Senator Lamar Alexander Announces He Will Not Vote in Favor of Allowing Witnesses in Senate Impeachment Trial; Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) Interviewed on Possibility President Trump Will be Acquitted in Impeachment Trial without Witnesses being Called; Alexander: Dems Proved Case, But Voters Should Decide Trump's Fate; Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is Interviewed About the Impeachment Trial.
JOHN DELANEY, (D) FORMER PRESIDENT CANDIDATE: And I've had some amazing supporters here in Iowa and I want to thank them all. And of course, most importantly, I want to thank my amazing wife and my four daughters. It's been an amazing journey. We've made a difference. And now we've got to win in November and actually start governing in this country.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Congressman Delaney, thanks so much for being with us. And thanks to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN Newsroom with Max Foster is next. For our U.S. viewsers, this is the day, the final day likely of the impeachment trial. NEW DAY continues right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republican Senator Lamar Alexander says he --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This will be the most significant vote he makes in his career. And one of the last votes he'll make.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president's impeachment trial could be over.</s>DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I call it the impeachment hoax. And that's what it is, it's a hoax.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm gravely concerned about what this means.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are likely to move on Saturday at the end of the day the president will be acquitted.</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER: He will not be acquitted. You cannot be acquitted if you don't have a trial. And you don't have a trial if you don't have witnesses and documentation.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.</s>BERMAN: Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, January 31st. It is 8:00 in the east. And this morning, here's a question. What is to keep a presidential candidate from opening an office of foreign interference outreach going forward? Maybe nothing, because the breaking news overnight, a no from Senator Lamar Alexander. No witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial, and he is almost definitely the deciding vote. It's very revealing. Listen to this. He says, quote, "There is no need for more evidence to conclude that the president withheld the United States aid, at least in part, to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. The House managers have proved this with what they call a mountain of overwhelming evidence." The Democratic House managers have proved their case, Alexander says. He even concedes that he believes the president acted inappropriately, but he says not enough to remove him from office or hear from any more witnesses. Now Democrats would need four Republicans to vote with them to force witnesses. Senator Collins and Mitt Romney just moments ago officially announced -- he officially announced he is a yes vote on witnesses. Alaska's Lisa Murkowski says she will announce her decision this morning. We're waiting for that. If she is a yes, it would be a 50/50 tie. Then what happens? Well, it would be up to the chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, to step in and break a tie if, if he wants to. That would be unchartered historic territory. Unclear he wants to dive in and cast that tiebreaking vote.</s>CAMEROTA: The impeachment trial continues at 1:00 p.m. eastern. If witnesses are blocked the senator ahead of them, a potential vote to convict or acquit the president could take place late tonight or early Saturday morning. Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. He's one of the House impeachment managers and chair of the Democratic Caucus. Good morning, Congressman.</s>HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D-NY) HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE: Good morning.</s>CAMEROTA: Let me read a little bit more of that late-night statement from Senator Lamar Alexander. He says "It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law. But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year's ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate." What do you think of Senator Alexander's position?</s>JEFFRIES: It's disappointing. I think that Senator Alexander has clearly indicated we have presented an overwhelming case to prove the guilt of Donald Trump as charged. The facts are largely uncontested, and the president must be held accountable. He solicited foreign interference in the 2020 election. Most people who have been reasonably following the case presented by the House managers will come to that conclusion. And if you come to that conclusion, that Donald Trump tried to cheat, he got caught, and then of course, he worked hard to cover it up, he should be held accountable, and the Constitution indicates that accountability means conviction and removal.</s>CAMEROTA: Doesn't look as though that's the way it's going to go. And Senator Lamar Alexander, it was interesting his statement last night. This happened at 11:00 p.m. last night. Some people are just waking up right now and hearing it. And as you say, he points out that you did -- the House impeachment managers did prove their case, but it wasn't enough. And so what do you think you and your fellow House managers did wrong to not convince him to want to hear from witnesses or see more documents?