Someone. Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. We begin with the politics lead, the number two republican in senator john thune of south dakota delivered a devastating assessment of the house impeachment inquiry of President Trump. Senator thune telling reporters that the picture being painted of the trump ukraine scandal by the top diplomat in ukraine is, quote, not a good one. Bill taylor testified he was told President Trump was going to withhold, quote, everything, from ukraine, everything, including badly needed military aid that is until ukraines president publicly announced investigations into joe biden and his son hunter as well as ukraines alleged role in the 2016 election. And as Cnns Kaitlan Collins now reports for us, this all comes as President Trump is trying to spin capitulation to turkey in syria as a win for the United States. This was an outcome created by us, the United States. And nobody else. Reporter today President Trump took credit for a ceasefire in syria. While announcing the u. S. Will lift sanctions he imposed on turkey. Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand. Reporter trump imposed those sanctions after turkey invaded Northern Syria, days after he decided to pull u. S. Forces from the area leaving syrian kurds and longtime American Allies unprotected. So the sanctions will be lifted unless something happens that were not happy with. Reporter trump said the ceasefire will save kurdish lives. Even though just yesterday russia and turkey agreed on a plan to push Syrian Kurdish fighters out of the region they once occupied. Other countries have stepped forward. They want to help. And we think thats great. Reporter the president also claimed isis fighters who have escaped from kurdishrun prisons have been largely recaptured. A small number, relatively speaking reporter but his top envoy to syria disputed that just hours earlier. We would say the number is now over 100. We do not know where they are. Reporter trump ignored the cnn question about the discrepancy today. Mr. President , you said the isis fighters who escaped have been recaptured but your top envoy said that is not true. They dont know where they are . Do you have a comment. He took no questions on syria or the highstakes impeachment inquiry. Did you tell president zelensky to publicly announce the investigations, mr. President . Reporter his silence coming after he dismissed his top diplomat in ukraines testimony quoting a republican who said bill taylor didnt say ukrainians were aware that military aid was being withheld. Taylor testified that he was told a top aide to the ukrainian president delivered a message making clear that it was. Trump now saying that the impeachment inquiry is dead. But members of his own party sound unsure. Including the second ranking republican leader in the senate who said the picture emerging from taylors testimony is not a good one. Now, jake, the president said these never trump republicans are, quote, human scum, and said his top diplomat in ukraine bill taylor is a never trump republican and he someone he believes he doesnt know. That we should note that bill taylor is a west point graduate and a vietnam veteran who secretary pompeo personally recruited to come back and take this job as the top diplomat in ukraine. Secretary pompeo hasnt weighed in on the president s insult to bill taylor yet. If he does at all. Kaitlan collins, thanks so much. Lets chew over this. Jen the white house responded to bill taylors testimony by calling the impeachment inquiry, a quote, coordinated smear attack from far left lawmakers and radical unelected bureaucrats, and then calling bill taylor a never trumpers and they are human scum. Obviously the messages is pretty specific, theyre going after taylor. Obviously. And attacking the messenger and trying to discredit the messenger has been a tactic weve seen before and also a tactic that president putin and the russians used against ambassadors and other people in russia ill point out. That is the strategy at this moment. Now the problem they have is that there is so much detail that we have in front of us at this point. We have taylors testimony, we have the whistleblower complaint and we have the chief of staff of the white house giving a press conference. We know they did it. The question is what happens now and so this is kind of desperate in my view and taking some tactics from the russian friends playbook. And so christian youre a leading never trumper. And what the president said about your ilk today. The never trumper republicans though on respirators with not many left are worse and more dangerous for or country than the donothing democrats. Watch out for them. They are human scum. I dont think youre human scum. What do you make of that . Elevating our discourse there. I wonder why never trump types are on his mind so much. I mean, the democrats are doing the impeachment in the house but i wouldnt say weve been particularly im flattered if he thinks we are causing him a lot of trouble and i do think there is a sign of what jen calls desperation or panic there. Dont you think generally in the white house the president s personal tweets and what hes been saying over the last few days and interviews, the House Republicans today, there is a sense that if all were well, he would not be worrying about attacking never trumpers or bill taylor who was he selected