hello. thank you for joining us. this is live coverage of the public impeachment hearings. >> we're so glad you're with us. week one of testimony is in the books and the revelations pretty significant. we'll spend the next hour combing through what we have learned this week.

as the exambassador to the ukraine ended her testimony, another major development was unfolding. >> the opening statement of a person who overheard a public conversation in which president trump asked about ukraine launching investigations. he said an ambassador told him the president didn't give an expletive about ukraine. he was all about investigating the bidens. cnn correspondent phil mattingley tells us more about what we heard on the hearing that went late into the evening. >> it was detail in the various places, it was damning for president trump and it was exactly what democrats have been looking for in their impeachment inquiry. david holmes laying out what ambassador william taylor first exposed on wednesday of this week in his own testimony. noting that a staffer had overheard in a meeting president trump on the phone talking explicitly about investigations.

it turns out what taylor testified was not just backed up. it was backed up with explicit detail. david holmes in a nearly six-hour deposition with lawmakers saying in his opening statement which we obtained by cnn, at one point i then heard president trump ask, so he'll do the investigation. ambassador sondland replied, he is going to do it. he will do anything you ask him to. profane as he recalled some of the interactions going through the specifics of a meeting that he had over a meal with ambassador sondland where sondland talked about a meeting he just had with the ukraine president. it goes further than just that meeting that has become a central part of the inquiry. it details about the decision to withhold u.s. security including at some point saying that ambassador john bolton thought it was being held until zelensky could prove to president trump

that he was willing to work with president trump. also talking about several elements about ambassador gordon sondland who will be testifying next week in his role through all of this. and another important point. the fact giuliani jl was continuously a factor in all the things going on behind the scenes, something we also heard today from marie yovanovitch, the former ukraine ambassador. one thing that stands out. this has not been pointed out, probably because most don't have the opening statement. one piece of this is key. in his testimony, in his opening statement, holmes makes cheer the reason he called ambassador william taylor and informed him of this meeting, of the details that are now spilling out into the public, he was paying attention to the impeachment inquiry and he saw that people were saying all the information was hearsay. a key argument. he realized he had first person information and he decided to bring it to congress. guys? >> phil mattingly, thanks.

a very important point. in the witness chair for the televised hearing as well, the former ambassador to the ukraine who was fired earlier this year by president trump. she told investigators she was, quote, shocked and devastated. the president attacked her during his call with ukraine's president. alex marquart has more on the chilling effect on the firing effect across the board. >> our ukraine policy has been thrown into disarray. and shady interests, the world over, have learned how little it takes to remove an american ambassador who does not give them what they want. >> a blistering opening statement highlighting her often dangerous decades of service as she took aim at the smear campaign to oust her from her post. >> there is a question as to why the kind of campaign to get me out of ukraine happened. because all the president has to do is say he wants a different

ambassador. in my line of work, perhaps in yours as well, all we have is our reputation. so this has been a very painful period. >> the president has criticized her repeatedly including the july 25th call with president zelensky calling her bad news and saying she would go through some things. >> i was shocked and devastated that i would feature in a phone call between two heads of state in such a manner where president trump said that i was bad news to another world leader. and that i would be going through some things. so i was, it was a terrible moment. >> terrible and threatening. >> sounded like a threat. >> did you feel threatened? >> i did. >> yovanovitch quickly called out rudy giuliani, the

president's personal lawyer for leading the smear campaign against her. >> i do not understand mr. giuliani's motives for attacking me nor can i offer an opinion about it. >> republicans didn't defend giuliani's role or his parallel policy in ukraine. >> i'm not sure what the ambassador is doing here today. this is the house intelligence committee that has now turned into the house impeachment committee. >> they argued that the president has the right to recall any ambassador he likes. yovanovitch said the way she was attacked with no defense from her bosses, and then suddenly pulled out has created a chilling effect. >> not only an embassy caved but throughout the state department. people don't know kind of whether their efforts to pursue our stated policy are going to be supported. and that is a dangerous place to

be. >> what was clear in this hearing was how profoundly disturbing this was for yovanovitch. a these-year career coming to a crashing halt after she had been asked to extend her tenure in kiev. to be yanked out of her post by a 1:00 a.m. phone call and told to get on the next plane home shelf used those words, shocked, appalled, devastated. then when she read the transcript of the call when the president said she would go through some things. she said the color the drained from her face and she had a physical reaction. so no doubt she thinks there is a chilling effect of the. >> thank you very, very much for that. as the ousted ambassador detailed that campaign waged against her, she endured another attack in real-time. this one from the president's twitter feed today. he wrote, quote, everywhere marie yovanovitch turned bad.

