call for it. not clear he has the votes to pass those. let's begin on capitol hill with cnn congressional reporter lauren fox. lauren, what are these deadlines today exactly calling for? >> well, expect more back and forth between the white house's legal team and house democrats today. jim, the white house will have to file their own legal brief, then the house democrats will respond to the white house's brief from saturday. so that is more legal back and forth as we head into the official start of the trial tomorrow. here is a little bit about what you can expect. tomorrow we expect the session to start at 1:00. once again, you're going to see senators in their seats. this trial will begin and it will go six days a week, monday through saturday, with a break on sunday. you can also expect senators aren't going to be able to have their electronics. they are not fog to going to beo talk to one another. this is a little bit of a wild west situation where we don't know how long is this trial going to go and how long will all these members be expected to sit in the senate. that's still a very unclear question. another question, whether or not there will be witnesses. you've heard from chuck schumer what they want to do is they want to ensure they are going to force votes on these witnesses. whether they have the republican votes to actually get these witnesses in either depositions or in the well of the senate, another question entirely, jim. >> lauren fox on the hill, thanks very much. we'll have updates throughout the morning. let's get to cnn senior washington correspondent joe johns outside the white house. how is the president's defense team getting ready? a number of lawyers reported to me alan dershowitz, he was on television over the weekend. does that give a sense of what it will be like going forward? >> he was on television. just this morning robert ray, another star the president added to the defense team also on television as well. we have been getting just a few hints, if you will, about what this brief is going to look like scheduled for around noon eastern time. by the way, this will be the first substantive defense that we've seen of the president on paper. they did give us a preview over the weekend when they put out that answer to the democrats trial brief. essentially what they say is this case against the president was flawed from the beginning based on partisan politics. they have said again and again and again that there is no crime alleged, and that is unusual in their view in an impeachment of a president of the united states. the fact of the matter is, a number of the impeachments of some of the lesser figures across history have involved things like abuse of power and have not alleged crimes. that, of course, is part of what the democrats are saying in their rebuttal. democrats also making the point that, look, there's this report that came out just last week from the general accounting office indicating that the president and the administration violated the law when they withheld that $400 million in aid from ukraine. so that's pushing in the direction of a counter argument, if you will. the attorneys are also very concerned, of course, about what the procedures are going to be, just like everybody else. robert ray even indicating he doesn't know what the procedures are going to be despite the fact republicans on capitol hill and the president are presumably on the same team. nonetheless, we do know there's a presumption here, at least, that the democrats will get a couple days to make their case. and the republicans or the president's legal team will also get equal time on that. jim, back to you. >> will that change minds in the senate, american public? remains to be seen. joe johns, thank you very much. joining me to discuss this legal analyst in hennessy, author of "unmag of the presidency. phillip bobbitt, law school professor and co-author of the handbook. i want to begin with you, the central part of the defense is, if no crime, sountsds like they are saying statutory crime is committed, impeachment is not warranted. it's speaking because members of the president's own legal team have contradicted themselves on the question. let's listen to alan dershowitz in 1988 and today and i want to get your reaction. >> without a crime there can be no impeachment. >> certainly doesn't have to be a crime. if you have somebody had completely corrupts the office of president and who abuses trust and poses great danger to our liberty you don't need a technical crime. >> so, bobbitt, what did the founders intend here? >> i think it's pretty clear, reading federalist number 65. 66, alexander hamilton, discussion, impeachment of the convention. even just a consideration of the kinds of things they were worried about would negative the idea it had to be a crime. to take just one example, bribery is explicitly a basis for impeachment in the constitution. yet there was no federal anti-bribery criminal statute at the time the constitution was adopted. so i think this is a very eccentric argument. >> phillip bobbitt mentions federalist paper 65 alexander hamilton wrote it. he's been in the public discussion for years due to hamilton. let's quote from it. those offenses which are from the abuse or violation of some public trust. susan hennessy, that's the core argument here from democrats, right, that, you know, this may not be a law on the books like, i don't know, speeding or theft but that it gets to the function of the office. >> this is a grave abuse of power. it's abuse of power that goes to the manner in which the president is selected. the idea the founders did not intend for impeachment to be a recommendty to precisely this kind of wrongdoing i think just sort of defies common sense and logic and one reason why we're seeing so many clips of professor dershowitz and others making that argument just a few years ago during the clinton impeachment