robert blair, meantime, one of the four witnesses democrats want to call to testify is actually getting a new position. what more you can tell us about that? >> reporter: this was announced this week during the holiday week. it's interesting when you see that timing. the white house is saying robert blair, who is a senior adviser to the acting chief of staff mick mulvaney will be taking on a new role at the administration, overseeing tell me communications strategy and looking at this turn to 5g technology. i will tell you, it is interesting because, you know, if you contrast what is happening with robert blair, with some other administration officials, who did testify, he is certainly getting, you know, the gold star treatment during this holiday season and what is most interesting about robert blair, of course, what is most interesting is he is one of four witnesses that chuck schumer would like to see testify. at this point it does raise the question is the administration, you know, perhaps handing over a little goody to robert blaire to entice him to remain quiet? the white house an

robert blair, one of the four witnesses democrats want to dcal is getting a new position. >> reporter: this was announced earlier this evening during a holiday week, so that's always interesting when you see that timing. but the white house is saying that robert blair, who is a senior adviser to the acting chief of staff mick mulvaney is going to be overseeing te telecommunication strategy and looking at this turn to 5g technology. i will tell you it is interesting because if you contrast what is happening with robert blair with some other administration officials who did testify, he is certainly getting, you know, the gold star treatment during this holiday season. and what is most interesting about robert blair, of course, erica, is that he is one of the four witnesses that the senate minority leader, chuck schumer, would like to see testify during a senate trial. at this point it does raise the question, is the administration programs handing over a little goody to robert blair to entice him to remain quiet and not testify during a senate trial. obviously the white house administra

quoting now from the times, the aide, robert b. blaire, replied that it would be possible but not pretty. expect congress to become unhinged if the white house tried to countermand spending passed by the house and senate. he wrote in a previously undisclosed email. and he wrote, it might further fuel the narrative that mr. trump was pro russia. according to "the times" those carrying out the president's orders to freeze the aid for the most part did not know about the pressure campaign on ukraine's president. however, his testimony in the house shows mick mulvaney could be the exception which is why senate democrats want to hear from him and three others, all four of whom the president has blocked from testifying. in a moment one of "the times" reporters. 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 a

. >> is witnesses include mick mullaney, john bolton, robert blair and michael duffy, suggesting starts for mitch mcconnell who indicated he does not envision a long and drawn out trial, he will meet with schumer to discuss the contours of a trial. we could hear more from mcconnell today but as you mentioned we are off to the races. it will be a historic week as soon as tomorrow. shannon: a jampacked week, we appreciate it. much more coming up but last-minute negotiations are scheduled at loyola university just days before the next democratic debate. food workers on strike demanding higher hourly wages. the 7 candidates who qualify for thursday's debate are threatening to boycott in solidarity. the debate was moved to loyola in november because of a separate labor dispute at ucla which was the original debate sites. bernie sanders is speaking out against officials in georgia and wisconsin for purging voter rolls. >> to those republican governors and officials i say to those cowards get out of politics and get another job. shannon: 300,000 voter registrations one day after 200,000 voter

. >> reporter: that's not what senate witnesses have in mind, including robert blair and michele and john bolton. >> nobody has given a reason why these shouldn't testify. if president trump is so certain he did nothing wrong, what is he afraid of? what is he hiding when he says mulvaney or bolton or the other two witnesses shouldn't testify? >> reporter: the president is also furious over the latest polls on impeachment including one from fox news that shows 50% would like to see him impeached and removed from office. the way he's attacked the impeachment process has raised serious questions. william webster, a republican, posted an op-ed in the "new york times" questioning mr. trump and william barr's attacks on the fbi agents. the aspersions cast upon them by the president and my long-time friend william barr are troubling in the extreme. calling the fbi scum, as the president did, is a slur against people who risk their lives to keep us safe. that was in reference to mr. trump's rallies last week. >> they destroyed the lives of people that are great people, still great people. th

mulvaney, john bolton and robert blair and michael duffey. >> to the latest, i want to go to katelyn collins near mar-a-lago tonight. are they working on a plan for the senate trial while he's down there in florida? >> reporter: they still have a lot of big decisions to make. they are making those decisions while the president is here but what's notable is there are people like jared kushner and mulvaney around the president while he's been down here at his mar-a-lago club. people like cipollone has been on this strategy. who's going to defend the president and when they do have that senate trial. there are still questions about who else he could bring in and that kind of shed some lights on the outside influences by the fact that he was golfing with people like trey goudy who has been advisining the president. >> i talked to boris sanchez the last hour, he raised the name of ali dershowitz who had been on air coming up with legal arguments that the president may be able to use. >> reporter: dewhurso he's gett lot of advice from different people and that was indicative today when he

