was wonderful. we need an inquiry. and the facts make an inquiry inskapable. nancy pelosi had to do this today. >> all right. paul, i appreciate your time. thank you so very much and thank you very much to all of you for joining us for the breaking news coverage. ac 360 begins right now. good evening, there is news just breaking now at the end of an already historic day. the white house appears to have just now blinked in the stand i don't have that left president trump facing the specter of impeachment. he is not there yet not by any means but only two presidents have been impeached andrew johnson and bill clinton and richard nixon resigned before the house could act. president trump is in rare company. today's action by house speaker nancy pelosi along with the president's own statements and actions over the past days and weeks have now put the white house and congress on a path rarely traveled in the 243 years of this country's caseens. whether you agree with what speaker pelosi announced today or not, food is significant.

it was just after 5:00 eastern time that speaker pelosi in a rising wave pro impeachment caucus made the day historic. >> the actions of the trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president's betrayal of his oath of office and national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. therefore, today, i'm announcing the house. represent he was moving forward with the official kbeemt impeachment choiry directing our six committees to move forward. the president must be held accountable no one above the law. >> well at immediate issue is the intelligence intelligence the whistleblower complaint which the white house has been keeping from congress and the president's phone conversation with the president of the ukraine allegedly to get ukrainian help in damaging his leading opponent joe biden. the white house is promiseding to release a transcript of the

phone call tomorrow morning not enough for house democrats will get a chance to question the acting director of nash intelligence who stopped the complaint dpr being forwarded to congress. and the whistleblower. nor is it enough for the senate who which took rare bipartisan action on the whistleblower complaint as we mentioned at the top that is not even half of it. let's engine with jayme acosta with the breaking news. what are learning about the possible release of the whistleblower complaint itself? >> terse, we understand white house white house officials are being looing at this could come sout as soon as tomorrow. my enclosings report that the president weighed in on decide pd on his own he wanted to see the complaint released. we're not sure what form it comes in. whether we will see all of it. bup it's a curious change of events. the white house essentially blinked in all of this. if we see all of it. we're not sure if we will see all of it. but recall last week when the superior general for the intelligence community went on capitol hill talked to the house

intelligence committee and essentially told the lawmakers we can't show you what's in this complaint. and so this is a major reversal for the white house no question about it. >> what about the release of the transcript of the president's call with the ukrainian president? and i'm not -- i mean, were there multiple calls? do we no? because the reporting for the "wall street journal" initially was that there were eight mentions of -- or eight efforts of mentioning focusing on biden. do we know if that was in one call. >> right. i think that's one of the key questions in the whistleblower complaint. remember the whistleblower complaint dealt with multiple interactions and so that may get us to that answer. and whether or not we see all of the whistleblower complaint that remains to be seen. but anderson the president did thorson the release of the transcript he tweeted as much yerler in the afternoon. saying secretary of state mike pompeo got permission from the ukrainian side to release the information. but very important for shoers to understand at this point the white house is starting to

downplay expectations as to what is going to be in the call transcript. i talked to two white house officials this evening who said prepare to be underwedam. prepare to see the contents of the script transcript and find those contents to be underwelcome at this point. that puts a lot of pressure on what is in that whistleblower complaint and as you know, anderson, as we have all been following this, the white house mass gone to great lengths including the president to call into question the credibility of the whistleblower. in the words of one white house official i spoke with they refer to the whistleblower as the so-called whistleblower. they're not putting a lot of suffolk in that what employee has to say at this point. but, anderson put all of that to the side. keep in mind what happened when the president walked in the united nations earlier this morning before he gave the speech to the united nations general assembly. he admitted to reporter that is he held up aid to ukraine. in after he admitted to reporter sthas he pressured the ukrainian president in a phone call to try to get dirt on former vice

