Republican Lawmakers Storm Closed-Door Session; Trump Lawyers Argue No Prosecution For Fifth Avenue Murder
KINKADE: Welcome back. Well, on Capitol Hill, a bizarre scene, unfolding today in the Trump impeachment saga. About two dozen conservative Republican lawmakers stormed the secured basement committee room just as a key witness was sitting down to testify before three House panels. The witness left, but the lawmakers have not. They even got snacks delivered. They rallied against what they say is an unfair secretive process by Democrats, and accused them of trying to undo the 2016 presidential election. Well, these lawmakers are not members of the House. They're conducting, obviously, the closed-door depositions. A top Republican who is on one of those panels is defending that stunt. Take a listen.</s>REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): It has finally reached a boiling point where members just said they are so frustrated at the idea that they can't be a part of this and see what's going on. And so we're at a standstill here.</s>KINKADE: Well, negotiations are going on right now to end this standoff, and it comes just a day after bombshell testimony by the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine. Bill Taylor dismantled President Trump's claim that there was no quid pro quo with Ukraine, and directly tied the delay in military aid for Ukraine to the president. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has the details.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bill Taylor, sending shock waves through Capitol Hill, telling Congress multiple administration officials informed him that President Trump personally blocked military aid unless Ukraine agreed to announce investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 U.S. election. Sources say those inside audibly gasped and sighed, just from the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine's opening statement.</s>REP. ANDY LEVIN (D-MI): In my 10 short months in Congress, this is the -- my most disturbing day in Congress so far.</s>MALVEAUX (voice-over): Taylor, providing a clear timeline of events based on copious notes he kept of his communications, saying he shared those notes with the State Department, which is refusing to give them to congressional investigators.</s>REP. AMI BERA (D-CA): He's filling in some gaps, he's sharing with us in a pretty candid way, and (ph), you know, his experience.</s>MALVEAUX (voice-over): The 50-year career diplomat, detailing a conversation with U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who he says told him, "Everything was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance," adding, "He said that President Trump wanted President Zelensky 'in a public box' by making a public statement about ordering such investigations." Taylor, telling Congress he disagreed with the tactic, but Sondland repeatedly tried to explain the president's intent. According to Taylor, Sondland told him, "When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something... the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check." The next day, the diplomat raised concern in a text message exchange with Sondland, writing, "I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign." After speaking with President Trump, Sondland stressed that was not the case, texting, "I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The president has been crystal clear, no quid pro quos of any kind." The White House, quickly attempting to discredit Taylor and the impeachment inquiry, saying, "This is a coordinated smear campaign from far-left lawmakers and radical unelected bureaucrats, waging war on the Constitution. There was no quid pro quo." Trump's Republican allies, doing the same.</s>REP. MARK MEADOWS (R-NC): -- been in there for 10 hours, I can assure you there was no quid pro quo.</s>MALVEAUX (voice-over): But House Democrats are adamant, Taylor's testimony directly links the president to a quid pro quo --</s>REP. KAREN BASS (D-CA): You can't just commit a crime and say that you didn't, and then expect it to go away.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, you know, it's --</s>MALVEAUX (voice-over): -- and applauding him for testifying against the Trump administration's wishes.</s>REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): He came forward, again at risk of his career and expense to himself. He had no incentive but to tell the truth. And I believe that's what he did today.</s>KINKADE: Well, that was CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, reporting there. I want to bring in CNN Politics Congressional Reporter, Lauren Fox now. Good to have you with us. So, certainly, some pretty dramatic scenes going, down there, with these Republican lawmakers storming into this closed-door session.