the aide robert blair replied it would be possible but not pretty.can see, early concern from some of the president's top aides here. robert blair who is a special adviser to the white house chief of staff mick mulvaney. and of course that aid freeze in late june set off efforts by career officials as well as by some of the president's top advisers to try to get the president to reverse course. one of those came in late august according to "the new york times" when you saw the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, as well as the president's national security adviser at the time, john bolton attempting in late august to convince the president that this was in america's interest to release this aid to ukraine. of course it would take several more weeks before the president actually did that after he learned about that whistle-blower complaint and of course after the house began investigating that whistle-blower complaint. the president had also begun hearing from senate republicans about these allegations of a quid pro quo. >> jeremy, thank you

i suspect that will happen with robert blair as well. >> jim acosta, thank you. >>> and joining me now, congresswoman debbie dingle, a democrat from michigan. thank you for being here. >> it is good to be with you. >> in light of the newly uncovered email that shows the new thing, despite what mark short said, is that the phone call ended between president trump and president zelensky of ukraine and 91 minutes later there is this hold that is put on $300 million in military aid. how important is it in light of that for lawmakers to be able to call new witnesses at the senate trial? >> so, with the impeachment in the house is a prosecutor reading charges. the senate trial is very important because that is where you have the trial. as we know it and where the facts are brought out. the white house refused to let the chief of staff, to let the national security adviser and people that had critical information to testify before the house. the senate needs to get all of the facts. these are new facts. so that will be evidence that should be made available to the senators and i think that ma

mick mulvaney, john bolton, and a couple officials who work in omb or for mulvaney robert blair and michaelt's significant about this request and do you think it's smart? >> certainly smart. i believe we have enough to show abuse of power just from the, you know, 17 depositions we took and the 12 public hearing witnesses we had. but if there are gaps in what we know, it's because witnesses like mick mulvaney and john bolton were told by the president to not come in. if the senate could get them and we couldn't, i think that would be dpragreat for the american pe to fill in the blanks because of the president's obstruction. >> mitch mcconnell has suggested or senate republicans have suggested maybe they don't want any witnesses. do you think democrats should be willing to strike a deal saying you give us these four witnesses, you can have the whistle-blower or hunter biden. would you make that deal? >> i think the american people want a fair trial. and hunter biden is really not relevant to what the president did. and the whistle-blower is no longer relevant in that everything he's alleged h

so president trump giving robert blair a promotion and this is days after senate democrats, accordingr, put out this request for him to be a witness in the senate trial. what do you make of it? >> well, kate, i think what year seeing here is that the president's refusal to acknowledge what has just happened. he's been impeached by the house of representatives and facing a trial in the senate and that trial is going to be an opportunity to hear a range of evidence not only what i'm holding here which is one of the reports from the house, the house intelligence report, but also the report by the house judiciary committee as well as other evidence. i think we should have both witnesses that senators can hear from as well as relevant documents. but it seems that president doesn't quite understand where we are. i would hope -- i would hope that his attitude going into the senate would be one of openness and a willingness to put all of the evidence on the table. no other words, if the phone call with the ukrainian president was perfect, if there was nothing wrong there, then why don't we ha

kaiser just not fair robert blair who was on this call the trumpet mr drazen the president self directed him not to appear and give testimony on a very let's i'm glad you know i'm asking did the president direct him not to appear give testimony yes or no i think he was allowed to come if agency counsel he was not allowed to come under the terms set by the house intelligence committee correct i think he would have come with agency counsel of troubled ministration directed him not to come correct he would've provided testimony i think even if agency counsel could have kamin it's really expensive to hire these outside lawyers john eisenberg was directed not to come correct the lawyers emerge presents another setback but he would drain he was directed not to come the lawyer who lieutenant colonel vin min went to correct ok eisenberg. he may have been able to come with agency counsel but he presents some complexities i mean he's the chief legal advisor for investor bolton so he was directed not to come correct. he may have been able to come with with agency counsel but his testimony

mick mulvaney, john bolton, michael duffey and robert blair who all refused to participate in the house investigation. >> i have clearly made up my mind. i'm not trying to hide the fact that i have disdain for the accusations and the process so i don't need any witnesses. >> reporter: democrats slamming republicans for saying they are in total coordination with the white house and arguing senators are supposed to render impartial justice. >> i hope that the senators will insist on getting the documents, on hearing from the witnesses, on making up their own mind. >> reporter: meanwhile a group of freshmen house democrats are encouraging house speaker nancy pelosi to appoint independent congressman justin amash as an impeachment manager to help argue the democrats' case in the senate hoping the libertarian will appeal to a broader portion of the public. as for president trump, he's venting about impeachment on twitter calling pelosi crazy and writing, her teeth were falling out of her mouth during a press conference. the house vote is expected to be held on wednesday. impeachment is expec

