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Impeachment Trial; Interview With Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD); Fifty-Six Dead From Coronavirus, 2,000 Infected Globally; GOP Uniting Against Dems In Fight Over Witnesses; Trump Defense Team Prepares For Day Two Of Arguments; Trump Sent 300-Plus Tweets Or Re-Tweets Over The Past Five Days; Democratic Candidates Campaign In Iowa With Caucuses Eight Days Away. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired January 26, 2020 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:17]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield, live in the nation's capital for this special coverage of the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump.

Right now President Trump's legal team is finalizing plans for day two of presenting their case against the removal from office of a president of the United States. Tomorrow's arguments followed an abbreviated session yesterday, outlining their plan to poke holes in the House Democrat's impeachment case.

But beyond the legal arguments, another battle is brewing. Will witnesses be allowed to testify? The Senate only needs four Republican senators to break ranks to allow witnesses at the trial.

This morning President Trump is taking his impeachment frustrations out on the House's lead impeachment manager, seemingly sending a warning via tweet, calling Congressman Adam Schiff a very sick man and saying he has not yet paid the price for his impeachment efforts.

This morning Congressman Schiff responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you take that as a threat?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I think it's intended to be. But look, it is going to be very difficult for some of these senators to stand up to this president. It really is. There's just no question about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And how would any new evidence play into the Senate's decision for witnesses? A newly-revealed video shows a conversation between President Trump and Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas who the President has said repeatedly he does not know. In the 90-minute video taken in 2018, you can hear the President and Parnas discussing Ukraine and former Ukrainian ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEV PARNAS, RUDY GIULIANI ASSOCIATE: She's still left over from the Clinton administration.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: what -- the ambassador of Ukraine?

Yes, and she's basically walking around telling everybody, wait, he's going to get impeached, just wait.

I mean it's incredible.

TRUMP: Get rid of her. Get her out from there. I don't care. Get her out from there. Take her out, ok? Do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And we should note Ambassador Yovanovitch testified that she never talked about the impeachment of President Trump.

All right. For more now, we turn to CNN's Sarah Westwood live on Capitol Hill. So Sarah -- good to see you. Is there any indication this this new evidence could put some pressure on Republicans to call witnesses?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well -- Fred, that's certainly what Democrats are hoping. The House managers prosecuting the case against President Trump spent three days over this past week laying out how this testimony, this new evidence that they want to hear, would bolster what they already argue is a strong case.

But Republicans in the Senate and elsewhere are pointing the finger at House Democrats themselves for not trying harder during the House inquiry phase of the impeachment to try to compel this testimony from witnesses. We've also heard Republicans cite concerns about issues of executive privilege, arguing that if this testimony -- compelling this testimony was taken to court, it could force judges to rule on issues of executive privilege that could have lasting legal implications.

But Democrats, of course, are pointing the finger at the Trump administration, arguing that it's because of the President's stonewalling of Congress, and that makes up the basis of that second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress, that's why they don't have this testimony in the first place.

We heard that argument today from some of the House managers arguing the case against President Trump, including Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren who pointed to the administration stonewalling, speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper this morning. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D), IMPEACHMENT MANAGER : We tried to get witnesses. We were stonewalled. But here's the thing, the Chief Justice of the United States is presiding over this trial. If he signs a subpoena for a witness to come, we're going to get that witness.

I do think that we have a great hope that the senators will do the duty that they are obliged to do, that they'll take the oath that they took seriously, that they will do impartial justice. That's what our hope is, and I think the country's fate is hanging on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now, there are a number of Republican senators that Democrats are watching in the hopes of forcing them, pressuring them to vote in favor of witnesses for a number of reasons. As you mentioned, Fred -- only four Republicans need to break ranks in order to have witnesses testify in this trial. That includes Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, those two Senate moderates.

Also it includes Republicans running in tough reelection battles. That includes senators like Corey Gardner of Colorado and Susan Collins of Maine. And you have institutionalists in that Senator Lamar Alexander, someone who is known for prioritizing the long term health of the institution of the Senate above partisan politics of the moment.

[14:04:58]

WESTWOOD: Now, the President's legal team has up to two more days to present the rest of the President's defense case, and then senators will move on to questions of witnesses and documents.