and secretary pompeo put into and secretary pompeo bill taylor so i dont know and not part of the never trumper conspiracy and i might have met him when he was ambassador for brush and very strong proukraine and skeptical of russia and hes 71 or 72 and called back to serve the country after this mess where they fire another good Foreign Service officer who is the ambassador. He comes back and really out of duty. Hes doing stuff entirely out of duty. Ep has no his wife didnt want him to do it. Hes been ambassador and comes back because the Senate Confirmation and so forth. And so he does a totally out of duty and did secretary pompeo say a word. Out of his own selfrespect but the president wouldnt like it but could he Say Something about this man they the four decade career. And a fellow west point graduate and he didnt defend yav as far as we know. It is not just President Trump and Stephanie Gresham attacking bill taylor. Take a diplomats now turned into collaborators with the democrats rolling up to capitol hill . We have is this extraordinary men and women in our diplomatic core who know their work and who are strong and are out fighting for americas interests. But there is no question, when President Trump said weve were going to drain the swamp that an awful lot of the swamp has been caught up in the state department bureaucracy. Drain the swamp . Shes clairly asking about bill taylor. It is an oldie but goody. To go back to it. Jen can back me up. I dont think bill taylor would be close to be associated with the swamp. You wonder why they didnt put a more swampy individual there because all administrations put some people in ambassador positions that have no business being there. Instead they put this career diplomat in that position who now has a frontrow seat to all of the deeds being done that are not aboveboard. So that is actually quite questionable because the swampiest part are ambassadors can be swampy. They have swampy one to the e. U. And gordon sondland. And so they hate there was an honorable person there. One of the people are not in the swamp. The Matthew Whitaker the acting attorney general only fox said abuse of power is not a crime. What do you make of that . Well lots of things are not a crime. For instance, being an if individual who is manifestly unfit to have served as acting attorney of the United States is not a crime but that doesnt mean Matthew Whitaker should have been acting attorney general. But an impeachment offense does not need to be a crime and over the Years Congress has found threeod impeachable, abusing power in office, that is obvious and behavior incompatible with the office of presidency or misusing ones office for personal gain. Those are the kind of things that congress is looking into here. But this question of whether the president violated a criminal statute, that is just not the stand ard. Matthew whitaker knows that and he should be ashamed because hes misleading the American People about what an impeachment offense is. And the stunt republicans tried to make today and one 2020 candidate gaining support among several key voting groups. Who is it . Stick around. 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. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. 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Matt gaetz of florida and with that a group of house conservatives stormed the socalled skiff, the secure room where three house committees are conducting impeachment interviews and the uproar is yelling and railing delayed the testimony from another witness and it came after President Trump publicly grumbled that republicans were not doing enough to defend him. A source told cnn President Trump new in advance of todays protest. Lets go to lauren fox on capitol hill. And these republicans said they wanted to see what was happening and what they call secret meetings but just a point of clarification here, arent there already republicans in these hearings asking questions of these witnesses . Well there, jake. But republicans are arguing and the Top Republican in the house Kevin Mccarthy told me just a short time ago that he needs more transparency. They were elected and they have the right to understand what is going on in this secure room and arguing that when impeachment comes to the floor of the house of the representatives they have to know what is going on. And democrats are arguing, slow down, this is the beginning of the investigation but behind closed doors this went on for five hours. Now laura cooper is now testifying behind closed doors. But it went on so long that this afternoon they had to bring in snacks and pizza for members who were in the room. Ultimately they had to leave to go vote. And now it appears that the testimony is underway. But i will tell you, a very chaotic scene this morning. And it turns out President Trump knew that republicans have planned this about a week ago. Lauren fox, thank you so much. Lets chew over all of this. And jackie, let me start with you. To a degree in the sense that this argument about process, that the democrats are holding these hearings behind closed doors is that not helping republicans stay unified in the house in terms of an argument for voters, it is an argument for House Republicans and there does seem to be a degree of unity. At least on the House Republican side. Yes. They could complain about the process because they cant