. >> reporter: this includes mcilvain he, john bolton, robert blair and michael duffy but even if mcconnell house says it is unlikely they will play ball. >> senator schumer asks us to do them, no reason to testify in senate trials as far as we can see. >> reporter: mcconnell does not envision a long and drawn out trial in january. we could hear more from him today but the fireworks will continue after that historic vote when we get it this week. rob: there are 14 on the fence. last-minute negotiations are scheduled at loyola university days after the next democratic debate. food workers at the school are on strike demanding higher hourly wages. twee 7 candidates who qualify for the debate are threatening to boycott in solidarity. the debate was moved in november because of a separate labor dispute at ucla which was the original debate site. jillian: foxbusiness alert boeing suspending production of at 737 max jet as it struggles to get approval from the faa. the plane maker insisting this is the least disruptive option possible with no date on when production would restart on its most popu

they are the white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, his senior adviser robert blair, the former national security adviser john bolton as well as michael duffey, who is the associate director for national security programs. he's one of those officials who actually signed off on several of the documents relating to that aid freeze of nearly $400 million of security aid to ukraine. now, of course this is a request from the top democrat in the senate, and that is because republicans control the majority in the senate. and therefore anything that actually goes through as far as the rules of this trial will require a 51-senator majority. and unless democrats are somehow able to peel away four republican senators to get them to agree to these rules, mitch mcconnell is ultimately going to be the decider here. and mcconnell, well, he has suggested that he will run anything as it relates to the proceedings of that senate trial by the white house, specifcally the white house counsel pat cipollone, and so far there is no indication from the white house that they would agree to have any of these witn

the folks he's talking about, mick mulvaney, john bolton, robert blair and michael duffey, some of theseolks came up in this very lengthy piece in the "new york times," very instrumental in terms of what happened in ukraine. this is the big question, will there be witnesses? >> absolutely. the beauty of what's about to happen here is if you have 51 votes, whether you're chuck schumer or mitch mcconnell, you're going to get what you want. we know what mitch mcconnell wants, he wants both sides to be able to present and then the right to acquit, which they very clearly have the votes to do, or they can listen to senators. the vote will likely happen. i think the big question right now, it kind of gets to the basics of how are moderate republicans going to vote, how are democra are republican senators going to vote? the reality remains the same, no matter what the first two weeks of the trial is going to be, if you have 51 votes, you can get your witnesses, whoever they may be. whether it's rhetoric or what mcconnell wants or what schumer wants, can you get 51 votes? that will be the main q

mcmullen any, robert blair, former national security adviser john bolton and michael duffy, associate director of national security out the office of management and budget but in 1999 during the clinton impeachment trial schumer argued against having witnesses like monica lewinsky testified before the senate. >> seems to me no good cases been made for witnesses. >> chad program asked schumer why the change of heart? >> the witnesses in 99 had already given grand jury testimony. we knew what they were going to say. the witnesses we have called have not been heard from. that is the difference and it is a difference that is totally overwhelming. >> schumer is also suggesting start dates for the trial and giving ideas on how it should be handled. political experts suggest it could later lead to democrats accusing republicans of not holding a fair trial. mitch mcconnell will talk about all this tomorrow. >> we will be listening, thank you very much. a houseboat on the democrats impeachment articles just days away and it is working backlash outside the beltway. trace gallagher takes a look

advisor john bolton, michael duffy, and senior advisor to the acting white house chief of staff robert blair. >> these folks have now which of the facts resented by the house. >> reporter: responding those hope that fairness will prevail, a laughable quote from senator schumer this morning. and fully, the people of this country continue to see the parts and sham that this is. among voters, support for impeachment is holding steady. according to the latest fox news poll, 50% of voters favor impeaching and removing president trump from office. reporting in washington, d.c. i'm allison barber, ktvu fox 2 news . >> 30% of people support impeaching is actually up one point from october. 53% of people surveyed they believe is and trump abused his power. 45% say he committed bribery. this by that kind of president's job approval rating has gone up three point since october. >> time is running out. in the minute, he will run down some of the important deadlines for the busiest shipping times of the year. >>> the potential dangers of e- cigarettes. >>> dry weather in the forecast for your bay area mo

