The beginning of a fate that donald trump has desperately tried to avoid, both in traditional courtrooms and certainly in the televised well of the United States senate. Im talking about judgment day, about a trial, about a public assessment of his alleged high crimes and thus his fitness for office. And just moments ago, we just obtained these rules brandnew from Mitch Mcconnell on exactly how they will run the beginning of this trial. And heres what we know. The new rules will allow both sides 24 hours of opening arguments. We should note that is the exact same total number of hours as the clinton impeachment. Were going hear a lot about the precedents. This is the way the senate is arguing. Its a very similar precedent. But catch is a very different deadline for how these hours can be used by the lawyers. Very tight deadline. Only two days, which sets up the prospect of potentially 12hour openings, which depending on when the senate meets each day, could go late into the night. Were also seeing the trump teams first trial brief, which argues that this impeachment itself is illegitimate, and demands an outcome even Many Republican senators now oppose, basically immediate acquittal. The new brief does not really deny that donald trump pressured the ukraine in some way, and that is different of course from what some republican defenders have said. Now instead what the brief does is make a more legalistic argument that the actions themselves, whatever they may have been by the president , are not crimes, and it repositions the potentially corrupt benefit that donald trump was seeking, help with reelection, go get biden, into an argument that what trump was actually doing was carrying out his long held interests in halting the internal corruption of corporations inside ukraine you. Decide for yourself whether that sounds like a longterm interest of his. Meanwhile, those arguments will face off against this scene here. Youre looking at house managers who are prepping today, including a walkthrough on the senate floor, inspecting their work space as they have publicly argued that the facts are already completing the case for them. They really cant contest those facts. There is ample evidence, overwhelming evidence. Any jury would convict in three minutes flat. He has said he has done nothing wrong. Lets have the people that are in the best position confirm, that come in and testify before the u. S. Senate. Our case is simple. The facts are uncontested and the evidence is overwhelming. And it is evidence that this trial must ultimately contend with. As some republican senators are navigating between acknowledging maybe trump did these things, which many say are not okay, while also arguing these things happen. Do you think it was proper for the president to solicit foreign interference in our election . Well, i dont know that has actually been proven. Weve seen the public in public ask the ukrainians to get involved, ask the chinese to get involved. Well, those are just statements, political. They make them all the time. So its okay . I didnt say it was okay. I said people make them. People do things. Things happen. Well, this is the president of the United States. Well, its still the president of the United States is human. Things happen. But of course things happen in this instance when people make them happen. For our special coverage tonight, we are joined by u. S. Senator from north dakota kent conrad. He served in the clinton impeachment. You can see him right there signing the oath book. Former acting solicitor general neal katyal. He has argued dozens of cases before the supreme court, has been covering this trial preparation and knows a lot of the players. And former federal prosecutor beritberg were me. Good evening to all of you. Senator, as someone who has actually sat back and listened to this type of thing, what is your view, a, of what were going to see tomorrow, and b, what does it mean that senator mcconnell would, if you want to put it as fairly as possible, would be adhering to the numerical precedent from last time, but in a very, very fast opening requirement, two days over all those hours . Well, as you know, ari, its very difficult. In the clinton impeachment, both sides had three days to make their case. So you had opening argument by the house managers for three days. Then you had the defense for three days. Then you had questions from members of congress through the chief justice of the supreme court. That went on for two days. So much more extended, much more a chance for the American People to listen and make their own judgments. I think whats most striking today is the president said hes done nothing wrong. You know, im thinking if a police chief called a member of congress and said you know, i need federal funding because we have violent gangs in the district. I need your help, and the member of Congress Said well, i might be able to do that, but i need you to do me a favor. I need you to announce publicly that youre investigate iing my political opponent. Would anyone doubt that that was an abuse of power . And what the president has done here is even worse than that because he involved a foreign leader and he involved funds approved by congress to help the ukraine defend itself against a russian incursion. So when he says hes done nothing wrong, that really doesnt pass the smell test. Well, let me take to it berit berger. As a prosecutor, would that be a decent public Corruption Case for a state official . Not only would that be a decent public Corruption Case, my guess is that would be a very strong trial, one that my former offices in the Eastern District and the Southern District of new york