veterans day parade. behalf of all of us here at cnn we thank our military veterans. to our viewers thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." eric burnett outfront starts now. breaking news, a key impeachment witness testifies the white house put an order of javelin missiles on hold over fear it would anger the russians. the department of defense was worried about team trump breaking the law when it came from with holding aide. joe biden will join me as a new poll shows a tiergt raghter rac the top four democrats. good evening. i'm erin burnett here in iowa. i'll be talking to vice president joe biden. he will be joining me right behind me later tonight.

first the breaking news. democrats releasing a trove of impeachment transcripts. trump and his defenders holding money to ukraine. the president's acting chief of staff, mick mulvaney had the office of management and budget put a hold missiles because they were concerned that russia would react negatively to the provision of-and-a-half ly jave ukraine. all other parts of the u.s. government involved in the javelin deal supported it. we're learning christopher anderson, a career foreign officer testified the president's special envoy to ukraine believed rudy giuliani was an obstacle to improving relations and putting pressure on russia. there's a third testimony that we're seeing tonight for first

time from top pentagon official laura cooper. the deputy assistant secretary of defense telling lawmakers about a meeting back in july where officials raised concerns about whether it was illegal for trump to withhold crucial military aid for ukraine in exchange for dirt on joe biden. cooper saying immediately deputies began to raise concerns about how this could be done in a legal fashion. that's a quote from the testimony. what is president trump saying about the three transcripts. he tweeted that adam schiff is fabricating the transcripts. republicans have been in the hearing and not one republican has come forward to say that democrats have lied and doctored the transcripts. it's an absurd claim. this is all unfolding as trump is about to face the biggest threat. in less than 48 hours democrats will take their case for impeachment public. holding the first with bill taylor. remember it was taylor who laid

out the evidence of a quid pro quo. testimony that for some republicans was a game changer. i mentioned if tweets but how is the president feeling with the public hearings looming? >> reporter: the president has spent most day indoors inside trump tower ever since he gave the remarks earlier today. tonight he is lashing out repeating the claim he believes democrats are putting out doctored transcripts even though no republicans who were many the room for those closed door testimonies have disputed the accuracy of them. the president is seeming to let the deadline slip on when he's going to release the transcript of his first call with the ukrainian president. something he told me on saturday he would be doing tomorrow. now he said it will happen some time this week. that's coming as something really notable is happening with his chief of staff who was attempting to join this lawsuit filed by the former deputy national security adviser who is

asking the courts to decide if he has to listen to house democrats or the white house when it cops to testifying on capitol hill. he didn't want mulvaney to be on the lawsuit. he didn't think they had the same reasons given he was a national security official who is no longer in the administration and mick mulvaney isn't a security official who still works in the white house. tonight we're learning that mick mulvaney plans to file his own lawsuit asking the courts to decide whether or not he had to respond to thesubpoena. he still works for president trump but also because of the role he played in white house letter. telling white house officials no t to comply and giving them protection not to. now mick mulvaney wants to leave that decision for him in the court's hands. >> thank you very much.

congressman, a lot to talk about. i to start with this new information that we're getting from transcripts. cooper testified there was concern withholding aid from ukraine was not even legal. do you believe from everything you've seen from being in the room and seeing the transcripts that president trump's administration was indeed breaking the law? >> we're going to have to mull the that over. i believe the president broke the law in extorting the president of another country by with holding the military aid. i believe congress wanted this military aid to go to ukraine, the president ignoring it, dus pending it is in a very questionable area.

