c-span, the house returns at 10 a.m. eastern for general speeches and legislative business at noon. on the agenda, and number of bills related to natural resources. c-span2, the senate is back at 10 a.m. eastern to consider nominations for the 11th circuit court of appeals. on c-span3, the house intelligence committee continues the impeachment inquiry with public hearings. first, testimony from gordon sondland at 9 a.m. eastern. later in the day at 2:30 p.m., the committee hears additional andimony from laura cooper david hale. >> for the next few hours, we are getting your reaction to the impeachment inquiry as the house

intelligence committee continues another week of public hearings. join the conversation by phone or send us a comment on facebook and twitter. washington journal is next. " is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is wednesday, november 20, 2019, day 4 of open impeachment increase hearings. more witnesses are set to .estify we want to hear your reaction to yesterday's hearings and your expectation for today. 202-748-8000.

you can send us a text. . if you do, please include your name and where you are from. on social media -- on twitter it is@. on face --on twitter it is @cspanwj. on facebook it is facebook.com/cspan. you can start calling now. online today, you can pick your impeachment inquiry headline depending on your political persuasion. from the universe of conservative news sites, democrats try to alter their trump impeachment playbook and it is blowing up in their faces. their testimonies were bad for adam schiff and from the left, this from vox. tuesday's impeachment hearings republicans.er for purple heart under fire.

when two republicans object to an army uniform? when it is on and impeachment witness. here is the front page of the new york times, two top officials testify call was inappropriate, one could not believe it. witnesses depict a request to ukraine as outside u.s. security goals, the main picture of lieutenant colonel alexander vindman testifying. another page from the washington times also with colonel vindman. -- democrats no closer to bribery charge. usa today looking ahead this morning to gordon sondland's testimony. debate the fourth debate for presidential

candidates taking place in atlanta, a story about those two issues taking place on the same day on a very busy newsday. we are taking your phone calls, getting your reaction to yesterday, your thoughts about what will happen today. democrats, it is, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. starting at 9:00 a.m. on c-span 3 is where you can watch the swearing in and testimony of gordon sondland, the u.s. ambassador to the european union. wealthy former hotel chain owner and real estate investor, major donor to president trump's inaugural committee and the focus of most of the headlines today previewing today's witnesses that will be on capitol hill. the other witnesses, laura cooper and david hale. uncomfortable spotlight for

envoy who boasted of access to trump and this from the front page of the washington post. it is down to one guy, sondland at the probe's heart. the evidence gathered points to sondland as the witness who could tie president trump to the ukraine toersuade launch investigations that could benefit him politically. c-span.org,h at listen on the free c-span radio app that you can download and laura cooper and david hale will testify around 2:30 this afternoon, the appropriate time when the second panel is expected to get underway. we will start on the line for democrats, tony in maryland, you are up first, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. my reaction to the hearing yesterday is the people doing

the questioning from the republican side must think we are stupid because they keep telling the same inane lies whether ukraine was behind the election interference has already been debunked. the fact you would convince the people president trump of all people is fighting corruption? with so many different charges circling him? the last thing i would like to say is i think it is despicable the president tweets at these witnesses that they have threatened lieutenant colonel then men -- vindman to the fact he has to be protected. i think it is sad. room,as we show you the this is usually the ways and means committee hearing room. it is being taken over by the house intelligence committee for open hearings taking place last week and this week.

this istting underway, rob in virginia, what did you think of day 3? that stood outng to me in the hearing was lt. col. vitamin -- vindman, not testimony -- i am a former army officer. they are expected to stay above the political fray, they should report malfeasance. what i heard from him was i thought the president's comments were inappropriate, he did not cite a law or chapter or treaty. maybe they were inappropriate, maybe it is not the sort of performance people want from their president, voters can decide at the voting booth. . unusual for this man to be testifying in front of congress soliloquy at the

end of his opening statement, it is a very nice story, it seem like it was political. military officers need to stay out of political operations. host: are you talking about addressing his father correctly -- directly? caller: just telling his story, i don't need to hear his story. it is like somebody told him tell that story to generate sympathy for your presence. he either needs to be there to report something that was wrong, unjust, illegal, unlawful, or because his own personal views -- his view of the mission of ukraine is more important than the president's view. host: there were members of congress who wanted him to tell that story again, democrats referring back to his opening

statement, this is patrick maloney talking about that july 25 phone call at the heart of the ukraine matter, but referring back to his opening statement. >> you were treated to a july 10 meeting in the white house where you heard ambassador sondland raise investigations conditioning a white house meeting on investigations you thought were unduly political and you went to the council and reported it, right? lt. col. vindman: correct. >> later, you are on the white house call and heard it with your own ears. >> correct. >> not hearsay, correct? >> correct. >> you heard the president's voice on the call. >> i did. >> and you heard him raise the subject about investigating the bidens, right? >> i did. >> when you heard him say that, what was the first thought that went through your mind? >> frankly, i could not believe what i was hearing.

it was probably an element of shock that may be in a certain regards, my worst fear of how our ukraine policy could play out was playing out, how this was likely to have significant implications for u.s. national security. >> and you went immediately and reported it, didn't you? >> i did. >> why? >> because that was my duty. >> do you still have your opening statement handy? >> i do. >> could you read the last paragraph or me again? not the very last one, the second to last one. i think the american public deserves to hear that again. >> i think my dad would appreciate that, too. my sitting here today is proof you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the soviet union and come to the united states of america in search for a better life for our family.

do not worry. i will be fine for telling the truth. >> when you came forward out of sense of duty, you realized you were putting yourself in direct opposition to the most powerful person in the world. do you realize that, sir? >> i knew i was assuming a lot of risk. >> i am struck by the phrase "do not worry." worrier?dad a >> he's deeply worried because in his context, it was the ultimate risk. confidenceou have you can do that and tell your dad not to worry? >> because this is america, this is the country i have served and defended, that all my brothers have served and right matters. >> thank you, sir. i yelled back. yield back.-

[applause] vindman alongside jennifer williams. it was the second panel of the volcker andluded morrison. 25 phones on the july call. this is a republican from new york. [video clip] with a callto start between president trump and president zelensky. or you were on that call and there was no mention of withholding aid on that call, correct? >> that is correct. >> there was no quid pro quo? >> correct. >> no bribery? >> correct. >> no extortion? >> correct. readout of you got a the call. >> correct? >> was there any reference to withholding aid? >> there was not.

>> any reference to bribery? >> there was not. >> any reference to quid pro quo? >> there was not. >> any reference to extortion? >> there was not. counterpartsian mention any withholding of aid? >> they did not. >> the day after the call, you met with president zelensky and in that meeting, he made no mention of quid pro quo, he made no mention of withholding the aid, he made no mention of bribery. ukrainians were not even aware of this hold on aid and in the coming weeks, you were in touch with ukrainians as and of your official duties the ukrainians never brought up an investigation into the bidens, is that correct? >> that is correct. >> they never brought up withholding of the aid?

