cut to robert wray this afternoon, president's lawyer, saying, quote, it may have been a less than perfect phone call. that's the first time you ever heard that, less than perfect from the perfect phone call defense. so it switched today to it may have been a less than perfect phone call, and then that's followed by alan dershowitz saying, whatever happened here. however it's described, whatever level of imperfection there might be in the phone call, none of this is impeachable, absolutely none of it. so those two switches today, this was the day when if you think the president might have done something wrong, alan dershowitz is here to tell you it's not impeachable, and robert wray is here to tell you he thinks it's entirely possible that it was a less than perfect call. >> i feel like -- obviously they have to make a legal argument because this is sort of a trial, but really they're making a political argument. it feels to me like the strongest political argument would be, listen, we're not

him, robert wray, dershowitz. i saw him on fox once, he's good. >> i know robert wray, i know they're all accomplished, dershowitz is a personal friend. i'm saying these are not the natural selection of guys you put in there. starr and wray were in favor of prosecuting the president for abuse of power. >> they're going to make the case why this isn't abuse of power and they have the wherewithal to do it and the intelligence to do it and the experience to do it. they're all well respected members of the bar, very good legal team. the president probably wasn't the only person picking his legal team. he had advisers helping him pick them. this is a team i would want to assemble in my defense if i was president. >> i don't know, asha. i don't think it's a coincidence that they're all on fox news a lot. >> well, it's not judge janine, so it's definitely a step up. these are real lawyers. they have experience. as jim said, they can make legal arguments. and what i would say, chris, is, you know, lawyers do defend princi

cipollone and jay sekulow will take the lead, but now with help from alan dershowitz, and ken starr and robert wray. plus long-time personal counsel, robe robert raskin. at momenthe moment, anyway, thee no house republicans in that group. kaitlan collins is here. what did he decide he needed before the trial begins tuesday? >> reporter: he wavered at what he wanted. he wanted the house republicans who have been so good on the team, but he was told, no, you need real lawyers that they have to appeal to. mitch mcconnell has been telling him the house members like john ratcliffe is not the way to go. the president seems to be listening to that advice. he's adding these seasoned attorneys, and the biges are ken starr and alan dershowitz, and they're notable not only because of ken starr's obvious role in the investigation that led to bill clinton's impeachment, but also because he is a prominent figure on television that the president watches often and likes on tv. the president wants people real good on television on his team. that's something he's been pushing, voicing concerns that cipollone had tha

i really think ken starr is a disaster. >> reporter: and robert wray. and constitutional lawyer alan dershowitz who gained fame during o.j. simpson's trial. and the including the possibility that damaging witnesses could be called to testify. >> i should be their number one witness. >> reporter: among them, lev parnas, rudy giuliani's ukraine fixer who is under indictment for campaign finance violations. >> i'm the one that got all of the dirt, supposedly? why aren't they calling me to testify? why do they need biden? call me. ask me what biden did wrong. >> reporter: parnas telling cnn that he witnessed the top aide ambassador marie yovanovitch should be fired. >> to my knowledge, the president fired her at least four times, five times, even once in my presence. >> reporter: but trump is sticking to his claim that he doesn't know parnas. >> i don't know parnas, i guess they have pictures taken which i do with thousands of people. >> reporter: in the face of stunning allegations brought by parnas, today secretary of state mike pompeo broke his silence.

today the number of people defending the president grew by three, kenneth star, robert wray and alan dershowitz. the president has not always had a high position of starr. >> i think ken starr is a lunatic. i really think ken starr is a disaster. it was a horrible process. i think starr was horrible. >> he called starr a total whacko. that was then. he is certainly known to say things he doesn't mean and to change his mind. just a couple weeks ago, he was claiming to want witnesses at the senate trial. >> when it's fair, and it will be fair in the senate, i would love to have mike pompeo, i'd love to have mick, i'd love to have rick perry, and many other people testify. >> as of now, no witnesses will be called. alan dershowitz joins us, a former member of the o.j. simpson legal defense team. his latest book is called "the case against removing trump." also joining us, jeffrey toobin, a form are student of professor dershowitz's. professor, what is your role, delivering argument on behalf of the president on the senate floor talking about the constitution. you say you're not a formal

