Of the story if it were so, but theyre not showing up. Mmhmm. So what is he talking about . Fair point. However hes talking about people on their witness list. I get it. I was singing a different ax at him. You can have your own witness list. Heres what i dont like or i dont appreciate. This process is the same damn process that they put in place for clinton and modified thereafter. It was the exact same, don. The only witness they called was ken starr in the i wish i had a graphic. But the republicans wouldnt let them call anybody else. I wish i had a graphic. I should have thought about it. But if you look at the impeachment proceedings for clinton, the impeachment proceedings for nixon its the same. Actually these are more transparent. The republicans have more rights in this. Check this out. I do believe that is right. Ive seen it before written somewhere. I think they actually have more opportunities than the democrats did during other impeachment proceedings or republicans did, whatever side that youre on, during other impeachment proceedings. So i dont know where theyre coming up with these talking points about, you know, they dont have the rights, and none of the witnesses are being called. Listen, when they were storming the scif, they should have been in there questioning the witness. Some of the people storming the scif had the right to be in the hearing. Not only were they interrupting their own party members, they were pulling a stunt. Im okay with stunts. Its politics. What i dont like is poisoning peoples minds about fairness. Yes. This process look, i dont like the process. I dont like it. Its got politics all over it. It always has, which is why they put that twothirds vote in the senate, because they knew you cant play politics and get a twothirds vote. Yeah. Because you need to have buyinfrbuy buyin from both sides. The founders were pretty smart. But it is not true to say the republicans are being screwed here. Its not true. Just read the rules of the last one. Momentous time. Ive got a big, big show, so im going to run. Have a good night. Ill see you tomorrow. Precipice of history, brother. Thank you, sir. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. And we are less than 12 hours away from an event are you listening to me . This will change american history. And that is no overstatement. The biggest moment of the impeachment inquiry so far. The first public testimony from witnesses tying the president of the United States to the effort to shake down ukraine, to force them into investigations that could help him politically here and at home here at home, i should say. A blockbuster live tv event with millions of people hanging on every word. And heres the irony right here. The master showman, the first reality tv president , who spends hours and hours every day in executive time, watching tv, cant control what happens. He cant produce it. He cannot script it. He can only watch along with the rest of us. So heres what to watch for. Stay close. It all kicks off at 10 00 a. M. In the grandest hearing room in the house, the chambers of the ways and means committee. The hearing take is place before the 13 democrats and 9 republicans on the Intel Committee, surrounded by tv cameras, broadcasting the whole thing to an audience of millions. The chairman, adam schiff, gives the first Opening Statement. He usually writes his own and is expected to focus on the stakes and why all of this matters to the American People. That is followed by the Opening Statement from the Ranking Member. That Ranking Member is devin nunes. Then the madefortv moment when the witnesses raise their hands and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And Opening Statements from state Department Official george kent, who described what he called Rudy Giuliani campaign of lies to oust ambassador marie yovanovitch. And the top diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor, whose bombshell closeddoor testimony based on detailed notes may make him the star witness in all of this. He is a highly respected veteran and diplomat who has served this country over five decades and was called out of retirement called out of retirement by guess who . The Trump Administration to serve in ukraine. And now hes testifying about them doing something wrong. Hmm. Democratic aides say that they paired taylor and kent together because both, quote, were witnesses to the full story line of the president s misconduct. But it all comes down to the questions and answers really. The very first chance for all of us to hear from taylor and kent in their own words, laying out what they saw and heard and exactly why it disturbed them so much. And that is on top of a mountain of evidence from 3,065 pages so far of closeddoor depositions. What weve learned from those depositions and from the white houses own rough transcript of the call tells a really Crystal Clear story. The president kicking out the ambassador to ukraine, freezing some 400 million in desperately needed military aid to a country that is still fighting a war with russia, and using his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to set up a back channel, all in an apparent shakedown intended to get investigations that could help his reelection campaign. And it goes back to that july 25th call, a 30minute conversation that set off alarm bells in the state department and the white house and now threatens