the white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, his senior advisor, robert blaire, the former national security advisor, john bolton as well as michael duffy who is the associate director of national security programs. one of those officials who signed off on several of the documents authorizing that hold on $400 million on aid to ukraine. chuck schumer is also asking for the senate to subpoena key documents that house investigators were not able to obtain from the white house, from the office of management and budget and the state department. now earlier today the senate minority leader chuck shu mur had a press conference and here's what he said. let me read you a quote. he said, so far mcconnell has not come to me and i'm worried that we won't get a fair trial where all the facts and all the truth comes out. i'm going to work very hard to get that done. he's explaining the impetus of this letter couching it in terms of demanding a fair trial in the senate. we have received a response from this letter from the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. leader mcconnell has made it clear

former national security adviser john bolton, acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, robert blair, and michael duffy, associate director for management security. >> these four witnesses have direct knowledge of the facts, particularly in regard to the delay in the aid to ukraine. i don't know what they'll say. maybe they'll say something exculpatory about president trump. >> whether witnesses are called will come down to what the majority in the senate decide, with 53 republicans, mcconnell could completely call the shots, if he secures support of all but two republicans. >> everything i do during this, i am coordinating with white house counsel. there will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this. we all know how it is going to end. there's no chance the president will be removed from office. >> some senior republican aides tell cnn their view is where the house is where witnesses should have been called, and there's no place for more witnesses at the senate trial. majority whip senator john cornyn tweeted schumer should have tal

jim bolton the former national security advisers and a couple omb officials robert blair and michael duffy. all pour of these people refused to testify in the house impeachment investigation. to me this appears to a political move. because what it does is force republicans in the senate to say you know what? we don't want fact witnesses. we don't want to hear from these people with first hand information. what do you see? >> exactly right. chuck schumer has legally no ability. the shoe is on the other foot now. the senate has a limited set of rules. they do not cover witnesses. this is either going to come down to a deal between schumer and mcconnell or it's going to be majority rule. schumer is not in the majority so this is a political play. he is saying we are the party that wants facts, that wants witnesses. if you disagree, you will be trying to turn this into a kangaroo court. >> and yet mcconnell as he mentioned and forewarned last week, he wants this to go quickly. he already gave his indication as to where he believes this will end up and how he believes the president will b

of staff mick mulvaney, former national security advisor john bolton, mulvaney senior advisor robert blair, an office of manager and budget office michael duffy. earlier today, schumer explains why he wants to hear from those men. >> the four witnesses we've asked for, the documents we've asked for our directly dispositive on what the actual facts were. the house came up with a whole lot. but some of my republican colleague said these charges are serious but i'm not sure there's enough evidence. that's why these people should come. >> harris: chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. >> you see the negotiation on the senate side of the capital and on the house side of the capital, they are working to round up support ahead of four votes on impeachment. to swing state democrats, swing district democrats say they are a "yes" on impeachment, they are jason crow of colorado and alyssa of michigan, judiciary and intelligence committees as inspector was on, house democratic leadership to keep their members in line. >> the vote will be on wednesday despite what a dem

john bolton, robert blair, a senior adviser to the acting chief of staff. also, michael duffy. why schumer wants to hear from these individuals is similar to why house democrats wanted to hear from these individuals. they can help close the loop on the key missing pieces up to this point. what in the why when it came to the suspension of the u.s. and ukraine. these individuals could help fill those gaps. here's the thing, just because schumer wants these four witnesses doesn't mean he'll get these four witnesses. they still need to see if they can hammer out a bipartisan agreement. mcconnell has made clear he doesn't want witnesses, he thinks it's a bad idea for the white house to ask for witnesses. a lot to come forward here in the next four weeks, a list of witnesses like slot kin that are very important. when we get over to the chamber, it's going to be the moderates in the senate, those are the individuals that dictate whether or not there will be witnesses to the degree that someone like charles schumer wants. >> phil. thank you so much. let me stay on the senate here. sen

mick mulvaney, his top advisor robert blair, former national security advisor john bolton, and michael duffy. the director of national security at the office of management and budget. >> the four witnesses we propose a direct knowledge of why the aid to ukraine was delayed. >> 20 years ago during the clinton impeachment, chuck schumer argued against bringing witnesses into the senate trial. today he insisted this impeachment is different. >> here's what i said, the witness has and 99 had already given testimony. the four witnesses we called have not been heard from. >> he wants to enjoy the trial in the senate is fair. a sharp response from the white house press secretary. stephanie grisham tweeting, "let us hope fairness will prevail." they released a report in the middle of the night. thankfully the people of the country see the partisanship and that this is. president trump to talk today about rudy giuliani who recently traveled to budapest to meet with former ukrainian officials and produce a documentary aim to undercut the impeachment proceedings. he was at the white house last fr