>> she testified that mulvaney was concerned that russia would react negatively to the provisions of javelin missiles. is there any situation this would have been true. they would have with held this that they were concerned about russia's reaction that makes sense to you? >> no. it's a repugnant thought. the javelin missiles are very effective anti-tank weapons. they have tanks and other military equipment in active combat in the eastern part of ukraine.

the acting chief of staff to be concerned about the russian reaction as oppose to the need of ukraines government is a very warped sense of values and hard thing to contemplate that somebody would put russia's concern ahead of those ally ukraine. >> he's now out and will file his own lawsuit to let a judge decide whether he needs to northern your subpoena. >> y you all made et clear you don't need his testimony. are you going to wait for the court to decide on this or not? >> no. some of the subpoenas were withdrawn so we're not held up in litigation in the courts that take way too much time. we need to address this and

address this in real human time frames. i will say the craziness continues. for the president to assert based on nothing, the transcripts were doctored and don't really reflect the deposition of the witnesses we heard from and those transcripts are reviewed by those witnesses and their attorneys before they are released for accuracy but secondly to have the chief of staff of the president suing his own white house to get a decision about whether or not he's required to respond to congressional demand for testimony or the white house directive really brings us into all new territory in terms of craziness. >> he says there's no daylight between him and the president and that's just a technicality. this whole sues the white house, don't read anything into it because it is odd.

it's hard the explain. you're saying you don't need his testimony any way. this doesn't make any sense to you either? >> no. it sounds like it's dawned on mick mulvaney that he may be the fall guy for the president. >> so you think it's protection? he's working on protecting himself? >> i thinks the dawned on him he need protection and his own attorney has advised him as such. >> we do understand from all the testimony we hear, it keeps even when we read the transcripts that there was orders for a quid pro quo would come from the office of management budget. do you have any concern that you need him to show that the president of the united states issued this order for a quid pro quo when it came to military aid and an investigation into joe biden? >> obviously it would be helpful if he was going to testify and

wanted to come before us but i don't think we need it. that's the transcript of the call of july 25th between the president of the united states and the newly elected president of ukraine. before duo thwe do that, i have favor to ask though. that word though establishes a quid pro quo or the extortion shake down. i think that's prima facie evidence of the president's clear involvement on abuse of power and conspiracy to commit a crime. >> thank you very much congressman. i appreciate your time. >> my pleasure. next, trump's former u.n. ambassador with shocking claims of back stabbing in his

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anderson answers to the best of my recollection he made a joke about every time ukraine is mentioned, giuliani pops up and the president was listening to giuliani about ukraine. elliot, let me start with you. we have this new testimony coming in from christopher anderson yet again and very clearly he's testifying that giuliani is key when it comes to trump and his policy toward ukraine. all of these witnesses have spoken about this crucial role of rudy giuliani. they can't all be wrong, right? >> they can't all be wrong. let's be clear, president trump deputizing rudy giuliani isn't unlawful but it's problematic. it highlights the fact that the president was going outside the normal bounds, the normal

diplomatic channels and allowing himself to self-deal. any evidence to suggest he was dealing wekt dri through ukraine is it support ifr of the notion that the president simply was not behaving properly. again, while the testimony it today isn't it what's going to impeach the president of the yiet, it's all supportive of the broader them they are looking at here. >> gloria, the new york times is reporting one of rudy giuliani indicted associates admits there was a quid pro quo. his lawyer said giuliani had parnas deliver an ultimatum or no military aid and no mike pence at zelensky's inauguration. is it possible that rudy giuliani's elevated role and seeming to call the shots in so many of these transcripts helps

trump? it was all giuliani, it wasn't me. >> people will blame rudy giuliani and they will say that parnas is lying, number one. they're going to blame rudy, sure. he's an easy fall guy but who is rudy talking to? we know that rudy wads talking to the president. we no from the summary of the phone call the president said to the president zelensky, talk to rudy giuliani he's a great guy and we know that rudy giuliani was feeding these conspiracy knee r theories with the president and everybody else. maybe one day the president will realize that rudy was doing it for his own self-interest in terms of lining his own pockets and when the president realizes that he may get upset and he may throw him under the bus but we're not there yet.

