Cnns Kristen Holmes is in West Palm Beach near the president s maralago resort. How emboldened are democrats. Reporter its giving a lot of ammunition on what the senate trial would actually look like, and heres why, the author of that email is a man by the name of Michael Duffy, he is a trump appointee at the office of management and budget and also happens to be one of the four witnesses that democrats have said they want to hear from in an impeachment trial. Of course theyre saying this is why we want to hear from them. We have to remember at the heart of this stalemate, its all about the process of the senate trial. Republicans have indicated that they dont really want witnesses whereas democrats say they believe the only way to have a fair trial is with those documents and witnesses and today we heard from Chuck Schumer on this. Take a listen. So far senator mcconnell and President Trump have come up with no good reason why there shouldnt be witnesses, why there shouldnt be documents. We dont know what the witnesses will say. We dont know what the documents, how the documents will read. They might exonerate President Trump. Or they might further incriminate him, but the truth should come out on something as important as an impeachment. Reporter and he has been very steadfast as have other democrats in this position of trying to have witnesses and those documents and republicans have really stayed in their lanes, really backing up Mitch Mcconnell here, but despite these differences, we heard from the Vice President s chief of staff today who says he believes they will be able to strike a deal. Im quite confident that this position is untenable, shes going to move it along, and Chuck Schumer and Mitch Mcconnell reach a deal on how its going to proceed in the senate. So you think that shell eventually she will yield. Theres no way she can hold this position. Reporter so fred, really at the end of the day, there are so many unknowns, and we are looking at a congress thats not back in session until early january. Situation indeed, Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. Well check back with you. For more on the new ly released emails, well go to jeremy herb. How significant is this . The. The emails are significant, in the sense that they give us details on what was going on the morning President Trump called ukrainian president zelensky. Micha Michael Duffy made the order for the aid to be held up after the president s call occurred. The call happened at 9 03 to 9 3 p and the email that duffy sent to white house budget officials and pentagon officials came out just after 11 00. He could tell already this was sensitive. Given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction. Now omb says that the it is reckless to tie the e mamail t the idea that the holding of funds was directly connected to the call. They say one email is misleading and inaccurate. We understand the general direction of how the aid was held up from the house impeachment inquiriment we know on july 18th, for instance, there was a meeting they talked about the aid being held and we knew before the aid was held on the day of the call. This email potentially shows just how connected those two items were, fred. And then what kind of evidence could this potentially mean for the president s Upcoming Senate trial . Yeah, as kristen said, this is going to just fuel those democrat democratic requests for these witnesses to testify. Michael duffey was subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee and did not appear. He is one of many officials who defied these subpoenas but the house did not go to court in order to pursue that. They said they didnt have the time. It could be held up for months. Now what Senate Republicans are saying if the democrats wanted these witnesses they should have had them during the house trial when they had control. The bottom line is you need 51 senators in the senate trial to do anything. The break down is 53 republicans, 47 democrats. If democrats can convince four senators, michael like Michael Duffey should testify, they may be able to get them, susan collins, mitt romney. None of those senators have shown indication thats going to happen. Theyre back this their districts. When they come back in january, thats going to be the question put to them. Jeremy herb, thank you so much. Minority leader Chuck Schumer isnt the only democrat pointing to these new emails to bolster the case to have witnesses testify at the upcoming u. S. Senate impeachment trial. Here is president ial candidate senator Amy Klobuchar on cnn state of the union today. We just found out this weekend that someone who works for mulvaney, Michael Duffey had sent an email 90 minutes after the president made that critical call to the ukrainian president , this guy sent an email, i have it here. Given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate your keeping this information closely held and he said dont release any of the funds. This man should testify. Dont be surprised, the polls show 64 of republicans think these witnesses should testify. With me now, rachael bade, a congressional reporter for the Washington Post and cnn political analyst, and ron brownstebrow brownstein, a Senior Editor for the atlantic. Good to see both of you. Ron, how might this Information Impact republican senators about impeachment if and when this trial gets underway. I mean, really, it just reminds how astonishing it is that republicans in both chambers have essentially placed their partisan loyalties above their institutional responsibilities and supported their stone walling of the inquiry and other requests. It is kind of amazing that we are dealing with something as momentous as an impeachment inquiry. So many people at the center of it have refused to offer what they know, whether its john bolton or omb officials or Mick Mulvaney and the white house has been able to, you know, put down requests, block requests for documents. I would think it would make it harder to argue against a hearing. Exactly. In allowing this information to be hashed out. When you have information of this sort coming out, it instantly begs the question what else is there. And i think that is the question that republicans, you know, have to answer. Right now, as you noted, theres no indication that they are kind of wavering on their support of the white house stone wall, but it is a historic moment when you have an entire Political Party in congress siding with the executive branch against congressional demands for information. Pl placing partisan locality against operations. For Michael Duffey, more interest in hearing testimony from acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney who is also leading omb, former National Security a adviser john bolton. Listen to what Lindsey Graham had to say about that today. For any senator who votes to compel the testimony of john bolton or Mick Mulvaney before the president can have his day in court, exercising executive privilege before the courts, the courts available to every american, including donald trump. So if you call these witnesses who work for the president after hes invoked executive privilege, if you deny him his day in court, then youre abusing the Constitutional Rights of donald trump as president , and youre putting the entire presidency at risk. I cant imagine any senator doing this to the presidency. All right. So how much weight is grahams argument going to have on his fellow republicans . I mean, look, clearly democrats would argue that the republicans are