phone calls kept secret, a resignation, and the growing demand for more information. every angle of this historic time in washington, we'll have it for your you. plus, the polls are open in afghanistan, but fears of terror loom large. cnn following the story live in kabul this hour. also ahead this hour, retracing footsteps. prince harry walks in die a in's path while visiting a minefield in angola. we're live at cnn headquarters in atlanta. and we want to welcome you here in the united states and all around the world. i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right now.

at 5:00 a.m. here on the u.s. east coast, questions continue to grow about what the u.s. president donald trump said to his ukrainian counterpart igniting calls for impeachment. make no mistake about it, the trump white house is facing its biggest crisis yet. here are the key points we're following. first the "washington post" posting new details about this meeting that happened in 2017 with russian officials and how the russian officials tried to keep it quiet. cnn has also learned that strict secrecy was enforcet at the white house on other occasions including mr. trump's phone call with these two leaders. we have a report from moscow for you on that. and the fallout is already apatent. sources tell cnn one of the key players, part of the special envoy to the ukraine has resigned, this the latest from

kiev. we'll have that for you. and the u.s. secretary of state is now receive iining endn the receive end of subpoenas for failing to turn over documents. our manu raju has details on that for you. first the reporting from that "washington post" report. it focuses on the meeting that happened in 2017 with russian officials, a day after fbi director james comey was fired. according to the post, the president told him he wasn't concerned about moscow's interference in the 2016 u.s. election. my colleague anderson cooper spoke with with one of the reporters who broke that story. >> in 2017 when president trump met in the oval office with the russian foreign minister and the ambassador to the united states, he told him that he was not concerned about moscow's

interference with our recent election because the united states does the same things in other countries. this alarmed senior white house officials who believed, first of all, that the president was sort of falsely equating what had happened in 2016 but also that he might be giving some kind of a green light or acquiescence to the russians to try this again in other countries, and the memo of that conversation was then highly restricted so very few people were allowed to see it, which was also very unusual at the time. >> cnn has also learned that some phone calls between president trump and other "world lead"ers were held to a higher level of secrecy than usual. in particular his conversations with the leaders of saudi arabia and russian. cnn's pamela brown has this. >> we have learned the white house efforts to limit access to president trump's conversations with foreign leaders was in phone calls. this is according to several

people familiar with the matter. those calls were among the presidential conversations that, a, took remarkable steps to keep from becoming public. russian officials who ordinarily would have been given a rough transcript never saw one. instead it was never circulated at all, which a source said was unusual. the call which the person said contained no specially national security secrets came as the white house was confronting the murder of jamal khashoggi came at the hand of the saudi go. with putin at the hands of at least one of the conversations was also tightly restricted. it's not clear if aides took the additional step of placing the saudi and russian phone calls that held the new infamous foe

call with the ukraine president and sparked the whistle-blower complaint earlier this week but they say calls were placed there and the calls didn't reach the threshold similar to the ukraine conversation. but these attempts to cover up the phone calls show the extraordinary efforts taken by trump's aides to strictly limit the number of people with access to foreign leaders. i'm told this practice went into place more than a year after conversations were leaked. the white house did not limit accessing of the calls with russian and saudi leaders. pamela brown, cnn, washington. >> pamela, thank you. now our washington bureau chief nathan hodge following the events for us in russia. good to have you with us. first of all, what's your reaction to this?

there are so many angles that are in play. >> first, george, we heard from the kremlin yesterday that they were also concerned about the possibility following the conversation and the release of the transcript of the conversation between ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky and president trump back in july that they were concerned that the white house would be released transcripts of conversations between trump and russian president vladimir putin. so certainly some concern there on the russian side as they watch this scandal and this story unfold in washington. and as well, we're starting to get the first responses on the russian side to the news of the resignation of kurt volker. that's the administrator for foreign policy. not long ago a prominent russian lawmaker on facebook commented

about volcker's resignation saying he thought it would be a disservice to kiev, thought to take a swipe against the united states. washington has backed separatists in russia's east. the united states and russia have lodge been at odds over ukraine policy. so i think this sense we're getting is there's a little bit of glee if you want to put it that way about the chaos that's unfolding in washington around centers of ukraine and ukrainian policy. it's been interesting to think back on what's been a person of secrecy in the trump administration. we know, for instance, in 2017 president trump had taken the notes of a translator following a meeting with president putin and told the translator not to