>> this comes as you've got this role of what was rudy giuliani but also we're learning from kathryn kroft saying that mick mulvaney put that hold on javelin missiles going to ukraine which the governments supported because mull vaney wa concerned that russia would act negatively. greg, is there any situation in which that would be the out come that makes sense. >> does it make sense? it doesn't make sense at all. we have a foreign policy with respect to ukraine of helping russia but the president seems to have a different agenda.

the president in this unholy deal with giuliani and others withholding it for no national security purpose and without telling congress. this whole thing is beginning to remind me of the rod blagojevich situation. if you remember back to illinois a few years ago when the governor blagojevich referred to his ability to appoint a successor to senator obama as ' f'ing golden. he knew he had something that was worth something and he could get something in return. i can see giuliani saying to the president we have something f'ing golden here. let's not give them the aid unless we get something in return. >> elliot, to be clear, rod blagojevich went to prison. >> yeah, he did. >> here is the question. president trump is tweeting

tonight, he is trying to come back and go back on the offense as transcripts are coming out. he tweets in order to continue being the most transparent president in history, i will be releasing this week the transcript of the first and most important phone call i had with ukraine. i'm sure you tannalizi tannalizing. okay. he's going the try these moves. is there any chance this sort of thing works? >> he's getting us ready for the big reveal. he knows what's in the first phone call. maybe it was much more benign than in the second phone call. i'm asisuming it is or he wouldn't be throwing it out there. he wants to wait until you're many the middle of hearings and divert from the diplomats who are testifying otherwise about what was going on at the state department or not going on at the state department.

he thinks it will be great to throw it in there in the middle of the hearings like some kind of grenade. >> all right. thank you very much. next, another democrat reportedly now thinking about jump sboog the raing into the r white house. will another candidate help or hurt the party's bid to defeat donald trump? i'll be talking to joe biden as a new poll as the race tightening among the top democratic contenders. this holiday season

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mplgt a new poll showing a tightening race. elizabeth warren, bernie sanders and pete buttigieg are tied for second. this comes as biden is escalating his attack on warren. he called her elitist as warren claims biden was run ng the wrong primary for not supporting medicare for all. >> if you don't agree with elizabeth warren, you must somehow be not a democrat. you must somehow be corrupt. you must not be as smart as she is. >> you think vice president biden describing you as angry if you were a man? >> why don't you ask him that. >> out front our political director. use radio for iowa and mark

preston. >> warren took that on. she's not afraid of fighting and conflict. >> she has been carefully orchestrating her campaign to not respond to these daily tiffs and in the to and fro of the campaign. she said i'm tired of this calling women angry eluding to another word that the vice president used last week. i think we're in a new phase in this battle between warren and biden specifically where over the last week to ten days we have seen them ratchet up and not be afraid to really much more sharply draw the contrast with each other. it's a new phase in their relationship on the trail.

>> does it work for voters? >> i think it's a difficult line to cross because you have a lot of warren supporters who were hillary clinton supporters last time around. they are still chaffing from the idea the country didn't elect a female president. for him to go after warren and draw these comparisons is really upsetting to many of them. some of the women in clinton vents were upset because they didn't get promoted and they wanted to see a woman promoted. this is a really unusual strategy because i don't think the warren supporters or people who are thinking about warren are the voters in iowa that he needs to build a coalition to put himself at the top of the ticket. >> biden is now responding. when she came out and sent that e-mail and calling me angry and

that's a thing people do to demean women. dana bash asked him whether that language was sexist. here is what he said to dana. >> it's not anything that i did or was intended to do. it had nothing to do with that. et had to do with the fact she said biden is running in the wrong primary because i disagree with her medicare for all proposal that cost trillions of dollars to pay for. >> latest national poll, again national, biden is tied with warren among women. statistically tied. she's making a bet that she can change that by calling out his rhetoric. >> a couple of things. as david said, we're in this new phase of the campaign. people will be fairly nice to each other but as you get closer the iowa, new hampshire, they will have to take their gloves off. they have to show their a fiey'

fighter. biden is in difficult situation because we're still many this era of the me too movement where no matter what you say can be sb interpreted a certain way. joe biden is right he was attacked first. >> i fight back and you're going to say, that i'm doing it -- >> what did i do wrong? i don't understand. >> david, now, again, i mention the national poll. let's get back to states. joe biden is slightly ahead but it's really a four way race. >> sit a four way race. two of those people, sanders and warren live right next door on either side of new hampshire.

