pl. chris? >> thank you. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time live." there w we have power players and people in power here to take it all on so let's get after it. today left a mark in this impeachment inquiry. why? well, gordon sondland, the president's own hand-picked ambassador, implicated him directly in the shakedown of ukraine. and, by the way, that wasn't the end of it. >> at the express direction of the president of the united states, so we followed the president's orders, i followed the directions of the president, was there a quid pro quo? the answer is yes. everyone was in the loop.

it was no secret. >> everyone knew. it was no secret. according to the u.s. ambassador to the eu, million dollar donor to trump's inaugural, that means pence, pompeo, bolton, mulvaney, of course giuliani, of course of course the president himself the day ended with a different type of meaningful moment. the house intel committee chair reflected on the anti-corruption narrative from the president and his defendant. >> and when ambassador sondland testified today that he could put two and two together and so can we, that there was also a quid pro quo on the military aid, that that aid was not going to be released unless they did a public statement, ukraine did a public statement of these political investigations, the president wanted, that's not anti-corruption, that is

corruption. i want you to do a favor, a favor. investigate this crazy 2016 server conspiracy that the server is somewhere in ukraine. and more ominously investigate the bidens. that's not anti-corruption, that is corruption. it's called hypocrisy. >> an animated, unusual adam schiff. let's bring in our team. jeffrey toobin. >> yes, sir. >> at the end of today's testimony, largely on the shoulders of ambassador sondland as a synthesis, it was obvious, it was wrong, it was known, it was worried about, it was arguably abuse of power and certainly the stuff that was supposed to be investigated as potentially impeachable. >> this was it. i mean, this -- every suspicion of donald trump was confirmed today. this was about abuse of power.

the question at the heart of this inquiry has always been did the president use his power of the presidency, not to commit perjury, not to rob a bank, but to use the power that only he has in a corrupt way and today we know he did because today we know that the president held back a white house meeting and nearly $400 million in taxpayer money to get dirt on joe biden. that's what we learned today beyond any reasonable doubt and, you know, the senate and the house are going to have to decide about what to do about it. >> yes, no, is it a bribe? >> absolutely. >> other poll of opinion, my head-shaking friend on the outside. >> i think the democrats had a good morning. i don't think they had a good afternoon. i think what -- when the republicans actually started questioning sondland about the details, i think it fell apart a little bit. >> how so? >> he said the president never

said any of these things to him. in fact what the president said, he quoted what the president said is, no, there's no quid pro quo. what he says is i'm surmising, this is what i'm just sort of gathering. did anything come from the president? >> no, it came from rudy giuliani. well, i mean -- >> and mulvaney. with the knowledge pompeo. >> he said exactly that. >> which he will walk back, as you know. the reality is i'm just trying to play out where i think the public is, where i think republicans are, is this just another example of someone giving their opinion as to what the president's position was but the president's position clearly stated in the may meeting was and clearly stated period, which is he doesn't like foreign aid, he thinks the ukrainians are corrupt and he's tired of nato not paying fair share and those are all legitimate reasons not to provide the aid. >> if you look at the emails and the text messages, none of that

is mentioned. all that's mentioned are burisma and the server. that's the only thing any of these people cared about. i mean, the whole idea that the president is worried about burden sharing, which was last week's talking point, yes, it's true but it had nothing to do with this decision. it was not in any of the papepapers. >> it's in ron johnson's letter, the original meeting in may. it's in plenty places. >> that would be two places go ahead. >> if gordon sondland has been going around the world to ukrainians and members of congress and people in the administration and saying we're tying military assistance to these investigations, nobody's argued with him, nobody's refuted hi, he hasn't been fired, he's still in his job, he admitted to that today. if that was so wrong -- >> vice president pence has pushed back -- >> i have been a part of carefully writing many statements. that was a carefully written statement where he said they didn't have a private meeting,

