Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20191213

A momentous election outcome here in the uk. And more latenight drama in the u. S. President ial impeachment process with lawmakers due back on capitol hill for a vote in a matter of hours. A very good morning to you. Im isa suarez. It is 7 00 here in london. It is indeed. And british voters have spoken and now there is no more ambiguity about brexit. It is certainly going to happen. We can say that. Seven weeks from now or even earlier if we know Boris Johnson and his ambitions. His conservative party secured the absolute majority in parliament in thursdays election, well above the 326 threshold they needed. Get brexit done. Youve heard it. That was his slogan and that proved to be an effective and very clear message for a nation weary of the many stops and starts since the brexit referendum passed if you remember almost three years ago. For the conservative party, it was their best showing since margaret thatchers reelection back in 1987. Take a listen. I want to thank the people of this country for turning out to vote in a december election. That we didnt want to call, but which i think has turned out to be an historic election. That gives us now in this new government the chance to respect the democratic will of the british people, to change this country for the better, and to unleash the potential of the entire people of this country. For the opposition labor party, this was an especially humiliating defeat. Seats that once reliably belonged to labor went the other way. Even in winning his own reelection to parliament, the leader Jeremy Corbyn was stung by his partys huge loss. Brexit has so polarized and divided debate within this country, it has overridden so much of our normal political debate, and i recognize that has contributed to the results. And smashing we can see live pictures right now of a car of Boris Johnson. We understand the Prime Minister is emerging from downing street. He is possibly going to be giving more in terms of a public address and we will bring it to you when it happens. Hes on the way there. Corbyn is not the only political leader, thats the labour leader stepping down. The leader of the liberal democrats jo swinson is also stepping down. Thats the third party. Lets have a look at the final tally. Weve got 647 constituencies been declared, three left to go. A very clear win. 362 for the conservative party. For Boris Johnson. Labour with 203. Snp, pretty strong night for snp and nicola sturgeon. And now doubt she will be calling as she has before for that independent referendum. And lib dems didnt do very well today. Hence why christiane was mentioning their leader jo swinson is stepping down after asking to revoke article 50 and to cancel brexit. She lost her own seat so she doesnt have much of a choice. Exactly. Lets bring in melissa bell in brussels and london correspondent max foster standing by at 10 downing street. Max, if i may start with you. We saw Boris Johnson already moving and ready in action. Are we expecting to hear from him and what might we hear . Well, i think we got a little indication in that clip you played. Hes talking about onenation conservatism. This is conservatism for everyone in the buuk. Not just the business class, but the workers as well. Hes a centrist. Which is interesting because many people see him as a rightwing figure because of brexit. Hes arguing once hes got brexit done, which as christiane says, is now going to happen, he can focus on such projects such as the nhs. Think thats going to be in the speech a little later on. The podium is going to be coming out. Boris johnson has never voted for a hard brexit. A deal with the eu at the end of japa january. There is going to be no referendum over brexit. You cant see how thats politically possibly. Weve got donald trump tweeting now that a deal with the United States is almost certain. So thats good news for Boris Johnson. And to think that this was the the politician that many people didnt take seriously. He was seen as a buffoon. Hes going to come out later with the biggest conservative majority since margaret thatcher. So hes empowered. Hes no longer beholden to the small groups in parliament. He can push through his agenda. The only issue, youve pointed to it already he might have, is this issue, the snp, which dominates scottish politics now. They want a referendum on Scotti Scotti Scottish Independence and hes ruled that out. Max, is it the relationship within the union, the united kingdom, is unclear right now going forward. Well, what about the allimportant relationship that needs to be forged with the eu . For that we go to melissa bell who is standing by in brussels. Melissa, lets face it, the eu has been preparing for britain to unhitch itself for a long, long time. They are probably quite pleased to see at least this step resolving the internal domestic issue. Thats right, christiane. I think a great sense of relief, really, in brussels that these along and arduous and complicated 3 1 2 years at least are coming to an end. It was really a period in which they were sort of these unwilling partners, unwilling prisoners of a process once the deals were stuck with successive Prime Ministers, that the Prime Ministers who struck them with the eu partners simply