hello and welcome to the united states, great to have you with us. ahead to hour, in the newsroom, the damaging whistle-blower allegations, the president tried to cover up with the leader of you ukraine. the shift in republican support away from don't trump as evidence mounts of wrong doing, and they turn on rudy giuliani. hitting back with a bizarre interview claiming i will be the hero.

45 years after quarter gate, 20 years after the clinton-lewins clinton-lewinsky scandal and the impreachment train is back up. the whistle blower report with president p shl wrowrong doing. there is not denial from the administration. just the claims of witch hunt and fake news. we have the beginning coverage. >> were you shock by what you read? >> none of us is above the low in this country. >> the complaint is hearsay evidence. >> a dom shell allegation that

president trump asked to have joe biden and his son hunter investigated, but white sox officials were allegedly so alarmed they quickly looked to lock down records of the call. white sox officials understood the gravity of what happened in the call. they moved the call to an electronic system typically yaused to store classified information. this is not the first time under this administration that a presidential transcript was placed in this code word level system for the purpose of protecting sensitive information. the complaint also alleged that trump told mike pence to cancel a trip to attend the ukrainian

inauguration. >> i believe this matter is unprecedented. >> acting director of intelligence joseph mcguire, names the president the straight to the house. >> a recon souled with the white sox office and we found that it the was subject to executive privilege. >> mcguire refuseded to say and he revealed that trump never asked him to reveal the whistle-blower. >> i can say that i would not discuss my conversations with the president, i can tell you emphatically, no. >> president trump allowed it to be public. and. >> the president of the united states has betrayed his oath of

offense. >> i want to congratulate the democrats on the roll out of the latest information war fair against president. >> but as trump and the gop allies took blame, mcguire says he thinks the whistle-blower did right thing. >> i think he followed the law. >> and the president's reaction, ignore the accusations, attack the messenger. he laid out the possibility. implaying they committed treason. >> i want to know who is the person who gave the whistle-blower? who gave the whistle-blower the information. that is close to a spy. you know what we yaus dod in world days when we smart with spies and treason?

we do things we don't no now. >> joining us now is former attorney for los angeles david katz. thanks for being with us. what the president is saying privately and publicly, do can the statements by the the president rise to a level of intimidation. >> there is no reason to say those b thicks except to communicate with the potential finances. this complaint is a road map on how to proceed at this point. what they have here is names of witness withes, they have people who are going to be be called and subpoenaed to the house to testify. it's not just giuliani and barr of political fixing but all the

white sox witnesses who coordinated -- the nor"the new times" says the whistle-blower is a here. they gave him a wealth of mifx. so what is the poimpbt of on the president making that remake? fest and let's go talk about what the punnicment for trainers and and the orr things that are shown and the lock down and terrible day. >> the president has questioned the credibility of the elf in the report. here is some of the earlier audio.

>> basically that person never saw the result, normgt almost like a spy. >> so this is because everything from this report came second hand accounts. firsthand account of the phone call would be good. but there is a reason why a second -- are not cred theible. >> that is what is absorb about this. the president is going to say something. remarkable. and they threw a lot of mud. didn't really defend. one republican congressman really attacked what the president had done in the quid pro quo. i think this really doesn't -- it doesn't add up in any meaningful way to any sort of

defense. by trump. it's just to say something. >> let's get to the cover up. the whistle blower report notes in the days following the phone call, i learned from multiple u.s. officials that senior u.s. officials tried to lock down all word for word transcripts of the call. they were taken out of a toez access system. it shows the white sox was aware of the e e is there any reason it's in a high, secure roar? it's etch and this is what the

white house it is a way to hide something giving it an overclassification which is a violation of the law. it's very clear to avoid embass rasment and what is struggling, brought out by adam scheft, chairperson and there may be other tie yes, ma'ams that are also embass ram rg and oemp and tlair going to that and get to the bottom of that and there will be even more than this conversation.

>> we fesm and this is ukraine date now. it has all the elements, all the drars the, they are helping shy brags the call. the overall. why do people cover it all. they know that i and now it's about $400 million the president needed to defend his company against aggression by our company. they needed the money. he held gak the money, trumpb trump did. and he only released the money after he knew the whistle-blower was throughout. and he finally released the money just a short time ago to ukraine. it's in the they december letly needed.