the trump presidency. Remember in that rough transcript right after the president of ukraine says hed like to buy more antitank missiles from the United States, President Trump says, i would like you to do us a favor, though. Then he goes on to ask him to investigate a debunked Conspiracy Theory, debunked Conspiracy Theory that ukraine was behind the 2016 election interference, not russia. And then pushes for an investigation of the bidens even though there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by either the former Vice President or his son. I have said it before. It is right there in black and white. It was so disturbing to Lieutenant Colonel alexander vindman, the decorated army vet, harvardeducated ukraine expert, on the National Security council, who was on the call, that he immediately went to the top nsc lawyer, who told him to keep quiet. He tried to fill in the ellipses to the transcript, ellipses he testified were references to biden and burisma. But he wasnt allowed to do it. And now we know that the ukrainians were aware in august that the military aid was being held. We learned that from testimony from pentagon official laura cooper. That testimony released just yesterday. And then theres gordon sondland, 1 million trump donor, ambassador to the eu, who admitted last week that he told a top ukrainian they wouldnt get their military aid unless ukraine publicly announced the investigations the president wanted. No ambiguity there. No investigations, no money. And lets not forget the acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney, who openly admitted the quid pro quo on television before trying to take it back. Did he also mention to me in the past the corruption related to the dnc server . Absolutely. No question about that. But thats it. Thats why we held up the money. To be clear, what you just described is a quid pro quo. It is funding will not flow unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well. We we do that all the time with Foreign Policy. I have news for everybody. Get over it. Theres going to be political influence in Foreign Policy. He said it out loud on live television. Lets not forget the president himself admitted he wanted those investigations from ukraine, and he admitted it right on the white house lawn. What exactly did you hope zelensky would do about the bidens after your phone call . I would think if they were honest about it, theyd start a Major Investigation into the bidens. Its a very simple answer. They should investigate the bidens. It is very simple, and it sure sounds like it adds up to a shakedown. Adam schiff saying this. On the basis of what the witnesses have had to say so far, there are any number of potentially impeachable offenses, including bribery, including high crimes and misdemeanors. In the face of all that and with tomorrows public testimony looming, the republicans are circling the wagons and pulling out their talking points. We got a hold of the copy of the memo that circulated, republicans on all three committees. It claims a rough transcript of the calls shows no conditions and no evidence of pressure, and says president zelensky and President Trump have both claimed there was no pressure. You just heard mick mulvaney. He is the president s own acting chief of staff admitting that the money was held up to pressure ukraine. They have said it out loud. Its in the transcript. Its in black and white. Another republican talking point, the claim that ukraines government didnt know about the freeze of aid at the time of the call. Well, they certainly knew about it in august. Laura cooper told us that. And the aid wasnt released until september 11th. And as far as the republican talking point that ukraine got its money without the investigations the president wanted, thats true. But it only happened after the whistleblower made a complaint and after bill taylor raised the alarm internally. And it happend just as president zelensky was about to knuckle under and announce the investigations in an interview. How do we know . Because it was cnns fareed zakaria. And all of that, that mountain of evidence, comes before bill taylor and george kent testify in a matter of hours. Now you know what to watch for, the substance, the facts. Its more important than ever that you keep your eye on the ball and focus on what matters. This is about making the case to you, the American People, so listen carefully. Watch, listen, dont be distracted by sideshows, by shiny objects, red herrings. There will be plenty of them. The president s defenders are going to throw everything they can at the wall to see if it sticks. Look over here. Look over there. What about the origins . What about this . Who did that . We dont have theyre going to try everything. Woo, dancing around. Pay attention to the facts. Like i always say, do not fall for the okeydoke. Now more than ever, facts first. You hear me . Next im going to talk to a member of the Intel Committee who will be asking questions in tomorrows hearing on live television. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi is here. Hi honey, we got in early. Yeah, and we brought steve and mark. Experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Must be hot out there, huh . Not especially. [ slurping continues ] what you drinking . Gasoline. Right, but i mean, whats in the cup . Gasoline. [ slurping ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. For those who were born to ride, theres just Something Different to a disney movie. vo verizon knows you love all things disney. I think weve watched every single movie at least twice. Four times. 