just now blinked in the standoff that today left president trump facing the specter of impeachment. he's certainly not there yet, not by any means, but only two presidents have ever been impeached, andrew johnson and bill clinton. richard nixon resigned before the house could act. president trump is in very 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 existence. whether you agree with what speaker pelosi announced today or not, today is significant. it was just after 5:00 eastern time that speaker pelosi out in front of a rising way of pro-impeachment sentiment in her 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, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. therefore today i'm announcing

the house of representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. i'm directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. the president must be held accountable. no one is above the law. >> well, at immediate issue is the intelligence that whistle-blower complaint which the white house has so far been keeping from congress and the president's phone conversation with the president of ukraine allegedly to get ukrainian help in damaging his leading opponent, joe biden. now, the white house is now promising to release a transcript of the phone call tomorrow morning, which is not enough for house democrats, who will soon get a chance to question the acting director of national intelligence, who stopped the complaint from being forwarded to congress, and the whistle-blower. nor is it enough for the senate, which took rare bipartisan action late today on the whistle-blower's complaint. as we mentioned at the very top, that is not even the half of it. let's begin with jim acosta with the breaking news. so what are you learning about president possible release of

the whistle-blower complaint itself? >> reporter: deranderson, we understand white house officials are looking at this right now. it could come out as soon as tomorrow. my colleagues are reporting that the president weighed in on this and decided ultimately on his own that he wanted to see this whistle-blower complaint released. we're not sure what form it will come in, whether we will see all of it. but it is a curious change of events. the white house essentially blinked in all of this if we do see all of it. we're not sure if we're going to see all of it, but recall last week when the inspector general for the intelligence community went up on capitol hill, talked to the house intelligence committee and was essentially telling those lawmakers, we can't show you what's in this complaint. so this is a major reversal for the white house, no question about it, anderson. >> what about the release of the transcript of the president's call with the ukrainian president? i mean were there multiple calls? do we know because the reporting for "the wall street journal" initially was that there were at least eight mentions of -- or

eight efforts focusing on biden. do we know if that was all in one call? >> reporter: right. i think that's one of the key questions in the whistle-blower complaint. remember, the whistle-blower complaint dealt with multiple interactions and so that may get us to that answer and whether or not we see all of the whistle-blower complaint, that remains to be seen. but, anderson, the president did authorize the release of that call transcript. he tweeted as much earlier this afternoon. he says secretary of state mike pompeo got permission from the ukrainian side to go ahead and release this information. but very important for our viewers to understand at this point, anderson, the white house is starting to downplay expectations as to what is going to be in that call transcript. i talked to two white house officials this evening who said prepare to be underwhelmed. prepare to see the contents of that transcript and find those contents to be underwhelming at this point. that puts a lot of pressure on what is in that whistle-blower complaint. anderson, as you know, as we've all been following this, the white house has gone to great lengths, including the

president, to call into question the credibility of this whistle-blower, and in the words of one white house official i spoke with this evening, they're referring to this whistle-blower as the so-called whistle-blower. so they're not putting a lot of stock in what that 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 into the united nations earlier this morning before he gave that speech to the united nations general assembly. he admitted to reporters that he held up aid to ukraine, this after he admitted to reporters that he pressured the ukrainian president in a phone call to try to get dirt on former vice president joe biden. 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 are saying, you don't need a quid pro quo because the president was pressuring the ukrainian president to try to get dirt on former vice president joe biden. >> 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 plenty 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 in saudi arabia or anywhere else. and also if he's very concerned about corruption in ukraine, if the only example he is talking about -- and, again, it's totally an alleged example. there's no evidence. if he's focusing only on the bidens or joe biden's son, it's hard to imagine that that's the prime example of alleged corruption in ukraine. >> reporter: that's right, anderson. and it's interesting. over the last 48 hours we've seen the president shift in his 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 countries around the globe that have corruption issues. keep in mind saudi arabia executed a journalist it appears in jamal khashoggi last year. we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of that. that appears to be not a problem for the white house when it comes to dealings with saudi arabia, and yet there's a concern about corruption when it comes to ukraine. the other thing that the president was talking about was, well, the europeans aren't donating enough money to help the ukrainians in dealing with russian aggression. that also is not the case. europeans have been at the table contributing money to helping ukraine deal with russian aggression. so the president has been shifting in his rationale. he's been dancing around all this issue all this week. the question is whether or not this is one of those episodes, anderson. we've seen this movie before, whether the events and the facts and what the president has said will eventually catch up with him. >> jim acosta, thanks very much. we have just heard from the whistle-blower's attorney, a brief statement which reads, quote, we applaud the decision to release the whistle-blower complaint as it establishes that ultimately the lawful whistle-blower disclosure process can work.