But Fred -- if more than four Republicans don't join with Democrats in voting for those witnesses, then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could move to end this trial as soon as the end of this week -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. We shall see. Sarah Westwood -- thank you so much.

All right. Democrat House manager Zoe Lofgren is also responding to the President's tweet that called her fellow the House manager Adam Schiff, a very sick man who hasn't paid the price for, quote, what he's done to the country.

Here is Senator (SIC) Lofgren on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOFGREN: It's really unfortunate. The President has a tendency to say things that seem threatening to people. You know, she's going to go through some things, Adam Schiff is doing his job, he's going to pay a price. I mean he really ought to get a grip and be a little more presidential.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All right. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is at the White House for us. So Jeremy -- is this inflammatory tweet, you know, a preview of the kind of defense we can expect to see starting tomorrow from the President's legal team?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: well, Fred -- we're going to have to wait and see. So far it seems that the President has been willing to give his legal team some leeway to not exactly go in the kind of political, theatrical direction that the President, of course, is known for and that he initially was hoping for when it came to his the defense in this Senate impeachment trial.

We saw yesterday, of course, that his legal team was parroting many of the same talking points from the President but doing it in a far more measured tone. And the President we're told was pleased with that performance yesterday and did not undermine his legal team after those presentations.

Now, we are going to see some of the kind of constitutional arguments come forward from the President's legal team tomorrow, and part of that, at least, will be presented by Alan Dershowitz, the controversial former Harvard Law professor and criminal defense attorney.

He gave us a little bit of a preview just yesterday as far as what he'll be saying tomorrow. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, COUNSEL FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: What I'm going to argue on Monday is that it's precisely what the framers did not intend, that is to remove a duly-elected president from office and prevent him from running again based on vague, open-ended and entirely subjective criteria, like abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The framers feared that those kinds of open-ended criteria would turn us into a British-type parliamentary democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And Dershowitz also today made clear that essentially even if all of the allegations that the House Democratic managers have put forward were true, that in his view those would not be impeachable offenses. Of course, that is a shift for him from the position that he took in the Clinton impeachment when he said that there did not necessarily need to be a criminal statute that was filled out by the President here in order to move forward with impeachment.

Now, another question here is going to be whether or not the President's defense team brings up the former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. That, of course, has been a focus for the President as he has tried to make his own defense, so we'll have to wait and see whether they do that or not.

Yesterday on a call with the President's legal team, they declined to say exactly whether or not they would bring that up -- Fred. WHITFIELD: All right. Jeremy Diamond -- thank you so much.

All right. With me now is Senator Ben Cardin. He is a Democrat from Maryland and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Cardin -- thanks so much for being with me.

So during the President's opening defense --

SEN. BEN CARDIN (D-MD): Fredricka, it's good to be here.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. During the President's team's opening defense, you know his attorneys accused Democrats of trying to interfere with the election and then tried to make the case the President did nothing wrong, and that he is the real victim.

So what's your reaction to what was heard yesterday in roughly two and a half hours, and if that's a prelude of what's to come?

CARDIN: Well first, I thought the President's counsel, when he said that in order to get to the truth you have to be able to cross-examine witnesses. And the fact that they are disputing some of the allegations that have been made as far as intent is concerned, made the case that the Senate, in order to carry out its constitutional responsibilities to try an impeachment article, that we need to hear from the witnesses who have direct knowledge and ability to cross- examine those witnesses. So I think the key takeaway is that --

(CROSSTALKING)

WHITFIELD: But you'll hear it from the team again -- you'll hear form the team again that House Democrats had their opportunity, that they squandered that opportunity, and it's simply too late.

CARDIN: The Senate's responsibility is to try the case. We are not bound by the House record. In every previous impeachment, the Senate made it clear it would not be bound by the House record. We have our own independent responsibility to try the case.

[14:09:58]

CARDIN: To try a case, you must have witnesses, you must have testimony and documents. And those documents were not made available in the House. That was a strategy by the President in the House proceedings.

But now it's up to the trial in the Senate. And we should get access to that information before reaching a judgment.

WHITFIELD: The House manager Adam Schiff, made that case as did his team over and over again during the last week, but trying to change the minds or influence the minds of senators -- that's the key. Do you believe that they effectively were able to do that, especially on that point of new witnesses that need to testify?

