scheme. how is the president reacting to this likelihood he's about to become the third president ever to be impeached as many well, among other things, he's lying. >> the president and the attorney general are distorting the findings of the justice department inspector general's report which found the fbi investigation of the 2016 trump campaign, the origins of the russia investigation was unbiased and justified. now, in just a few hours, that inspector general will testify before the senate jauudiciary committee. his findings are at odds with bill barr an the president who continue to peddle this now debunked lie. >> folks, they spied on our campaign, okay? they spied. >> all right. joining us now, we have cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and rachael bade. jeffrey, before we get to what's going to happen next in impeachment, i want to start

there because i know you have strong feelings about what bill barr is saying, what the president said last night at his rally. they continue to use the term spying though the inspector general debunked that. >> well, the astonishing thing that you see especially from bill barr who presumably knows better is that he is reciting facts that just didn't happen. he said in this interview with pete williams yesterday on nbc that, you know, they sent people in wired up, you know, with -- you know, people wearing wires to talk to the campaign. it never happened. i mean, he's just making things up about what this investigation was. and now we have this exhaustive report that the president and the attorney general had touted as sort of the definitive word on the appropriateness of this investigation which they are now completely casting aside.

and they seem determined to investigate and investigate the fbi until they get someone who will reach the conclusion they want. now they're putting it into john durham from connecticut. but it is so astonishing especially coming from the justice department. >> i watch tv occasionally at night. i heard you call william barr a fox bot. what did you mean by that? >> well, you know, he and fox news are repeating talking points about this investigation that are simply not true. to be demeaning the fbi as spying on a political campaign when, you know, this exhaustive 500 page report said that this was appropriate. it was not done with political

motivation. i mean, it's just something that we haven't seen before. maybe since the nixon years. but even then you didn't have the brazenness that you have from the attorney general and from the president on this subject. >> rachel, that's why today is going to be so fascinating. so this morning michael horowitz, that inspector general is going to testify. and he's going to have to explain and thread the needle somehow between the attorney general of the united states bill barr and his impressions. and the director of the fbi christopher wray. who says this is called surveillance and investigation. this is what the fbi does. this is our mission statement. it's not called spying. that's not the same thing. and so that will be fascinating to watch. and then a few hours later, there will be this prime time moment of the judiciary committee of arguing in five-minute increments where we are with impeachment. what will you be watching?

>> yeah. trying to pay attention to all at once. it shows the sort of dual reality that we see here in washington. you call it the split screen. republicans in the senate very much have been focusing on this whole investigating of the investigator. obviously the report did not come out like they wanted it to. there was no finding of political bias. but it did leave enough little pieces in there they can pick things out and say the fbi didn't quite follow standards or may have done something wrong in terms of this investigation. obviously there was no bias. at the same time democrats moving forward with their opening statements. i mean, this is going to be political grand standing at its finest or its worst. but yeah. it's going to be interesting over in the house to see these sort of dual things play out at the same time. i will say i'm watching a third thing that is not going to be on the tv cameras. that is a bunch of shaky moderates right now who behind

the scenes are getting cold feet. and have been talking about wanting to potentially censure the president instead of impeach him. which of course we know is not going to happen. again, it speaks to all these different dynamics that are happening with republicans trying to push their narrative. democrats trying to move forward with their own impeachment. and all the other dynamics behind the scenes including moderates scared about and voting on it. >> how cold and how many i think is a key question. and the broader question is -- because there's a large amount of inevitability about what we're going to see tonight. this process is in full gear. in addition to that question i just asked you, what else are you looking for broadly speaking in the next five or six days? >> yeah. i mean, i think with the moderates, a lot of them are nervous. at least a dozen or so who are concerned about next week. but the question is going to be how many are willing to vote against some of these articles. there was a discussion on tuesday night a group of ten of

them that met that said we'd rather vote on censure. we don't want to vote on impeachment. but i think these folks also know, it doesn't matter what they want. this is a train not stopping. and going to leadership saying they want censure, it's a little late for that. there has been discussion about moderates voting against the article of obstruction of congress which i find very fascinating. they have a ton of evidence for. trump has stonewalled more than two dozen congressional investigations flat out. no subpoenas. voting down on that article and voting up on the abuse of power. they think that will show sof independence with their democratic colleagues. they're worried about -- they're not helping americans, they're not trying to pass legislation. they're concerned about those types of adds.

