thanks to all of you for watching. we hope to see you right here next week. ♪ ♪ arthel: [inaudible] for the weekend, the latest witness appearing before house panels under the order of a subpoena after the tate department directed him -- state department directed him not to show up and tried to limit his testimony. hello, everyone, welcome to a brand new hour of "america's news headquarters," i'm arthel neville. eric: thank you for joining us, i'm eric shawn. well, they're working overtime on capitol hill, a rare saturday session. house lawmakers met another witness today, his name is philip reeker, the acting assistant secretary for european and eurasian affairs. he is right now behind closed

doors and likely all this afternoon facing questions about the ouster of the u.s. ambassador to ukraine. meanwhile, both sides sparring over the entire process. democrats insisting that they are obeying the regulations in this impeachment, but republicans say not so. >> i think that it's very important to understand we're not having a hearing right now, we're having depositions. we're having an investigation. we are fact finding. >> the house rules are silent on the procedure for impeachment. when the house rules are silent, then the precedent becomes binding, and it's the precedent that the democrats are ignoring. eric: for more, let's go to rich edson who's at the white house today. hi, rich. >> reporter: good afternoon, eric. the state department has objected to these sessions, urging top state department officials to refuse to engage in these conversations with congressional committees. secretary of state mike pompeo has argued that there are no

administration attorneys present for these sessions and, therefore, the officials should skip them. some former and current diplomats have complied anyway. congress has subpoenaed others like today with acting assistant secretary of state philip reeker. and democrats say this inquery will continue. >> well, you know, i'm not allowed to say, so i can't tell you -- [inaudible] i've known him for a number of years. i think he's being honest -- [inaudible] >> r eporter: this is all part of that broader congressional inquiry into whether president trump pressured the ukrainian government by withholding security assistance to that government in order to get them and their new president to investigate the bidens in a politically motivated investigation. to that, president trump tweeted

this morning, quote: the ukraine investigation is just as corrupt and fake as all the other garbage that weapon on before it. congressional democrats are continuing to push the administration for these fines of interviews -- types of interviews in their inquiry. eric. eric: eric meanwhile, the democrats picked up what's considered a major win. >> reporter: they did. this was a federal judge deciding that the department of justice must provide grand jury information, all part of that mueller investigation. top democrat on the house judiciary committee said, quote: the court's thoughtful ruling recognizes that our impeachment inquiry fully comports with the constitution and thoroughly rejects spurious white house claims to the contrary. this grand jury information that the administration has tried to block the house from seeing will be critical to our work. his republican counterpart, congressman doug collins, wrote, quote: this ruling is dangerous

for every american. the grand jury secrecy rules exist to protect innocent people against public disclosure of information and hearsay that could unfairly harm them. this is part of the democrats' investigation into whether the president obstructed the special come's investigation. the white house has had no comment on this decision. congressman collins says he is looking forward to an appeal. the administration can appeal this decision, and that is expected. back to you, eric. eric: rich, thanks very much for the latest. arthel: we are just 100 days from the ah caucuses. -- iowa caucuses. several of the top democratic contenders are in another early voting state. kristin fisher is following the candidates live in columbia, south carolina. hi, kristin. >> reporter: hey, arthel. well, things here have become quite tense between the two black democratic presidential candidates and the original sponsors of this forum. the bipartisan justice center, senators cory booker and kamala

harris are upset that that president trump was given an award here at this forum yesterday, they're upit that more students at this historically black students were not allowed in yesterday to hear him speak, and they're also upset that president trump did not have to answer any questions like all of the democratic candidates are having to do on stage today. >> the fact of the matter is donald trump was given an award. he was given a platform. he was unchecked for close to an hour. the bipartisan justice center allowed him to create an illusion that he had support from hbcus. he does not have the support of communities like in that he actively demeans and disempowers. >> reporter: things got so tense that senator kamala harris actually pulled out of this forum yesterday. as of just a few hours ago, she was not going to be here, prompting president trump to tweet this, quote: badly failing presidential candidate will not

go to a very wonderful, largely african-american event today because yesterday i received an award for being able to produce and sign into law major criminal justice reform. now, the president's referring to the first step act which, among other things, allows several prisoners to reduce their time behind bars by earning credits for good behavior. but booker and harris say that shouldn't be enough to receive this criminal justice award, an award that harris actually won a few years ago. and she refused to speak here today until the group that gave president trump that award yesterday was removed as sponsor. now, organizers of this event say they're a little upset that that has become, this back and forth has become such a big piece of today and not criminal justice reform in and of itself. but that's where we are, arthel. and kamala harris, she just got off the stage about half an hour ago. she's gaggling with reporters, and we'll bring you some of that sound in about an hour. arthel? arthel: okay. live at benedict college, kristin fisher, thank you.

eric: former vice president joe biden's campaign says now they are open to accepting money from a super pac. this marks a major reversal from mr. biden. he tweeted this back in april, quote: i've said it before and i'll say it again, we need to reject the super pac system. that's exactly what this campaign is doing. well, now the campaign's trying to explain the change of heart, releasing this statement late last week saying, quote: in this time of crisis in our politics, it's not surprising that those who are dedicated to defeating donald trump are organizing in every way permitted by current law to bring an end to his disastrous presidency. and in an upcoming "60 minutes" interview, mr. biden was asked about his democratic rivals outpacing him so far on funraising. >> you've left the $9 million in the bank. bernie sanders has nearly $34 million in the bank. senator warren has $26 million. how do you compete against that? >> i just flat beat them.

