the first thing i said i represent rudy guiliani and i'm going to put him on the phone. t him on speaker phone. rudy at that time told him that i represent the president of the united states and that everything i say that to be taken with that authority. >> rudy guiliani said on speaker phone to the man who now runs ukrainian intelligence that you represent guiliani and the president? >> absolutely. the president directly. >> that you represent the president? >> correct. that's why they spoke to me. that's why i got out of there alive. >> you can say with 100% certainty that everything rudy guiliani did in ukraine was done with the president's blessing, whether or not he had foreknowledge or was told about it afterward, but guiliani and the president were in frequent communications? >> beyond frequent. several times a day. and rudy wouldn't do anything without the president. so just like i wouldn't do anything about rudy's. >> the argument made by a lot of republicans during the congressional hearings was not only that the president cares deeply about corruption in ukrain

this wasn't three amigos, according to lev parnas, secretary of energy rick perry was directed by rudy guiliani to deliver the message to the ukrainian government that they needed to announce investigations into joe biden. he says, mr. parnas says that mr. perry phoned mr. guiliani, contacted mr. guiliani and said he had been in touch with the ukrainian president. >> that he had conditiveyed the message and, in fact, the ukrainian government had agreed to make that announcement. secretary of energy rick perry denied playing any role in this scheme. but he did crash out of the cabinet just as the scandal surfaced. it was october 16th when the "wall street journal" reported that, in fact, secretary perry did call rudy guiliani to talk about ukraine. he did so at the direction of president trump. the following day, october 17th, rick perry tendered his resignation to the president as energy secretary. the day after that october 18th, secretary perry announced that he would not comply with a subpoena in the impeachment investigation. whether he would comply now with a subpoena to testify to the sen

>> not only rudy guiliani, victoria and joe they were all best friend. mean, barr was attorney general barr was basically on the team. >> well, last night a spokesperson for attorney general barr k5u8d parnas' -- called parnas's allegations 100% false. peter it bothers me when public officials play the role of flax when you have one of these cases. i don't know why somebody in the justice department has the job of putting out something as nonsensical, he was not in the loop. they are covering for somebody in not a criminal case but certainly a scandal. public officials doing this for their living. >> yeah. right. i think what we've seen unfortunately in the last few years is that there is no sense of the justice department being a neutral actor anymore. the president. thinks the justice department ought to be his function on his behalf basically as much as the country's. he's, you know, repeatedly crossed over lines, other presidents saw there, so i think that the problem is, there is credibility issues when you have a justice department statement at thi

in this trial, in this moment, rudy guiliani is a minor player.

mulvaney was present for at least one conversation that the president was having by phone with rudy guiliani guiliani was culminating about yovanovitch again why she had to go. among the reasons that's important not that it places mick mulvaney there. mulvaney told associates he would step away whenever the president was talking to guiliani so the president could preserve his attorney/client privilege. this completely contradicts that. bolton's key assertion the president tied this money directly to something he wanted in terms of investigations, you know, could undercut a key aspect of the president's defense. what i suspect the president's folks are going to say is this wasn't about announcing an investigation. this was different. this was about, you know, other aspects of this investigation. >> that he wanted. in the president's conversation, it appears to have all just been lumped into one and that is generally how the president talks. bolton has had a very well known beef with pompeo, with mulvaney. i suspect that's going to be pointed to as well. but at the end of the day, this is why

and i'm not even including trump's current lawyer rudy guiliani who we found out friday is under investigation links to ukrainian energy projects. they're two of rudy's two associates lev and igor who are arrested in part for their role in this whole ukraine scheme remember these two this looks like a before and after picture except it's before and even more before [ laughter ] they look like they got their start in a live action game of whack-a-mole they look like they got fired from their jobs as mall santas for stealing from the food court."wthought auntie anne's wa why would auntie charge? in fact, on friday we also found out that these two dummies met privately with trump at the white house. and that they later told people they'd been given a secret mission by trump, himself. >> we've learned that both of the men had a meeting with the president and rudy guiliani last year at the white house's annual hanukah party where they discussed what parnas describe as a secret mission to pressure the ukrainian government to investigate former vice president joe biden and his son hunter >> days late