>> basically saying she is responsible for somalia. adam schiff read that tweet live during the hearing and the president was asked about his intention with that tweet. >> i have the right to speak. i have freedom of speech just as other people do. >> with your freedom, were you trying to intimidate ambassador yovanovitch? >> i just want to have a total, i want freedom of speech. that is a political process. the republicans have been treated very badly. >> were you doing it to be intimidating? >> i don't think so at all. >> by no means the president has at least been accused of trying to intimidate witnesses or influence testimony. brian todd has a look back. >> jim and poppy, donald trump during his term in office does have a history of weighing in publicly on witnesses and others who have testified against his interests or have otherwise given information detrimental to him to investigators. friday's is the latest example.

in the middle of marie yovanovitch's testimony, this tweet from the president starting with everywhere marie yovanovitch turned bad. then he criticized the record in somalia and ukraine. democrats now accuse the president of witness intimidation. yovanovitch calling the tweet very intimidating. trump denied that. the white house saying he was simply expressing his opinion. the president saying he has the right to speak. just about three weeks ago, another example. trump disparaged a witness in this same inquiry. the day after diplomat bill taylor testified behind closed doors on the ukraine scandal, trump tweet that taylor was a never trumper and then immediately called all never trumpers human scum. taylor, a kree public servant and bronze star recipient has denied being political. trump has also demand that had the whistleblower's identity be revealed. in late accept the president talked openly about going after the whistleblower's sources.

that came in a private talk with diplomats which someone recorded and gave to the "l.a. times." >> who is the person who gave the whistleblower the information? that's close to a spy. do you know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, right? with spies. we used to handle it a little differently than we do now. >> the president has also been openly accused of threatening a witness. his former attorney michael cohenier this year, cohen postponed his testimony in the house. his lawyer lanny davis that that was due to ongoing threats against his family from trump. in tv interviews, trump talked about alleged wrongdoing by his wife and father-in-law. he warned that they would be exposed. a trump tweet in january saying of cohen, lying to reduce his jail time. watch father-in-law. he denied any wrongdoing by his wife and father-in-law. trump himself denied threatening cohen saying cohen was only

threatened by the truthful but trump has denigrated a public witness who was not in the public domain. who was very uncomfortable in spotlight. that was christine blasi ford who accused brett kavanaugh of assaulting her in high school which kavanaugh denied. at a rally trump mocked her testimony. specifically her memory of the alleged assault. >> how did you get home? i don't remember. where is the place, i don't remember, how many years ago, i don't know. i don't know. >> trump repeatedly says he has a right to confront his accusers and challenge his critics. the president's critics say it is public remarks like that from donald trump which could make other potential witnesses in politically charged cases shy away from coming forward. >> wow! pretty remarkable to see all of that. >> look at the pattern. look at the pattern. >> so will witness intimidation become part of a potential

article of impeachment? how does the president's behavior impact abroad? we'll have that with the former chief of russia and ukraine operations at the cia. >> also ahead. you'll want to see this. new reporting tonight that one of rudolph giuliani's associates claim he was on a, quote, secret mission for president trump and he is just one of many ukrainians tied up in all of this. we will break down the key players and who they are as you watch our special live coverage of the impeachment hearings this week. it continues, next. powerful 5g experience for america. that's why the nfl chose verizon. because they need the massive capacity of 5g with ultra wideband, so more screaming, streaming, posting fans... can experience 5g all at once. this is happening in 13 stadiums all across the country. now if verizon 5g can do this for the nfl... imagine what it can do for you.