[laughter] we're on course to do extremely well. i'm not worried about being able to fund this campaign. i really am not, truly. eric: that interview joins us tomorrow night on "60 minutes" republican senator scott brown of massachusetts and the managing director at the levinson group. how serious do you think are joe biden's money problems? enter well, he's either spending too much or not taking in enough, or it might be both. you've got donors publicly complaining about his use of private jets, and you've got not enough funds coming in. so, look, at the end of the day i've run a super pac, and i've run a campaign, and super pacs can do a lot of things, but they can't fill in for a candidate who can't frame his own, his opponents in a negative way to give voters, you know, a reason not to vote for them. look, i thought joe biden's candidacy was doomed from day one. it's taken longer than i naught, but i think you'll start to see him really fall fast. eric: isn't that a little extreme, saying his candidacy is

doomed? >> well, i've been saying it all along, so i'm going to stick with it. but i do believe it is doomed, and here's why, eric. joe biden's entire campaign was based on the predicate that he was the one best equipped to defeat donald trump. here's the issue with that, every other candidate basically in the top five also can defeat donald trump, and when joe biden -- at some point bernie sanders or elizabeth warren, one of those two is not going to be in this race, and all of those voters, they ain't gonna coalesce behind joe biden, they're going to go behind either sanders or warren. joe biden is hardly ahead in the polls. when those votes coalesce behind one figure, i think that the joe biden candidacy at that point my prediction will come true. eric: can a super pac change that? can just pulling more money into a campaign -- we saw it happen with hillary clinton, they were constantly complaining that their burn rate was unbelievable. can more money fix other issues in campaigns in.

>> no. having a lot of super pac money on your side when you don't have a candidate who can drive a message, it's like in football having a really are good place kicker when you don't have a quarterback. a super pac can help around the margins, but it can't drive you down the field, it can't get you in position to be close to winning. and, you know, we saw this with hillary clinton, as you referenced. she had all this money, and let me put it this way, eric, good campaigns don't run out of money. they just don't. the donors get attracted to a winner, everybody wants to be with a candidate they think is going to do well, and when the funds start drying up, there's reasons for it. eric: hey, colin, what is it and what do you do? because you've run a super pac. what do super pacs -- >> i don't anymore. i have in my past life, i've run a super pac. what they can do is they can do things on the outside, but they cannot coordinate with the campaign. so what you can do is in many ways, target the opponents of a candidate and help provide air coffer. but, again, joe biden's

candidate i is flat, it's listless. at these debates he's a nonfactor. the last debate no one even bothered to golf -- go after him. eric: his campaign would differ with that view. but the democratic debate margin has been increased. you've got to get 4% in four polls. are we going to see some win knowing now, do you think, in the next debate? >> well, i hope so because at that point we're 100 days away from iowa now, at that point we'll be a whole lot closer, and these debates are the last moments to really draw distinctions between them. you saw in new hampshire in the 2016 republican debate governor governor christie in new new hampshire, he wasn't going to win, but he made sure might maro rubio didn't win ever. and there are moments that haven't happened, with the exception of senator harris decimating joe biden back in june, but that was kind of the end of that. eric: all right.

colin reeled, thank you for your insight. >> thanks, eric. arthel: breaking news on a horrific story overseas. u.k. police now charging a a truck driver with 39 counts of manslaughter after 39 people were found dead in a truck in southern england wednesday. and those charges are not all of his legal troubles. kitty logan is live in london with more. kitty? >> reporter: that's right, arthel. this 25-year-old truck driver has been charged with people trafficking after those bodies were found in a locked and sealed container near to a dock yard toward the east of london last wednesday. now, police have also questioned that truck driver for several days now, and they have arrested a fifth person in connection with this case as well. now, that truck is thought to have crossed over from belgium overnight to the u.k., and it's thought that the people who were found dead in the back of the

truck had been locked in, they'd been trying to reach the u.k. illegally but that had no chance to escape at all. the question is who put them in there. we don't know that yet, but police also want to know how this truck was able to pass through security with those people hidden in the back despite very strict security or procedures in place at port. now, this could be because this container was refrigerated which obscured the thermal detection technology. forensics teams are also working hard to try to establish the identity of the dead which is no easy task at all. the victims were originally thought to be chinese migrants, but since then a family in vietnam have said they received a farewell text from their daughter exactly at the time when that truck was passing through, saying that her daughter could not breathe and was going to die. now, this family say that their daughter had paid traffickers in the hopes of pursuing a new life in britain, and many other

vietnamese families now say they're also waiting for news of missing loved ones. the governor in vietnam also helping british police with that investigation. and, arthel, this is one of the deadliest cases of people smuggling in britain in recent years. police now widening that investigation to find out exactly who was behind this and what kind of networks put those people in the back of that truck. arthel? arthel: very sad. kitty logan, thank you. eric: nearly a million homes and businesses in california will be likely in the dark tonight. firefighters battling fast-moving wildfires throughout the state. why this sweeping power shutdown, they say, could last for days. >> concern is even though the fire might appear to be out or less smoky isn't good. the wind can pick up that fire and make it burn more intense and even areas that have already burned are susceptible to burning again. lmost ready.

