[John King, Cnn:] Welcome to a special two-hour edition of INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King. To our viewers in the United States and around the world, thank you for sharing your Sunday. And one-day break down of the president's impeachment trial building toward critical votes later this week. The president's team has the floor right now. In their opening statement Saturday, the defense opened with a barrage against the Democratic prosecutors.
[Pat Cipollone, White House Counsel:] For all their talk about election interference, that they're here to perpetrate to the most massive interference in an election in American history, and we can't allow that to happen. The American people decide elections. They have one coming up in nine months.
[King:] House prosecutors use their three days to paint a damning picture of presidential corruption. The president first pursuing re- election help from Ukraine, then withholding, stonewalling Congress when it demanded documents and witnesses.
[Rep. Adam Schiff:] If right doesn't matter, it doesn't matter how good the Constitution is. It doesn't matter how brilliant the Framers were. It doesn't matter how good or bad or advocacy in this trial is. If right doesn't matter, we're lost.
[King:] Whether minds are changing on the Senate floor is a big question and a giant decisive test of that will come later this week when the Democrats demand more witnesses and documents. The Democrats say those witnesses and documents are essential to getting to the truth. But most Republicans seem held bent on a quick resolution of this trial. Get it over. ASAP.
[Sen. John Barrasso:] Seems like Groundhog's Day in the Senate from what we heard from the managers yesterday and the day before. It is the same thing day after day after day.
[Sen. Steve Daines:] I watched Schiff over and over again today repeat the same argument. It was like watching bad reruns of the Brady Bunch.
[Sen. Tom Cotton:] Repetitive arguments over and over again based on little more than hearsay and the House Democrats' objections to Donald Trump being the president.
[King:] With us this Sunday to share their reporting and their insights: Julie Pace of "The Associated Press", Michael Shear with "The New York Times", Paul Kane at "The Washington Post", and Seung Min Kim also with "The Washington Post". The president's team took just two hours of their opening presentation Saturday. So, we do not have yet a full picture of the defense strategy. But the overview yesterday crafted with two clear goals. One, keep the president happy.
[Cipollone:] You will find that the president did absolutely nothing wrong.
[Jay Sekulow, Outside Legal Counsel For President Trump:] The president had reason to be concerned about the information he was being provided. Really intend to show overt next several days that the evidence is actually overwhelming that the president did nothing wrong.
[King:] Goal number two, give Republicans something to cite. If they have to explain a vote to acquit or, before that, a vote to deny Democrats what they want, witnesses and new documents.
[Mike Pupura, Deputy White House Counsel:] How do they try to overcome the direct words from President Zelensky and his administration that they felt no pressure? They tell you that the Ukrainians must have felt pressure regardless of what they've said.
[Patrick Philbin, Deputy Counsel To The President:] The speaker had said articles of impeachment are going to be drafted and where there were no plans to hear from any fact witnesses. That's not due process. And that's why the president declined to participate in that process.
[King:] It was low key. Most politicians or defense lawyers would take all their time. They decided against that. They want to make friends with the Senate, if you will. Give them a quick early day. But was it effective in giving Republicans, if you want to say this is in dispute or they rushed the process in the House? Was it effective in giving Republicans a place to go, which is all this is about now? The president's legal strategy is do no harm, the math is on your side.
[Julie Pace, Washington Bureau Chief, The Associated Press:] It certainly at this point seems to have giving the Senate Republicans some initial talking points, which they seem to be taking on. I think one of the bigger questions is where they go on Monday. The Trump legal team leaned in in previewing their defense to reporters, that they would bring up Joe Biden, they would turn to Hunter Biden. There are some Republican senators who are a little more uncomfortable with the trial taking a turn in that direction. But certainly I think on two points, one, the defense of Trump on the substance that he did nothing wrong. That's a message directly aimed at the Oval Office and the occupant there. But, two, this idea that I think a lot is a salient to a lot of Republicans, which is that Democrats are going to try to impeach Trump on something. This is what they've argued and this is what they say Democrats stumbled upon, and that this is purely politically motivated. For Republicans who take that home to their home states, I think, is a pretty good message.
[King:] And part of it, if you listen to Jay Sekulow who has been the president's attorney throughout the Mueller report. He was playing to the president but also to Republicans. One of the arguments from Democrats is, you know, come on, it was Russia, not Ukraine that meddled. Come on. The president why is the president listening to Rudy Giuliani when he has this entire array of career established foreign policy officials? Jay Sekulow going back to the Mueller report, going back to the president's suspicion about the FBI and the intelligence community, going back to the abuses. There were abuses by the FBI in the FISA court when it comes to Carter page saying, the president maybe you don't agree with the president. But he had to right to think these things.
[Sekulow:] Here's the bottom line: this is part one of the Mueller report. Just six-tenths of a mile from this chamber sits the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, also known as the FISA court. The House managers in over a 23-hour period, kept pushing this false dichotomy that it was either Russia or Ukraine but not both.
[King:] Now, if you go into the details, especially the president is very specific, he talks about the server. There can't be two Democratic security servers. Either Russia hacked it or someone else hacked it. There's no dispute that Russia hacked it. So, you can run Mr. Sekulow through a fact check machine and you'll have problems. But for the president's political purposes and the Republicans' political purposes, effective or not?