we await the release of the complaint in its totality. with that, let's go to cnn's manu raju at the capitol. manu, do we know how the release of this complaint is going to affect the decision to move forward by democrats? >> reporter: we don't know yet because what the democrats announced today was an impeachment inquiry. what they didn't announce was actually voting to impeach the president. that would be presumably the next step. so if the complaint doesn't show any wrongdoing or if the president -- the transcript that he eventually releases doesn't show the president doing anything wrong in the eyes of democrats or if there's 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 expedite the push to impeach this president because the democrats have been demanding this information. anderson, one of the reasons why they were considering impeaching the president is because of his

refusal to turn over this information. they say it would be obstruction of congress. so at least if that is provided, perhaps that will be one less count they would add to their impeachment inquiry, articles of impeachment, anderson. >> what speaker pelosi was saying today was, you know, this is now under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry and the six investigations that are under way will proceed under that umbrella. does that actually really change anything? i mean is this just -- you know, there was a lot of debate among democrats, well, it doesn't matter what you call it. it's an inquiry. it's an investigation, whatever. does that -- is anything really new here other than speaker pelosi is now calling it an inquiry? >> reporter: in a sense, no. it's essentially a continuation of what the house democrats have been doing. there are six committees that are investigating this president. they're including the house judiciary committee, the house intelligence committee, looking at all aspects of the president, his businesses and his past. and what they have said, at least in the last several weeks,

particularly the house judiciary committee, is this investigation will ultimately decide whether or not to impeach the president. democrats have been saying it's an impeachment inquiry because at the end of the day they're going to make that decision. what pelosi said was these investigations will simply just continue, and ultimately we will decide whether to impeach this president, which is the same thing essentially as what they have been doing. so there really is not going to be 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 would be a historic move. only the third president in american history to get impeached, even if it would be ultimately unsuccessful in the republican-led senate where two-thirds majority would be needed to remove the president from office. but democrats are pushing to go forward, and the speaker's blessing today makes it more likely we could see articles of impeachment in the coming months, anderson. >> so what is the process in that inquiry from here on out? >> reporter: well, expect these committees to continue their

investigation. then afterwards if they do believe it's time to impeach the president, then the actual articles of impeachment will be drafted. then the house judiciary committee will actually vote on those articles of impeachment. the full house then would vote soon thereafter, and then it would go to the senate, where they would have the trial and then presumably would acquit the president, at least on the votes they have right now. the president would not be convicted. but it's unclear exactly how long this will take. speaker pelosi behind closed doors, anderson, i'll told, told democrats she wants to be done, quote, expeditiously and jerry nadler has said he wants this done by the end of the year. the question is can they do that and do that? >> thank you, manu. one of the democrats who came to this reluctantly is congresswoman mikie sherrill of new jersey. she's a former navy helicopter pilot, a federal prosecutor. she's one of seven members with national security backgrounds who wrote an op-ed that "the washington post" that includes the sentence, these new allegations are a threat to all we have sworn to protect.

thanks very much for being with us. what is your reaction to the breaking news tonight that according to cnn the white house may allow the whistle-blower complaint to be turned over to congress, and according to "the new york times," the white house thinks it may also have to let the whistle-blower talk to congressional investigators? >> anderson, the fact that we've gotten here, that we still don't have the whistle-blower report shows that this was needed. this step was needed. we needed to pressure the president to turn that over. he should not have any involvement in the whistle-blower complaint. the statute is very clear. we did this to protect whistle-blowers. he's undermining that, but we need the full report. we need the ig's report. then we need to keep pressure on the president because we know he's said in the past that he would turn over certain documents or do certain things and has not followed through. >> so if, you know -- jim acosta was reporting some people in the white house are sort of saying this is going to be underwhelming when this transcript is released, there's not really any "there" there. other republicans on capitol hill are saying this