100 times. vo thats why your unlimited plan now comes with disney on us for a year. Because the network more people rely on gives you more. A wealth of information. A wealth of perspective. A wealth of opportunities. Thats the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. Straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, taxefficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. Fidelity wealth management. To help you grow and protect your wealth. Looking to simplify your skin care routine without sacrificing results . Try olay total effects. One dose provides more vitamin b3 than 50 cups of kale and improves 7 key areas of visibly healthy skin. Try olay total effects. We are less than 12 hours away from the opening of the historic public hearings in the impeachment inquiry. The house intel chairman adam schiff says members will have to evaluate whether the facts show evidence of bribery, treason, high crimes and misdemeanors. I want to bring in now congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, an illinois democrat, who will be asking questions in tomorrows hearing. Congressman, thank you. I know its a big day tomorrow, so we appreciate you joining us this evening. Sure thing. Historic. The hearings start with two key witnesses, live testimony. Make your case of what the president did here and why its impeachable. Well, first of all, the witnesses that were going to see tomorrow, especially ambassador taylor, are some of the most compelling, credible, careful witnesses ive ever seen testify in congress. Just taking ambassador taylor for one moment, hes a career public servant, a west point graduate, a vietnam veteran, and he served his country for 50 years. And he was indeed appointed by the Trump Administration to his current post. But he decided hed put his career on the line and come and testify out of conviction to tell the truth. And as you can see from his deposition transcript, what he lays out is basically a scheme that lasts over several months to basically pressure the Ukrainian Government into investigating Donald Trumps political rivals here in the u. S. Mmhmm. And this is extremely disturbing for two reasons. One, involving a foreign power in our politics. And then, two, you know, using the office of the president to investigate any private citizen, really for any improper motive, in this case a political motive, is probably perhaps the biggest fear that any private citizen has about his or her government. Mmhmm. This evening we heard that your committee announced eight more witnesses are going to testify publicly next week, including jennifer williams, nsc official tim morrison, top ukraine expert alexander vindman, kurt volker and others. The inquiry is full steam ahead. It is. And we have a lot of witnesses coming over the next two weeks. As i said, the vast majority of these people are career public servants, and even some of these witnesses are ones that the minority requested to be called. So we are trying to do our best in the majority to have a fair process and one thats focused really on the witnesses and the substance of their testimony because its so important that the American People see for themselves what these people have to say. Yeah. Listen, the president has said they sent out the talking points. Jim acosta got a hold of some yesterday. There are others that came out today. But the president is basically saying do not relent. Dont say the call wasnt perfect. He did nothing wrong. But some republicans are arguing, congressman, that what the president did was wrong but doesnt rise to the level of impeachment. So explain how the evidence tomorrow adds up to impeachable offenses. Sure. Well, as you know, impeachable offenses are high crimes and misdemeanors among others. And, you know, abusing the office or engaging in what congressman chairman schiff mentioned today, potentially bribery or extortion would certainly amount to the types of offenses that the framers or founders of this country envisioned when they talked about impeachable offenses. You know, one of the biggest concerns that they had was that a foreign power would somehow influence the politics of our internal affairs in our democracy. You know, when we started out as a country, that was one of the biggest fears. And even today, after 2016 when we saw what the russians did, we should have that fear now. And yet the president may have persisted in trying to involve a foreign power. Ive got to run because ive got a lot of folks coming up. I just want to ask you will tomorrows testimony from taylor and kent directly connect the shakedown to President Trump, not just the people around him, but to the president himself . I believe they will be laying out evidence of that. That being said, i respectfully request all your viewers to tune in for themselves. Mmhmm. And judge these peoples credibility for themselves. I found them to be credible, but now its time for americans to decide. Congressman, big day. Get some rest. Thank you, sir. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. Weve got a lot more on the historic hearings happening just hours from now. Plus new reporting from the Washington Post tonight. That reporting links the president to someone hes been trying to distance himself from, and they allegedly talked about ukraine. Former director of National IntelligenceJames Clapper is here, and hell weigh in next. Not such a bargain. Theres only one quicker picker upper. Bounty, the quicker picker upper. Fun fact 1 in 4 of us millennials have debt we might die with. And most of that debt is actually from credit cards. Its just not right. But with sofi, you can get your credit cards right, by consolidating your Credit Card Debt into one monthly payment. 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You cant bring a backup thanksgiving to my sisters house. Its not like were going to walk in with it. Well bring it in as we need it. Phase it in. Phase it in . Yeah, phase it in. So heres the breaking news tonight. Its from the Washington Post. Its reporting that Lev Parnas Lev Parnas is one of the indicted associates of Rudy Giuliani. He told people that he spoke with President Trump about ukraine at a dinner last year. He reportedly told the president that the u. S. Ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch, was unfriendly to him and his interests. According to parnas, trump immediately said she should be fired. So joining me now is the former director of National Intelligence, mr. James clapper. Director, thank you. Tomorrow is a huge day. What do you make of the fact that for the second time and then were going to talk about the Washington Post reporting. But what do you make of the second time in trumps presidency were faced with the question did this president accept help from or shake down a foreign power for personal political gain, whether he cheated . Well, thats you know, thats the issue, and i believe , as you and chris were alluding earlier, that were going to get away from the latin expression and be more direct. I expect the democrats will be more direct in describing, you know, the picture thats emerged of what the president did in his conversations, which actually significantly extend beyond just the one phone call on july 25th. Mmhmm. So i think the hearings are going to be extremely interesting. I will listen carefully to chairman schiffs Opening Statement, and i think, you know, theyve got some prettying compelling witnesses coming up. So lets get to that. I mentioned the Washington Post reporting as i led into you here, that giulianis associate lev parnas said that he talked to trump about ukraine last year. Trump denied knowing him and that they discussed issues at the heart of the impeachment inquiry. How concerning is that . Well, its to me, it kind of adds to the plot here, that this fixation on things ukrainian has been going on for a long time. You know, it wasnt just this one phone call. This has built up over a period of months, and this meeting was, i guess, a dinner at the trump hotel not far from the white house in which, i guess, these two characters complained about the ambassador. And so this whole plot is thicker and longer than we might have been led to believe previously. Give me your reaction to the New York Times report that trump considered firing the Intelligence CommunityInspector GeneralMichael Atkinson for bringing this whistleblower complaint to congress. Well i mean thats just outrageous. If that is true, that is think about it. It is. If this is true, and im sure he he probably did consider it at least initially when the whistleblower complaint first broke. To do it now would be, i think, really actually irrelevant because the whistleblower complaint and the actions that the i. G. Took have kind of been o. B. E. , overcome by events. I think it reflects either failure to ignorance about how i. G. S are supposed to work, their independence, their autonomy, or he understands that but doesnt care. And the first requisite for him is loyalty. Well, that is not the objective, not the point of an Inspector General. It just it doesnt work that way. And this Inspector General, atkinson did, the best i can tell, exactly what he was supposed to do and comported with the law. And the whistleblower complainant himself or herself complied meticulously with the law. The state Department Aides name is chris anderson, testifying that trump complained to john bolton after seeing a cnn report that a u. S. Navy vessel entered the black sea to push back on russian aggression there. Heres what anderson said. There was a news report on cnn, and then the white house asked the navy to cancel that. What does that signal to an adversary like putin . Well, it signals, to me, weakness. The russians like to think of the plaqblack sea as a russian. Its not. Its international waters, and the United States has had a long practice of validating and reinforcing freedom of navigation. This is just another instance of this mysterious deference to putin personally and russia generally. You know, i couldnt help but watch the image of foreign minister lavrov of russia laughing and joking during an interview about interfering the lox in 2020 just as President Trump joked about it with putin. It just shows you the russians arent taking us seriously, and putin has to be clicking his heels right now because of all these victories. And in his mind, he is, you know hes transcendent over President Trump. Sad. Thank you, director. It is. Thank you, sir. House republicans are putting out their talking points ahead of tomorrows hearings, and