that conversation in the transcript, it's clear he asked the president of ukraine to meet with rudy guiliani, who was not representing the united states and not representing the interests of the united states but was acting as president trump's personal attorney to try and dig up dirt on his political opponents. the fact that he does that in the transcript of the call suggests a person that was not squarely in line with america's interests. >> there's a delay here. i want to switch gears. and that's dr. martin luther king jr.'s birthday. you and i were together on a civil rights trip during the year of the 50th anniversary of when martin hrluther king was w assassinated. >> he taught me how to live. he taught me to never give up or give in, and to be hopeful and be optimistic, and he would call me, the senator from troy. i grew up out of troy. i spent some time in nashville, six years i attended school. i went on a freedom ride and along the way dr. king would step with us every step of the way, and when he died, i think something died in all of us. something died in america. each day i thin

ithouti wouldn't do anything ent oft consent of rudy guiliani or the president.g to keep. i wa i was on the ground doing their work. >> >> reporter: today ukraine announced it would launch an investigation into possible illegal surveillance of u.s. ambassador marie yovanovitch. parnas's texts from last spring suggested that she was being s heowed by some individuals he knew. parnas also claims that vice president mike pence and attorney general william barr knew about all of this but the vice president's office and the white house are strenuously pushing back this morning, denying the allegations, and both saying parnas will say anything in hopes of staying out of prison. >> nancy, is all of this new information from parnas and some thet bombshell information lkely to affect the senate n ial in any way? >> reporter: absolutely. you already have democrats including the top democrat in the senate chuck schumer arguing that this evidence needs to get a full airing and that they need to look at parnas's documents, consider them, in the upcoming senate trial. but repu

have a terrif captioning sponsored by cbs >> lev parnas, the indicted associate of rudy guiliani, directly implicates president trump in the months-long effort to pressure ukraine to investigate the bidens. >> apparently, he wants to sing. >> if he wants to sing, it's best for him to sing to the federal prosecutors, really. >> and now... lev parnas sings! ♪ ♪

in today's question and answer session where a democrat asked about the source of funding for rudy guiliani's efforts. the fact that he works as the president's personal attorney, but apparently, according to the questioner, isn't paid by the president of the united states. they wanted to know, who is paying him instead. and the president's counsel didn't answer that, but they pivoted to talking about hunter biden and how he got paid by a ukrainian energy company while his father was serving as one of the point people in the u.s. government, as vice president. dealing with ukraine and ukrainian corruption. so, democrats clearly want the focus to be on the lack of witnesses that is reflected by the questions and the answers. the republicans want the focus to shift away from the president, if at all possible, and to shine on the bidens instead. >> o'donnell: and some ways given that it looks like now that republicans may have the vote to block witnesses and bring a speedy end to this trial, perhaps by tomorrow night, the burden of proof spin ways on democrats today to make their case, i felt li

only because it was off the books and run by rudy guiliani that it makes effort to cheat the 2020 election. senate republicans don't believe that meets the cheating 2020 election standard by a long shot. and it's a very aggressive contention. and unlike the nixon and clinton impeachments where the body of facts were not only obvious, but agreed upon largely and implicated underlying law, that simply isn't the case here yet. >> o'donnell: and developed by an independent counsel or special prosecutor with grand jury authority. i think the point that you raise suggests why someone like john bolton would be very helpful in this process with firsthand knowledge of why the president did that. we don't have that kind of record here because we did not have grand jury. >> that gets to the point of intent andment president's motivations here. that's real question overall arguing about. president the can do all sorts of things if it's to benefit the country. i think people are willing to give him that leeway. been if it's to benefit himself and own political career, very different question. and i jus