whistle-blower may not actually, you know, have direct knowledge and are sort -- the white house is calling the person a so-called whistle-blower. if, in fact, the transcript is underwhelming and the whistle-blower 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 ukraine, talking to ukrainian officials, having meetings arranged also through the state department. there must be other people involved. would this continue, then? >> well, anderson, i think we know that the i.g. had -- the icig had serious concerns, and that's why he felt like it was so important that this whistle-blower complaint go forward and congress see it. so even if it's underwhelming in its drama, i think there are some concerns that relate to national security. that's what the icig said. but we will go forward because we now know that the president

held up support for one of our strategic -- one of our strategic partners, ukraine, as they were trying to deter russian aggression, something we wanted them to do because we're very concerned. our national defense strategy cites problems with russian aggression. so we were supporting them. congress was supporting them in a bipartisan move. the president withheld that much-needed support. we also know the president talked to -- shortly after withholding that support talked to the ukrainian president about investigating corruption related to biden. the president said this. so, yes, there are grave concerns that need to be investigated. >> the president is set to meet with the ukrainian president tomorrow as part of the u.n. general assembly. are you concerned if the president meets alone with the ukrainian president with just maybe a translator present? >> certainly i would want to know what is going on in that

meeting. i think we've 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 those kind of threatening conversations. >> you were not publicly onboard with impeachment until yesterday as i understand it when you and some of your colleagues, as i mentioned, published the op-ed in "the washington post." is the holdup of support for ukraine you just mentioned what changed your mind to support impeachment, or was there a particular something else that changed your mind? >> i think particularly the threat to our national security, the threat to our democratic elections. we see now for 2020 going forward, a forward-looking threat with the president withholding support for a strategic partner. we see the president then threatening a foreign power with that withholding the support and then trying to affect the elections, trying to get dirt on his opponent. that was simply a line that was

crossed for many of us in the national security sphere. we have served all over the world. i'm a navy helicopter pilot, former russian policy officer. i have served all over the world as have my fellow democrats who wrote that op-ed with me. we know how important our relationships with our allies are. we know what it is like to be at war and to need support. and to know that congress gave that support to our strategic partner and to know that the president withheld that at a critical moment when they are in a hot war in eastern ukraine was unacceptable to us. >> it is extraordinary just the timing of that phone conversation, the one that the transcript will be released of, the day after mueller testifies. the idea that the president feels he's cleared of any collusion on russia and then, 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 -- you know, as we've seen just getting worse and worse, more and more chaotic and reckless. and that's why we felt like it was time to step in to operate as congress, as that check on a reckless presidency. 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. >> congresswoman, appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. coming up next, our team of political and legal professionals here to put this in perspective. also late reaction tonight from the acting director of national intelligence who is due before congress on thursday. and later tonight on this program, we'll talk to the former director of national intelligence james clapper. certainly got plenty to talk about tonight.

they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. our 18 year old was in an accident. usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. we're the gomez family... we're the rivera family... we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today.

should always be working harder.oney that's why your cash automatically goes into a money market fund when you open a new account. and fidelity's rate is higher than e*trade's, td ameritrade's, even 9 times more than schwab's. plus only fidelity has zero account fees and zero minimums for retail brokerage and retirement accounts. just another reminder of the value you'll only find at fidelity. open an account today. 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. (door bell rings) it's ohey. this is amazing. with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis,

are you okay? even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira can help get, and keep uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts. so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, control is possible.