it's a classic quid pro quo. not the shg he was supposed to do. the country and the united states will do something for thaw is authorized by congress but only if do you something personally for me as president. it's really undecember dented, jan. >> wrea. >> there is a denine that he fesmt. >> great to be with you, thanks. 75 more congressional democrats have gone in -- the president tried to strong arm -- and 219 in house along with one former the overall total, 220. as after this hour, not one and

fund ragz fehr and we have raised $8.5 million in small dollar rotations. you are wangd david trump a win in 2020. >> let's go to michael and genevieve. let's look a the whistle-blower report. there is nothing to kick the can down the road to. and special and for may or they. this is it? >> that is right. and in quarter gate, i was drip, drip, drip, drip, gave people time to think about it and process through. the mueller report was wait,

wait, wait, wait, now, it's boom, boom, boom, quick, sharp hits that have struck a blow with the president. he has been off his game. he lost control of the narrative. he likes to do the punch bug now he is getting punched and he is becoming the victim and he is acting like a victim. this is something the person peesm and quurnl and 46% are opposed. and juls? >> weshlgs i think that is the american pub slick tired of how much and again as a reluctance to jump in the water on this.

and i think once the process getting under way, it becomes 1450i7 and did someone get stumped? it was nas nating detail de2i6 and the smart money says that he will probably be impreached but not convicted. i believe that to be the case. some will think this is my historical reputation on the line. there may be a few who turn on the p. >> that may have happened on thursday. it's gone from this is a nothing burger to i haven't road the

report. >> what in this case rising to impeachment? this is a president of the united states who had a qufrgs a leader of another country. never before has a president had to put forth their conversation? >> you know, it's very easy for troump go there -- and not only deny the grime. as much as the muller report was detailed, how important will it be to the fubl this is now being a plied by republicans to flim and are 2345i7d and they are --

what we admit and see and what we all know. there's a big, big hamner the room and no one in the party is going to recognize it and they are suspending it to believe the president's tied typer. >> it seems like the trunk joimpd and it was kind of bizarre. among the weird statements, here is one of them. it's possible that he is a whistle the blower. when this to is over, i will be the hero. i'm not acting as a hero. i'm asking as someone who worked most his life working on government. he continued, anything i do should be praised. this is a man who called himself america's mayor of 9/11. what happened? >> oh, rudy, rudy, rudy.

why is the president and his kpearnl that should be done by state dpecht and you don't have -- your personal company who thinks durable and she doesn't have terrible as volatile as rudy. >> keep in mine, rudy giuliani wanted to be secretary of state. thank you. >> thank you again. >> a whistle-blower report like none other. raising questions just who wrote it. more on that in a moment. when we started our business we were paying an arm and a leg for postage.

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>> and 245 senn kempb tif media into a meltdown. and they had a complaint to whistle blowers and with the gossip, and the falsehoods, and they have a federal employee. president trump tweeted, a whistle-blower with second hand information? an another news story. and more from california. good to see you. >> john. >> james clapper, director of intelligence, says the whig the blower report is one of the best he has ever seen. here he is. >> i have seen a lot of whistle-blower complaints in the time i was dni and this had to be the best composed, best written, the best documented such complaint i have ever seen. alsoly done by a seasoned,

mature, capable intelligence professional. >> a seasoned, capable, intelligence professional. what does it tell you just behind the report itself? >> to me, i have never seen anything like this. it's a bill of indictment, well put together much better than the mueller report. it gets right to the point. it sites the law. you know this is unusual in the report. normally what happens in the intelligence community is someone says something they don't like and they run in and they dump it orally on the inspector general and may type up. but not this complete, and not only that, it awards and and i

wonder if they didn't get legal help and a lot of editing. because it's truly brilliant. >> maybe that person had experience gathering intelligence before working at the white sox. >> i think dha. they found out that the report had been moved from a normal computer to handle secret documents to one that handle thes top secret code word. how that person, the whistle-blower -- that is not normal. it's handle theed in the situation room. i spent a lot of time in the situation room. i would go around and ask what did do you with the navy -- it's 2340i789 and i imagine it will be a lot more to come and the

krit ssm. >> and people and just in terms of gathering information like this, firsthand experiences, is gad. but is it essential to what may or may not have been said? >> it's essential. whoever wrote up the complaint, this is why -- to me, first blush, it looks like -- several people got together and sort of laid this whole case out with the ukraine. other wise, i never would have reached this level, the intelligence committee would have never gone forward. unless this whistle-blower would really -- these are not rumors. we know from the document, read out of the conversation,

absolutely right. none of the nifrks i'm putting in the complaint is classified. intelligence professional, a lot of care pus puft and in a big way. he is talking about kreazing at this point which is out ray jous. it's a violation of wall to threaten whistle-blowers. it's obstruction of justice. the whistle-blower will come out and will be pillaring the press like you wouldn't believe. >> donald trump actually threatens those who give the whistle blower information.

