer is no. there may have been a time back six months, nine months, maybe a longer, but now, to be as i say, highly probable he is going to be at least impeached. that doesn't mean he is going to be found guilty by the senate. >> but, it becomes the second president, the only president, to be impeached twice is a, this, this cannot be removed. that's why i say, that he now is what we call a stone cold loser. he knows it. it must be driving him crazy. but that is his problem. what we have to deal wi

no single person could do more to evict or help donald trump than mitch mcconnell. it remains in question whether mcconnell will actually do anything, but with every hour that passes, the dam sustaining president trump crumbles a little more. kevin mccarthy, house leader, in his seditious attempt to overturn the election, has asked other republicans on whether he should call on mr. trump to resign at the capitol last week. meanwhile, john katko, senator of new york, became the first house republican to back impeaching trump, and now he has company. congresswoman liz cheney, the number 3 republican in house leadership, she now says she will vote to impeach trump, and not reluctantly. she released a searing statement condemning the president saying, quote, much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough. the president of the united states summoned his mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack. everything that followed was his doing. none of this would have happened without the president. the president could have immed

mitch mcconnell tried to weaponize it. that to me indicates the republican party will leave no stone unturned in terms of the levers of power. if they could weaponize the senate gym, they would. anything that there is, they will try to use as a lever of power because they understand they are dealing with an administration and a democratic party that is emboldened, that is scared for the future of the country and that is willing to do a lot of really big things to save what i think they see as the country on a precipice. >> well, alex, as a student of washington, may i ask you then a relatively silly follow-up question? >> you can always. >> what do you make then of mitch mcconnell's argument which he made bluntly and in public that he would continue to basically try hostage obstruction tactics unless he was given the commitment that he could endlessly try hostage obstruction tactics? >> right. the -- it's completely counterintuitive. mitch mcconnell doesn't want anybody to do away with the filibuster because it's the one t

so mitch mcconnell, i'm all ears. tell the american people exactly what part of the president's speech that you thought was violent. was it when he urged his followers to peacefully and patriotically march to the capital so their voices could be heard? did you know -- you like this snap impeachment process, do you feel it's thorough and fair and constitutional? do you think it's just? and do you think you want to be validating with the house of representatives ran through in a week without even any knowledge of those people that apparently we are discovering were part of a plan that was well orchestrated to entice people to do this and get involved in this themselves? they plan to? did you know about that? if it's an impeachable offense, mitch mcconnell, i ask you tonight, where were you when congresswoman maxine waters threatened on going to take trump out tonight. >> you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, the department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you tell them they are not welcome. >>

that seems to be the mission for mitch mcconnell tonight. he is with the agreement and support of chuck schumer to try to eliminate this vote process going forward. we are joined now by former senator claire mccaskill, who has been watching these proceedings all day and has watched her former workplace invaded as it has never been before. claire, it's my sense that mitch mcconnell has this wrapped up and he is giving the opponents their chance to talk now. and the people he just listed, by the way, are all going to be speaking in opposition to any objections on the republican side. >> well, i tell you, lawrence, as of 8:08 tonight i was told by more than one republican senator that they had not gotten hawley to back off his pennsylvania objection. that they thought they had everybody else wrapped up and that's why everyone spoke on arizona. you saw a lot of speakers speaking on arizona that had been slated to speak on georgia and pennsylvania. and i think what they are trying to do, it's a classic mitch mcconnell move, is to build the pressu

york times, mitch mcconnell is leaning towards convicting the president. he sent a letter to his republican colleagues yesterday after the house impeach the president saying he has not made up his mind. he is leaving that door open to convicting the president. if mcconnell votes to convict the president or signal fact to his republican conference, that will provide cover for the rest of the republicans to vote for conviction. they would need is 17 republican votes in order to convict, at a minimum. that is a pretty high bar. we only saw a few vote for conviction including mitt romney, the republican from utah. this is a different scenario. the capital itself in the united states editors themselves were under attack in this siege. the representative said it was incited by the president's words before the rally at the white house. this is a very personal act of violence against members of congress. each of them it was on the floor that day. they had to flee for safety. they understood what was at stake. they understood the process they were engaged in. that