get into the substance because the substance is in defensible and now weve seen when they had open hearings that they complain it is just a big show and a circus. So maybe well see that again. But they do we always would like to see process. Now republicans themselves had closed door Intelligence Briefings when they were in charge. This isnt unusual because some members feel like they get better answers and are able to put the showboating aside in a more open hearing. But of course we always have openness but there is a reason they do this and both sides do it. These are hearings with three committees in which democratic and republican members are there. And they shouldnt be call it democratic hearings, they are in the room and equal time to question and the counsel for each side is there and can ask questions an the republicans can report to their colleagues who are not on the committee and everything they said as they choose. So the idea that this is some secret thing, they are choosing to have closed hearings for a good reason because they dont want to hear what other people if they could have a hearing and not grandstanding but the notion this is democratic partisan and i think this was a big mistake. There are 20 republican congressmen on those committees and what does it say to them that these other guys storm in and pretend there is no representation. If there are any republicans left who care about the dignity of the house or any kind of not being a third world country, they have to be appalled by what happened today. And jen, you said people storming the skiff had electronic devices. Youre not allowed to bring even an apple watch with you. No. Youre not allowed to bring an apple watch and they ordered pizza. It became sort of this showboating type of event. Ill say this has a shelf life or Expiration Date this entire argument because there will be a public hearing and they are doing the hearings know and gathering information and there are republicans there but there will be a public piece and then they try to make the other argument. But this argument wont last for long. But more importantly, to use the correct term, they are not even hearings. They are depositions. Which are legal processes where you sit down with counsel and questioned by both sides and they are transcribed interviews. They are not even hearings and there will be public hearings. Taylor will testify and what you will have is a west point grad marine whatever pest point grad saying he thinks the president of the United States committed an impeachable offense. We dont know that he will say that. He will describe itself impeachable. In your view. In my view. And what do you make that john thune said today that the picture coming out of bill taylors testimony about a quid pro quo is not a good one. That is john thune. That is not a squishy republican, the number two republican in the senate from south dakota. He doesnt have to say anything that is not fully supportive of President Trump. But there is an honest assessment there. There is real nervousness on both of the Senate Republicans and the House Republicans. We saw that with mr. Rooney the other day. That they are not confident any more that it is quite as easy to excuse what the president has done as they once thought. And why is that . Well democrats and even some republicans say it was jawdropping. Well break down why bill taylors testimony could be the most significant part of the impeachment inquiry yet. Stay with us. So. How are you feeling . On a scale of one to five . One to five . Its more like five million. Theres everything from happy to extremely happy. Theres also angry. Im really angry clive actually, really angry. Thank you. But what if your business could understand what your customers are feeling. And then do something about it. Turn problems into opportunities. Thanks drone. Customers into fanatics change the whole experience. Alright who wants to go again . I do i do i have a really good feeling about this. With your dna results from ancestry®. I was able to discover one cousin, reached out to him, met another 20 cousins. They took me to the cliffs of moher, the ancestral home, the family bar. It really gives you a sense of connection to. Something thats bigger than yourself. Greater details. Richer stories. And now with health insights. Get your dna kit at ancestry. Com. The pain and swelling. The psoriasis. Cosentyx treats more than just the joint pain of active psoriatic arthritis. It even helps stop further joint damage. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if youve had a vaccine or plan to. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Get real relief, with cosentyx. Tmobiles newest signal reaches farther than ever before. With more engineers, more towers, more coverage. Its a network that gives you. With coverage from big cities, to small towns. Introducing tmobiles 600mhz signal. No signal reaches farther or is more reliable. And its built 5g ready. Annoepidemic fueled by juul use with their kidfriendly flavors. San francisco voters stopped the sale of flavored ecigarettes. But then juul, backed by big tobacco, wrote prop c to weaken ecigarette protections. The San Francisco chronicle reports prop c is an audacious overreach, threatening to overturn the ban on flavored products approved by voters. Prop c means more kids vaping. Thats a dangerous idea. Vote no on juul. No on big tobacco. No on prop c. Were back with our politics lead. The white house is assailing the career diplomats who served in republican and democratic administrations calling them radical unelected bureaucratic coordinating a smear attack with far left lawmakers. That is what they are calling william taylor, a west point grad who served in vietnam and worked in the state department for many administrations including as president george w. Bush ambassador to ukraine. President trump today also accused taylor of being a never trumper before saying never trumpers are, quote, human scum. And there is a reason. His testimony was devastating for the president. In his 15page Opening Statement to congressional investigators, bill taylor, the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine laid out perhaps the strongest evidence yet of an apparent quid pro quo. President trump with holding congressionalmandated military aid until the ukrainian president announced an investigation into joe biden and his son hunter. Taylor testified he had been concerned about, quote, an irregular informal channel of u. S. Policy making with respect to ukraine that includes then special envoy kurt volker, u. S. Ambassador to the e. U. , gordon sondland, the now Outgoing Energy secretary rick perry, and the president s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Taylor said that by august of this year the official and unofficial channels, quote, had diverged in their objectives. The official objectives for the u. S. Mean supporting president Volodymyr Zelensky and providing military aid to help with prorussian separatists and little by little he realized what the other objects were, to push the ukrainians to investigate joe biden. He said the president wanted to hear from zelensky before scheduling the meeting in the oval office. Specifically sondland told taylor, quote, zelensky presides not stain of investigations. Investigations inform what . The meeting was conditioned on the investigations of bur hes ma the company where joe biden sat on the company. A push guided by mr. Giuliani. To hear what was taking place, these separate groups that was going on, talking about u. S. Policy, where 2,020 elections were taking play and that was stunning. Reporter but the Oval Office Meeting was not the only thing withheld. Taylor testified on july 18th i heard a staff person from the office of management and budget say there was a hold on Security Assistance to ukraine. A quote directive that had come from the president to the chief of staff to omb. That Security Assistance, a 400 million military aid package overwhelmingly approved by congress to help protect ukraine from russian aggression. Taylor said, quote, i and others sat in astonishment. The ukraines were fighting the russian and counting on the training and weapons but the assurance of u. S. Support. It was the most detailed and specific testimony weve heard in these many depositions about the holding up of military aid. Reporter taylor was the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine but testified he was kept in the dark about that july 25th phone call between President Trump and zelensky. In that call after zelensky talked about javelin missiles, trump brought up a, quote, favor he wanted. An investigation into the 2016 election and the dnc server. What a former top trump aide called a debunked cheers theory and then he raised the other thing, investigating the bidens. Last month taylor testified a National Security council official told him that sondland told a top aide, the Security Assistance money would not come until president zelensky committed to pursue the burisma investigation. And that is the alleged quid pro quo. And it is what led taylor to text sondland, are we now saying that Security Assistance and white house meeting are conditioned on investigations . Sondland responded, quote, call me. Taylor said in that phone call, quote, sondland said everything was dependent on zelensky publicly announcing investigations. Including Security Assistance. Joining me now is impeachment attorney ross gasher representing four governors who faced impeachment. Does taylor in that testimony at least what weve been privy to, the 15 pages of prepared remarks and the introduction, does he prove a quid pro quo . He definitely alleged a quid pro quo. And it is an incredibly detailed statement. I set aside time this morning to kind of reread it. It is an incredibly compelling statement and very detailed and it is very convincing. And youre right, we havent heard all of the testimony. But he certainly alleged a quid pro quo and provides a lot of backup information for the potential existence of one. And does it matter . Does there even need to be a quid pro quo proven in order for President Trump to be found abusing his office . It all goes back to that constitutional standard of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. It is very vague and it was vague on purpose. There is no specific definition to it. I think most of us would agree it doesnt have to technically be a crime. Although most impeachable offenses are so bad they would be but there is no strict definition for it. It is something that is really bad and abuses the office and gets to the heart of governing. In bill taylors statement he said in early september, according to mr. Morrison on the National Security council President Trump told sondland he was not asking for a quid pro quo. But President Trump did insist that president zelensky go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of biden and the 2016 election interference and this of course is in the context of fact that the ukrainians are wondering where the military aid is and it is not there. For the president to say it is not a quid pro quo but you have to go do x it is not only a quid pro quo if you say it in latin. If it happens in english, it could also be a quid pro quo. Even if you say this is not a quid pro quo but you need to do this. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Quid pro quo means this in exchange for that. This for that. It is an exchange of one thing for the other. That is a quid pro quo. And it points up the real issue, i think, which is why what is the intention of that quid pro quo . Is Mick Mulvaney the white house chief of staff pointed out, quid pro quo is exchanges, conditions that happen all of the time. Sure. Of course. The issue is the why. Why was this happening and that is why i think taylors testimony was so devastating, he offers the why. And he backs up the why. And again there is a lot for us to see and hear and we do well to keep an open mind to this but right now there hasnt been a white house answer to counter the bill taylor narrative for why which was essentially campaign assistance. And that is the difference between normal quid pro quo and Foreign Policy and you do this for our country and we do this for your country, not you do this for me personally, then i will use taxpayer money to help your country. That would be bad. Ross gasher, thank you. President trump said one thing, his top guy in syria said something completely opposite. So who is telling the truth . Stay with us. Everything your trip needs, for everyone you love. Expedia. 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But weve done a good job. Weve saved a lot of lives. The president also said hes lifting all sanctions against turkey. His announcement coming one day after russia and turkey brokered a deal to push Kurdish Forces out of Northern Syria, the same forces who allied with the u. S. Did a lions share of the fighting and dying in the war against isis. I want to bring in democratic senator bob menendez the top democrat on the Senate Foreign relations committee. Senator, thank you for joining us. Take a listen to this from President Trump today. Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand. Is it necessarily a bad thing to be pulling u. S. Service members from Northern Syria . Well, look, the bottom line is in stead of claiming that he defeated isis, hes giving it new life. Instead of having our presence that allowed us to go toetotoe with russia, that allowed us to block iran from threatening our allies or state of israel, that kept the arab countries in the region in line as it relates to assad and most importantly that had an active fight against isis where the sdf forces, the Kurdish Forces were doing most of the fighting for us, hes created a situation where all of that has shifted away with one decision. One of the worst National Security blunders ive seen. President trump said a few isis fighters got out but they had been largely recaptured. But i want you to take a listen to envoy for syria James Jeffrey speaking before the House Foreign Affairs committee today talking about the escaped isis terrorists. You would say the number is now over 100. We do not know where they are. So President Trump said theyve largely been recaptured and general jeffries said more than a hundred have gotten away and they dont know where they are. Who is telling the truth here . Well, in my mind it is ambassador jeffrey. A career person, special envoy. Even though the administration did not consult with him as to the decision they made before they made it. Hes the one who has the best knowledge. But to be very honest with you, i dont really know that anybody truly knows how many isis fighters escaped. Because we dont have a presence there as we did to understand what is happening on the ground. And that is another huge loss. And what does that mean in terms of the safety and security of the American People or our allies in europe or the middle east . Well, this is why i say it is one of the biggest National Security blunders that weve ever seen. You have according to the department of defense Inspector General in testimony to congress saying despite the president s comments about defeating everything, the bottom line 14,000 to 18,000 fighters still and then you have the 10,000 isis fighters that had been detained and imprisoned by the kurds. If the kurds have to fight for their life or have to withdraw from the region, then theyre not going to be worried about detaining the 10,000 isis fighters. If they are released along with the 18,000 that already exist, that is a potential fighting force of nearly 30,000 hardened terrorists. That is a clear and present danger to the United States. And senator, ambassador jeffrey said today the u. S. Is seen several ins Dale Earnhardt jr. S by turkey that the u. S. Considered to be war crimes including the suspected execution of civilians and hands tied behind their back and the feeling avenue female kurdish leader. What should the United States do about this . Well, look, this is why we believe seriously that turkey has to be sanctioned. Our