♪ yes ♪ hey sean hey dan ♪ ive edge? it's the sleep number 360 smart bed. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet. can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you effortlessly comfortable. will it help me raise my game? yup! so, you can really promise better sleep? not promise, prove. so i can be my best for these guys? yes, and those guys. sleep number. this is not a bed it's proven quality sleep. from $999.

someone's jim acosta called it a major reversal. two sources telling us the white house is preparing to release the whistle-blower complaint that essentially pushed house speaker pelosi to start an impeachment inquiry. one source saying the complaint is going through declassification and could be released within hours of the release tomorrow of the president's conversation with the president of ukraine, at least one conversation. meantime, acting director of national intelligence, joseph maguire, who declined to reveal details on the complaint under administration orders and did not move it forward to congress, is scheduled to testify before the house intelligence committee. that's going to happen on thursday. tonight he issued a statement. it reads, i have sworn an oath to the constitution 11 times in my 36 years of public service and view it as a covenant with every american that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of my office. in light of recent reporting on the whistle-blower complaint, 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 responsibility to do what is

right, which includes reporting wrongdoing. i'm committed to protecting whistle-blowers and ensuring every complaint is handled appropriately. i look forward to continuing to work with the administration and congress 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 jeffrey toobin, gloria borger, and david axelrod. jeff, there's a lot we don't know. there's a lot people in congress don't know. what do you want to know that you're not going to know by the end of tomorrow -- or that we may know if this transcript is released and the whistle-blower is allowed to say something? >> right. these stories tend to get more complicated, not less complicated the more you dig into them. just 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" had reported eight times that the president had sort of brought it back to biden or pressured the ukrainian president. we don't know if that's in one phone or cacall or multiple con. >> good question. what was the chronology involving this aid package, and why was it delayed, and wife hy 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 messages 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 that some of those were set up by the state department. >> what was the role of the state department? facilitating rudy giuliani's efforts on behalf of donald trump? you know, all of those are questions that will not be answered tomorrow. tomorrow is going to be important. i mean if this transcript of the

conversation between the two presidents seems pretty benign, well, that's certainly a very good thing for donald trump. if the whistle-blower's complaint doesn't have specifics that seem incriminating, that will be a good thing for donald trump. we don't know, but all the questions certainly will not be severe weathered tomorr answered tomorrow. >> the republicans saying the democrats have sort of moved too quickly on this. why not at least, you know, it's an arguable point whether them announcing this prodded the white house to release information they hadn't previously been willing to release. but it does -- there's a big risk for democrats in this. i mean if tomorrow the conversation, the transcript didn't really show much and the whistle-blower, you know, is not all that they were made out to be, is that a danger 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 that we are getting this information now because of the step that the house took today. it was only under the threat of this impeachment inquiry that the president agreed to release this transcript and now later in the night, we're hearing that the whistle-blower can come forward. and i want to make a public apology to jeff toobin, who just hours earlier i was accusing of being way too positive about the prospects of getting information, because we've 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 whistle-blower 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's acknowledged that he talked to the president about -- specifically about the biden case, which is incredibly damning. and it is particularly strange because the president has never shown any great interest in the issue of corruption around the world or frankly here at home. in fact he's flouted ethics laws routinely here at home. so the notion that he's suddenly got religion on this issue of corruption and it was all focused on joe biden, i think has much more to do with the fact that he's trailing by double digits in polls against joe biden than about his sudden interest in cleaning up government in ukraine. >> gloria, if you're interested in corruption in ukraine, probably going back ten years or more to when joe biden was in office and his son was on the board of this thing, that's probably not the best way to fight corruption in ukraine if that's really what you're going

for. it's odd that that's what he's focused on. >> well, and don't forget he changed his story. at first he said he was interested in corruption, and why shouldn't i be interested in corruption? and then the next day he changed his story line and said, well, you know, this is about everybody paying their fair share. >> right, and the europeans aren't doing that. >> and the europeans aren't doing that, and that's what i was really concerned about. it wasn't corruption. so which is it? i mean i think we have to believe that 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 them tomorrow when we see this 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 has already said, oh, yeah, i spoke to the ukrainian president about biden then indicates, okay, well, there were other conversations. what was said? >> well, that's right.

and, you know, we can invent reasons why he might mention biden. there's only one reason why he would mention biden, because he's 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 just absurd. and that's why the president seems to be floundering around for an explanation, because the truth is incriminating. >> yeah. jeff toobin, gloria borger, david axelrod, we're going to take a quick break. we'll come back to you in just a moment.