because it's supported by logic. if the president could not be impeached for this, what could he be impeached for. >> phil bobbitt, on this sort of broader question here, as you look at it, written in the "washington post" says the following, if the president using authority for personal advantage, personal or political he in injuries the country as a whole. that's why framers rejected on an election solely removing a president for office. indeed waiting for the next election is obviously insufficient when the abuse of power is directed at cheating in that very election. that's the other part of the democrats' argument here. i wonder, do they undermine it by delaying transmitting those articles after voting in the house, transmitting the articles to the senate, the urgency argument about its upcoming effect on the election. >> i don't think so. in fact, i thought it was a rather courageous step by speaker pelosi. what she did was give the country time, she gave the senate time to ask ourselves, what is grave enough to remove a president from office. if it's the charges she's sent forward, what sort of evidence would we need. the president had stonewalled the house inquiry. i think it was a very wise thing to have done to take a step back and say what witnesses can nail this one way or the other, which have the most intimate personal knowledge of the president's state of mind. >> susan hennessy, when you look, for instance, at the articles of impeachment against richard nixon, of course he resigned before they went to a senate trial because he knew that they had the votes to remove him. they cited specifically abuse of hour and contempt of congress. in that case along the lines -- similar along the lines the democrats are making now. the nixon white house refused to provide a lot of information to congress and, of course, that's what we've seen here. abuse of power was specifically mentioned in those articles. >> they are also in both the clinton and nixon draft and actual articles of impeachment. lying to the public was a significant article. so clearly there is precedent for this. it also goes deeper. this isn't about sort of a technical dispute between the various powers of the branches. this the president of the united states saying they aren't going to comply with any subpoenas. if is the president of the united states saying he doesn't recognize congress's ability to legitimately conduct an impeachment inquiry. whenever we talk about the abuse, the obstruction of congress sort of pronged specifically we have to understand that in the light of an administration whose strategy has been an all-out assault on the notion that congress is a co-equal branch of government entitled to information about what it is doing. >> that's the other big question here. you do feel bobbitt, before we go, have republicans making two arguments at the same time, do you not? one, that the central allegation is not proven. but two, even if it were proven, it's not enough to remove. does that muddy the waters or is that kind of a typical to be expected defense strategy to kind of cover your bases as it were? >> probably both. i think abuse of office can easily be muddiemuddied. after all presidents use their executive power to enhance their political position all the time. the issue isn't has the president used the power of the presidency to improve his political position. that's not the question. the question is has he corruptly used that power? has he done something unlawful like withholding military assistance authorized by congress. there you can do he's done that with the aim of disparaging vice president biden, that seems right down the centerline of impeachment. >> well, we're going to see these arguments play out in the coming hours and days. susan hennessy, phil bobbitt, thanks to both of you. virginia on the edge this hour. gun rights activists heading to virginia capital protesting legislation that would restrict access to firearms in the state. some fear extremists could be violent. before the campaign trial presidential candidates make their pitches on the last day before senate impeachment trial begins. we're on top of all those 2020 headlines. decades after his death, celebrating the life, legacy of civil rights leader martin luther king jr., a man who fought tirelessly for racial and economic equality for african-americans. here is a live look at his memorial in washington, d.c., at this hour. we'll be right back. at leaf blowers. you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. make ice. making ice. but you're not mad because you have e*trade which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler so you can take on the markets with confidence. don't get mad get e*trade and start trading commission free today. don't get mad get e*trade and start trading i don't make compromises. i want nutrition made just for me. but i also want great taste. so i drink boost for women. new boost women with key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. all with great taste. new boost women. all with great taste. apps except work.rywhere... why is that? is it because people love filling out forms? maybe they like checking with their supervisor to see how much vacation time they have. or sending corporate their expense reports. i'll let you in on a little secret. they don't. by empowering employees to manage their own tasks, paycom frees you to focus on the business of business. to learn more, visit paycom.com this round's on me.eat. hey, can you spot me? come on in. find your place today, with silversneakers. included in most medicare advantage plans. enroll today by calling the number on your screen or visit getsilversneakers.com . president trump has been touting a unified republican party as the impeachment trial kicks off. george conway, a frequent critic of the president, husband of presidential counselor kellyanne, has a theory about that. in a new