CARDIN: Well, I think this is an important point but that's why the President's counsel -- when the President's counsel talked about the fact that the President, according to the counsel, did not have the effective ability to cross-examine witnesses in the House and that's how you get to the truth, then it seems to me he's making the case for the Senate to carry out our responsibility to be able to see the witnesses -- particularly those who didn't testify in the House and have direct knowledge -- and to cross-examine those witnesses if this is going to be a trial.

So I thought the President's counsel made the case, and I hope my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, understand that, that we have our own constitutional responsibilities regardless of what your preconceived thoughts might be about the President's conduct. We need to carry out a fair trial and I hope we'll have the votes to open this up for those witnesses.

WHITFIELD: And do you believe that perhaps an impetus for the President tweeting out, you know, these insults against Adam Schiff and, you know, insulting his intent that perhaps the President is feeling some heat from Adam Schiff and others' best arguments?

CARDIN: Well, what the President does to try to intimidate people who speak -- say things he doesn't want to hear about, he's known to be a bully, he's known to strike out against anyone who criticizes him. And obviously in this impeachment trial, he's doing that tactic.

It's not what the President of the United States should be doing. And it's certainly an impeachment trial to try to intimidate the person presenting the evidence. It's wrong, and certainly he should be called out for that.

WHITFIELD: Let me ask you this now, Senator -- about some of this new video recording involving the President talking with indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas as the President talks about taking out former Ukraine U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PARNAS: She's still left over from the Clinton administration.

TRUMP: What? The ambassador to Ukraine?

PARNAS: Yes, and she's basically walking around telling everybody, wait, he's going get impeached, just wait.

It's incredible.

TRUMP: Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Ok.

Do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: What are your thoughts about this recording and how do you believe it might impact the days moving forward in this Senate trial?

CARDIN: Well, remember, the House managers made a strong case that the removal of the American ambassador was a key part of the scheme in order to help the corrupt prosecutor in Ukraine. That was one of the preconditions in order for the Ukrainians to investigate, do the political investigations that the President wanted.

So that's an important recording and testimony. And again, it underscores the point we need to hear from the witnesses directly and ability to cross-examine to understand what the President was attempting to do and whether it's part of a scheme.

WHITFIELD: And, quickly, with new information such as this videotape even, you know, John Bolton saying he's willing to testify, other testimony or interviews coming from Lev Parnas. Do you think this now obviates that big argument of trying to get more witnesses forward when now the general public is hearing, you know, from the horses' mouths, so to speak, on these very issues?

CARDIN: No, we clearly have to hear from, for example, Mr. Mulvaney, his direct testimony. He was carrying out the orders of the President. He knows directly about each part of this process. We need to be able to ask him questions in order to get to the truth.

I think Ambassador Bolton is an important witness to hear from directly. There is a lot of missing blanks here that would be helpful if we could have the direct testimony in order to complete the record.

WHITFIELD: Senator Ben Cardin from Baltimore -- thank you so much. Appreciate it.

CARDIN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, President Trump has tweeted or retweeted more than 300 times now in the past five days. So what is going through the President's mind as his impeachment trial moves forward? We talked to two people who know him well.

[14:14:54]

WHITFIELD: Plus, new details on the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China. And spreading across the globe now, including new cases right here in the United States. What we are learning that is calling into question the U.S. strategy to contain that virus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

Breaking news now on the coronavirus. The U.S. is now reporting its fourth case in Los Angeles County. Officials say the person had just traveled to Wuhan, China which is ground zero for the deadly outbreak.

The mayor of Wuhan says he is expecting more than 1,000 new confirmed cases in that city. At least 56 people have died in China since the outbreak began and there are more than 2,000 cases reported around the world, most of which are in China.

Elizabeth Cohen is CNN senior medical correspondent and she's with me right now. Good to see you -- Elizabeth.

So health officials are also now warning that people can spread the virus even before they actually show symptoms. What's the significance of this?

[14:20:02]

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred -- that's according to the Chinese health minister. He said that today.

And it was really a shock to U.S. health officials, because if indeed he's right, and it's an if, if this virus can be spread before you even get sick, so you get infected and then there's about two weeks sometimes before you actually get sick, if you're spreading it during that time, because you don't even know that you're sick. So you don't even know that you should stay home -- that is a big deal.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

COHEN: That is a very big problem.