>> that is correct. bring the aid up after the political article appeared. >> until the political article, they did not bring it up? you said it never came up in conversation with them and i believe they had trust, that they would have asked if that was really what they were worried about. >> that is correct. >> the ukrainians never even knew their foreign aid was on pause until the article was published in politico in august. so they did not know during the call. >> that is correct. host: elise stefanik questioning the former ambassador volcker and tim morrison, the formally an se. getting your thoughts about yesterday's hearings. both hearings took place over the course of more than 11 hours and your thoughts ahead of today's hearings. three more witnesses set to

testify at 9:00 a.m. eastern. in virginia, republican, good morning. >> -- caller: thanks for taking my call. what a buffoon of a lieutenant colonel who came from russia and an gifted with being in avenue where he could retain the position he has retained. everyone needs to consider you never know what you have until it is gone. you are throwing our country under the bus for a group of individuals who basically will be writing books soon that people with very little intelligence who claim to be very intelligent because they have gone to college, will purchase. my grandfather always said there is nothing worse than an educated fool. host: this is renee in maryland, a democrat. caller: good morning.

i have not always been a democrat, i have always been independent because i prided myself on nonpartisan. i am of veteran of the united states navy. contrary to the previous caller whose shameful comment to call lt. col. vindman a buffoon, i grew up in a bipartisan household. you my father also possessed a thing called moral fiber and a moral compass and tremendous integrity. we came from cuba, a country that did lose that privilege of voting and speaking honestly as lt. col. vindman did yesterday and we came to this country precisely in quest of that freedom as we all cherish as standard, which is the that seems to be falling by the wayside and has never been

mentioned. when nixon was impeached, my father was appalled and heartbroken. he was a very proud republican, no no one, no president or elected official in his toimation ever had the right disgrace the office of the thisdency as we have seen disgraceful human being from day 1, you can barely call him a human being because he has no moral fiber. mr. trump and his family and everyone he has appointed has been nothing but a disgrace to this country. he has behaved like a petty tyrant from day 1. in the other day, he forgave -- criminals. war there is no end to the level of miscreant behavior since day 1.

we have never witnessed an administration that has more and anyonen prison who stands by this is disgraceful. to watch their false sense they , their constant insulting and harassed for -- harassment. we continue to show you live shots of the room. .our that is capital officers carolina, goodke morning.

-- mike in north carolina, good morning. caller: i like police define it, she will be a wonderful menaces to aoc.mesis there appears to have never been talk of what president trump and his team has been accused of. i think a lot of people are seeing through this, these and their supporters on the democratic side, they spend so much time bearing their souls about their personal history and where their families are from. we all have a personal history. my parents fled feudal europe and came to ellis island.

if i get charged with a crime or called to testify, what bearing does that have on the current situation? zero.swer to that is when you don't have anything, you have to go for a motion. -- emotion. you have to build a story about yourself. that is a big reveal they spend so much time on their past history, which has no bearing. at this stage, i have been following this from afar. four people i respect, they are all liberals. tom brokaw, bob woodward, alan .ershowitz, and jonathan turley i remind viewers jonathan turley was on this program on

monday, spent an hour talking about the impeachment hearing. you can go back and watch it at c-span.org. caller: did he update his position? host: what position do you want to hear about? isler: the last i heard there is not the level of impeachment that even comes close to richard nixon, which bob woodward spoke about. that is why nixon resigned, they had him cold. ofwas authorizing millions dollars in bribes to cover up the break-in at the watergate hotel. i don't believe president clinton should have been impeached. he lied under oath. was that a high crime?

he did not put the country in jeopardy. host: go back and watch that jonathan turley segment, there it is on monday. caller: did he state he thinks there is enough here to bring articles of impeachment? give me the short story. host: he called it the narrowest impeachment effort in history and he does not think it is a wide enough, broad enough impeachment effort that he thinks it may topple over in the end. i will let you watch it for yourself and let you hear jonathan turley in his own words. william is next, good morning. caller: thank you and thank you for c-span. it is so unfortunate when i listen to the callers, especially the republicans who that president

trump -- i call him 45, i don't like to use his name, has lied and lied and continued to lie and they refuse to acknowledge it. vindman was on yesterday and decoratedas been a soldier, served our country with itors and was concerned that is not right, it is not american, it is not presidential from a country that has already been appropriated, already been toigned by congress investigate your chief rival, that is not right. the american people know that. the belief that i have is the

fact is the american people did not vote for 45. he lost by more than 3 million popular votes, so there is more of us that stand with truth, who stand with morals who want this country to be an america that works for everyone, we don't want to go back, we want to continue to move forward and i republicans can see the truth and understand that this is not what we want for our country, we want someone -- will be honest, someone

host: out of ohio, good morning. caller: good morning. --ber one, i enjoyed i have been a democrat ever since i have been able to vote democrat.ie a there is no more republican gop. as far as i am concerned, the gentleman in the white house is not a gentleman. he is the first illegitimate president we have ever had. how did he get in there?

not even get into be president, nothing he does is fair and how he degrades people and the entire family. back to theus hearings and you said you did not enjoy yesterday. caller: i did not. host: do you think there is anything to enjoy? caller: think truthful. they seem to go around and monday was wonderful. what was his name? the decorated guy, williamson, the woman, they were very good. they were honest, truthful, forthcoming. you can tell when a person is not being completely honest. yesterday'srom hearings.

this is one of the exchanges that got a lot of attention between nunez and colonel vindman. [video clip] >> did you discuss the phone call with anyone outside the white house on july 20 for the war 26 and if so, with whom? or 26th and if so, whom? i talked to two individuals about getting a write up of the call. >> two individuals outside of the white house? >> two individuals with the need to know. deputyent of state assistant secretary george kent, who is responsible for the portfolio, eastern europe, including ukraine and an in the intelligence

.ommunity thee need to protect whistleblower. please stop. i want tomake sure out the was a blower. if the whistleblower -- has a good faith belief this may -- that is not the purpose we are here for and i wanted to advise the witness accordingly. you testified in your deposition that you did not know the whistleblower. col. vindman, please. vindman,l. lindeman --

you testified you did not know who the whistleblower was. >> i do not know who the whistleblower is. >> how is it possible for you to name these people and out the whistleblower? >> per the advice of my counsel, i have been told not to answer specific questions about memos of the intelligence community. >> are you aware this is the intelligence committee conducting an impeachment hearing? >> yes, i am. host: lieutenant vindman and congressman nunes in that hearing. some comments this morning. mylan burke writing it sounds like nunes was unprepared. i don't understand why trump does not tell that guy to go away. this from american joe writing the earlier caller was right the military officer was talking above his pay grade.

