and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. the white house at the last minute blocks testimony from a key impeachment witness. house democrats say it's more evidence of obstruction. the president calls the inquiry a kangaroo court. plus the president invites the turkish leader for a white house visit. it's another poke at the republicans who are furious with the president for pulling troops from syria. stomp it's the preside

. it's the president at the center of the impeachment inquiry, but it's the state department where they believe the most evidence can be found. and we begin the hour with the dramatic impeachment standoff. house democrats now say they'll issue a subpoena for testimony and documents of the european ambassador of the european union, gordon sondland. republicans blocked his testimony. their case is the president abused his power with the president of ukraine and used joe biden. blocking the testimony is just a stronger argument that the white house is obstructing the democrats from doing their job and hiding critical evidence. >> we're also aware the ambassador has text messages or emails on a personal device, which have been provided to the state department, although we have requested those from the

ambassador and the state department is withholding those messages as well. those messages are also deeply relevant to this investigation and the impeachment inquiry. >> in a statement, sondland's attorney says the ambassador is, quote, profoundly disappointed but that he had no choice. sondland believes strongly that he acted as in the best interests of the united states and he stands ready to answer the committee's questions fully and truthfully whenever he is permitted to appear. the president adding on twitter, he would love to have sondland testify, but, unfortunately, he would be testifying before a kangaroo court. the president adding that some of sondland's text messages only prove he did nothing wrong. manu raju live on capitol hill, kaitlan collins at the white house. what happened behind the scenes at the white house to get them to decide no testimony from the

white house, kaitlan? >> reporter: essentially the white house played an essential role in deciding this, and officials were in talks late last night discussing just how much they should be cooperating with this, whether or not they should send the ambassador up to capitol hill if there hasn't been this formal impeachment inquiry vote yet. that's what we're hearing behind the scenes for the last few days over here, because they say essentially because it's not a legitimate probe in their eyes, because democrats haven't voted to launch a formal impeachment inquiry that they shouldn't have to be cooperating in this way by sending people like the ambassador up to capitol hill. we're told the white house counsel's office consulted with the state department before they did tell the ambassador this morning that he would not be sitting down for that scheduled deposition, and essentially what you're going to hear from manu is they will say it's worth the risk of angering these democrats by not letting ambassador sondland go to capitol hill. it's worth that over letting him go and sit down and talk about what he knows. because of course since he is

the ambassador to the european union, he is not in the european union, he is someone dhochosen take the lead and he is at the center of this controversy. >> the white house argues this is a process argument. you don't have an impeachment inquiry, therefore we won't cooperate. the democrats think it's sub stan stant actubstantive, that they'e cooperating? >> they want an impeachment in the next couple weeks. they believe their view of obstructing these witnesses to come guard will add to the obstruction in the articles of impeachment. expect a subpoena to come. that was just announced moments ago by adam schiff and the two

other chairmen that are parts of this effort with someone saying they will be part of this testimony saying he has documents he has not turned over to capitol hill. what will happen if he does not comply with that? they'll be added to the articles of impeachment but there are other witnesses of state department officials that they want to speak with, including the foreign ambassador to ukraine who is supposed to come this week. there is a big question whether she comes, whether others come. if they don't, what will democrats do? probably cite it as an article of impeachment but they may not get evidence they've been clamoring for, john. >> a quick follow-up question to you. the house general counsel is in federal court today, and he's telling a judge that he believes congress can impeach the president for lying to the american public. also says they want access to mueller documents to go back as part of their impeachment case. with they building a case that would be broader than what the speaker has suggested in public,

or is this a legal argument to try to get access to documents? >> reporter: well, this court case started before this current impeachment inquiry, looking into the ukraine matter. what the democrats are arguing in court is to get the underlying evidence to the mueller probe, but the general counsel did say that -- he said, quote, i can't emphasize enough, it's not just ukraine, that this impeachment could be much broader than ukraine and saying unequivocally -- he was asked whether or not the president could be impeached for lying, and he responded to the judge, i believe so, yes. he doesn't have to just commit a crime, according to the house general counsel, but it appears that the justice department will turn over some redacted memos to capitol hill. the judge was not happy about that, so perhaps we'll get more information in court, but that fight is still ongoing in court, john. >> a lot of different pieces of this to keep track of. manu raju on capitol hill it, kaitlan collins. lopez with politico, jeff

zeleny, michael bender. the ambassador was at home. all indications were he was going to show up, and then the president of the united states deciding no. >> we have two things here. one is that it's definitely a shift in strategy here. what we saw from the white house at the start of this was to push out the unpress de-- unprecedend decision to push it out. now they are blocking a key witness in this probe, which raises additional questions about how much the white house really wants to participate here and really kind of sheds a different light on that decision to put out the transcript which we know now is -- was a decision more of the president to kind of take hold of the narrative. he felt he had lost the narrative. less so about transparency.