However, it's unclear if it's really true because the Chinese health minister didn't give any proof or any evidence or any data or any anything, so it's unclear if that's accurate or not.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So what does this mean for the U.S. containment strategy?

COHEN: Well, again -- if he's right, it means that the containment strategy that we've been using with these first three cases, and as you mentioned now there's a fourth, it's a little bit problematic, because officials were focusing on just the contacts that these sick people had while they were sick, not before they got sick.

If they have to go back and now try to find all the people who these sick people had contact with for weeks and, you know, for possibly two weeks before they got sick, that's an incredible amount of detective work to do this late in the game, especially. So this is bad news for the containment strategy, again, if it's true.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, Elizabeth Cohen -- thank you so much. Keep us posted on all that. Appreciate it.

All right. Still ahead, lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff publicly calling out Republicans to allow witnesses in the impeachment trial for Donald Trump, but will Republican senators really buck the party and the President?

CNN's special coverage continues in a moment.

[14:21:41]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Tomorrow begins a critical moment in President Trump's impeachment trial. The President's legal team picks up where it left off yesterday in laying out their arguments against removal from office.

Also on the horizon, a big decision for the U.S. Senate, voting on whether to allow new witnesses. Well this morning lead House manager Congressman Adam Schiff called out Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHIFF: I think they're deathly afraid of what witnesses will have to say. And so their whole strategy has been deprive the public of a fair trial. They don't frame it that way, but that's, in essence, it. They have a very heavy burden though with that, because the American people understand what a fair trial is. A fair trial requires witnesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Meanwhile, President Trump's legal team is arguing against new witnesses, saying the House already had its chance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PURPURA, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: The Democrats' entire quid pro quo theory is based on nothing more than the initial speculation of one person: Ambassador Sondland.

JAY SEKULOW, COUNSEL FOR President Trump: They think you can read minds. I think you look at the words.

PATRICK PHILBIN, DEPUTY COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT: The speaker had already said articles of impeachment were going to be drafted and there were no plans to hear from any fact witnesses. That's not due process.

PAT CIPOLLONE, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: They're here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history, and we can't allow that to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me right now, assistant editor at the Washington Post and CNN political commentator, David Swerdlick; White House correspondent for McClatchy Francesca Chambers; former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst Michael Zeldin; and legal affairs correspondent for NPR, Nina Totenberg.

Good to see all of you.

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey -- Fred.

(CROSSTALKING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excellent. Boy there's a lot to talk about.

WHITFIELD: Divvy it up as best we can.

So Michael -- the Democrats were saying yes to witnesses. There's been new information. Republicans are saying, no, you had your chance. Who made the most compelling argument?

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you take to it what you want to hear, you know, as a man hears what he wants to hear and disregard the rest. I think that the argument for witnesses is compelling.

That is the job of the Senate; it's a trial body. They are to supplement whatever they receive from the indicting body, the House. And this notion that they had their chance and now we're just going to do it on this cold record makes it essentially an appellate argument.

And it is not that. They are constitutionally bound to hold a trial. And as Schiff said this morning, a trial includes witnesses and includes documents.

WHITFIELD: But the repetition of, you know, the House is supposed to do the work, senators pick up from where they left off, Nina -- I mean repetition is something that Republicans have been accusing, you know, Democrats of doing, you know, ad nauseum during closing arguments and now Republicans are using that.

But the President of the United States uses repetition to his advantage. Is that, you know, the technique moving forward?

NINA TOTENBERG, LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, NPR: He does. He does but if you think about this in a normal high-profile case, one institution, the grand jury indicts, and that's what the House did.

And as a matter of fact, the House did have the President's lawyers free to question witnesses in depositions. That's not true in a criminal case, normal criminal case. You just make the prosecutor's case, you present it, and then at the trial the witnesses are called and cross-examined.

And none of that is going to happen here, clearly, I don't think, unless four Republicans decide that it's better to have a trial and let the American people see what the evidence is.

[14:29:50]

TOTENBERG: And I don't think that's particularly good for Republicans writ large, and therefore I doubt that they're going to do it, except possibly if they're leaving the Senate. That's Lamar Alexander or they're up for reelection and their hides are at stake in purple states.

[14:30:07]

WHITFIELD: So, Francesca, the president, reportedly, is very happy. He said out loud he loves what his team did. The vice president as well said the team really did a great job. That's behind closed doors. Is the president nervous or does he feel like this is going to be the effective route that his legal team takes, that he just didn't do anything wrong?

