The president clearly not happy with the saturday start for his legal team. So where do we start . With cnn congressional reporter lauren fox here on capitol hill this morning. And this is a crucial day for democrats. Their last day to make the case, not just to the American Public but their colleagues on the removal of office of the president unlikely but still calling witnesses. And thats been the democrats focus this entire time. They have to convince those four moderate republicans to cross the aisle and vote with them on witnesses. And that is getting more and more difficult. What weve heard from some of those moderates is that, look, if the House Democrats didnt want to go to court and fight for these witnesses, why should we as part of the senate trial . And thats the argument that Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell is making to his conference behind closed doors. I also know that republicans are struggling a little bit with the fact that this has been walltowall democratic coverage over the last three days. Now we know thats going to shift tomorrow, on saturday, when the president s defense team begins to make their case. What happened yesterday during the republican lunch was leadership actually encouraged their members, go out, talk to the cameras. Go talk to the press. Thats getting tougher because there are so many restrictions about where we can go, who we can talk to. We cant walk and talk with members like we normally would. Thats why majority leader mcconnell made the case yesterday. You need to go out during these breaks and make sure youre pumping up the president. Maybe that the republican strategy there backfired. They were deliberately restricting your access and now going the other way, poppy. Of course, i want to bring now cnn legal analyst elie honig on what democrats will be arguing today. So elie, listen, weve heard a lot of arguments from them. This is really their final day focused on obstruction but also making their Closing Argument. Yeah, jim, youre right. So lets remember, there are two articles of impeachment in play here. Yesterday democrats focused on abuse of power relating to ukraine. Today theyre shifting to article 2, the obstruction of congress. So what exactly does that mean . Now when the House Democrats began investigating donald trump related to ukraine about four months ago in september of 2019, they served 71 subpoenas on the executive branch. A subpoena is just a formal legal command to produce evidence or testimony. They served subpoenas on the white house, the Vice President s office, the omb, the departments of defense and state. You know how many documents they got from the executive branch total . Zero. Not a single one. Democrats say this is because of an intentional stonewalling effort by donald trump. How do we know this came from donald trump . He told us. Lets take a listen well, were fighting all the subpoenas. Look, these arent like impartial people. So the key here, right, is convincing folks not just that there was this was inappropriate behavior by the president but its an impeachable behavior by the president. Tell us how they make that argument. So House Democrats are making two arguments as to why this is impeachable. First of all, theyre saying a president could hide his own wrongdoing to prevent congress from discovering impeachable misconduct. They can use it to hide the truth. And second, they say it nullifies Congress Impeachment power. Impeachment is one of the most important checks congress has on the executive branch. And if the executive branch, the president , can just squash evidence, then it takes away that power. Now republicans are going to fight this. And they write in their defense brief that the president does not commit obstruction by asserting legal rights and privileges. Yes, you serve subpoenas but we have the right to fight those subpoenas in court. It almost never wins. Judges almost always uphold subpoenas, but that is going to be the republican defense here, jim. In effect saying, you know, let the courts decide, are they not . Exactly. Exactly what theyre saying. What the democrats say in response is, in the history of the republic, no president has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry. They are saying this is unprecedented. In fact, theyre correct. If you look even at Richard Nixon, the house served a whole bunch of subpoenas on nixons administration. He blocked some of them, but he actually did comply with others. So nixon actually gave more than donald trump has here. And Richard Nixon faced an article of impeachment that went through the House Judiciary Committee charging him with this very same obstruction of justice. Of course, he resigned before full impeachment. And adam schiff has talken pains over the last few days to stress just how damaging this obstructionism has been. Listen to some of the arguments adam schiff has been making. Would you like me to read that to you right now . I would like to read it to you right now. Except i dont have it. Because the state department wouldnt provide it. But if youd like me to read it to you, we can do something about that. So, jim, thats the point. The bottom line point adam schiff is making. The truth is out there. They have it, and we dont. You heard the president even seeming to brag about that the