op-ed he co-authored conway writes, quote, men and women came to washington, one hopes, to perform public service in support of that constitution. they should know in their hearts and their heads what has to happen. but their fear, fear that doing their constitutional duties will harm their personal political futures have led them, and all of us, to this place. i'm joined by republican congressman francis rooney of florida. he serves on the foreign affairs committee. congressman, we appreciate you taking the time this morning. >> thanks for having me back on. >> now, you, to your credit, throughout this process, and you said on this broadcast early on, you kept an open mind on this. ultimately you did vote against impeachment of the president. you made your statement. you said it really hadn't been proven. i do want to ask you about george conway's argument there that what's really driving republicans, whether in the house or particularly in the senate now is political survival rather than principle. what do you think? >> that could be the case for some people, certainly not me. i don't fear much of anything other than god and my family, kaeg care of my family. the fact of the matter is, i did an exhaustive research, talked to white house counsels, talked about impeachment, what should it be and what's it been in the past and came to a conclusion as someone said on your show a few minutes ago, this is not a parking violation. if we have evidence we should go get it. i pled with leadership to break privilege claims and fight this out like watergate and get all that firsthand evidence out there. i have to say just what's come out of the news in the last week shows i might have been right. there's things that have come out that would be better to be explored. >> let me ask you a question, as you look at that new evidence coming out, give an example, not confined this, e-mails from omb to pentagon after that trump zelensky fn call saying stop this aid and that order came from the white house. you look at evidence like that, would that have changed your vote or would that have at least kept your mind open to changing your vote? >> it would have certainly been one more issue to consider and moving closer to raising the level of impropriety in the whole process. it never was really explored. the omb thing, the one fellow testified but it was never explored fully. nor the business about devin nunes or attorney general giuliani meeting without this stuff. >> that's some of the other new evidence i was going to mention. i just wondered, who is to blame for that. as you know the white house had an across the board response to requests for witnesses and documents and e-mails, et cetera. it's one reason we're seeing the lev parnas texts now, only now, because the justice department held onto his devices during the house process, so he only got access to them afterwards. whose fault is that? is that the white house or fault of the house democrats? >> well, i think first of all, administrations seem to always claim they are protecting the office and claim executive privilege, going back to nixon and pentagon papers and they usually end up losing. every time they do there's more case law since u.s. versus nixon that will tend to say if you fight it out, you're going to get what the public interest needs. i don't totally understand why the house was in such a hurry to do this. >> looking now to the senate trial, it's going to start tomorrow, the other bit of news between the house and the senate portions of the process is one big witness, john bolton, the president's former national security adviser, who says he has direct knowledge of this, he's now volunteered to testify before the senate. would you advise your republican colleagues, and it's not clear they have the votes there to compel his testimony, subpoena his testimony, would you advise them to say, listen, hear him out? >> i definitely would. in fact, that's what i urge that the house side do. he basically wrote chairman schiff and said in an oblique way, let me come testify, and they didn't do it. i think they should hear the witnesses that can bear on all ramifications of the case. >> of course republicans and the sfors saying, some of them saying, well, the house should have done that. we in the senate should not be required to or pressured to do the house's job. thais a fair argument or should republicans in the senate say, listen, the emphasis should be on the evidence here. let's listen and decide. >> i think they should hear the testimony they can get. i think the house should have done it as well. you good back to look at watergate, they conducted parallel investigations, used a lot of the same witnesses and different witnesses. >> understood. of course even go back to the clinton impeachment and there were new witness at least depositions given not in the senate chamber, including by the president. i wondered, i know you've seen this before, and he's not the first one to kind of change his public position between the clinton add impeachment and today but alan dershowitz on the president's team at the time he said doesn't have to be a statutory crime, it can be an insult to the office. now he's saying it has to be a crime. you've heard lindsey graham's position switch. also folks on the democratic side. i wonder when you look at that, it does seem that principled arguments are in short supply as opposed to what appear to be politically motivated arguments. you're someone who, and we've had a lot of conversations about this, who took your position very seriously. you tried to take principled positions. are you disappointed by how this has played out? >> yeah. that's a problem with the whole system that so much of what everyone does relates to politics and re-election and things like that instead of the kind of principles we've taken an oath to uphold. it's been amazing to see some of the changes in positions