robert blair, top aide to mulvaney who was on the call. >> yes. >> stephen: mulvaney said there was quidol his butt in there the way sam irvin said to butterfield if you don't come in here marshals will pick you up off the street to come in her and testify in the watergate hearings about the secret tapes. why not send him? >> he should testify. >> stephen: what can you do to compel them? >> well, we can compel them by holding the president accountable by impeaching him, for one thing. but here's what they are trying to do, they would like nothing better for us to go to court, win in the district court, win in the court of appeals, wait for the supreme court on this claim of absolute immunity, and then, when that is all done, and that will probably take at least a year to wind the way through the courts, it will come back to us. we will have mick mulvaney before our committee. we will ask him the question, he's no longer absolutely immune from testifying, and he will say, well, now i'm going to claim executive privilege and i'm not going to answer the questions you need answered. then we

. >> robert blair is one of the four witnesses democrats said they want to call in a senate trial. chuck schumer has tweeted this piece out, saying it provides even more reason why those witnesses should be called, including john bolton. by my count this piece actually marks two separate occasions on which john bolton is said to have met with the president about this aid. so i think that reinforces the need to get him in front of the senate if possible. at least democrats will continue to be calling for him to come testify. blair was pretty forthcoming here, was pretty forthright in his prediction here that this would set off congress, although i don't think even he would have expected we'd be dealing with impeachment in this stage. i think his e-mail, that document which has not been shared with any investigators of the impeachment inquiry, what that does is it show that is the white house knew this was not a perfect call from the get go. this was going to be a problem down the line. i think it does reinforce the democratic calls for underlying documents, underlying evidence beyon

. >> molly: democrats also want the senior officials in the office d robert blair to testify in the senaterial. meanwhile, susan collins, the potential swing vote in the senate impeachment proceedings says she is not opposed to calling witnesses in the trial. listen. >> i am open to witnesses. i think it's premature to decide who should be called until we see the evidence that's presented and get the answers to the questions we can submit through the chief justice. >> marie: we've now seen senator murkowski of alaska and senator collins signify and all openness to have witnesses. you only need four republicans in the g.o.p. to agree to that. how do you handicap that number and that issue right now looking forward to this trial? >> brad: i think they will be influenced by what they hear when the decision has to be ma made. i happen to believe that chuck schumer is basically saying that "the new york times" trumps the house impeachment committee. somehow they've become an investigative arm in a constitutional process, that's crazy and it's not the senate's job to fix the broken china of the

mick mulvaney, john bolton, michael duffey and robert blair who all refused to participate in the housestigation. >> i have clearly made up my mind. i'm not trying to hide the fact that i have disdain for the accusations and the process so i don't need any witnesses. >> reporter: democrats slamming republicans for saying they are in total coordination with the white house and arguing senators are supposed to render impartial justice. >> i hope that the senators will insist on getting the documents, on hearing from the witnesses, on making up their own mind. >> reporter: impeachment is expected to pass the house along party lines. not all democrats are on board. some lawmakers are running for re-election in trump district s find themselves in tricky situations. >>> a lot of raisers fans are feeling a double sense of loss. >> first of all, the raiders did not win. second the raiders will not get another chance to win at the coliseum. the amy hollyfield is live with that. good morning. >> good morning, kumasi. coach jon gruden apologized to the fans for not giving them a win at the last ho

the aide robert blair said it would be possible but not pretty.xpect congress to become unhinged if the white house tried to countermand spending passed by the house and the senate. what's your takeaway? >> there was a lot of warnings going on inside the government that the holdup of aid would be a problem. again, blair's email really undersells just exactly how problematic it would be for the president in part by his impeachment, the holdup of aid. but also that there was a lot of divisions in the government about the holdup. there were people who resigned in part, we think, because of the aid holdup. and you know, again, going back to the impeachment hearings, this is really one of the mysteries that came out of it. how did it get held up, who was for it, who was against it. how did this process play out? that's why we endeavored to tell that story. it felt like it was one of the untold stories out of the last couple months. >> and you told the story of these remarkable 84 days and the president's insistence even in the face of strong advice to

robert blair, a top aide to mick mulvaney who refud to testify before house impeachment investigators. >>that was boris sanchez, reporting the presidt also spoke about what north korea called a possible christmas gift fothe us so some mixed feelings out this military officials believe that that cod be a threat with the new ballistic missile test, but trump said no that north korn leader may end up just sending something ice like a vase. we want the base off. >>ok so we've been asking people to send their pictures and they have been responding hears from coach pete nas in fremont and his beautiful dog vaz coach pete and his wife. they took a photo of this sent it in the good that i robin around murphy's neck and that's a great almost blends in with the snow keeps sending it to us. if we can't posted on our newscast got kron 4 dot com the you know e internet never sleeps >>christmas is a time for family bonding exchanging gifts and renewing friendships but for one orgia woman, it's also a time to spend as sharing love and spreading it foa whole bunch of christmas tree and that's what it