other day in answer to a question. Elie honig, thank you. Joining us to talk about this is elizabeth holtzman, a member of the House Judiciary Committee during watergate. So nice to have your perspective. Take a look at this. We have a picture of you during watergate, if we can pull it up. A much different time, of course. I had longer hair. What do you think . Look at that. You havent aged a day. What is the chief difference between now and then. And has anything stayed the same . Well, some of the things that stayed the same, you have article 3 that was voted against Richard Nixon because he obstructed the House Judiciary Committee and said im not turning over these tapes. Ultimately, they came out because the special prosecutor sued for those tapes. But we did the same thing. We said we have a right to obtain these documents, to understand, to what the president did. And he refused to obey. Wasnt one of the chief differences then that i just cant see happening now, but who knows what tomorrow will bring, that you had that day. You had the moment, the legendary moment, barry goldwater, a republican nominee for president , going to the white house with a few other colleagues and basically saying, the gig is up. The game is up. The votes are there to remove you from office. I mean, there is nothing that appears to be similar to that this time around. But it didnt start that way with watergate. No. It took months and months for the evidence to pile up to get goldwater and the other republicans to that point. Could that happen here . It could happen if they get witnesses and they get documents because what we had bipartisan majority, seven republicans, all the democrats, including some of the democrats to support impeachment, three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon, including his failure to produce documents. But when the smoking gun tape came out, everybody said this is the end of nixon. And thats why he had to resign. There could be a witness or a document thats going to be the smoking gun. And that would force the resignation of donald trump. The way it did then. But without these documents, i think they have a compelling case. I saw the presentation. I was very impressed. But there are documents that, obviously, we dont have, and the people closest to the president could clearly explain what was in his mind and what he did. When did he know it . What did he do . Why did he do it . The key republican, even more than frankly susan collins, that many of vus been watching is seniority Lisa Murkowski. Shes one who has not always gone with the president. Just take the kavanaugh vote, for example, a moderate. This is what she said yesterday, and its different in tone. The house made a decision that they didnt want to slow things down by having to go through the courts. And yet now, they are basically saying, you guys got to go through the courts. Meaning the senate. We didnt, but you guys need to. If democrats lose murkowski as a possible vote to side with them on calling witnesses, have they lost the war over witnesses . Well, maybe. But go back to the history. Thats what i was trying to say. Go back to the history. House Judiciary Committee did not go to court and nobody said to us, oh, bad, bad, bad. You should have gone to court. So were not going to look at the smoking gun tape. Were not going to consider these other tapes. Absolutely not. We didnt go to court because peter odino, the chair, said courts have no business involving themselves in an impeachment process. Whether you agree with that position or not, theres no question that if the house had gone to the courts, we would still not have a resolution of this matter. Don mcgahns subpoena hasnt been resolved. So if you want to have an impeachment process that works, then this has to be done in a proper way. 30 seconds left. We heard adam schiff, one of the house managers, say yesterday, quote, you know you cant trust this president to do whats right for this country. Is he misreading the audience . For example, look at how many republicans are thrilled with what hes done on nominating judges. The audience is the American People in the end. And the American People, i hope, will be fair and understand the need for a fair trial and the complete truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Elizabeth holtzman, great perspective. Have a nice weekend. Jim . We are live from capitol hill this morning with all the latest on the president s impeachment trial. Coming up next, im going to speak to one of those jurors. One of the senators who will decide whether to acquit or remove the president. If you have moderate to severe psoriasis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. 