discuss the content. certainly this has been going on for a long time. concerns came up at the key meeting at the white house between president trump and the foreign minister. certainly this is a fast moving story on the russian side as well as washington, george. >> thank you. the u.s. special envoy to ukraine is the first to resign after the whistle-blower's complaint came to light earlier this week. kurt volker decided he could no longer be effective in his post. the house foreign affairs committee has announced that volcker will be questioned next week. a bipartisan group of u.s. lawmakers is headed to ukraine. their main goal is to see the effect of u.s. withholding

military aid. that happened just before president trump reportedly asked ukraine's president to look into allegations of the former vice president joe biden. the nearly $400 million in aid was eventually released to ukraine. one of the lawmakers who made the trip spoke with cnn about it. take a listen. >> we're going to have to be very, very careful, one, because of the task the six of us have in the impeachment inquiry itself. yes, we're going to have to be very careful. with the military, those are straightforward questions. we don't have to dance around it. you do have the equipment you need, have there been delays, what have been theism plications caused by the president of withholding those funds of nearly 60 days. it's almost half a billion dollars of critical equipment as well as the money to pay for the

american trainers. >> let's get a look at what's playing out in krukraine, how ts story is playing out in kiev. matthew chance has more. we've seen what voeld mlodymyr lenky has had to say. what does this mean? >> we look at what the means with the relationship, which is a crucial relationship with the united states. this country, remember, is at war with pro-russian rebels. it's engaged a diplomatic campaign to try to regain its day torrey in crimea, and in its battles to do those two things, it enjoys bipartisan support in

the united states and is, in fact, dependent on cross-party support. any crisis like this that threatened to undermine that and to put ukraine on one side of the physical debate or the other or to drag ukraine into a critical crisis like it has been dragged into threatens the national call of interest in the ukraine, and all of this that's unfolding in the united states, the impeachment inquiry, the white house transcript of the phone call, it's all seen through the prism of what this means for the all-important relationship with the united states. we've seen a complete crackdown, i spoerks on official comments on ukraine and officials. no one in any official capacity is giving any further statements about this or they're keeping them to an absolute minimum. they're taking the strategic position of not saying anything for fear thngs will get worse.

they are struck between a rock and a hard place. they're trying to walk a narrow tight rope in trying to keep a relationship with the current president but also casting forward, they've got an eye on the fact in 2020 there's going to be another presidential election in the u.s. and it could become joe biden. they're very mindful of that. they need to keep good relations with this administration and the next as well, whoever it's led by. george. >> matthew chance on the streets of kiev. thank you. the impeachment inquiry could get under way as early as this week, but already they've issued three subpoenas to the secretary of state. they say mike pompeo's defiance is typical of the trump administration. listen. >> they turned a blind eye for whatever we asked for.

we ask for information and documents and we were stonewalled. not even so much as an answer. >> they just ignored you. >> this administration is thinks we don't have the right. this administration seems to feel it doesn't apply to them. >> a closer look at what's in those documents, what they may contain, our manu raju has that. >> now, in the first batch of subpoenas that have come out since speaker nancy pelosi announced an official impeachment inquiry, the secretary of state mike pompeo has been subpoenaed by house chairman asking for information regarding what the state department did and knew in trying to facilitate apparent meetings and discussions with rudy giuliani, the president's personal attorney, as giuliani was pushing ukraine to

investigate former vice president joe biden. the democrats had deet manneded for several weeks the state department turn over that information. they have not gotten that information, which led them to this point. at the same time they say if they don't get it, it will only strengthen their case for people. they say if the administration does not comply with a number of their requests, they will site it as much like nixon. on the house intelligence committee, they're taking the lead on the impeachment probe. chairman adam schiff plans to issue subpoenas as early as the coming week and also next friday with michael atkinson. a committee source tells me

that. schiff tells me more generally a hearing could take place in a couple of weeks. there's the whistle-blower who drew attention about the president's conduct asking for an investigation into the it boons. that whistle-blower could come before the house intelligence committee. this is happening expeditiously because democrats want this all wrapped up by thanksgiving if not sooner to have a vote on the house floor through the judiciary committee to make president trump the third president in history to get impeached. manu raju, cnn, capitol hill. to talk more about this is david kaitz, a former prosecuto. thanks for being here. >> good to be here. >> there's talk a vote in the house could come by thanksgiving. what do you think about how quickly things are moving right