would have indicted and tried quite quickly. And i cant imagine that would be a case that a jury would have a very difficult time weighing that factor. Neal katyal, i want to give due time to something we havent heard much, viewers will emphasize the president s decision to boycott some of this has basically undercut not only the validity of his approach on the house side, but denied everyone, everyone who care, including his own defenders his side of the case which you with a want fairly if you have a nation of laws. Let me read from the lawyers new brief, neal. They argue the House Democrats have only proven the president did nothing wrong, an appropriate telephone call between trump and ukraine. Yeah, so ari, the brief is a really remarkable document, and it basically is President Trumps tweets strung together from the last several months and put into a legal brief. Its not an actual legal argument. I mean, its pretty astounding to me that the president of the United States filed this brief, which basically amounts to him saying im above impeachment. I dont need to be bothered with this and i dont need to comply with any of the rules and things like that. And so thats like the first punch in this onetwo punch combo. And the second one, as you just pointed out, mcconnells rules now say the opening arguments are going to be over two 12hour blocks, which he is doing on purpose. And this is a crime against the American People, because what it means is that these arguments are going to take place at midnight in the dead of night, and there is only one reason why mcconnell would do that, because hes trying to hide the arguments from the American People. I cant think of something more antidemocratic for rules. This is one of the most important proceedings in our lifetime, and its taking place at midnight . Youre one of the experts that we and others obviously rely on to understand this, because i think everyone knows the difference between things that might claim or in some ways follow a precedent in history, and other ways fundamentally violate it, whether its in spirit or technical or otherwise. Im curious. Your view on this piece of it, because i know were going hear from ken starr and robert ray and others how much this does follow clinton. Thats been the talking out mcconnells office. Your view tonight on how close this is from it. Its very far from it both democratically because when were going to be watching this, but also in terms of what happened. Before the clinton impeachment, there is already a massive investigation, dozens of witnesses interviewed, and the like. Here none of that was allowed to happen because trump gagged every witness and every document from coming forward. And then President Trump today had the gall to tweet and say oh, well, the house didnt really want bolton. And now they want him in the senate. Which is absurd. The house of course wanted bolton. It was just that the president gagged him as he gagged every executive branch employee. So basically, this is deviating very far in form and in substance from the clinton precedent. What i fear is when historians read the brief that the president filed, they can only come to one conclusion, and i do think thats true generally of the American People if they read it right now. These briefs are not even close one to the other. The house brief is a masterful work which lays out the case in striking detail and the trump brief is basically hey, im above all this. Senator conrad, you were there. Same question to you, sir. You know, this is so very different. When we have a president that says hes done nothing wrong, and youve got 16 or 17 witnesses mostly from his own administration confirming that he was pressuring a foreign leader to announce an investigation into his political opponent and using his leverage, almost 400 million appropriated by the congress of the United States for the purpose of helping defend that nation if the russians, and the president says he has done nothing wrong, what strikes me, you really have to wonder does he have the capacity to know the difference between right and wrong. And the difference between the clinton era and this era, you know, in the clinton era, it was about a matter of inappropriate behavior with another person. Thats what that was about. This is about something far more dangerous to our democracy. This is about trying to get a foreign leader to weigh in to investigate a political opponent and to announce it publicly. Very different. Yeah. And i think thats pretty clear when you state it like. On this breaking news of the day limitation, i just want to be Crystal Clear with viewers, because it was breaking right as we came on the air. As i mentioned, federal holiday is usually a slower time, but not today as the trial is coming. This news coming out. Based on calculations were doing, it would appear that if this was expedited as fast as possible with Mitch Mcconnell making speed a new rule regimented priority under these rules that have just been released, it is possible that the bulk of this could technically be completed by this coming weekend, which is quite a contrast to, again, the 15 impeachment trials on record, the clinton trial roughly five weeks. There a point at which and i dont mean to be too lawyerly, but we have a star lawyer here a couple of them, but without being too lawyerly, is there a point that speed, people have a right to a speedy trial. There a point that speed can be pushed so far that it actually looks like some sort of problem . Oh, absolutely. So i think thats really been the trump strategy, try and race this through and without witnesses and the like, to hide whats happening from the