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one of the biggest developments where david holmes testified about overhearing himself a key phone call between the ambassador to the eu, gordon sondland, and president trump. >> that call happened during a very, very busy week for the president back in july of here's a time line and an important reminder for you. on july 24th, the special

counsel robert mueller testified to congress about 2016 election interference. the next day, president trump talked by phone with ukrainian president zelensky and pushed him to investigate the bidens. >> on july 26, gordon sondland follows up with the president speaking to him directly assuring him that zelensky will do anything you ask him to do. and he used some choice language to drive that point home. joining us, senior political analyst and editor at the atlantic. the cia chief of russia and ukraine operations, and political congressional reporter melanie. thank you all. good morning. it was a very consequential week. i wonder if you would agree that as moving as yovanovitch's testimony was, to this probe and the central question in the

impeachment inquiry, i wonder if you think what happened behind closed doors that we did not see with our eyes but have read the opening statement of david holmes was even more crucial? >> it may have been of i think the hearsay argument collapses almost on contact in the sense that it requires you to believe that sondland and giuliani and volker were cooking this up on their own and somehow it was without the knowledge or complicity of the president. certainly putting his words directly into this story is powerful. and important. and it is also raising the stakes for baas sondland's testimony next week. it is one of those exquisite accidents of history that this information which he has not provided to the committee comes on the same day that rocker stone is sent to princess for lying to congress. he faces some very difficult

decisions. consequential decisions for himself and the country over the next few days. >> no question. your experience in russia. i want to read a section from holmes' sworn testimony. his opening statement which gets at the big picture issue. the president putting his own political considerations above national security interests regarding russia and ukraine of let's read this section. in march i asked ambassador sondland if it was true that the president did not give a shit about ukraine. ambassador sondland agreed that the president did not give a shit about ukraine. ambassador sondland said he only cares about big stuff. i noted that there was big stuff like a war with russia. and ambassador sondland replied, he men big stuff like the biden investigation that mr. jue was pushing. that's a big deal. is it not? ukraine is an ally at war with russia? we were trying to help themselves defend against the russian invasion.

here you have the ambassador to the e.u. saying the president doesn't care about any of that. he just cares about getting ukraine to investigate joe biden. >> yeah. certainly ukraine is a very important streeng partner for the united states. it is a front line state. it has the russian bear breathing down its neck and it has been invaded. it is at war with russia and russia annexed it. the only way it can stand up against russia is with the united states' help. the whoa idea of quid pro quo is a little silly because, you know, i was in ukraine back in the protests and it was quite clear that the government knew for a long time that if there was any chance of having a democracy, a real democracy in ukraine, despite all the corruption, and to be free of russia, they needed a big partner to help them. that was the united states.

and that's really the way it will be for the foreseeable future for ukraine of the it is very important to the united states' national interests because of the russia angle. so it can be complicated for people who aren't familiar with that area of the world. as you saw ambassador yovanovitch today, that's the acknowledgement that it is really critical in pushing u.s. national interests forward. as opposed to donald trump's personal interests. >> a david versus goliath. you have this little country trying to defend itself against russia of the. >> exactly. up until 3:00 in the afternoon eastern time today, melanie, the republicans' argument that look, you don't have people with firsthand knowledge of the president ordering these investigations testifying. you just don't have that. right. but that changed. if i could just read part of what he said. tuesday morning, this guy could

have been at starbucks no idea that bill taylor would talk about this conversation he heard. and he would be brought in to testify under oath on friday. all of that changed in three and a half days. here's what he said. i came to realize that i had firsthand know regarding certain events on july 26 that have now been report. how significant is it that it is now gone? >> a huge problem. the entire strategy has really relied on the idea that all the witnesses are hearing it secondha secondhand. now you have someone who did hear directly from trump's own mouth that there was this intense interest in these investigations. what we've rae, that it has crumbled under the weight of all this evidence. part of the problem is that republicans don't know what is around the corner. this week they fell like they had a solid defense when it came to arguing all this is hearsay.

now here's a witness who can provide a firsthand account. gordon sondland is a firsthand account as well. so the republicans have to decide, are they going to try to shift gears, to throw some of these folks under the bus? i think a lot of them were surprised by what came out last week. >> so help us set up. he was on the call. he's describing based on david holmes' testimony exactly what is the essence of it against the president. damn of u.s. national security interests in ukraine with regard to russia of get me a biden investigation. >> this is now his third bite at the apple. he went in and testified. clearly misled congress in that testimony. he came back.