rudy guiliani began to check things out in early 2018 and 2019. of guiliani's investigation were traced back to 2018 when he was contacted by somebody he describes as a well-known investigator. "the washington post" and many other news outlets reported the same information. so yes, mayor guiliani was president trump's personal attorney, but he was not on a political errand, as he stated repeatedly and publicly, he was doing what good defense attorneys do, he was following a lead from a well-known private investigator, and he was gathering evidence regarding ukrainian election interference to defend his client against the false allegations being investigated by special counsel mueller. but the house managers didn't even elude to that possibility. instead they just repeated their mantra that guiliani's motive was purely political, and that speaks volumes about the bias with which they approached their mission. the bottom line is, mr. guiliani defended president trump vigorously, relentlessly, and publicly throughout the mueller investigation. and tha

have a terrif captioning sponsored by cbs >> lev parnas, the indicted associate of rudy guiliani, directly implicates president trump in the months-long effort to pressure ukraine to investigate the bidens. >> apparently, he wants to sing. >> if he wants to sing, it's best for him to sing to the federal prosecutors, really. >> and now... lev parnas sings! ♪ ♪ >> announcer: it's "the late show" with stephen colbert. tonight: the song unsung. plus, stephen welcomes: josh gad. and tamron hall. and a performance by tiana major9 and earthgang. featuring jon batiste and "stay human." and now, live on tape at the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! ( cheers and applause ) ( theme song playing ) whoo! hey! welcome, one and all, up there, down here, out there, everybody watching right now. tremendous. welcome to "the late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert. ( cheers and applause ) folks, if you have been watching the tv, you know it's an historic solid day that will forever alter the fabric of american democracy... so, thursday. because this afternoon, the senate official

this is a letter from rudy guiliani to the newly elected president of ukraine asking for a meeting, quoten my capacity as personal counsel to president trump and with his knowledge and consent. remember, guiliani is not a diplomat and had no role on the administration but already working on digging up dirt on the bidens. then his associate, lev parnas was texting to someone, robert hyde, who appears to be watching and monitoring yovanovitch. they are moving her tomorrow. she's talked to three people. her phone is off. computer is off. he then goes on to say next slide, she is next to the embassy, not in the embassy. that speaks to the level of surveillance he was carrying out if that was indeed true. he also appears to offer parnas something nefarious, saying, they, we don't know who they are referring to, willing to help if you would like a price guess you can do anything in ukraine with money, what i was told. his lawyers said hyde had a dubious mental state. after seeing in that transcript what he said in the july 25th phone call with zelensky. take a listen. >> what did you think when

according to fiona hill, former deputy for him at the nsc, he was distressed by interference by rudy guiliani and sondland and others outside the ukraine area getting involved in a separate side negotiation mike pompeo implicitly accepted. >> that distress has been reported by the nbc news and "washington post" and others. look at the statement ambassador bolton issued today, look where it was issued, from the bolton political action committee. this is someone who still wants to have a future in republican politics. when you understand that dynamic, you see him moving forward carefully, keeping an eye on federal court decisions, the mcgahn case, to figure out if he has to come forward. as much as he has confessed privately to friends and associates he has a lot to say because of his future in republican politics he doesn't want to be seen as someone betraying president trump or crossing party lines and why he's waiting in this incremental fashion to give his testimony. >> we should point out he's an officer of the court. he's a very very good lawyer and yale law and i believe all the rest tha

rudy guiliani and some other folks are saying other thing about interference in it. do us a favor, can you check into it? it doesn't seem to be interfering in the 2016 election. that's settling an issue that's unsettled. >> i think the argument is the cloud of russia helping president trump in 2016 would be cleared, their retically, if what tom bossert, the former president's security adviser is called a debunk conspiracy theory, it would theoretically clear him, they could prove this cloud. >> that's a pretty big line, to go, especially when something had been put to bed. >> isn't that evidence? >> most definitely russia was the primary factor in 2016. the president still seems to have this question whether ukrainian server, i don't have a question with that i don't think it's true on that he still does, he is hearing information from two different side, he wants to get it cleared up. >> that doesn't affect the election. >> there was a delay and the demand for investigation, which the trump legal team argued, does not exist and we all saw it with our own eyes. >> ok

