And we are going to bring you the president elects speech live when it happens. As i said, in just a few moments. But first, out front tonight trump at this hour obsessed with his demise as the president faces his Second Senate impeachment trial. Trump is said to be consumed by the spectacular unraveling of his presidency. And he is, though, still shutting down any talk of a possible resignation. This as another republican senator signals support for his removal in a senate trial. Republican senator Lisa Murkowski in a statement writing, the house has responded swiftly and i believe appropriately with impeachment. I will listen carefully and consider the arguments of both sides and i will then announce how i will vote. The alaska senator open to convicting trump in the impeachment trial as the gop source tells cnn, quote, there is no love lost within the Senate Republican conference for trump. Look, if the ballots were closed it would be overwhelming for conviction. But we will see how they vote, and thus, there are senators to watch. At least 23, including the Senate Majority leader himself, who has not ruled out a conviction. Sources also tell cnn mcconnell, quote, hates trump. Democrats need at least 17 of those republicans to join them in convicting the president. But republicans as a party in washington are deeply divided. Take senator rob portman. Moderate, he says, quote, the president bears some responsibility for what occurred. Yet goes on to continue. The president elect biden has rightly said he wants to set a new tone of Greater Unity as his administration begins. If the senate conducts an impeachment trial among my considerations will be what is best to help heal our country rather than deepen our divisions. Okay. So if the president bears responsibility, which he does, then he has to be held accountable just like everybody else involved. Absolving him of responsibility has been just a cover for protecting him that republican after republican used yesterday for their votes to absolve trump. We should be focused on bringing the nation together. Congress must be the glue that starts unifying everyone. It is clear now more than ever that our country needs to come together. I am willing to take the first step and extend my hand across the aisle and say vote against impeachment. Vote in favor of a unified nation. Voting against Holding Trump responsible for something he sparked and just to say the reality again, trump lit the bonfire, he threw on the accelerant and he did it not just on that day. He did it over months and months and months. And in the attack on the capitol, as it happened, we heard his words over those months and months and months repeated again and again by the attackers in all their ugliness. Well lose everything. Were going to [ bleep ] lose it all. This is our country. This is our country, this is our house. Were bringing our country back. We want our country back. And then, of course, during the attack and after the attack trump was silent except for on twitter, right, where he celebrated and justified the riot, using his great lie, this is what he said, as we saw the images of Police Officers with guns drawn on the house floor. He writes, these are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots. That is what trump really thought. Period full stop. And every Single Person in this country knows if they are honest with themselves, and of course, it took himself endays to release the video you see there condemning the riot. He only did it on the day he was impeached a second time and we have learned aides had to force him to do it and he did it because he was worried about his grave legal jeopardy. Maybe ill save myself now. But there are still individuals who are willing to fall for it, to cover for him. Senator lyndsay, count me out graham, actually celebrated trumps tone in the final video. He tweeted that it, quote, hit the mark. Lindsey graham ever willing to forget and forgive what the president of the United States said on the attack of the rioters for the past seven days. We love you. Youre very special. Youve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. Again, we all a know what trump thinks because he told us. Again and again. And even in that final video that Lindsey Graham celebrated, the president still did not say the election was fair. He still has not acknowledged that joe biden won to this moment. And that is crucial because weve now obtained an intelligence bulletin that warns that the lies about the election will incite even more violence. I quote the Law Enforcement warning. A. Amplified perceptions of fraud and the change and control in the presidency and senate very likely will lead to an increase in violence. The person who started and perpetuated and fanned the flames of the lie of fraud is donald j. Trump. Its a fact. We all know it, we all see it and he owns it himself. Kaitlan collins is out front near the white house tonight. Caitlan, what more are you learning about what the president is doing and thinking right now in his final hours in the white house . Reporter well, this is not the last full week in office that aides thought that President Trump was going to have. He loves the trappings of the presidency so much, and this week that has been replaced by warnings of legal exposure and Upcoming Senate trial and concerns about the business ramifications he could be facing once he is out of office, given whats been happening with his Golf Properties over the last several days as the backlash from what happened on capitol hill is still being felt among the president and his inner circle. And so weve learned that he is basically consumed by watching this unraveling of his presidency in these final few days in office, and that even included, erin, a passing casual conversation we should note about whether or not the president should resign. And we are