( ♪ ) born in roma, the new feminine fragrance by valentino.

why accept it frompt an incompyour allergy pills?e else. the new feminine fragrance flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler. nothing lasts longer. flonase sensimist. 24 hour non-drowsy allergy relief alright, let's get going! hey! (girl) and you want to make sure to aim it. (dad) i'm aiming it. (everyone) awww. (girl) i ordered it for everyone. (dad vo) we got the biggest subaru to help bring our family together. (girl) i'm just resting my eyes. (dad vo) even though we're generations apart. (grandma) what a day. i just love those kids. (avo) the three-row subaru ascent. (dad) wave to grandma, everybody. (avo) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. with licensed agents availablep when 24-7,d it.

it's not just easy. it's having-jerome-bettis- on-your-flag-football-team easy. go get 'em, bus! ohhhh! [laughing] c'mon bus, c'mon! hey, wait, wait, wait! hey man, i got your flag! i got your flag, man! i got your flag! it's geico easy. with licensed agents available 24/7. 49 - nothing! woo! hey. ♪hey. you must be steven's phone.

now you can take control of your home wifi and get a notification the instant someone new joins your network... only with xfinity xfi. download the xfi app today.

the breaking news on a historic night, the white house preparing to follow the law, namely doing as the law requires and turning the whistle-blower complaint over to congress. that and releasing a phone call that -- or transcript of a phone call that is said to be only part of that complaint. now, as to the phone call, on the 25th of july, according to a report in "the wall street journal," that included around eight instances of the president pressuring 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. meantime joe biden gave his fullest, most direct criticism of the trump administration in this apair and how it treats legitimate inquiries by congress. >> it's time for this administration to stop stonewalling and provide the congress with all the facts it needs, including a copy of the formal complaint made by the

whistle-blower. 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 wrongdoing. using its full constitutional authority, congress in my view should demand the information it has a legal right to receive. >> back now with jeff toobin, gloria borger, and david axelrod. jeff, "the wall street journal" reporting eight references to biden in that phone call, in that one phone call. but then according to other reporting, the whistle-blower complaint, that the one phone dahl 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. >> if the transcript tomorrow doesn't have any references to

biden, then that would seem to make "the wall street journal" report not accurate. >> and if there are no further phone calls, then there's a -- then there's a problem. but, you know, there is obviously a great deal of pent up frustration. 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, i mean what nancy pelosi said today, again, it's not really 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, you know, quibbles about whether it was that even before this. >> yeah. no, it was heavy with symbolism, and it was yielding to the moment and the will of a growing majority of her members who were frustrated. and i think the thing that tipped the scale were those seven members who wrote a piece in "the washington post," all veterans of the national security community who were from districts that donald trump had carried, competitive districts, and pelosi had been shielding them. and they stepped forward and said, if these facts are true, he's committed an impeachable offense. one other point. manu said at the beginning that the thought was that they want to get this 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 is because that would have slowed the process down. i think pelosi wants to deal with this, but i think she also wants to deal with it with dispatch because she understands that if the house is mired in this for the next year, then her members are going to 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? do they try to get people from the state department who set up meetings? i mean where do they go from tomorrow if that transcript doesn't -- >> i think they do all of the above and more. i think they're going to obviously want to hear from rudy giuliani. they're going to hear from the whistle-blower. 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 is 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 that this is a story unlike the russia story that's a lot 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 all 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 maybe on immigration that they can push over to the senate at the same time. that's really her challenge. >> but i think you're absolutely right that it's a lot easier to understand. >> yeah. >> it's also not that different. i mean, remember, the russia story is about the trump campaign and the people affiliated with russia -- >> collusion. >> -- colluding 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 in a hostile relationship with vladimir putin, putting pressure on him to try to collude to win the 2020 election. >> right. >> so there's a lot of overlap, but you're right. this is a lot easier to understand. >> because mueller never happened, right?