amended his answers. now he's back a third time. he of course is the e.u. it looks like he is there because he was willing to do a dirty job f. >> conversely if he does testify on wednesday, how questionable is his credibility? how much weight and emphasis can democrats then put on what he says? >> well, long. mr. holmes says they are confirming witnesses to what he heard at the lunch. and there are some reports that they are willing to come forward. as in, i think the other argument is kind of absurd on its face. we say that ambassador taylor is a hearsay witness. he heard directly from ambassador sondland that what they wanted ukraine to do in order to get anything.

the military aid and the visit. to believe the president was involved is to say they did it on their own. to me, the two big things is the magnitude is. this is not a one off cash of the. the mechanism they chose to do this ultimately advanced vladimir putin's interests in ukraine of a lot of ways they could have put pressure on ukraine. they did it in a way that weakened their ability to defend themselves against russia. and that is not inconsequential as all the witnesses this week have underscored what this men. not only for the integrity of the election but our interests in ukraine. >> no question. i'm going to get to you on that. all roads lead to putin. stay with us.

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for her, for you, for the whole family. new vicks vapopatch. breathe easy. what are you doing back there, junior? since we're obviously lost, i'm rescheduling my xfinity customer service appointment.

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intimidation which could end up in an particle of impeachment. and even some republicans went out of their way to praise yovanovitch for her public service, knowing the president was watching. look at this. >> we are lucky to have you in foreign service and i again want to thank you for your tremendous public serve. >> i hope whatever you decide to do after your georgetown fellowship, that you'll be as successful as you've been in the first 33 years. >> you're tough as nails, smart as hell. you're a great example of what our ambassadors should be like. >> all right. our experts are back with us. the president attacking her, jennifer rogers, to you. witness intimidation like many democrats were saying. let's just, on that note, let's listen to nancy pelosi talking about this on cbs. here she is. >> the white house said it was just his opinion. he was not trying to intimidate.

what do you think? >> the president and perhaps some at the white house have to know that the words of the president weigh a ton. they are very significant and he should not frivolously throw out insults. >> i think everyone can agree he should not do that. republicans have a problem with him doing it. but legally speaking, is there a case for witness intimidation here? >> so legally i would not expect that anyone would bring a criminal case even if we were in a world where that could happen. you have to prove the intend to actually dissuade someone from testifying or intimidate them. and that's hard to do. she's already there testifying. is he gearing it toward other witnesses? maybe. i don't know if it is legally something a prosecutor would charge. you would have to prove that intend. it is unquestionably inappropriate and an abuse of his platform and his power. and impeachment doesn't rely upon legal crimes. it relies upon the abuse of

power. >> so one cheer result of the testimony to see ambassador yovanovitch there was how u.s. policy toward ukraine and russia was hijacked eed by really bs. listen to this exchange between daniel goldman and yovanovitch. >> what continues to amaze me is that they found americans willing to partner with them and working together, they apparently succeeded in original traiting the removal of a u.s. ambassador. how could our system fail like this? how is that it foreign corrupt interests can manipulate our government? >> now, are you familiar with these allegations of ukrainian interference in the 2016 election? >> i mean, this have been rumors

out there about things like that. but you know, there was nothing hard. at least nothing that i was aware of. >> nothing based in fact to support these allegations. >> yes. >> in fact, who was responsible for interfering and in the 2016 election? >> the u.s. tension community has concluded that it was russia. >> so conspiracy theorist hings u.s. policy there. i manning russia cheers that. >> you know, the dang, jim, that this entire incident at the hands of president trump is doing to u.s. foreign policy and specifically vis-a-vis russia is not just limited to right now. or even for as long as president trump is in office. it will be decades before this goes any further. so if you just start with russia, this sort of divisiveness that you're seeing

now in the u.s. government, in the policy and foreign policy community, all is in great favor to russia. you know, i remember a day when i was working in federal government that these conversations were all dealt with in family. you talked, okay, what is our plan going to be? maybe you would citizen side. at the end of the day, you would come up with policy. none of that came out. and when you deal with these things as publicly as you are, and especially with the president is denigrating his personal representatives like an ambassador. well, it is all very chaotic and it shows your hand. down the road, other countries will remember this. when we go to a country five, six years from now and say, look, it is in u.s. national interests to do this for us. not in a personal sense but for the united states, they're going to remember and say wait a minute. not too long ago you had a president who was pushing his own personal agenda.

how do we know that's not happening here? russia is saying, look. america is always saying that we're corrupt. i'm the one running this place. they're no better than we are. every day vladimir putin wakes up, it is a new present for donald trump and it's great for him. >> let's take a step back. all of this, the goal of the hearings are to get facts and truth. in part for the democrats, in large part, to persuade the american public. or more of the american public that this is a case to potentially impeach the president. so there were republicans from the beginning calling for point of order saying this was not enough. watch this. >> i know you had a few quick questions for the ambassador. yield to you. >> thank you, mr. noonez.