couldnt get through the british parliament. That is over. Clearly a relief for european partners, but then wousk, all the questions about what comes next because, of course, there is for Boris Johnson were talking about the change in the arithmetics of parliament, but beyond that there is within the conservative party a change in the balance of power. Those who wanted a hard brexit held disproportionate influence, really, in the party up until the deal was struck. What happens now that it looks as though with that new parliamentary arithmetic he will get his withdrawal bill through . A new phase opens to try to determine postbrexit. What happens afterwards . What kind of trade deal do we have . Will it be a bare boned wto kind of trade deal or can we find something more constructive . And i think now Boris Johnson will have a lot more freedom in a sense with regard to his own party to bash on with the kind of construction of the european the relationship with the europeans that he wants. Now, one question is what he does want. One of the most remarkable things about this election was how little we know the british Prime Minister wants in the future with the European Union. Get brexit done. What happens next . Boris johnson has a clear mandate to get that relationship he wants. Which kind does he want . Think thats one of the Big Questions that european leaders are going to be looking toward, christiane. Thanks very much. Melissa bell there for us in brussels. Joining us now, justin green, a conservative cabinet minister under theresa may and lib dem policy director and theyre here with us now. Good morning to you ladies. Thank you for being with us. Let me get, first of all, your reactions to what weve seen tonight. Well, i think its an historic victory for the conservatives. And clearly this message of britain moving on was really something that Boris Johnson pushed on the whole way through this campaign. I think he backed that up with a strong message on opportunity in the sense of bringing communities that have been left behind in britain back with the rest of the country. So i think those two things really resonated. But, of course, if you like, there is the scale of the victory for boris. There is also the scale of the defeat and what it means for Jeremy Corbyn and labour and the dems. There is no doubt that both of those opposition parties ran what i think will be seen as historically disastrous campaigns. So perhaps Boris Johnson couldnt have been up against better opponents. Whoops. Okay, polly, disastrous. Historically disastrous campaign. Your own leader jo swinson lost her seat. I mean, it is appalling. Im not a member of the party, but i think it has been as justine says extraordinary collapse, especially for the labour party. The liberal democrats may end up in about the same place, but to lose your leader, of course, is a devastating blow for her personally. She lost her seat in 2015, came back into parliament in 2017. I think this is now the end of her political career. And whats fascinating is a bit like these are people of integrity and character, moderate, centrists and actually there is something about the tenor of our political debate at the moment that doesnt suit those kind of people. So where did she go wrong . Where did Jeremy Corbyn go wrong in terms of the messaging . Especially when youre talking about labour heartlands. I think the labour party, there are three components to it. The first is the nasty toxicity. The Antisemitism Campaign maybe not campaign is not the right word. The allegations the allegations endemic in the party in the way it sees the world. A world view that is actually quite alienating to the working class voters in the north that Boris Johnson is now picking up or the brexit bodys picked up. And the third, of course, is they were just way too socialist. They had a manifesto which was offering people free broadband, free water, everything for free. And nationalizing major industry. Exactly. You had to pay taxes relieve school debt and University Fees would be ditched and all the rest of it. All very nice but obviously did not suit the voters at this time. Because it was a oneissue election, justine. To pollys point, this has been a very divided country. Brexit has now been internalized, the brexit party is the tory party. You stepping down, how does a how can you seriously Boris Johnson say he wants to be a onenation tory after all this divisiveness, this polarization, their partisanship . How does he bring into the conservative party these new constituencies in labour heartland, working class heartland . I think, first of all, he now has the mandate to get brexit done. But thats exactly what those communities will expect. So there is no parliament and different competing Groups Holding Boris Johnson back from delivering the brexit that he sold britain. He can now go over to the eu, negotiate that and decision it. But the second thing is youre absolutely right, he needs to deliver. Yeah. For those communities. I grew up in one of them. I grew up in south yorkshire, very strong lead voting area. I represented putney in london, a very remain area. Both communities were communitied by one thinunited b one thing, which was the lack of opportunity for young people in our country. People growing up in different