one more tweet about colonel vindman. he said he went back to work after the incident that got him a purple heart. a lot of focus on the uniform. republicans flag vindman's choice. --testified the appropriate army uniform is -- service or dress uniform granted an exception to wear civilian close. vindman has been following u.s.

military protocol when he has appeared and it would be a atlation for him to show up a congressional hearing out of uniform. several other outlets focusing on that aspect of yesterday's hearings. brett in pennsylvania, independent, you are next. caller: first time caller. i am an independent. i don't understand anything that is going on. democrats this morning are having their dnc tonight. .hey are having that on msnbc if they don't do something about sexual assault in their company -- they are going to do something about it. you have a president that supposedly wants the bidens investigated and yet he is wrong for asking them to do something about that.

at this point in time, it is mr. trump. he has raised my pay, got me .ore money i have a better standard of .iving the people they have a for on adent are running on socialist platform. host: he started his comments by talking about the democratic

debate in atlanta, it is the fifth democratic debate, 10 .emocrats on the stage tonight here is a story about the democrats who did not qualify, including former secretary of housing and urban development, hooley and castro -- julian castro. beto o'rourke was one of the 12 on stage in ohio. delaneyo focus on john vowing he will stay in the race at least until the iowa caucuses and steve bullock also not on stage tonight released a tv ad that will air in iowa that opens with thousands of baseball fans chanting "lock him up" at president trump at the world series game in washington president trump attended.

i won't promise to lock up my opponent, but as the only democrat running through won a will trump won, i challenge prosecutors to follow the evidence all the way to the top. charles, democrat, good morning. caller: i am so glad i got to watch that program yesterday of the colonel. i have never seen such a purveyed of lies for a man in uniform and to be such a baby himhis dad to be proud of and to badmouth the americans and be called out on it by his superiors then reprimanded for it and to think we have got this

man in uniform in the white , that is the only thing that scares me. i don't know where they come from in today's world. a presidentagainst who has done what this republican has done for us, item not sure -- i am not sure where this country is headed for. host: when you say you are not sure where they come from, who is "of a?" caller: these people in the hearings that can sit here and say the president has done something wrong because he is investigate the bidens. if i can get to the polls, i democratr vote another ticket. host: a lot of discussion among

republicans calling these folks never trumpeers. how do you define that term? caller: when everything was going his way and i have daddy watching me on camera -- i noticed his body movement when he had first come on and i made a comment, he is so nervous and he looks at his lawyer every time he wants to open his mouth and the only time i had seen him smile when looking at the lawyer , one of them made a comment in favor of him and him and his lawyer both -- i thought they were going to rise out of the seat like they had won some battle. host: on the issue of never trumpers, here is jim himes asking both jennifer williams and colonel vindman about that term. [video clip] sunday, the president personally targeted you in a tweet after he targeted

ambassador yovanovitch. i would like to show and redo the tweet, tell jennifer williams, whoever that is, to read both transcripts of the presidential calls and see the just-released statement from you kane -- ukraine and she should meet with the other never trumpers and worked out a better presidential attack. are you engaged in a presidential attack? >> no, sir. >> are you a never trumper? >> i am not sure i know an official definition. >> would you describe yourself that way? >> i would not. >> did that tweet make an impression on you when you read it? >> it surprised me. i was not expecting to be called out by name. >> it surprised me, too, and it looked like witness intimidation and tampering in an effort to get you to perhaps shape your testimony today. , you previously

testified you dedicated your entire professional life to the united states of america. stove your left brest -- brea springfielding a musket on a blue field. >> it is a combat infantryman's badge. unitave to be serving in a in combat. >> under fire? >> correct. >> you are also wearing a purple heart. can you tell us why you are wearing a purple heart? ramp up toin the probably the largest urban decades, we were conducting a reconnaissance patrol in conjunction with the marines and my vehicle was

struck by an improvised explosive device that penetrated armor. >> were you injured? >> i was. >> the day after you appeared for your deposition, president trump called you a never trumper. would you call yourself a never trumper ? >> i would call myself never partisan. and jimlonel vindman himes yesterday with that exchange in day 3 of the impeachment increase hearings, day 4 beginning today with gordon sondland, the u.s. ambassador to the european union, starts at 9:00 a.m. c-span 3,tch on c-span.org, or the c-span radio app. around 2:30, a second panel of witnesses including laura cooper and david hale. is the deputy assistant secretary of defense for russian, ukrainian, and

.urasian affairs she learned about the delay in that aid according to her deposition testimony in a july be askedg likely to more about that today and david hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs, the third-highest ranking official in the state department under mike pompeo, spent more than 30 years in foreign service before taking this post. he will likely be asked to talk about the retail -- recall of u.s. aid to -- of ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch. you can watch that on c-span 3 today. next in north carolina, republican. good morning. glad you showed

that piece on his purple heart. if you show the second part, he explains his injury, which was none, he happened to be in a vehicle that was struck. he told me and told you and told the world yesterday he was injured and right after it, he lies and says he went back to the office, i did not need treatment. thealks on the footsteps of soldiers who walked in there. he is a pathetic liar, you can listen to him talk. how do people get in positions? they brown knows, just like the public and it doesn't make sense -- play the second part of this. do us right on this. you know there is a second part. i appreciate everything you do and i will never be a democrat.

host: mark in kentucky, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, mark. caller: i was watching the debates and i think with the democratic debate tonight, they thatgot to be feeling good they are trying to humiliate donald trump on impeachment, which is the most ridiculous thing i have ever seen, this is so opera 2019 if there ever was one. i am curious when the real debates or impeachment when they start bringing hillary and the rest of the crooked democrats to a court and start doing this. we had an announcement earlier this week that the inspector general for the department of justice, who has

been working on that report about the origins of the russia probe, that he will testify december 11 before the senate judiciary committee, his name is michael horowitz. do you think that testimony will get the amount of attention these hearings have gotten? caller: i am not really sure. biggesthink this is the soap opera have ever seen on tv and the democrats have got to really be feeling good about this debate when you have the president being smeared all over tv. much he didne so not have to do. it is a shame we are sitting here watching and listening for a president to be smeared on tv like that. depressing to hear a lot of this stuff.