president joe boyden. that is what democrats are focusing on at this point. and the president all day long was saying there was no quid pro quo. democrats say you don't need that because the president was pressuring the ukrainian president to try to get dirt on former vice president joe biden. >> it's interesting, jim, because president trump and others in the white house have been saying well this was about overall concern about corruption in ukraine. and what's odd about that is there are plen of countries in the world that the u.s. has dealings with and sells military aid to and gives military aid to which have widespread corruption. we haven't heard the president really talk about corruption. >> absolutely. >> saudi arabia ob anywhere else. and also, if hes concerned about corruption in ukraine, if the only example he is talking about and again it's totally an alleged example. there is no evidence -- if he is focusing only on the bidens or joe bidden's son, it's hard to imagine that that's the prime

example of alleged corruption in ukraine. >> that's right, anderson. and it's interesting woefr the last 48 hours we have seen the president shift rationale as to why, you know, he isn't in any hot water in all of this. he was saying earlier that they were holding up the money to ukraine because of his concerns about corruption. as you said, the united states has dealt with many he countries around the globe that have corruption have you issues. keep in mind saudi arabia execute add journalist it appears in jamal khashoggi come up on the one year anniversary of that. that appears to be not a problem for the white house when comes to dealings with saudi arabia yet a concern about corruption in ukraine. the other thing the corruption was thing the president was talking boo the they're not contributing enough money to help the ukrainianing in dealing with russian gregs. that is not the case. europeans have been at the table contributing money to help ukraine deal with russian aggression. the president has been shifting

in rationale. dancing around this issue this we can. the question is whether or not this is one of the episodes, anderson we have seen this movie before with, whether the eebts eengts and facts and the what the president said will catch up with him. >> thanks, very much, jim. we have heard very much from the whistleblower attorney a brief statement which reads we applaud the decision to release the whistleblower complaint as it establish that is ultimate lip the lawful whistleblower process can work. we await the release of the complaint in totality. with that let's go to manu raju at the kpal. manu, do we know how the release of this going to affect the decision to move forward by democrats? >> we don't know yet, because what the democrats announced today was impeachment inquiry. way they didn't nouns nouns was voting to impeach the president. that would be the next step presumably. if the complaint shows no wrongdoing are oh the transcript that he eventually releases doesn't show the president doing anything wrong in the eyes of

democrats or if there is no evidence the president sought to hold up military aid to ukraine in exchange for investigating the bidens perhaps they'll have a different tactic. but if there are significant concerns, red flags, a smoking gun in there that could of course expedite the push to impeach this president because the democrats have been demanding the information. . one of the reasons they were considering impeaching the president is because of the refusal to turn over the information. they say it would be obstruction of congress. at least if that is provided perhaps that will be one less count to add to the impeachment articles of impeachment, anderson. >> what speaker pelosi was saying today was that this is under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry and the six investigations that are already under way will proceed under that umbrella. does that actually really change anything? i mean is this just -- there was a lot of debate among democrats well it doesn't matter what you call it it's an inquiry, investigation, whatever. does that -- is anything really

new here other than speaker pelosi now calling it an investigation -- an inquiry? >> in a sense, no, it's a essentially a continuation what have the democrats have been doing. six committees are investigating this president. chewing the house judiciary, house intelligence committee, looking at all aspects of the president, his businesses and his past. and what they have said in the last several weeks wsh particularly the house judiciary committee is that this investigation will ultimately died whether or not to impeach the president. dplkts have been saying impeachment choir are choir o inquiry because at the end of the day they make the decision. so what pelosi said was the investigations will continue and ultimately we eystad whether to impeach the president, which is the same thing essentially as what they have been doing. there is not a whole lot of change. but the significant thing of her announcing her support of actually calling it an impeachment inquiry, a lot of democrats interpret that to mean that she is ready to move forward when the time comes to eventually impeach the

president. of course that's a historic move. only the third president in american history to be impeached even if ultimately it's unsuccessful in the senate where two thirds majority is needed to remove the president from office. and it the sfeerk's move today makes it more likely we could see the articles of impeachment in the come months. >> what's the process in the inquiry from here on out. >> expect the committees to continue investigations. afterwards if they believe it's dime time to impeach the president then the articles of impeachment will be drafted then the house judiciary committee will vote on those articles of impeachment. the full house then would vote soon there after. and then it would go to the senate where they would have the trial and presumably would acquit the votes at least on the votes they have right now, the president wouldn't be convicted. it's unclear exactly how long the it takes. speaker pelosi island told, told democrats she wants to be done expeditiously and jerly nadler wants it done by the end of the year.