now. >> i think speaker pelosi wants it to move along, and i think during the recess, house intel jnlt committee chairman adam schiff is going to continue with the investigation, calling witnesses, and i think the country couldn't have a beer attorney, better congressperson in charge of the investigation. i had the privilege to work with adam schiff when he was in the u.s. attorney's office here in los angeles. it was under the reagan adm administrati administration. he's a tenacious fair-minded prosecutor and i think he'll look at both sides of this. but if there what we've seen so far, the whistle-blower has great sources, a great patriot, and there's this up classification. these documents are being classified at a higher level than they out to be to hide them and now we find out there are documents and conversations of trump with putin and apparently

this saudi arabia prince which are highly embarrassing but not that. i think the adam schiff will get to this promptly. >> you talk about working with schiff in the past. but, again, in a legal setting it's important to point out this is more of a political setting. so given that, how do you see him moving forward? >> i think he'll move forward not hastily but deliberately and call these witnesses -- like i say, he and his committee are, woing over these next two weeks. they're not taking a recess. i think these other committees will also act speedily. even the two that are in recess have issued a statement to pomp pompeo. he's made clear he's not going

to take the fall or go to jail for president trump. he said, look, the state department was involved in setting up the meetings. that's the fell low who resigned today the day after this phone call, which was very quid pro quo. the day after it these couple of people were sent out from the state department, the two ambassadorses, including the one designed today to, quote, navigate basically the attempt to have ukrainians gin up a political prosecution of biden and his son so trump could say in the 2020 election, oh, i'm running against crooked joe like i'm running against crooked hillary. that was the purpose of this. all of the people who defended trump and said he did ntd do anything wrong, why did they go to such pain to hide it. why did they go to so much trouble to hide the evidence except the tapes were explosively incriminating and i

think that's what this one is read in context. i want a favor, here's what the favor is. there's the holding up of about $4 million in trade. what was that. the timing is in question. >> this is nothing new. the critics have been calling for impeachment for some time now, most loudly in the collusion with russia. so what exactly make this different? >> well, it was always possible for trump to say he wasn't involved, other people were involved, it wasn't out of his mouth, he didn't know. but as i say, i think he had the hubris the day after the testimony with mueller, he got away with it. so trump made this call the very next day. like the mafia don who doesn't say i'm going to burn your house

down if you don't pay, he says nice house. wouldn't it be terrible if something happened to it. i think what's going to happen is there will be a vote on the articles of impeachment. you asked about timing. i think that's likely to happen. right about after thanksgiving, maybe january or february. people are thinking mcconnell will bury it like he did with merrick garland. he can't do it. this will be handled by chief conlin. i guess we'll see. will we have televised impeachment hearing and trial in the senate led by the chief justice. will the senators including the republican senators, will they put their fingers in their ears, will the public say, will this matter to me at all when they see this. and you think to yourself, can

you imagine if president obama had done this, had called a foreign leader and said why don't you gin up a case against trump abroad? can you imagine how these same republican senators would be howling, can you imagine how lindsey graham howled about the sexual crimes against clinton and how the impeachment was handled and the hypocrisy of not doing something about this phone call, i think it's going to come back to roost on the republican senators. i think their poll numbers will fall. and just like giuliani doesn't want to go to jail for trump, the republican senators don't want to lose their six-year terms over trump. and we'll have president pence. i think that's how it will play going forward. >> how these senators feel about it to add to your points will be key. thank you. >> thank you, george. still ahead, afghan voters

are braving threats of violence from the taliban. just ahead to the polls, what's at stake, ahead on cnn "newsroom," live. 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. how do you get skin happy aveeno® with prebiotic oat. it hydrates and softens skin.