also that he didn't have a discussion but he didn't say he didn't know and he certainly didn't say he wasn't told. >> look, as i've said many times, i think there were multiple reasons why the president didn't want to release the aid. was one of them kicking joe biden in the teeth? probably. but there's nothing illicit about all the of other things, which are legitimate reasons to hold back -- >> if you rob a bank because you're hungry, because your mother needs something and because you want to smash a window and take jewelry, that's the one that sends you to jail. >> i disagree. i don't think what the president did was illegal. i've said that from the very begin. i think it was inappropriate but i don't think it's illegal. >> let me bring michael in here. we saw a lot today or heard a lot today on what the president said his main statement was on this. he even wrote notes about it that i want you to see. listen to this. >> so here's my answer, i want nothing. i want nothing. i want no quid pro quo.

tell zelensky to do the right thing. then he says, "this is the final word from the president of the united states, i want nothing." >> now, his best defense in there is that he is so unfamiliar with the situation that he can't even spell the ukrainian president's name. he wasn't even close. but if that's what he says his position is, how do you take it? >> if i'm committing an act of murder and shouting no homicide at the same time, i'm not exonerated. jeffrey's right in so far as all the boxes were checked to the for the element of what democrats are trying to establish. rick is correct in making a political argument that at the end of the day the house, there's no reason why they will not continue with impeachment and nothing that occurred today will cause 20 senators who are republicans to vote for conviction. >> i think that's totally fair and actually for democrats watching today, there were people that i think democrats were hopeful would be a little more effective and a little more

sympathetic -- >> zero muflovement, zero votesr articles of impeachment. do you move forward? >> i think you do. they don't think a precedent should be set that a president can bribe another president for political dirt. >> the democrats have been trying to find a reason. they went through russia, they went through collusion, they went through obstruction. they went through the 25th amendment. they're trying to do anything to get rid of this guy. that's what makes this such a hard reach for them. if this was a de novo type of -- >> if this was the first rather than the 11th, we'd be better off? there's more to be discussed in the context of what we've heard and what it means temperature it may not be comfortable for all of, but the idea of where this goes for now, even though you've checked the most boxes of wrong

doing today than to date -- the president says he was cleared today. we'll test that next. it's easy to move forward of, but the idea of where this at fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan

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performance like this in these places... it's pretty crazy. ...just imagine what it can do for you. ♪ everything you need to know happens in a commercial break. i figured out the best way to kind of make this crisis moment make sense. my panel is helping me do just that. put up the notes that the president had on him today on how he wanted to explain what he always wanted in this and what he told sondland in the september 9th phone call. remember that. put the notes back up there. i can't read them like that.

put them back, the other picture. he said "i want nothing, i want nothing, i want no quid pro quo. he said tell zelensky, whose name is spelled nothing like that, that's what he said he said. when did he said he said it? september 9th to gordon sondland. august 28 the politico report comes out about the aid. fine, there's a date. early september, so right after that, they're supposed to have the interview where zelensky is going to talk to fareed zakaria about announcing this. one thing not on this timeline at about 4:00 in the morning, congress sends out the presser

that they are announcing an investigation into the president's actions in ukraine, 4:00 in the morning. go back to the timeline. anyway, like about 5:00 in the morning, sondland says trump told him no quid pro quo. 4:00 in the morning, 5:19 in the morning. also on september 9th is when they have this phone call where the president gave this very blanket statement, all right? now, september 9th is after the politico, after congress says they're going to investigate, after the whistle-blower has come out, after the white house knows about the whistle-blower. that's when he gives sondland that message. now, rick, that is all fact. >> that's fact. >> i can't wait what he has to say. >> ron johnson called president trump right after the politico story came out in august and asked him, hey, is there some -- read it, is there something going on here? according to ron johnson,

riddled with expletives, hell no, he said he was vehement, he was immediate in his response. he said, no, there's no exchange and i care about the ukrainians are corrupt and nato's not doing their part. that's what he said in august. so, yes, i agree with your timeline and it is suspicious that it was an hour after that but he also said that two weeks earlier with ron johnson. >> but for this to be true, let me bounce this off smerconish, if this is true, gordon sondland, god help him, he's got delusion aal schizophrenia becae he's been running around for weeks and longer telling him the president is directing him to do these things, rudy is directing him to do these things. he said he talked to the president plenty, he's in a restaurant on the phone with a guy yelling at him saying how's it going with the investigation.