the request he is can they do that and then if it runs into the mgtss election year how does it impact. >> one that came to this mikey sherrill of new jersey, a federal prosecutor one of seven members with national security background who wrote an op ed in the "washington post". including the sentence the new ails are threat to all we have sworn to protect. thanks for being with us. what is your reaction to the breaking news that according to cnn that the white house may allow the whistleblower complaint turned over to congress and according to nocturias "new york times" thes white house may think they have to let the whistleblower talk to investigators. >> the fact at a that we have gotten here and still don't have the whistleblower report shows this was needed, the step was needed. we needed to pressure the president to turn that over. he should not have involvement in the whistleblower complaint. the statute is clear. we did this to protect whistleblowers. he is undermining that. but we need the full report, the

ig report, and then we need to keep pressure on the president. because we know he said in the past that he would turn over certain documents or do certain things and has for the followed through? >> so if there is jim acosta's reporting some people in the white house saying it's underwelcome when it's released, there is no there there, others on capitol hill, republicans saying this whistleblower may not actually you know have direct knowledge. and are sort of questioning -- the white house is calling calling a person a so-called whistleblower. if in in fantastic the transcript is underwelcome and the whistleblower doesn't have firsthand information, does that end this inquiry? or assuming something happened here, we know rudy giuliani, the president's attorney was going around the ukraine, talked to ukrainian officials, arranging meetings through the state department. there must be other people involved. with this continue then? >> well, anderson, i think we

know that the ig had- the icig had serious concerns. and that's why he felt it was so important that this whistle complaint go forward and congress see it. even if it's underwelcome and drama i think there are some concerns that relate to national security. that's what the icig said. and but we will go forward because we now know that the president held up support for one of our strategic -- unone of our strategic partners ukraine, as they were trying to deter russian aggression, something we wanted them to do because we are concerned- dsh our national defense strategy cites problems with russian aggression. we were supporting them congress was supporting them in a bipartisan move. the president withhold that much-needed support. we also know the president talked to -- shortly after withholding the support, talked to the ukrainian president about

investigating corruption related to bide, the president said this. certainly there are grave concerns that need to be investigated. >> are you worried that the president is set to meet with the ukrainian president tomorrow at -- you know as part of the u.n. general assembly. are you concerned if the president meets alone with the ukrainian president would just maybe a translator present? >> certainly i would want to know what is going on in the meeting. i think we have seen already the president's conversations with the ukrainian president have been incredibly concerning. i don't think the country wants to see him going forward continuing the threatening conversations. >> you were not publicly onboard with impeachment until yesterday as i understand it, when the -- you and some of your colleagues as i mentioned published the op-ed in the "washington post". is the hold up for support of ukraine as you mpgsed what changed your mind to support impeachment? was there something else in particular that changed your mind. >> i think particularly the threat to our national security, the threat to you are oh

democratic elections. we have seen for 2020 going forward, a forward looking threat with the president withholding support for a strategic partner. we see the president then threatening another foreign power with that -- with the withholding support appear. and then trying to affect the elections, getting dirt on his opponent. that was a line crossed for many of us in the national security sphere. we have served all the world. i've a navy helicopter pilot. former russian policy officer. i have served all over the world as have fellow democrats who wrote the op-ed with me. we know how important the replaces with the allies are. we know what it's like to be at war and need support and to know that congress gave that support to our strategic partner, to know the president withheld that in a hot war in eastern ukraine

was unacceptable to us. >> it's extraordinary the timing of the phone conversation, the one that the transcript will be released of, the day after mueller testified. the idea that the president feels he is cleared of any collusion on russia and then if, again, if all of this bears out, this is essentially asking -- it's an attempt to collude with ukraine and get them to collude to affect the next election. >> anderson, i think we see the president's behavior as we haven't -- as we have seen just getting worse and worse, more and more chaotic and reckless. that's why we welt felt it was time to step in, to operate as congress, as that check on a reckless presidency. we -- you know, we see him now really thinking that he is empowered not to turn anything over to congress, to act in a way that really undermines our national security. and that's something that we saw as a real threat.