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, MCCLATCHY: Well, the president had made it very clear that one thing he was unhappy with was the fact that his legal team was not going to able to argue in primetime. And so now we will see that tomorrow --

WHITFIELD: What did that say, that Mitch McConnell did not change, he did not acquiesce to that pressure from the White House to change the Saturday lineup?

CHAMBERS: But the White House then took that with their hands and said, okay, they were only going to arguing for two hours on Saturday, and so then they can then push it into Monday and, really, on Tuesday if they wanted too as well. They could use more time if they decide to do that.

We don't know if they are going to do that yet on Tuesday, but that is something they could decide to do.

WHITFIELD: Does the president feel energized about this?

CHAMBERS: There're two different prongs of things that are going on here. There's the case that's being made within the Senate that's playing out on television, but then he also has this impeachment team. And they're sort of making that case that maybe the president wants to hear more of, but not necessarily senators and the chief justice want to hear about in the Senate. And so they're the ones who are out there making that kind of political argument that the president usually finds to be energizing and that he himself has re-tweeted.

SWERDLICK: Fred, can I follow up on that? I think it's always worth remembering too here, and I think most Americans see this now, is that the White House and the president's legal team is playing with house money, to use a gambling analogy. They know the outcome. They're going to win the case. So his lawyers can present the case that they think sheds the best light on the president.

To use another analogy, if you're a football coach and you know the outcome of the game in advance, you can use all your trick plays, the flea flicker, the Statue of Liberty. You don't have to worry about the fundamentals. So I think this week, you're going to see them come out and make all of their little niche arguments knowing that they can just sort of -- this is a P.R. exercise at a certain time (ph).

WHITFIELD: Do you think that the White House got a little bit more confident when hearing Lisa Murkowski herself say, well, wait a minute, the House should have taken the opportunity, it didn't, whereas just a week ago, she said she was open. Does the White House feel like maybe there isn't going to be that fourth Republican.

SWERDLICK: Those moderate Republicans are just looking for any thin hook to hang their hat on to say, the Democrats didn't do this right. Forget the witnesses, forget impeachment, we're going with it. And this -- that seems --

TOTENBERG: There is a danger, of course. What if more stuff like the Lev Parnas tape comes out afterwards? And you could look as an institution like you have mud all over your face if you actually turn away from the idea of subpoenaing witnesses, and just as important, documents.

WHITFIELD: Well, remember over the Christmas break during that three- week period before the House said, okay, we're now going to transmit these articles, there were reports of these emails that were allegedly pretty incriminating. That didn't seem to change anything. You know, this thin hook could -- it also be this CBS report of the whole pike issue where Republicans are saying, wait a minute, we don't agree with that, and might this be the thing that helps justify Republicans to say, no, we don't need any witnesses, because, look, this is not honest.

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right. So the bottom line is they know that there is more stuff out there. They want this thing done and buried. They want it all over for fear of something else coming out.

The problem, of course, for the president, in some sense, is a trial without witnesses or documents does not get him exonerated. It gets him -- it gets the case dismissed but not exonerated. And so --

TOTENBERG: Or even acquitted.

SWERDLICK: Or even acquitted, but he will play it that way no matter what. Yes.

ZELDIN: But if there's -- to Nina's point, if there are no witnesses and no documents, and he gets acquitted in this no witness, no documents trial, and then more stuff comes out afterwards, not only does it make the Senate look embarrassed by it, but it undercuts the president being able to say, I did nothing wrong.

WHITFIELD: So a lot at stake for the president if that has to happen, but certainly a lot to your point, Nina, a lot at stake for the senators who would have continued to backhand even if other stuff comes out.

CHAMBERS: So, speaking of the senators, there are some Republican senators, like Ted Cruz, who have said that they should not dismiss the case immediately outright, not necessarily vote for witnesses, but should not have a motion to dismiss right from the outside because they need to go through the process in order to at least have something to hang their hat on, or for the president to be able to say, really, I was exonerated, because how can you do that if they didn't go through the information.

But the White House's team is trying to make this very narrow set of arguments that none of those other things that you're talking about should be considered, whatsoever, that they're trying to get did kicked on procedural grounds.