what do they think he's talking about, some of his other corrupt -- >> you can't give him the benefit of every doubt. what was sondland doing? >> i told you last night what adam schiff lacks thus far is a timeline. >> what, they don't listen? >> i think it's being presented in too confusion of a fashion. the way you just rattled it off is very straight forward. i think i can do better, which is to say we know that aid and access were being withheld at a time when demands were being made for an investigation. are they not related? is the whole defense one of coinciden coincidence? because that doesn't pass the smell test. >> remember what ambassador volker said, they were asking for investigations and volker was supportive of asking for those investigations because they were of burisma and what burisma's actions were in trying to influence american policy, which is a legitimate thing with the ukrainian government -- >> it would be an easier sell if

the president had so often said no quid pro quo, no quid pro quo. he should have said we were holding these up because i was so worried about corruption in ukraine. >> when we're talking about burisma, it strains all credibility that ambassador volker and anyone did not know that that meant an investigation into biden -- >> now you're calling volker a liar. >> i think he was being misleading. >> the president knew burisma meant biden. when he spoke in this telephone call that you guys think identifies him, he said biden. he didn't say burisma. >> as i said before, what i think the president said on that phone call was damaging to him, it was inappropriate for him to say. it would have been fine if he said burisma. i think what you hear from the foreign policy experts during the time is they thought it was burisma, not the bidens. >> what's his best defense? >> the president's best defense? >> yes. >> is that -- well, since i don't think he has a very good one, it's a hard question. i think the best defense is this is within the power of the

presidency is that i have mixed motives, i think rick makes the point that, look, i was concerned about corruption, i was concerned about burden sharing, i was concerned about biden, i'm allowed to do this as president. you can't impeach me for it. now, the problem with that defense is that he doesn't acknowledge the facts that are clear on the ground, which was he was withholding the aid and withholding the meeting because at least, in part, that he wanted dirt on biden and that's an abuse of power and that's what congress has to take action on. >> the part that we can't explain is how sondland got it so wrong. >> he's changed his testimony three times. >> to protect the president. at first it was to protect the president. there was no quid pro quo. oh, i forgot. i'm the one who offered it pup? come on. >> i think this morning there

were flummoxed, they didn't know how to handle him and caster didn't know how to respond. it was only when jordan and turner and stefanik finally got their sea legs and the president didn't tweet this morning. i don't think anybody knew how to handle this guy. >> there were so many pieces that democrats dove into. they were huge. they expanded the scope of the inner circle, who knew about this. as it sort of continued, he did a solid, i would say to president trump and the republicans because he didn't connect directly the president to the military assistance quid pro quo, he allowed them to make it about the meeting, which is problematic but doesn't sound as bad. >> it would be nice for somebody to say why the aid was withheld. >> again, i think the president and republicans have said --

>> he gives aid to russia to fight fires? >> he doesn't bring up corruption. he just -- >> he does brings up corruption. he brings it up in the original meeting in may. >> the budget he submitted to congress cuts corruption money considerably. he doesn't care about corruption in ukraine. all he cares about is getting dirt on biden. >> he doesn't want to give money to a corrupt government multiple times. >> unless it's turkey, or saudi arabia. >> why is it a favor? it's only a favor in that july 25 phone call if the president himself stands to benefit, right? if he's making that assertion for the benefit of the ukrainian people, how can you explain the use of that one word? >> again, he asked for a favor with respect to the 2016 elections? >> why is it a favor? >> he said biden. >> he said biden after there was an interlude -- >> no, no interlude. >> you guys want to depend on

the call, you go the to read the transcript. >> i have so many times. >> nobody wants this to end more than the people who have been covering it. i got to leave it here. >> trump, zelensky, then biden came up. >> in the same conversation? >> if i ask you for two different conversations, are they two different conversations? >> rick santorum, thank you very, jen sake, jeffrey toobin, michael smerconish. it's good to have you all. this will be continued but we have to figure out what the consequences are going to be. by that i mean congress, not polls, not people, not the smartest people here sitting next to me, congress. what are they going to do now that there are cracks in the wall? will it last? a loyalist c isist congressman next. what's his case? ive it a practie run. kelsey. kelsey. marriage?