is he talking about mitch mcconnell? :. . mcconnell? is he talking about mitch mcconnell? s to get donald term so connect trump impeached. it's not over until the gavel falls. and that depends on the speaker of the house. those of you who have eagle eyes, perhaps we can move our red banner at the bottom, because you will see that the time remaining is actually zero. in theory, they are only allowed to have 15 minutes, there is nothing left on the clock, but because of covid and the fact that you can't have many members in congress at any one time in the hall, in the chamber, the time has been extended, and we will wait until those 25 not yet voted now 24, they will have a chance to vote. we are watching that 217 number, once that clicks over, there you go. it went quickly past it, 221 now, donald trump will be the only american in american history to have been impeached twice. we are waiting for the gavel to fall, until all members of congress have had their chance to vote, but they needed 218 votes, they have 218 votes, three american presidents, andrewjohnson, bill clinto

london also coming up. 10 republicans vote for trump's impeachment and now senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says there's no chance of a fair trial until trump has left office. and that's all amidst high security ahead of joe biden's inauguration members of the national guard to flood the corridors of the capitol building. $122.00 g.m.t. and just a few moments ago the u.s. president donald trump became the 1st president to be impeached twice if follows a vote in the house of representatives where politicians debated for hours whether the president should face charges incited insurrection by encouraging his supporters to attack the capitol building a week ago all this happening in the final moments of trump's presidency just 7 days from the inauguration of joe biden as the 46th president of the united states house speaker nancy pelosi read out the results moments ago. the i there to 32 there nature 197. there is a resolution is adopted without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. mike hanna joins us live from washington d.c. so mike and historic moment very much so and n

>> then let's -- >> and mitch mcconnell, we know, i mean, mitch mcconnell does not let something getre like that that he is happy there's impeachment unless he really believes that. >> that is a great point. >> is it mitch mcconnell's republican party? you know, or statistics marge re-taylor green who is the congresswoman from dalton, georgia that ascribes to a lot of qanon beliefs. >> that congresswoman from georgia, do you know why she's relevant, because we keep talking about her, we're not talking about all sorts of other freshman who were elected. kevin mccarthy did say that the president bears some responsibility. he is a person of influence within the republican party, and he was, before president trump took office. so yes, you've got guys like lee zelden who are still defending the president but don't we need to remember that none of us had ever heard the name lee zelden, no one who lives west of montauk, long island heard of lee zelden until president trump made him a name. aren't these people holding onto that moment of fame before they're knocked back into irrelevance? >>

that's exactly what mitch mcconnell did. he slow-rolled it and killed it by patching together issues that have nothing to do with each other, making a weird frankenstein type bill. i want to push back on something that a couple anchors said, which is that president trump got nothing out of this. he got nothing except credit for millions of americans for wanting to get more money directly into their wallets. at the end of the day, mitch mcconnell had to swallow the poison pill. president trump made him own the fact that millions of americans are going to get $1,400 less than he would like them to do. president trump may consider that a very big political victory at this moment. howie: that's a good point. richard, conservative comet day commentators said democrats were playing politics by refusing to have this bill before telex because they didn't want to give donald trump credit during the campaign. >> i don't know if i agree with that but i do agree with jillian. let's be very clear and think about how we got here. in may,

this is a sign that mitch mcconnell is saying, umm, how can i benefit [ inaudible ] as mcconnell doest started with all of these corporations saying they will not give money to the house republicans that voted to wanting to overturn the elections last wednesday which started this whole riot and frankly a new wave of domestic terrorism. so mitch mcconnell sees an opportunity here i think. he says all right, maybe the republicans in the house won't be able to gain any money, but if i stand up, my guys may have a chance of coming back in 2022. it also allows his members to take a vote of conscience, not that i'm saying that the senators have a conscience, but they do vote in their best interests and this could potentially let them get there. i think between certain house republicans and u.s. senators republican, we are going to start to hear the words after a more careful review, and listening to the president's recent remarks, i have changed my mind. i think that will be a phrase we hear often through the next 24 hours. >> yeah, i've already heard people telling me, well, you know, mayb