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Dont get mad get e trade and start trading for bathroom odors that linger try febreze small spaces. Just press firmly and it continuously eliminates odors in the air and on soft surfaces. For 45 days. Welcome back. Were live from capitol hill. Democrats with one final day to make their case to the American People to fellow senators, including republicans before the White House Team takes over tomorrow, on saturday. Im joined by massachusetts democratic senator ed markey. He also serves on the Foreign Relations committee. We appreciate you taking the time. Thank you. So the emerging argument from republicans behind closed doors but also in public is that to call witnesses would somehow challenge executive privilege, weaken the office of the president for some time to come. Whats your response to that argument . Well, my answer would be that the president would then say you cant investigate me. You cant indict me. You cant impeach me. That im immune. That i can do whatever i want. And that the congress is powerless. No matter how great the abuse of power that i engage in as a president , cannot, in fact, be called into question by the United States congress which, of course, is a complete and total upside down interpretation of the United States constitution. We are supposed to be the checkup on him. We are the ones who are to ensure hes not a monarch, that he cannot act in a way that is not accountable to the American People. Its a crazy argument. Its an ahistorical argument, and its one that were going to continue to contest extremely vigorously. You hear, and ive heard some of this from republicans in private crucially, not in public, that the president s behavior here, yes, inappropriate. I wouldnt have done it. I wish he hadnt done it. But does not rise to the level of being an impeachable offense. I wonder what you say to your republican colleagues when they make that argument. I guess the question to them is, if this is not impeachable, what is impeachable . If somebody as a president goes to a Foreign Government and says that i want you to investigate my political rival, my principal political rival at that time, in return for 391 million of american taxpayer money, and thats not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable. I mean, absolutely nothing. And no president could ever be held accountable. Ultimately this sets a precedent for the future. All president s, henceworth and forever, if the republicans do not make trump accountable, will have pretty much carte blanche. Theyll be able to do whatever they want because the standard for impeachability will have been eliminated. The score of this argument by democrats, right, is not just that the president pressured a Foreign Government to investigate a political rival. But also pressured a Foreign Government in effect to interfere in a u. S. Election. It strikes me that as this is happening, even as the president is being tried on this allegation, his personal attorney is still going to ukraine. Hes still meeting with shady folks over there, gathering information on biden. Are you concerned that the president , perhaps emboldened, is still attempting to get a Foreign Government to interfere . Absolutely. I mean, what adam schiff and the house managers laid out was a blistering, scalding indictment of donald trump, of rudy giuliani, of all of his political henchmen to try to steal the election of 2020. Theres no question about it. And if hes allowed to go sco scotfree here, then we should just expect there are no rules. That giuliani will be overseas, that it will be something that emboldens him to go even further in terms of breaking of the traditions in our country because the republicans will say there are no rules. You can do whatever you want and im afraid for what that means this year. The russians will be able to feel more freedom to come into our elections and to interfere with them. So i just think that what the republicans decide to do in terms of allowing the senate to hear from Mick Mulvaney, from john bolton, from the other witnesses, the other documents is going to be the moment of accountability for an entire traditionally respected party to determine whether or not they want to ensure that our elections are free and fair. It would be difficult to pick the least polite moment in this whole process but there was a particularly impolite one yesterday when one of your republican colleagues, senator Marsha Blackburn, took a very pointed attack on Alexander Vindman who testified in the house impeachment. A serving u. S. Army officer. A purple heart honoree from his time in iraq. I dont need to quote her tweet again, but it was a very personal attack questioning his patriotism. What do you say to your colleague Marsha Blackburn . Well, no matter which country our forbearers come from mine are irish once youre here, youre an american. Once you swear an oath to our country, youre an american. And otherwise, every one of us is subject to question with regard to our patriotism. So this man and apparently every member of his family that was born here in the United States that was raised here in the United States, served in our military. There arent many families which can say that. His father is giving him instruction that he lives in a special country and asked and telling him that he should be proud to be able to serve in a country where you can speak up without fear that the government can, in fact, suppress you. So any impugning of the reputation, the honor, the dignity, the patriotism of vindman or anyone else who comes from another country but then pledges loyalty to our country is absolutely wrong. Senator markey, appreciate the time and look forward to hearing from you after the proceedings end. Take care. Poppy, back to you. Ahead for uwell take you to china. Some of the biggest tourist destinations there are now closing. This is as tens of millions of people in