aspirations for turkey as a strong nato ally, as the country, the bridge between east and west as a country that was going to be more democratic has gone by the rails under erdogan. This is a country that was letting foreign fighters in to syria against our national interests. This is a country that is doing nothing about al qaeda along its border with syria. This is a country that wants to get a land grab of what is historical kurdish homes. This is a country that violated both nato principles and u. S. Law by purchasing a Russian Missile system and the list goes on and on. So the bottom line is that we have been an enabler of turkey. It is time to give turkey a consequence through the sanctions that weve called for, senator rish and i have legislation that does that and senator graham and van hollen have another version of just sanctions. At the end of the day it is time to give them a consequence this type of action by a nato ally is simply not acceptable. Democratic senator bob menendez, thank you for your time. Here in a big way. A Surprising New cnn poll next. Our 18 year old was in an accident. Usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. All i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. If i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. Were the gomez family. Were the rivera family. Were the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. Get your Auto Insurance quote today. amber jagger if we dont give students from an underserved background the technology that they need in school, theyre not going to be competitive in the workforce thats waiting for them. Since verizon innovative learning, students have hardware, connectivity, and quality curriculum. The jobs of tomorrow will involve technology. Now students are truly hopeful for what they may achieve. Paneras new warm grain full of flavor, color,. Full of woo full of good. So you can be too. Try our new warm grain bowls today. Panera. Food as it should be. The amount of Student Loan Debt i have im embarrassed to even say i felt like i was going to spend my whole adult life paying this off thanks to sofi, i can see the light at the end of the tunnel as of 12pm today, i am debt free we have no debt, we dont owe anybody anything, and its fantastic i am totally blind. And non24 can make me show up too early. Or too late. Or make me feel like im not really there. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442342424. In our 2020 lead, some good polling news for former Vice President joe biden. Our new cnn poll showing him nationally among democrats significantly ahead of Elizabeth Warren. He has 34 . Warren has 19 . Bernie sanders bringing up the third place at 16 . Biden jumped ten points since a september poll. And the Vice President is getting good news out of a monmouth poll in state of South Carolina, sitting at 33 to his closest challenger Elizabeth Warren with 16 . Lets discuss. Jackie, do you think the scandal, this trump ukraine scandal so focused on defeating joe biden through these lets call them irregular means has helped joe biden. It could. Democrats i talked to in ohio who like joe biden, this hardened their resolve and they feel like it trump is going after someone they must be doing something right. A racist profile as if he needed it and caused people to circle the wagons and rally around him. And it humanizes him and we have every reason to believe joe biden is playing by the rules and that donald trump is not and it makes joe biden a more sympathetic figure and people who arent following this stuff that closely might be more drawn to biden. And could i say also weve discussed this before, President Trump has lied repeatedly about it and President Trump has done things that are arguably impeachable in trying to push the ukrainians to investigate it, but that said Hunter Bidens position on the board of burisma and swampy and would have been a bigger problem for joe biden if President Trump hadnt decided to get involved. And if President Trump werent president. No doubt about it. Look, i think as jackie was mentioning, democrats kind of circled the wagons when some democrats running for president came out and inches toward criticizing joe biden and pushed back by not just people in the party and other candidates that no doubt helped him. Before that he was getting the firing from every angle. The other number that i thought was interesting in the cnn poll is how hes moved on health care. He had a 13point jump on that particular question. Which does tell you i dont know if it tells you about joe biden or where the electorate is on that issue because in the beginning of the race there was a view that medicare for all would be democrats. But that is that doesnt appear to be where the country is because the poll shows that most people would rather have incremental change than massive change. And that is may not be where everybody at the table is and that is where the electorate it and that is an interesting view into that issue. Does this make you more bullish on bidens chances or does he still have fatal weaknesses . Both. I dont want to go out on a limb. I do think the democratic primary electorate is more moderate than the field of candidates in general and biden, i think there is medicare for all and warren putting out her plan to pay for it in a few weeks and sanders was more enthusiastic than warren and harris signed on and i think there