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ambassador sondland said there was in fact a quid pro quo but in a more intelligible way, he said there was always a plan access to the president and maybe aid. he said everybody knew it. all the big shots, even the president. so let's dig deeper into what this testimony means to a republican congressman, randy weber, from texas. good to see you in person. thank you as always for being on the show. one thing that worked against sondland today, done well i think by congresswoman stefanik and jim jordan, which was, you know, you don't have the greatest recollections of some of this stuff. you kind of half remember certain things. >> and he admitted that. >> and he said, well, i don't have access to my documents. and that's part a.

part b is they didn't say, well, so who told you this? and when did they tell you this? he's like, well, it was mulvaney or this one or i think pompeo knew. >> you sure he knew? i'm not sure. why not? that was part b. why doesn't he have access to his documents from the state department? he said none of it was classified. why aren't the big shots in to clarify this once and for all so we can back up? >> i'm going to back up. i had my own committee. i was there for as month of the testimony as i could this morning. i read his opening statement, i heard his opening statement. i was struck by a number of things. a lot of it is opinion. a lot of it is hearsay. you said when did he hear such and such from so and so. a lot is hearsay. president trump has been skeptical of ukraine for a long time. this is not anything new. >> okay. >> he didn't trust zelensky, he

didn't trust they would do what they said -- >> i don't question it. >> absolutely. so he wanted them to get their act together. >> okay. >> now, the real question there is was this some kind of exchange for biden. if you go back to january 20 of this year, i believe it was this year, giuliani met with the former prosecutor, i think it's lazinko. they've been looking at this corruption for a long time, long before -- >> there's no question rudy was looking for corruption, no question rudy wanted the bidens. he told me that on this show. he met with mr. leschenko. they subsequently closed it because they didn't find it. if you want the truth and you don't want hearsay, why not argue to have the number ones come in and give the documents to the people so that we can get the truth?

why hide? >> look, the president has not been given due process. he's been presumed guilty before innocent this whole time. they've had impeachment proceedings waiting for him the whole tile. al green filed a resolution before the mueller report was out. they're not giving him any say, not giving his lawyers access. if you're under that kind of i would call it a witch hunt, would you want to release any more documents to those people to use in their witch hunt? >> they're your own people. sondland's your guy. he donated a million dollars to your inauguration, you givfted him an ambassadorship. >> sondland says with absence of anymore evidence, i came to the conclusion. he tells you in his own transcript these are his opinions. >> do you remember who he says said to him on all the occasions that he was on calls with other people that, hey, if you want this aid, if you want this

meeting, we need to get the investigations? do you remember the person who told him, hey, don't say that, it's wrong. no one. no one. >> there was a text stream there but, look, the president was skeptical of ukraine and president zelensky for a long time. >> nobody told sondland don't say this quid pro quo thing because it's wrong. no one. >> he had an opinion. >> no, no, no. i'm saying none of the people around him, not his boss, not secretary of state pompeo, not mulvaney, not the president. nobody told him, gordon, you're wrong, stop asking for this. >> didn't senator johnson right that in his letter? >> senator johnson wrote he had a lot of concerns about corruption and believed the president did, too, and the president said to him i don't want any quid pro quo. >> gordon could have had his opinion about all he wants. you don't try to go around fixing others' opinions, do you? >> but pompeo is your boss, never tells you to stop. the president never tells you to