we used to 23r50e69 and bresm and the whistle-blower had a lot of courses that confirmed what he or she knew much and so there are -- you know, there are people at the white sox who have turned on the president that helped prepaper and the concern is about the sneempbl and it's another disclaimer about the whistle-blower. although the intelligence committee eye dent fiped an arguable, political bias 34i678

and p which is exactly what has happened. >> kpablgtly. i mean, they know vp knew. whoever put it together knew that they had to be on the right side of the law and handling classified information. that was put in an addendum so they clut pli and, you know, who is not part of foemp and p it's not the way it works. i'm sure of urt. >> you have the riler report. the whistle blower report that is seven pages plus two. al moesms and this is the

whistle blower knew what he or show was doing and mueller didn't. mueller lust v just beared us in detail. and it tells me the president broke law i can't read it any other wanchts it's hard to find another pinl. still to come, how did rudy giuliani go from america's mayor to central character in one of the biggest white house scandals in years? how do you get skin happy aveeno® with prebiotic oat. it hydrates and softens skin. so it looks like this... and you feel like this. aveeno® daily moisturizer get skin happy™

just coming up to 3:33 in the united states. i'm john vause. beneath the white dome of the u.s. capitol, there's articles of impeachment. but it's only publicly from democrats. some republicans may be saying so in private, when the cameras are there, they scurry for cover. >> reporter: in the wake of the whistleblower complaint, pelosi is going to be the new focus of the impeachment inquiry, led by the house intelligence committee. the other five committees doing an investigation of president trump, will continue to do so.

but this, under intel, is the focus. >> all of it other worth it, relates to abuse of power, abuse of -- contempt of congress by him. those will be consider later. >> reporter: as democrats on capitol hill use this information to push forward in their impeachment inquirinquirye seen republicans, allies come to his defense. >> what in this case rises to impeachment. this is a president of the united states, that had a conversation with a leader in another country. >> and there's very, very few examples of republics being at all critical. mike turner on thursday, he said the conversation between president trump and the ukrainian president is not okay. and two senators have called the

allegations troubles. that's the farthest republicans have gone. across the board, we've seen republicans deflect questions or say they have not read this complaint, although many of them had access to it wednesday evening. according to the report, rudy giuliani is emerging as a central figure, a failed attempt to have joe biden investigated. ahead to smear trump's rival ahead of the 2020 election. here's cnn's brian todd. >> reporter: the whistleblower says in stark terms, he has information that president trump has evidence that his office tried to get information on joe biden from ukraine. but rudy giuliani is not just a

central figure. he's a major player. >> he's all over the place, talking to ukrainians in new york, going to warsaw, going planning a trip to ukraine that was scrapped. >> reporter: according to the whistleblower, rudy giuliani met with ukraine's top prosecutor, even before the new president took office in may. he had accused joe biden of trying to quash an investigation that biden's son was involved with. >> it turns out not to be true. the investigation that the ukrainians had stopped had stopped two years earlier. it stopped not because he asked for it but because there was no

evidence. and while they walked back the allegation. that didn't stop giuliani from pursuing the theory. >> i found out that joe biden bribed someone in the ukraine, who was investigating his son. that's an astounding scandal of major proportions, that all of you have covered up for five or six months. >> reporter: giuliani continued to push that conspiracy and push it to trump. trump pushed the ukrainian to investigate biden and told him to expect a call from giuliani. that's when the whistleblower claims that juligiuliani made t ukraine. a couple of months earlier,

giuliani planned to go to ukraine to be very, very helpful to my client. we're not meddling. we're meddling in an investigation. giuliani was a private citizen. >> when you look at the circumstances, there's no reason for him to be involved whatsoever. >> reporter: as the whistleblower's report sends shock waves through the capitol, the man who first made his name as a prosecutor, could be prosecuted himself. >> there could be an investigation. >> reporter: cnn reached out to giuliani about the whistleblower complaint and he says, quote,

has no knowledge about that crap. brian todd, cnn, washington. the u.s., ramping up military assistance to saudi arabia. they are sending out missiles and radio systems, just two weeks on the main facilities. iran's president makes headlines in a wide ranging news conference. what he said about the saudi oil strikes and the nuclear deal. 6 the first time. wow, that's clean! cascade platinum. i mean, if you haven't thought abfrankly, you're missing out. uh... the mobile app makes it easy to manage your policy, even way out here. your marshmallow's... get digital id cards, emergency roadside service, even file a... whoa. whoa. whoa. whoa. whoa. whoa!

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the american dream was built on this country it would be a safe haven. these years, not so much. next year, the u.s. will admit 18,000 refugees. that's an all-time low. the trump administration has been chipping away at the refugee cap when it was 54,000.