. >> and robert wray, who followed starr as -- and alan demps or wits, who gained family during the o.j. simply trial. there are unsettled issues. >> i should be their number one witness. >> among them lev parnas, the ukrainian fixer under indictment. >> i'm the one that has all the dirt supposedly. why do they need biden? call me. ask me what biden did wrong. >> parnas telling cnn he witnessed trump telling the top aide that former ambassador to ukraine maria yovanovitch should be fired. >> to my knowledge the president fired her at least four times, maybe five times, once in my presence. >> reporter: but trump is sticking to the claim he doesn't know parnas. >> i don't know parnas, other than pictures taken, which i do with thousands of people. >> reporter: today secretary of state mike pompeo broke his silence. >> i have not met this guy, neveren counter countered, never communicated with him. >> reporter: and announcing that the state department will investigate whether the ambassador was ever under surveillance. >> my obligation is to make sure we evaluate, investigate anytime some

names like robert wray, ken starr, alan dershowitz all in the mix. we'll talk through the context, what this means in my new reporting on the strategy. the way that the arguments will be divvied up coming up in a second. because the action on the senate trial is moving from this public view to behind closed door. new reporting on what the democrats prosecuting the case are doing today and tomorrow to get ready. mitch mcconnell is huddling with his team too, putting together the resolution that will finally decide what the trial will look like with no resolution on witnesses. and a new hint on how one key moderate republican may vote on that. we'll talk about it with the democratic senator and impeachment juror chris van hollen. one potential witness is not done talking, lev parnas. he's implicating another one at the center of the trial. >> telling him that he spoke to zelensky and zelensky -- >> that explosive claim eliciting a new response in the last 30 minutes from the secretary of state along with others. we'll tell you what he has to say about

steve: coming up on "fox & friends" in 14 minutes, big program on deck for this monday morning, robert wray counsel will join us to talk about impeachment strategy, also customs and border production commissioner mark morgan on new proof that the president's policies apparently are working big time down in florida, plus 2020 update with former bernie sanders campaign staffer figueroa and super bowl predictions with nfl star jack brewer and if that's not enough after 10 years on the channel stuart varney joins us with a look at past 10 years, plus we will check your 401(k), busy morning kicks off 12 minutes from now right here in the channel you trust with good morning news. jillian: i'm going with the chiefs. steve: thank you very much, rob. rob: we will see how they do. steve: thank you. rob: we will be right back. when you have a child and they're constantly growing out of clothing, earning cashback from rakuten just makes everything easier. sometimes it's 3% sometimes it's 8% but you're always getting cashback. the way cashback works on rakuten is so they get a commission from the store

. >> when we look at this team all together with robert wray and dershowitz and maloney, jay sekulow, jane bondi, raskin, all of the names on this defense team, one of the biggest question might be do any of these attorneys have the power to entice president trump to follow their legal advice? can anybody keep him on twitter during what really at the end of the day is a pivotal time for him? >> it is a very strong legal team if you just look at the credentials. i think there's real problems with starr and dershowitz and their background. however, can anybody truly control donald trump as a client? i doubt it. i think he would be one of the most difficult clients to manage from a defense lawyer's point of view. >> how much does that matter? >> i think it would be -- look, it would be very smart of donald trump to stay off twitte during this trial. i do not think he will stay off twitter. i don't think he will be able to help himself. >> elie honig, always appreciate your insight. thank you. >>> it is a cold, wet, wintry day in washington but organizers of the women's march are hoping p

robert wray. pam bondi, jay sekulow.re's deep experience on the trump team in criminal law, particularly on the defense side. these lawyers collectively have represented everybody from o.j. simpson to jeffrey epstein. one that stands out as a lightning rod of controversy to me is ken starr. he may emerges a symbol of hypocrisy. he was the independent counsel who pursued bill clinton in the 1990s. on a couple of points, witnesses. ken starr turned over heaven and earth in his investigation of bill clinton, talked to everyone who ever had known monica lewinsky, ex-boyfriends, teachers, window washers. and here he's going to say you shouldn't be hearing from primary witnesses. most fundamentally, he tried to get bill clinton thrown out of office about lying under oath about sex. now he will be defending a president who has been accused of using his power to persuade a foreign country to investigate his political rival. >>> michael bloomberg spending the day at the site of one of the worst massacres in history. will it work

report as they went to impeach president clinton and used that as evidence in the senate trial and robert wrayorked with him in that capacity in the whitewater investigation, as you say the question is about witnesses and fairness, here is the senate minority leader chuck schumer. >> it would mean the first impeachment trial of the president in history with no witnesses. so in the coming days, each of us, democrat and republican will face a choice about whether to begin this trial in the search of truth or in service of the president's desire to cover it up. >> now mitch mcconnell, senate majority leader, says democrats are whipped into a frenzy over impeachment, he said the senate's job is to calm this down. >> this body, this chamber exists precisely, precisely, madame president, so we can look past the daily dramas and understand how our actions will reverberate for generations, so that we can put aside animosities and coolly consider how to best serve our country in the long run. >> now this is, in fact, a trial here, so trial briefs are due over the weekend and into early next week, the h