host: getting your thoughts as we show you live pictures of the intelligence committee hearing room where today's hearing will take place. the intelligence committee is borrowing it for the open impeachment hearings. the members of the media gathering in that room. we are about an hour and 15 minutes out from gordon sondland standing before the witness seat and taking the oath. the cameras in the well, cameras of members of the media. it will be crowded when gordon sondland and the rest of the witnesses appear today. that is members of the media marking their spots as they prepare for what will be another packed day. angela is next, st. louis, missouri. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i had a few comments. i was extremely disappointed .ith testimony yesterday

first and foremost, what was released was not a transcript, "dwas a memo, hence all the ..." in the memo. that means further things were ind that was not included some of the things the military gentleman spoke about. not everything was in what was released to the public. aat is a memo, not transcript. we will probably get somewhere with today's testimony. i don't think we got anywhere with anything yesterday. i agree with the gentleman who spoke before, it is a shame to hear a president be smeared. however, this president has brought it to the level it does not surprise me. he lies to us, he smears people with disabilities, makes fun of them, tweets ridiculous names,

he can't even spell right. every day is something different with him. host: i want to read one take from the washington post, it was a tweet at 9:15 after watching all 10 hours of impeachment testimony, he said i can't togine that made sense anyone who has not followed it religiously. until the closing remarks at 8:25, it felt like an income principal fog of texts and times. caller: pretty much for the most part. i was disgusted with the fact nobody had the wherewithal to say what was released to the public was not a transcript, it was a memo and let's get to the truth about things. host: chuck in georgia, republican, good morning.

present at me hypothetical. hillary clinton wins the election and now we go to impeachment because she got a foreign government in order to help her get elected. are we going to impeach her then? host: do you think she should be impeached if that happened? caller: they are impeaching trump for the same thing. they are saying he went to a foreign government to get help on his political opponent. host: do you think any president doing that is impeachable? caller: i don't think so, but would democrats of -- impeach clinton? she did the same thing they are accusing trump of doing. help to win an election. host: you think it is okay for

presidents to get foreign help to win an election? caller: what i am saying is if democrats think that, they would have to impeach her. caller: but -- host: bud president trump is president of the united states. caller: she was running for president. host: this is dan, and independent. caller: you just cannot make that up, listen to that fewleman, i just have a comments and thanks for taking my call. i was pleased with the hearings outerday and for those there, i live approximately 15 minutes from devin nunes. that display was disappointing on so many levels. the republicanon

side, they were not really substance, it is whatever they can throw on the wall and hope it will stick. how dare a republican call out a soldier in regards to wearing his uniform, he is active duty. i cannot recall his name, but he officer.rly a military if i am not mistaken, he was a pilot. host: were you talking about congressman chris stewart? caller: yes, sir. thank you for bringing that to my attention. it is sad the american people have to listen to this and this is not a trial, this is nothing other than an investigative process where the house is gathering the facts. at some point, there will be articles of impeachment yay or nay, this president has lost to me and i don't think he is a patriot when he went before

helsinki and stood next to putin and basically disregarded our intelligence agency. for those people arguing this guy should not have worn his uniform, i am old enough to been around long enough that people like all of mort who spoke with year, theyh last talked about his bio. for this lt. col., i did not find anything wrong with his background. host: there was also a lot of focus yesterday when colonel vindman corrected devin nunes for calling him mr. vindman, saying it is lieutenant colonel vindman. chris stewart also brought up that correction when he was later given his five minutes to talk to colonel of inman to ask

questions of the witness. here is that exchange with chris stewart. [video clip] nunesn ranking member , youd you mr. vindman insisted he call you lieutenant colonel vindman. wearing myuniform military rank, i thought it was appropriate to stick with that. >> i assure you he meant no disrespect. >> i don't believe he did, but the attacks i have had in the press and twitter have eliminated the fact either marginalized me as a military officer. >> i am just telling you the ranking member meant no disrespect to you. >> i believe that. host: colonel of inman -- -- yesterdayan and

in that exchange. we hope you go to c-span.org/i mpeachment to follow all of our coverage when it comes to the impeachment inquiry. you will find all the hearings we have been talking about and you will find links to documents that have been released, statements, and press conferences as well. /impeachment/ mary is next out of south carolina. caller: good morning. i wanted to share my experience personally in counsel with donald trump. i am a former new yorker. my first encounter with him was the late 1980's, early 1990's on the central park five, he made me a protester. my mother was on marcher and her time for equal rights and housing and donald trump, i was

he wasface because putting up a lot of money to have 5 young boys executed by the state of new york city. host: when you say you were in his face, what do you mean? caller: he was protesting trying to say -- raise money, he was saying things out of his mouth about these young teenagers. host: did you have a physical interaction with him? caller: yes, i did. he was talking. about don't understand donald trump, he is a show man, he likes to be in tv interviews. host: bring us forward to today and the impeachment hearings. caller: i am not surprised about having impeachment on donald trump because of his character. donald trump is a show man, he

is streetsmart. he is not a person of intelligence at all. he studies people and donald trump is smart in that way. i learned that in the 1990's. we know him as the donald. we always called him the donald manipulatingway of people and he repeats the same thing over and over. if he can say it long enough, you will believe it. another thing that is going to happen. not only all the people around donald trump going to jail, but donald trump is under investigation not just by congress, he is investigated by the state of new york city. you focused on president trump in your comments.

here is the president yesterday from the white house being asked by members of the white house press corps about lieutenant colonel vindman and his credibility as a witness yesterday. [video clip] >> i don't know him. someone had the misfortune of knowng him mr. and i don't vindman at all. even he said the transcript was correct and if anybody reads the transcripts, i had two calls with the president of ukraine ,ho said there was no pressure they probably cannot even understand what is going on with this country. a littlei watched him bit this morning and i think -- i am going to let people make their own determination, but i have never heard of him.

i don't know any of these people orer than i have seen one two a couple of times, they are ambassadors. these are names like taylor. with the wonderful bowtie. i don't know who kent is, i don't know who taylor is. all these people talking about they heard a conversation of another conversation had by the president. what is going on is a disgrace and an embarrassment to our nation and in the meantime, we cannot get usa am -- usmca improve -- approved because nancy pelosi is incompetent. host: we will keep an eye on his twitter page throughout the day and bring you any comments on c-span. so you know how it will work on c-span, after we end sometime before the hearing begins, likely around 8:50, we will end

our program on c-span and we will bring you to the hearing on c-span and you can watch live from when it begins at 9:00 a.m. eastern until 10:00 a.m. eastern when c-span will go to the house and we will bring you gavel-to-gavel coverage from the house on c-span. we will bring you gavel-to-gavel coverage on c-span 2. you can watch the whole thing uninterrupted if you want to watch day 4 of the impeachment inquiry on c-span 3 where you can go for uninterrupted coverage throughout the day for the first panel with gordon sondland to the later panel expected to begin around 2:30 this afternoon. all of it you can listen to on c-span radio and online at c-span.org. tom in florida, republican, you are next. caller: good morning.

i would like to complement the major news stations for doing a great job brainwashing people about the president of the united states, but with regard to this action, this impeachment, it really gets weird when you get to the bottom line. nobody disputes that corruption needed to be investigated and eliminated in ukraine and paris being the poster child for corruption. this is about joe biden and hunter biden. -- president trump did not ask hunter biden to get on the board of burisma. he was there part of a very corrupt company. that is not donald trump's fault.