stop. >> how do you know he vocalized that to pompeo? >> because he was in the loop. >> they don't remember that the same. >> how do we know what pompeo remembers? he won't testify. >> he said they brought everybody in the loop and everybody few what was going on and johnson didn't agree with that. >> johnson is meaningless. of all the people in this process, no one ever said -- >> he's part of the security council. he went over and spoke to the president. he had the ear of the president. >> i know. >> and the president had his ear. >> but the president was shouting off the ear of mr. sondland in a restaurant in ukraine saying i want the investigations, nothing without the investigations. he ends the phone call, says to two of the staffers there the president doesn't care about ukraine, he just wants to get the bidens why would his friend say that? >> that's his recollection. >> it was a phone call. >> if you read through this, if you follow this from its entirety, president trump was

skeptical from the ukrainians from the very get-go. >> i do not question that. >> he's in charge of foreign affairs. >> 100%. >> don't give them the aid. don't give them the money. >> long before biden -- >> you know that president obama didn't give them aid. >> he gave them aid but didn't give them the military aid. >> he did not. why? because of the corruption? we don't know that. >> but -- >> we know there's a history there. >> but it doesn't matter. the only thing that matters is this. can you criticize the obama administration. you can say the trump administration is better to ukraine. i have no problem with any of that. if you don't want to give them money, don't. congress approved the money. have the fight with that. go back and say use it for something else, these guys are dirty. here's why i think they're dirty. that's not what he did. the money was delayed, access to a meeting was delayed and rudy and all these other people were working in concert to get the ukrainians to say they would

investigate biden. that's where it gets wrong. >> before i read the transcripts, i was talking to my com director today and i said president trump had no faith zelensky would ask -- he said until they do something publicly, he doesn't have any faith. he's skeptical of that new president. >> why ask him to investigate biden, who is a u.s. citizen instead of just going to the department of justice the way you're supposed to. >> there was already two investigations with crowdstrike and also going back to burisma. they were already under way. >> where? >> people were alread talking -- you think this just happened july 25th? >> no, but i'm saying why would you ask ukraine to investigate an american citizen? go do it yourself with the d.o.j. >> president zelensky asked for the president's help. you've read the transcript. >> many, many times. >> you've read it too much. >> it haunts me. >> president zelensky asked him for help in cleaning up the corruption. president trump gives him a couple of examples.

the bidens is a problem of ukraine corruption? >> it's not the president's fault that the -- >> but it's the president's fault that the only thing he asked for is help with something that benefited him politically. >> if burisma was already being investigated -- >> and they closed it. >> at biden's behest. >> no, no, no. >> no? >> not true. ukraine closed it. biden was out of office. >> that's because of the kru corruption in my opinion and that's the president's -- >> you just hit the nail on the head. the president could have had corrupt intent. the other side is wanting to judge his intent. he was skeptical of ukraine and

of this new president. he said you show concrete evidence you're going to clean up your country and then we'll meet. >> congressman, i appreciate you making the case. always good to have you. >> good to be here. >> i'm going to bring in an investigator to take a look at these arguments but a lot of them are political. what do we see in the testimony of sondland today? is it enough to make a case? what are the weaknesses, what are the strengths? andrew mccabe next. did you feel (cookie) what about a broken cookie jar? (burke) again, cookie? (cookie) yeah. me bad. (grover) yoooooow! oh! what about monsters having accidents? i am okay by the way! (burke) depends. did you cause the accident, grover? (grover) cause an accident? maybe... (bert) how do you know all this stuff? (burke) just comes with experience. (all muppets) yup. ♪ we are farmers. ♪ bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum breathe freely fast, with vicks sinex. my congestion's gone.