is a certain default to biden i just want to beat trump and i want maybe liberal reforms in health care and along the lines of obamacare but i dont know about the medicare for all and you could say the same for five different areas where biden is moderate. There is an opportunity for a different moderate to come up. There is a big part of the Democratic Party not on board the whole litany of far left positions that sanders and warren and the National Polls are interesting. Reference the health care number. The South Carolina number is what is most interesting to me or would feel best about if i were in the iowa camp and i would be concerned because warren is leading there. She by all accounts has the best operation. That would cause concern. Iowa democrats are more liberal in general than South Carolina democrats. Sure. That is certainly is true. But still the first in the state first in the country caucus that will determine momentum and that is not where hes surging as much. And debunking bills, rise of a centrist argument if you look at peoples number two choice, Elizabeth Warren actually does remarkably well. And that is relevant when you have 25 people running for president who is peoples second choice, warren could have an opportunity if biden does fail. I should note, not all good news for joe biden today. He woke up and the mayor of the city where hes put his campaign headquarters, my beloved philadelphia, has endorsed Elizabeth Warren. Jim kenney there, so not all good news but generally a good news. That is very philadelphia, jake. Remember when President Trump said he could shoot someone on fifth avenue and get away with it and that socalled joke being used in court by the president s lawyers. That story is next. Im your cat. Ever since you brought me home, that day. Ive been plotting to destroy you. Sizing you up. Calculating your every move. You think this is love . This is a billion years of tiger dna just ready to pounce. And if you have the wrong Home Insurance coverage, you could be coughing up the cash for this. So get allstate and be better protected from mayhem, like meow. Is just like our originalhn so gsandwiches. Onlye better protected from mayhem, littler. So we bought a little ad. On lil jon. Little johns, yeah 3, what . with moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis or crohns, your plans can change in minutes. Your head wants to do one thing, but your gut says, not today. If your Current Treatment isnt working, ask your doctor about entyvio. 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Tracfone lets you keep your leftover data each month. What are you doing . Unlimited carryover data hey do you know you can get unlimited talk and text on americas best 4g lte networks for 20, no contract . Unlimited talk . I like that because on sundays you know i gotta talk to mama, then on. This is your wakeup call, people. The new Tracfone Wireless. Now youre in control. In politics, what was once said as a joke we then candidate is being used as part of a legal argument by his attorney in federal court, the lawyer saying the president should be immune to prosecution while in office and even telling the judge that would still apply if President Trump shot someone on fifth avenue a refer in 2016. I could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot and iy voters. Okay. Trumps lawyer using this immunity argument to claim that President Trumps tax returns cannot be subpoenaed. Lets talk to the lawyer on the panel. And elliott, you actually almost predicted that his lawyer would Say Something like that. I wanted to say, i told you so. But on october 9th im quoted in the washington making this point. That one day theyre just going to make the argument that the president is actually immune from the law and that he could shoot someone on fifth avenue. Both making executive privilege arguments and Attorney Client privilege argument but the idea that congress can investigate the president from the beginning theyve made the administration, the president made the point, that the president cant be investigated and the natural conclusion to that is that, yeah, if the president wants to murder somebody hell get away with it. It is stretching the bounds of law and it means and it is not what the framers intended that any president could always get away with any kind of misconduct. That is just not the case and theyve stretched it. Very quickly, didnt president clinton the Supreme Court rule he wasnt above the law in terms of sexual harassment. Spoiler alert, if you want to call it that. No one is above the law. Follow me on instagram, facebook, twitter at jake tapper and tweet at the lead cnn. Ill see you tomorrow. Thanks for watching. Happening now, breaking news. It was like a mob. Chaos erupts on capitol hill as House Republicans storm a closeddoor impeachment probe hearing delaying testimony by a top pentagon official for hours, was President Trump in on it . We have a problem. The u. S. Envoy to syria warns lawmakers of dire consequences from the withdrawal of u. S. Troops and said turkish allies are likely behind war crimes against kurds as President Trump lifts sanctions against turkey for the military offensive. Tied to trump. Two men who helped Rudy Giuliani with his efforts in ukraine plead not guilty to Campaign Finance violations and the lawyer for one of them said there could be executive privilege issues