>> there's one other big difference, and you alluded to it at the end of your point, jeffrey, 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 and keep it from being subverted. so that makes it a more current issue. >> yeah. >> after mueller, nobody is going to say, oh, donald trump, he would never do that. he would never do that. >> good point. >> gloria, thank you. jeffrey toobin, david axelrod, appreciate it. just ahead, speaker pelosi's speech today aimed at two people, president trump and the acting director of national intelligence will testify thursday about the whistle-blower complaint. we're going to talk to the former director of national intelligence about all this next. i wonder how the firm is g without its fearless leader. sure you want to leave that all behind? yeah. stay restless,

with the new rx, crafted by lexus. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. the amount of student loan debt i have i'm embarrassed to even say i felt like i was going to spend my whole adult life paying this off thanks to sofi, i can see the light at the end of the tunnel as of 12pm today, i am debt free ♪ not owing anyone anything is the best feeling in the world, i cannot stop smiling about it ♪ do your asthma symptoms ever hold you 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. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. haven't you missed enough? ask an asthma specialist about fasenra. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

the acting director of national intelligence, joseph maguire, tonight says he looks forward to working with congress on the whistle-blower matter. in her speech, nancy pelosi laid down an ultimatum for the

director of national intelligence. >> this thursday the acting dni will appear before the house intelligence committee. at that time he must turn over the whistle-blower's full complaint to the committee. he will have to choose whether to break the law or honor his responsibility to the constitution. >> we're joined now by james clapper, a former director of national intelligence. also a cnn national security analyst and author of "facts and fears: hard truths from a life in intelligence." mr. clapper is also a frequent target of the president's ire and acaccusations. thanks for being with us. when you were dni, did you ever not forward a whistle-blower complaint? >> no, anderson, i did not. in fact, i never knew i even had the option not to forward a whistle-blower complaint. typically the way it worked was my inspector general, chuck mccullough who served during my tenure, would notify me by email

since i was physically located away from my headquarters, if he had received a whistle-blower complaint, a general description of it, and he would typically ask me whether i had any comment. >> which is what the statute says. it says essentially -- >> exactly. >> -- that you can comment on it, but you're supposed to forward it to congress. >> exactly. as i say, i'm not aware of that option not to forward it. 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 -- you know, 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 employees who had a grievance, a complaint, whatever it was, and to protect the classified information so 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 6 1/2 years as dni. >> i'm wondering what you make of -- there's 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's his own worst enemy here. just the gradual unfolding of his acknowledgement that, yes, he brought up the biden family and their potential corruption. and then compounding that, i think, was the story changing from this president is concerned about corruption to, well, i withheld the money because -- >> europe's not paying their fair share. >> exactly. others weren't paying their fair 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 toobin made earlier, which i think is exactly right because these things always get more complicated. you know, it appears that the whistle-blower complaint will be made public or at least shared with the committees as well as a transcript -- and i add air quotes to that -- of the one phone call. well, as jeffrey mentions -- and i think he's got a good point here -- this is broader than that. it could be other interactions that aren't alluded to. i do think it's important to know what is the substantive content of the whistle-blower complaint, particularly given, which was very significant to me, the reaction of the icig, where he said it was both credible and urgent. and i don't recall receiving an urgent whistle-blower complaint. i could be wrong about that, but i don't remember that over my 6 1/2 years. >> 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 regimes that we deal with for a variety of reasons around the world. if you are concerned about corruption in ukraine, would you be focusing on things that allegedly occurred years ago? it would seem there would be many more current examples that you would have access to the intelligence on if you really wanted to stop current corruption under this new regime, no? >> well, exactly. to be clear, the obama administration had similar concerns about corruption in ukraine. evidence of that was vice president biden's action since he was kind of given the lead by president obama to work this issue with ukraine. and there are lots of other countries that have issues. another issue we had with

ukraine was the penetration by the russians. but all that not withstanding, we had made a -- the administration had made a determination that we were going to support that was the overriding concern. >> general clapper, i appreciate it. we'll see what happens tomorrow. cuomo primetime is at the top of the hour. chris, quite a day. i mean -- >> it is. the question is, it is the beginning of what? >> yeah. >> our shows work well together tonight. it's kind of like a one-two punch. you've laid out brilliantly everything that has us where we are right now. and the question becomes, well, where do you go? what is the real process? is there really anyone? what did pelosi, what did it mean what she 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 -- tubin made a good point. the irony that the russia investigation was about showing

