"We have a core problem. We have a President without shame, who is backed by a party without spine, that is supported by a network called Fox News, without integrity," says author
@tomfriedman
, of Donald Trump.
Donald Ayer, deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, says Attorney General William Barr is "un-American" and should resign.
"Bill Barr's vision is that there is one man, one person who needs to be above the law and that is the President."
.
@Acosta
: ”Are you letting the Saudis get away with murder, murdering a journalist?"
President Trump: “No. This is about America First. They’re paying us $400 billion plus to purchase and invest in our country.”
Dem Rep.
@tedlieu
: “Democrats will never cave to Donald Trump’s demands in a government shutdown because if we do, it's just going to incentivize him to do this again anytime he doesn’t get his way. So we cannot talk about wall funding in the context of the government shutdown.”
"There's no way Vladimir Putin should be coming (to Washington) this fall. And if he does, I'm going to be marching in protest with many other people against him," says congressman Ted Lieu.
“It’s a tantrum.” -
@RepSwalwell
on President Trump’s letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Mr. President we don’t need your childish, whiny letter. Don’t send us that. Send us the documents that you have buried and have refused to provide to us.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (
@AOC
) reacts to House testimony: “What we heard today was that [the President] was making and partaking in some of these phone calls, not just Giuliani… that really adds a much more disturbing degree of the involvement that he had."
Rep. Turner: Pelosi "needs to come to some recognition that she's not equal to the President"
@WolfBlitzer
: "She's not equal to the President ... but the legislative branch of the U.S. government is equal to the executive branch and they are both equal to the judicial branch"
CNN's Jim
@Acosta
: "Pres. Trump gave fact-checkers quite a workout today as he opened up a fire hose of falsehoods on special counsel Robert Mueller. That performance came after the President appeared to accidentally concede that the Russians helped him win the 2016 election."
BREAKING: What first appeared to be a gesture indicating North Korea might be willing to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, appears to have been little more than a propaganda effort for the world's cameras,
@barbarastarrcnn
reports
Rep.
@tedlieu
on the search warrants for the Cohen raid: “If I was Donald Trump, I would be scared because they have information from Michael Cohen from very early on, months before his office was raided. They have emails, they were tracking his incoming, outgoing phone calls."
"Somebody does need to challenge the President," from within the GOP in 2020, outgoing Republican Sen.
@JeffFlake
, who did not rule out running himself, tells Jim
@Acosta
. "[T]he country needs to be reminded what it means to be conservative... and what it means to be decent."
Two decades is a long time! Today we celebrate exactly 20 years of
@drsanjaygupta
making house calls at
@CNN
. Congrats Sanjay... your expertise and professionalism are just what the doctor ordered.
Rep. Lieu: If the President pardoned Paul Manafort it “would be grounds for impeachment....” I don’t think Republicans would act on that which is why this November “voters across America have a chance to change the makeup of Congress”
Presidential candidate Andrew Yang warns that Democrats' focus on impeachment may backfire, arguing voters are more interested in policy issues.
"The fact is Donald Trump thrives on attention, even negative attention," he tells
@wolfblitzer
.
Sen. Bernie Sanders says making changes to the Covid-19 relief package to win over Republicans is not a priority. “The priority that I see is addressing the crises facing working families.”
CNN’s Jim
@Acosta
reports that the outgoing chief of staff John Kelly is confiding in friends that he is relieved to be leaving his post at the White House.
CNN’S
@wolfblitzer
presses House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on President Trump’s $1.8 trillion stimulus proposal and why she doesn’t agree with it. “They do not share our values,” Pelosi says.
2020 presidential candidate
@AndrewYang
on his differing views over the wealth tax with Elizabeth Warren: “We have many similar goals… So, I think that she and I are going to be able to find ways to hopefully get to the same goal post even if we might have different visions."
CNN’s
@donlemon
: I give ABC credit for cancelling “Roseanne” – but this wasn’t the first time, so why was she given this opportunity in the first place?
Ted Lieu: “My biggest concern is that the President tries to do what Nixon did, a ‘Saturday Night Massacre’, where he tries to fire multiple officials in the Department of Justice who are investigating him”
“We have very good circumstantial evidence that the Trump team, the family, the businesses were eager to work and were working with the Russians while the Russians were helping them. In the court of law, that’s enough,” Democrat
@RepSwalwell
says about Russian collusion.
Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, tells
@WolfBlitzer
that President Trump "should be indicted immediately" following new details about Trump's role in directing payments to women to keep quiet about alleged affairs.
.
@wolfblitzer
: "If the President does go ahead and declare a national emergency… what will you and your fellow Democrats do?"
Democratic Rep.
@tedlieu
: “We will see the President in court."
“Why are there so many subpoenas? It’s because we’re seeing epic corruption. Corruption at an unprecedented level among senior White House staff going all the way up potentially to the President,”
@RepTedLieu
says.
When asked if he would stay in government after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated in January, Dr. Anthony Fauci told
@wolfblitzer
he has "no intention of leaving."
"It's an important job and my goal is to serve the American public no matter what the administration is."