>> all right. congresswoman sheryl appreciate your time taung. >> thank you. >> come up next our team putting this in perspective. also late reaction from the acting director of national intelligence due before congress on thursday. and later tonight on this program we'll talk to the former director of national swellings james clapper. certainly plenty to talk about today. at fidelity, we believe your money should always be working harder. that's why your cash automatically goes into a money market fund when you open a new account. just another reminder of the value you'll find at fidelity. open an account today. of the value you'll find at fidelity. walking a dog can add thousands walking this many?day. that can be rough on pam's feet, knees, and lower back. that's why she wears dr. scholl's orthotics. they relieve pain and give her the comfort to move more so she can keep up with all of her best friends. dr. scholl's. born to move. it's my special friend, antonio. his luxurious fur calms my nerves when i'm worried about moving into our new apartment.

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♪ who were inspired by different cultures ♪ and found that the past can create new memories... leading them to discover: we're woven together by the moments we share. for everywhere you go, expedia has everything you need, all in one place. enchts cnn jim acosta called it a major reversal. two sources telling us the bho us is preparing to release the mcmahon that pushed house speaker pelosi to start the impeachment inquiry. one source asaying the complaint is going through declassification and cop rowe could be released within hours of the release tomorrow of the president's conversation with the president of the ukraine. or at least one conversation. in the meantime acting director of national intelligence joseph ma choir mo failed to reveal details under administration orders and did not move it forward to congress is scheduled

to testify before the house intelligence committee, happening on thursday. tonight he issued a statement. reading i have sworn an oath to the constitution 11 times in my 36 years of public service and few views it a a covenant with every american that will well and faithfully zmarj duties of my office in light of recent reporting i want to make clear that i have upheld my responsibility to follow the law every step of the way. the statement continues as public servants the men and women of the intelligence community have a solemn spolkt to do what is right which includes reporting wrong doing. i'm committed to protecting whistleblowers and ensuring every complaint is handled appropriately. i look forward to continuing to work with the administration and gles to find a resolution regarding this important matter. another item, on what is truly a historic day. joining us to talk about it cnn chief legal analyst. gloria bourjer and david axelrod, host of the "axe files" and former adviser to president obama. jeff there is a lot we don't know and people in congress

don't know. what do you -- what do you want to know that you're not going to know by the end of tomorrow if this transcript -- or that we may know if the trpt is released and the whistleblower is allowed to say something. >> these stories tend to get more complicated, not less complicated the more you dig into them. for example some of the things we need to know. how many contacts were there between the president of the united states and the president of ukraine? was it just this one phone call. >> because the "wall street journal" reported eight times that the president had sort of beirut it back to biden or pressured the ukrainian president. we don't know if it's in one phone call or at least not clear to me one phone call or multiple contacts. >> good question. what was the chronology involving this aid package? and why was it delayed? and why was it finally granted? what was the connection if any between the aid package and the discussions about getting dirt on joe biden? what was the role of rudy giuliani in all of this?

was he sending mentals to the ukrainian government about getting information on the biden family. >> he had meetings and talks with ukrainians. and he said on hannity last night some of those were set up by the state department. >> what was the role of the state department in facilitying rudy giuliani's efforts on behalf of donald trump? all of those are questions that will not be anticipatesed tomorrow. tomorrow will be important. i mean, if this transcript of the conversation between the two presidents seems pretty benign, well that's a good thing for donald trump. if the whistleblower complaint doesn't have specifics that seem incriminating that's a good thing for donald trump. we don't know, but all the questions certainly will not be answered tomorrow. >> caved there is a number of republicans saying look the democrats have moved too quick on this why not at least -- it's arguable point whether them announcing this prodded the