told by sources that the president shut it down almost immediately. He has told aides not to bring up president Richard Nixon and any kind of comparison, anything like that. There was at one point he told people not to bring up nixon at all. Though in this conversation we should note when they were talking about whether he could resign, the president basically joked to another adviser that he could not count on the Vice President to pardon him in the way that gerald ford, of course, pardoned Richard Nixon. So basically what youve seen is they are having conversations like that, even if they are casual, even if they are not at all entertained in a serious manner, it does give you a window into what this week at the Trump White House is looking like. They are pack up, aides are, packing up their offices, seeing moving trucks on the white house grounds. This comes as the president is staying behind closed doors. Hes litting the Vice President fill that Leadership Void going to visit with the National Guard troops tonight on capitol hill, having a briefing on Inauguration Security at the fema headquarters. Youre really seek ing how the president is stepping back often glimpses during his presidency, but now it is on full display during his final week on the job. One more thing i should note is there are some aides who are trying to get the president to give a farewell address, listing his accomplishments. Erin, so far the president seems uninterested and is not committed to giving one yet. Caitlan, thank you very much. Just incredible what caitlan is talking about. Mike pence doesnt invoke the 25th amendment. You know, the president has people saying, hang mike pence. Mike pence still stands by him by not invoking the 25th. Hes doing all of these things and running the country right now and trumps comment to people is still, i dont trust the guy to pardon me . It is stunning. Phil mattingly is on capitol hill. Whether President Trump is convicted of impeachment or not, obviously is in the hands of republican senators, right . They control this. Doesnt matter if theyre in the minority. Their votes are required for the twothirds necessary. Any idea on where they now stand . Reporter yes, 17 republican senators at a minimum will have to join democrats in order to convict President Trump. And for the most part those republicans are keeping their powder dry. Youve had a couple of republicans like senator Lindsey Graham come out and say they oppose the impeachment. You mentioned senator Lisa Murkowskis statement. Not committing to voting to convict but making it clear where she stood on things. Erin, behind the scenes a couple things are true. The vast majority of the republican conference is furious with President Trump. The vast majority of the republican conference according to both senators and aides im talking to believes the president is culpable for what occurred on january 6, an event that threatened their lives and may have cost their lives if other people had not acted heroically to save those senators. Whether that means theyre going to vote to convict, however, is still an open question. There are a couple different elements im told are being discussed. One is the constitutionality of convicting a president after he leaves office. Others are keying on that. Another issue, politics. There are a number of republicans who are up in 2022. The president still popular with the base. Still, obviously has a lot of support in the republican party. You have republicans with president ial ambitions in 2024. Where do they go with things . Obviously the key figure looming overall of this is Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell who very notably has not taken off the table the possibility of voting to convict. Where hes going to end up, however, still an open question. For now republican senators largely in wait and see mode, erin. Phil, thank you. Lets go now to democratic senator Amy Klobuchar on the senate committee, the Ranking Committee on inaugural ceremonies. Obviously we are getting ready to hear the president elect speak in just moments, senator. You know, look, we know president elect biden was lukewarm on the idea of impeachment because he doesnt want it to interfere with his agenda. An impeachment trial of his predecessor, of course, would. Lets just be real, take some air out of the bubble of his first 100 days if it happens immediately. So the choice is to hold the trial right away, maybe you get more momentum with those republican senators. Or you wait for biden to get some legislative victories and you do the whole impeachment trial months from now, maybe lose a lot of momentum. Either way it could fail. What do you think is best . Going right away or waiting . You know what id like to see us do . What americans are doing every single day, erin. Theyre juggling their kids on their knees, their toddlers on their knees, their laptops on their desks, their jobs, trying to get through this pandemic. I dont understand why we couldnt get an agreement and senator mcconnell has at least signalled an openness to this, to do two things, three things at once. You could have the trial running in the afternoon, say, and work on the confirmation hearings every morning and pass legislation at night. I think these times demand that. Were going to see president elect biden come out tonight with a fullthroated robust plan for getting us through this, including opening our schools, which so many people i talk to, one of their number one priorities as well as getting the vaccine distributed. So thats whats on our plate. And i think that there could be a way. I looked at the rules. There could be a way to agree to do that. And so that we could have it go on at the same time. And you laid out the evidence, erin. Its pretty clear. It shouldnt take that long a time. So, okay. If you did that obviously you could, you could