over time. >> black and white, some of them. congressman rooney, we always appreciate you taking time to join us on the show. thanks so much for doing it on a holiday. >> thanks for having me on. >> coming up right now the trump administration is looking to renew and expand its travel ban. sources familiar with the process says the plans include new immigration restrictions on seven additional countries. those new rules could limit certain immigrant visas, in effect, an immigration band serving as a parpgs ban for the countries. version 2 and the current one, the countries on that list, after previous iterations were challenged in court the supreme court upheld third version of president trump's travel ban in 2018 conclusiincludes varying restrictions for iran, syria, libya, somalia, yemen, sudan and iraq. chad was removed after the country improved security measures. stay on top of that story. the democrats' lead impeachment manager accusing an intelligence agency of holding back key evidence in the impeachment trial. stay with us. king it smaller. and you'll be surprised at how easily starting small... ...can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette introducing ore-ida potato pay. where ore-ida golden crinkles are your crispy currency to pay for bites of this... ...with this. when kids won't eat dinner, potato pay them to. ore-ida. win at mealtime. it took plenty of work to get here. but it's still important to be prepared for what's next. at fidelity, we can help you build a clear plan for retirement without the unnecessary fees you might expect from so many financial firms. we'll make sure you can cover the essentials, as well as all the things you want to do. because when you have a retirement partner who gives you clarity at every step, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. ♪ here's wishing you the bluest sky ♪ we're just one day away from the start of president trump's senate trial. senators will sit to decide whether to remove him from office. the lead impeachment manager intelligence chairman adam schiff claims u.s. intelligence agencies are stonewalling potentially important evidence for the trial. >> the intelligence community is beginning to withhold documents for congress on the issue of ukraine. they appear to be succumbing to pressure from the administration, nsa in particular are withholding what are potentially relevant documents to our oversight responsibilities on ukraine but also withholding documents potentially relevant the senators might want to see during the trial. >> joining me now to discuss is shawn turner, former director of communications for national intelligence and white house correspondent for reuters. thanks to both of you. shawn, let me ask you based on your experience what kind of evidence is nsa and other intelligence agencies required to share with the relevant committees in this case, the house intelligence committees. i'm just curious. can you think of a time during your tenure that intel agencies refused a congressional request? >> well, i certainly can't remember a time when intelligence agency wof refusul refused the question is this it's consistent with oversight committees. to be candid, jim, i'm not sure that's what's happening here. as chairman of the intelligence committee adam schiff understands it is certainly possible that in the course of typical foreign intelligence collection activities by the nsa, that there may have been inform, documents that could have potentially been collected by foreign individuals outside of the united states that could potentially be related to the impeachment proceedings. so he's asking the right questions. i think that it's just a question of the nsa working with the office of the director of national intelligence to provide that information. i think it's really important to point out that that information could be corroborating or exculpatory with regard to anything going on with regard to impeachment hearings. it's not up to the intelligence committee to decide that one way or the other. they will simply provide that information once those requests make it through the system. >> do you see the administration's hand in this blocking either the intel agencies or perhaps intel agencies assuming this would not please the white house? >> that was the implication congressman schiff was making. he's suggesting we're not getting this information and that is a sign of pressure from the administration. there's obviously been a complicated relationship between president trump and the intelligence community broadly and he has disagreed with them before. the implication is that is what's influencing this decision. it can have real world consequences if, in fact, that's the case. >> if it's, indeed, intercepts and you have foreign officials speaking about this very issue, you can see why that might be relevant. at the same time shawn turner, you have intelligence officials who normally brief publicly, particularly during worldwide threat assessments, this is when they explain to sitting members of congress but also the american people what are the biggest threats to u.s. national security and why. there's now a move under way to cancel the officials public testimony perhaps because they know those officials have contradicted some of the president's statements. what's the fallout from that, in your view? >> i think, you know, it's important to remember that for a long time intelligence directors, i remember back when i was working for jim clapper, doing the worldwide public threat assessment is very challenging, talking about issues that are classified but trying to do so in an unclassified way. it's a little different in this administration, the concern is a little different. certainly as jeff pointed out the intelligence community has had difficulty here with trying to walk the line between reporting intelligence which is accurate and unbiased and fair and