Dems Renew Calls for White House Officials to Testify in Senate Hearing; Democratic Senator May Vote Against Convicting Trump
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Newly-released emails reveal that the White House's order to freeze Ukraine aid came roughly 90 minutes after President Trump's call with President Zelensky.</s>SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): This email is explosive.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing new in these emails about the timing, truly.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Presidents make mistakes. I don't know if this call was a mistake.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're looking for a fair trial, not a fake trial.</s>EDDIE MURPHY, COMEDIAN: This is the last episode of 2019. But if you're black, this is the first episode since I left back in 1984. If you had told me 30 years ago, that I would be this boring, stay-at- home, you know, House dad, and Bill Cosby would be in jail. Who is America's dad now?</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That -- his impression of Bill Cosby is impeccable. That was a great moment.</s>JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST/ANCHOR: So good. Got to love Eddie Murphy back on "</s>SNL." CAMEROTA: It was so great. I mean, we watched it with our kids and tried to explain to them the significance of Eddie Murphy and that he was gone so long. They didn't quite absorb it all, but they're getting it.</s>AVLON: Did the Gumby character, did that translate across the decades?</s>CAMEROTA: No. And Buckwheat didn't exactly either.</s>AVLON: I'm not surprised by that.</s>CAMEROTA: But still, it was really funny. And we're going to have a whole segment about why he was gone for 35 years.</s>AVLON: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: We'll have the inside story. Meanwhile, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Monday, December 23, 6 a.m. here in New York. John Berman is off. John Avlon is here. Great to have you here. I'm going to try not to get you sick, even though I'm battling a cold.</s>AVLON: It's going to be fun. We're going to have fun.</s>CAMEROTA: OK. We begin with Democrats continuing their calls for key Trump administration officials to testify in President Trump's upcoming Senate trial, especially now that we've seen these newly- released emails. The emails reveal an official from the White House Budget Office ordered the Pentagon to suspend that military aid to Ukraine 90 minutes after the July phone call between President Trump and Ukraine's new leader. You'll remember, it was on that call that President Trump pressured President Zelensky to investigate President Trump's political rival, Joe Biden, and his son. The emails also show that the White House budget official knew the hold would raise concerns, so he told others to keep quiet about it.</s>AVLON: Meantime, lawmakers are on a holiday break as the stalemate on impeachment continues. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is refusing to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, as she wants assurances that the Senate trial proceedings will be fair. Now one Democratic senator now says he's even open to acquitting the president if the evidence doesn't add up. Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Kristen Holmes live in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the president is vacationing -- Kristen.</s>KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, these emails are certainly shedding new light on the timeline of events around this July 25 phone call. But they're also giving Democrats what they believe is new ammunition in the ongoing stalemate over what exactly this Senate impeachment trial would look like.</s>HOLMES (voice-over): Democrats renewing calls for witnesses in President Trump's Senate impeachment trial following the release of emails that show the order to freeze aid to Ukraine came about 90 minutes after President Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukraine's new president. The 146 pages of heavily-redacted government emails were obtained by the Center for Public Integrity. One email between White House budget official Mike Duffy and the Pentagon says, "Based on guidance I have received, and in light of the administration's plan to review assistance to Ukraine, please hold off on any additional DOD obligations of these funds." Duffy adding, "Given the sensitive nature of this request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction."</s>SCHUMER: If there was ever an argument that we need Mr. Duffy to come testify, this is that information. This email is explosive.</s>HOLMES: A spokeswoman for the budget office writes in a statement to CNN, "It's reckless to tie the hold of funds to the phone call. To pull a line out of one email and fail to address the context is misleading and inaccurate." But critics say the emails are further proof that key administration officials should testify in the Senate trial.</s>SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If the president is so innocent and claims he's innocent, why would he not allow, just like Richard Nixon did, the people that were closest to him to testify?</s>HOLMES: Lawmakers are away from Washington for the next two weeks as the impeachment battle is at a standstill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is still refusing to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate until the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, agree on the trial's format and scope.</s>SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): She is focusing a spotlight on the need to have a fair trial in the United States Senate.</s>HOLMES: Trump's Republican allies blasting Pelosi for the move.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): She's actually trying to tell Mitch McConnell how to run the Senate. She's trampling on the separation of powers.</s>HOLMES: One White House official saying the delay is frustrating the president.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's also anxious to get not just acquitted but exonerated in the Senate. So he's looking forward to his opportunity to have a fair trial in the Senate.</s>HOLMES: And some Democrats are frustrated, too, saying McConnell and the GOP have already made up their minds before the start of the trial.</s>SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): He's not interested in evidence. He's not interested in the facts. He wants to get this over with. That's really a serious problem.</s>HOLMES: And with Speaker Pelosi holding onto these articles of impeachment, it's not only just delaying the Senate trial, but it's also putting a hold on her naming who is going to be from the House presenting this case against the president in the Senate. And Alisyn, I cannot stress this enough. We are really in uncharted waters. There are just not enough precedent here. And I talked to numerous Democrats and Republicans who spent the entire weekend on the phone with legal scholars, with Constitution experts, with impeachment experts, all trying to figure out what can and can't be done and what happens next.</s>CAMEROTA: Well, it would be great to have those answers, Kristen. But I mean, generally, Americans believe that trials have witnesses. And so thank you very much for your reporting. Democrats are hammering home that same message: how do you have a trial without witnesses? We discuss all of that next.