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t-mobile is with you. no signal goes farther or is more reliable in keeping you connected. in the run-up to the afghan election, dozens of people have been killed in that country. our nick paton walsh explains why people are deciding to vote

anyway. >> reporter: since the election few thought would ever happen whose success may be measured in the death toll, not the turnout. high hopes for a peace deal were canceled when president trump canceled talks with afghanistan. that sent afghanistan hertling toward a presidential vote many felt might have been postponed had peace talks been progressed. en stead the votes will be rushed, the campaign hubbled amid security concerns amidst the violence like none other they've seen. he'd also insisted the vote go ahead and may now win a clean endorse management, rare in afghan extreme politics. this remains america's longest war with no immediate end in sight, yet the suffering has been more acute with the daily

losses and violence that go unnoticed to outsiders. thursday the taliban said they would block all roads, adding it's the 13th time. so voters must risk the violence that's closed about a quarter of polling stations, all having a thumb that's inked when you vote cut off entirely. failed peace talked fehr meanting the violence here. >> there will be more violence in this election because the taliban wants to take on the government and put on pressure so they can convince america and the government to come back. >> reporter: the turn land situation shows afghans cannot make decisions on their own and what happens is only because of a single tweet, all destiny has tweet. if he gets over 50%, he can

avoid a second round in november, but even that clean result won't provide a path out of the prbrutality holding live hostage here. now let's bring in journalist jennifer glass, live by phone with us in kabul, afghanistan. jennifer, talk about what you're seeing. we understand as we head to the polls, they head there with great risk. >> absolutely. the campaign itself started off with a big attack here in kabul, and they really ramped up those threats as the election has gone on, the latest on thursday, saying that they would cut off roads and calling on their taliban fighters to do whatever they can, use whatever means they have to keep this election from going forward. and what we've seen is very, very low voter turnouts. here and around the country from

what i've seen, i was at the polling station all morning. only a small fraction had trickled in. there's only a little over and an hour left before the polls are scheduled to vote. there were two real problems with this election, two real concerns. security was one and corruption was another. and whatever the reason it seems to have kept after begans away from the polls and the real question is what that will mean for this democracy. this is only the fifth election it's had in its history. it's difficult to know what this means, whether people will have confidence in the election and any results. >> all right. jennifer glass following the election in afghanistan. thank you. we'll keep in touch as voters head to the polls amid great threat there from the taliban. still ahead, the former mayor of new york city and attorney for the u.s. president

rudy giuliani. he says the u.s. state department asked him to reach out to ukraine, but the state department tells a different story. we'll have that for you ahead. plus, democratic lawmakers rally behind the impeachment inquiry. why one says the president's actions may be worse than watergate. stand by in the u.s. and around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom." one more mile look reply all look own your look... ...with fewer lines. there's only one botox® cosmetic. it's the only one... ...fda approved... ...to temporarily make frown lines... ...crow's feet... ...and forehead lines... ...look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic, may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmetic if you have a skin infection. side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow, eyelid drooping, and eyelid swelling.

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live coast to coast on cnn usa and around the world, you're watching cnn in atlanta.

i'm george how el following the headlines for you this hour jo the "washington post" reports the white house official were so concerned with this meeting they moved to keep it under wraps. according to the "post" president trump said he wasn't concerned about moscow's interference with the election in 2016. mr. trump's phone call with a ukrainian counterpart was also kept quiet. there was also a phone call with the russian leader and no transcript was made after he spoke with the crown prince of saudi arabia. the u.s. special envoy has resigned. kurt volker's resignation comes a day after his name was included in the whistle-blower

complaint. three members of the house committee have issued statements relating to pompeo not handing over documents. he has until friday to produce the documents or be part of the impeachment investigation. congress was informed on september 9th that there was a whistle-blower complaint, and we're learning now what the administration officials knew about it and when they knew about it. cnn's justice correspondent jessica schneider has this for you. >> reporter: officials now say the department of justice and the white house knew about the whistle-blower's concerns more than one week before they were formally alerted by the acting director of national intelligence and the intelligence community inspector general the last week of august. here ooh is the time line we know so far. august 12th, the inspector general for the intelligence community receives the whistle-blower's seven-page complaint. two days later on august 14th, attorneys at the doj's national

security division are alerted about the whistle-blower's concerns during a routine conference call. the next day, the head of the division goes to the white house to review the transcript of the call between president trump and ukraine's president where the president pressed the ukrainian government to investigate joe biden and his son. the deputy attorney general and attorney general were notified. for at least the next ten days the doj deliberated how to handle the matter. it's unclear how much the attorney general learned at this time or during the day, but he was made aware of the situation. >> the inspector attorney general with my office referred the matter to the department of justice for an investigation. i think the whistle-blower did the right thing. think he followed the law every step of the way. >> and there's major scrutiny over the doj not to open a full-fledged criminal investigation into potential