as we continue, robert wray, the independent council who took over for starr. pam bondi, a former florida attorney general. big fan of president trump's, a supporter of his. you have jane raskin, someone who was working behind the scenes with president trump, going over the mueller report, helping him form reaction to that. helping his legal team through that entire process. and then in addition to that, you have eric hershman. this is a big tv, explosive team here. people who are household names, who carry a lot of baggage. as we talked about, we know president trump wanted a show, this will certainly give it to him even if no witnesses are called. >> all right. kristen holmes, appreciate the update so much. thank you. >>> president trump's impeachment trial will pick up on tuesday. but there is a lot going on between now and then leading up. there are several steps that have to be taken. the house has until 5:00 pm today to file their trial brief which lays out the facts, evidence, and legal arguments they plan to present. the president then must respond to t

. >> let's listen to one of the lawyers, robert wray, the president's lawyer say, no, that call withaine was not perfect. >> many of you may come to conclude or may have already concluded that the call was less than perfect. and i have said on any number of occasions previously and publicly that it would have been better in attempting to spur action by a foreign government in coordinating law enforcement efforts with our government to have done so through proper channels. >> uh-oh. uh-oh. >> there's no way the president -- there's no way the president was happy seeing that. that having been said, there was a difference between the way we've seen this time and time again in the mueller investigation or in other matters that what the president wants and what his lawyers are going to do are not always the same thing. the president has been adamant with people for months he wanted people to say this was a perfect call. that was a clear acknowledgment from robert ray not just that he needs to have some credibility because he has said this before, clearly, and publicly, which he alluded to

joining robert wray and allen dershowitz. >> we shall doing do have our best to be thorough and fair.er when starr stepped down and seems ready to stand by him again. >> although there might not be at this point the votes to dismiss this outright, i think you can look for summary proceedings in the united states, in the united states senate without witnesses. >> dershowitz was part of the so-called dream team defended o.j. simpson. >> if you're honor didn't see, everybody else saw it. >> he represented patty hearst and for a time, jeffrey epstein. he told the new yorker he regrets that one. he's saying a lot of other things. black lives matter is endangering the fairness of our legal system. >> his flair for grabbing headlines may be why some say dershowitz will frenlt oral arguments against the impeachment charges. >> they're the kinds of broad, open ended criteria that can be with thatized against virtually any president. the defense team also includes florida attorney bomb bondi, james raskin, pat cipollone and outside attorney jay sekulow. even with all that legal fire power, a qu

other names included robert wray who was the independent counsel who took over from ken starr. we also saw pam bondi, very big supporter of president trump. jane raskin, behind the scenes, private counsel to the president. she really helped the administration through the mueller investigation. and then lastly there you see eric hirschman. pretty explosive team here. going to be interesting to see how this plays out. we talked about how president trump wanted a show when it came to the trial, but mcconnell wanted to keep it shorter and sweeter. this really takes out that aspect of even having to have witnesses for it to have a show. you have these big tv personalities, these celebrities in their own right who will be presenting this case. >> interesting. kristen holmes, always good to see you. thank you. >>> president trump's impeachment trial will pick up on tuesday, but there are a number of things that need to happen before them. the house has until 5 p.m. to file their trial brief which lays out the facts, the evidence and legal arguments they plan to present. the president

why ken star, alan dershowitz, pam blonondy and robert wray co be the perfect people for the job. >>>giuliani is no important. >> how will it effect the reelection bid in

on friday befirst reported they were going to be joining the team along with ken starr and robert wray. dershowitz is trying to distance himself from this, saying the memo that came out, the legal briefing, he didn't sign off on it and didn't see it before it was filed, which is really notable given the fact he is expected to be one of the attorneys presenting on the president's behalf on the senate floor this week. now, yesterday was essentially just a taste of what's to come. you are going to see that fight play out this week, but we're expected to get a lengthier more detailed briefing from the white house tomorrow. that's the deed line for them to file it, laying out exactly how they are going to argue against the president's impeachment this week. >> kaitlan collins at the white house, thanks very much. let's go to capitol hill now. cnn's athena jones is there. here it is after 8:00 on a sunday night. but the house impeachment managers, in effect the prosecution team are still meeting as far as we know. what are you hearing about their conversations now, preparing to layout their