hiding behind the courts, that trump has been stone walling not just this investigation but literally dozens of investigations for months. And that has kicked the fight between congress and the white house to the courts, which takes a long time to litigate this. I think that, you know, democrats when it comes to sort of saying we need to hear from these key witnesses, clearly people on both sides of the aisle agree. I mean, you can look at the polling, even republicans think that these are people they wouldnt want to hear from. Mick mulvaney, duffey, you talked about the email. John bott john bolton who has a story to tell on ukraine. Republicans are using the strategy to hold the articles of impeachment in the house. Theyre trying to use that against the democrats saying theyre just holding the articles to keep trump from being acquitted. It has emboldened the right to pivot from key witnesses and point to pelosi and say, look, shes playing politics with an issue that is of incredible importance to this country, impeachment. You have democrats, they have to ask themselves, yes they want these witnesses, are they willing to hold the articles of impeachment in the house if theyre not willing to get those right now, especially when if you go back thats the leverage for pelosi, isnt it . It is in one way. Trump clearly wants to be acquitted and he wants this to happen. Its emboldening republicans to say hes playing politics right now. During clintons impeachment, the impeachment came over to the senate, they had Opening Statements and crossexamination and then they came up with an agreement on witnesses. They didnt have that hashed out at the beginning, and so the demand by the democrats to have that right now ultimately there were more than 40 witnesses. And i think that that again, democrats they can point to these emails and they can say, look, the country wants to hear from these people right now. Its a question of tactics and is this the right strategy. The Washington Post and abc released a poll, you know, tuesday that found that 49 of those surveyed said the president should be impeached and removed from office, and then, ron, theres 71 of those polled who think trump should allow Senior Administration officials to testify in a likely Senate Impeachment trial. So you know, given the ukraine time line reporting, these latest poll numbers, isnt it getting harder for the Senate Majority leader mcconnell to avoid any kind of agreement to witnesses and the promise of having an impartial trial. There are a couple of different aspects to it. First, in the house, we focused on the 31 democrats in districts that voted for trump, and whether they would ultimately vote for impeachment. All but two in the end deid. Are the republican senators in vulnerable or swing states like susan collins, martha mcsally, cory gardener, can they go back, in the end, its unlikely that any vote to remove President Trump from office but they need to be able to go back to their voters and say they took this seriously, and there was a serious process. I think that is kind of the vice, if there is any form of pressure on Mitch Mcconnell, plus, a few of the older republicans, frankly, like lamar alexander, mitt romney who may feel the need for history to have a more fair process here. One other consideration, though, real quick is that, you know, the president wants kind of redemption and acquittal. Even though the country is divided 50 50, on whether he should be removed from office. There is a slight majority who said he did something wrong, in the worst case that he committed an impeachable offense, and if the trial is seen rigged from the start, it seems unlikely, even a vote from the senate is going to reduce the majority of americans who said he didnt d something wrong, and that is ultimately the real test facing him next november. Still that question mark that will be remaining, the cloud that will be hanging. If the trial is illegitimate, i think its more likely that question is there. Ron brownstein, rachael bade, well leave it there. Happy holidays. Still ahead, what iowa voters have to say about impeachment and the states 2020 caucus, now just 43 days away. Plus, her kidnapping and eventual escape captured the nation. Stunning new details about the abduction of jamyme closs and hr Close Encounter with police right after she was taken. Mom, why do we always come here for the holidays . How did you find greatgrandmas recipe . Were related to them . Were portuguese . I thought we were hungarian . Grandpa, can you tell me the story again . Behind every question is a story waiting to be discovered. 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. 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The more we look the more we find, the sparks that make america shine. danny after a long day of hard work. You have to do more work . vo automatically sort your expenses and save over 40 hours a month. danny every day youre nearly fried to a crisp, professionally vo you earned it, were here to make sure you get it. Quickbooks. Backing you. Right now, can you believe were just 43 days away from the iowa caucuses, and one major question surrounding this critical early contest, will the impeachment of president donald j. Trump hurt or help his chances of reelection. Cnn international correspondent, people were frank with you. They told you what was on their mind, and it was rather refreshing, wasnt it . Reporter its sort of the iowan way. They really want to talk about politics and certainly impeachment is hanging over every single event we have been to. What you are hearing and these are highly interested, highly engaged democrats. They say, look, you cannot avoid the fact the impeachment trial will be running into the iowa caucuses. They are concerned about the impact on 2020 but also united in saying theres no way around it. I think its high time he was impeached. And im very saddened that it looks like the senate is going to let him go scotfree. I think its a travesty, he needs to be removed from office for the things he has done. I think that the truth needs to come out. I believe very strongly that they should have a fair trial in the senate. I think theres several people that need to be testifying in the senate. And i fully believe that obstruction is a serious issue. I think hes definitely in trouble here, so i think from everything i have seen, everything i have read, unfortunately some bad choices were made, and i think he should be impeached and i think the senate should bring more witnesses in, and i think they should take it seriously. I think it matters, and i think its going to be a black mark on the republicans for a long time. Especially the way Mitch Mcconnell is coming at it, you know, just announcing that hes not going to do anything. Reporter and that last democratic voter also points out, you know who else is up in 2020, a lot of Senate Republicans including Mitch Mcconnell as well as some vulnerable Senate Republicans like susan collins, martha mcsally, cory gardner, this vote, the democrats think also will reflect on Senate Republicans. Fredricka. These folks you talked to, they gave it more than one word answers which makes the conversation refreshing because you get to hear exactly why people believe what they believe. So now lets talk about, you know, the senators that are in the race and how the impeachment ca calendar could be either an interruption or an asset. Four u. S. Senators who are on the campaign trail. How are their camps looking at the prospects of, you know, looking at