. >>> next up on msnbc, an audio appears to reveal conversations between rudy guiliani and lev parnastrial is about to enter week to two. e ims about to enter week to two they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. almost done. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ thouwhich is breast cancer metastthat has spreadcer, to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs that can lead to death. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including trouble breathing, shortnes

new every day, democrats say bolsters their case that president trump and his personal lawyer rudy guiliani were at the heart of the campaign to dig up dirt on joe biden and his son hunter. the senate can choose to ignore that evidence but it increases pressure on moderate republicans, if just four vote with democrats, they could bring new could you estimates and witnesses into the trial. the day of developments coming at the same time president trump signed phase 1 of a china trade deal while speaking directly to republicans who will sit in judgment of him. >> they have a hoax going on over there, let's take care of it. >> reporter: branding president trump's legacy with impeachment. chief justice john roberts will be sworn in tomorrow afternoon to preside over the trial and will then, in turn, swear in all senators toing a as jurors. in washington, alice barr, nbc news. >> okay. thank you, alice. let's bring our political analyst larry gerstin in. we saw that very proper walk with the papers over you know, it seems so old fashioned when you see it like that. >> and very serious. >> very s

answer for that, because this was something he did behind closed doors, via an alternative channel rudy guiliani. >> can i say one thing? the case dershowitz was making wasn't exactly because it's best for the country. the case he was making was because he's best for the country and that's where it's staggering and dangerous. because a president who thinks that he is best for the country. >> he knows best. >> right. >> he knows best, no matter what he does, i'm sorry, i didn't mean to interrupt. >> only that i'm sure president clinton thought he was best for the country not telling the truth about an extra mar tam affair would be best for the country, no to the know those details, it didn't go that way. >> it didn't go that way and the president didn't take that position. he apologized and took responsibility on the issue of how republicans reacted, every single one of them, three different times yesterday walked by a camera on the way in and out of that session. not a single one of them raised an issue about this crazy theory. the really dangerous part. i worked on a bunch of campaigns as charl

. >> well, speaking of what could potentially be evidence, over an hour audio and video of a rudy guilianis to show president trump at a donor dinner order d.c. removal of ambassador yovanovitch. what's your reaction to that? >> well, i know lev parnas no made that video publicly. i met him in 2018 and my understanding is that mr. parnas has even more information that is going to be coming out here in the coming weeks. he has offered to testify. his attorney, of course, has been on your air and has made other public appearances, so, aga again, there is more information out there. it will come out sooner or later. if i was a republican, i'd like to see it all now, a republican in congress, so that i could make the best decision possible. >> if you know him, you've met him, why do you think he is releasing these tapes? why did he tape all of these things in the first place? >> yeah, i think that's a complication question. part of this i think is legal strategy in terms of his own personal defense. i think another part of this is he just wants to be transparent and forthcoming about everythin

what were the two things that rudy guiliani was asking of president zelensky and his top aids?t would favorably impress donald trump? would donald trump be favorably impressed if zelensky were to tell him about this new investigation in the rata or how the investigations with the russians were going or how they're bringing about defense reform? did any of those things come up in any of these text messages, any of these e-mails, any of these phone calls, any of these conversations? of course fought. of course not. there was only one thing that was going to favorably impress president trump in warsaw and that is if zelensky told him to his face i'm going to do these political investigations. i don't want to do 'em. you know i don't want to do 'em. i resist doing 'em. but i'm at war with russia and i can't wait anymore. i can't wait anymore. i'm sure that would have impressed donald trump. but the meeting between the two presidents never happened in warsaw. president trump cancelled the trip at the last moment. before bolton left kiev, ambassador taylor asked for a private meeting