joe biden talked about it in the same way that is out in the public. when you get down to it, donald trump was mentioning stuff in the public arena and he is being impeached for it. it is really weird and dumb. want toi basically just make a statement on, i am an independent and i have tried so hard to get on board with republicans and like donald trump. after watching the inquiry and seeing how rude the republican counsel is to the people testifying, i don't think i want to be considered having to vote for him now. i did not vote for either clinton nor trump. i don't know that i will again, it was not a choice for me.

i did everyone else, but not a president. i am deciding i could not like him and could not like his counsel because of the way they are so rude. host: you don't think you will vote again? caller: i may vote again but i am not sure. i have not seen anything worth voting for. host: a lot of focus on iowa in the caucus is coming up. what is your expectation for what happens on february 3? theer: i think in iowa, people the majority are going for, it looks like maybe thinkicans are in but i -- is going to take iowa. host: this is then in

massachusetts, democrat -- ben in massachusetts, democrat line. caller: thank you for the call. those people who will never be a democrat again, i think they highlight a problem in the democratic family. who one of eight brothers served in the military since world war ii. proud of it. we are a goldstar family. , the rankingo say member of the committee on , talking about the calls of the investigation over the last two years, three years, one of the things i want to say to the public at large is that the republicans have been in charge of congress, all three

branches of government up until the first of january this year. democrats only took over in january of this year. was republicans controlling everything. everything that was investigated was on them. , assigning report him as a special counsel, that was under the republican administration. the investigations going on right now relative to the phone calls, coming out of the white whoe, all of those people heard what was said on the phone, who were assigned, they were assigned by a republican president. it is trump who runs the white house, not the democrats. host: it is just after 8:00 eastern here on capitol hill and

on the east coast. we are just under an hour away from day four of the open impeachment inquiry hearings. you can see more members of the media gathering ahead of that hearing. we are also watching the security area at the longworth house office building to see when the witness is come in. we will look sondland for gordon -- we will look for gordon sondland. he is the first witness to give testimony at 9:00 this morning. you can watch it all on c-span from 9:00 until 10:00 when the house comes in and then you can watch it uninterrupted on c-span3. -- for these open impeachment inquiry hearings. we are also keeping an eye on the twitter feeds of members of the intelligence committee. here is a few of them.

castro tweeting this out late last night that he is getting ready for tomorrow's impeachment hearings with a picture of what looks like some sort of studying material, perhaps for the questions he will be asking today when it gets to his turn. jim jordan about 15 minutes ago tweeting out an interview that he had within the past 24 hours with fox news, saying the american people see through the unfair impeachment process. seanis a tweet from patrick maloney, you will see him as well. one more time for the folks in the back, he writes, if you find yourself lying about a war hero, you should question your choices in life. lt. col. vindman is a patriotic and loyal officer. late last night just after 11:00 p.m. eastern. if you tweets and text from our viewers. what i have learned from the impeachment, we are living in a totally divided country and it breaks my heart.

one side seems to be living in an alternate universe. there are so many examples of trump's corruption over the last three years and before. one more from ryan greenberg saying thank you lt. col. vindman for your honorable service and your testimony, doing what is right because doing what is right will never be wrong. a few of the comments from twitter and text, we are looking for your facebook comments as well and we are answering your phone calls. (202)-748-8000 for democrats. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. this is rob, a republican from both carolina. caller: good morning. glad to finally get on and speak my mind. i grew up as a republican. republicanas been for 80 years.

my great-grandfather was republican, my grandfather is republican. in 1976, sitting in the republican headquarters wondering who gerald ford was when i was seven years old. a ronald reagan bumper sticker to school on the day he was elected. i will tell you one thing. donald trump was a democrat. he pulled our party into the dirt. he needs to be impeached. he is a terrible person. he was a playboy. what they are doing is right. be --you say he has to caller: he is trying to cheat. host: do you think he will be impeached in the house and do you think he will be convicted in the senate? caller: he will not be convicted in the senate because he has

created a cult that is not republicans. they all should be ashamed. nothingon did was compared to what he is doing. host: rob in north carolina. this is daniel, independent out of florida. caller: good morning. caller.with the last i am shocked to hear those words from a republican. that insulting vindman yesterday for wearing his uniform which is a requirement of the army is preposterous and childish. they just don't have anything to rebuff the impeachment with. was an inaccurate choice to ask a foreign government to

participate in this travesty and embarrassment to society that the president is in -- inflicting upon all of america. host: steve maryland, republican. -- steve in maryland, republican. caller: i had to go google this regarding lt. col. vindman. , and ih he is a lt. col. did 20 years of active duty, the proper form of address for lt. col. is colonel. he should know this. lt. col. vindman should know this. if you are in the military, if you address an officer as mr., you are subject to uniform code of military justice. the representative is not subject to uniform code of military justice. the whole conversation was preposterous and although it is a form of respect, lieutenant

col. vindman is not due that respect from a congressman. i thought he was out of order and pointing that out and insisting on being called lt. col., which actually should have been colonel. host: what about the larger story of the day, of the impeachment hearing? do you think either side got anywhere? caller: no. i have made up my mind. to me, politics is philosophy and i will just throw this bumper sticker solution out, jobs, trump, welfare. that is the way we should be going in this country. it is a political. host: that is steve in maryland. that is the hearing room on capitol hill where day four of the open peach mint -- open impeachment hearing will get underway in just about 50 minutes. we are a little over 24 hours away from a government shutdown if the house and senate do not

come together and the senate does not sign an effort to extend government funding. the first step of that process did take place yesterday when the house voted to extend government funding for another month, rushing at the new york off thattes to stave government shut down and set up a pre-christmas clash just as the house is likely to be considering impeaching president trump. a writ -- a continuing resolution passed the house. it is expected to pass the senate later this week. it will be signed by the president according to senator mitch mcconnell, the majority leader. he said that earlier this week on monday that government funding, continuing resolution did have a share of critics. some specifically objected to provisions related to extending or revising certain government surveillance powers traced back the 2001termath of

terrorist attacks. a provision shut down earlier this year that permitted the national security agency to access phone logs of the mystic americans. the same resolution would extend fbi surveillance powers such as allows agents to get court orders to obtain relevant business records or swiftly follow phone tapping a target that switches phones. we will keep you updated on what happens with government funding. gary is in connecticut on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to say first that i have always been a very patriotic american. i have been following the hearings very closely, and i have come to the conclusion that the president will be impeached by the house and not convicted by the senate. whether or not he wins the

election in 2020, it is not the bottom line, the bottom line is, what i have seen is a destruction of our republic, the divisiveness in this country has made me ill, physically ill. so much so that i am actually planning on leaving the country to live abroad because i feel my country has left me. i am not leaving my country. host: where would you move? caller: i would move to italy. back?would you ever come what would bring you back to the united states? -- ir: when people begin remember after 9/11 how wonderful everyone was toward one another. we were all americans, we were all in it together and locked arms and we were proud of our country. now it has reached a point where you can't have a civil conversation.