then i think the next thing to watch here is that the white house is really kind of struggling with the strategy, right? the president has been asked a couple times if he was going to -- over the last few days if he was going to participate in this impeachment strategy, and he keeps saying, i don't know, i don't know, it's up to the lawyers, punting it to the lawyers. then at the late decision last night around 12:30 to block sondland is an indication this is sort of a -- they're piecemeepiece d piecemealing it as they go here. >> unless they're much more transparent, you could be led to believe they saw sondland's statement, maybe they saw what he was about to say to congress and they didn't like it. if you look at the text messages we do have available to us, diplomat bill taylor getting worried about what's happening. he believes the president is holding up vital military aid to ukraine because he announced he wants to investigate joe biden. so you have a text back in september. bill taylor: are we now saying

security white house meetings are conditioned upon an investigation? he said, call me. then, the message of the ukranians and russians we send with the decision on security assistance is key. he sai was there consultation at the white house? was there consultation at the state department or both? and why did gordon sondland's tone change to sound more lawyerly? >> another exchange in those text messages was when sondland was talking about a, quote, deliverable from ukraine, and that's a question a lot of democrats have, which is what is that deliverable you were hoping to get in these conversations? and also with the broader picture that we have now, the

conversations that sondland had with senator ron johnson where ron johnson walked away with that conversation as though there was a quid pro quo and that's why he went to trump directly. there is a lot of mixed messaging there, and then today the big news coming out of schiff was additional text messages from sondland on a personal device that they consider to be relevant and that the state department is deciding to withhold. >> here's the challenge for the democrats. you have a pretty evenly divided public. you need these fact witnesses to put your case forward. here's exactly what happened to try to change minds. the white house doesn't give them. schiff says we'll do it this way. >> the failure to produce this witness, the failure to produce these documents we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction of the constitutional functions of congress, a co-equal branch of

government. >> they mean what they say and there is a constitution, there are co-equal branches of government, but impeaching someone for obstructing congress as opposed to having an impeachment that lays out fact evidence are two different things. >> it's much more complicated. the president was pretty transparent this morning when he said, of course he wants to testify, we want him to testify. how many times did we hear that during the mueller probe? he was always going to testify, always going to sit down and talk to bob mueller. the reality is the president is driving this train. he has made a complete shift with the help of his lawyers to essentially try and slow this down. the trump campaign is now in charge of the response to this. he is driving this. it's going to be tough for the chairman and for democrats to make their argument to the public if there are no more facts that come out, i think. text messages in the first week were pretty explosive, but if that's it, who knows. there is also supposed to be a key hearing on friday.

that also may be blocked here. we are at the obstruction point, the collision point of this. we'll see where it goes. >> yeah, and the president knows the bet he's making here is on messaging, right? pleading the fifth is not an admission of guilt, right, but we've seen the president use that as, in fact, an admission of guilt, and blocking witnesses can be used against this president politically. he's making a bet that he can turn this against congress, this kangaroo court kind of language, to make himself seem more sympathetic. >> language that's being echoed from his allies on capitol hill. you saw schiff come out and make a statement and then his allies, several of them, were wagts itin the side. they wanted to make their statement and they used the kangaroo court as well. the white house is trying to shape the environment. if these witnesses testify, what will they say? there is a second whistleblower about to come forward. the white house says they're

well aware of that. the president says he's not worried, but of course he is. so they're trying to shake public opinion before they can build a fact case. >> and it's essential to what's happening now in the sense that the white house is saying, we don't have to cooperate with you because you're not voting to have a formal impeachment inquiry. and speaker pelosi says, i can do whatever i want, we're in an impeachment inquiry if i say so. they're in conflict over what entails an impeachment inquiry, and the house is trying to define what their impeachment is. >> it's playing out in court, it's playing out in congress, it's playing out in public opinion. if you ever a question for anybody here on these political stories, you can tweet us. use the #insidepolitics. we might answer your question inside the show or later. the latest polls do show