parts of the country have very different life prospects. And a lack of acceptance about that being the case. Boris johnson has been given a chance by those communities to now start to fix those underlying problems with britain. But theyll expect him to do that. Those are communities that have given labour chances time after time after time to tackle those issues and feel theyve been let down. Theyre now turning to Boris Johnson. But hell need to deliver and fast. And deliver not just on brexit, apologies, christiane, but deliver on those key issues hes promised throughout the labour heartlands. Its quite a different Electoral Coalition hes gone. Whilst maintaining support from shire conservatives, hedge fund managers, the still very traditionally conservative membership will be a challenge. And hes got an empty manifesto. We could see any kind of Prime Ministerial agenda from boris. Son. Its very interesting. Well keep watching. We need to take a break. Were waiting for Boris Johnson to come out and speak but well go to a break first. When you have the best network, you wanna give the best network. Feliz navidad announcer this holiday, you can gift americas most Reliable Network and the latest iphone. I would probably give it to her grandparents so they can take tons of photos. My mom is amazing. If i got her one of these for christmas, shed be freaking out. announcer and now buy the latest iphone and get iphone 11 on us. Plus, get 400 when you switch. With plans starting at just 35. shrieks yeah, exciting. announcer happy holidays from the network that gives you more. Hes finally here hey how are you . Im good. How are you . Hello grandma for every family going home for the holidays, there are countless people working to help them get there. Thank you to everyone we rely on to get us home to the ones we love. I am all about livi g joyfully. Hello. The united explorer card hooks me up. Getting more for getting away. Rewarded going new places and tasting new flavors. Rewarded traveling lighter. Rewarded. Haha, boom getting settled. Rewarded. Learn more at the explorer card dot com. And get. Rewarded is just like our originalhn sandwiches. Only littler. So we bought a little ad. On lil jon. Little johns, yeah 3, what . it seems 14 long hours of almost continual bickering and ft. Wayned outrage masquerading as debate just wasnt enough. Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee seemed intent on delaying a vote on the articles of impeachment, but just after 11 00 p. M. The democratic chairman of the committee adjourned and delayed a vote until friday morning. After that, the articles moved to the full house for approval. The acrimonious debate on thursday was the last public hearing in the impeachment process and the last chance for lawmakers both republican and democrat to grab some attention on prime time television. They ranted, pounded the table and traded insults. Releasing what seems to have been years of pent up bitterness and anger. Republicans continued with a weekslong effort to undermine the case for impeachment, accusing democrats of being motivated by blind hatred for the man who beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. There was, however, one point of agreement. Facts matter, and i hope that each and every one of us can agree at least on that simple point. Yes, they all agreed facts do matter, but they could not agree on the conclusion drawn from the same set of facts. The facts, you know, again, speak for themselves. There was no Impeachable Offense here. And thats why article i of the impeachments ended up falling flat on its face. Joining us now from los angeles, cnn senior political analyst and Senior Editor for the atlantic ron brownstein. Okay, ron, a lot oh get to here. Big picture, after two public hearings, hours of testimony, not one republican lawmaker can find anything questionable about the president s behavior despite officials from within his own administration, forget about the democrats, repeatedly testifying that they were troubled or concerned or alarmed. Yeah, the contrast between the Career Foreign Service professionals and the republicans in congress has grown more and more striking as this story as evolved. We saw several of the officials in president trumps own white house going to the lawyer at the National Security council because they were so alarmed by what they heard on the call and in some cases what they experienced in other settings like the meeting with the ukrainians in early july. John bolton described the conversation to one of his aides as a drug deal. Now every republican in the house is saying theyre okay with it, at least every republican on the Judiciary Committee. President trump is a student of power and i think he correctly interprets this episode of republicans being afraid to deny him on anything, the one thing we can be sure about is that this wont be the last time that he will put them in that position of defending what previously might have been considered indefensible. Yeah. After two days of this, the second day seemed kind of nastier and louder, but there was one republican congressman who seemed ready to call out the absurdity of it all. Here he is. I have not heard a new point or an original thought from either side. In the last three hours. The same talking