who, if anybody, went to a foreign power for advantage in an election. this president put himself in exactly that position of accusation with ukraine. how much meat on the bones? what happens next? we're going very deep on all of it tonight set up by your great reporting. >> all right, 8 minutes from now. chris, i'll see you then. coming up next we'll talk to a long-time gop consultant about what might come next. 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. so chantix can help you quit slow turkey.rkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away

if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or life-threatening allergic and skin reactions. decrease alcohol use. use caution driving or operating machinery. tell your doctor if you've had mental health problems. the most common side effect is nausea. talk to your doctor about chantix. ♪ boom goes the dynamite, club yoko plays ] ♪ feels like i'm taking flight. ♪ [sfx: poof] [sfx: squeaking eraser sound effect.] ♪ i am who i wanna be ♪ who i wanna be ♪ who i wanna be. ♪ i'm a strong individual ♪ feeling that power ♪ i'm so original, ♪ ya sing it louder. ♪ i am, oooh oooh oooh oooh ♪ ehhh ehhh ehhh ehhh ♪ i am, oooh oooh oooh oooh ♪ i am

republicans have largely been down playing the news today or accusing democrats of trying to relitigate the 2016 election. here's house minority leader kevin mccarthy talking about speaker pelosi. >> what she said today made no difference of what's been going on. it's no different than what nadler has been trying to do. it's time to put the public before politics. >> well, may not be as easy as all that. lots of uncharted territory to come. with me is consultant for mitt romney, also political action committee supporting republican presidential candidate bill weld. the first part of what mccarthy said is actually true. what nancy pelosi announced today sounded very dramatic, but it is just a continuation of the

investigations under the rubric now officially of an inquiry. >> you know, it's so interesting seeing the government. you know that he can't stand trump. what he said before about trump, it just is amazing to watch them. i really don't understand it. i don't understand why they just don't come forward and say, what they actually feel. >> isn't it fear of -- >> fear of what? >> losing in your district, of -- >> i don't know. i mean, being an ex-congressman so bad? i don't really -- they 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 -- that i grew up with. >> not the republican party of four years ago. >> yeah, all the talk of deficits. >> personal responsibility. >> right. >> these are all principles that i mig you might disagree on issues . . >> conservatives used to make fun of -- >> situational ethics. >> victimization, saying they were victims. >> now the party has become this

complete grievance mongering sort of -- >> how do you think history will see hem? >> i think terribly. i think all this policy stuff, no one is going to remember this. always go back and look at george wallace. he did some good things as governor. passed three textbooks. nobody is going to remember the free textbook george wallace guy, the george wallace guy. i think it's a complete fantasy 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 marginal tax cut for corporations. >> you can make the argument 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 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. you know, i think the politics of this are unponderable. i think you ought to go back to what is the right thing to do?

trump has committed impeachable acts, therefore it's only going to get worse. i mean, there is a sense if you don't do something now, it's just going to escalate. so, i mean, far be it from 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 about ukraine and what he did, does that seem inappropriate to you? >> of course it's impeachable. >> it is impeachable based on what he's already said? >> look, impeachable is whatever they said, whatever they want it to be. 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 -- >> right. >> doesn't donald trump wonder if there is a democrat president, he has children, they're in business. does he not worry someone is going to call up the saudis, what about kushner, can you look

into him? what about russia, can you look into junior? china, maybe ivanka. i don't understand this. i mean, it's like the world is going to end when he becomes president. the norms are cut both way. we're seeing it with the whole filibuster thing. >> executive orders -- >> executive orders. this is why this idea that there was this sort of thin thread that held democracy together in civil society is actually truth to that. i think we just lost that. >> stuart stevens, thank you. >> appreciate it. >> the news continues. hand it over to chris cuomo for cuomo primetime. >> i am chris cuomo. welcome to primetime. the pivot point on the presidency. what do you say? let's get after it. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> nancy pelosi has launched an official impeachment inquiry against donald j. trump.

>> the president has admitted to asking the president of ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. the actions of the trump presidency revealed dishonorable fact of the president's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. therefore, today i am announcing the house of representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. the president must be held accountable. no one is above the law. >> what does that mean? it means that the democrats are all now on the same page. it took a long time, but there's no new process that started. this is about the politics of coming together for one side of the aisle. also tonight, an unusual development. our sources say the white house is preparing to cooperate, that they are going to release the