. >> reporter: likely part of in is going to be robert wray, the flex one on the list in this announcement. he's also part of the constitutional and historic role, not likely part of the day to day. then moving down the line, you see pam bondi, the former florida attorney general, a big trump supporter. she was brought on early to handle communications for the impeachment. now, of course, she's joining the legal team. then you see jane raskin, somebody who has helped the administration behind the scenes. she's a personal counsel to president trump, and really helped the administration work through the mueller investigation. last there you see eric hirschman. the list as a whole will be led by who we knew, pat cipollone and jay sekulow, but it's going to have a lot more splash here. and of course we knew president trump had been concerned that there wasn't enough people coming forward who had the tv presence. they wanted to have a show. if there are or aren't witnesses which, of course, we don't know yet, we haven't seen that senate vote, how that's going to turn out, even without that, thi

but on monday, former whitewater independent counsel robert wray said this. >> i know that many of youay come to conclude or have concluded that the call was less than perfect. and i have said on any number of occasions previously and publicly that it would have been better in attempting to spur action by a foreign government and coordinating law enforcement efforts with our government to have done so through proper channels. >> now, that is actually what robert ray thinks. he said it right on this show. what are they doing what is the effect? we have a group to talk about this. well go around the horn again. what is that? why isn't that just obviously inconsistent argument. what's the strategy behind it? >> well, it seems that mr. ray is the only one who is willing to embrace the reality of what happened on that phone call. if you -- if you listen to the arguments today about particularly the agents put forward by pam bondi, hunter biden and joe biden and this pile of innuendo and suggestion that all sorts of corrupt things took place there, if that were the case, if there was a singl

maria sat down excuse i'vel ex y with robert wray, what he had to say about the defense strategy, straight 28 point loss on the

why ken star, alan dershowitz, pam blonondy and robert wray co be the perfect people for the job. >>> why the story of the buddy of rudy giuliani is no important. >> how will it effect the reelection bid in 2020? we'll take you to speaker mcconnell's district to find out. >>> right now new information about who is going to defend president trump at his impeachment trial next week. sources tell nbc that in addition to white house counsel and trump's personal attorney sec you low, the president is bringing on a number of very high profile trump supporters. ken star, the independent counsel to led the white water investigation into bill clinton. all alan dershowitz, and robert ray who succeeded ken starr. and pam bondi and jane raskin, part of the president's team during the mueller information. a source familiar tells nbc the team will spend part of the weekend reviewing information and working on presentations before the trial gets underway on tuesday. the white house official says last night the white house received the summons notifying the president of the senate trial and the charg

and there's robert wray, charged with stalking in 2006. leading trump's defense team, his personal attorney jay sekulow, along with white house counsel pat cipollone. i want to bring in lawrence tribe, co-author of "to end a presidency the power of impeachment." so professor, i want to -- allen dershowitz has appeared on ari melber's show to preview the argument he's going to make. i want to play you what he said. it strikes me it's going to be a focal point of the president's defense. take a listen to what your long time harvard law colleague allen dershowitz had to say. >> abuse of power, even if proved, is not an impeachable offense. the framers projected, didn't want to give congress the authority to remove a president because he abused power. they have to prove treason, bribery, other crimes and misdemeanors. >> what do you think about this idea that abuse of power is not impeachable even if you establish on the facts that he abused his power? >> well i almost don't know where to start. i mean, my colleague has it upside down. i knew

names like robert wray, ken starr, alan dershowitz all in the mix. what this means in my new reporting on the strategy. the way that the arguments will be divvied up coming up in a second. because the action on the senate trial is moving from this public view to behind closed door. new reporting on what the democrats prosecuting the case are doing today and tomorrow to get ready. mitch mcconnell is huddling with his team too, putting together the resolution that will finally decide what the trial will look like with no resolution on witnesses. and a new hint on how one key moderate republican may vote on that. we'll talk about it with the democratic senator and impeachment juror chris van hollen. one potential witness is not done talking, lev parnas. he's implicating another one at the center of the tria

sdny veteran and former independent counsel robert wray, who took over from ken starr and issued theoffice's final reports on the investigations into the monica lewinsky matter, travelgate, among others. thanks for being here. >> nice to be with you, ari. >> you know this terrain. you've done this job. >> a little bit. >> most lawyers have not. when you look at this news of john bolton saying he'll testify, what do you think he is up to, and should he be a part of the trial? >> i don't know what he's up to, although it's interesting it came the day after, you know, weeks excluded from the d.c. circuit arguments in the mcgahn case. i think before you ever get to his testimony, first you have to have a vote. and then you have the questions that are still being litigated before the d.c. circuit relative to don mcgahn about absolute immunity. and even once you pass, that you still have executive privilege. so there is a number of hurdles it seems to me, legal hurdles before you would get to where we're talking about live testimony in a committee before the united states senate involving