points have been repeated over and over again ad nauseam, by both sides. Repeating a fact over and over doesnt make it true and denying a fact over and over doesnt make it false. Everybody knows this. Everybody watching knows this. This hearings been enough of an institutional embarrassment without putting it on an endless loop. You know, hes right about the repetition by republicans, but that is the point, right . And it seems to be working. If you look at the polls, support for the impeachment is tapering off. Well, first of all, you know, it is that kind of wedding moment where everything has been said and not everyone has said it. Thats kind of what he was alluding to. But, yes, i mean, one of the goals first of all, one of the goals of the republicans has been to act in the process in a way that causes were going to bring you some breaking news right now because Boris Johnson, who has just been elected with a massive majority, is speaking. Glorious, glorious prebreakfast moment before a new dawn rises on a new day and a new government. I want, first of all, to pay tribute to my colleagues who lost their seats through no fault of their own in the elections just gone by. I want to congratulate absolutely everybody in securing the biggest conservative majority since the 1980s. [ cheers and applause ] literally, literally as i look around, literally before many of you were born. [ laughter ] and with this mandate and this majority, we will at last be able to do what . [ crowd chants get brexit done ] getting brexit done is the irrefutable, unarguable decision of the british people. And with this election, i think weve put an end to all those miserable threats of a second referendum. And i say i say respectfully i say respectfully to our torian friend in the blue 12star hat, thats it. Time to put a sock in the me megaphone and give everybody some peace. Because i have i have a message to all of those who voted for us yesterday, especially those who voted for us conservative, onenation conservatives for the first time. You may only have lent us your vote and you may not think of yourself as a natural tory. And as i think i said 11 years ago to the people of london when i was elected in what was a labour city, your hand may have quivered over the ballot paper before you put your cross in the conservative box, and you may intend to return to labour next time round, and if that is the case, im humbled that you have put your trust in me and that you have put your trust in us. And i and we will never take your support for granted. [ cheers and applause ] and i will make it and we i will make it my mission to work night and day flat out to prove you right in voting for me this time. And to earn your support in the future. And i say to you that in this election your voice has been heard, and about time, too, because we politicians have squandered the last three years, three and a half years in squabbles about brexit. Wed even be arguing about arguing and about the tone of our arguments. I will put an end to all of that nonsense. And we will get brexit done on time by the 31st of january, no ifs, no buts, no maybes. Leaving the European Union as one united kingdom, taking back control of our laws, borders, money, our trade, immigration system, delivering on the democratic mandate of the people, and at the same time this onenation conservative government will massively increase our investment in the nhs, the Health Service that represents the very best of our country with this Single Beautiful idea that whoever we are, rich, poor, young, old, the nhs is there for us. When we are sick and every day that service performs miracles. If and that is why the nhs is this onenation conservative governments top priority. And so we will deliver 50,000 more nurses and 50 million more gp surgery appointments. And how many new hospitals . Correct. And we will deliver longterm nhs budget enshrined in law, 650 million extra every week, health secretary. And all and all the other priorities that you the people of this country voted for. Record spending on schools. An australianstyle points based immigration system. More police. How many . Colossal new investments in infrastructure and science, using our incredible technological advantages to make this country the cleanest, greenest on earth with the most farreaching environmental program. And you the people of this country voted to be Carbon Neutral in this election. You voted to be Carbon Neutral by 2050 and well do it. Corbyn by christmas, too, by the way, and well do that too. You voted for all these things and it is now this government, this peoples government. Its out solemn duty to deliver on each and every one of those commitments and it is a great and heavy responsibility, a sacred trust for me, for every newly elected conservative mp, for everyone in this room and everyone in this party, and i repeat that in winning this election we have won votes and the trust of people who have never voted conservative before. And people who have always voted for other parties. Those people want change. We cannot, must not, must not let them down. And in delivering change we must change, too. We must recognize the incredible reality that we now speak as a onenation conservative party, literally for everyone from working to from kinston im proud to say to the south. From surrey heath to sedgefield. From wimbledon to wolferhampton. We must rise to the challenge of the level of expectations and Parliament Must change so that we in parliament are working for you, the british people. And that is what we will now do, isnt it . That is what we will now do. Lets go out lets go out and get on with it. Lets unite this country. Lets spread opportunity to every corner of the uk with superb education, superb infrastructure and technology. Lets get brexit done. But first, my friends, lets get breakfast done. Thank you all. Thank you all very much for coming. Thank you all very much. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Boris johnson, Prime Minister, who lets be absolutely clear now, has actually been elected by the people. Up until now he was merely appointed by the inner leadership of his own party. And now hes been elected by a massive majority by the british people to, quote, unquote, get brexit done. But lets also be very clear that this is chapter one in the long brexit divorce and renegotiation story. And what weve heard today, as you saw from him as he was speaking there at the podium, now he theyre branding themselves as the peoples government. He said were one nation, were a onenation conservative party. It was a celebratory speech, a congratulatory speech basically thanking the people up and down the country, those that voted conservative for the first time, for putting their trust in him. But we also say he also said well get brexit done by january 31st. No ifs, no buts. And there are many people betting that he might try to earlier because hes got the mandate in parliament. Were going to take a break and well be back with a lot more. Up here at the dewars distillery, all our whiskies are aged, blended and aged again. Its the reason our whisky is so extraordinarily smooth. Dewars. Double aged for extra smoothness. Is just like our originalhn sandwiches. Only littler. So we bought a little ad. On lil jon. Little johns, yeah 3, what . 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. I like working. What if my Retirement Plan is, i dont want to retire . Then lets not create a Retirement Plan, lets create a plan for whats next. I like that. Get a plan thats right for you. Td ameritrade. Get a plan thats right for you. What are you doing back there, junior . Since were obviously lost, im rescheduling my Xfinity Customer Service appointment. Ah, relax. I got this. Which gps are you using anyway . A Little Something called instinct. Been using it for years. Yeah, thats what im afraid of. He knows exactly where were going. My whole body is a compass. Oh boy. The my account app makes todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Not my thing. Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of the results of the uk general election. Im Christiane Amanpour along with isa suarez. Boris johnson has received exactly what he asked for, a commanding majority in parliament. To, quote, endlessly get brexit done. This, after all, though, is only chapter one. Voters across the uk pushed the number of conservative seats well beyond the 326 seats that it actually needed. Now, that was the conservative, it was a dismal night, however, for the opposition labour party. It was showing the fact in some 80 years, Jeremy Corbyn has already announced he will step down. Although its not clear win. He will not lead the party at the next general election. And who knows when that might be. Exactly. With this kind of commanding majority in this system there could be an endless Boris Johnson government. Another political casualty, though, is jo swinson of the liberal democratic party. She lost her seat and is stepping down. Swinson was in that position as head less than six months. Now, british Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke at a victory rally just moments ago. Take a listen to some of the highlights. Put an end to all of those miserable threats of a second referendum. And so i respectfully ask for in the in the blue 12star hat, thats it. Time to put a sock in the labour party. And there you hear you heard Boris Johnson. On the right of your screen youre seeing Boris Johnson arriving at 10 downing street. Its been a busy few hours for him. Where he spoke in the last few minutes. But here he is arriving just not far from where we are at 10 downing street. Cnn live at the conservative Party Headquarters where Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, was speaking. Nina, he said no ifs, no buts, well get brexit done, but january 31st. The question is now. What happens after that . Reporter well, im actually outside the Queen Elizabeth center which is not far from the conservative Party Headquarters. This is the building where he just delivered that speech. Just driving in front of our cameras and heading over toward downing street just a few minutes walk away from here. And in the 15minute speech that he made, shorter than that, he pressed home as you heard before a few key points. One, for anybody who had any illusions that brexit could be reversed at this point, he now has a big mandate to get it done as soon as possible and in the most forceful of fashions possible. He says that basically that will and this is something he said all through his