the senator from kentucky or the senator named mitch mcconnell to block judges. he does not. the only way thats you can blok a judge from being debated in the senate is for senators onom the committee to refuse to report that judge and mitch mcconnell does not serve on the judiciary committee so we has no say in that instance, he can urge them to and influence and try to convince them to donv so but he ultimately has no power to do so. even in that regard i would point out democrats can move the discharge judges from committee, that's an important power when the democrats did not use with regard to merrick garland, they can forcece the issue. i suspect they force issue early on in that debate then they would've won that debate but quite frankly the majority of republican senators did not agree with the strategy aten the time to prevent a votepr on merrick garland. it's an important point to make, i would also add in 2001 with the last 50/50 split there is a power-sharing agreement between democrats and republicans and one of the things they put in the agreement i

mitch mcconnell has in the past few hours made positive noises about impeachment. there's another route open to democrats who want to see the president, even though the impeachment push would not result in his being removed from office. no matter how unfit he is for office, either morally or mentally, it does appear this vice president is not prepared to go along with the effort to use it in this case. >> zero chance of the 25th ammendment being used. what are the chances for impeachment being successful? claire: it's very likely that donald trump will be impeached in the house. they have the votes to do it. they've done it before. the upset with donald trump is much higher than it was over the ukraine matter. what happens after the house impeaches him and what strategy the house should use with regards to impeachment, it will of course go to the senate for a trial, but mitch mcconnell has indicated he will not invoke a provision that would allow the senate to be convened earlier than it would normally convene. it means the senate would only convene after the inaug

minority leader mitch mcconnell is insisting schumer reaffirm the filibuster. ate democrats are refusing to buckle to the demands. is mcconnell holding the senate hostage? what is this? >> in terms of things going forward he sure is. look, democrats don't want to give away that option if republicans are going to be as obstructionist as they have in the past. the senate is not a simple majority. the issue is whether you're going to take it off the table or our issue is to go back and not make a firm commitment on this issue. it's been blown up for judges in the past. they need to reason together. democrats say why would we give away this to mitch mcconnell when he's in the minority. >> mcconnell is going to block control for the dems until they agree to promise to uphold the rule that would allow him and the republicans to block anything else that they want to block? do i have that right? >> yeah, you do. that's a very good way of putting it. first of all, as i understand it, there is not a precedent for filibustering the organizing resolution of the senate the w

that "the washington post" first published yesterday, or parts of it that they first published, mitch mcconnell in a letter to his senate colleagues, this is the ap story that came out later yesterday on this, minutes after the house voted 232 to 100 97 to impeach trump mcconnell sent a letter to his colleagues that he's not determined whether trump should be convicted in the senate's upcoming proceedings. a letter stating in part "i have not made a final decision on how i will vote and i intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the senate." that from "the washington post," first publishing that part of the letter from mitch mcconnell to his senate colleagues yesterday. hartford, connecticut, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. the police are erecting barriers around the state capital in hartford. it's sad to see her in quiet connecticut. it's probably happening all over the country at courthouses. i just hope we don't have another kent state somewhere in our country over the next week or so. my other comment is i'm just astounded at how quiet the american

it hinges on a standout between chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell.you live to the hill, next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (quiet piano music) ♪ ♪ comfort in the extreme. the lincoln family of luxury suvs. >>> top of the hour, friday morning, glad you're with us, i'm poppy harlow. >> and i'm jim sciutto. lawmakers are ready the second impeachment trial of the former president donald trump. a source tells cnn the house could send the article of impeachment to the senate as soon as today. note this though, mitch mcconnell is hoping to push the trial until next month in order to give president trump's legal team time to prepare. i spoke with the number two democrat in the senate. he said he's open to that idea as well. this is as president biden using his second full day in office to focus on the economy. he'll sign two more executive orders today to provide more assistance to those struggles in this pandemic. the administration still considering all options as congress works to reach a deal for more stimulus. >> he thinks we could get to a bipartisan package but we're not

