and, as with any impeachment trial,

the Senate will serve as the jury.

So this afternoon, all the senators were sworn in

by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts,

and then they signed their names one by one

in what's known as the "oath book."

Yeah. It was a really solemn moment

and also the first time, uh, ever

that anyone's ever asked for Ted Cruz's autograph.

Now, the one big question hanging over this trial has been

will Republican senators allow new witnesses to testify?

Well, apparently, some of those witnesses

aren't waiting to find out.

They're just showing up on TV, right?

And the conversation everyone's talking about right now

is Rachel Maddow's interview with Lev Parnas,

an associate of Rudy Giuliani

and a man with seven different hairstyles all at once.

(laughter)

Now, Parnas is important

because unlike some previous witnesses

who only heard about what was going on,

he claims that he was working closely

with Rudy Giuliani to get dirt on the Bidens.

So if those other people smelled the borscht,

he actually made it.

And now he's telling all of America

how it went down.

President Trump knew exactly what was going on.

Uh, he was aware of all of my movements.

Uh, he... I wouldn't do anything without the consent

of Rudy Giuliani or the president.

Are you saying s-specifically--

I want to sort of drill down on that--

that the president was aware that you and Mr. Giuliani

were working on this effort in Ukraine

to basically try to hurt Joe Biden's political career?

-He was... He knew about that? -Basically.

Yeah, it was... it was all about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden.

It was never about, uh, corruption. It was never...

It was strictly about, uh, the Burisma,

which included Hunter Biden and Joe Biden.

Damn, those are some pretty big accusations.

Because, you understand, Lev Parnas is saying

that President Trump knew

about everything that was going on in Ukraine

and that none of it was really about fighting corruption.

That's a big deal coming from Rudy Giuliani's right-hand man.

This would be like if Luigi went on Rachel Maddow like,

"Mario doesn't care about the princess.

"He just loves to murder turtles.

He wants to kill all of them. He's a very sick man."

It would be huge.

-(cheering and applause) -Now...

Now, the White House...

The White House has responded to this interview

saying that Parnas is a liar.

They say he's only saying this

because he's been indicted for campaign finance fraud,

and so now he's trying to get a lighter sentence,

like a Ukrainian Tekashi69.

And Trump has gone one step further,

saying that he doesn't even know what a Lev Parnas is,

much less that he gave him instructions

to get dirt on Joe Biden,

to which Parnas is now responding,

"Pics. It did happen."

The president of the United States said,

uh, he didn't know you.

I don't know those gentlemen.

Now, it's possible I have a picture with him

because I have a picture with everybody.

I don't know them.

I welcome him to say that even more.

Every time he says that, I'll show him another picture.

-COOPER: He's wrong? -He's wrong.

Oh! Oh!

Okay, Parnas. Okay, Parnas.

You know the game is real

when someone is threatening to open their camera roll.

You know when your friend does that?

It's like, "Oh, do you want me to AirDrop these to you?

"'Cause I'll AirDrop them to everyone.

We both know what happened at that Sandals Resort."

(laughter)

I hope when Parnas does release the pictures,

they just get steadily more incriminating, you know?

It would be fun if, like, at first,

they're just at a party together.

You know, then the next picture,

they're riding together on Space Mountain.

Then, eventually, like all pictures,

it'll just end up with nudes.

You know, that's where it's gonna go.

Yeah, and Trump will be like, "That doesn't mean anything.

"I take nudes with everyone.

So many nudes."

(laughter)

So, this is the latest twist

in the Ukraine impeachment scandal.

Giuliani's former BFF, Lev Parnas,

says everyone in Trump world was involved:

the president, Mike Pence

and even Attorney General Bill Barr.

So many people are involved

that they're gonna have to take a party bus to the trial.

Yeah. Although, Mike Pence doesn't do alcohol,

so he'll just be sipping on seltzer, you know?

He'll just be like, "Oh, this water is so spicy."

(laughter)

And to make matters worse, to make matters worse,

today, a nonpartisan government agency

declared that Trump withholding military aid

from Ukraine was illegal.

Yeah, the thing he actually did. They're saying it was illegal.

Not maybe illegal, not illegalish.

Illegal.

And, I mean, that's black-and-white.

And trust me, I'm black and white,

so that's my area of expertise.

I know what this is like.

So, that's where things stand right now.

Witnesses are talking.

The government itself says Trump broke the law.

And I can only imagine that Trump must be

really, really, extremely worried right now.

I'm also approving new dishwashers

that give you more water

so you can actually wash and rinse your dishes

without having to do it ten times

or five, six, seven,

eight, nine, ten.

Your dishes are gonna be beautiful.

I'm talking about dishwashers,

sinks, toilets, light bulbs.

We won't talk about toilets, but, you know, that's a...

(imitates handle clanking)

Did you ever go to the faucet?

You turn on the faucet to wash your hands.

You go like that. The thing flips on and...

Whoa.

And then... (imitates water dripping)

But how about the shower?

You go into a shower.

And I have this beautiful head of hair.

I need a lot of water.

I knew it!

He's terrified.