so they want to show independence. >> can i add an even more cynical view here? a lot of these moderates are going to lose a lot of campaign contributions from the core democratic constituents if they don't vote for impeachment. so they have different forces pushing them in different directions. the base of the party really wants impeachment. and if they vote against it, look for their campaign contributions to have serious problems. >> that is a pickle for them. we can see why they are quite uncomfortable today. jeffrey, what are you watching on yet another historic day today? >> well, you know, i'm thinking back. barbara jordon who was the first african-american woman to represent texas in congress gave a famous speech about why she was voting for the impeachment

of richard nixon in the house judiciary committee. it would be interesting to see if anyone rises to the occasion with that level of eloquence. i think everybody knows what the votes are in the judiciary committee, but will anyone be able to speak in a way that we'll remember for longer than a day? >> you've been so good about reminding us about how historically significant this moment is. and also how serious this is and how remarkable it is he tried to spin the seriousness. this is how he described the articles of impeachment against him. >> you saw their so-called articles of impeachment today? people are saying they're not even a crime.

what happened? bribery and this and that, where are they? this is the lightest, weakest impeachment. >> impeachment seems to be the biggest. this time it's the lightest. >> i don't think james madison had a category in the constitution for impeachment and impeachment light. it's kind of an on/off switch. you know, look. the number that keeps sticking in my mind is for 200 years we had one impeachment. and now we've had three proceedings in the last 45 years. you know, nixon, clinton, and trump. i think that is indicative of, you know, just how volatile and angry our politics have become. the even bigger difference is that with clinton and nixon, there was even a slight element

of contrition. and you know, an argument on the part of the president's supporters at least that, yes, mistakes were made. and what we don't see from the president at all is any indication that he would have done anything differently. and in a way, it really raises the stakes for 2020. because i don't think there's any doubt that if he president is re-elected, we are going to see more like this. and with the sanction of re-election, we're going to see the president even more emboldened to go to foreign powers, for example, and say help me politically. >> why wouldn't he? why wouldn't he? >> yeah. i mean, just to jump off what jeffrey was saying there, i mean, i just -- the whole question has been in the pack of my mind in the past few weeks. is this worki inworking? i mean, clearly this process moving forward, it's all partisan. republicans are not even willing to acknowledge wrong doing.

and democrats are arguing we have to move fast right now because trump is -- you know, he's continuing to push, you know, ukraine to do these investigations. giuliani's there. we got to move now. but by impeaching trump, i mean, without any republican support and without any contrition on the part of the president, i mean, giuliani is over there right now pressuring ukraine. is this even working? and so i have had, you know, real questions about the checks and balances in our democracy. is something broken? and i mean, it's just baffling, i would say. >> excellent point to end on. racha rachael, jeffrey, thank you for the analysis. the impeachment of donald trump is setting up an epic showdown between the president and the speaker of the house. a look at nancy pelosi's evolution to this pivotal moment in history. ♪ the first fda-approved medication of its kind, tremfya® can help adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis uncover clearer skin that can last. most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks.