>> the gentle women will suspend. >> what is the interruption this time? since the chairman has gafed out a all of my colleagues, i'm going to read for the record many of the chairman's comments in september of this importance of hearing from the whistleblower. >> the witness was able to answer questions, as you saw. the only people limited from asking questions were republican members because we're muzzled by adam schiff. >> i mean the question we have is, is that true? >> well, they knew the rules going into this. the house approved the impeachment rules that said the ranking member and the chairman can only yield their time to staffers. so republicans knew this going into it but they want to bait into it. they thought they could make the argument that they were trying to shut down these republicans and it was part of a sham

process. when you take a step back, republicans did not have a hot to go. on they went out of their way to praise yovanovitch and praise her. they did not want to turn her into a marter and the republicans did not rebut the central claim that there was a mother is campaign against her reputation to oust her. that it actually helped russians. it elevated ukraine corruption and it undercut diplomats. so republicans were in a really difficult spot and it did not go very well for them. and democrats felt they did what they needed to do. >> they each had 45 minutes. that was part of the rules. the chairman did have the right as chairman to set some of those rules as well. thank you to all of you. we appreciate you joining us so

late or early in the evening. >> the only place you want to be on a friday night. we appreciate it. coming up next, the tangled web of crownian officials named. if you were wondering, who is that? who is that? we'll tell you who they all are, next. [airport pa]"all flights have been delayed." t-mobile makes the holidays easier... ...like this. because right now when you buy one of the latest samsung phones you get one free. on that. so you can post this... ...score this... ...be there like this... ...and share all of this... ...with that. so do this, on that, with us. now, buy a samsung galaxy s10 or note 10 and get one free.

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anyone who has been following the peemt proceedings closely likely, of course, knows the name marie yovanovitch, especially after today. she of course the ousted u.s. ambassador to ukraine. all of those other people who came up during her testimony. >> the beginning of the story is an every to get you out of the way. an effort by rudy giuliani and corrupt ukrainians. >> those are a few of the many names intertwined in this increasingly complicated story. it is important to know them. tell us how these people fit into the broader story here? >> let's start with the former ukrainian prosecutors. they met with rudy giuliani and

are part of the alleged smear campaign of yovanovitch. first, yuri lutsenko. he provided information to use against yovanovitch. he said that she gave him a do not prosecute list of people off limits to prosecute. he later walked back that claim. he also spoke with giuliani about opening an investigation into the 2016 election. and burisma. he was proceeded in his role by victor. he claim he was investigated in his job. giuliani used that to claim biden interfered to stop an investigation into his son. there is no evidence to support that claim. earlier this year shokin sought a visa to travel to the u.s. yovanovitch testified that it was denied because he was viewed

as corrupt. giuliani tried to overturn that decision. now the jue associates. giuliani did not work alone. he was assisted in ukraine efforts by lev parnas and igor fruman. prosecutors alleged they've been advocating for the remove of yovanovitch. they met with the former congressman pete sessions of texas who wrote in 2018 to secretary of state mike pompeo that yovanovitch had bad-mouthed the president. according to the indictment, they pledged to donate $20,000 to sessions' campaign. they have been working close when i giuliani cynic at least 2018 in his effort to dig up dirt on biden. at the same time they were pursuing information for giuliani, they were pitching a ukrainian natural gas company. one of giuliani's contacts in the administration was an aide to president zelensky. they met in august and bill

taylor testified that yermak expressed concerns. testimony showed that he was an intermediary to secure a mowing for the newly elected ukrainian president. he says once we have a date, we'll call for a press briefing where they plan to announce, quote, burmisa investigations. it was point to as the meeting for lenk. >> so she just laid out all of these key players. of course, also including lev parnas and igor fruman. in reporting by vicky ward, we've learned both the men had a meeting with the president and j rudolph giuliani last year at the hannukkah party where they described what was a secret mission to pressure the ukrainian government to pressure