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an impeachment inquiry heading into an election year puts both parties in uncharted waters. we've never done this before. the democrats believe numbers are on their side. look how the numbers have changed. way back in august 2014, 49% of americans said they supported an

impeach. inquir impeachment inquiry. nearly 6 out of 10 americans say they support an impeachment inquiry into the president's conduct. only 77% supported the inquiry back in july. that's up 28% now. not a danger sign but something for the president to keep an eye on if support grows within his own party. among independents, you're fighting for the middle. support for independents up 20 points from july. democrats take heart in that. they believe the middle of the country supports at least proceeding with the inquiry. let's take another look at the numbers. the democrats, how are they handling this? 57% approve of how they're handling this, 46% disapprove. 33% republicans approve how their handling it, 58%

disapprove. when they come out of these meetings, when they talk about the developments, they're trying to convince you. the democrats are trying to say this is the right thing to do. republicans say it's a joke. >> the american people have the right to know if the president is acting in their interests, in the nation's interests, with an eye toward our national security and not in his narrow, personal, political interests. >> what we see in this impeachment is a kangaroo court, and chairman schiff is acting like a malicious captain kangaroo. >> i haven't quite heard it put that way before, but the political debate here is in some ways as important as the substance, at least early on, as they're trying to convince the american people heading into an election year. the republicans say enough. the democrats have been out to get this president since day one. >> what they won't do is talk about the substance in a positive way of that initial phone call. we have learned a lot in the past couple weeks or so, but the

original facts remain in the rough transcript of that call. there are a handful of republican senators who have spoken out against this and said it was wrong, it doesn't necessarily hit impeachment but it was wrong. the vast majority are being quiet. the house republicans are repeating the president's talking points as he's orchestrating this in realtime. but the independents poll, that is something the white house, the reelection campaign, is worried about. that's why they're doing a scorched earth campaign to make it seem like every old debate. you never wanted trump in here. but what we focus on is the new information we receive. the republicans don't want to talk about that. >> national poll numbers are helpful, but don't overinvest in them because you fight for the house just like you fight for the presidency state-by-state. the house is district by district, so republicans are focusing more on the swing districts, like elissa slotkin. took a district that was a trump

district before. they believe with ads like this they can change the political climate that she represents. >> instead of fixing health care and lowering drug prices, slotkin votes with the radicals for endless investigations of president trump. wasting tax dollars instead of working to create more jobs. slotkin wants more hearings. >> this is what republican pollst pollsters and strategists are telling their supporters. it's keeping things relevant to you, like health care, like prescription drugs. >> they know it's not just about the constitution, it's also about a political process. that's why pelosi was so slow to even reach the inquiry stage and the campaign for house democrats have been advising them to say what they need to say, to talk about it how they need to, even if they're not fully embracing

it. there is only a handful left of those democrats that have not fully embraced the inquiry. slotkin has. but they are encouraged to handle each of these situations as they see fit in their districts. >> i want to go back to the post poll to show you the divided country. the house should vote to remove the president from office, meaning actually pass arlticles of impeachment. among voters, 49% say that. among independents, 49% says that. the challenge for the president is to keep people in your camp. a facebook ad, as a member of the impeachment defense task force, you will be a leader in defending the president against these baseless and offensive attacks. especially heading into an election year, yes, we need to

hear what did ambassador sondland say. quid pro quo matters. >> for democrats, they're still trying to figure out how do we continue to build this case and convince independents and maybe even republicans to join us if the white house continues to stonewall and the interviews we do get is all done behind the scenes. how do we create those made-for-tv moments and bring people to our side? they don't have an answer to it. they're still trying to figure it out. >> and this probe is tailor r made for the republicans. the president yesterday was surrounded by every major general in the united states, and he brought up impeachment and pointed to fundraising numbers that he's had, pretty impressive fundraising numbers that he's had with republicans off this impeachment inquiry as a sign of his support. before that in another white house meeting, this one was supposed to be on trade, he again brought up impeachment, and what he wanted to point to there was a poll saying he's up

17 points with independents which must be a sign of the reaction to this impeachment inquiry which, in fact, that poll was an investor business daily poll that was a matchup between he and biden taken before the impeachment inquiry started. and i think much more reflective of the ups and downs for biden right now than how trump is handling impeachment probes. >> the president took a poll out of context? i'm shocked that could happen. as we go to break, a little flashback. it was on this day back in 1998 the house of representatives voted to begin a formal impeachment inquiry into president clinton. >> many democrats coming to the floor today to condemn the conduct of this president. most just don't believe it warrants impeachment. >> the ayes are 258, the nays are 156. the resolution is agreed to.