joe biden is holding onto a narrow lead. this will be very welcome nudes. for the snapshot in time after he has taken so many hits about his performance on the trail or under attack from the president on the ukraine issue, he is showing resiliency. i think this poll points to that. >> as we're getting ready to speak to joe biden here, you have michael bloomberg in recent days and now tonight duval patrick considering running for president. the new york times is saying the same reason as michael bloomberg. he doesn't think anybody can defeat donald trump. what's the reaction to that here in iowa when you have 84 days till the iowa caucuses and bloomberg wouldn't be playing in that. >> they want fewer candidates. they don't want more. number two, they don't know who d duval patrick is. they do know who michael

bloomberg is. what you hear from the grass roots especially the warren and sanders wing. sanders has been unloading on the billionaire class. >> right. mark, what does this say about the state of the democratic primary? michael bloomberg has been itching to get in for month pps he -- months. here we are. two people saying i don't think they got it. i'm getting in. >> democrats are always nervous about their nominee. when they are zeroing in on somebody, that person could fall. go back to howard dean. we thought howard dean was going to roll into iowa and win iowa. we all remember the scream and his campaign collapsed and john kerry came out of nowhere. there's such a battle within the democratic party within the real liberal forces, the aocs out here with bernie sanders and in

the middle they can't seem to get together as one to try to defeat donald trump. >> that's just the key. the party is so hungry for a trump defeater. all above all else they want the dragon slayer. when you see these folks weighing publicly of getting in so late, it is this hand wringing that the dragon slayer, the real trump defeater is not there. >> thank you all very much. coming up in a bit more than an hour i'll be speaking to joe biden live from iowa. we're in the room. that will be the stage. our audience is filling up and that is coming up with the presidential town hall at 9:00 right here on cnn. next, can a presidential candidate succeed without running here in iowa in that's michael bloomberg's most unconventional strategy and elizabeth warren not backing down on taking on america's

billionaires. >> so sad. so sad that they might have to pay two cents out of their bazillion dollars. >> one of those billionaires warren is talking about is outfront, next to respond. i'm happy to give you the tour, i love doing it.

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tonight is it possible to win the white house without competing in iowa first? jessica dean is outfront. >> reporter: if michael bloomberg decides to run for president in 2020. >> good evening. >> reporter: his road to the democratic nomination will not go through iowa. an adviser to the former new york city mayor says bloomberg will employ a strategy that's never been successful in history of modern presidential politics. skip the early states in favor of focusing on super tuesday states and beyond. athur sanders has studied politics for decades and believer bloomberg has misread the political landscapes. >> candidates since jimmy carter have understood that if you don't get into those early states and start developing momentum and getting the stories that you need, you're in

trouble. >> reporter: the ie wowa voters says the decision to skip the hawk eye state sends a message. >> it says he doesn't care about the problems that affect more than just iowans. >> reporter: democratic candidate julian castro is questioning their status as first in nation contests. >> demographically it's not reflective of the yiet united s add a whole. i believe other states should have their chance. >> reporter: since 1972 iowa held the first democratic nominating contest. troy price is the chairman of the iowa democratic party and he says iowans take their role in the process seriously. >> they will challenge anyone who make comments like that to come to our veevents. they ask the questions on the

minds of americans. >> do iowa democrats want more people? i understand the strategy you're talking about about bloomberg but bloomberg and now duval patrick. fox news says 69% of democrats are happy with the field. wall street journal poll said 85% are happy. that's the data. if you talk to people as we go around iowa, a lot of them come out and say i wish we would get the field down so we can get to know them. >> going in the wrong direction? >> that's ha what we hear on th trail. >> thank you. next, one of the nation's top businessmen slamming e his be warren saying she is grossly underinformed or warping the facts for her own political gain. president trump's complicated relationship with the u.s. military. >> you are america's greatest living heroes. >> i know more about isis than

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if you don't get there in time. it will be a massacre. we will lose two battalions. your brother among them. mplgt tonight taking on the billionaire, senator elizabeth warren mocking billionaire who is say she's vilifying them with her plan for a wealth tax. >> maybe you've heard there's some billionaires who don't like this. yes, they've been interviewed on tv i've note e noted lately. so sad. so sad that they might have to pay two cents out of their bazillion dollars. here's the thing. they say i've worked hard not unlike anyone else.