campaign, in fairness, that would give his government license to then start focussing on the domestic agendas. On beefing up the police numbers, to beef up education and spending and infrastructure and things that this country has been hamstrung in doing over the last three years because of the pr paralysis that brexit has brought. He also alluded to the significant number of labour voters who voted conservative for the first time, helping to swing key labour seats that have been voting labour for generations in both the northeast of the uk and the northwest as well. When he said, you know, i value your support and i aim to be a Prime Minister for you as well. Isa . Christiane . Okay. Thank you very much, nina dos santos there. Thank you for that. Joining us now is robin oakley. Robin, what was your take on what we saw today . Well, Boris Johnson has now got a completely new task with a new kind of party. Hes got to reflect the kind of people who have come in from the labour heartlands largely because they were previously leave voters in the referendum. Hes got to wrap them into a conservative party, a conservative party whose activists are completely unrepresentative of the country as a whole. And, in fact, you could say that of both major parties. But hes got to change his style. Hes got to produce a more inclusive conservative party. And hes not got to be the kind of vindictive figure that we saw when he was dealing with the rebels in his own party who were trying to stop a no deal brexit. The way in which he dealt with those, pretty ruthless way he dealt with those, showed a very tough side to Boris Johnson. The now is, you know, will the real Boris Johnson stand up . And if so what is the real Boris Johnson . Were going to ask you that after we take a quick break and well be back with much more from robin oakley. Lows 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. Welcome back. Lets bring in cnn political contributor robin oakley to talk more about what he last said. Will the real Boris Johnson now please stand up . So the Boris Johnson has said get brexit done. Thats his slogan and that is what won him this election. It was clear. People on both sides of the brexit divide just want to get on with it and he succeeded in that. But just tell us and tell our viewers so that everybodys clear that this is not the end of the brexit debate. Even if he divorces britain from the eu, hes still got to create a deal. Far from it, yes. Brexit stage two begins the moment that he gets through this is just getting britain out of the mechanics of the European Union. As you say, christiane. The whole business now is getting a new trade deal with europe while simultaneously trying to get trade deals with the rest of the world, particularly the United States. Getting those two things to mesh together is going to be very difficult for a start. But the curious thing is, you know, Boris Johnson, he doesnt carry a lot of ideological baggage. When it came to the referendum vote in 2016, he was a journalist and he had two articles written. One in favor of joining staying with europe and one against, and it was almost on the toss of a coin it seems he decided he would go with the Referendum Campaign and the Brexit Campaign and he played a big part in that. But now hes got a freedom. The european leaders actually wanted him to have a big majority last night because they wanted clarity. They wanted to know what britain was actually going to do. Hes now got the strength to put through brexit on his terms. Every conservative mp elected through the night signed up to a manifesto saying no extension of the intervening period beyond next year. Its got to be done by the end of the year. Which means we could be facing a no deal again. Thats a very, very tight timetable. Could mean no deal. Thank you very much, robin. Well be back after a very short break. Do stay right here with cnn. [ tires screech ] the big idaho potato truck is touring america telling folks about idaho potatoes. And i want it back. What is it with you and that truck . 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. I am all about livi g joyfully. Hello. The united explorer card hooks me up. Getting more for getting away. Rewarded going new places and tasting new flavors. Rewarded traveling lighter. Rewarded. Haha, boom getting settled. Rewarded. Learn more at the explorer card dot com. And get. Rewarded billions of problems. Sore gums . Bleeding gums . Painful flossing . Theres a therabreath for you. Therabreath healthy gums oral rinse fights gingivitis and plaque and prevents gum disease for 24 hours. So you can. Breathe easy, theres therabreath at walmart. I waited to get treated. Thought surgery was my only option. But then i found out about nonsurgical treatments. It was a total game changer. Learn more about the condition at factsonhand. Com up 14 long hours of heated debate just as it seemed the House Judiciary Committee was winding for a procedural vote the democrat chairman adjourned. Republicans were accused of stalling so the vote would take place in the middle of the night. If the Judiciary Committee approves the articles when it convenes later on friday, the next step will be a full house vote likely next week. So once we get to the Senate Therell be a trial, and the leader of the