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if it's connected, it's protected. call, click, or visit a store today. arthel: california's largest utility company will shut off power for nearly one million customers tonight from the bay area up to wine country. it's a drastic precautionary measure as wildfires continue burning across the state. christina coleman is in southern california close to where the firefighters are battling the tick fire.

christina? >> reporter: well, that's right, arthel. the tick fire now 25% contained. you can see the damage it has caused here. this is one of 18 structures that was either damaged or destroyed by this fire. lots of people walking by here. it has been just heartbreaking for neighbors and the people, of course, who live here. as of now at least 1300 firefighters are working around the clock to make sure this fire doesn't spread any further. it's burned at least 4600 acres so far. at least 40,000 people were under mandatory evacuations for the fire, that evacuation has been lifted for about half of those residents. however, fire crews worry that the wind could pick back up. >> sunday evening we expect a pretty significant santa ana cycle to move into the area again. so it's an incident priority for us right now to continue to shore up and reinforce our containment lines so if that wind does kick up, it's not

going to cause any hot, smoldering debris to get hurled into burned vegetation and we start seeing that rapid rate of spread again. >> reporter: this morning the sheriff's office issued a mandatory evacuation for residents who could be impacted by the kincaide fire, they're ordered to evacuate by 4:00 this afternoon before pg&e begins another large blackout tonight. the kincaide fire is northeast of geyserville in sonoma county. the new evacuation orders could affect approximately 50,000 people. state officials say they are trying to prevent the devastating outcome of the wildfires that tore through california wine country in 2017. >> we are in a position where we are reliving something, but we're ahead of it. it's going to test our resolve. everybody in our community needs to get the heck out of the way of the first responders so they can do their job. >> reporter: and the governor is going to be having a press conference soon on possible

power outages tonight and ways to protect senior citizens and some of the vulnerable communities. back to you, arthel. arthel: christina coleman, thank you. eric? eric: a very rare interview now, one of the highest level officials ever to detect from north korea. defect. he says kim jong un only respond to the u.s. being tougher, not nicer, and he has no doubt the korean dictator himself approved the arrest and torture of otto warmbier. >> everybody in north korea is terrified, so so everyone if they challenge the system and the leader, they would be instantly sent to gulag. eric: he is the highest ranking diplomat to ever defect. the former deputy ambassador in london dutifully served kim jong un's regime but now fights against it. he spoke in new york at a gathering dedicated to human rights. >> north koreans are 21st

century slaves. eric: he says sanctions against north korea need to be increased, not reduced, to force kim to change his ways. >> while it is clear that kim will not denuclearize north korea, then i think the american administration should build up more of the sanctions and also the economic and military pressure. at this moment very favorable conditions are created for kim to buy time with his nuclear weapons. eric: so you feel what the u.s. has been doing has actually helped kim. >> oh, not actually helping, but it's not enough to force or pressure kim to finally give up his nuclear weapons. he wants to raise north korea's rank, same with russia, china, america, all the other big players as one of his nuclear

states. so i think we should tell to kim regime that that is the wrong choice. as long as kim keeps his nuclear weapons and icbms, as long as he keeps the capability to attack america, i think, you know, we should let kim and his regime feel that it is wrong choice. eric: he says north korea's financial system should be targeted and calls for more pressure on china and disrupting north korea's illegal shipping that keeps kim's regime afloat. as a member of kim's diplomatic corps, he says he enjoyed fine restaurants to what we take for granted, electricity day and night, saying that's how kim retains his iron grip on power, providing money luxuries to the ruling class that supports him. >> north korea is a closed society. there is no internet and then there is no critical media.

the peoples, you know, eyes and ears are totally bribed. the whole system is segregated. eric: and he has no doubt kim knew about the fate of otto warmbier, the 22-year-old ohio student who was falsely accused, arrested, tortured and sent home to die two years ago. >> kim jong un was reported, he was informed, you know, that is for sure. he must be responsible for the death of otto warmbier. but some people call he is a nice guy. how can the american leaders call kim jong un a nice guy while one of his innocent, you know, young university students was killed in this country. eric: otto's parents, cindy and fred, have continued their effort to find justice for their son and for all the victims of kim's brutal regime. as for the former ambassador, he says he will continue to speak out and along with the other

speakers who attended the oslo freedom forum, they say they should all stand in solidarity with those who seek freedom around the globe. arthel? arthel: eric, thank you. u.s. troops deployed to syria after president trump ordered others to withdraw. we're live on the ground next. about medicare and 65, ysupplemental insurance. medicare is great, but it doesn't cover everything - only about 80% of your part b medicare costs,