weve got a hold of the company. Will any of their defenses stand up to whats expected to be incredibly damaging testimony . We would walk on the sidewalk all around the wind blows we would only hold on to let go blow a kiss into the sun we need someone to lean on blow a kiss into the sun we needed somebody to lean on all we need is someone to lean on 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 must admit. I had a few good tricks to help hide my bladder leak pad. Like the old tunic tug. You know it, right . But i dont have to, with always discreet. I couldnt believe the difference. Its less bulky. And it really protects. Watch this. The super absorbent core turns liquid and odor to gel, and locks it away. So i have nothing to hide. Always discreet. For bladder leaks. So the president s republican defenders putting out their talking points ahead of the first live impeachment hearing in just a matter of hours. Cnn has a copy of the memo. But do the facts support their defense . What do you think . Lets discuss now. Catherine rampell is here, scott jennings. Hello to both of you. Catherine, lets talk about the gop, the impeachment strategy. We have four main points. No conditions outlined in the call, and ukraines president said that he didnt feel any pressure. Do you think that stands up to the scrutiny . No, of course not. I mean the condition is in the transcript. When the president of ukraine asks for military aid, but trump says, we need you to do us a favor, though. Of course not. Its funny because trump keeps on saying read the transcript, read the transcript. People at his rallies are chanting read the transcript. Theyre wearing shirts that say read the transcript. But its not clear that any of them have actually read the transcript given that it does not actually support his defense. Okay. So lets see, scott. Looking at some of the things here, other points. That ukraines government didnt even know that the aid was being withheld and that ukraine got the money in the end. Is this like saying, well, i only tried to rob the bank, but i didnt actually pull it off . I think what republicans are going to argue on that ukraine got the aid is that whatever delay there was was very shortlived compared to the fact that the Obama Administration didnt send javelins to ukraine for two years. There was a lot of debate then and no one questions the Obama Administrations state of mind or what their motives were for withholding aid from the ukraine. The other point is let me ask you come on, be honest. What does this have to do with obama . Isnt that a shiny object . No. Youre asking me what i think of their points. Theyre conducting Foreign Policy. There is no evidence that anyone in the Obama Administration or that the president himself said, i would like to give you this aid, but you need to do me a favor before i give it to you. No, but what im arguing to you, don, is what republicans are going to argue tomorrow, which is that theres a lot theyre trying to throw out a president of the United States over a brief delay in aid that was ultimately delivered when the previous administration, you know, debated for two years for some reason. And i think thats what republicans are going to argue is that these kinds of Foreign Policy debates, these conversations and these sorts of decisions over aid happen in every administration, and yet this is the only president were trying to impeach over it. The other point i think do you believe that argument because athey werent it wasnt just the delay. It was that he was trying to get a foreign power to investigate a political rival. Right. It wasnt just about the delay. It was a shakedown so that a foreign leader would smear a domestic political rival. Thats what the democrats are arguing, but we dont thats what the democrats are arguing. Thats what the transcript says. Of course thats what the point of the witnesses are. Thats what the point of the hearings are. Thats why the republicans are going to try to pressure test this. I think of the other four points, the one thats the strongest is point number two, which is theyve got zelensky in his own words saying i didnt feel any pressure, nobody pressured me. I assume republicans are going to continue to say the transcript doesnt show the pressure, and zelensky has said himself i didnt feel any pressure. Its probably, of these four points, to me, one of their better arguments. Zelensky said that basically with a gun to his head, almost literally a gun to his head. He still was dependent on the United States to help in this struggle with russia. And so of course hes going to say whatever he needs to say to keep trump on his side because hes seen what happens if trump is not on his side or if trump doesnt think that zelensky is sufficiently loyal and will do whatever it takes to basically stay in hock to trump. So if im trying to rob you but you dont understand that im trying to rob you, does that mean that im not trying to rob new. I dont think thats actually what happened here. But you know what im saying no, i dont think that is exculpatory. Or if im trying to steal your access to your phone or your private information but you dont know that im doing it, does that mean that im not doing it. No, of course not, but i dont actually think any version of that is what happened. Okay. Listen, your latest column in the Washington Post is we thought trump was the biggest con