campaign violations stemming from the phone call. the doj came to its conclusion despite the attorney general concluding that the whistle-blower's complaint was, in fact, credible. jessica schneider, cnn, washington. >> jessica, thank you. reaction to the impeachment inquiry has largely been split among partisan lines. here's what some democratic and republican lawmakers are saying about it. >> we have the president of the united states perversing and corrupting the use of his power to get a foreign government involved once again in our election. >> you go back to watergate, alyson, it's a newfangled thing in the president getting involved in a break-in for a campaign, to get dirt and then a coverup. what do we have here? worse, getting dirt on an

opponent from a foreign pow their's dependent on us and there's a coverup in terms of where they put the information. >> this is not a cause for any joy that we have to go down this path. it's a difficult decision to make, but we have that obligation because the actions that were taken could undermine the constitution and the oath we take to protect and defend, including the oath that the president takes. >> 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. >> my guess is based on the reporting that you guys do, there's a lot of folks out there -- he said it was -- well, under the pure definition.

not urgent, the way we normally consider urgent. >> president trump's high-profile personal attorney is featured prominently in the whistle-blower complaint and now rudy giuliani is fighting back and said he had the state department's blessing to reach out to the ukraine. our tom foreman takes a closer look now. >> let me tell you the facts. >> reporter: rudy giuliani is fighting back. >> well, i wasn't operating on my own. >> reporter: insisting his talks with ukrainian officials were proper, important, and encouraged by the state department. so why is president trump's personal lawyer so worked up? it comes in the wake of news about the now infamous call between trump and ukrainian president zelensky. in that call giuliani's name comes up repeatedlies a trump asked for foreign help investigating democrat joe biden. rudy very much knows what's happening, trump says.

if you could speak to him, that would be great. that would raise accusations that giuliani was aking as an improper person in the state department. giuliani says no way. he was helping investigate corruption and he has a paper trail that proves it including a statement of a meeting. >> i went to meet mr. zelensky's aide at the state department. 15 memos, to make that clear. >> reporter: the statement says mr. giuliani is a private citizen and acts in a personal capacity as a lawyer for president trump. he does not speak on behalf of the u.s. government, but he has spoken for him several times. attacking his foes, dismissing his critics. the president calls him a loyal ally. >> rudy's a very straight shooter. >> reporter: his critics call

him something else. >> he is the political henchman for the president. >> reporter: and giuliani is clearly hedging his bets against another potential title he could be saddled with if the ukraine affair gets much messier, fall guy. giuliani is planning to defend himself as vigorously as he has defended donald trump. the only question is will the president stand by him as strongly if the going gets tough. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> tom, thank you for the reporting. we'll be right back after this. geico makes it easy to get help when i need it. with licensed agents available 24-7, 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.

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afri afri africa, his ten-day tour conned friday with a deeply personal trip to angola. he honored the legacy of his late mother princess diana by visiting what used to be a minefield. it was the same path she took during her landmark trip back in 1997. our max foster was there and has the details. >> reporter: an iconic image and one that drew world attention to the blight of land mines in angola. diana's son prince harry now literally retracing his mother's footsteps from 1997. pondering a moment in history. the mines cleared from here, but more than a thousand minefields are estimated to be still riddling the landscape beyond. earlier in a town in southeastern angola, harry like his mother before him remotely

designated a mine reminding everything how deadly they still are. >> without question if she hadn't campaigned the way she did 22 years ago, this could arguably still be a minefield. >> reporter: this was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the civil war and the trance for mags in the street shows how much progress has been made in the clearing of land mines. still a long way to go, but harry hopes by coming here he can raise awareness around the issues to the level his mother created in exactly the same spot. the prince then creating these other memorable images of diana, coveting the others. >> it's been an honor to retrace my mother's steps today. i lost her 22 years ago, but the memory of her is with me daily, and her legacy lives on, which is why i'm sought happy to name this center the princess diana

orthopedic center. this girl was 13 when she famously sat with princess diana, now meeting her son. diana's visit was pivotal in creating the momentum needed for an international ban on land mines. the treaty was signed shortly after she died. her son now continuing the fight in her name. max foster, cnn, angola. >> max, thank you. again, we'll be right back after the break. y other company out there. they give us excellent customer service, every time. 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,