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kraft. for the win win. saturpain happens. aleve it. aleve is proven stronger and longer on pain than tylenol. when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong. eric: the u.s. is preparing to deploy hundreds of troops to eastern syria, some 1,000 american soldiers being withdrawn from a separate mission near the turkish border. defense ec secretary mark esper saying it's to keep the oil fields from potentially falling into the wrong hands. >> we are taking some actions to insure that we can deny isis access to the oil fields, because we want to make sure they tonight have access to the resources that a may allow them to strike within the region, to strike europe, to strike the united states. eric: live right now in northern

syria, benjamin hall. benjamin in. >> reporter: yeah, good evening from syria, eric. the last few days the shaky ceasefire has been barely holding together, but what we're hearing today is that ceasefire may now be crumbling. about 50 miles west of where we are now, there has been a major incursion into a kurdish majority town using artillery, mortars and drone strikes. soldiers have been killed, we're hearing civilians have also been heard and all this taking place as the u.s. army is sending both troops and mechanized units into the oil fields. that is where secretary of defense esper sees they will stay the, where president trump says they will stay, but that will have no effect on the clashes up north along the turkish border. and today we met with families who have fled from this recent fighting. they told us how radical islamic fighters once allied with al-qaeda are now fighting for turkey, how they went knocking door to door trying to find kurds, kidnapping some,

murdering some, torturing some. they also burned houses to the ground. and we've also been hearing about suspected chemical weapons use. these soldiers described to us the horrible burning sensation after shells landed near them and how they tried to rub sand on their wounds to stop the agony. tests are now going underway in norway and fin lan to find out what -- finland to find out what chemicals have been used. >> about 30 fighters or have come back from the front lines over the last few weeks bearing these mysterious burns all over their bodies. the worst cases have been flown to iraq and one to france. the doctors here believe it is white froes rouse, and -- phosphorous, and if that is the case, it is a violation of the chemical weapons treaty. so, certainly numerous accusations of war crimes against turkey. turkey is denying all of them, but the fact is this ceasefire is crumbling, it seems, and the next few days are going to be

very dangerous, indeed, with all of the different forces piling into this part of northern syria. eric? eric: benjamin, thank you so much. arthel: we're going to bring in former deputy assistant secretary of state, joel rubin. what is turkey doing, what is russia doing? >> yeah, arthel, turkey is about to engage in ethnic cleansing, and russia is backing them up. and it's really tragic because we had our foot on the neck, essentially, of isis. we defeated them, and now donald trump is taking it off. and i understand why he claims he wants to bring our troops home, but as you hearing from this report as well, our troops aren't coming home. they're going to iraq, they're staying in syria, and turkey now feels free rein to engage in massacring our kurdish allies who helped us defeat isis, and it's a real tragedy. arthel: yeah. and the troops that went to iraq, iraq saying you didn't ask me if you could bring your troops over there. you've got one month to get them out of here.

meanwhile, i want to show you a tweet from brett mcgurk, former special presidential envoy to the middle east, as you know, to defeat isis. he worked under presidents bush, obama and trump. syria, last 24 hours, u.s. military returns to guard oil fields. thousands of refugees stream in other direction into northern iraq. erdogan threatens again to do the cleansing work in kurdish areas. u.s. forces left to russia and assad. incoherentment so, joel -- incoherent. so, joel, has president trump relinquished all u.s. power to combat or offset the rapid damage being done by erdogan and putin? >> he has. i have to say it straight like youd asked, he absolutely has. he compounded it not just by giving the green light to erdogan to invade northern syria and have our troops who were acting as a buffer, they were peacekeepers.

they were not engaged in active combat. when he removed them, he gave the green light to turkey. but even this week he falsely claimed that the ceasefire was holding and he would, therefore, relax and take away american sanctions on turkey, thereby essentially telling erdogan you're free to do what you want. and now erdogan made a deal with russia, russia is the big power, and at a strategic level that means now we'd have to take on russia to get back in, and that's not going to happen. we really have very few levers to influence what's happening on the ground. arthel: meanwhile, president trump is saying u.s. troops will go back in to protect the oil fields in eastern syria. how many troops would really be needed for this, and will they try to reenlist help from the kurds? >> this is the highly debatable, and this is the danger with the way that the president enacted this policy. he did not plan it out. there was no interagency process with the dod to secure oil fields. so now they're going in, but

it's not even clear that that's a big priority, quite frankly. oil fields in the past, they were used to fund isis, then we destroyed them through air raids. it's not quite sure what the actual purpose is. he may find it attractive, there are others who want us to creep back in and think that's a way to begin to do that. but from a policy perspective, the oil fields are very insignificant, quite frankly. certainly to our oil use here at home. the big issue is turkey's incursion now into an ethnic cleansing operation against the kurds and russia's stronghold right there. those are the big issues that we're not grappling with and that we should be. arthel: so far you've got 900 square miles that have been seized by turkish and russian forces, 160,000 kurdish civilians have been displaced. so will the kurds, all all divisions, be slaughtered or is there really a deal with the devil that can save them? >> well, the kurds thought they had a deal with the devil, and

that devil being assad of syria. and they thought he would provide protection, but that protection hasn't come. russia controls assad. will russia step in and potentially protect them? but the big question hovering over all of this is then what? what about the three and a half million syrians sitting in southern turkey? will they be pushed into those cleared areas, creating a violation of the geneva conventions of a mass population transfer in the process? none of these are addressed. but we need to have a robust, frankly, robust international diplomatic discussion now with urgency to insure that these issues get discussed and resolved. but that time was before we left. we still have to try to do it, but those are the issues right now that are very serious and, yes, i think an ethnic cleansing is very much in the offing potentially from turkey. arthel: finally, joel with, what about isis? will isis regroup again? not necessarily as a caliphate, but enough to seriously threaten the u.s. and european allies?

