And perhaps of equal, if not greater, importance are the thousands and thousands of documents that the administration refuses to turn over. I would hope that every senator of both parties would like to see the documentary evidence. They would like to hear from these witnesses who havent testified, and i would urge Mitch Mcconnell to start negotiating with Chuck Schumer to make sure that those senators have a full record. Cnns senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny joins us now, and jeff, good to see you. Both sides appear to be digging in as this impeachment date neerz, b nears, but i guess thats no surprise. It is no surprise. Look, weve been building up to this for weeks and both sides are locked in their position here. The shape and scope of this senate trial is still up in the air. The president said on friday he would be okay with a long or short proceeding, but it really is a subject of a big discussion. Who is going to represent him if there are going to be witnesses, but there really is a lot of fire being given to house republicans. House judiciary jerry nadler says this. The house provides a special oath for senators when they sit in a trial of impeachment. Here you have the majority of the senate, in effect the foreman of the jury, saying hes going to work hand in glove with the defense attorney. Thats a violation of the oath theyre about to take, and its a complete subversion of the constitutional scheme. So certainly this is going to be the subject of much discussion as we head toward that expected vote on wednesday. But particularly as this moves toward a senate trial in january here. Republicans are saying that there simply is not enough evidence rp evidence, but there is a question. For those republicans in the middle, those up for reelection next year, Susan Collins of maine, cory gardner of colorado, others. Mitt romney of utah has been very critical of this president in that ukraine phone call. So this is still very much its up in the air how this is going to resolve itself. But much criticism, of course, going into this very important week as the vote comes on wednesday. I want to ask you about this interesting development. There are some democrats, reportedly, who are pushing for michigan congressman justin amash, the former republican now turned independent representative, to be a house manager for the Senate Impeachment trial. Whats the thinking behind that . This is very interesting, and if this were to come to pass, and this is still in the wish phase, if you will, for some freshman house democrats. Theyre urging Speaker Pelosi to put justin amash as one of the impeachment managers. That would mean one of the most conservative members of the house, one of the few house republicans, hes now an independent, but someone who has spoken out against this president. Imagine if you have a sharp firebrand conservative leading this impeachment inquiry in the senate. It certainly would change the conversation about that. But we do not know yet if Speaker Pelosi is actually going to sign on to this or not or if she wants more control on this to have democrats as impeachment managers. Look what justin amash said yesterday about this assuming there is not an impartial proceeding here in the senate. He said this. Senator graham has chosen to violate his oath to support and defend the constitution. His oath to impartial justice in an impeachment trial and his duty to represent all of the people of his state, not just those who share his political views or desire of a political outcome. So justin amash is going after Lindsey Graham. If this were to come to pass, if he were one of the impeachment managers, it certainly would add some fireworks and perhaps a credibility to those independent voters in the middle who will be watching all of this proceed in the senate. But we still arent sure if Speaker Pelosi will sign off on this. Well certainly keep our eye on this, martin. Just when you thought you knew everything that was going to happen. We do not. Jeff zeleny, thank you. So whats the white house procedure going to be . Lets bring in cnns jeremy diamond. Pam bondi spoke about the process today. What do you think . The white house is really shifting its focus to the senate where, of course, the president will face a trial if he indeed is impeached by the house of representatives. White house lawyers are busy preparing for the potential of that trial, and the senate in the white houses messaging operation is also in full force. Thats where we find pam bondi, a special adviser over this impeachment matter. She says the senate and house see the impeachment trial as an opportunity for a fair process. We werent given a fair trial in the house at all. Now it goes to the senators, and the president deserves to be heard. We should be working hand in hand with them. The rules of evidence will apply. These are the senators who will decide if our president is impeached, which will not happen. We should work hand in hand with them. And those comments come, of course, despite the fact the democrats have been extremely critical of both the house and the Senate LeaderMitch Mcconnell by talking about that coordination that is already taking place between the white house and Senate Republicans over the trial the republicans would face in the senate. Theyre not backing down, because potentially Senate Republicans and the house see this as an opportunity for the president to be vindicated despite the allegations he has faced, including from members of his own administration. Despite pam bondi there suggesting the president wants to be heard, there is no indication that the president or any of his advisers, frankly, will take the stand in a trial in the senate. Instead the president seems much more content to continue flinging allegations on twitter. This morning already he was continuing to attack this impeachment process as a hoax, and i think well be continuing to see more of the same as this process moves forward. Martin . Jeremy