that country are told not to travel. Of course, all because of the deadly coronavirus. My gums are irritated. I dont have to worry about that, do i . Actually, you do. Harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line, and if youre not taking care of your gums, youre not taking care of your mouth. So now i use this. Crest gum detoxify. Crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. It works below the gum line and is clinically proven to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. Gum detoxify, from crest. Gums are good. So is my check up crest. Healthy, beautiful smiles for life. Quitting smoking is freaking hard. St, like quitting every monday hard. Quitting feels so big. So, try making it smaller. And youll be surprised at how easily starting small. Can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette my hands are everything to me. But i was diagnosed with dupuytrens contracture. And it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. Thought surgery was my only option. Turns out i was wrong. So when a hand specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. Like you, my hands have a lot more to do. Learn more at factsonhand. Com today. Fear is growing this morning over the spread of the deadly coronavirus. So far more than 900 people around the world have been infected, including at least one person in the United States with federal officials preparing to brief lawmakers on all of this on capitol hill next hour. Travel restrictions have been imposed on some 30 Million People across ten cities in china as officials work to try to contain this outbreak thats claimed 26 lives. Lets go straight to david culver who joins us from beijing. What do you know at this point, david . Poppy, the widening scope of this containment effort altogether is whats really surprising. So the virus is one thing, but the response by the government and local officials is whats really catching people off guard. You mentioned the numbers. Its at least 30 million. At least 10 cities. Those numbers could even grow. And its not just restriction of leaving those cities. Its also restriction within those cities, right . So you have the lockdown thats keeping pe ining people from ge Public Transit. Thats been shut down. The folks who may have contracted something trying to get to a hospital for those who rely on Public Transit has been next to impossible. And those who do get to the hospital, poppy, are waiting seemingly for hours. Some of them even being turned away. Were hearing several cases of people with fevers who have been told we dont have time right now. The delays are too long. We cant test you. You have to go back home. What is that leading to . On chinese social media, were starting to see the impact and how the government is trying to respond. In wuhan, i can show you these tent images that are coming across social media. This is video that shows a makeshift office and kind of aside from the hospital. And then they are planning to build another hospital in six days time. Thats what theyre hoping to do. Look at these images from state media. Already bulldozers and front end loaders clearing out some land in wuhan. Attempting to open this, were told, on february 3rd. Wow. Before you go, talk to us about what we know in the u. S. With at least one person who has contracted this. Right. And that one person we do know is linked to having been in wuhan and traveled back to the state of washington. And is currently being investigated there and being looked over. The thing with the u. S. Right now is the cdcs leading up a lot of this. And a lot of the testing is done with the cdc because they have the lab. But they are certainly monitoring our region more than anything else. Theyre looking at what china is doing and we know officials are in touch trying to figure out if the containment effort will be successful. David culver, important reporting in beijing, thank you. Jim . The White House Legal Team is set to take a page out of the house managers playbook. Set to use their own video clips to make their case to senators to the American People. Thats going to start tomorrow. More coming up on their strategy right after this. whistling whistling i wanted my hepatitis c gone. I put off treating mine. Epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c. Whatever your type, epclusa could be your kind of cure. I just found out about mine. I knew for years epclusa has a 98 overall cure rate. I had no symptoms of hepatitis c mine caused liver damage. Epclusa is only one pill, once a day, taken with or without food for 12 weeks. 