[Paul Kane, Senior Congressional Correspondent, The Washington Post:] It's effective. And Mitch McConnell is happy if they don't go too far into the conspiracy theory world, he want them to try to stay where they did for most of it where you just don't get into Ukraine, crowd strike, those things. He wants them to stick to, this is not an impeachable offense. Not something you can rule from office. Nine months away, we've got an election. As long as they stay at that level, McConnell will be happy and will be just appear somewhat dignified.
[Michael Shear, Cnn Political Analyst:] There's a delicate balance to it. I think the timing question. There was something somewhat powerful about having a two-hour approach, which they repeatedly contrasted with 20 to 1, 2, 3 hours that the Democrats took. There was something powerful about the idea we're going to be able to take that incredibly detailed, incredibly tedious presentation down in just a couple of hours. On the other hand, there were some senators that we all talked to afterwards who were at least eager for a little bit more to hang this on, right? They do want to see a little bit more detail, a little bit more of a the meat of the White House defense so that when they go home to their districts, they can actually point to an actual defense.
[King:] To that point, some of the bigger names that the president added to his defense team, we have not seen them or heard from them in the Senate trial. Just show you a few right here, Ken Starr, the former independent counsel in the Bill Clinton days, not too favored by Democrats, but a powerhouse lawyer in the president's view. Alan Dershowitz, the former Harvard law professor. Robert Ray, who succeeded Ken Starr as independent counsel. They will get the floor tomorrow. Mr. Dershowitz says he's going to make a case that this does not rise to the constitutional test of impeachment. Mr. Starr, apparently, going to make a similar case, that it doesn't reach the historical bar for impeachment. But the president this is you know, the president knows when you talk about the death valley of Saturday television, so maybe he wanted to save them for the weekday. He knows how important the first day was. By all accounts, he was pleased with his team.
[Seung Min Kim, Cnn Political Analyst:] Exactly, and I think you get what the defense said yesterday was kind of get the top line points out, what they wanted to say, you know, that the president did nothing wrong, that this is a way to, for Democrats to get in the way of the 2020 elections going on. Had to give the little tidbits for the Sunday shows today and it has a big preview or a show for Monday. I think we don't expect the president's team to use all their time. But I would be interested to see what kind of argument they lay out. I mean, we haven't heard too much about for example about the Bidens. How much will the White House counsel team delve into that. And we saw a little bit how the House managers tried to pre-butt that argument in their arguments. And Republicans saying, that gives us that gives us or that gives the White House team a clear explanation to go into them at length. Maybe those are the fireworks that the president is seeking on Monday. We'll have to wait and see tomorrow.
[King:] And to that point, one of the things that you know, in a trial, you're the defense, you're trying to stir up reasonable doubt. So, the Democrats made their case, look how he withheld nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine. They made that out to be exceptional. They made a detailed with pretty damning evidence about Rudy Giuliani's role in Ukraine trying to get the investigations about people in the administration being startled and stunned. When it happened, about some people raising questions whether it was legal. Jay Sekulow, and, again, if you read the entire record, you might be suspect about this. But he is trying to create a safe place for Republicans. He says, yes, we froze aid to Ukraine. Not unique.
[Sekulow:] President Trump has placed holds on aid a number of times. We just take basic due diligence to figure this out. In September 2019, the administration announced that it was withholding over $100 million in aid to Afghanistan over concerns about government corruption.
[King:] If you go back and study the history, they are very different issues in how they were handled and how it was raised and how the government process worked.
[Shear:] But it was announced. That's the point.
[Kane:] Announced.
[Shear:] You know, whether it's the Central American countries or Afghanistan or other places, they announced it, they told Congress as they have a duty to do. I mean, I think there's a big difference. That's an example as you say, of Mr. Sekulow and the White House team giving Republicans a talking point. But it doesn't necessarily stand up under scrutiny when you actually like look at the details.
[King:] So the lead House manager, Adam Schiff, came out quickly with his team after to say
[Shear:] I wouldn't say quickly. It took a half an hour in a hot room as he was once again, relitigating afterwards.
[King:] His point was, the Democrats know the math here. They do not have the 20 votes, even if they kept all the Democrats to convict or remove the president. The only way in a miracle, is to first get witnesses and extend the trial. That is their main goal. He came out afterwards saying, you know, the president's lawyers did a good job but forgot some things.
[Schiff:] There's no mention of the president's chief of staff. What about Mick Mulvaney who admitted in a press conference just like this, of course, we did. It happens all the time. Get over it. No mention of the president's chief of staff. Now, why is that? They said the House managers' goal should be to give you all of the facts. That is our goal. It's just not theirs. Because Mick Mulvaney has some of these facts.
[King:] It's a very strong argument to make to the American people. There's a lot more we could learn if the Senate would demand the documents. But most of the senators at that point were gone. Are they listening?
[Kane:] Democrats felt after yesterday that that was the one thing that the White House legal team really made a mistake on. They were opening the door at several different points as they made their case, to oh, well, yeah, the way we can figure that out is if we call Mulvaney, if we call Bolton. They felt like they cracked the door open. But we'll get into it in more detail. The witness question, the numbers aren't there yet.
[King:] All right. That's where we'll come back to. Up next for us, the prosecution case and the Senate math.