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breaking news. the mayor of jersey city now says surveillance video shows that two shooters clearly targeted a kosher market when they engaged in an hours' long shootout with police. three civilians and a police officer were killed along with the two suspects. we are live in jersey city with the breaking details. it was suggested that the kosher market is targeted. now the mayor says he's seen proof. >> reporter: that's right, john. he says that there are hours of this cc tv video. what steven phillip, this mayor of jersey city, does not say what exactly leads him to the conclusion it was targeted. but he says unequivocally this market was the target of these shooters where this hours' long standoff occurred. he goes on to say in a series of

tweets today that he is jewish and there is no place in this city for anti-semitism. there are also no outstanding credible threats to the city but there will be a stepped up presence regardless. we're hearing the same thing from bill de blasio saying he is adding police to key locations in the jewish community there despite the facts there are no further credible threats in new york city. meanwhile the investigation does continue. the names of the suspects have not yet been released. the civilians have not been publicly identified. and we know the officers are on scene at two other locations they believe are tied to the standoff and shooting at the kosher market. they're looking at a u-haul being examined by the bomb squad. they're also looking at the shooting death of the officer gunned down by the suspects not

far from here. >> it sounds like police are moving quickly with their investigation here. thank you for the update. so the pentagon is halting its training program for hundreds of saudi military personnel in the wake of the deadly shooting by a saudi airman at a naval air station in pensacol pensacola. it permits nonimmigrant visa holders to buy firearms with a hunting license. suggests the gunman may have been radicalized years before coming to the u.s. so for months, house speaker nancy pelosi was reluctant to support impeachment. she didn't support it. but now she stands firmly behind it. believing president trump's actions are too preeegregious t ignore. still she faces a balancing act. tom foreman has the story.

>> that is not a point of order. >> i made a point of order. >> reporter: nancy pelosi is walking a tight rope on government -- >> we're not going to have a shut down. >> reporter: -- on a new trade deal. >> this trade agreement is much better than nafta. >> reporter: and on the impeachment probe of donald trump. >> if we did not hold him accountable, he would continue to undermine our election. >> that's really bull [ bleep ]. >> reporter: it's been a long time coming for the speaker of the house. nine months ago she dodged the thought of impeaching trump arguing it was too divisive for the country. she told t"the washington post, he's just not worth it. >> take a look at that call. it was perfect. there was no quid pro quo. >> reporter: by early fall as the ukraine scandal boiled up, polls showed even independents were warming to the idea that

trump should be removed from office. yet pelosi would say only that the white house could be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness. then came the formal vote on an impeachment inquiry. team trump's aboutive to stall oversight and pelosi told a cnn town hall she's had enough. >> if we were not to proceed, it would say to a future president whoever he or she may be democrat or republican that the democracy is gone. president is kung and can dovr he wants undermining our system of checks and balances. >> i just hope no congress ever repeats what we're going through today. >> reporter: to blunt republican talking points about her party being obsessed with impeachment and to give democrats cover, pelosi seems to be everywhere talking about legislation, policies, the work of washington, even how she deals with trump. >> how would you describe your

relationship with the president? >> professional. >> reporter: and she is hitting hard at anyone who suggests she simply hates him. >> i still pray for the president. i pray for the president all the time. so don't mess with me when it comes to words like that. >> reporter: she is striking a very fine balance on a very high wire to be sure. trying not to alienate the political left or middle by working too readily with the white house on legislation while doing battle simultaneously with a president who rarely misses a chance to give her a shove from the right. john, alisyn? >> our thanks to tom foreman there. very interesting to watch on nancy pelosi coming to the floor here. attorney general bill barr disagreeing with the inspector general's report and defying the fbi director. what will the inspector general himself say today under oath? a democrat on the senate judiciary committee is here on that. [ tires screech ] the big idaho potato truck is touring america

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so in the middle of an historic impeachment process in the house of representatives, what promises to be a dramatic day in the senate. the justice department inspector general will testify before the senate judiciary committee. michael horowitz just released a report critical of how the fbi reported but found that the investigation was legal and that there was no evidence of political bias in how they launched the investigation. joining the now is richard blumenthal. he is a member of the senate judiciary committee and will take part in these today. what do you want to hear today