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Can the hilton app help us score . You know, its not that kind of thing, but you can score free wifi. Can it help us win . Hey, hey were all winners with the hilton price match guarantee, alright . Man, you guys are adorable alright, lets go lose this soccer game, come on book with the hilton app. If you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25 off that stay. Expect better. Expect hilton. Welcome back. Live from the capitol this morning, the president s legal team preparing for its first day of arguments as democrats prepare to make their arguments on the final day. Todays focus, their charge of obstruction of congress by the president , but trump lawyer ken starr says there is no such thing. That its made up. So joining us now is paul rosensway, a conservative and former federal prosecutor who served as senior counsel to ken starr during whitewater. Good to have you, sir. Thank you for joining us. You have called ken starrs decision to join the president s Legal Defense team on this puzzling, and cnns reporting in the last 24 hours is theres really not been any or much formal prep with ken starr and Alan Dershowitz and the rest of the team. And we report is seen them involved in the sessions on capitol hill. Should the American People expect to see ken starr take a bigger role Going Forward . Well, youd really have to address that question to the president s defense team. I think that they were added to the team for what the president perceives of their expertise. Id be surprised if they didnt play a role after such a public affiliation. So house managers, they are going to make their Closing Arguments today. Trump discharged today, the focus of congress, ken starr is dismissing that saying, it really is unwise. Its made up. Theres no such thing of obstruction of congress. Let me ask you from a legal standpoint, is that true . How can there not be, really, because if Congress Subpoenas documents, testimony, et cetera from the executive branch, then what is the recourse if the white house refuses to cooperate . That must be a quote taken out of context. Its clear that obstruction of congress is a real thing. For one thing, theres a criminal statute passed by congress and signed into law by earlier president s that makes it a crime to obstruct congress. Makes it a crime to withhold documents from congress. Makes it a crime to lie to congress. So there really must be something more to the discussion than that because, at least as quoted, its so clearly wrong that i cant actually imagine thats the legal position the president is going to advance. Not clear, though, because starr is not the only one who has made that argument, but im not the lawyer, so i dont know the basis. People should listen its interesting because jim brings up ken starr said this on a recent podcast. People should listen to the context and then make up their mind, but lets move on to something that Lindsey Graham said two decades ago and what you think now. This is a 21yearold clip from him during the clinton impeachment trial. Whats a high crime . How about if an important person hurts somebody of low means . Its not very scholarly, but i think its the truth. I think thats what they meant by high crimes. Doesnt have to be a crime. Im not going to ask you if you agree, but i am going to ask you if you think adam schiff yesterday using that in his presentation was a prudent legal strategy to try to flip minds of republicans. Well, i think thats a strategy thats addressed more to the American Public. There is much of the attitudes in the body politic have hardened, but theres an Undecided Group of people. Some of whom are quite literally just tuning in for the first time, notwithstanding your and my focus on this for the last year. Yeah. But who are just focusing for the first time, and for them to see the ways in which the president s defenders now have changed their tune from what they said 20 years ago is, i think, an important revelation as to the disheartening nature of the situational ethics that some of them are adopting. And perhaps that will persuade enough people in the middle who have yet to make up their minds who havent been paying attention that this proceeding is serious and is grounded on real threats, real abuses of power, real obstruction of congress that deserve serious treatment, not the casual treatment that seems to be being given it by republican senators, many of whom cant even be bothered to stay in the chamber to listen. Situational ethics perhaps a phrase for our time, sadly. Paul rosenzweig, thanks very much. Its a tall task for house impeachment managers trying to convince four republican senators to support voting to subpoena witnesses. Are they making their case . 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Today, those democrats, the house managers, have just eight hours left to try to change those minds before the president s team takes over. Lets begin our coverage here with our congressional reporter lauren fox and White House Correspondent john harwood. Lauren, tell people what theyll see today. Well, yesterday was the case all about abuse of power. Today the case that you can expect house managers to make is going to be obstruction of congress. The fact the administration wouldnt turn over documents and witnesses that were very important and that were requested by the House Intelligence Committee during their investigation of that phone call between President Trump and ukraines president zelensky. Also be watching, of course, though, for those moderate republicans. Are any minds being changed . Are they getting frustrated with the democratic case . Are they ready to move on and hear from the president s defense team . This game all along has been convincing enough republicans to get witnesses like john bolton and Mick Mulvaney to be part of the senate trial. The big question, whether or not democrats have succeeded in that mission, poppy. John harwood, at the white house, we understand President Trump a little bit upset his team begins