Senate Mitch Mcconnell told fox news he is working closely, he is coordinating with lawyers for donald trump. Here he is. The president s counsel may or may not decide they want to have witnesses. The case is so darn week coming over from the house. We all know its going to end. There is no chance the president is going to be removed from office. So much for checks and balances and an impartial trial. Its like the jury chairman admitting hes taking his orders from the defense attorneys. Reporter its like the jury getting together and conspiring and predicting the outcome even before the trial begins, and thats really unfortunate because the senate has a separate and independent obligation under the constitution to be a check and balance on the executive branch. And this is not inspiring in the least bit to see Mitch Mcconnell pretty much predicting the outcome of the trial even before its began. I think most people or a lot of people assume this sort of thing would happen anyway. Its astounding though he would actually declare it publicly on television. Yeah, i think it just plays into what weve seen throughout the day, the 14 hours we saw the insults, we saw the derogatory statements made by the republicans. We saw the historyonics, the outrage machine and i think this is an extension of that. It does not appear, john, the republicans are taking this somber process seriously. And the somber statements i think just echoes what we saw today by house republicans. Some of it was just outright shameful conduct. Particularly the personal attacks on hunter biden, you know, comments about his Substance Abuse and other personal issues that have absolutely nothing to do with the conduct of the president. That was a new low in this entire impeachment process, the florida congressman went down that path. Just very quickly once the Senate Delivers a verdict, thats the final word ro, right . Donald trump will have his bragging rights he was acquitted in the senate, but guess what, there will forever be an asterisk by his name as the third president in the United States to be impeached by the house and that is bothersome to him as it should be. It should be troubling to this president given his outlandish and at this point we can call it unlawful conduct. We know for a two thirds majority for a super majority for the president to be removed, and thats not going to happen. There could, however, be three or four who decide that the president has actions that rise to the level he should be removed. Fw its over that 51 plus, is that a win of sorts for democrats . I think if even one republican, you know, stands up and shows some courage in this process its a win not only for the democrats but for the country. I think we can look at this through bipartisan lenses but this is serious issue, a constitutional crisis this president has put us in. And i think the American People are expecting some of these republican congressmen to put country before party and to look at the facts that have been established that are very persuasive and compelling and to do the right thing and make a vote consistent with those facts that clearly prove that this president has abused his power. It is one of those moments of history where it does seem that the republicans have lost sight of where they stand in all of this and how they will be viewed, you know, 5, 10 years from now. We cant imagine, john, if this were president obama, president clinton or any democratic president that you would see the kind of arguments, you know, the kind of distorted arguments being made by the republicans, and theyre just willful overlooking of the conduct of this president. And i think history will not be kind to any of these republicans that continue to defend him in the face of such Persuasive Evidence against him. Yeah. Absolutely. And areva, of course we will continue to follow the reconvening of the House Judiciary Committee which is at 10 00 a. M. Eastern time. Therell be live coverage here on cnn for everyone to follow along. Thank you there in los angeles. Also id like to thank our viewers around the world for a big news day here with all new developments in the u. K. With a general election there with Boris Johnson winning a big majority in parliament. Theyll be back after a very short break. Youre watching cnn. Oh oh oh ozempic® announcer people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of onceweekly ozempic®. In a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7 and maintained it. Oh under 7 . announcer and you may lose weight. In the same oneyear study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. Oh up to 12 pounds . announcer a twoyear study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death. Oh no increased risk . announcer ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not share needles or pens. Dont reuse needles. 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We were on Impeachment Vote watch, but theres been an unexpected delay, so the historic votes of articles of impeachment against president Donald John Trump will happen just hours from now, yes on friday 13th. Where will history take us . Where will it leave us . Lets get after it. 10 00 a. M. Eastern on friday morning the 13th, thats the new time for this phase of the reckoning for this president