in. >> what i want to hear is a clear, explicit picture of how this investigation was in no way the result of anti-trump animus or bias. no caused by a deep red state animus against trump. i want to hear him confront directly and rebut the real insult from attorney general barr against all federal law enforcement but most particularly against the integrity of his report. because what the attorney general seems to be doing is simply festering and supporting the right wing conspiracy theories about this russia investigation which produced very dramatic convictions. 37 indictments and 7 convictions. five prison sentences. not a bogus narrative as the attorney general says and that's what i want to hear from mr. horowitz. >> to remind people again, the

horowitz report found the investigation was legal and no evidence in political bias in how it was launched. yet as you say, the attorney general of the united states is citing bad faith. listen. >> they not only didn't tell the court that what they had been relying on was completely rubbish, they actually started putting in things to bolster this report. these irregularitieirregulariti were not satisfactorily explained. and i think that leaves open the possibility to infer bad faith. >> they found no political bias there. and what's really haremarkable what we now hear from the fbi

director christopher wray. listen. >> the inspector general did not find that political bias or improper motivations impacted the decision to open the russia interference investigation. >> what do you make of this apparent rift now between the fbi director and the attorney general and the president of the united states? >> this rift is absolutely unprecedented in a case of this magnitude. the director of the fbi is not merely defending its agency. he is stating the truth that whatever the errors or omissions in seeking the warrants for electronic surveillance were not the result of bad faith. not anti-trump animus or bias. and the attorney general who theoretically is his boss is perpetuating this conspiracy theory about bad faith

anti-trump animus. and in fact impugning the integrity of the entire fbi and law enforcement. that is striking. and it's a real disservice to law enforcement. but the important point here is the results. the attorney general of the united states is saying that the russian investigation is a bogus narrative. he is helping to support the idea that ukraine, not russia, attacked the united states. that leads to complacency, a threat to national security. and that's why today mr. horowitz has to clearly explicitly rebut and debunk this kind of conspiracy theory. >> let me just ask you, though, because horowitz also makes sure the fisa application process was a mess. there were errors in it. there was a criminal referral on it. what changes do you want to see made in. >> i have proposed changes going

back to 2013 in the fisa warrant process. to provide for greater scrutiny. some adversarial process like we have in the rest of the criminal process. so that the counterview is presented in seeking a fisa warrant and errors can be corrected. but keep in mind, john, even here the inspector general found no evidence, none, that those errors and omissions serious as they may have been had an impact on issuing the warrant. in other words, the warrants were still -- >> he did not weigh in on that. he specifically noted on whether he would weigh in had it been done properly, whether the application would have been approved. i want to shift gears because obviously you're busy in the senate today. but in the house they're busy talking about the articles of impeachment which should be approved by the house judiciary committee perhaps by tomorrow. abuse of power, obstruction of

congress. president trump last night was trying to diminish the importance of those charges. listen. we don't have that bite. the president called them the lightest, weakest impeachment charges ever. abuse of power and obstruction of congress. do you find those to be weak? >> these are extraordinarily serious. they race not only his abuse of power that threatens our democratic institution, he tried to undermine our past election but also to corrupt our future elections by soliciting a foreign power to interfere by soliciting a bribe, something of value to him, personal benefit in that investigation. but also threatening our national security. and the reason why i think these impeachment articles are so important is that they go to the future, not just the past. the threat is continuing. and abuse of power and

obstruction of congress go to the core of his constitutional responsibility and ours. it makes it absolutely mandatory that we pursue this impeachment. >> and if i could ask you one more thing which is on a vastly different subject. today the president is going to sign an executive order which effectively makes judaism a nationality in regards to students in protected college speech. what he's trying to do is crack down on anti-semitism, some anti-semitism on college campuses. you basically have to say that judaism is a nationality. there are some people who don't doubt the motivations here, but that's a precarious label in this case. the soviet union did that, for instance. called judaism a nation. it's a religion. what's the risk reward there? is this something you support? >> i am very, very wary as a jew

of labeling judaism as a nationality. it smacks not only of what happened in soviet union but nazi germany that my own father escaped in 1935. i am an american. my religion is judaism. and my allegiance is to the united states of america. and i think there are other tools to fight discrimination. i've used them as a prosecutor and as a public official. there is no reason that we need to label judaism as a nationality. i'm very wary of it. >> senator richard blumenthal, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. john, as you know, it's been two decades since the last presidential impeachment. so how has the country changed? how has congress changed? well, paul begala and joe lockhart have strong feelings about that and they would know. they're here next.