robert blair, senior adviser to the acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, actind micl duffey, all wanting them to testify. he says, i propose the senate issue subpoenas for a limited set of documents that we believe will shed light on the administration's decisionmaking regarding assistance to ukraine and its requests for certain investigations to be announced by the government of ukraine. your reaction so far to what you've heard from chuck schumer, jackie. >> well, i think schumer's letter comes at an interesting time. my colleague rachel grabe just scooped that house democrats are pushing for newly independent representative justin amash to be house manager. we're seeing this push by the democrats to take the partisanship out of this process and especially contrast that to a lot of the comments we've heard from mitch mcconnell and lindsey graham and ted cruz over the weekend, statements that have contradicted this oath of impa immarb imparti impartiality that senators are supposed to take. there are a lot of contradictory interests here. there have been a lot of murmurs fr

mick mulvaney, robert blair, michael duffy whose e-mails stopping the aid 90 minutes after that ukraine phone call released recently and john bolton who was the president's former national security adviser and turned almost into a critic now, if the democrats' argue systematic to hear from the president's people they will be able to clarify this and why are republicans so concerned and so worried about having the people testify in person instead of these canned written answers that democrats are worried about? >> we know that the president epa h and his supporters relit gaiting essentially what happened in the house side. rudy giuliani tweeted just this afternoon, removing a president less than a year before an election must only occur if his remaining in office damages the nation. where is that written? >> it's not written anywhere. but actually, it fits in with what the democrats in the house said. they said they had to expedite the investigation because there was a clear and present danger to the fairness of the 2020 election. so really, rudy giuliani's test the democrats met that te

story shows all four witnesses that we've requested, mick mulvaney, john bolton, michael duffy and robert blairere intimately involved, simply put, in our fight to have key documents and witnesses in the senate impeachment trial, these new revelations are a game-changer. >> i am open to witnesses. i think it's premature to decide who should be called until we see the evidence that is presented and get the answers to the questions that we senators can submit through the chief justice to both sides. >> joel, you basically had chuck schumer saying this is a game-changer. these people must testify. you hear susan collins, incredibly vulnerable right now, tough re-election ahead, come november. >> chuck schumer nows how to count. he doesn't have enough votes to remove donald trump from office. probably never will. he does have enough to force a trial that includes witnesses, that will include very damning testimony. he knows he can apply pressure to sclins, lisa murkowski, ben sasse, cory gardner. those folks would have to consider voting for a rules package that included witnesses. that's what schu

are the four witnesses, mick mulvaney, john bolton, senior adviser to the acting chief of staff robert blair, and office of management and budget official michael duffey. these are folks at the center of what democrats allege was a presidential direction to delay the aid in return for a politicplitt political favor. let's bring in suzanne malveaux live on capitol hill. what's what chuck schumer is asking for. will he get it? >> this really is kind of setting the marker, if you will, the starting point of the negotiations. it's not clear at all that he's going to get any of those witnesses, highly unlikely, but at least putting pen to paper and letting senate majority leader mitch mcconnell know what the wish list is, also should let you know that he added an event, a press conference today at 2:00 so clearly trying to get his message out in a very public way, trying to undercut the republicans' argument that we didn't get any primary witnesses so trying to call those primary witnesses, at the same time expanding the scope, the scale of the trial and also accelerating the timetable if you wil

robert blair, a top aide to make mulvaney who refused to testify before house impeachment investigators. >>that was boris sanchez, reporting for us tonight, the president also spoke about what north korea called a possible quote, christmas gift for the us military officials believe that could be a veiled threat at a new ballistic missile tests, both trump and the north korean leader kim jong-un may end up doing something different the president president trump today indicated that kim jong un might send him a vase instead of a missile test. president candidate. >>michael bloomberg's campaign has cut ties with the company that reportedly use prison labor to make calls for the campaign. the former new york mayor's campaign announced today that it ended its relationship with the company. that after a report by the intercept said one of the campaign's vendors contracted it call center company called pro com. according to the report 2 of the call centers operate out of state prisons in oklahoma. a bloomberg campaign spokesperson said the campaign doesn't believe in the practice and was unawa