in a separate development, an associate of rudy guiliani — mr trump's personal lawyer — has accused thes with ukraine. in a tv interview, lev parnas said mr trump knew that military aid would be withheld from ukraine unless it investigated joe biden — a potential rival in this year's presidential campaign. mr parnas, who is facing separate criminal charges, said mr giuliani was never investigating corruption in ukraine. instead, the intention was to damage mr biden. the president denies the allegations. here's what mr parnas told rachel maddow on msnbc when asked what the main innacuracy was coming out of the white house. that the president didn't know what was going on... president trump knew exactly what was going on. he was aware of all of my movements. i wouldn't do anything without the consent of rudy giuliani or the president. i have no intent, i have no reason to speak to any of these officials. i mean, they have no reason to speak to me. why would president zelensky‘s inner circle or minister avakov or these people, or president poroshenko meet with me? who am i? let's just catc

attorney eddie gallagher, a disgraced then pardoned navy seal, and what would be a party without rudy guilianiat does that say to you about their appearances? we know this president is all about optics. >> well, it says to me that he is much more comfortable and relaxed down at mar-a-lago. he doesn't have a million aides who are hovering around him. he doesn't have as many gate keepers keeping people who he shouldn't be seen with as much from entering the white house. it is even in terms of security the secret service was concerned early on in his presidency because mar-a-lago members would just bring in people to the resort to try to meet with trump for their own personal agendas. he did not want that. and remember that chinese woman who kind of found her way into mar-a-lago and then got arrested. and so i think she is one of those unpredictable characters i think. >> yeah. that is true. you see the president making consequential decisions. for example like the strike that took out soleimani from mar-a-lago. what does that say to you about security and being tightly held to just a few top inf

in a separate development, an associate of rudy guiliani — mr trump's personal lawyer — has accused thehis administration's dealings with ukraine. in a tv interview, lev parnas said mr trump knew that military aid would be withheld from ukraine unless it investigated joe biden, a potential rival in this year's presidential campaign. mr parnas, who is facing separate criminal charges, said mr giuliani was never investigating corruption in ukraine. instead, the intention was to damage mr biden. the president denies the allegations. here's what mr parnas told rachel maddow on msnbc when asked what the main innacuracy was coming out of the white house. that the president knew exactly what was going on. he was aware of all of my movements. i wouldn't do anything without consulting rudy giuliani or the president. i have no reason to speak to these officials and they have no reason to speak to me. why would all of these people meet with me? naomi ruchim is a correspondent for cbs and joins us now from new york. how serious are these new claims? these accusations are about the president and his

that's what lev parnas a former associate of rudy guiliani says. but how credible is that claim? place only a day after the entire cabinet resigned. it comes after president putin announced sweeping constituional changes — but what's the grand plan? in the modern era, do we need a woman to take up the mantle of 007? the series leading producer isnt stired by the idea. the historic impeachment trial of president trump got under way thursday as senate formally accepted the articles of impeachment. chiefjustice of the supreme court john roberts hasjust been sworn in to preside over the trial. the article of impeachment has been formally accepted. things are getting under way. democrat senators are now fighting to get witnesses included in this trial, but they would need a majority to vote. that would take four republican senators to side with the democrats. and so it goes, that's just the number who have said they are open to prospect. mitt romney, lamar alexander, lisa murkowski and susan collins. those are the ones everybody watching closely. meanwhile, house speaker nancy pelosi

legal system, was to produce this evidence on the extent of the campaign by trump and his attorney rudi guilianiit is that information which may have an effect going beyond the trial of the 2020 re—election bid of mr trump. meanwhile, the democrats are trying to whittle down to find out who will be their presidential candidate. as gary 0'donoghue was saying, that debate last night was a little lacklustre. do you think the republicans are concerned, given the field of democrats right there? do they ultimately believe that president trump is the person to ta ke president trump is the person to take on whoever the democrats can throw at him? i think people watched a different debate. i didn't see it as lacklustre, i think it was very issue rich, on a climate change, on foreign policy, from the iraq war in 2,000 to issues like iran and china today, on health and economic justice and policy. what happened is that the media try to reduce this to a clash of personalities, especially elizabeth warren versus bernie sanders. and when they didn't punch each other on the stage, they said it was a bit lacklu