on a saturday with presumably fewer eyeballs. But how is the Trump Defense team getting ready . Well, theyve got a challenge, jim, because the Trump Defense is split between two different kinds of arguments. One of the arguments is that the president didnt do anything wrong. Thats what we heard josh hawley say yesterday. You have those senators who say he did do something inappropriate but its not impeachable. Thats what rob portman of ohio told manu raju. Trumps challenge, of course, is that he wants the most people to see his defense, whether its a mixed message or not. He had that tweet this morning. He said my team is forced to begin their defense on saturday. Thats death valley in tv ratings. And so i think you cant dismiss the possibility that, first of all, theyve already said its likely to be a shorter session or suggested its likely to be a shorter session on saturday, but i talked to a mcconnell adviser today who didnt rule out the possibility that they could, because the president doesnt like saturday, they could ditch the saturday session altogether and begin on monday. Well, wouldnt be the first time they made a decision to his advantage. Lets also add in jeremy herb and our political analyst Jackie Kucinich to the conversation as well. Jeremy, you cover the hill. Youve covered it a long time. Vote counting now. If democrats we know democrats need four votes. Where does the betting stand on whether theyll get those votes to call witnesses . I think they do still face long odds to get those four votes. And its a case where if there are four, they are probably going to have to be more than four so its not exactly 51 senators who do this. The key senators, susan collins, Lisa Murkowski, lamar alexander. I asked murkowski yesterday what she thought about one of the concerns raised about executive privilege and this fight could get tied up in the courts if they try to get john bolton or Mick Mulvaney in. What she said was she wondered why the house didnt go after this themselves. And it raises the question of where her head is at. Doesnt mean shell vote one way or the other but shes raising the same concern weve heard from mitch mcconnell. Senator murkowski before that raised some concern as Democratic House members were attacking republican senators and said, hey, thats not helping either. Yeah, 100 . And to hear that from her, jackie, i think could say more than we think, right . Because shes been willing to vote against the president and if she is perturbed by this, what is that going to mean for her vote. What are you looking for in these final eight hours for democrats . Just so what you are hearing from democrats when you hear republicans like Lisa Murkowski criticize the house investigation is, okay, well, thats because they wouldnt give us what we needed. Thats what were talking about today. You are allowing them to continue to obstruct if you decide that this is acceptable and youre not going to call any more witnesses. So to the extent that they hit that, the extent the democrats make that point on the floor, senator schumer was making that point over the last couple of days. Im looking for that, but also, how they do it because, as weve seen throughout this process, tonally, it matters. Jerry nadler turned a lot of people off that first day and angered a lot of senators and people could say crocodile tears but that does matter. Where adam schiff hasnt really attacked senators. Hasnt been personal about this and that his approach seems to be much more persuasive with maybe some of these moderates who are on the fence. Youve been inside during these sessions and chief Justice John Roberts late in the evening in the first day made this comment about the senate being the most admired deliberative body in the world, this august chamber. Has it been on the inside . At times. There have been senators walking around. Senators out of place. Lindsey graham was not in the chamber when his clip from 1999 was being played but there are a lot of senators sitting there who are taking notes. We see a lot of them flipping through the presentations the house has gotten. It certainly is a mixed bag. Its not easy to sit in there for hours on end and listen to this, especially for the republicans who probably dont agree with most of it. Obviously, were noting the various things, the fidget spinners and the milk and all of that. There have been a lot of senators lynch isenator s listening to them, too. You are a sitting u. S. Senator, the president is being tried. How much are the American People, i wonder, crying tears for these senators . Where is your heart, sciutto . Lauren, talk to us about what you have been seeing. Theres like those spinners, the fidget spinners that were given out to senators. The rand paul drawing. People leaving their seats, from both parties. Senators from both parties. What are you seeing, the color that the American People arent . Well, theres some sketch artists on the senate floor. Some of them take to doodling when they get a little bit bored. I will also tell you behind the scenes during the republican lunch yesterday, something very interesting happened. Basically, majority leader mcconnell and his Leadership Team made the case to their members that they need to be going out and making a stronger defense of the president during these breaks. In