having those reports be inconsistent with things you've heard coming out of the administration. certainly that's a concern for the intelligence community because as we pointed out the intelligence community is focused on doing the work of intelligence. the last thing that any intelligence leader needs right now is to be pulled into the political fray. so while i think it's appropriate for a public hearing to take place, i understand the concerns on the part of the intelligence community. we don't need any more rifts between the intel community and this administration. >> in that case the american people lose outright, they don't get a fulsome discussion of what the threats are. turn to the impeachment question here, open question, will there be votes there to call witnesses, a witness like john bolton who has raised his hand to do so. majority leader schumer said he's going to try to force this question at the start when they are voting on the rules. not clear if they have the votes then in particular. how does that play out? more likely lose it then but might get four republican votes you need after a couple of weeks. >> maybe revisit after a couple of weeks. people like susan collins, a moderate republican indicated she wants to hear everything, hear all the evidence, then discuss whether or not witnesses are required. there might be enough votes including those republicans to join democrats but probably not at the very beginning. >> does it based on your reporting, you're not a whip for either party here, but is the critical mass moving in that direction towards having the votes? is it becoming a difficult vote for some of those republicans on the bubble to say no, in effect? >> i think it's still an open question but does seem like the trend is going in that direction. you hear more comments saying this is something we'd be open to, this is something we're not ruling out. it's hard to say. we don't know what will happen in the next couple of weeks. we'll start to see tomorrow afternoon prof afternoon. >> be prepared for surprises at every turn. thanks to both of you for coming in on this holiday. as gun rights activists gather at the virginia state capital there's fear supremacists, white supremacists could spark violence outside the otherwise peaceful demonstrations. among others live reports from richmond, there's real concern there about what intention is behind this coming up. my gums are irritated. i don't have to worry about that, do i? harmful bacteria lurk just below the gum line. crest gum detoxify, voted product of the year. it works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. gum detoxify, from crest. when crabe stronger...strong, with new nicorette coated ice mint. layered with flavor... it's the first and only coated nicotine lozenge. for an amazing taste... ...that outlasts your craving. new nicorette ice mint. this round's on me.eat. hey, can you spot me? come on in. find your place today, with silversneakers. included in most medicare advantage plans. enroll today by calling the number on your screen or visit getsilversneakers.com at this very hour authorities in richmond, virginia, are bracing for the possibility of violence. a state of emergency in place is a massive gun rights rally gets under way at the state capital. a large but peaceful crowd is there protesting legislation to restrict access to firearms. for today the government has banned weapons on the capital grounds. but outside capital grounds, many demonstrators are, in fact, heavily armed. they look like soldiers there. look at those weapons. look at the gear. cnn's nick wvalencia joins us now. >> we want to be clear this is an event that occurs every year, hosted by the defense league. the threats, credible threats, the arrest we saw from the fbi, seven suspected neo-nazi members, some of whom the fbi said were on their way here. the critics of the governor, they don't believe that. they don't believe there are any credible threats. they believe that was more political theater. however, security is very tight on the way in here. this is officially known as lobby day but it's turned really more into a protest day. no representatives, democratic representatives on hand to lobby, they received death threats so they decided not to show up out of safety concerns. i want to show you behind me, large crowds very peaceful here on the steps of the capital. the majority of the demonstrators that are here are just beyond the fence. they are outside because that's the areas where you can have weapons. people there with long guns, pistols at their hips. people that knew they weren't going to be allowed into the state grounds but showed up anyway because they wanted to show their support for the second amendment. there is a concern this could have similar repercussions to a similar incident we saw in charlottesville in 2017. so far the crowd is peaceful. they have chanted usa sometimes. they have chants negative chants towards democratic governor ralph northam but by and large they have been peaceful. >> nick valencia, we'll keep an eye on developments there this morning. two honolulu police officers dead, three people unaccounted for after a call for help led to a shooting and massive fire. police say the suspect shot and killed officers kaulike. flames you can see there destroyed six neighboring houses. the suspect and two women still unaccounted for. police searching the debris for their remains. quite a scene there. today is the last full day of campaigning for four presidential candidates who also happen to be u.s. senators. up next, how president trump's impeachment trial could impact those democrats running for the white house. at leaf blowers. you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. make ice. making ice. but you're not mad because you have e*trade which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler so you can take on the markets with confidence. don't