next up is robert blair. he was a close adviser to mick mulvaney.came over to the white house and he was present in these discussions about holding up money. the last person on this list is michael duffey, someone else who has refused to testify in the house proceedings. he's a current omb official, and he was in an odd position because he was a political appointee who helped hold back this money for ukraine. normally that's a job reserved for career staffers, again, someone we have not heard from. none of these folks are going to show up willingly. they're all hiding behind this white house demand that they not show up and testify, so we'll see if it's any different when it gets to the senate, dana. >> hard to believe it will be. thanks so much for laying that out. joining me from capitol hill is democratic senator holland from maryland. thanks for joining me. i want to get to the quote you said last week. you said what the president did is, quote, an attack on our democracy, and you also said, quote, that you have to hold the president accountable

the other witnesses would be former national security job advisor john bolton, senior adviser robert blair and office of management and budget official michael duffy in his letter to mcconnell schumer also wants the senate to subpoena additional documents focusing on why us military was put on hold for ukraine mcconnell has said that the senate has the option of starting a new trial or simply voting on the house resolutions without hearing new evidence. >>well nearly 200 countries wrapped up the united nation's cop 25 summit, aimed at negotiating solutions to the climate crisis said that international marathon session ended today without any major breakthroughs. >>and as the government points fingers activists are now demanding swift action. david daniel reports. >>much of the sun and the longest ever un climate summit wrapped up sunday with only partial success i do these with all my heart and with love for the coming generation. the 12 day summit in madrid spain was aimed at smoothing out the rules of the 2015 paris climate accord but negotiators struggled to come up with any major break

witnesses former national security adviser john bolton acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney robert blair senior adviser to mulvaney and michael duffy, the associate director for national security at the office of management and budget these 4 witnesses have direct knowledge. >>of the fact particularly in regard to the delay in to ukraine i don't know what they'll say. maybe they'll say something exculpatory about president trump whether witnesses are called will come down to what the majority in the senate decide. >>with 53 republicans mcconnell could completely call the shots if he secures the support of all the 2 republicans everything i do during this i'm coordinating with white house counsel there was no difference between the president's physician, our position. >>how to handle those well know has on there's no chance. >>the president's going to be removed from some senior republican aides tell cnn their view is that the houses where witnesses should have been called and that there's no place for more witnesses at the senate trial. majority whip senator john cornyn tweeting that sch

house chief of staff mick mu, dvrmer national security aor john bolton, senior white house advisor robert blairand budget official michael duffey. all have declined house requests to testify, but other testimony indicates they all may have heard directly from the president about ukraine. >> the four witnesses we've called have not been heard from. that is a difference, and it's a difference that is totally overwhelming. >> reporter: this as some senate republicans, like south carolina senator lindsey graham, are pushing for a short senate trial. p >> tsident was denied the ability to participate meaningful in the house heing. and i want to end it. i have nothing but disdain for this. >> rorter: the house vote is expected wednesday. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me at the table. lisa, so much to keep track of here, but you reported on howod several ate democrats are handling this, what about others? >> ithe space of last four ut.rs, many more have come o it seems, judy, other democrats to think about, it's a group of 18 to 20 that are probly the most vulnerable here, especially freshmen. so far, a

he is calling for bringing forth acting chief of staff mick mulvaney, john bolton, their aides, robert blair and michael duffy of omb, following the money and where the money went, the delay and how it was released and then also just lining out a timeline for after the new year. you're talking about january 6th, pretrial measures to be established and adopted as well as the following day the swearing in of chief justice john roberts and senators and then two days after that, the house managers making their presentations. the president's counsel also its rebuttal. some restrictions when it comes to these presentations. 24 hours for the opening presentations and the rebuttal, 16 hours for the questioning of the republicans and then the democrats, all of this schumer making the case he thinks this is a process that will be fair to both sides. >> yeah. a lot of them based on how it played out in 1999 with the clinton impeachment. tell us about mitch mcconnell. he has said openly he's coordinating with the white house. now if you look at precedent, there was some coordination between democrats an

duffy, office of management and budget official who deals with national security programs, and robert blairsenior advisor to mulvaney who was on president trump's ukraine culprit here is more from schumer a short time ago. to speak of these people know better than anybody else, the facts. there is no reason on gods green earth why they should not be called and testify unless you are afraid of what they might say. >> so schumer turning up the pressure in public ahead of he and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell sitting down to hammer it out, eddie. >> ed: we know about one not likely party switch from democrat to republican in the middle of all of this, what else are we hearing from some of the swing districts in terms of democrats and where they may vote? >> ben mcadams, a rare utah democrat says that he is "yes" on impeachment. speak with us senate would likely acquit the president in a display of partisan theater that republicans and democrats in washington perform disturbingly well. because of that, i know my vote will not remove the president from office. >> also today michigan demo