diamond, thanks very much. And we have new jerseys democratic governor on later in this hour. Hell be talking about the case of Jeff Van Drew. He is the democratic congressman who is now upset about the impeachment process and says so much so he may change parties. We want to find out about what is going on there. With me now, though, is shan wu. Hes a former federal prosecutor and a senior legal analyst. Shan, always good to see you. Thanks for joining us. Good to see you, martin. How can senators mcconnell and graham honor their oath to do impartial justice when they both appear to have decided what the outcome of this case is going to be already . They certainly dont seem to be very impartial, martin. I think for them the illegal escape hatch here is that unlike the oath that jurors take in a courtroom, this one is a little different. In the courtroom there is a lot of scrutiny. Judges ask the jurors, lawyers ask the jurors, have you already made up your mind before you hear the evidence . This oath is very different because the emphasis is on impartially due justice. So the legal minds that can advise mcconnell and graham can tell them, well, thats a question of what does the word justice mean . You think you are being impartial. Im sure they would say its the democrats who are being partisan about the justice aspect of it. So theyre interpreting it that way. Does it violate the spirit of that oath . Probably, yes. But legally thats the way you would parse it, and that, again, is one of the crucial differences between having a trial in a courtroom versus having this very historical trial in the senate. I want to get your take on the president is saying he would prefer a longer trial. He loved a number of witnesses to be called. But, of course, we already know rank and file republicans such as Lindsey Graham want a shorter trial despite what was testified to in the house. What legal strategies doourng the republ do you think the republicans and democrats are trying to pursue here . There are a number of different ones. The republican strategy has to be to go short on this. They dont want witnesses. There is no witness testimony that will be helpful to them. All witness testimony is harmful to them. The president is not known for his legal strategy. He may be rather good at media strategies, but his idea of prolonging and having more witnesses would just be a catastrophe for the republicans. The democrats, on the other hand, they want to go long and deep. The more evidence, the more witnesses they can put on, the better it is. And, also, they have an advantage, which is, again, because its not in the courtroom, theyre not constrained by typical rules of evidence. There is also usually a lot of rulings by the judge to make sure its a narrow band of evidence only relevant to the charges. They have a lot of wiggle room here. They can try to bring in a lot of misconduct that is not actually charged, quote, unquote, so that they can portray the full amount of the misconduct, and that may really go toward their real audience. Who is the real jury in an impeachment trial . We know its the senators, but how much of a factor is the public . I think the public in this instance is the real jury. I think the senate is a foregone conclusion which way theyre going to come out, barring something really unforeseen. So for the democrats here, besides doing their constitutional duty of prosecuting the impeachment, they need to get the word out to the American Public to show the full problem with this president. And in so doing, they probably wont affect the diehard cadre of trump devotees, but they could whittle down the independen independents. If they do a good job, some of the republicans may feel ambivalent and stay home. It could make all the difference in the outcome of the next election. Absolutely. Shan wu, good to see you. Thank you very much for being here. Good to see you. Coming up, james comey says he was overconfident and wrong. The mistakes the former fbi director admits were made in the agencys russia investigation, up next. Up here at the dewars distillery, all our whiskies are aged, blended and aged again. Its the reason our whisky is so extraordinarily smooth. Dewars. Double aged for extra smoothness. Former fbi director james comey is owning up to his mistakes. In an interview today on fox news, comey said he was wrong after the Inspector Generals report found that the fbi mishandled a fisa warrant under comeys watch. Hes right, i was wrong. I was overconfident in the procedures that the fbi and justice have built over 20 years. Im responsible thats why im telling you, i was wrong. I was overconfident as director in our procedures, and its important that a leader be accountable and transparent. If i were still director, i would be saying exactly the same thing that chris wray is saying, which is, we are going to get to the bottom of this, because the most important question is, is it systemic . Are there problems in other cases . Regardless of the omission, comey goes on to state that he still claims vindication from the report. The i. G. Says you should feel no vindication. Maybe its in terms of how we understand the word. What i mean is the fbi was accused of treason, of illegal spying, of tapping trumps wires, in a conspiracy of seating and unseating a president. I think its really important that the Inspector General looked at that, and that the American People, your viewers and all viewers, understand thats true. But he also found things that we were never accused of, which is really sloppiness. Thats concerning. Like i said, it has to be focused on. If i were a director, i would be very concerned and would be diving into it. Joining me now to talk about it is cnn political commentator and gubernatorial candidate in florida, and cnn commentator and republican strategist abby stewart. Its good to see you both. Thank you for being here. Hello, martin. Do you think its still fair for comey to claim complete vindication here or is he really trying