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the white house rewarding turkey's president today even as he plans a military campaign against a critical u.s. ally. the president extending an official white house invitation for erdogan on november 13th. that announcement comes just today over a burst of public outrage over the president's decision for abandoning the kurds and opening the door for a potential slaughter. this morning the president tried

to temper those objections. in no way are we abandoning the kurds. and a warning to turkey, unnecessary fighting, he says, and he will hurt turkey's economy. those are the president's words. the blowback from the president's own party was fierce. they don't trust erdogan here, and the moment after, the president says, come see me at the white house. >> there is really no articulated plan to protect the kurds. the president was asked point blank about that yesterday if he could guarantee their safety. his response was, we'll see, and then he described this as a tribal war that there was no solution to, that he could not see any solution to. i will say one of the interesting moments yesterday with the president on this was he was asked about some of this pointed criticism coming from both parties, sort of the kind of question that he would punch back on, right, sort of typical counterpunch moment for trump. but he took a step back and he

said, there are people with different opinions. i respect their opinions. and i have my own. >> and to that point, he went on to say this is his, it's just not worth it. in the president's view, you mentioned you're dead on. russia and iran could benefit from this. the president is just not interested anymore. >> we've been in syria for a long time, and it was supposed to be a very short hit on isis, but it didn't work out that way. they never left. and they've been there for many, many years. at some point we have to bring our people back home. >> he's been consistent on this even though he has stopped. he wanted to do this in afghanistan, he wanted to do it in syria earlier, and in both countries, both situations, the republican establishment, including his own people, the pentagon, the state department, has pushed him and he has not done it. now he seems determined. >> he seems determined now. he said his decision is firm. i'm not sure on the politics of this it's that bad for the president. i mean, the republican

establishment here is concerned about it, lindsey graham, certainly others are, but i'm not sure the american people -- i think he has the better argument, it's time to come home. we're in year 18, almost, of the afghanistan conflict. of course, iraq, everything else has endured. this is a consistent position of his. it allows him to change the subject and a it wiand it allow to talk about impeachment. >> it also raises the question which i think is in a lot of our reporting and a question the public has which is, what signal does this send to u.s. allies, because this looks as though -- it is if the president does follow through with it -- even republicans have said a betrayal of allies. >> to that point, senator marco rubio says, i know you have inherited a mess, i know this is a bad thing, i know it seems

sometimes unworkable. but it's about reality. the kurds currently hold thousands of isis in jail. abandoning them is morally repug anatomy, stains our moral reputation and could lead thousands of isis killers back to the battlefield. the president's point saying we've already seen evidence of kurdish officials abandoning those prisons and moving them north because they think the kurds are coming after them. them saying, you can't do this, it will make things worse. >> as far as i know, there are no withdrawal orders from d.o.d. to bring these troops back. there is no plan to do that quite yet. this is an aspiration of what he wants to do but not a specific plan to do it. what he does say is directly compare this to, cast this as a campaign promise that he's fulfilling. >> what was interesting to me, and i'm not sure how much sway

pat johnson has with evangelicals, but he put together the political power of evangelicals. watch him last night saying, mr. president, here and the way you treat saudi arabia, you're making a big mistake. >> i am absolutely appalled that the united states is going to betray those democratic 40s in northern syria. the president allowing them to be cut into pieces with no repercussions whatsoever are allowing the kurds to be massacred by the turks. i believe, and i want to say this with great solemnity, the president of the united states is at risk of losing the mandate to heaven if he allows this to happen. >> those are pretty sharp words.

i don't know his position over evangelicals. >> he's been criticized by republicans, conservatives and sometimes evangelicals. little has happened in congress, especially in the gop senate, to pull him back. this time he pulls back and he sometimes seems intent on moving forward, but the question is will republicans do anything through a spending bill or legislation to punish him and get him to join their side? >> public criticism and i think fair criticism. the difference here, i have to say, is financial for the president. he is not seeing any benefit financially for the country to protect the kurds and be involved in the skirmish out there. while he directly said he didn't want to take any drastic action on the khashoggi incident. >> he's someone that does speak to evangelicals, so i think if

the president were to worry about his right flank, it would be because of this. but powerful words there, mandate from heaven? that is perhaps the strongest thing we've heard in a very long time against this president. up next, advocates for gay and transgender rights get a big moment before the supreme court. biopharmaceutical researchers. pursuing life-changing cures in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs... like a way to fight cancer by arming a patient's own t-cells... because it's not just about the next breakthrough... it's all the ones after that.