</s>JEFFRIES: Well, I don't want to play Monday morning quarterback because it's not Monday morning yet. We still have a case to make on the floor of the United States Senate. There will be four hours of debate as it relates to the need for relevant witnesses. And we will make the best use of our time led by our lead manager Adam Schiff who has been doing a phenomenal job. What is clear is the American people overwhelmingly understand there should be a fair trial. The president deserves a fair trial. Our democracy deserves a fair trial. The Constitution deserves a fair trial. And a fair trial means witnesses. A fair trial means documents. A fair trial means evidence. And for the first time in American history, the Senate may conclude that it's going to conduct an impeachment trial in the absence of a single witness. So we're going to make our case.</s>CAMEROTA: Well, OK. When you make your case, you have been making your case, but today when you continue to make your case you might be able to sway Senator Lisa Murkowski who we -- according to our reporting is still on the fence this morning. If you do, it becomes a 50/50 tie. Do you believe that Chief Justice Roberts should step in and be a tiebreaker?</s>JEFFRIES: Well, we'll see if we get to that moment, because there are several other senators who haven't announced their decision as it relates to whether they're going to support witnesses or not.</s>CAMEROTA: Like who? I'm just curious, Congressman. Who do you think is still a possibility?</s>JEFFRIES: Well, listen, I mean, I don't want to get into the business of calling the names of individual senators, but you've got a senator in Arizona, you've got a senator in Colorado, you've got a senator in North Carolina, you've got senators all over the place who haven't indicated one way or another where they're going to go on the question of witnesses, particularly as it relates to John Bolton who had a direct conversation with Donald Trump apparently in the Oval Office where President Trump said to Ambassador Bolton that he was demanding these investigations and withholding $391 million in military and security aid from a vulnerable Ukraine to try and get him. That is presidential extortion. That's a geopolitical shakedown. That's an abuse of power. And hopefully there will be some senators who will come to the conclusion that, at minimum, witnesses should be heard so that the truth can be presented to the American people.</s>CAMEROTA: Maybe. But again, this morning it feels less likely than it did last night at 10:59 p.m. with Senator Lamar Alexander coming out and saying he is now a no on witnesses. And so, I think what you keep saying is that all the polls suggest that a majority of Americans want to hear from witnesses. The Quinnipiac poll, the most recent, had it at 75 percent of Americans believe witnesses should be allowed to testify. And so what do you say to them this morning when they wake up and hear this news that it doesn't look as though it's going to go that way?</s>JEFFRIES: Well, I have great respect for the United States Senate, and I believe that both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans, have sat through the last two weeks attentively with dignity and respect, giving all of us the opportunity to make our case. And we have one last chance today at least on the question of witnesses. What I think the senators will be asked to consider in the context of the presentation made by House managers, are we going to normalize presidential lawlessness? Are we going to normalize presidential corruption? Are we going to normalize presidential abuse of power in the manner that Professor Dershowitz suggested that we should? That would be problematic for the country, for the Constitution, and for America, and God help us all if we go down that path.</s>CAMEROTA: We just heard in our open there, maybe you heard it, that Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president can't be acquitted if there's no trial, and there can't be a trial if there's no witnesses. But that's not true. The president can be acquitted. And as you know, there a vote to convict or acquit. Maybe she means vindicated, but do you agree with the speaker of the House that the president cannot be acquitted?</s>JEFFRIES: Well, I'm not going to comment on what guilt or innocence will come out of the trial while I'm still in the midst of the trial. But I fundamentally and strongly agree with Speaker Pelosi's point, and she's been a phenomenal leader of the House at this very tumultuous time. I fundamentally agree with her point that in the absence of witnesses, in the absence of documents, in the absence of evidence, in the absence of a fair trial, how can the American people conclude that justice was done? Many will conclude that it was not.</s>CAMEROTA: Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, we'll be watching very closely today. Thank you for your time this morning.</s>JEFFRIES: Thank you very much.</s>CAMEROTA: John?</s>BERMAN: It was interesting, the congressman didn't want to jump ahead past today, but the outcome is essentially clear at this point. And it does raise the question, what next? What next? How does the country, the Senate, the Congress approach this? We are going to speak to a U.S. senator who will cast a vote today, several, in fact, next.