Olivia Troye, VP Mike Pence’s former aide, says Pres. Trump’s comments about Covid-19 during the debate were “offensive” to her. “He is personally responsible for a lot of these deaths… From the very beginning the President told the American public this was a hoax."
Democratic Rep.
@tedlieu
: “The level of corruption associated with Donald Trump and his associates is extraordinary. It looks like virtually every organization Donald Trump has touched is under investigation.”
"He cannot go ahead and redirect funds that Congress has previously appropriated to go build his wall,” Democratic Rep.
@tedlieu
says about President Trump and the bipartisan funding bill. “For him to reroute that money, in my opinion, would violate the Constitution."
.
@wolfblitzer
: Would you vote for a temporary spending bill to reopen government if it included money for a wall?
Dem Rep.
@tedlieu
: “Absolutely not. The principle at stake here is we cannot allow President Trump to use the harm of a government shutdown as a negotiating tactic”
Rep. Lieu: I’m a former prosecutor, when the defense team doesn’t have a good argument, “they put the police on trial, they attack law enforcement.” Lieu says Trump’s team is “scared” of what Robert Mueller’s report will show
CNN’s Jim
@Acosta
reports that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is considered a “strong option” for White House chief of staff and that a source describes President Trump’s mood as “super pissed” after Nick Ayers turned down his offer for the job.
“We see the dominoes around those close to Donald Trump keep falling – people keep either getting indicted, convicted, or they plead guilty,” Rep. Lieu says about Washington lobbyist who pleaded guilty and said he helped steer foreign money to Trump inaugural and lied to Congress
“I’m a former prosecutor, and these are not the actions of an innocent person.” Rep. Lieu says Trump’s “continued assault” on the rule of law and the independence of the Department of Justice, “is highly disturbing.”
.
@RepTedLieu
on Lewandowski’s subpoena: “Corey Lewandowski sent out a tweet that emphasized he was a private citizen. I'm glad he did that, because executive privilege does not apply to private citizens. I look forward to him testifying before the House Judiciary Committee."
“If Mexico’s going to pay for it, go negotiate with Mexico. Instead what he’s done is shut down the government and tried to stick the American taxpayer with a $5 billion ransom note to build a medieval border wall,” Democrat
@RepJeffries
says of Trump's proposed border wall.
“The President’s own intelligence community pointedly contradicting Mr. Trump over and over on critical national security issues...The contradictions raise the question, who should the public believe — the President or leaders of the intelligence community?” CNN’s
@Acosta
reports
Rep. Ted Lieu: Fox News host Sean Hannity should apologize to his viewers for not disclosing relationship with Michael Cohen while he ran stories saying how bad the raids were against Trump’s personal attorney
“I’m watching these images, the first thing that came to mind is, America is a tinderbox and Donald Trump’s tongue is a flame right now. Each time he opens his mouth, he throws another match on the fire,” Atlanta Mayor
@KeishaBottoms
says.
"I want to close tonight on a very personal note" - In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day,
@WolfBlitzer
commemorates the 6 million Jewish victims and many, many others slaughtered by the Nazis.
"President Trump is setting the stage for some bruising fights this week,” CNN’s
@Acosta
reports from the White House as President Trump slams the architect of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and as special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe closes in.
CNN’s Jim
@Acosta
is along the border in McAllen, Texas, where President Trump spoke earlier.
“Earlier today he declared the nation is under attack on the border…but that’s not the only misleading thing the President has said today while he’s been in pursuit of his border wall"
"We cannot heal our country if we just ignore what happened on Wednesday. This was an insurrection and attempted coup where multiple people died," says Rep. Ted Lieu.
"That's why we have to do impeachment," he tells
@woilfblitzer
.
"Today's action shows that Donald Trump and Secretary Nielsen lied to the American people repeatedly" and she needs to resign. ... "Her credibility has been shredded," Rep. Lieu says
CNN's
@jimsciutto
"In your view has the President lied about what communications his team had with Russia?"
Rep. Adam Schiff: "Abundantly and frequently and in just about every way."
"We absolutely have a chance of conviction," says Rep. Ted Lieu about the impeachment of Pres. Trump. "You had a violent mob attack our nation's Capitol to try to stop Congress from formalizing Donald Trump's defeat and Donald Trump was the one that incited that mob."
Dem
@RepAdamSchiff
on AG William Barr’s handling of the Mueller report: “I’m not prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’m prepared to hold him to his commitment during the confirmation that he would be as transparent as law and policy would allow. He’s not doing that."
"No wall just a cave," says CNN's Jim
@Acosta
. "The President did agree to sign a short term spending deal to get the government up and running. But that agreement could easily lead to another damaging shutdown in just a few weeks."
Dem. Rep. Ted Lieu: It's "very distressing" that "the leader of the United States is unwilling to direct his FBI to prevent another attack on our elections." It seems like everyone in the White House knows about Russian meddling, "except the President"
Rep. Lieu: “I am disappointed that chief of staff John Kelly continues to say Rob Porter is a man of integrity and honor” after allegations of domestic abuse from his two ex-wives
Intel gathered by US officials captured some of the Russians accused in today’s indictments congratulating each other and celebrating the success of their operation during the campaign. They were also captured celebrating Trump's victory, source tells CNN
"I can assure you, CNN will keep doing what it does, reporting the news, undeterred, unafraid, as we do every night, including tonight."