[14:35:01]

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks to everybody, I appreciate. I wish we had more time because we have so much more to talk about, but we've got still many more days. David, thank you so much, Francesca, Nina, Michael.

ZELDIN: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mixed messages now and hundreds of tweets from the president. What is going through the mind of the president as senators weigh removing him from office? We talk to two people who know him very well. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Washington, D.C.

President Trump continues to mount his own impeachment defense online as his lawyers make the case on the Senate floor. The president sending more than 300 tweets and re-tweets over the last five days, many calling the process a hoax, designed to sway the 2020 election.

Joining me right now to discuss, the president's frame of mind, Michael D'Antonio, a CNN Contributor and Donald Trump biographer. He is the author The Truth About Trump.

[14:40:01]

Also with us, Barbara Res, a former Trump Organization executive and author of All Alone on the 68th Floor, How a Woman Changed the Face of Construction.

Barbara, Michael, good to see both of you.

All right, so, Michael, let me begin with you. The reporting out at the White House indicates that the president was extremely pleased with the first day of his defense team's presentation, just roughly 2.5 hours yesterday. How do you think the president really is feeling right now?

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think he must be pleased. It was brief and we know that the president likes things to be kind of staccato. And he likes things presented in a hard and fast way. He likes short explanations of things. He doesn't like complexity. So even in his tweets, when you see him going back to this word of calling it a hoax and saying that they're trying to steal the election in 2020, they're very simple statements, and his team presented the same arguments.

They have a client who demands that they perform up to a certain standard. It's his standard, and I think they did it.

WHITFIELD: So, Barbara, back in October, you predicted that the president wouldn't want to go through this, that he would resign, you know, to save face rather than be impeached, face removal. Well, he has been impeached. As Nancy Pelosi said, that is forever. But now this whole case of removal, do you feel that he is likely emboldened thus far and that he feels so confident that he would not be removed from office, that he just feels like people might forget about the impeachment part? BARBARA RES, FORMER ENGINEER FOR TRUMP CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS: Well, definitely he feels very confident that he's not going to be removed from office, and there is good reason for that, because the Republicans are not going to do it. They've come out and said it. They are using his guidelines to establish what goes on in the hearings, and it's really unfortunate. I'd be surprised if any of them are even listening to the case.

So, sure, he's very happy with that. He expects that he will come out. Will he come out unscathed? Absolutely not. Anyone who is listening to this, even people voting for Republicans are looking at it and thinking, this is something I want to see. If they don't allow the witnesses, there is a good chance, I think, that will raise a lot of the public, even people that might have voted for him.

So he's not getting acquitted. They're not saying he's innocent, they're saying there is not a case to prove he's guilty. There is a big difference there. We'll see what happens during the election period.

WHITFIELD: And, Michael, in your latest piece for The New York Daily News, you call President Trump a, quote, corrupting force, writing that -- I'm quoting now -- the solid wall of Republican opposition to the call for the trial to hear witnesses and view documents tells us that craven loyalty, what might be called the Trump way of politics, is winning.

So what is it, in your view, about President Trump that makes it so hard, you know, for Republican senators to oppose him, or is the word fear? Are they afraid of him?

D'ANTONIO: Well, that was the title of Bob Woodward's book about the president. He called it Fear because Donald Trump knows how to use fear, he knows how to intimidate people and he'll go further than almost anyone else will go. And he's proven that he can adjust the calculus for everyone in the United States Senate. So they're all thinking, do I cross this man? Will I have a primary challenge? What is the real end point for me if I decide to vote my conscience instead of being loyal? So the president has surpassed all of our expectations.

WHITFIELD: Yes, Michael. But when you say end point, I'm wondering are people who fall in that category of being fearful, as you described, are they thinking end point like the end of my political career? I mean, what is it that they are afraid to lose or what is it that they are most certain they will gain, you know, by being so devoted to the president?

D'ANTONIO: Well, the president has figured out that you only need about 40 percent of the public to be rabidly in favor of you to have a good chance at election, that the rest of the vote is splintered and there may be many disaffected people in the rest of the electorate.

So people are afraid of losing their position. They want to win themselves come November, but they're also looking forward to family members who might want to enter the political game. The Bush family has been very quiet on President Trump because there are members of that family who are just entering political life, and they want to enter it as Republicans.