man and we were all wrong. You write, trump claimed once upon a time that he was recruiting the best people to the white house and senior ranks of the executive branch. He now claims he got conned into hiring a cabal of covert never trumpers. Four of the five sitting Federal Reserve governors for instance were republicans handpicked for the current position by trump, and yet trump now says they represent the biggest threat to his presidency and are an enemy to america. He has similarry accused his own cabinet members, white house counsel, fbi director and other senior officials of allegedly plotting against him. Hell see conspiracy everywhere, even in his own administration with the people he appointed. Right. This is a guy who is supposed to be great at spotting talent, who surrounded himself with the best people. Hes the boss. Hes the leader. And yet somehow hes been duped by everyone around him. You know, its like this long con that has been going on apparently for years because now allegedly gordon sondland, who is a longtime republican donor, who was a bundler for trump, who was handpicked to be trumps eu ambassador, even he allegedly changed his testimony because he might be in cahoots with the democrats. I mean its just so bizarre. But the reason why republicans and trump included need to be tells these bizarre stories is because the simpler version, that trump was in fact trying to shake down a foreign country in order to smear a domestic political rival, is just its too obvious, right . So they need to come up with something crazier, including these crazy conspiracy theories. Im out of time but in fairness, ill give you a quick last word, please, please. I think one of the better arguments republicans are going to be able to make is whether you think nothing bad happens, something bad happened, bad judgment, whatever you think, that we are in the cuss p of and well be in the midst of an american Political Action by the time this thing hits the senate. Previous impeachments happened in second terms. This is happening in a first term during an election. No matter what you think of this, maybe the verdict of the American People ought to be the final word on this instead of the judgment of a partisan congress. I think thats what republicans maybe have the most success with tomorrow. Thank you both. I appreciate it. Well be right back. Hi honey, we got in early. Yeah, and we brought steve and mark. Experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Fun fact 1 in 4 of us millennials have debt we might die with. And most of that debt is actually from credit cards. Its just not right. But with sofi, you can get your credit cards right, by consolidating your Credit Card Debt into one monthly payment. You can get your Interest Rate right by locking in a fixed low rate today. And you can get your money right with sofi. Check your rate in two minutes or less. Get a nofee personal loan up to 100k. Cant imagine doing it any other way. This is Caitlin Dickerson from the New York Times. This isnt the only case. Very little documentation. Lo que yo quiero estar con mi hijo. I know thats not true. And the shelters really dont know what to do with them. I just got another person at d. H. S. To confirm this. I have this number. Were going to publish the story. Explosive new details coming from the trial of longtime trump associate roger stone. Testimony by former Trump Campaign official rick gates raising new questions about the written answers the president gave robert mueller. Cnns sara murray has the story. Reporter for the first time, thencandidate donald trump is linked in open court to his former confidant and adviser roger stones efforts to get intel from wikileaks during the 2016 campaign. Former Deputy Campaign chair rick gates testified he was riding with trump to new Yorks Laguardia airport that summer when trump took a phone call from stone lasting several minutes. Gates says the two men apparently discussed wikileaks plans to release democratic emails which were hacked and stolen by russians. After mr. Trump got off the phone with mr. Stone, what did mr. Trump say, the prosecutor asks gates. He indicated more information would be coming, gates responded today at stones criminal trial. Gates testified that prior to wikileaks first email dump, for months information had been talked about. After the july release, gates said the campaign was in a state of happiness. This just came out. Wikileaks i love wikileaks. Reporter gates testimony flies in the face of denials from both stone and trump that the two ever discussed wikileaks. I know nothing about wikileaks. Its not my thing. Reporter in written responses to Robert Muellers team, President Trump said, i do not recall any communication between stone and wikileaks. But the phone call and trumps reaction described in court today puts into sharper focus how much trump allegedly knew about how the russian hack and release of emails could boost his campaign. This revelation was ultimately redacted from the public version of the Mueller Report because stones case was ongoing. During the 2016 president ial campaign, stone bragged about his contacts with wikileaks founder julian assange. I actually have communicated with assange. I believe the next theres to telling what the october surprise maybe. He later walked those claims back and said he never communicated directly with asang. When he testified