get mad get e*trade and start trading commission free today. don't get mad get e*trade and start trading apps except work.rywhere... why is that? is it because people love filling out forms? maybe they like checking with their supervisor to see how much vacation time they have. or sending corporate their expense reports. i'll let you in on a little secret. they don't. by empowering employees to manage their own tasks, paycom frees you to focus on the business of business. to learn more, visit paycom.com sleep this amazing? that's a zzzquil pure zzzs sleep. our liquid has a unique botanical blend, while an optimal melatonin level helps you nod off naturally with no next-day grogginess. zzzquil pure zzzs. naturally superior sleep. and try vicks pure zzzs kidz, a low dose melatonin gummy that helps your child fall asleep naturally. i need help getting an appointment with my podiatrist. how's wednesday at 2? dog agility. thursday at 10? robot cage match. the 28th at 3? done. there's so much to take advantage of- -with unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans- four u.s. senators hitting the campaign trail for president today, will be there final day pushing for votes before the start of the impeachment trial. it's a crucial time for these candidates as the iowa caucuses, now just two weeks from today. with me now britney shepherd, national political error reporter for yahoo! news. brittany you've got four senators there, some of them in the fight for their lives in this political race. now they are going to be sitting on the bench at least for the next two weeks. what difference does that make to their campaigns? >> it's important to know, two are returning to d.c. in a bit of a victory lap. "new york times" endorsed senator elizabeth warren and senator amy klobuchar for president. so in this crucial time when six out of seven days and two weeks to the iowa caucus, they have to be squeezing in any kind of campaigning time they can. essentially with a four-way neck and neck tie, it's not just a race for first place. it's a race to be second and third place in these early state primaries. so they are going to be having to be squeezing in any campaigning they can. being silent for six or seven days will be a hit for them especially michael bennet who feels like he's out of the race. >> the others trying to get or stay in the top tier. i want to get to the "new york times" endorsement in a moment. before we get there, the front-runner, of course, remains joe biden. he had quite a back and forth, a clash with bernie sanders, jessica dean, and i know you were there at the event accusing him of misrepresenting his record. >> right. it was interesting because it was a voter who actually asked him about his record on social security. biden kind of looked around, paused for just a moment and said, you know what, i'm going to say it. that's when he said there is this he called it a doctored video. if you look at it, it's a video taken out of context. if you watch that part it does represent what he was saying. take a listen for yourself. >> it is simply a lie that video that's going around. this is a doctored tape. i think it's beneath and i'm looking for his campaign to come forward and disown it but they haven't done it yet. >> so there you go. you heard him call it a doctored tape. it's this clipped tape taken out of context. listen, this is a fight bernie sanders has wanted to have with joe biden for a while now. here we are getting down in iowa, that was circulated by one of bernie's people. bernie sanders has pushed back on this and biden pushed back on him. the bottom line is the sanders campaign wanted to have this fight. maybe not in this way where biden can push back on this video and say, hey, you took me out of context here but also similar to a fight bernie sanders and hillary clinton had in 2016. so in a weird way we've kind of been here before. >> even the last couple of days, brittany shepherd, an open spat between sanders and warren. this is the meaty part of the race here. people are going to start voting in a few weeks. we're going to know who wins and who loses. is this damaging for democrats, britta brittany, to have such public battle going on. >> certainly you hear from voters in states like iowa and new hampshire they are sick of infighting with bernie and biden it makes sense, they really like joe biden. as important as all these caucuses are, crucially, like, if you don't get black voters who might not win a nomination, that's a wall that all of these front runners are going to be facing into nevada and iowa and beyond. it is crucial cannibalization time for these two candidates, even aside of like infighting and partisan politics, they just want to be number one in front of -- for all the demographics. >> yeah. and jessica, you've seen candidates who haven't had much progress making inroads among african-american voters, pete buttigieg among them, andrew yang, he tweeted out a video of him, this video of him performing with a black choir in waterloo, just this weekend here, and here is that video now. they're making an effort, but you might say that joe biden's firewall, if that's the right way to describe it, typically among african-americans, typically in south carolina is holding. >> yeah, i think you can certainly make that argument if you look at the data points, if you look at his support among biden's support among black voters, it really has not wavered since the get-go, since the beginning of this race. and the biden campaign is counting on that. they have had all kinds of outreach to african-american voters. it is a very, very important demographic to them and if you talk to the biden campaign, they'll tell you, look, we're going to try and show everyone that joe biden can build this broad coalition, that he can win among all these different types of people, and that that's what the democratic nominee is going to