>> so think of it, if you're the kurds who have been fighting isis and they lost 31,000 plus -- 11,000 plus soldiers at our request when they combated isis fighters, they were the ones protecting and guarding against isis. now they're defending for their lives, they're protecting their families. isis is the last thing on their mind. and we also have many problems with turkey related to isis over the years, and the turks did not view isis as their threat, they view kurdish militias as their threat. isis, they're not going to be guarded by the kurds. so what happens then? we have isis free. arthel: and they're not just, quote, over there. joel rubin, we have to leave it there. thank you very much for your analysis. >> thanks, arthel. eric: well, nbc news reporter says that president trump's personal attorney rudy giuliani, well, accidentally called him and was overheard discussing money as well as the bidens. jacqui heinrich live in our new york city newsroom with a lesson on how to turn i off your phone. [laughter]

>> reporter: hey, eric. that reporter, rich shapiro, spoke to giuliani by phone earlier in the evening and evidently giuliani redialed him accidentally, leaving a three minute voicemail while that reporter was asleep at 11 p.m. giuliani can be heard talking to what sounds like a man in the same room as him. it's unclear exactly what the context of the conversation is, but he begins by saying a man named charles would have had a hard time with the fraud case because he didn't do his due diligence. later giuliani tells the other man he needs to get him on the rein and needs a few hundred thousand dollars. he inquire withs about a man named robert who's in turkey, but the reporter he calls says it's actually not the first time he's gotten a butt dial from the president's lawyer. just a few weeks ago he got another voicemail from giuliani where he spent three minutes disparaging the bidens repeating the claim that joe biden prevented the investigation of a

ukrainian gas company because his son hunter was on the board. president trump had been eager for ukraine to investigate that claim, and the basis of the impeachment inquiry seems to -- seeks to find out whether he withheld military aid to that end. in the recording, giuliani says he has the truth on his side. >> plenty more to come out. >> reporter: the accidental calls might have gotten the president's attention. he tweeted last night to tim, as in the ceo of apple, the button on the iphone was far better than the swipe. so far still no comment from giuliani the's camp. eric. eric: thanks so much. arthel: if you love avocados, a

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and twenty-seven vitamins and minerals. ensure, for strength and energy. ♪ ♪ arthel: so here's something startling, drug crimes south to have border may affect the supply and price of avocados. yep, drug cartels are looking to cash in on southwestern mexico's export business that brings in more than $2 billion a year. not only that, the u.s. government says it won't put health inspectors in harm's way, meaning avocados won't be checked before they are sheped north. here in the -- shipped north. here in the u.s. consumption is soaring. in 2017 the average american ate seven and a half pounds of avocados. and by law, the bulk has to be imported mostly from mexico. danny coulson is here, former fbi assistant executive director and the rescue team commander: let's jump right in, danny.

so what's happening here, you have got small scale growers being forced to take arms some with ar-15s to fight off these drug cartels looking to infiltrate their businesses. can the farmers stand up to the drug cartels? >> oh, no, they clearly can't. we talk about a lot of things on your show, and this is the first time we've really talked about avocados, but this is a very, very important topic because it shows the inability of the mexican government to protect its own economy. this activity is a great boon to the mexican people. small businesses, small farms can actually thrive. but now because of the wealth, these criminal organizations are coming in and trying to disrupt it, trying to profit by the other people's work. and i think really it's ultimately a protection racket. i think they know, these cartels know that this is so important to mexico that they will -- i think what they're going for here is they will protect the

avenue cad toe growth because they know -- avocado growth because they know that the mexican government cannot -- arthel: how would that work then? how does that work if the drug cartels take over the orchards, how does that work if they're protecting it, as you just point out in. >> i don't think they would do that, not production, but they would see to it nobody disrupted the production. they do that down there -- arthel: do they get a percentage? they get a cut? >> there'd be a variety of different ways to do it. it would be a set price or maybe a cut or something. but maybe the old protection rackets in new york city run by the mafia, it's exactly the same thing. we'll protect you, but you got to pay part of it. it's really a shame for the mexican people. arthel: it is. let's listen to one lime grower on this subject. [speaking spanish] >> translator: in the last two weeks, they attacked two packing factories. that's the source of work for everyone. if the business owners were to

close their plants, the region's economy would come crashing down. arthel: i mean, it's really horrible. and can we trust drug cartels to make sure most of the profits go to the farmers so the farmers don't get completely cut out of the deal? >> well, you not only trust them, you pay them. they become a part of the enterprise. these are like mini governments down there now where they'll do protection rackets, obviously, their drug production and distribution. but it's a shame the mexicans can't control their own crime problem. the basic responsibility of a government is security and order, and they can't to that. now, about the only entity down there are the mexican marines. they're confident, and they can actually to this. but the mexican government has to step up and say we're going to do it. arthel: why won't they? >> that's a really, really good question. i think they need to totally reorganize their criminal justice system, their police departments. they should go to colombia, see what colombia did against farc