heartbreaking to see the very essence of our republic in danger. host: that is gary out of connecticut. this is rich out of wisconsin, independent. caller: good morning. i keep going back to the bottom-line. we have a transcript. we can read for ourselves what was going on. nothing happened. i am just curious. what can hunter biden bring to the table other than his father's name, and joe biden said it, where he bragged about s.o.b. getting that fired. you have six hours or i am out of here. that would have been toast for the ukrainian government and society in general. then we bring up alexander hill toldiona

morrison about his questionable character and conduct, how he had a thing about going around the chain of command. why would use -- why was ukraine offering this gentleman their secondary defense position, not once, not twice but three different times. how do they feel that comfortable with this individual .here they would offer that this is adam schiff's star witness? -- itnot just republicans is not just democrats. it is republicans also as we have become so corrupt and inept that we get to the point where we are heading for a shut down because they don't do their job. they are not working for the betterment of us. host: that is rich and wisconsin as we continue to show you the scenes inside the hearing room. we are 45 minutes away from gordon sondland taking the

witness table and testifying before the house intelligence committee. taking your phone calls until we get there. caller: good morning. i was there for the nixon impeachment and now the trump impeachment. , see a lot of similarities some of nixon's cronies going to jail beforehand. you had deep throat and now you have the whistleblower. think it was a little slow yesterday but i think. it will pick up today. host: why do you think it is -- but i think it will pick up today. host: why do you think it will pick up today? caller: stronger, more pertinent witnesses. the first two were pretty strong but the others kind of drug on. the biggest thing i can see the difference in between the nixon and trump impeachment is the

republicans came around during the nixon impeachment. they saw what was going on and some of them came around. this time we are so divided that they are actually believing the brainwashing of donald trump. the guy is unbelievable. like the other caller said, he will be impeached and then not convicted. host: this is willie out of washington, republican. morning.ood that thented to say previous caller from connecticut , i used to live in georgia and i could not stay there. i had to move to washington state. before i got here, i went to toronto, i wasn't comfortable there. i went back to georgia, decided ,o come to vancouver, canada

was not satisfied there so i settled outside seattle. you can't just go into canada and do what you want to do. your gps doesn't work, your cell phone doesn't work. it as a whole different thing when you go there. you just can't go to canada and get a job and all this other stuff. about the hearing, the congress has not passed a budget. they are working off of continued resolutions. whatever they are doing up there they are doing on a credit card. they could sit in a hearing room for 10 hours but they need to sit down and do a budget. i don't understand what they are doing. the jomini from connecticut who said he wanted to leave the country, i asked him to stay in this country. we have to fight. one more thing, at the democratic convention, there was a person that came up and let me

conned into work believing everyone should have a copy of the constitution. i have only seen the constitution in plaques or hanging on walls. we don't walk around with it in our pocket. those people are picking the constitution clean and hiding behind it. night, we arelast invaded now by gypsies. host: that is willie in washington as we continue to show you the hearing room where a member's of the media and members of the public are gathering ahead of today's day four of the open impeachment hearings. a photographer there waiting in the well as it is called. you will hear the cameras clicking the most during the swearing in of the witness but they will be gathered there throughout the morning.

you can see the print media and others at the tables behind the wheres there, the dais the photographers and intelligence committee will sit, republicans to the right and democrats to the left. one of the callers earlier brought up ukraine and the discussion surrounding money to ukraine. a story that came out yesterday from the l.a. times that got a lot of attention, it is by a security reporter with the l.a. times, talking about that money that was withheld from the ukraine. it turns out more than $35 million of the roughly $400 million in aid to ukraine that president trump delayed which sparked the impeachment inquiry, at $35 million still has not been released according to a pentagon spending document obtained by the l.a. times. instead the defense funding for ukraine remains in u.s. accounts according to the document. it is not clear why that money

has not been released and members of congress are demanding answers about it. that story came out just before 4:00 p.m. yesterday. an interesting moment caught by the c-span cameras yesterday came when that reporter was in the hearing room asking members of congress about her specific story including congressman mark meadows, republican for north carolina. c-span viewers might be wondering how it works when a member goes off the record to talk to reporters. mark meadows did it in front of the cameras yesterday when he was talking to mollie. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> are you aware that $35 million of that aid is still being held? >> limit go off the record and aid is still being held? >> limit go off the record and help you. that happens all the time. funds --ou did unobligated funds.

it is done hundreds of times each year. yesterday inadows that intelligence committee hearing room. we will have seven cameras in the hearing room. they will be roving as well during the breaks. we will see if we catch other members -- other moments when members go on-and-off the record. we will bring it to you live in unfiltered so you can view it for yourself. you can watch it in its entirety on c-span3. here on c-span we will be heading to the house for gavel-to-gavel coverage as is our mission at 10:00 when the house dabbles in. isaac is next out of baltimore, maryland, independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. can you hear me? host: yes or. caller: ok -- host: yes sir. caller: ok. i am externally interested in watching the impeachment inquiry today. i think there will be key testimony there that will make me decide whether or not i

believe donald trump should be removed from office. host: wide today versus other days? -- why today versus other days? caller: the way it has been set up so far, we have proven that there was aid withheld. first they were trying to set up whether or not aid was withheld and now we are going back and forth between quid pro quo and bribery but to me, i am still looking for that intent and i still have not seen that or a connection to donald trump intending to withhold these specifically, to investigate u.s. citizens. of the the testimony ambassador today will clear that up. briefly,nt to say real i believe there will be articles of impeachment. i believe donald trump has abused the power of his office and the public trust. it is sad that we are getting to

a point of our country where we are assuming that he is going to -- that the senate is just going to acquit him, let it slide and i think that if we show clear evidence of him doing something wrongful in trying to use his powers to help himself versus help the country, i find it hard for any senator to say that is ok. i will say that if there are any senators who feel that way, the senate and house -- the house is still democratic. shift.seeing the we are seeing democratic candidates winning in mostly red states and mostly red areas and the shift is coming. the senators can either be for country or be for party. come 2020, i think there is

going to be a seismic shift in our culture. host: will is next out of north carolina. a democrat. caller: good morning. call.hanking you for this i just want to make a couple comments here. first off i want to say that as a military person, retired, 20 plus years, taking care of my i actuallyus, retired and went to work for the state of north carolina for another 20 years. that is what i am all about. however, i am concerned about where our country is heading. i will sit and watch the ambassador whond is sort of like a mediator between our country and the other countries.