part because the American People back home, they are watching. All they are seeing is the case that democrats are making, and they are hearing from constituents who are frustrated. They dont understand why the president s defense team isnt getting up and interrupting like they would maybe in a normal court setting. Thats not how this process is laid out. But its a very important and revealing moment given the fact that, you know, this has been walltowall democratic coverage for the last 2 1 2 days and more coming today. So, john harwood, just looking at the house members preempting some of the arguments against joe biden, hunter biden, i wonder, is the expectation that the white house lawyers will, in addition to defending the president , use this as an opportunity to attack a possible i think you couldnt assume otherwise. The question is whether that has any traction with the American People. Remember, you know, were talking about two things here. One is what is the effect on moderate republicans, people who might defect from the president. Anybody who has been betting throughout this administration on republicans defecting from the president , whether on tax cuts or Brett Kavanaugh or a host of other things have long since gone broke. This is really about trying to move Public Opinion at this point, more people tuning in to this than have been at previous iterations of this process. And so the question is what causes some marginal change in Public Opinion. Dont know how much thats going to be. But thats really what it is all about. And democrats were trying to make the case in advance that joe biden, as witnesses have said, as trump former Trump Administration witnesses have said, joe biden, in evidence he did anything wrong. And hope that that gets some traction against the republican attempts to smear biden. Yeah. Jeremy, do we have any sense of, you know, the most compelling case is that the white house will make, meaning have they seen any holes in the democrats argument that they feel there is always an advantage sometimes to go in second, that they think that they can fill in and capitalize on, jim was talking about the bidens so much, burisma. What do they see as a strategic advantage here . Yeah, sure, they get to go second. They have the chance to respond to the house and the house wont get the chance then to respond back and have another rebuttal, unlike the first day. I think what we heard yesterday from jay sekulow the president s personal attorney is telling and we will hear a lengthy case about why there should have been an investigation about the bidens and why the president feels he should have been should have been investigated. Now the house will, you know, try to get ahead of that and thats why they spent so much time yesterday. But the thing were going to have to watch with the white house is how much of this do they focus on the process and how much do they actually dive into the facts at hand here. So, jackie, before we go, it may happen that by the middle of next week, if there arent sufficient votes to vote for calling witnesses, that this process is over by wednesday. Is that a blip on the political calendar . Considering you have the many senators who have been here, the entire time, instead of on the campaign trail, you have the president s state of the Union Address coming right on the heels of this, no, i feel like that this is this is going to be continued to be talked about on either side as a cudgel in the 2020 election. Were in a news environment as we all know that everything is so fast, but this was this is historic, will continue to be historic and i would not be surprised if it continues to be part of the election psycho. Couple of weeks ago, news about going to war with iran. Thanks to all of you. Poppy in. Joining us now is colorado senator michael bennet. Thank you for joining us this morning. Thank you, poppy. Great to be with you. Lets begin with something that your fellow senator, republican joanie ernst of iowa said yesterday about the case that the democrats made thus far, quote, it is not really changing our opinion. What do you think the most effective argument has been and what should democrats do today . I think that i actually think the house managers have made a very compelling case that the president abused his office and i think today what were going to hear is that he has claimed an executive privilege that nobody in American History has ever claimed and if hes allowed to get away with that, our whole system of checks and balances, i think, is going to crumble. I believe every single journalist in america, every single citizen in america should be insisting that the president produce witnesses and the records of what has been going on in the last few months in the white house. It is absolutely outrageous and i dont think the American People will stand for it. The republicans may in the senate. But i dont think the American People will. Senator, the republican argument among senators seems to be perhaps taking shape like this, because let me read you what senator rob portman, who, by the way, was one of those who went to the white house to say whats going on with this omb funding for ukraine, right . Remember that . He told manu raju yesterday, quote, about the president , some of the things that were done were not appropriate, ive