and model them, because they're good now. i work in colombia a lot, and they've got it. their government gets it. farc is among longer a major is. they're the hardest working people in the world, and their people deserve security and an opportunity to thrive, and right now they're not getting it. arthel: let's listen to an avocado producer. [speaking spanish] >> translator: that is the image we project. sec, it brings more -- second, it brings more insecurity. we wake up hoping that it doesn't affect us, but our negotiation is very important because our united states is our most important client. arthel: wrapping up here, danny, can or should the u.s. intervene? you have got the u.s. department of agriculture warning that it could withdraw orchard or inspectors without, of course, as you know without animal and plant health inspection service, can we even trust the safety of avocados from mexico? >> i don't think we can. not until they cut some kind of a deal. and i really hope mexico steps

up here. they have the capability in certain limited situations. but across the board there's corruption there. we recently saw the big shootout between the government and the cartels where the government lost are. so it's really a troubling situation. and it needs to get -- we need mexican economy the thrive. it's good for our country, it's good for them too. arthel: it's really sad for the farmers mainly. i have to leave it there though, danny coulson. thank you, see you again soon. >> thank you, ma'am. it's always a pleasure. arthel: likewise. eric: protesters returning to the streets of chile today despite the president promising to raise the minimum wage and pensions, urging his cabinet members to offer their resignations after more than one week of violent demonstrations. yesterday an estimated one million people flooded chile's capital of santiago calling for political reform. protesters peacefully walked around the city for miles waving

flags. the governor calls the economy, quote, an historic moment for his country. a popular app among teenagers drawing national security concerns, and lawmakers are calling for an investigation in what they say may pose a major risk, next. ♪ usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. if i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. we're the gomez family... we're the rivera family... we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today. when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. try new pepto liquicaps for fast relief and ultra-coating. nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea.

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eric: well, there's some growing concs over a social media app called tick tock, and lawmakers are worning that it could pose a threat, they think, to national security. jill january turner -- gillian turner explains why from washington. >> reporter: if you haven't heard of the latest app to go viral in the u.s., the millennials in your life definitely have. that app's called tick tock, and it's being used by nearly a billion and a half people worldwide. it's owned by china and is also sometimes used by isis. it allows users to send short and funny personal videos to catchy music. everyone from tom brady, reese witherspoon and will smith to the teenagers in your basement are using it. but now there are new worrying reports that tiktok is increasingly popular with terrorists. "the wall street journal" breaking news this week that isis is posting execution and torture videos on the platform. key senators on both sides of the aisle are also ringing alarm

bells. they worry the chinese ownership poses a national security risk. democrat chuck schumer and republican tom cotton are ordering an investigation into whether the chinese communist party is controlling the app. with over 310 million downloads in the u.s. alone, tiktok is a potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore. marco rubio warning american parents to delete the app saying, do your family a favor and check to see if your kids are on tiktok. it's a chinese-owned company that's collecting all sorts of personal data on your kids and, by extension, your family. experts say the holiday season is poised to be a boon. it's partnering up with major brands popular among millennials to get more kids engaged on the app. experts say the trade-off might be worth it. >> at a certain point it comes town to individuals to make the right choices what they put

online. >> reporter: tiktok is going on defense now, they insist they take all of these concerns very seriously. they also say that they are not influenced by any foreign governments at all, including china. in washington, gillian turner, fox news. he scored me a billy big mouth bass. the singing wall fish? for the man cave. i love those things! [take me to the river...] [drop me in the water ...] secure mobile banking from navy federal credit union... our members are the mission.

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arthel: the impeachment inquiry bleeding into the weekend as

another high level witness goes behind closed doors to testify. house democrats looking to boost their case against president trump who is still refusing to cooperate. hello, i'm arthel neville. welcome to america's news headquarters. eric: hello. thank you for joining us this afternoon. the house intelligence committee issued that subpoena for senior state department official philip reeker after the state department ordered him not to show up. this as the white house with the backing of congressional republicans is ramping up the pressure on the democrats to hold a formal vote on an impeachment inquiry. that despite a federal judge giving the democrats a big victory, ruling the impeachment inquiry is legal. >> we have a lot of democrats elected in district that donald trump carried who promised to go to washington, not to be part of the resistance but to reach across the aisle, to work with the administration and get

things done. a vote on the house floor would expose them for the hypocrites they are. >> it warrants bringing out the facts so we know what the facts are and whether to proceed with an impeachment proceeding. we aren't there yet. eric: for the latest, let's go to rich edson who is live at the briefing room at the white house. >> reporter: questioning today on congress is all part of this effort by congressional democrats to determine whether president trump withheld security assistance from ukraine all as a part to pressure ukraine's new president to launch an impeachment or launch an investigation into the bidens, one that is politically motivated. philip reeker was directed today, other diplomats previously, to skip the sessionses, arguing there is no administration attorneys included in the conversations to protect them. in reeker's and other cases, democrats issued subpoenas, some diplomats showed up without that. democrats say this inquiry will continue. >> i'm not allowed to say.