white house to release information they hadn't previously been willing to release. but it does -- dsh there is a big risk for democrats in this. if tomorrow the conversation, the transcript doesn't show much and the whistleblower may -- is not all that they were made out to be, is that -- that a dangerous for democrats? >> well, look, i think this thing is fraught with danger for democrats, which is why speaker pelosi has proceeded cautiously here. but i was interested in what congresswoman sherrill said when she pointed out we are getting the information now because of the step gnat house took today. it was only end the threat of the impeachment inquiry that the president agreed to rls the transcript and now later in the night we are hearing that the whistleblower can come forward. i want to make a public apology to jeff tuben who hours earlier i was accusing of being way tovi

positive about the prospect of getting information, with us we have seen a pattern of obstruction on the part of the white house. that's been their strategy to deny and delay and send everything to the courts. and jeffrey pointed out -- and he was right -- that there are certain things that are beyond their control. and this whistleblower is one of them. so, you know, my feeling is that the president has already put himself in a jam with his own admissions. he has acknowledged he talked to the president about specifically about the biden case, which is incrediblery damning. and it is particularly strange because president has never shown great interest in corruptionen around the world or here at home. in fact he routinely flouted ethics laws at home. the notion he got religion on the issue of corruption and all

focused on joe bidden has more to do with the fact that he is trailing by double digits in polls against joe biden. >> right. >> more than his sudden interest in cleaning up government in ukraine. >> gloria if you were interested in corruption in ukraine probably going back ten years or missouri more to when joe biden was in office and his son was on the board of this that's not the best way to fight corruption in ukraine if that's really what you are going for. it's odd that's what he focused on. >> don't forget he changed the story. at first he said he was interested in corruption and why shouldn't i be interested in corruption? then the next tai i change the story line and said this is about everybody paying their fair share. >> right the europeans aren't doing that. >> and the europeans aren't doing that. and that's what i was concerned about. and it wasn't corruption. which is it? i think we have to believe what he said at the outset is actually closer to the truth because that is what he said he talked to the ukrainian

president about. now, we'll see some of this tomorrow when we -- when we see the transcript of the call. and we'll see whether the name biden actually came up in it. >> but, jeff, i mean that would be an interesting thing. even if the transcript is released and biden isn't mentioned, the fact that the president already said, yeah i spoke to the ukrainian president about biden, then indicates, well there were other conversations what was said. >> well, that's right. and you know -- you know, we can invent reasons why why he might mention biden. there is only one reason why he would mention biden. because he is running against biden potentially. and the idea that there is some benign reason for raising with the government of ukraine an investigation of hunter biden's activities several years ago, it's absurd. and that's why the president seems to be floundering around for an explanation because the truth is incriminating.

>> jeff tuben gloria boringen dave axelrod we'll take a quick break and come back in a just a moment. we're going to look. joe biden makes direct statements on impeachment and president trump. that's coming up. t-mobile's newest signal reaches farther than ever before. with more engineers. more towers. more coverage! it's a network that gives you ♪freedom from big cities, to small towns, we're with you. because life can take you almost anywhere, t-mobile is with you. no signal goes farther or is more reliable in keeping you connected. ( ♪ ) born in roma, the new feminine fragrance by valentino.

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the breaking news on a historic night, the white house preparing to follow the law. namely doing as the law requires and turning the whistleblower complaint over to congress. that and releasing a phone call -- or transcript of a phone call that is said to be only part of the complaint. now as to the phone call, on the 25th of july, that according to a report in "wall street journal" included around 8 instances of the president

pressesing his ukrainian counterpart to investigate joe biden and his son hunter. one call according to the "wall street journal." but part of a complaint involving multiple items, we're told. in the meantime joe biden gave his fullest most direct criticism of the trump administration and how it treats legitimate inquiries by congress. >> it's time for in administration to stop stonewalling and provide congress with all the facts it needs. including a copy of the formal complaint made by the whistleblower. and it's time for the congress to fully investigate the conduct of this president. the president should stop stonewalling this investigation and all the other investigations into his alleged wrong doing. using his full constitutional authority, congress in my view should demand the information it has a legal right to receive. >> back now with jeff tuccien and gloria borger and david axelrod. jeff, the walgds reporting the eight references to biden in