vice president joe biden and his son hunter. >> days later we're told that he insinuated to people that he clearly believed he had been given a special assignment by the president. some sort of james bond mission. the white house did not respond to repeat requests for comment on. this reporting, steve hall is back with us now. first let's get to the role of these two men. they are now under criminal indictment. they've been charged and arrested as they were trying to heave the country on a one-way ticket. the washington dulles airport. the president entrusted these two now criminals, or alleged criminals, with a kind of mission separate from stated u.s. policy in ukraine. tell us the significance of that. the broader picture here. >> yeah. this is an example of essentially a shadow side of the diplomatic effort here with regard to ukraine. and perhaps not surprising, when

you're not dealing with seasoned professionals. proef diplomats. proef intelligence people who will tell you more about who it is that you're dealing with. things can go sideways quite badly which is what happened in this case. you have the tres amigos, rudolph giuliani, and these former soviet criminals. corrupt guys who are now in jail. the idea is we need to find somebody. i think this is happening with happening inside the trump administration. the president was saying we need to find somebody who would be willing to pursue my interests. biden and those types of theoretical corruption issues, as opposed to doing something for u.s. foreign policy, in the national interests. folks like ambassador yovanovitch and others would have pursued. it is more than like reply donald trump and his administration realized if they went to the professionals and said here's what i need you to do.

i need to you look into biden and people associated with him. that there would have been some pause. because these are professional diplomats who understand they work for the government. not an individual who wants to pursue political goals. >> one of the moments this morning that struck me the most in the yovanovitch opening statement is when she talked about the pointy end of the sphere. the power of diplomacy versus the power of actual military might, if you will. on the world stage. listen to this. >> the state department is a tool of foreign policy, often doesn't get the same kind of attention or even respect as the military might of the pentagon. but we are as they say, the pointy end of the spear. if we lose our edge, the u.s. will inevitably have to use other tools, even more than it does today. and those other tools are blunter, more expensive, and not

universally effective. >> she says if we lose our edge. but given the degradation of morale at the state department, what has happened to numerous diplomats on the world stage, questioned by the president in public, have they at least somewhat already lost >> yeah, poppy, i'm concerned we are losing that edge. i thought even more poignant in ambassador yovanovitch's comments was when she started referring to past heroes in the state department. folks like ambassador chris stevens. lost his life in benghazi and then referring back to the hostages that iran took decades ago. what you're seeing from people like masha yovanovitch who again i served with in moscow and know her and scores of her colleagues who are great people at the state department, i think why you're seeing people lining up to talk about things like this is because they realize that

donald trump is essentially stomping on ambassador stevens' grave to get across something that he wants to accomplish something that he personally wants as opposed to using the proud tradition of the state department for what it really is, which is to further the interests, the national security interests of the united states. and the dulling of that spear, i think, is beginning to happen. it's already happened, and i think it's going to last for a considerable time into the future. it's going to take some resharpening and it can't happen with donald trump in the white house. >> we've seen the president do that to other institutions of government as well. steve hall, thanks very much. this was, of course, just the beginning of the impeachment hear,s. at least eight more witnesses are scheduled to testify publicly next week. a look at what to expect. it's very important testimony coming up, when we come back. we. where we all want more energy. but with less carbon footprint. can we have both? at bp, we're working every day

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there's lots more to come. mark sandy, a government attorney expected to testify behind closed doors about why ukraine aid was withheld. he's got a view inside the white house. then public hearings begin again on tuesday. you'll see it all here live on cnn. thanks for joining us for our special live coverage. i'm poppy harlow. >> i'm jim sciutto. "cuomo prime time" starts after a quick break. and the filter captures 99% of dog and cat allergens. if it's not from irobot, it's not a roomba™. at bayer, we're more than we help farmers like john. by developing digital tools, so he can use less water to grow crops. at bayer, this is why we science. (danny)'s voice) of course you don'te because you didn't!? your job isn't doing hard work... ...it's making them do hard work... ...and getting paid for it.

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i'm chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." the first week of public impeachment brings major new evidence just today. tonight we have our best investigative and legal minds to test all the different angles that arose including a cnn exclusive that will be first here on prime time, new reporting on rudy giuliani's