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topping our political radar today, deficit hawks, hide your eyes. the congressional budget office estimates the government spent $984 billion more than it took in in 2016. that's the highest since 2012. along with the trillion dollars in tax cuts the president signed into law two years ago. former vice president biden rolling out a $250 million plan to guarantee education. it includes two years of free community college. biden's plan also takes aim at student loan obligations with special help for public sector workers. the supreme court today

being asked if a company can fire someone because of being gay or transgender. a woman lost her job at a funeral home after acknowledging her position. a skydiving instructor also lost his job when they learned of his position. this faces the lgbtq community on thursday night, starting at 7:30 p.m. eastern. senator lindsey graham says he wants to give rudy giuliani his day on capitol hill. who look beyond the spreadsheets to understand companies, from breakroom to boardroom. who know the only way to get a 360 view

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republican senator lindsey graham today promising rudy giuliani a spotlight on capitol hill to lay out his unproven allegations of corruption in ukraine. senator graham says it's time for the senate to investigate and we'll invite the president's lawyer to testify before the judiciary committee. the lawyer said he's tired of hearing just one side of the story -- huh? and it's time to give voice to ukraine and let the chips fall where they may. when asked if he would accept lindsey graham's offer?

he said, i love lindsey but i will still have to deal with privilege. >> so do some of the campaigns, like kamala harris. she said, we encourage it, and diane feinstein also encourages it. >> i want to read the feinstein statement. i support rudy giuliani to testify under oath about his role in seeking the ukranian government's assistance to investigate one of the president's political rivals. democratic members have plenty of questions for mr. giuliani and this would give ensemble opportunity to help separate fact from fiction for the american people. not going to happen, is it? >> no. the only one who likes to see himself on tv right now is the president. >> watch rudy on television. don't expect to get facts but you do get theater. >> you did ask ukraine to look into joe biden?

>> of course i did. >> it happened with ukraine, it happened with hillary clinton. george thoros was behind it, george thoros' company was funding it. >> we should have maybe even myself as a lawyer against members of congress, individually, for violating constitutional rights, violating civil rights. >> we'll take you straight to seattle. the house speaker nancy pelosi talking about the witness today the white house blocked. >> -- to be worsty ofthy of a constitution we are trying to protect from the abuses of the president of the united states. your question is specifically about the ambassador being blocked from testifying. now, he said to his lawyers that he's fully prepared to come to testify. there will be a subpoena issued for him to come testify. [ inaudible question ]

>> you used the right word, to block. and so the president is obstructing congress from getting the facts that we need. he has said it's an abuse of power for him to act in this way, and that is one of the reasons that we have an impeachment inquiry. our constitution, the genius of it is a system of checks and balances, that we would have three separate co-equal branches of the government that would have checks and balances on the other. the president said article 2 says i can do whatever i want. no, in doesnt doesn't, mr. pres. so his snubbing his nose at the vision of our founders, his disloyalty to the constitution is something we have to study, and it's just with the facts. the facts in the constitution,

that's what it's about. it's not about any other disagreement you may have in an election. [ inaudible question ] >> that remains to be determined. there will be a subpoena. article 3 is about impeachment rights. i'm not here to say what those will be. we're having an inquiry, we'll see where it takes us. if it takes us to that place at that time, a determination will be made as to what they are. but we're not prejudging. >> do you have a specific timeline for this impeachment inquiry? >> no. we want it to be carefully done, but we don't want to waste any time. it's up to the committees as the evidence unfolds what time is the time to just say yes or no

to proceed on impeachment. >> what are the things the house intelligence committee will be willing to go -- >> yes or no to proceed on impeachment. >> what limits will the house intelligence committee be willing to go with the whistleblower? >> as a top democrat and now as the leader and the speaker. i was there to write the laws to protect whistleblowers. there are laws to establish the office of the director of national intelligence. that's only since 2004, so i know what their purpose is with the intent of congress. the intelligence community respects the role of whistleblowers. we all door, but in intelligenc protecting the whistleblower is absolutely essential so that there is no retribution or anything for speaking truth.