American People. Mcconnell has even gone so far as to try and block cameras as the senators are walking to and from and the house managers and this and that. So this is a war on the American Peoples right to know that the Senate Republicans have been had launched last week. And it sounds like from your reporting today are continuing. And of course people have a right to a speedy trial. But nobody has a right to a trial that nobody has to go until midnight. And speedy trial rights which dont apply to impeachment. But speedy trial rights even in the criminal context are also weighed against other things, including the publics right to know. Whats going on here is theyre trying to whitewash this. Its not going to work. The cnn poll today revealed already a majority of people support the removal of President Trump and 69 of americans want witnesses of the trial. And that includes 48 or 44 of republicans saying that. So i think that these tactics arent working, but i understand why theyre doing them. Its because theyre afraid of the truth coming out and the American People learning what actually happened in ukraine. Berit, im curious what you think given your experience dealing with trials. As everyone emphasized, neal correct to note, were not dealing with an exact trial format because of the unique constitutional nature. This is a short document. This is the draft resolution mcconnell is releasing, again, because he has the votes to formalize it. For viewers to understand, this is a breaking story. You see there is no technical number on it yet. The senate is obviously not in session right now. But this is what theyre putting out as what they think they can make real. Does it feel to you like a tell to put a day what would appear to be ill report more if i get more, but what would appear to be an arbitrary day deadline on something that was historically the hours. You give a certain number of hours thats fair to each side and each day you figure how long you can go. Here all of the sudden this interesting stuff thats happened, you get two days or you forfeit your hours. Thats exactly right. What it speaks to to me is there are facts that they seem very afraid of here. And the only reason to hamstring the presentation of the evidence is if you dont like or you dont think youre going to like what that evidence is, right. If you think that all of this evidence will actually show that the president did nothing wrong, this was a perfect call, that every single step of the way there was no impeachable conduct, then why not make this a forum for not only the senators, but for the American People to see all those details, to connect all those dolts . The only reason to try to hide this under the cover of night is if you dont like what is the facts are or you dont think they work in your favor. These are terms that might be disputed. Were going to hear from the republicans and well cover that but a lot of signs of old, lets not let this play out in public at a normal time when these have always traditionally been done in the past, which i think is a striking miniature headline out of many headlines coming out of washington. Berit berger, neal katyal, and kent conrad. My thanks to you. Alan dershowitz gets fact checked by, oops, Alan Dershowitz on impeachment. We will show you that. You might need that for all the debates going on. And the former doj prosecutor and mueller expert on constitutional law. Later i mentioned a special report on Rudy Giuliani and why he has just been publicly snubbed by his allstar client donald trump. Plus honoring the legacy of dr. Martin luther king jr. We have that as well. Im ari melber. 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Nope no, just a couple of rocks. Download the my account app to manage your appointments making todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Ill pass. Donald trumps new lawyers show his flare for a televised spectacle, an awareness that the senate trial may focus on what are the fair precedents from the last impeachment case of bill clinton as republicans now have allstar faces from that historical period to press their view of how these precedents should apply. These new pics suggest where Donald Trumps head is at and how his team is planning to fight the case against him. Over hypocrisy or controversy of the lawyers because that may help deflect heat off the president ial client. We know where ken starr stands on all of this because the man who argued clinton should be removed for perjury, well, he already saw a different standard for trump, appearing to play down when he was on the beat. You think congress could impeach if they found a pattern of obstruction . Congress has clean area of power under the constitution as i see it. It can say this is simply taken as a whole the course of conduct constitutes an abuse of power. What about discouraging witnesses from cooperating with Law Enforcement . Once again, that could be an actual crime. I dont think its obstruction at all. I think thats impeachable. When i pressed starr about this apparent double standard, we had another exchange where he talked about the hell of impeachment and tried again to distinguish his work from the predicament facing donald trump. Impeachment is hell. We lived through that as a country 20 years ago. And so youre saying you put us through hell . You wrote a report for them to impeach. I gay them that ari, this is great. This is great . People will question whether youre applying a different standard to this president , who happens to be in your party and the president you investigated who happened to be in the other party. Because it began with actual perjury. Fact check. President tru