>> warren's comments just hours after jamie dimond doubled down on his defense of the wealthy. >> we shouldn't vilify people that worked hard to accomplish things. >> now one of the billionaires warren is talking about is leon cooperman. he sent an open letter to senator warren criticizing her economic proposals and laying out his opposition in detail. it's nice to have you on the program. senator warren, i wanted to give you chance, today she came out clear tlak aboly talking about perhaps mr. dimond. so sad they might have to pay two cents out of their bazillion dollars. here's the thing they have to work hard. >> that's not the point. i think she's a politician in the worse sense of the word. what i mean by that is more poor

people than rich people so she's trying to appeal to the larger group. the reality is what is the purpose of vilifying successful people that have done well for society. i don't get it. she can say that wealthy people should pay more in tackxes. i agree with that. i believe in the progressive income tax structure. i believe rich people should pay more. we have to colease around the nation what should the maximum tax be on woealthy people. why she criticizes wealthy is for political gain. he's a friend so i know his story. bernie marcus was terminated during the holiday season along with his partner and basically had three children, a large mortgage, no income, very, very depressed and he called up his friend and complained about the situation and he said what are you complaining about.

you have a vision of this super hardware store. i'll raise you money and we'll start a company. i think ken raised $2 million. $50,000 from 40 people that had average hee average means. today the company has $250 billion. they employ 400,000 people and 3,000 employees become millionaires in their stocks. he's giving away millions of dollars to charities. why don't we say we have problems in the country and have to deal with those problems. >> you're saying you agree that the wealthy should pay more. are you saying you agree in the progressive tax system or in practice now. >> i totally agree. they should be paying more and they are paying more. if they want to raise the taxes on the wealthy that's fine. i have no problem with that. the wealth tax is a stillborn idea.

it's been tried in 14 countries. ten of which dropped it. it's a nightmare to keep droppe. the irs is promising us simplicity in the tax code. this would be an impossible thing to supervise. at the end of every year are you going to calculate your net worth and hide a percentage of the net worth. what happens if you have a wealthy family whose wealth is caught up in a farm? let's decide. take the 37% tax rate and raise it. get rid of the loopholes. seven years ago they carried interest for hedge funds and private equity. >> right. when she -- >> it's 2% of wealth. >> right. but when she says that it's only 50 million, you're saying you don't have a problem with the concept. right, i understand your point. you're saying it's targeting a specific group. >> i would say the most

intelligent people -- >> when you say closing loopholes you are telling -- i'm sorry, we have a bit of a delay. >> listen, let me explain to you. no, i disagree with the concept of the wealth tax. i agree with the progressive income tax structure. i believe rich people should pay more but there are other ways of going about it. the federal tax rate is 37%. raise it. i have no problem with that. get rid of section 1031 which allows the real estate guys to defer forever the capital gains on their real estate holdings. get rid of the carried interest that gives hedge funds and private equity funds a tax break. do something with capital gains. i have no problem paying more. i have to tell you, erin, you're talking to a guy who tends to give it all away. we're talking about a matter of principle. i took the giving prej ten years ago with warren buffet. he will say this. when i took the giving pledge, if you're talking to wealthy

people asking them for half isn't asking them for enough. i told him, i intend to give all of my money away. i'm not crying over my personal income tax liability. i'm distressed over the dialogue. why villain niez wealthy people. bill gates has done a lot for society. jeff bezos has done a lot for society. they should be complimented, not criticized. the wealth tax makes no sense. take the 37% tax rate and raise it. >> let me ask you. you were very emotional in a recent interview you gave talking about this issue. >> i was emotional because i was talking about family. no, no, no, no, no. you don't get it. excuse me. i apologize. i get emotional when i talk about my family. i don't want to go down that path. something to do with my family and i got emotional. you can play it, make a fool out of me. >> i'll play it so people understand exactly what happened and then give you a chance to