to have it both ways . Martin, lets just say im probably one of those longstanding remaining democrats who is still pretty upset at mr. Comey and his latebreaking press conference as it relates to secretary clinton and her emails. Of course. Sdp that being said, i do appreciate that he owned up and took some responsibility today where errors and mistakes were made. We should, however, make no comparison to what he admitted to and took responsibility for today to what we saw coming out of the president s mouth this week where he, quite frankly, ignored, wholesaled this report and leveled, i thought, pretty ridiculous charges against the fbi as an organization, and quite frankly, i think added to the demoralization of yet another Agency Charged with the protection and the safety of this country. As vandrew brings this out, jim comey appears to be one of the most polarizing fbi agents of our time. I think it was the mea culpa trying to put this behind him. His legacy remains to be seen. He really has been on both sides of the story, and i actually share mayor gillems frustration about hillary clinton. I think that was ill timed and certainly was not the right position to take. But with regard to this interview, he clearly was trying to play both sides of the fence here and trying to distance himself from what happened with the original fisa, the origination of that. But he cant have it both ways. He was the head of the fbi at the time. While he said one year ago to this day virtually, he said he had complete confidence in the fisa process. And now hes saying he was wrong. Well, i guess hes trying to get away with people thinking and understanding that incompetence is much better than being part of what many see as a conspiracy involved in this process. But either way, it is good that he finally did admit some wrongdoing there, and the most important point is to make sure there are not systemic problems with the fbi fisa process, and if there are, they need to be corrected. Andrew, i want to move this on to the impeachment issue at hand. Were learning that a group of freshman democrats is pushing for republican, i guess, defector is how you put it, for justin amash to be impeachment manager in the senate trial in an apparent effort to appeal to voters with a more diverse, conservative voice . Do you think hes the right person for this kind of job . I can certainly see why there would be democrats interested in bringing more into this story. The truth is there are not a lot of republicans, and quite frankly, none that we can count to date who are Still Holding office and standing up to hold this president accountable. I have to tell you, whether the president was a democrat or independent, there has to be people held accountable in this country. Donald trump was willing to put our National Security above the safety and security of this country. I believe he advocated some of his responsibility into the country and the constitution, and its really, really important that democrats and independents alike stand up. They are making a judgment, a decision for the ages, and not just for this moment of politics. Because without a doubt, the shoe will be on the other foot, and you want to be in a position where you can claim that regardless of Party Affiliation that you stood on the right side of the country and on the right side of the constitution. Alice, id like to get your thoughts of just what would the republicans think of justin amash being on the senate trial . They dont have any feelings for that because he really did distance himself from the Republican Party and certainly President Trump. At the end of the day, republicans are united because they have not seen, in their mind and in my mind, a clearcut case of high crimes and misdemeanors that are worthy of impeachment. Look, i think i am with many republicans that, look at what he did as inappropriate but it does not rise to the level of impeachment. Republicans are going to stand together because its the right thing to do. The real question is what is going to happen with the 31 democrats and trumpwon districts, and how is this going to play out for them when they go to their voters in 2020 if they vote for impeachment . Its one thing to vote for an articles of impeachment inquiry, but its certainly different to vote for an impeachment. And andrew raised the point of what about some kind of accountability . We all knew democrats would seek impeachment. We all knew the senate more than likely would not convict. If there is some accountability, leave that for the voters to decide in 2020. If they have a problem with that, let them decide. If they want, then vote him out of office. Ill just say that alice went further than what ive heard frankly any republican elected in the congress or the senate has done, with the exception of maybe mitt romney, some acknowledgment that what the president did was wrong. So far what we have heard is process, kangaroo court, partisan witch hunt and attacked. I have to interrupt you because were out of time. We have been over this before. Andrew gillum, alice stewart, thank you very much. It will be an exciting week to watch, if not historic. Thank you. Police arrest a suspect with possible ties to the jersey city shootout. How a note led to an arrest and illegal arsenal. And save in more ways than one. For small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair. Com and everyone has dads eyebrows we chose eleanor. It was greatgrandmas name. So apparently, we come from a long line of haberdashers, which is a fancy word for. They left everyone, and everything so they could get here. And start this family. Every family has a unique story. This holiday season, help your family discover theirs. Todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. A place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. A place for mom. You know your family we know Senior Living. Together well make the right choice. When it comes to using data, which is why Xfinity Mobile