i can't tell you. i think it's interesting. i've known imfor a number of years. i think he's being honest and telling us what he's observe. i think it's going to go on for much longer time, we're just scratching the surface. there's a lot more to ask of him. >> reporter: democrats are exploring the removal of ambassador marie yovanovitch, the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. the administration recalled yovanovitch as the president's attorney and others argued he was undermining his agenda. this morning the president tweeted, quote, the ukraine investigation is such as corrupt and fake as all the other garbage that went on before it. congressional democrats continue to seek information from administration officials, part of the impeachment inquiry and investigation. eric. eric: meanwhile, a federal judge issued a decision that really gave the democrats a

boost? >> reporter: it did. the justice department is now required by wednesday to provide documentation and information that grand jury had secured as part of the mueller investigation. this is a part of another thrust that democrats have on capitol hill in their impeachment investigation, whether president trump obstructed that russia special counsel probe. top democrat on the house intelligence committee says, quote, or house judiciary committee, jerry nadler says, quote, the grand jury information that the administration has tried to block from seeing will be critical to our work. meanwhile, the top republican on that committee, congressman doug collins, writes when we're considering removing a democratically elected president our best yardstick is historical experience and this decision ignores that experience while failing to answer the crucial question of when the supposed impeachment inquiry actually began. white house has had no comment on that decision. congressman collins says he is looking forward to an yo appeal.

eric: the depositions have been going like 10 hours. as far as we know, reeker is still behind closed doors. >> reporter: this is a a continuation. you heard the congressman saying they just scratched the surface of the conversation with the state official there. he's not going to be the last either. eric: thanks so much. arthel: california's largest yoututility company cutting powo nearly a million homes and businesses, the second planned shutoff this week to try to avoid sparking wildfires amid high winds in northern california. several wildfires are burning there and in southern california prompting evacuations and school closings. christina coleman has more now from north of la. >> reporter: here in southern california, at the tick fire, 4600 acres have burned so far and at least 18 structures have either been destroyed or damaged

like this house here behind me. you can see straight into it. you can see into the garage, all of the debris. the roof in some parts just completely gone. it's just heart-breaking. at least 1300 firefighters are working around the clock to make sure the fire doesn't spread any further. it's 25% contained. at least 40,000 people were under mandatory evacuations for this fire. but at least half of them have been able to return home. however, fire crews worry the wind could pick back up. >> heart-broken. but i told her like everybody's saying your life, you saved, you can always rebuild. >> reporter: this morning the sonoma county sheriff's office issued a mandatory evacuation for residents who could be impacted by the kincaid fire. they're ordered to evacuate by 4:00 p.m. this afternoon before

pg&e begins another blackout tonight. a new evacuation order could affect approximately 50,000 people. statstate of say they're tryingo prevent the devastating outsome of the wildfires that ravaged the wine country in 2017. >> sunday evening we expect a pretty significant santa ana cycle to move into the area again. so it's an incident priority for us right now to continue to shore you and reinforce our containment lines. >> reporter: now, as for the kincaid fire, pg&e admits a transmission power line medical functioned just -- malfunctioned just before the kincaid fire but the cause of the fire is under investigation. and pg&e again shutting off power to many people you ahead of this potentially dangerous windy condition. >> we're a very, very strong community, tremendous faith that

my residents are going to stand up together, are going to evacuate and help each other and we're going to get through this. >> we are in a he position where we are reliving something but we're ahead of it. it's going to test our resolve. everybody in our community needs us to get the heck out of the way of the first responders so they can do their job. >> reporter: a press conference was going to be scheduled for the tick fire shortly this afternoon but it's been canceled because of improving conditions. now, governor newsom, he is still going to have a press conference shortly and that is going to be about the power outages and ways to protect senior citizens and some of our vulnerable communities. arthel: christina, thank you. eric: in japan, at least 10 people have died and several others are reported missing amid devastating floods there. torrential rain hit east of tokyo, bringing mud slides as well as flooding. some areas got 11 inches of rain in just over 12 hours. weeks after a typhoon hit japan,

that one killed more than 80 people. the prime minister calling an emergency task force meeting today to assess the damage, focusing on rescue and relief efforts there. arthel: a you gruesome investigation of an apparent mass slaughter is widening as police in ireland arrest a fifth suspect in the deaths of 39 people whose bodies were found in the back of a sealed truck in england. kitty logan has more now from london. kitty. >> reporter: british police charged a 25-year-old struck driver with manslaughter and people trafficking after 39 bodies were found in a sealed container. police have also arrested a fifth person in connection with the case. this follows the grew some discovery of 39 -- gruesome discovery of 39 bodies in the back of a truck near london on wednesday. the truck crossed over from belgium overnight. it's thought the people transported in the locked and sealed container were trying to