</s>LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, that's right. And they brought their phones with them, some of them. Now, this is a secure room, this is somewhere where you're supposed to take off your Apple watch, you're supposed to disregard your phone. This is an environment that's supposed to be taken very seriously. And of course, these Republicans, many of them, were not part of these relevant committees, they're not invited to be part of these depositions. But Republicans are arguing, they're fed up. They do not want these depositions happening behind closed doors any more. Their argument -- And I just talked to Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the House -- is that, look, we have to ultimately vote on articles of impeachment if they come to the floor. Therefore, we need to know what's going on behind closed doors. Now, Democrats' response has been, all along, that these depositions have to happen behind closed doors because this is an investigation and you cannot have witnesses hearing each other's testimony and influencing each other when it comes to the information that they're sharing.</s>KINKADE: Certainly fascinating case to cover for you. Lauren Fox, good to have you with us. Thank you. While Donald Trump battles the impeachment on Capitol Hill, his lawyers are also fighting in a New York courtroom to keep his tax returns secret. One of the president's lawyers made a remarkable argument today. The attorney, telling the U.S. Court of Appeals that the president has absolute immunity from prosecution, arguing that even if the president shot someone in the middle of New York's Fifth Avenue, he could not be prosecuted or even investigated for that crime. Let's get more from CNN White House reporter Stephen Collinson. Stephen, this is certainly a fascinating case, hearing this lawyer basically wanting to strike out -- make a case for just how much immunity President Trump could have here.</s>STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right, Lynda. The first thing to remember, of course, is that the president's lawyers are trying to make this legal proceeding last as long as possible. It's in their interest to push this issue of whether Congress can get President Trump's tax returns as far and perhaps past the next election, if they can. Having said that, this is a very interesting legal argument, as you say. Most of the legal thought on this issue goes back to the Nixon era and an opinion that was released by the Justice Department at that time, which said that the president did have immunity from prosecution because if he was open to prosecutions from all the 50 states for example, he would never be able to get on with his job. And there's also the argument that, as the head of the U.S. judicial system, the titular head, the president would effectively be prosecuting himself. This, then, went into the Clinton impeachment, where the Supreme Court made an argument that while the president does have certain immunity from prosecution in the course of his job, that doesn't mean that he could just go out, as President Trump said during his campaign, and shoot someone in Fifth Avenue and get away with it. It depends on the president and the official functions of his job. So in many ways, this is a very interesting and somewhat specious legal argument. But the motivation of the president's lawyers is to obstruct the court proceedings and to make them last as long as possible.</s>KINKADE: Yes. Certainly trying to drag this out. We will stay on that case. I want to also point out some new opinion polls we've got in on the Democratic candidates. The former U.S. vice president Joe Biden, certainly firming up as the favorite. Now, 34 percent. And that, of course, is up from 24 percent just last month. Stephen, what do you put that down to?</s>COLLINSON: You know, there's been a lot of talk since the CNN debate last week, that Elizabeth Warren is the true frontrunner in this race. I think this will bolster former Vice President Biden's supporters. There's been a lot of talk that perhaps he's fading. This poll does show that the former vice president still has very strong support among minority voters. They are the most important voters in the Democratic race. I think we can sort of question exactly how much it tells us about what's going to happen in the early months of next year, for example, because Biden is in a very close race with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in Iowa, the first state to vote, in February. It's the same in New Hampshire. If the -- if Biden were to lose those two contests, it would raise questions about his entire argument that he is the strongest candidate, he's the best candidate placed to beat President Trump in the general election. So while it's very interesting and perhaps an encouraging sign for Biden, he's perhaps a wobbly frontrunner in many ways, but he is showing a great deal of resilience across this race. I think it's too early to start drawing conclusions that suddenly he's going to start off in Iowa and run the table through all these primaries and caucuses.</s>KINKADE: Yes. Still very early days, yes. Stephen Collinson, I wish we had more time to talk to you. We've got to wrap it up for now. Thanks so much. Still to come tonight, Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, stuck in limbo while the E.U. is considering a flexible extension. We'll go live to Westminster for the latest from Parliament. Also, Bolivia's current president, claiming victory as tensions run high among the opposition. What he is accusing demonstrators of orchestrating.