used the word wrong and inappropriate, but then he went on to say, thats different from voting someone out of office. Thats different from convicting someone and removing a sitting president. John cornyn talked yesterday again to our team about mixed motives. He doesnt think it was all about burisma for stopping the aid to ukraine. What do you make of that . Well, i think those are excuses to not cross President Trump. I think i hope every american will listen to adam schiffs Closing Argument last night, about why the president should be removed. We have not heard the president s argument yet. I want to hear his argument. But adam schiff made one of the great speeches in American History last night where he pointed out that if if facts if truth and right dont matter, the constitution doesnt matter. It is up to the people sitting in this room, because President Trump put his own private interests ahead of the National Interests because he was trying to get help from ukraine with his president ial election. He adopted a policy that was contrary to the National Security interests of the United States. And what schiff said last night is, everyone in this room knows that when confronted by that choice again, donald trump would do exactly the same thing and thats why he said he should be removed. So, senator, im glad you bring that up. Im sure you read it yesterday in the wall street journal, the Editorial Board takes that argument and flips it on its let me read you part of what they said. Quote, every president made Foreign Policy decisions he thinks may help his reelection, thats what president obama did in 2012 when he asked medvedev to tell putin to ease up on the Missile Defense until after the election, mitt romney was criticizing mr. Obama for being soft on mr. Putin. Mr. Obama wanted a political favor from the dictator to help him win re election and they went on to surmise such a standard would be a cause for the impeachment of virtually every president , past, present and future. What do you make of that argument . I think the difference here is that the president was engaged in a months long shakedown of the ukrainian president. This wasnt, you know, a one phone call, by the way, schiff went through the transcript last night, schiff read it in the context of all of the evidence that the democrats have presented and it is a fairly damning document in that context. But it was a month long effort by donald trump to shake these guys down and to say, illegally to say im not going to send you your foreign aid unless you unless you open up fake investigations into my political opponents and unless you endorse russian propaganda about whether ukraine was involved in the 2016 election. So i dont think this bears any resemblance to what any other president has done. Not just barack obama, but any republican or democrat. Lets spend the remainder, we talk you and your run for the white house. Clearly you got two jobs now to be a juror and to go to iowa, New Hampshire on sundays when you can. You said in a new interview this week with the boston globe, quote, i dont think you can get more opposite of donald trump than i am. But in the polling that we have this month, monmouth, youre 1 nationally, less than 1 in iowa, betting a lot in New Hampshire, 38 town halls, a lot before the primary. Now youre a juror in washington. How do you win . I think the way i win is by making the case that im the only person in the race that has won two National Elections in a swing state, nobody else has. To beat donald trump we have to win not just blue states on the coast, but purple states in the middle of the country. Ive got an agenda called the real deal that will unite the American People and answer their essential questions about how do we live a middle class life again in this country when we are working so hard. How do we get our kids out of poverty, like the parents that i use fod work f used to work for as superintendent of the Public Schools are asking. I am the opposite of donald trump. We want some version of him, im obviously not the right candidate. If we want to elect a president we dont have to think about two weeks at a time because ill be focused on doing my job with respect to north korea, my job with respect to ending this trade war in china, and i hope people will give me a look and im going back to New Hampshire on sunday, we spend more time there than any other candidate in the race. And im you can find me doing one more town hall and one more town hall after that. There you go. Senator michael bennet, appreciate your time. Thanks all of you for joining us. We will see you back here actually for special coverage sunday night. Im poppy harlow. Our special coverage of the Senate Impeachment trial begins right now. Im wolf blitzer live in washington with jake tapper, Anderson Cooper and dana bash on capitol hill this is cnns special coverage of the impeachment trial of president donald j. Trump. Today is the final day for house managers to present evidence and make their case for the conviction and removal of the president of the United States. The focus is expected to be on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of congress. Democrats will also wrap up today with an eye toward a vote next week on whether or not they should call any more witnesses or call for anye