and one republican member of congress says that mitch mcconnell -- mitch mcconnell wants trump gone. he wants to stick a fork in this guy. he does. done. it's easy to whisper behind the scenes, right? but maybe the people quiekquiet lobbying mitch mcconnell should speak up publicly. it's clear the republicans' problem is going to be trump. doug gross of iowa telling "the des moines register" our party i in large part has been telling our base lies regarding the election. we have to rye lie on our leaders at least to tell the truth to protect our freedom and they didn't do that. instead they played it. they played our base like a fiddle. and they played 'em so much, they almost played 'em so hard and they turned around and almost burned us down. and we can't let that happen again". >> we all saw it and now the fallout from the insurrection is getting worse. 19 capitol police officers have tested positive for covid-19 after the riot. trying to beat back a maskless hoard of screaming people. i want to say some other things. unh, unh, unh, unh, unh! you know when you want to do something

keep in mind, in 2020 after impeachment articles were sent over to the senate, mitch mcconnell was one of the president's most vocal and forceful defenders. not this time around. that has left senate republicans trying to figure out where this is all going to land. in fact, mcconnell hadn't sent words to republicans on where he stood on things until a couple of hours ago and many republicans i talked to say their bosses trying to figure out where this leaves them. completely unnerved, unsettled and outraged by what occurred a week ago, many of them placing the blame directly on president trump. whether that means at least 17 of them will join with all 50 democrats to convict the president, that is still an open question. we did get some sense of where the republican party stands today. it is in the middle of a rupture. 10 republicans joined with democrats, the most bipartisan impeachment vote in the history of the united states. 197 republicans, even though they were in the house chamber or in the house complex when the attack occurred on january 6th voted not to impeach president trum

the same mitch mcconnell that refused procedures for the trial. the same mcconnell and facilitated and abetted donald trump and his dangerous deadly destructive whims that have led to hundreds of thousands of and he is american deaths, an attack on the capitol, american democracy hanging by a thread. the same mitch mcconnell who for weeks refused to acknowledge joe biden was victor even though he knew he was. and in so doing gave life to the dangerous and deadly conspiracy theories that wrote come crashing through those capitol doors. that mitch mcconnell, right now that mitch mcconnell still retains his position as senate majority leader thanks to his own obstruction. democrats are going to have to choose very soon. do they rollover for phoney calls for unity, absolve the republican party for its trespasses against american democracy, or do they wield the rare power they have won through democratic and legitimate means to repair democracy in people's lives? joined now by senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island, one of the democrats who filed an

off,as the debate kicked mitch mcconnell gave this fiery speech on the senate floor, saying we need to move past this, joe biden has won, it is not our place to overturn the will of the people. as he was saying those words, protesters started storming the capitol. pointsre at several able to get into the building and overwhelmed the police force. they were inside the chamber on the senate floor yelling trump had won the election. there was an armed standoff on the house side. there are still protesters in the building roaming around. force,. capitol police state troopers, secret service are working to secure the building. this raises a ton of questions not only of what happened procedurally in the next couple our, but how we think about whatcapitol building and republicans in particular think about what democracy is. david: we saw video of damage being done, windows broken, people breaking in. there was at least one report of a possible casualty. we saw some still photos of that . do we have any idea of injuries? with casualties, people who were injured. laura: there have been reports

mitch mcconnell day one did not want to go there.wanted us to back off. >> what an amazingly courageous and righteous warrior for ethics. that's what they said. what they did was, of course, preside over the most corrupt administration in modern american history with trump leveraging his position for personal gain, rewarding his donors with tax cuts and his closest aides were charged with crimes ranging from lying to campus to tax fraud and campaign violations. the swamp was never more putrid. we all saw that. after leaving the white house, bannon himself was indicted, charged with, get this, defrauding those who gave money to his scheme the supposedly build the border wall that mexico was supposed to pay for. federal prosecutors say bannon kept nearly $1 million for himself. he was arrested on the yacht of a chinese billionaire. in other words, he was charged with ripping off the same trump support here's had chanted, drain the swamp at trump rallies. so it was so fitting, so perfect, that in his final hours in office, trump both pa