the person sooefreceiving that was robert blair, who said that it would be possible to hold back the aid, but he added, expect congress to become unhinged. of course, congress did not have to become unhinged to break up that scheme that the then-trump national security adviser john bolton was calling a drug deal. all congress had to do to unravel the whole thing was to announce in a relatively low volume at the time that it was going to investigate the situation after "politico" reported at the end of august that the assistance to ukraine had been frozen. that is when donald trump got caught publicly, and not long after that, the aid was relea d released. but donald trump had actually been caught a month before that, on august 12th. and the president and all the president's men knew that. because it was august 12th when a whistleblower in the intelligence community filed a report describing in general terms what was going on. the president was holding up aid to ukraine while asking ukraine for an investigation into joe biden. it took 30 days but that whistleblower debate actually for

the new special representative on international telecommunications policy, robert blair, a top aide to mick mulvaney who refused to testify before house impeachment investigators. and erica, president trump while speaking with the troops today told them that he mostly spends his time here at mar-a-lago working and a short time later our cameras captured him on the golf course for the second straight day, at least the second straight day. there is nothing wrong with president trump spending time off relaxing on the golf course. we should remember how critical he was of former president obama when he would golf and how often president trump complained of taxpayers having to foot the bill. >> boris sanchez with the latest from florida. thank you. >>> as we unpack everything we're seeing on this christmas eve, scott, i want to start with you. if senator mcconnell does insist on no witnesses in the senate trial, do you think the president, who said he would like to hear from witnesses, he would like a big trial, do you think he'll be okay with that? >> yeah, i do. i think he trusts senator

witnesses former national security adviser john bolton acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney robert blairser to mulvaney and michael duffy, the associate director for national security at the office of management and budget these 4 witnesses have direct knowledge. >>of the fact particularly in regard to the delay in to ukraine i don't know what they'll say. maybe they'll say something exculpatory about p whether tr witnesses are called will come down to what the majority in the senate decide. >>with 53 republicans mcconnell could completely call the shots if he secures the support of all, but 2 republicans everything i do during this i'm coordinating with the white house counsel there was no difference between the president's physician, our position. >>how to handle those well know has on there's no chance. >>the president's going to be removed from some senior republican aides tell cnn their view is that the houses where witnesses should have been called and that there's no place for more witnesses at the senate trial. majority whip senator john cornyn tweeting that schumer should have t

hunter biden has no direct evidence as those witnesses that we want mick mulvaney, john bolton, robert blaire, michael duffy, every one them responsible officials who have knowledge of this corrupt activity, bribery, soliciting something of value namely an investigation of his political opponent in return for an official act, his releasing that money, our taxpayer money to support an ally fighting for its life, ukraine. and that's why we want those documents and witnesses. >> this out, tonight "the washington post" is posting an article by former senator jeff flake. he addressed his old republican colleagues saying, quote, president trump is on trial but in a very real sense so are you. and the political party which we belong. he warns, quote, the danger of an untruthful president is compounded when the coequal branch follows that president off a cliff. if there ever was a time to put country over party, it is now. and by putting country over party, you might just save the grand old party before it's too late. if there's ever a time to put country over party, it's now. how do you resolve this

eventual impeachment trial are the white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, his senior advisor robert blaire, the former national security advisor bolton and michael duffy who was the associate director for national security programs who actually signed off on several of those documents for that security aid freeze. he also -- chuck schumer would also like to see documents from the white house, from the office of management and budget and from the state department that house investigators were not able to obtain. he'd like to see those documents subpoenaed. now, chuck schumer, the top democrat in the senate is counting on all of this on fairness, in a bipartisan process he would like to play out. he writes the trial must be one that not only hears all the evidence and adjudicates the case fairly, it must also pass the fairness test with the american people. that is great challenge for the senate in the coming weeks. now, we should note, of course, this is request from the top democrat in the senate. in order for any of this to move forward he would need senate majority leader mitch mcconnell

robert blair who was on this call, the trump administration, the president directed him not to appear and give testimony, is that right? >> i'm just asking, is he allowed to come under the terms set by the house intelligence committee, correct? >> i think he would have come with agency counsel. >> the trump directed him nadmi directed him not to come, correct? >> it's really expensive to hire these outside lawyers. >> but he was directed not to come, the lawyer who lieutenant colonel vindman went to, correct? >> eisenberg may have been able to come with agency counsel, but he's the chief legal adviser for. >> he may have been able to come with agency counsel but his testimony doesn't reflect. >> was the president requesting an investigation into joe biden? >> i don't think the president was asking for an investigation into joe biden. it was just a comment. >> is that a no, it was not u.s. policy to investigate joe biden? >> you're indicating that it became u.s. policy to investigate joe biden, and i don't think that's the case. >> let me show you slide 10 of lieutenant colonel vindman