30,000 this year. and 18,000 next year. saudi arabia, is about to get more military support from the u.s. it's in response to saudi attacks earlier this month. washington and riyadh blame iran for those attacks. iran is willing to resume talks, that is, if the u.s. is willing to lift the economic sanctions. he has confirmed that iran is using advanced models of centrifuges to enrich uranium. we have, now recently, germany, u.k., and france supporting the americans and the saudis in those claims. what was riding in response to

that? >> he said absolutely, the iranians were not behind the attack of the oil facilities. he says, if anybody has evidence, they need to show the evidence. the huttis have the capabilities to conduct such a strike. in his words. he was asked, what sort of proof do you have that iran was not behind it. he believes that the people making the accusations need to come forward with the evidence, to prove that the accusations are true or have any credibility. if anybody has information on this, he would be willing to look at it. point-blank, he said, iran was not behind it. they are sticking by their story. he was very, very firm on that point, john. >> thanks so much. afghans will cast their vote for president this saturday. and the taliban is promising

suicide bombings and rocket attacks. 80,000 troops have been placed across the country. it's been a bloody year. ye close to 4,000 civilians were killed or wounded in the first half of 2019. and the tension there is higher than ever. after the peace talks fell apart earlier this month. prince harry is retracing his mother's steps through a mine field in angola. it's one of his next stops on his tour. she visited angola a few months before her death. never got to see the full outcome of her efforts as max foster reports. >> reporter: 22 years after princess diana's visit, they are still finding and destroying land mines of angola. victoria doesn't remember the

princess. but it's up to her to remove the remnants of the war. she is one of the best at it, chosen to meet prince harry. the pace is painstaking. next to a village where children cross tracks that hundreds of mines were laid to protect. a generation who didn't live by the dark past but whose lives are shaped by it. manuel and his cousin were pickipick ing mangos. >> a lot of people passed by that spot and never found it. it had to be on a day when the children were there. >> reporter: more than 1,000 mine fields remain across the country. a constant threat to an innocent

population. >> all these items came from across, other countries. western countries. >> reporter: there's plenty of progress here, too. the minefield where princess diana walked is now a busy street. and throughout angola, the organization halo trust, has cleared 100,000 mines, in large part, he says, thanks to princess chindiana. >> she made them aware that this is part of this problem. >> reporter: the hospital visited by a princess and now, a prince, the head surgeon is recalling how surreal it seemed. >> i think rarely does a child follow a mother's steps. if he is following his mother's steps, he will feel humility because he will feel in his

heart for the victims here. a humility that will lead to action, so his country can declare itself land mine-free. >> a little news here. prince harry's cousin, princess beatrice is engaged. beatrice is the oldest child of prince andrew. okay. up next, "abbey road" like you've never heard it before, 50 years after the beatles released the iconic album.

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well, it's been half a century since the beatles released their iconic album "abbey road." and a treasure trove from the recording sessions is being released. there's music the beatles made that has not been heard. cnn sat down with the man who

mixed the album. >> i get involved. you know. one, two, one, two, three, four. >> released in 1969, to mixed reviews, but now widely regarded as a classic, the critics didn't realize that "abbey road" would be the last time that the beatles could come together and record an album. >> they loved each other. but judge became a strong song writer with "abbey road." john martin remixed the "sergeant pepper" and white albums. it was mixed by the george martin, who was known as the fifth beatle. >> my dad said that he felt it

was their last album. but they didn't think it was. >> go a bit faster. >> they knew things were changing. they were becoming more individual. people that want to create and do different things. >> reporter: he admits it's proved to be an emotional experience. >> sometimes it's hard, listening to your father's voice on a tape machine. it's great for me to hear how much he meant to them and how much, you know, they mean to him. >> reporter: new technology allows martin to enhance the listening experience for fans without trampling on a musical legacy. his work received the thumbs up of paul, ringo and the widows of john and george. >> they don't employ me to be safe. the biggest thrill i get is their reaction. pinning paul or ringo down and

getting them to listen to the album. they will listen to "come together." and separately, they will say, we were really good on this day. if i can bring them closer to the day they recorded on, that would be well done. we live with spotify and amazon and google and whatever. and there's a global jukebox. the beatles, duran duran, ed sheeran, whatevoever it is, is on the same playlist. and there's no reason why the beatles shouldn't be as relevant as everyone else. >> reporter: the album cover has been iconic. featuring the band outside of the recording studios. it's been copied, lampooned and re-created thousands of times. and fans flock to the site to capture their own memento.

>> here's a tip. the best place to watch a rocket launch is from space. christina cook on the international space station caught an incredible shot of the rocket on its assent. when your best friend achieves her life long dream going into safe. nasa says the soyuz crew made it on the space station. i'm john vause. stay with us. "early start" is up next. after my dvt blood clot, i wondered.

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a cover-up at the white house. a whistleblower says officials tried to hide damaging details about the president. and it was not the first time. what's next as the impeachment inquiry marches on. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it is 4:00 a.m. big questions for this white house, following a gripping day on grill. the whistleblower claims as why