democrats to convict the the president and i'm not sure people i talk to close to minority leader mitch mcconnell that anybody expects mcconnell to convict the at this point in time. but how he operates over the next several weeks, what he says publicly over the next several weeks, it carries a lot of weight. not because he will bring 16 republicans along to convict the but because he's still the leader. he's still very respected inside the conference and he's so clearly in the words of one adviser done with president trump, how he operates is going to be something that's very closely watched not just by us, not just by democrats but by republicans inside his own conference, wolf. >> certainly is. thank you very much, john king, who is with us always. john, we're waiting for this quorum call. and then all 100 u.s. senators will be sworn in, in groups of four alphabetically. and then the process can get going. they'll hold off two weeks before the real trial begins. >> which is another odd twist in these unprecedented times, that you swear in the jury and then hit the pause button for two weeks. b

the top republican mitch mcconnell holds giant influence here. isten to the legal arguments,ea

one gop president saying if mitch is a yes, he's done. another saying mcconnell is furious about the attack on the capitol and hates the president what what he dd. liz cheney saying she will vote to impeach. the president of the united states summoned a mob, assembled a mod and lit the flame of his attack. everything that followed was his doing. there is never a greater portrayal of the president of the united states, of his office and the constitution. i will vote to impeach the president. liz cheney. republican congressman adam kinginger, fred upton, they have said they will vote with the vast majority of democrats to impeach. the white house says they expect 20 or more republicans to vote for impeachment in the house. mul multiple sources saying president worried about himself and his adult children heefting heating up hotter. one saying he might issue a blanket pardon to cover himself and his children up until the time he leaves office. that is all 50 states under threat. think of all i'm telling you. voting on the 25th amendment. which means the president ca

if they want mitch mcconnell to break ranks, they're going to want to keep mitch mcconnell happy. mcconnell has indicated privately he believes donald trump committed impeachable offenses. he's undecided, he's made that clear publicly, too. some republicans are saying very clearly that if mitch mcconnell were to vote to convict donald trump, perhaps mcconnell could lose his leadership position in the next congress. so a lot is riding on the line with mcconnell. mcconnell is making clear that his conference wants a delay for two weeks to consider this impeachment trial, probably sometime in mid february. he does need the consent of the senate majority leader, chuck schumer in order to do just that, and schumer, we are told, is reviewing that proposal. one thing, erin, is that they also want some commitments from mitch mcconnell to move forward on some of joe biden's cabinet nominees. the senate has been moving very slowly initially to fill out joe biden's cabinet. so there is some discussion about potentially moving some of biden's cabinet nominees and then moving to an impeachment

if mitch mcconnell wants to move at expedition, he knows how to do it.l bear the responsibility for whatever dangerous acts this president commits, for whatever abdication of responsibility, for whatever further attack on our institutions. if mitch mcconnell draws this out, delays, stonewalls, drags his heels, then he will bear the responsibility. and given the erratic nature of this president, given how many people -- the rising number of people in his own conference calling for this president to leave office, i would not want the responsibility for standing in the wail of upholding our constitutional duty. >> congressman adam schiff, the chairman of the intelligence committee and the house, thank you for being with us on a friday night. it doesn't feel much like a friday. it sort of feels like this weekend is still go time in terms of this urgent effect to try to get the president out of the oval office. sir, thanks for being here. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. stay with us. thank you >> we'll be right back stay with us

if mitch mcconnell wants to move with expedition, he knows how to do it.ngerous acts this president commits. for whatever abdication of responsibility, further attack on our institutions. if mitch mcconnell draws this out, delays, stonewalls and drags his heels, he will bear the responsibility. and given the erratic nature of this president, how many people, rising number of people in his own conference calling for this president to leave office, i would not want the responsibility for standing in the way of upholding our constitutional duty. >> congressman adam schiff, chairman of the intelligence committee in the house, thanks for being with us on friday night. doesn't feel like friday but like this weekend is still go time in terms of urgent effort to get the president out of of the oval office. thanks for being here, i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back, stay with us. but the right pad can. only always ultra thins have rapiddry technology and, they absorb 40% faster. the gush happens fast. that's why always absorbs faster. ♪ ♪ ♪