before the House Intelligence Committee he claimed he used intermediaries. In january stone was arrested in a predawn raid at his florida home. Charged with lying to the house intelligence dmit. Obstructing proceedings and witness tampering. He pleaded not guilty to all seven charges. Roger stone decided not to take the stand in his own defense. He told the judge that was his decision. Instead his attorneys played a portion of his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee where hes accused of having lied. In the portion that his attorneys played he insisted that he didnt collude with any russians to try to interfere in the 2016 election. The case continues on wednesday when both sides present their closing arguments. Before the jury. All right. Thank you. Joining me now. Former fbi Deputy Director andrew mccabe. Thank you for joining us. Rick gates testifying that after a phone call with roger stone, trump told gates more information would be coming from wick leek. That seems to contradict what trump told mueller. Asked about the communication with roger stone. Heres what he said. I spoke by telephone with stone from time to time. During the campaign. I have no recollection of the specifics of any conversation i had with mr. Stone between june and november. I do not recall discussing wikileaks or being aware of discussing with individuals associated with my campaign. Did he lie there . Its almost impossible to know. Im sure you know i do not recall is the preferred answer by every defense attorney for their client to deliver under almost any circumstance. Its almost impossible to prove that somebody lied when they are saying i dont remember. The thing i find remarkable about the president s written response to that question and what we learned in the stone trial is that he didnt just say i dont remember ever talking to stone about wikileaks. But says i dont remember ever hearing about anyone in my campaign talking to stone about wikileaks. We heard stone had numerous conversations with many people in the campaign april of 2016. About wikileaks and dumps of emails coming out. So it was clearly an item that was discussed among a group of folks in the campaign. And hard to believe none of that made its way to candidate trump. Mueller knew what gates had to say. And knew trumps answers to the questions. When didnt he do anything about it. Great question. It gets really into the legal technicality of what the mueller team was looking for. The mueller team frs looking to see if the campaign had colluded with the russians. And they define that as a criminal conspiracy. So to prove a criminal conspiracy, you have to have evidence that shows an agreement between two or more people to do something illegal and they have taken a step in further of the agreement. Director mueller concluded that he didnt have evidence to prove that the campaign had entered into an agreement with the russians. So all of this really fascinating stuff we have learned about stone and his likely involvement with wikileaks and claims of being involved. Although its interesting stuff, none of it goes directly to the question of the whether or not the campaign entered into an agreement with the russians. It doesnt disturb the conclusion of the Mueller Report. Steve bannon testified that the Trump Campaign saw stone as a conduit to wikileaks. Is the investigate concerned they couldnt prove stone was really connected . Or wasnt just blowing smoke. I think thats really what it comes down to. Interestingly enough, stones lawyers kind of took that position even in the as earl will as Opening Statements in the trial where they portrayed their client as a liar. A guy who frequently boasted about things he didnt do. Or knowledge of thins he didnt know. Its hard to believe you want to portr portray yourself to a jury as a liar. But its to his benefit to say i said that i was in contact with wikileaks but i was making all that up. So we dont have perfect clarity on that. Whether or not he was communicating in ways that could be concealed or destroyed after the fact. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Hours a way from a historic day on the hill. How did we get here. What to expect tomorrow. And whats still to come. Ty. I see bestinclass platforms and education. I see awardwinning service, and a trade desk full of experts, available to answer your toughest questions. And i see it with zero commissions on online trades. I like what youre seeing. Its beautiful, isnt it . Yeah. 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Try new pepto liquicaps for fast relief and ultracoating. Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Get powerful relief with new pepto bismol liquicaps. This is cnn tonight im don lemon. Were now just hours away from a key moment in american history. The opening of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry. The proceedings will be gavelled to order at 10 00 a. M. Eastern and you can see every moment live right here on cnn. First witnesses bill taylor. Diplomat in ukraine. Already given bomb shell testimony behind choesed doors and george kent the top state Department Official who over sees all u. S. Policy in ukraine. He called Rudy Giuliani attacks on the ousted u. S. Ambassador to ukraine a campaign of lies. Well look at the background and experience of the two key questioners of the witnesses and what each brings to the table fo