that phone call -- in that one phone call. but then according to other reporting, the whistleblower complaint that the one phone call was just part of others. >> well, that's why- you know the facts matter. >> right. >> and you know, the democrats, you know may regret rushing so quickly into a formal impeachment investigation on the ukraine matter before they know all the facts. >> because if the transcript doesn't have any references to biden, then that would make the "wall street journal" report not accurate. >> and if there are no no further phone calls then there is a -- then there is a problem. but, you know, they -- there have been obviously great deal of pent up frustration. an interesting thing about what nancy pelosi did today, when you look at the impeachment investigations of richard nixon in '74 and bill clinton in '98, the full house of representatives took a vote to

open the impeachment investigation. nancy pelosi just did it herself. she saved her members from having to cast a vote on an impeachment investigation, which i think indicates her caution about getting members who have marginal districts anywhere near the record on impeachment. >> but, david what nancy pelosi said today, again, it's not any change, you know, what she said is the six investigations that have been ongoing will continue. now it's under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry, which there were quibbles about whether it was that even before this. >> yeah, no, it was heavy with symbolism. and it was yielding to the -- the moment and the will of a growing majority of her members who were frustrated. and i think that thing that tipped the scale were the seven -- the seven members who wrote a piece in the "washington post", all members of the

national security community, who were from districts that donald trump had carried, competitive districts. and she -- and pelosi had been shielding them. and they stepped forward and said if these facts are true, he is -- he has committed an impeachable photographs. one other point, manu said at the beginning that the thought was that they want thgt done by the end of the year. one thing that she did not do was appoint a select committee to examine this. and i think one of the reasons she didn't do that was because that would have slowed the process. i think pelosi wants to deal with this but also deal with it with dispatch because she understands if the house is meyered in this for the next year then meir her members will be subject to the attack that they are only focused on impeachment and not on doing things for the american people. and that is what you heard from republicans today in response to this action. >> so gloria, do they try to get giuliani to testify.

>> no. >> people from the state department who set up meetings? where do they go from tomorrow if that transcript doesn't -- >> i think they do -- they do all of the above and more. i think they're going to want to hear from rudy giuliani. they're going to hear from the whistleblower. they need to get more information about that. now we know that they're going to be allowed to do that. and i think david is right. nancy pelosi has to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. she wants to be able to say, look, we gave you 15 gun control measures that we gave over to the senate and it's stalled in the senate at the same time that we have launched this impeachment inquiry. and she also believes -- and this is important to nancy pelosi, politically, i think -- and she said this today, which is this is a story unlike the russia story that's easier to explain to the american public. you have a president who is talking to a foreign leader and

asking him to investigate the potential corruption as he thought it was of a political opponent. that abuse of power is easy to digest and understand unlike you will a the thousands of threads of the mueller investigation. and she believes that democrats can make that case as moderate democrats did today and on your show and make that case to the american public that this is not the way you want your president to behave. do that, and do health care, do gun control, try and get some deal on immigration that they can push over to the senate. at the same time. and that -- that's really her challenge. >> but, i think you're absolutely right it's a lot easier to understand. >> yeah. >> it's also not that different. i mean, remember, the russia story. >> yeah. >> is about the trump campaign and the people affiliated with russia. >> collusion.

>> colluding to try to win -- to try to win the election and then lying about it. >> right. >> what is this story? this story is about the president of the united states and a foreign power who by the way is very -- very -- mo is in a hostile replace with vladimir putin, putting pressure on him to try to collude to win the 2020 election. so. >> right. >> there is a lot of overlap. but you are right this is easier to understand. >> because mueller never happened. >> right. >> there -- there is one other big difference. and you alluded to it at the end of your point, jefferiy, which is the complaint of republicans has been that democrats are sore losers and they wanted to reverse the verdict of the last election by relitigating the last election. this is really about trying to preserve the next election. >> that's right. >> and keep it from being subverted. >> right. >> so that makes it a more current issue.