@WolfBlitzer
offers a special message in support of his colleagues, and those who help to keep the country safe
Michael Avenatti says he wants to apologize “to the pig” he compared Rudy Giuliani to, after Giuliani said he doesn’t respect a porn star like Stormy Daniels
“It’s total gangster stuff,” CNN chief legal analyst
@JeffreyToobin
says about Rep. Matt Gaetz’s tweet threatening Michael Cohen ahead of Cohen’s congressional testimony tomorrow.
“I think Republicans and Democrats are going to see very very quickly that we need to make very big, dramatic moves to put money into people’s hands. This $2,000 a month proposal in the House and the Senate is the right direction." -
@AndrewYang
, former Dem presidential candidate.
"I agree with Adam Schiff that the President is acting like a fifth-grader. Although that insults fifth-graders. But clearly we do not have an adult in the White House." - Sen. Mazie Hirono on President Trump denying Nancy Pelosi a military plane for a trip to Afghanistan
“This is, once again, Donald Trump doing what he’s always done, which is, care nothing about the national interest, only about his personal interest,” Rep. Adam Schiff says on Pres. Trump’s reaction to the election results. “He’s reacting in a way that a child would react.”
“It’s so insulting when Mitch McConnell says it’s premature to have a conversation" about gun reform says
@RepSwalwell
. “Was it premature to do it after Sandy Hook… and there’s going to be another city, sadly, until we find the political courage in the Senate to do something."
“The President has no evidence for those claims, he’s just making stuff up. But in particular, this is a very damaging and dangerous claim because it threatens the very bedrock of our democracy,” Rep.
@tedlieu
says in response to Trump’s claims of voter fraud.
“The military has no authority, no authorization, no money to build a wall and they won’t get it. We’re not going to use the US military to build a wall for this President. We need the military to be, frankly, in Syria,” Dem
@RepGaramendi
on Trump getting money for a border wall.
Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu says the President has been repeatedly attacking people who are investigating him; it's "wrong" and "demoralizing" for the FBI
“This whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin,” says House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, reacting to the FBI leading an investigation into whether unverified emails about Hunter Biden are tied to a Russian disinformation effort targeting his father’s campaign.
Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu says that if the Democrats flip the House, the House Judiciary Committee should "interview the relevant witnesses that the FBI did not" in their investigation of the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.
“My view of impeachment is that, like the power to declare war, it is one of the gravest responsibilities of Congress. It should never be our first option. We should wait until special counsel Mueller completes his investigation,” Democratic Rep.
@tedlieu
says.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested he find a way to toss legally cast ballots. Graham denies the allegation.
“It’s just an implication that look hard and see how many ballots you can throw out,” Raffensperger said.
“It shows that the Trump defense is crumbling before our very eyes.”
@RepTedLieu
reacts to White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney's confirmation that President Trump froze aid to Ukraine in part to pressure the country to investigate Democrats.
“Right now, Wolf, we have powerful, clear, uncontradicted evidence that the President has abused his power,” says
@RepSwalwell
about impeachment.
“If he has evidence that could exonerate him, now is the time to start cooperating.”
“If Republicans want to put country over party, I do think we could do that…We want to make sure that we can protect these investigations but also work to heal America,” Democratic Rep.
@tedlieu
says about the prospect of passing a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller
"Last year in January, was I a loser when he asked me to get together the Congressional Black Caucus for a meeting? He thought I had enough gravitas then and enough seriousness for me to do that." - Reporter
@AprilDRyan
responds to Trump's comment in which he called her a "loser"
"No red flags were given" by the federal government. - New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell on why the city moved forward with Mardi Gras celebrations. "If we were given clear direction we would not have had Mardi Gras and I would've been the leader to cancel it."
.
@RepTedLieu
on Ambassador Friedman supporting Israel banning Rep. Tlaib from visiting: “It is outrageous that the US government is working against having an American go visit a relative in Israel... I think he should resign."
“It’s looking more and more, Wolf, that Donald Trump was a part of a criminal campaign, a criminal transition and now presides over a criminal presidency,” Democrat
@RepSwalwell
says.
"There is also a huge racial dimension to this. … The idea that this was some random selection of journalists that he doesn’t like is not the case. It’s always black people with this President." CNN's Jeffrey Toobin reacts to Trump's disparaging remarks against black journalists
Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu: "The statements described by Michael Cohen that Donald Trump made are highly disturbing. They are starkly racist. If this makes people mad, I hope they vote this Tuesday and get others to vote ... "
Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu tells CNN's
@WolfBlitzer
that President Trump's abrupt end to a second round of infrastructure talks shows "that the President is a petulant child, and that has serious consequences."
What evidence does Michael Cohen have that the President knew in advance of the controversial 2016 Trump Tower meeting?
“At this juncture, I can only say that [Cohen] was present during a discussion with [Donald Trump Jr.] and [Trump],” Lanny Davis says