maria sat down with robert wray yesterday and asked about the president's defense. listen to this.this is a big deal. tell me what -- >> of course it is. maria: tell me what the defense it. >> it's a big deal because ultimately in the eyes of history we're all going to be judged by whether or not we acted in the best interest of the country. the president's principal defense, you saw it in the answer inters posed over the weekend, is very simple. this is an entirely partisan and, therefore, illegitimate effort by house democrats to remove a president from office. and the remedy for that is the united states senate, as envisioned by the framers of the constitution. in order to overturn the will of the electorate in the 2016 election and particularly given the fact that we are now in the middle of a presidential campaign. dagen: kelly, your reaction to this and where you think we go from here. because the house impeachment managers filed their brief of over the weekend and it's pretty clear that they do want to call more witnesseses and they want more evidence. >> i think it's a good

a member of trump's impeachment defense team robert wray.and stuart varney all coming up. so you probably know making walgreens your preferred pharmacy means up to $5 off on copays and 100 rewards points on prescriptions. because you're smart like that. save smartly on med d. walgreens. trusted since 1901. it's a thirteen-hour flight, tfifteen minutes until we board. oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. have a great flight. thanks. we'll see ya. ah, they're getting so smart. choose the app that fits your investing style. ♪ my body is truly powerful. i have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it like it's supposed to. trulicity is for people with type 2 diabetes. it's not insulin. i take it on

change minds not only the senators but also the american people, the white house president's team robert wrayenter bill of rights and the fact of the matter is that the president doesn't have to do anything. >> so the house manager start again at 1:00 o'clock today, they'll go today and do the same thing tomorrow, on saturday we will see the white house defense team for the first time do their 3 days with sunday being a day off, then senators will possibly get 16 hours of questions and possibility that witnesses could be called but no news on that front as of yet, brian, ainsley and steve. brian: i don't know how you do it but you will have to do it for 16 hours, i don't think republicans will take all 24 hours, we will let you go and take the screen for ourselves. steve: good bye, griff. if the republicans are smart they are watching the democrats who are repeating the same arguments over and over. ainsley: they'll continue to do it tomorrow and friday. steve: that's right, the republicans are realizing, hey, the democrats are losing their audience, let's just make it to the point, short and

chief justice to robert wray. >> mr.the senate, distinguished house managers and may it please this court of impeachment, i stand before you today in defense of my fellow americans who in november 2016 elected donald trump to serve the people as their president. their reasons for that vote were as varied as any important decisions are, but their collective judgment, accepted as legitimate under our constitution, is deserving of my respect and yours. for only the third time in our nation's history the senate is convened to try the president of the united states on articles of impeachment. those articles do not allege crimes. the constitution, the framers' intent and historical practice all dictate that well-founded articles of impeachment allege both that a high crime has been committed and that as such, removal from office is warranted only when such an offense also constitutes an abuse of the public trust. that is, in the case of the president, a violation of his oath of office. both are required and neither one, by cle

wray. this anti-trump activist. he's out there blogging, attacking the president of the united states. lou: how in the world can this happen? how can john roberts about him. there is nothing that is balanced about him. kris is the general counsel for time-warner that is the parent company and the subsidiary line of cnn. this is crazy stuff. and it's in your face crazy. >> the koarts -- one of the big lies is the independence of the courts in practice. the courts and the fbi and the doj work hand in glove in areas like this. if you leave it to the court, if you leave it to the fbi and doj, they are going to work together. lou: what do you have to do? impeach chief justice of the supreme court to say this has got to stop? this is political corruption. >> the president in my view needs to higher a special counsel to investigate the spygate crimes and the crimes before the courts. relying on the agencies to do the work based on past experience, that is not going to happen. hoping there will be justice. as to individual attention from the president, that's not the way the system works in this corrupt d.c. the president should take direct action and

wray. this anti-trump activist. he's out there blogging, attacking the president of the united states. lou: how in the world can this happen? how can john robertsim. there is nothing that is balanced about him. kris is the general counsel for time-warner that is the parent company and the subsidiary line of cnn. this is crazy stuff. and it's in your face crazy. >> the koarts -- one of the big lies is the independence of the courts in practice. the courts and the fbi and the doj work hand in glove in areas like this. if you leave it to the court, if you leave it to the fbi and doj, they are going to work together. lou: what do you have to do? impeach chief justice of the supreme court to say this has got to stop? this is political corruption. >> the president in my view needs to higher a special counsel to investigate the spygate crimes and the crimes before the courts. relying on the agencies to do the work based on past experience, that is not going to happen. hoping there will be justice. as to individual attention from the president, that's not the way the system works in this corrupt d.c. the president should take direct action and appoint