>> yeah. >> after mueller, nobody is going to say, donald trump, he would never do that. he would never do that. >> good point. >> gloria, thank you, david, jefferiy. thank you. just ahead speaker pelosi speech amtd at two people president trump and the acting director of national intelligence. we'll talk to the former director of national intelligence about all of this next. back? about 50% of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. eosinophils are a key cause of severe asthma. fasenra is designed to target and remove these cells. fasenra is an add-on injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. fasenra is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra is proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, improve breathing, and can lower oral steroid use. fasenra may cause allergic reactions.

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the acting director of national intelligence. joseph ma choir says he looks forward to working with congress on the whift blower matter in her speech a short time earlier. nancy pelosi laid down a ultimate mate up for the director of national intelligence >> this thursday he will appear before the house intelligence committee. at that time he must turn over the full report to the committee. at that time he has to choose whether to break the raw or honor his responsibility to the constitution. >> we're joined by jami clamor, a former director of national sbemgs. also a cnn security analyst. author of fact appear fears hard drugts from a life in intelligence and a frequent target of the president's ire. thank you for being with us. how unusual when you were dni did you ever not forward a whistleblower complaint. >> no, anderson, i did not -- in

fact i never knew i had the option not to forward a whistleblower complaint. and typically the way it worked, was my inspector general, the chuck mccullough served during my tenure would notify me buy email since he was physically away from my headquarters of the -- if he received a whistleblower complaint. and general description of it. and he would typically ask me whether i had any comment >> which is what the statute says. just says essentially. >> exactly. >> you can comment on it but you're supposed to forward it to congress. >> exactly. as i say, i'm not aware of the option not to forward it. now -- and then i never did comment by the way other than tell him go ahead and forward it immediately. and the reason for that is i was very -- i went through the snowden aftermath. and i wanted to be sure that there was a procedure that we followed religiously,

conscientiously that allowed intelligence community employs who had a complaint, grievance whatever it was to protect the classified information. it wasn't exposed publicly. >> right. >> and by the way, to insulate the employee in question from a potential retaliation. so i was very consistent about that my whole six and a half years as dni. >> i wonder wlau make -- there is a lot we don't know obviously. -- what we know based on what the president himself has said and his stories have changed over the several days. how concerning is it just what the president has already said? >> well, as others have said, it seems to me that, you know, the president hiss own worst enemy here. the gradual unfolding of his acknowledgement that, yes, he brought up the biden in my and their potential corruption. and then compounding that, i think, was the story changing

from, one, this president is concerned about corruption to, well, i withheld the money. >> europe is not paying their fair share. >> exactly others weren't paying their share. so to me his own statements, i think, could come back to haunt him. and i also want to just highlight a point that jeffrey tuben maid earlier. which i think is right. because these things always get more the complicated. these -- it appears the whistleblower complaint will be made public or at least shared with the committees. and as well as a transcript that i put -- i add questionnaire quotes -- air quotes to that. as jeffrey mentioned, this is broader than that. there could be other interactions not alluded to. i think it's important to know the subsequent content of the whistleblower complaint, particularly given -- which was very significant to me the

reaction of the icig where he said it was credible and urgent. and i don't recall receiving a urgent whistleblower complaint. i could be wrong. but i don't remember that over my six and a half years. >> interesting. the idea that the president is concerned about corruption in -- corruption around the world and corruption in ukraine -- i mean, you well know the reality of many goems th regimes we deal w around the world. if you are concerned about corruption in ukraine, would you be focusing on things that happened allegedly occurred years ago? i mean, it would seem to me there would be more current examples you would have access to the intelligence on if you really wanted to stop current corruption under the new regime, no? >> well, exactly. and to be clear the last -- the obama administration had similar concerns about corruption in

ukraine, evidence of that was vice president biden's action. that since he was kind of given the lead by president obama to work -- wosh this issue with ukraine. and there are lots of other countries that have issues. all that notwithstanding, we have made -- the administration had made a determination that we were going to support ukraine in its contest, if you will, with russia. and that was the overriding concern. >> general clapper, appreciate it. we'll see what happens tomorrow. "cuomo primetime" is at the top of the hour. chris, quite a date. >> it is. the question is, it is the beginning of what? our shows work well together tonight. it kind of li it's kind of like a one-two punch. you've laid out brilliantly where we are right now. the question becomes where do go? what is the real process?