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december 19th, 1998. that was the day the house of representatives voted to impeach president bill clinton. two articles of impeachment passed the house. well, today 21 years later, the house is poised again to vote on two articles of impeachment. this time against president trump. so how will this time look different? joining us now, two veterans of the clinton impeachment. joe lockhart former white house press secretary and paul begala who was a white house adviser. gentlemen, there could be two no better guests about this. let's get in our time machine and go back to that fateful day in 1998 and hear what a younger but just as handsome joe lockhart had to say about that moment. >> the president as we said is

going to do what's in the best interest of this country. he's going to keep on pushing his agenda forward. and i think that it would be wrong to give in to this insidious politics of personal destruction which seems so pervasive in this town now. >> skrjoe, are you having bad flashbacks right now? >> yes. >> because you were so intimately involved, when you look back, what is different that day than this day? >> well, i think the biggest difference is that the republicans are frankly just not taking it seriously. i think, you know, people say that both of them were partisan impeachments. and if you defined it as most chiropract democrats voted this way, then you can say that's true. but it isn't true at all. democrats -- first off, the white house cooperated with the investigation. they got all the information they needed.

secondly, the democrats on the committees took it very seriously. even before the starr report came out, dick gephart said this might be impeachable. he was on a conference call with his caucus saying, hey, everybody. vote your conscience here. this is just -- this is important stuff. and then i guess thirdly, the president acknowledged what he did. and then went on a tour of apologies. you know, culminating in the national prayer breakfast where he gave a soulful speech about what was wrong. republicans have just tried to burn the house down. and they have mocked the entire process. and this is so much more serious than that. but even if they were of the same magnitude, there hasn't been a sense that the -- any republican is willing to put

their country and their oath of office ahead of their party and their curious allegiance to this president. >> that is such a difference than what we're hearing today. okay. paul begala, your turn. here's the time machine when we go back to a younger and almost as handsome paul begala that day. >> it has been, i think, bitterly partisan. and not in a way that the framers of the constitution probably would have admired. when the house republicans led by speaker groundhog are rushing out grand jury material straight out into our living rooms and classrooms. when they release a report without giving chances to read it or review it. that's a hardly partisan process. >> first of all, not that day. it was two months earlier. but that sound eerily similar to the things we're hearing today, paul. what are your impressions?

>> i think actually if you go back to nixon, what did the president know and when did he know it. i think in this case it is may k -- michael gerhardt who testified. that was the whole question back then. it wasn't a factual question did he have an affair? he misled the country about it. but once he fessed up, it was clear he had an affair and it was claerly wrong. is this worthy of impeachment? i think overwhelmingly the country, 70% of the country said no. it was bad personal conduct. it has nothin to do with the oval office. today the president's defenders don't have that option. right? they can't say, gee, laninge i a foreign leader is just the president's personal life. and maybe that's why they are in

this personality -- by the way, i worked on the hill before clinton. i worked for dick gephart. there were a lot who were troubled by it but viewed the impeachment as far too much. you don't have that today. o anything the dear leader does must be perfect, in his words. >> joe, you said back then the defense was he was a good man that did a bad thing. that's not where we are today. the defense of president trump is not he's a good man but did a bad thing. it's that the phone call was perfect. >> it was perfect. no, yeah. that is the defense. i think just to draw further distinction, some of the most harsh comments about the president during the senate trial came from his own lawyers. charles ruff stood up and talked about how appalled he was by the