explain. >> people can not only see the emotion on your face but hear it in your voice when you talk about this, lee. why? >> i care. that's it. that's a good answer. i care. you know, i'm an emotional patriot. i think the country is going down the wrong path. 25 years ago i was honored by an organization and jack kemp was the guest speaker. jack kemp said in america people don't hate the wealthy, they want to become them. we're just hanging in a wrong path. i don't know of any wealthy person, billionaire or otherwise, who is not prepared to pay more if it helps the system. my problem is on two scores, two levels. number one, a dialogue isvillely fieg people it should not vilify

and that's pandering to the masses. i need a politician that rises above that. number two, our economic ideas are junk and i have spoken to nobel laureates and people that have much greater economic sophistication than me. they say the ideas don't work. the costs are off the chart. we have a tax system in place. if you're not happy with the 37% tax rate of wealthy people, raise it. get rid of 1031. raise the capital gains tax rate. get rid of carried interest. there are so many other things you could be doing rather than going down this path of a nightmare. let me ask you a question if i may since you're full of questions. i know you went to williams, i believe, it was, a very hard working student. i know you work very hard. i watch your program periodically. now many months of the year do you want to work for the government and how many months of the year for yourself? that's a question for you. i'm willing to work six months for the government and six months for myself.

50% tax rate. >> you did. you said you were proud to do that. which i thought was a significant thing. >> yes. >> and is important for people to realize. lee, it's good to talk to you and i appreciate your time. >> my pleasure. >> we're going to take a brief break. when we come back, on this veterans' day, president trump's love/hate relationship with the military. ♪ hi honey, we got in early. yeah, and we brought steve and mark.

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call, click, or visit a store today. trump's relationship with the military is complicated, and on this veteran's day his statements remain a sore spot for some. barbara starr is out front. >> those who threaten our people

don't stand a chance against the rit chus might of the american military. >> reporter: president trump sticking to prepared remarks on veterans' day. >> you are america's greatest living heroes. >> reporter: when he appears before troops, he's cheered. >> we have the most divisive president in my lifetime. by showing up he is polite sizing it. >> reporter: the president did salute families of the fallen. >> to every gold star family, we will stand by your side forever. >> reporter: in 2016 trump attacked the gold star parents of an army captain killed in iraq in 2004. >> his wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. she had nothing to say. she probably -- maybe she wasn't allowed to have something to say. >> reporter: she couldn't speak. she was still overcome with grief at her son's death.

impeachment signs in the window with the military present even as the pentagon has tried to stay out of the impeachment inquiry, but there is growing uncease about what is seen as the president's impulse of national security decisions. >> i know more about isis than the generals do, believe me. i would bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. >> reporter: but with isis largely defeated, the president is going a step further. >> but we are leaving soldiers to secure the oil. now we may have to fight for the oil. >> reporter: the pentagon has identified russia as a major challenge to national security, but trump now considering vladimir putin's invitation to stand in moscow's red square for the next mayday parade of russian military might. >> i was invited. i am thinking about it. it's right in the middle of our campaign season but i am thinking -- i would certainly think about it. >> reporter: cnn has learned that at least two senior

military officers were reluctant to appear alongside the president at public events because they were worried he would make political partisan remarks. erin? >> all right, barbara. thank you very much. thanks to all of you for joining us. i'll see you back here at 9:00 for our presidential town hall with joe biden. ac 360 starts right now. good evening. today began what may be the most daunting week in the history of the trump administration. facing public testimony by officials from the state department, the president orchestrated the shakedown of another country for political gain. on wednesday they will open the doors to the public to what has until this moment been a closed door process. president trump has repeatedly demanded transparency in the house impeachment inquiry. this week he is getting his wish though he certainly doesn't see it that way. this week three witnesses who have worked intimately with ukraine policy will testify. behind closed doors they've already testified to