is there anyone? what did it mean what pelosi said today? where are we? what happens next? and what are the risks on both sides of this? history is suggestive but also recent history. toobin made a good point. the irony that the russian investigation was about showing who if anybody went to a foreign power for an advantage in an election. this president put himself in exactly that position of accusation with ukraine. how much meat on the bones, what happens snenext, we're going de on it tonight following your reporti reporting. >> copping up next, talking about a long-time gop consultant about what might come next. how we doing? fabulous! ♪ i wonder how the firm is doing without its fearless leader. sure you want to leave that all behind? yeah.

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republicans have largely been downplaying the news today or accusing democrats of trying to relitigate the 2016 election.

here's house leader kevin mccarthy speaking about speaker pelosi. >> what she said today made no difference from what's been going on. it's no different than what nadler was trying to do. it's time to put the public before politics. >> it may not be as easy as all that. with me is former adviser to mitt romney and a member of political action committee supporting bill weld. what nancy pelosi announced today sounded very dramatic, under the rubric now of officially an inquiry. >> it's so interesting seeing someone like kevin mccarthy because you know he can't stand trump. it's amazing to watch them. i don't understand why they don't just come forward and say what they actually feel. >> isn't it fear -- >> fear of what? i don't understand it.

>> of losing your district? >> is being an ex-congressman so bad? they just seem to have no sense of history here and how this is going to be regarded. i just find it incredible. >> it's not the republican party that i grew up with -- >> it's not the republican party of four years ago. >> all the deficits -- >> character counts. personal responsibility. and these are all principles that you might disagree on issues but get strong on russia. >> conservatives used to make fun of liberals for -- >> situational ethics. >> and saying they were victims. >> now the party has become this complete grievance-mongering -- >> how do you think history will see them? >> i think terribly. all this policy stuff, no one will remember this. look at george walls will. he did some good things as governor. passed free textbooks. no one remembers him as the free textbook george wallace guy. i think it's just a complete

fantasy that what has happened with trump and what trump has done to our norms, our rule of law, our sense of public discourse, our sense of truth, all of that's going to be more important than like a marginal tax cut for corporations. >> you can make the argument that what nancy pelosi did today, though not really much different, it certainly seems to have motivated at least the white house to move forward with releasing a transcript, the whistleblower and the whistleblower complaint. do you think she made a mistake and moved too quickly on this? >> i have no way of knowing. i think the politics of this are imponderable. go back to what's the right thing to do? trump has committed impeachable acts. there's a sense if you do something now, it's just going to escalate. far be it for me to give democrats advice but i think you just have to go out there and try to do the right thing and not try to war game it out. >> based on what the president has said about so far what --

about ukraine and what he did, does that seem inappropriate to you? >> of course it's impeachable. of course. >> based on what he's already said. >> impeachable is whatever they want it to be, but the idea that you're calling up another head of state and asking them to conduct an investigation into a son of one of your probable most likely opponents. doesn't donald trump wonder he has these children here in business. does he not worry someone's going to call up the saudis and say what about kushner? can you look into him? what about russia? can you look into junior? china, maybe ivanka. i don't understand this. like the world is going to end when he's president? if these things become norms, it cuts both ways. we're seeing it with the whole filibuster thing. >> and executive orders. >> executive orders.

this is why there was a thin thread that held democracy together as a civil society. there's actually truth to that and we've just lost that. >> george stevens, thank you. coming up, the news continues and we'll hand it over to chris for "prime timetime." >> i am chris cuomo. welcome to "primetime." let's get after it. nancy pelosi has launched an official impeachment inquiry against president donnald j. trump. >> the president has admitted to asking the president of you've crane to take actions that would benefit him politically. it's a betrayal of his oath of office and betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the