i have been trying to find some good things about mr. trump, the president but for him to sit there and use another country at the liaison to embarrass them and say that they are no good, you need to do something about that, that is a form of a threat and overpowering the people who he has put in place to protect our country. how can you have someone ambassador or military person that you are pointto -- to get your across, you're going to side with the other country and say you have wrong? our country is heading in the wrong direction and out of all

these things we are seeing right now, i would hope that since our country is supposed to be spiritual, i tell you, we are heading in the wrong direction. host: that is will in north carolina. this is bob out of south carolina, republican. caller: good morning, how are you doing today? i don't believe there is going to be in impeachment. host: why do you believe that or why don't you believe there will be? caller: i think this is all political. if the house votes on impeachment, that means it will go over to the senate. number one. senate,l give the controlled by the republican majority, the opportunity to call their witnesses to cross exam, unimpeded. don't want and they

that, number two, they talk about a quid pro quo, this, that and the other. the president of the ukraine said no quid pro quo. you have physical evidence, the document, the transcript, no quid pro quo. he said to look into corruption. job.is the president's taking our taxpayer money and before he releases it, he wants to know it is going to be well spent. the money was approved. that is a big difference when you tell someone to look into can, then if you telling a foreign country to dig on a fake russian

dossier that lies about a presidential candidate to overthrown election. host: that is bob in south carolina. we told you we would keep you up-to-date on the president takei tweets. he has been active in the last hour or so. one of them, the president referring to fox news report about impeachment saying the three year hoax continues and then this from the president, pointing to a headline in today's washington times, white house confidence grows as hearings where on. the president saying this is oft an attempted take down the republican party by the do-nothing democrats. it will never work. here is the headline, the front page of today's washington times, but the president was referring to. one other aspect of the hearing room we want to point out is those signs on the republican

side of the dais. three different signs. they have been changing through the course of the impeachment hearings. the left and right signs, the one of the left saying seven days since adam schiff claimed he did not know the identity of the whistleblower. and then 100 days since adam schiff learned the identity of the whistleblower. quotingle sign is speaker nancy pelosi, the colleague letter she put out monday talking about the impeachment process. this is the quote the republicans will likely be focusing on since they put it on a sign. response tohe weak these hearings has been let the election decide that only add to the urgency of our actions. part of what nancy pelosi wrote in her dear colleague letter to members on monday. our next caller out of illinois,

independent. caller: good morning. i would like to say that i am learning quite a bit. i had never been big on history but this is truly fascinating. i never really realized how the three branches support and checked each other. i am seeing that and i love it. i love the fact that we have the first amendment and everybody is getting a chance to speak their mind. what i am really afraid of is that the person that is winning putin.prudent -- is one man wants to leave the country, another wants to cut down the military. we have all known that america can only fall from the inside out. what is this an administration doing, it is hollowing out the government and now it has us at each other's throats. the russians have to be very happy. whatever they did, they are getting a big payoff.

we are losing. god bless america, i love everybody. truth has to win the day, not false delusions. read your constitution. host: you say you are learning about the checks and balances. i wonder your thoughts on how that system is working. do you think the checks are strong enough, do you think they have become too politicized? caller: everything is politics. this is america, everything is politics but what i am seeing, equal branches working. the house right now is doing an investigation. man whot to see if the is at 3500 lawsuits, who has multiple bankruptcies throughout this country, that this man has run his concho, could walk into

the white house, become a perfect man and not play the same con game he has always played. a bunch of seeing is fans -- host: you are going out a bit but think we've got your point. our next caller out of new york, democrat. caller: i wanted to say that i wish the people in the hearings would remind the american public that russia is our number one adversary in this world and that we are dedicated and committed to keeping ourselves safe and protected against that country and anything negative that happens in ukraine or crimea is a direct link to russia and that it is one of the worst things that could happen to us is to see us is not protecting and supporting countries that are helping us on a day-to-day basis and the other thing about the democrats and republicans, these are just

hearings, nobody is getting impeached, they are just trying to figure out if things have been done wrong. if everybody with the mueller report, democrats and republicans were happy on both sides. it proved things were being done that was wrong. people went to jail. paul manafort had to relinquish $40 million which went back to paying that cost. hearings, thehor republican say nothing happened and the president didn't get found guilty on anything but at the same time, a lot of his associates did wrong dealings and they were found guilty. hopefully the balance of power will persist and things will be even on both sides. we will find out at the end. host: that is j in new york. less than 30 minutes away from gordon sondland, expected to testify at 10:00 a.m. -- 9:00

a.m. eastern this morning. the house comes in at 10:00 eastern and you can see the republican council walking through the hallway, getting ready. devin nunes, the ranking member will likely yield to give a good time to the republican counsel, as will adam schiff yield time to the democratic counsel to ask their questions. the chairman and ranking member have those longer periods of questioning and answers. 45 minutes was the rule set through the legislation that has been governing how these impeachment inquiry hearings have been run. after the run through their questions, then it will revert to what c-span viewers are familiar with, five-minute rounds of questions when individual members on the panel will go back and forth and ask their questions. 9:00 a.m.dland at eastern and sometime around 2:30, we are expecting laura cooper and david hale.

laura cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense and ukrainian and eurasian affairs. david hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs. he is the third-highest ranking official at the state department under mike pompeo. a story this morning getting some attention about secretary of state mike pompeo, time noting that mike pompeo is searching for a safe exit from the state department ahead of a potential senate run. just to read you that story. the secretary of state has told three prominent republicans that he plans to resign from the trump administration to run for the u.s. senate in kansas in next year's election. a former congressman from kansas, but the problem time rights is how to get out in one piece. his plan had been to remain at the state department until early recentnext year but development including the house

impeachment inquiry are hurting him politically and straining his relationship with trump. pompeo is rethinking that calendar. if you want to read more on that story, it is time.com. our next caller on the republican line. caller: good morning, c-span has been doing a great job. i follow you most of the time. i think these hearings are essential and need to be done. we need to bring the truth to the forefront. however, i think the female congresswoman who put the whole thing in perspective when she asked key questions, has anything heard anything about bribery. to me, that just set back everything. we have to look at this whole picture from 30,000 feet. ever since hillary didn't win, there has been an effort to knock this man out of the white house. we need to give the man an

opportunity. i hate this twitter stuff, he needs to put the thing to bed. but let's be honest, let's work and let's be professional. host: do you think the president will keep tweeting during the hearings or about witnesses who are testifying? caller: i would hope he would stop. let these people speak and give their say-so. let the truth come forward. like, washington smells they have taken mother's picture and turned it to the wall. host: this is the president from just about six minutes ago talking about the speaker of the house. nancy pelosi will go down as the least productive speaker in the history of the house. +3 and dominated by aoc the radical left. mexico and canada after waiting six months for approval are ready to flee. too bad. the latter part of his tweet

referring to the u.s.-mexico-canada agreement, umca.u mca -- the our next caller. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: first of all i would like to say that i am an older person. i -- i raise when my hand and put my -- and put it across my heart and say the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i was taught that about who the president is, you respect them. you don't say anything bad about a sitting president. all my life i have lived my life that way. i always voted independent because i voted for the person and not for a party. i haveto say, right now been following the pete -- the

impeachment inquiry every day. it is the biggest spectacle i have seen in my life. anything. say wordsit there and mutter but they are not saying anything. the only person i can actually say made any sense at all was the senator from new york -- i'm sorry the congresswoman from new york. i don't know what is happening i speak tobut everybody. i don't care what their political belief is. i speak to everybody and i get along with everyone. is a man who did not have to run for this country.