[14:45:08]

And, finally, there are really only three or four funding streams for candidates for Congress or the U.S. Senate, and the president has great influence over those funders. So if you cross him, you can find yourself without the resources to run for re-election.

WHITFIELD: All right. Barbara, I see you nodding in agreement on most of that.

RES: Yes, and the last thing most particularly. It's about the money, because if you don't have money, you can't run.

But if I were a Republican, I'd be looking at this very closely and thinking very hard. And the remark that Michael made about not voting your conscience, that's really an amazing thing to say and to think about.

WHITFIELD: All right, fascinating time. Thank you so much, Barbara Res, Michael D'Antonio. Thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

D'ANTONIO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. This breaking news out of California where we are learning that five people have been killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, which is just north of Los Angeles. Malibu deputies are on the scene working with Los Angeles Fire on the investigation to what happened. The crash occurred just after 1:00 P.M. when reports of a downed aircraft on a hillside came in. We will continue to monitor this breaking news and bring it to you as soon as we learn more.

All right, meantime, time is running out for 2020 presidential candidates to win over voters in Iowa with just now eight days to go before the state's Democratic caucuses. Joe Biden picking up a key endorsement from the Sioux City Journal's editorial board, but it comes with a nudge. The paper is urging the former vice president to name senator Amy Klobuchar as his running mate.

CNN Senior National Correspondent Kyung Lah joins me now from Ames, Iowa. Kyung, what more are you learning?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, Senator Klobuchar actually addresses Sioux City Journal and she said, hey, they had some some nice things about me, even though they did end up endorsing the former vice president. She is going to take the positive words where she can. This is a candidate who is still polling in the upper-high digits here in the State of Iowa.

I want you to take a look at this latest poll that comes from cbs.cu.gov, and it shows just how tight it is, especially at the top, Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg all bunched up in the 20 percent range, Elizabeth Warren at 15, Klobuchar rounding out the top five at 7 percent.

But what does numbers don't tell are the conversations that you have. When you talk to Iowans here, they are still undecided, many willing to switch. They say this is going to go right up to the last minute, and that's what Senator Klobuchar is counting on.

We caught up with her as she landed in Eastern Iowa. She got off the plane, jumped on her bus and she told us she is trying to cram in two weeks of campaigning in two days. Here's what she told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: What are you looking at? What is the finish you are looking for that you will say, I did okay?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know, we are now in the top five firmly. And, clearly, I want to be in that group, and then the chips will fall where they may.

I am always a realist, and the fact I can't be here doesn't make it easy, but we are doing well. And, again, there is many tickets out of Iowa.

LAH: Will you have to break 15 percent? Is that a goal of yours?

KLOBUCHAR: We'll just see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: Yes, laughing, she's not going to game that. And when she says, Fredricka, she isn't able to be here, she's talking about having two jobs, sitting in that Senate impeachment trial during the week and then rushing back here for just more than 24 hours of campaigning here in Iowa, eight days and counting, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Oh, my gosh, it's coming right around the corner. All right, what more can you also tell us about this new CNN New Hampshire poll?

LAH: Yes, of course. Right after Iowa is New Hampshire. And take a look at this poll. You're seeing Bernie Sanders again at the top in our CNN poll, Bernie Sanders at 25 percent, Joe Biden 16, Pete Buttigieg at 15, Warren 12, Klobuchar at 6 percent, and then you have Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang rounding that out at 5 percent.

So, still fluid there in New Hampshire, and a lot of eyes, again, on the volatile Iowa caucuses. What happens here, the Klobuchar campaign is hoping to make her numbers tick up. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Kyung Lah, thank you so much. All right, up next, more on our breaking news, we're learning five people have been killed in a chopper crash in California. A live report coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:00]

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me in the U.S. and our viewers around the world. I'm live from Washington. I'm Fredricka Whitfield for this special coverage of the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump.

We also have this breaking news to bring you out of California, where we are learning that five people have been killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, which is just north of Los Angeles. Malibu deputies are on the scene working with Los Angeles Fire on the investigation into what happened. The crash occurred just after 1:00 P.M. when reports of a downed aircraft took place on a hillside, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department just briefed reporters, and this is what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:00:00]

CAPT. TONY IMBRENDA, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: OK. Good morning, Tony Imbrenda, Fire Captain, Public Information Officer L.A. Fire Department. Still early on in this incident.