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. house republicans are coming at one of their own. they're saying it's not credible. they're pointing to all the times he said this. >> i can't find the records, there are lots of notes, records, readouts of calls. i can't get to them. again, i don't recall with out all these records. based on my lack of records, i just doesn't have all the records. i wish i could get them. >> let's bring in former fbi director andrew mccabe. good to see you. two things. one, he changed his testimony, all right? >> again. >> that's his problem. the first time he did it, it was a real material change, there was no quid pro quo on the guy who asked for a quid pro quo, now there was always a quid pro quo and everybody knew about it. this testimony today does not go with the first. he's got a credibility problem. they don't pick on that

credibility problem as much as they go after you don't seem to know what you're talking about and you don't seem to be really sure about who told you what. that's because they won't let him have the documents and they won't have the big shots come in and testify. how can they complain about what they're complicit in? >> well, they can't. we've been a bit spoiled with the witnesses to date. a parade of witnesses have come to the table with incredible memories because they are notetakers sondland by his own admission is not a person like that. so he doesn't take a lot of notes or write memos, but what he does have are calendar entries, readouts -- >> and complete confidence he's saying nothing controversial, that it's as you been this, everybody knew it was this, we're always trying to get these done. >> if you look at the record, the chronology of his contacts, he tells that to senator johnson, he tells that to andre

yermak, he tells that to morrison. so in that period in the beginning of september, that's exactly what he's telling almost everybody he's working with. >> ron johnson said he didn't like it but he wasn't really in the mix. he said i had the ear of the president. usually i ask you to make the case. tonight i ask you to judge one. you heard me with randy weber he comes with good fate but we disagree but with decency. what am i missing? he says the president is making the case he didn't like ukraine, he didn't give them the money. i agree with you the part that we don't agree on is but the reason he didn't give them the money isn't just what you're saying it's because he wanted those other things and i could show you a graphic with all the check marks with three quarters of the witnesses we have saying that's what it was. they don't accept that. look at all the check marks from all these different people who

say they were concerned about rudy, they raised red flags about this, that this is what the president wanted, they couldn't get away from it. what am i missing? >> well, you're not. you've got people who not just are saying after the fact that they were concerned about the call. at that time they actually took action. they went and sought out john eisenberg and reported their concerns, went to their bosses, bolton or whoever, report it to the lawyers, morrison is told that on several occasions we have a clear and well substantisu substantiated record from those who heard the same phone call and it troubled them greatly. >> what are we missing that you would not be able to ignore or deny that shows that the president with corrupt intent was basically bribing ukraine you're not going to get what you want until i get what i want?

>> i'm not sure that witness exists. and that is not -- that's not a strange thing. look, every criminal case doesn't include a videotape of the accused person committing the crime. >> you need it with this group. them saying he's not represented is laughable. he's got 15 people in there just arguing his case. >> he does, he does. if you had access to a few additional witnesses, you might get closer to that point of 100% clarity. the white house isn't giving us access to those people. john bolton so far is not testifying. we'll never see mike pompeo, we'll never see rudy giuliani. if we did see him, i don't think he'd answer the questions directly to begin with but we don't need that. we're probably at 90% with the witnesses we've had so far, we've got two additional ones tomorrow who i think will shed additional light on this. i do not expect the story to change at all. >> the biggest problem with their defense right now, feel free to differ, is if you really

didn't trust ukraine and you really wanted them to demonstrate good faith, you wouldn't want just an announcement of an investigation because they could just lie and get the aid and then not do it. you would want real results and he didn't ask for that. andrew mccabe, always a pleasure. >> thanks, chris. >> all right. earlier i showed you the president's notes that he made to counter the sondland testimony because i think the picture tells us the story. and i think it fits in to a reality that we must all recognize even if we don't like i it. the argument ahead. e ready for what comes next. at fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan to cover the essentials in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. and on the way, you'll get timely investment help to keep you on the right track, without the unnecessary fees you might expect from so many financial firms. because when you have a partner

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notes. i argue that that note tells you everything you need to know with one tweak and i'll get to that in a second. the note was from what the president prepped to deal with ambassador sondland's call from the testimony that took a 180. remember, sondland was a source of comfort for the president when he said this. >> but this is the man who said there was no quid pro quo, and he still says that. >> not no mo. >> was there a quid pro quo? >> as i testified previously, with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting, the answer is yes. >> so forget the latin, okay? this is about what was wanted and why and what potus and pals did to get it from ukraine. those are the questions that clearly suggest issues worthy of this inquiry according to the constitution and the founders. the president, though, wants you

to see it differently. >> i just noticed one thing, and i would say that means it's all over. >> now, if the president means that the lame excuses that nothing wrong ever happened are over, okay. or that denying that what he was trying to get done here was so alarming, playing with aid and access in order to get ukraine to spread some stink by announcing they were looking at the bidens, then okay. but no. this picture is the broad set of strokes literally in the desperate hand of a man who's spelling about as well as he tells the truth. what he said he said when he spoke to ambassador sondland on september 9th, that's what those notes are about. that's when the baframbassador called for direction, and this is what he says he said.