president's -- called it disgusting, irresponsible, outrageous. >> with friends like that -- >> yes. no, but those friends helped him. because they acknowledged what everybody in the country knew. that the president had made an egregious unforgivable my take. and he was doing everything he could to make up for it. in that cult, it's not the traditional cult of people being brainwashed. these are congressmen in the republican party who are so obsessed with their own personal fortunes that they can't see what their constituents and country wants. so, you know, it is very different and there are a lot we could talk for hours about why in the last 20 years the politics have changed. but they are fundamentally different today than we were 20

years ago. >> we only have a few second left, but one thing i was struck by was president clinton paid an enormous pras for l-- price for lying. that was the misdemeanor, the lying. this time around, it's different. your final thoughts if. >> i wonder if president trump has figured out a bed of nails defense. if you sit on one nail, you'll feel it. but if there's 10,000 nails and they're close enough, you don't feel it. it may be his constant -- he lies like i breathe. he just has to do it. that's trump respiration. maybe it's just he's oversaturated the market with lies. the problem is that's corrupting our discourse, it's corrupting his party. you know, we had a life raft with president clinton. it was that he was doing a very good job on an agenda the american people supported. whether it was head start or health care or peace in the middle east or northern ireland. what's the trump agenda?

right? i mean, he's not -- it's not like -- president reagan wanted lower taxes and strong defense and christian family values and take on the russians. there's no agenda with trump. it is just worshipping this i think slightly flawed man. >> paul begala, joe lockhart, just interesting to wax kn nostalgic with both of you. thank you, both. >> even more interesting to look at their old pictures. they haven't aged, like, a minute. is bill barr the attorney general of the united states? or the president's personal attorney? a cnn reality check next.

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attorney general william barr, a lawyer for the country or the president's personal attorney? his record makes the answer to that question kind of hard to figure out. john avlon has been through the record, all of it, and has a reality check. >> when president trump tapped bill barr to replace the much abused jeff sessions there were sighs of relief. he was seen as a safe pick, a mild-mannered conservative, a constitutionalist who served george h.w. bush before. ten months into his tenure it's clear bill barr is one of the most radical and partisan attorney generals in american history. in statement after statement, barr seems to show he believes

the attorney general should function as the president's personal lawyer. he cut a critical sentence and a half, hiding the first part that said russia worked to secure a trump presidency and the campaign expected it would benefit from their interference. on monday, after barr's own inspector general concluded there was no spying on the trump campaign, barr slammed the report on the president's behalf. >> clearly spied upon. that's what electronic surveillance is. >> which led a cadre of conservative lawyers to say that he had grossly mischaracterized and subverted the ig report. but par went further telling nbc's obama administration was the real villain here, even more than the russians. >> the greatest danger to our free system is that the incumbent government used the apparatus of the state both to spy on political opponents but also to use them in a way that could affect the outcome of the election. as far as i'm aware, this is the first time in history this has been done to a presidential

campaign. >> but this is much more than simply doing the boss' bidding. recent speech to the federal society showed barr to be a people's lawyer. >> waging a scorched earth, no holds barred war of resistance against this administration, it is the left that is engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and undermining the rule of law. >> deflect and project. now given barr's belief in a unitary chief executive you'd expect his position would be consistent, right? not so much. in 1994 on cnn's crossfire, barr argued that bill clinton needed to be held accountable by any means necessary. >> these cases are difficult. one has to blow through some road blocks, maybe challenge privileges, maybe ask the president to come before a grand jury. >> during the clinton impeachment, barr blasted the idea that the president could cite attorney/client privilege to block his white house counsels from testifying and then turned around to approve

that same move for president trump. morals, principles and ethics are either provided consistently or they're counterfeit. bar considers himself a morallist. giving a stunning speech at notre dame. >> this is not decay. this is organized destruction. secularists of and their allies have marshalled all the forces of mass communication, popular culture, the entertainment industry and academia in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values. >> this demonization of secular americans could have been written by a televangelist rather than a chief law enforcement officer in a constitutional republic founded on separation of church and state. there was another line in the speech that jumped out, too. >> men are subject to powerful passions and appetites, and if unrestrained are capable of ruthlessly riding roughshod over their neighbors and the community. >> that's true. it's why we have laws and a constitution that constrains the power of the executive who,