if a whistleblower comes forth to the inspector general with a complaint that he deemed to be of concern, of urgent concern and credible, that then goes to the next step. and whistleblowers must be protected. that is absolutely necessary. >> you're listening to the house speaker nancy pelosi. some issues with the video and audio quality of the feeds from that live event. we apologize for that. but if you listen to the substance of her remarks, very clear. she said it's important that the whistleblower be protected. the house taking necessary steps

to protect the one whistleblower who has come forward, and there is talk of a second whistleblower complaint in the days ahead. she also said the president was disloyal to the constitution of blocking the testimony of the ambassador of the european union. on the last day, they pulled that testimony. she said no firm timetable. she wanted the committees to proceed as expeditiously as possible, but no firm timetable. >> she's taken the same tone she's taken from the very beginning. she's not smiling, she's not getting any joy with this. she said the president is snubbing his nose as well at the constitution. so this is part of her response. but her response is more muted than the president essentially using his bully pulpit to say there is a political fight here. the fact remains the same if republicans in the white house want to block this and there's more information that comes out, it does block the republicans'

right to block them. she said it's not about the president. she said, again, this is not disagreements you have with him, take that up at election time, this is about the constitution. that's pretty much the same message she's had from the beginning. >> and two key themes that are coming from her and schiff are that they are being treated not as a co-equal branch of government, that trump considers the presidency above them and they're being obstructed. and they also routinely bring up the fact that when articles were drafted against nixon that a key piece of that was the obstruction of congress. >> the abuse of power line is really important here because i think she and schiff feel like they have enough to make the case on obstruction of congress, but there is also a lot of private unease about that being the best case you make to the public and not being able to convince voters that he did abuse his office for political benefit. >> that's sort of where we are right now at lagerheads in the sense she was asked about the white house refusal. the white house telling the state department, do not let

ambassador sondland testify. sure, they can make a case. the white house doesn't send documents and we can impeach him for obstructing congress. did the president and some of the text messages suggest it? we don't have all the evidence, that's why you need the witnesses, but the text messages certainly suggest the diplomat is involved, the diplomat of career foreign service says, what do you want me to do? hold up a message of a general witne witness, and they have hesitation of trusting politicians. >> they're trying to figure out why he said and what he meant by those words. the president has shown over the last few months that he's okay,

he remains comfortable of a messaging battle when he's accused of obstruction and abuse of power. that's why, to what jeff said earlier, it's an interesting shift from pelosi to make this not about trump and democrats, this is about trump and the constitution. >> and i just want to come back again. you hear the speaker talking about ambassador. if you're not following this closely, the white house deciding this morning not to let the president's ambassadors testify. he was part of these text exchanges. bill taylor, career diplomat. are we not saying white house meetings are conditioned upon investigations? gordon sondland, call me. let's stop texting about this. there may be an explanation, but if you just look at these text messages, gordon sondland realized, let's stop texting about this because this is a problem. >> he was also not a long-time diplomat. so one of the questions that

would have come up today had he fwlen, what was his role exactly? was he also trying to pressure members of the eu to also withhold aid? i think that's something still to be asked. we have to remember who he is, but he was here in washington, and the white house blocked that this morning. >> the other witness they hope testifies frichlt the state department could say no gn. he was a donor for the trump campaign to go in and manage this situation because the career people like bill taylor, like the ambassador and they're saying, wait a second, you're asking us to do something we're not comfortable doing. >> and the president was the one spe specifically pushing yavonovitch's ouster. to the point rudy giuliani had to get involved to remind the president about how she was handling his political interest in ukraine.

>> a lot of moving parts. we appreciate your patience today, including going out to see the speaker. thanks for joining us on "inside politics." we'll be back this time tomorrow. brianna keilar starts right now. have a good afternoon. i'm brianna keilar live from cnn's washington headquarters. underway right now, democrats in the house now reacting to a no-show. committee chairman leading the impeachment inquiry saying they'll issue a subpoena for ambassador gordon sondland. the white house stepped in at the last minute this morning, early this morning, to block sondland's appearance on capitol hill. the u.n. ambassador to the european union was expected to face questions on his role and president trump pressuring ukraine to dig up dirt on joe biden a