rudy. we did not want to involve mr. guiliani. i believed then as i do now that the men and women of the state department, not the president's personal lawyer, should take responsibility for ukraine matters. nonetheless, based on the president's direction, we were faced with a choice. we could abandon the efforts to schedule the white house phone call and a white house visit between presidents trump and zelensky, which was unquestionably in our foreign policy interest or we could do as president trump directed and talk with rudy. we chose the latter course, not because we liked it, but because it was the only constructive path open to us. >> and just like that, u.s. officials charged with advancing u.s. foreign policy, u.s. officials who were supposed to act in our country's interests were directed to instead advance president trump's personal interests. from that point on, they worked with the president's personal agent on political investigations to benefit the president's re-election. their work on president trump's behalf to s

guiliani and the president. it also destroys some of the president's core defense that rudy was running rogue or wa that was actually about actual anti-corruption work. it also lays a predicate for a new investigation, kate. a u.s. ambassador has been threatened by the president and all of his men to date. now we have new evidence that an associate of the president, someone that's been seen with the president, was potentially surveilling a u.s. ambassador. all diplomats are afforded protection. under the vienna convention we have a bureau of diplomatic security. it is unclear, we don't know if there has already been an investigation into threats against marie yovanovitch. what's entirely enclosuclear, t is if an investigation hasn't started yet, it certainly needs to start now. we've seen representative engle call for documents from the diplomatic security bureau for that very reason. based upon all of that, it raises a real issue which is that the president himself has been a direct threat to a person serving overseas. just days ago, kate, it's not lost on me, he made up threats to u.s. embassies overseas to be the

guiliani's upcoming trip to ukraine. here is the slide about that article. it said, and i quote, rudynvestigations into false allegations against the bidens and the 2016 election and that it was at the request of the president. he stated that president trump, and i quote, basically knows what i'm doing, sure, as his lawyer. president trump repeatedly admitted knowledge of mr. guiliani's activities and to coordinating with him about the ukrainian activities. politico reported on may 11th, 2019, and i quote, in a telephone interview with politico on friday, trump said he didn't know much about iani's planned trip to ukraine, but wanted to speak with him about it. i have not -- and this is a quote of the president. i have not spoken to him at any great length, but i will, trump said in the interview. i will speak to him about it before he leaves. president trump knew and directed mr. guiliani's activities in may 2019 when mr. guiliani was planning his visit to kiev. and that remains true today. "the wall street journal" reported that when rudy giuliani returned from a trip to kiev just l

congress has been handed from rudy giuliani's indicted associate, lev parnas, including text messages with president zelensky's aides about setting up a meeting with guilianipermission of the president to provide negative information about joe biden, knowing all of that that we didn't know sitting here yesterday morning, do you think it would be prudent and help the senate make a decision to have those documents admissible in the senate trial? >> well, i defer to the senate in regards to that. the senate is going to do what it's going to do. >> i'm just asking you because you're an elected member of congress. >> sure. >> does that shed light on some important things here that are relevant? >> i still see that there's not an impeachable offense here. i see the issue of corruption being a legitimate government function of the executive branch. when you're dealing with impeachment, the lessons of impeachment from before, if there's no legitimate activity, nixon breaking into a hotel, in regards to clinton lying about sexual activity in the oval office. what is the legitimate government function by the executive branch? here i see a legitimate power of the pre

. >> this person trump calling, lev parnas, one of rudy guilliani's associates, spent a lot of time with guilianihim one of the white house groupies. dana bash on capitol hill. the president previously said he didn't know lev parnas and parnas and his attorney releasing photographs and videos of the time they have spent together. it is clear rudy guilliani certainly did spend a lot of time with lev parnas. we're seeing the house managers there. >> we will answer a couple questions before we begin our presentation. yesterday, we feel we laid out a very powerful case for why this trial should be no different than any other trial in america. it should involve the calling of witness, it should involve the production of documents. the house should have the opportunity to prove its case. if we prove our case, the senate should convict and remove the president from office. but the senate should allow us a fair trial. the senate should allow us a fair trial to the american people, one that allows the house to call relevant witnesses. one thing that was clearly established yesterday, the senate is not a c