>> so here's my answer. i want nothing. i want nothing. i want no quid pro quo. tell zelinsky to do the right thing. then he says, this is the final word from the president of the united states. i want nothing. >> when? when was the call? that's the problem. as big and as obvious as the president's notes. september 9th. so what? what does that date mean? that is after he asked ukraine to do him a favor on that call. it is after he brought up investigating the bidens on that call. it is after the whistle-blower complained. it is after the white house was made aware that that complaint was out there. it was after all the other diplomats brought it up to the nsc lawyer as being wrong. it is after reporters started asking questions about what was

going on in ukraine. and it was two days before the aid was all of a sudden released, which no one can explain. the note is a metaphor for how this president works -- raw, basic, repetitive. i want nothing, i want nothing. why would you say it twice? repetition, he believes, increases cred bilts. it does the opposite here. there is no one who says the president wanted nothing, including the president. there is no one who says the president never wanted us to do anything like this, never wanted anything kind of done to exchange to get this guy. no one. and there is a mountain of evidence that says differently. i have been arguing this for weeks. what happened and why is not in reasonable question. the question is what's the

consequence. now, if the president can be shown by the democrats to have had obvious corrupt intent, that here's the proof that he really wanted this just because he was going to get the bidens, then they've got a better case for consequence than they do right now. they have a potential case for bribery. there was a solicitation here of something of value in exchange for something else. it's bribery. extortion, i don't know. extortion is one-sided. if you don't do it, i'm going to hurt you. i don't see that here. but the idea that he abused his power, the idea that he did something wrong is as clear as chairman schiff made it sound today. >> i want you to do us a favor. a favor. investigate this crazy 2016 server conspiracy, that the server's somewhere in ukraine. and more ominously, investigate the bidens. that's not anti-corruption. that is corruption. it's called hypocrisy.

>> fine. what's the consequence? it's a legitimate form of debate. what is not is whether or not this is fair. we've never seen a president better represented than this president is in that room. there's not a single republican lawmaker looking at all for any facts that don't help the president. look, they can deny the charges. their problem is they cannot disprove them. let's see what happens next. that's the argument. now, when we come back, i have a bolo that relates to mr. sondland. where's he going to be tomorrow? pain happens. aleve it. with aleve pm. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid. and the 12-hour pain relieving strength of aleve. so...magic mornings happen.

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bolo. be on the lookout for ambassador gordon sondland's future. he looked happy enough catching a flight to brussels. the question is was it a one-way ticket? he made the obvious seem obvious today. everyone knew this was about getting the bidens or giving ukraine nothing. tonight our jim acosta asked counselor to the president kellyanne conway about sondland's job security. >> ambassador sondland, he's still on the job, and i have no indication that he won't be. maybe he'll choose not to be.

maybe he won't have that post? who knows? >> i think she said at the end there, maybe he won't have that post anymore. who knows? well, you know who knows. the president. remember, this president values fealty, not loyalty. the difference? he doesn't care of you. he just expects you to take care of him. and if you don't, be on the lookout. thanks for watching. "cnn tonight" with d. lemon with a packed show right now. >> she offered every single answer that you could give. well, he's still on the job but maybe he won't be. maybe he'll choose not to or maybe he'll lose the post. >> that covers it. >> that covers everything. listen, today was explosive. i know, you know, we say that, and every day we find out something new. this was not a good day for the administration. key figures including the president, the chief of staff, the secretary of state, all of them, not a good day for them. and the vice president. >> good day for the