basically youre saying walk and chew gum at the same time. You could do it right away. But this leaves open the question of whether it will succeed. The Senate Majority hell be minority, but Mitch Mcconnell said he will listen to the legal arguments before deciding. Hes obviously making it clear hes open to it. Thats not how someone would act as the current majority leader if they did not intend to consider it. But murkowski, you know, she was very clear tonight of where she stood, but a week ago in an interview she said i want him to resign, i want him out. Hes caused enough damage. Was even more blunt then. Have you spoken, senator, with any republican senators other than, you know, murkowski and sass, the ones that we know, who tell you that they will vote to convict . I havent directly spoken to them about that. I spent a lot of time with them in the last week, of course, on the electoral college. And i do want to note one thing. Over in the house they picked up ten votes for impeachment. They have more republicans there. Over in the house, 30 , about average of the two votes of the members who voted, sided with the president. In the senate, only 6 of the senate sided with the president when it came to the electoral votes. So you saw a difference there. So you saw a number of republican senators that were willing to buck the president. I consider that a good sign as we head into an impeachment trial. And a lot of them have a longerterm view of things than the house does. Some of its by virtue of the fact that we have sixyear terms. But i think the fact is that in america, a wise man once said this, the president is not king. The law is king. And we have a president that incited an insurrection, sent a mad angry mob charging down the mall to the capitol with basic instructions to go fight it out, as he said the day before, go wild, as he also said to basically be patriots, and then didnt do anything to stop it. I dont know what other evidence you need. And we should point out, and im sure this is on many senators minds, if such a person is not fit to hold office, even if hes no longer in office, he can run again unless you all vote to prevent that. And in order to do that, you have to first convict him. Its important for people to understand the way that events must go for that step to happen. Before we go, senator, dozens of people on the tara watch list were in washington for january 6. This is according to the washington post. I read Law Enforcement officials saying domestic extremists are likely more emboldened to carry out attacks. They are saying that because those individuals saw the success of last weeks siege, what they perceive as success, why is the ceremony for joe biden still being held outside . Erin, this is an important moment for our country, and we cannot let these thugs and these mobsters literally stop the peaceful transfer of power in our country. And that is why this ceremony has held an incredibly important place right in front of the capitol. Abraham lincoln held his ceremony on the other side of the capitol, but he held it outside before we even had a dome to make the point that this was important to our nation to have this capitol. Abraham lincoln held another inaugural there in front of the capitol in the middle of the civil war. So my point is that we, when security people tell us that its secure, and yes, theyre ramping up security, multiple perimeters having many more guard members that have been envisioned, we obviously have a smaller inaugural. Unless they say that its a nogo, we go forward. And thats what president elect biden believes as well. It is so important to have all the members up there, 6 feet apart, but republicans and democrats up there behind the president to show that in america, as George Washington said when he posed the question to himself, he basically said, whats important . And he said, you know, it wasnt the first election. It was the second election in america that mattered because we showed that in our country, we can have a peaceful transfer of power. Thats what this is about, this inauguration. Its about just a ceremony. It is a culmination of hundreds of years of democracy. Senator, i appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Thank you, erin. And i want to bring in Gloria Borger and michael smerconish. Obviously you heard the case there from senator klobuchar. Also when shes talking about republicans getting on board, senator murkowski really making it clear, she thinks the house did the right thing. Saying shell consider both sides. Shes been clear where she stands. Senator rob portman seems to be going the other way saying the president s responsible, but unity. Do you think there is enough republican support to convict in the senate . Doubtful. Impeachment was the easy part. Now it gets complicated. And i listened carefully to your conversation with senator klobuchar talking about whether the senate trial should take place now or whether it should take place in the future. How about a third option, which is that it never take place. If its headed for acquittal, are you emboldening the former president when that vote then takes place . Maybe the best strategy for democrats is it that insofar as hes politically wounded, just leave him out there and let him be the republican problem for the next four years. Maybe he has a resurgence of sorts two years in, meaning during the midterm election. But i just think that hes so injured politically that he could never come back and win in 2024, but he could gum up the works, both for the mid terms and for the 2024 election. So maybe the best strategy is hes now been impeached twice, let it go at that. Im theoretically posing that. So what do you think, gloria, is that something seriously that could be seriously under consideration . It could be, but from my point of view i think that there is a reason to hav