have to do in order to beat donald trump. and interestingly, jim, you mentioned pete buttigieg, andrew yang, struggling with african-american voters. i think andrew yang at 3% in the last washington post poll. buttigieg at 2%. so they certainly have a long way to go, buttigieg initially wasn't going to be here in south carolina today and, remember, this is a marquee event where you have to prove to a key quint constituency that you see them and you have a plan to take them along. he is here, pete buttigieg, today. >> let's talk about "the new york times" endorsement. they're getting grief on social media for endorsing two candidates, elizabeth warren and amy klobuchar. let me quote from the -- oftentimes you got to read the thing to make your own decision about it. they say in this perilous moment, the radical and realist models warrant serious consideration. that's why we're breaking with tradition and putting our support behind not one, but two candidates, elizabeth warren and amy klobuchar, both who articulates a different path forward. saying here is the choice of the american people. is there a minimalist path to change -- to respond to donald trump, joe biden says this, he's an aberration, or elizabeth warren kind of path here, flipping the system to address these issues that led to the trump presidency? that is not an outrageous argument. >> well, no, and you are seeing this kind of ideological clash. sorry. >> no, britney first if you don't mind, jessica, i want to hear from you as well. >> sure, sure. what you're hearing from younger democrats is that, you know, it is time for big structural change, whether with bernie or elizabeth or, you know, then there is the joe biden coalition building return to the past like you were saying, jim, these two ideas are fighting right now. and you're hearing from democrats across the board saying we want to get donald trump out of office. whatever path to victory that means, whether by flipping the whole thing or returning to the past is reflected in "the new york times." it got the quad city endorsements, and so to that electability argument, people in d.c. and new york and l.a. times and as well as the midwestern times, this might be kind of amy klobuchar's moment, we have been saying this for a long time, but i think her inflexion point is really right now. >> we'll know after iowa. jessica, you've spent a lot of time with joe biden and his approach is realist or moderate approach, right, saying, listen, just elect a democrat, everything will be fine. that's his pitch to democratic voters. >> yeah, yeah, it was interesting last night, we heard him here in south carolina, he had this kind of line that we had heard that was a little bit of a swipe at that. he said, look, i'm not trying to take us back, i'm trying to take us forward to where we have never been before, a swipe at people who said he wants to return us to normalcy, interesting to say. and i think britney's point about amy klobuchar also absolutely right, look, if anybody gets a little bump from this endorsement, it is amy klobuchar getting the national attention, opportunity to make some money coming -- fund-raise, you know, at this very critical moment. but i talked to a lot of iowa voters, a lot of early state voters, jim. they're doing their own homework on this. they're going to make their final decision based on what they see what they heard from the candidates themselves. >> iowa voters there like to decide for themselves. jessica dean, thank you to both of you. on the eve of the senate impeachment trial, democrats still do not know the rules of the trial. will they find out before it all starts tomorrow? when crabe stronger...strong, with new nicorette coated ice mint. layered with flavor... it's the first and only coated nicotine lozenge. for an amazing taste... ...that outlasts your craving. new nicorette ice mint. this round's on me.eat. hey, can you spot me? come on in. find your place today, with silversneakers. included in most medicare advantage plans. enroll today by calling the number on your screen or visit getsilversneakers.com can you help keep these iguys protected online?? easy, connect to the xfi gateway. what about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming? let's hook you up with the fastest internet from xfinity. what about wireless data options for the family? of course, you can customize and save. can you save me from this conversation? that we can't do, but come in and see what we can do. we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. ask. shop. discover. at your local xfinity store today. very good monday morning to you. i'm jim sciutto. welcome to a special holiday edition of "cnn newsroom." time and place are set, 1:00, the impeachment trial of the president begins in the senate. senators will consider whether to remove him from office. now we need to learnt rules of that process, we're expecting a bitter showdown between the white house and house democrats. soon we could get a clearer picture on how the fight will play out as both sides face a noon filing deadline to expand on their arguments. now a little over 24 hours it is set to begin. mitch mcconnell has not reveal the rules for the trial. democrats delivering a warning, minority leader chuck shimer said he's prepared to force votes for witnesses and documents if mcconnell does not call for them. let's begin on capitol hill with phil mattingly. new deadline, couple of hours from now, what more are we going to learn? >> the most interesting thing today in that noon deadline is you're going to see the full white house defense trial brief. we saw it over the weekend from the house managers, about 111 pages and then laying out the entire case for the removal of the president of the united states, the basis for their impeachment. at noon you're going to see the white house, we saw a smaller filing that was a response to the articles of impeachm