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a live image this hour in hong kong, a protest taking the form of a lennon wall there. this is the 17th straight week of demonstrations that began with anger at a bill that would allow extradition of suspects to mainland china. that proposal was withdrawn, but now the protest is focused on broader pro-democracy demands. in case you're wondering about the expression of lennon wall,

that's signs and messages plastered in a public area inspired by john lennon of the beatles. a live image of what's happening there on the streets this hour. the u.s. president may be seeking help from the gun lobbying organization. he met with the chief executive of the nra, the national rifle association, wayne lapierre. "the new york times" reports they discussed nra support for mr. trump with his re-election bid and during a possible impeachment. lapierre wants the white house to, quote, stop the games over gun control legislation. the nra is denying it has special arrangements with the president. the senate democrat is running close with joe biden. she spoke exclusively to my colleague and says she worries about the whistle-blower's

safety. listen. >> i do. and i worry about this whole investigation as it unfolds. donald trump and his administration have made clear not just that donald trump is willing to break the law but that they're doing their best to try to cover this up and discredit anyone who's trying to get to the truth. >> and as this process unfolds, you do have any reason to believe that any of your senate republican colleagues will vote to convict the president? >> i don't know, but i see this as a lot more important than politics. donald trump has admitted and it's right there in the documentation that he has solicited a foreign country to interfere in our 2020 elections. that isn't right. it's a violation of the law. no one is above the law in this country. and that's why it is so important that congress bring

impeachment proceedings, to hold him accountable. it isn't just about this president. it's about the next president and the one after that and the one after that. this is our constitutional responsibility, whether you're democrat or a republican. >> and do you think that impeachment investigation should be narrowly focused on the ukraine issue or everything else about the pr and his conduct while in office? >> right now i'd like us to do just the ukraine issue because it's so clear and such a clear violation of law. the president is asking for help against one of his political rivals and asking a foreign government for a thing of value for himself personally. that's against the law. and after all that happened in 2016 and the mueller investigation, the president of the united states knows that. this is not he somehow stumbled into it and didn't think about

the consequences. no. he knew. he believed he could break the law and get away with it. and so did his administration. look. they didn't leave that transcript in the regular course of transcripts of phone calls with foreign leaders. why? because it wasn't a regular call. it was a call that violated the law. and so their immediate instinct is let's lock it up. let's make sure nobody can see it. let's cover it up so no one's there. and that's why it is that this impeachment proceeding is so important on this issue. >> do you think it's important that all of this be wrapped up before voting begins in february? >> oh, i hope that it is. i'd like to see us get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. >> all right. elizabeth warren there speaking with imjay lee. and before we leave this hour, a huge upset in the world

rugby cup. alex thomas has more on this story and follows it in japan. what do you have to tell us? >> reporter: george, after shocking the rugby world and beating south africa, japan now host nation, the first asian country to host the world cup has repeated the feat, this time beating ireland. they've come into the world as the number one team. trailing at halftime but scoring ten unanswered points after the break to win 19-12 and to reach the knockout stages of this cup, we go from pool, group games, to quarterfinals, a very realistic prospect indeed. we're watching at a bar here in tokyo i'm talking from, and i can tell you there were young women here and what you might consider more traditional rugby

men, big burly guys, it didn't matter. they were all celebrated. this is a win that will energize the country as much as it did four years ago, beating ireland in the world cup, the biggest shock. george. >> alex thomas speaking to us on the phone from japan. we'll continue to watch. and thank you for being with us at cnn "newsroom" this hour. i'm george howell in atlanta. for ow viewers in the u.s., "new day" is ahead. for the rest of the world, ""inside africa." you're watching cnn, the news leader. sed on the long term. who look beyond the spreadsheets to understand companies, from breakroom to boardroom. who know the only way to get a 360 view is to go around the world to get it. can i rely on deep research to help make quality investment decisions?

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we have learned the white

house efforts to limit access to president trump's conversations with foreign leaders extended to phone calls with saudi crown pri prince. >> he was unconcerned about moscow's interference in the u.s. election. >> cnn has learned kurt volker has now suddenly resigned. >> the white house in crisis, we just learned the secretary of state mike pompeo has just been subpoenaed by three house committees that democrats say if they don't get this information from this subpoena or other subpoenas, it will only strengthen their case for impeachment. >> to impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane. >> the president is blatantly extorting a foreign leader. >> no push, no pressure, no nothing. it's all a hoax, folks. it's all a big hoax.