after all, the founders were primarily concerned could turn into a new kind of tyrant. and that's your "reality check." >> gosh, it's interesting to watch all of those many faces of bill barr. john, thank you for that historical look. so 2020 democratic hopeful elizabeth warren is shifting her campaign strategy as her poll numbers have somewhat stalled. did her medicare for all push hurt her? cnn's m.j. lee takes a look. >> i thought tonight, though, i might shake it up just a little. >> reporter: elizabeth warren is mixing things up. she's teftsting out shorter speeches and longer q&as with voters at campaign events. her husband is hitting the stump solo for the first time. and after almost never calling out her rivals by name -- >> i'm not here to criticize other democrats. >> reporter: warren has gone on offense. tustling with south bend mayor buttigieg.

>> i think buttigieg should open up the doors so anyone can come in and report on what's being said. >> reporter: the massachusetts democrat appearing to try out some new strategies as her political momentum has stalled. while she is still polling in the double digits nationally, shee she's significantly trailing joe biden. this after the warren campaign wrestled with the fallout of its handling of medicare for all. warren fully backing vermont senator bernie sanders' signature singer payer health care proposal. >> yes, i'm with bernie on medicare for all. but getting heat for not having her own plan to pay for it. >> there's this gaping hole in the plan. she's got a plan for everything, but not this. >> reporter: the senator eventually releasing proposals to respond to the critics. >> i have a plan to do something about it. >> reporter: but the weeks-long drubbing taking a toll. >> i was glad to see her come off a little bit for medicare for all. i just don't think she can get

some of the cent rift democrats and independents with just pushing medicare for all. >> reporter: while warren has taken a dip, buttigieg has been gaining. surging to the top of the field in iowa for the first time last month. the two candidates trading barbs over the last week on political transparency. warren calling on buttigieg to make his fund-raisers open to the press and disclose his past consulting clients. buttigieg demanding that warren release more of her tax returns going back decades to when she did legal work for corporate clients. both candidates ultimately making new disclosures about their work in the private sector. warren reacting tuesday night to buttigieg revealing his client list. >> one of those clients was blue cross blue shield in michigan. what is your reaction to that? >> i am glad the mayor has taken these steps. i think it is really important that as we go into the 2020 election that we have the best chance to win against donald

trump. >> reporter: m.j. lee, cnn, reno, nevada. >> so much going on in the 2020 race. we're at a pivotal moment. we'll have much more on that in just a few minutes. thank you to our international viewers for watching. for you "cnn newsroom" is next. for our u.s. viewers, a key moment in the impeachment process today. "new day" continues right now. the house judiciary committee will begin formal discussions on impeachment tonight. >> two articles of impeachment charging donald trump with high crimes and misdemeanors. >> you saw their so-called articles of impeachment. people are saying they're not even a crime. >> the president who is willing to jeopardize the national security of the american people must be held accountable. >> from day one they've been in search of a crime. president trump hasn't committed a crime. >> why don't you just wait amounts to this. why don't you just let him cheat in one more election. >> this is "new day" with alisyn camerota and john berman.

>> good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day" wednesday, december 11th. 8:00 in the east and the house judiciary committee will begin debating the articles of impeachment against president trump in primetime tonight. now this could go late into the evening because all 41 members of the committee will each have five minutes to make opening statements. and tomorrow morning, they will start considering amendments ahead of a vote to send the articles to the full house. a very big day starting. >> the president responding to the likelihood he'll become just the third u.s. president in history to be impeached. he's lying. a lot. at a rally overnight, the president lied about the severity of the impeachment charges he faces and the contents of the justice department inspector general report. of note this morning for the first time we'll hear from the inspector general himself. he testifies before the senate judiciary committee. joining us