he was a billionaire. he doesn't take a salary. he has done so much for this country in three short years. usmca.a proposal for host: we will stop right there so that we can let viewers know that gordon sondland just walked into the security area of the office building. you can see his entourage in tow. there is ambassador sondland going through security, collecting his briefcase on the others. likely has counsel with him. he will be making his way to the waiting room before coming out into the full committee hearing room at 1100. him again ineing about 20 minutes and we will try to catch him with our cameras in the hallways as well as he makes

his way to that hearing room as we hear from michelle out of los angeles, a democrat. caller: good morning. i have been following the hearings and i have to say i was impressed with daniel goldman who was a counsel for the democrats when he was questioning tim morrison. that tim realize morrison and volker refer the republicans -- were for the republicans. i could not figure out why they were so hesitant to answer questions about the ukrainian investigations being tied to aid. mr. goldman got tim morrison to the investigation was aid.to the thatnk that that shows us even though the investigations sometimes are boring, if you

were listening, they are saying a lot. that last lady from florida, saying they weren't saying anything, i think it depends what you were listening to. i am finding it very interesting. host: we will get a lot more today starting at 9:00 a.m. eastern. three more witnesses set to testify. we just showed you gordon sondland making his way to the waiting room before coming out and about 20 minutes. more news coming out about gordon sondland. this from michael schmidt of the new york times. pompeo knew about sondland and volker's efforts to get the ukrainians to put out a statement they hoped would appease president trump. pompeo also okayed a plan to zielinski make a commitment to trump in person to unlock the logjam between the two countries. that is new reporting this morning from michael schmidt. 's article posted at about 8:21

a.m. eastern. just two paragraphs. mr. sondland informed mr. pompeo in mid august about a draft statement that mr. sondland and another american diplomat had worked on with the ukrainians that they hoped would persuade mr. trump to grant ukraine's new president the oval office meeting he was seeking. later that month mr. sondland discuss with mike pompeo the disc -- the possibility of pushing the ukrainian president to pledge during a planned meeting with trump in warsaw that he would take the steps being sought by trump as a way to break that logjam. mr. pompeo expressed his approval of the plan but mr. trump later canceled his trip to poland. expect more questions today to gordon sondland about those aspects of the timeline and who knew what and when. greg in south carolina, republican. you are next. are you with us this morning? caller: good morning.

thank you for taking michael. -- taking my call. that always seems to touch base with me is have you ever noticed that when it gets to voting, the democrats restrict the democrats, republicans are republicans. how is it that nobody can jump either side? right is right and wrong is wrong. we are supposed to be americans as human beings but when it comes to politics it is about what is right for them and not what is right for all of us. once this goes through, you will see all the democrats against trump and all the republicans will be for trump. why isn't there anyone on the opposite side going if he has done something wrong, it's wrong. there is no back and forth. why is that never mention because it seems almost unfair because when you go to a real court of law, you've got 12 jurors. host: you were calling in on the

line for republicans. than was the last time you jumped sides. caller: i never did. 52 years old and never voted until trump. anyone.t stand for if it is not who our favorite is, it is like we are against them. if it is our president, you should take pride. you don't have to like who they are but you should still have the respect for them, just like you have the respect for your mother and father, your teachers, where has the respect gone? politics, it is almost a numbers game. it is a favorite. it is almost being the bully of the class. if he's wrong, that he should be found wrong by all of us. host: that is greg in south carolina. stephen is out of pennsylvania, independent as we continue to show you members of the media. more and more cameras and video

cameras taking their positions in front of the witness stand where gordon sondland will be in just about 15 minutes. you can see all of those cameras , those videographers, still cameras, they will all be standing until gordon sondland comes in. stephen in pennsylvania, independent. caller: good morning john. i have been paying attention to the hearings. i have also been listening to c-span and some of the twisted narratives being used to support the president. i am hearing -- i am going to borrow a phrase from lake representative elijah cummings, factually unfounded opinions and i am wondering why people choose, willingly choose to ignore reality and all i can come up with is it is just a

religious cult. faith are being led down the wrong path. do you believe me or your lying eyes? their faith isy being attacked by things they just can't defend so they choose to push it off to the side. i guess that is my comment. i wish it was different. i think the witnesses are great. i think everyone is doing their best. i think that america needs to be aware of half-truths. they are more dangerous than lies. host: stephen in pennsylvania this morning. one tweet from betsy of the daily beast getting a peek at the opening statement of gordon sondland, saying that in that opening statement he says that

the state leadership exactly what he was doing, quoting ouron sondland saying efforts were reported and approved and not wants to buy remember encountering objection. as we have seen already, some witnesses don't necessarily stick to their opening statements but that is bets three -- that is betsy jakey reporting about what we will hear from gordon sondland in just a few minutes. this is tom in pittsburgh, california, a democrat. caller: good morning. the way i look at this impeachment inquiry is like a grand jury. a grand jury listens to the , toimony, the evidence determine if there was enough to go to trial. basically what i am seeing here , a character assassination. you have the witnesses coming

up, telling the facts as it is. they are not partisan. basically they are telling what they know. a rancheria, you listen but what they are having here is you are having people attacking the witnesses. their character. stick to the facts. if you have something you question about the facts, but they are attacking the witnesses. this goes against the entire system when you have people attacking these witnesses. you even have the president tweeting. this is becoming bizarre. the other thing is that we have the possibility of another shut down. when i see what is happening here, and at this goes again, there were a lot of people at the last shutdown that i know who left the federal government because they got tired of the shutdowns. if this happens again, we are

going to watch a lot more qualified people we need in those positions leave because they are just going to be fed up with it. that is all i have to say about it. host: tom in california. time for me be one more call before we take you to the hearing room live. edgar in tennessee, republican. caller: i just wanted to say that donald trump did say one-time about investigating, asking for a favor. he did not say but one time. he did not keep on repeating it. he heard from his attorney about the bidens. had toup in the 60's and get drafted. i retired e-7. i was in the honor guard with general eisenhower. i got inspected by bradley. we are going to have to heal this country because it has gotten out of hand. donald trump is not guilty.

i was a democrat but now i am a republican. host: that was out last caller on today's washington journal. a reminder you can watch uninterrupted coverage of the fourth day of the house open impeachment inquiry hearings on c-span --ee3 -- c-span3. we will head to the house now but a reminder room -- a reminder we will be going to live gavel-to-gavel coverage when the house dabbles in at 10:00 and we will be back here on the washington journal tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. 1100e take you live to longworth -- house office building.

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