reach the u.k. illegally but had no chance to escape. the truck was able to pass through security despite strict procedures in place. this could be because the container was refrigerated which obscures thermal imaging devices. police forensics teams have been trying to establish the identity of the dead which is proving no easy task. the victims were originally thought to be chinese migrants but a family in vietnam said they received a farewell text from their daughter, saying she couldn't breathe and was going to die. the family said their daughter paid traffickers in the hope of pursuing a new life in britain and now many other vietnamese families say they're waiting for news of missing loved ones too and the government in vietnam is helping british police with the investigation. this is one of the deadliest cases of people smuggling in britain in recent years. and police are still trying to track down the network behind

it. in london, kitty logan, fox news. eric: it was a milestone for the catholic church. bishops from the amazon region backing the call from pope francis to allowed married men to be ordained as priests in order to address the shortage in the region. bishops are backing reopening debate on or daneing would -- or ordaining women. pope francis told the bishops that he would reopen the work of a 2016 commission that did study a that issue of women deacons and it will take the recommendations and prepare a document of his own promising that by the end of the year. arthel: the russian woman who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as a foreign agent in the u.s. arriving back in moscow today. maria butino received a warm

welcome from russia after being released yesterday from a florida prison where she served 15 months of an 18 month sentence. she says she was pressured to plead guilty. according to a senate panel report, she tapped her gp political rep's boyfriend to help her convince a top nra official to visit moscow to improve u.s./russian relations. eric: the white house, they are looking to bolster the legal team and maybe change the strategy to combat the growing impeachment probe as house democrats eye moving the inquiry to the public stage and that means public hearings may be coming. what we can expect and what that means as america's news headquarters rolls on for a saturday.hi well, saving on homeowners insurance with geico's help was pretty fun too. ahhhh, it's a tiny dancer. they left a ton of stuff up here.

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we're doing he very well in syria, with turkey and everybody else that we're dealing with. we have secured the oil. we have a lot of oil. we've secured the oil. we have a couple of people that came knocking. we said don't knock. and i think i would say that things are going very well. arthel: that's president trump on the situation in syria where vie lentoviolent clashes contine the recent cease fire, as the pentagon moves to send more

troops and armored vehicles to the region to keep oil fields out of the hands of isis. benjamin hall is in northern r syria with the story. >> reporter: the cease fire here in northern syria has been shaky for a few days at least. we're hearing reports today that it may well be crumbling. about 50 miles west of where we are today, turkish militia moved into a kurdish arab town, that used artillery strikes an drones. civilians have died and fighters have also been killed. this happening as a u.s. army convoy was seen driving south towards the oil fields. it appears that the convoy entered from iraq where previous u.s. troops had headed to. president trump said he would send the troops in only to guard the oil facilities. but that is going to do nothing to stop the attacks taking place further north. today, we met with families who have fled from the recent fighting. they told us how rad l call islamic -- radical islamic fighters allied withal kai da

are fighting with turkey, how they went looking for kurds, kidnapping, killing some and torturing others. they've burned house toss the ground. we heard about suspected chemicals weapons use. the soldiers described to us the horrible burning sensation they felt after shells landed near them, how they tried to rub sand over their bodies to end it. tests are underway in norway and finland to find out what was used after tissue samples were sent. we have certainly heard today accusations of war crimes against turkish backed militias. turkey is denying all of them. the situation on the ground is deteriorating and there is real concern over what is going to happen in the coming days. in northern syria, benjamin hall, fox news. eric: the white house press secretary talked about the challenges of responding to an impeachment inquiry that's being conducted behind closed doors. fox news is confirming the white

house is considering tony sayig and former florida attorney general pam bondy to handle impeachment communications and there are reports the president is circling back to familiar lawyers to help navigate the inquiry. yosusan karichio joins us. the white house is staffing up for an impeachment fight. >> i think at this point the democrats have their messaging machine together on capitol hill and the president is now considering putting together his own messaging machine to counter what the democrats are relaying each day as they bring in witness after witness into these closed door sessions. we in the public, we in the press and voters and the president's own team are not in the room hearing the testimony or hearing the cross-examination of the people who are being deposed. so all we're getting are what democrats and an occasional

republican will leak from these closed door matters and then the message gets spun from there into the mainstream press and we're hearing sort of this narrative and it's a narrative building about the president's actions and his actions may not look very good. they may not reflect very well on his presidency. the democrats are trying to argue that the president has abused his power for political gain. eric: you just said something interesting about republicans. if the he'l democrats are suppoy saying what's happening inside, how come the republicans aren't? the republicans are inside the room. they're asking questions. they have staff asking questions why aren't we getting two sides or are there not two sides. >> there have been occasion stories. our paper, the washington examiner, has put out some stories about how republicans have been able to counter some of the opening statements that have been leaked to the press,

where some of these officials are making claims about the president that turn out to be not firsthand claims but are more opinions. there is some of that reporting out there. but we're missing the whole -- watching the whole thing unfold and getting the details of what each of these witnesses has to say. and so really the picture we're getting is really the democrats' narrative. you're right, we're not hearing from republicans very much. eric: the republicans are trying to storm the room and some of them are members of the committee in the first place. so i mean, what's going to happen when this is public? do you expect watergate type hearings that will be on television eight hours a day and will transfix the nation and we'll see in real-time these live impeachment type hearings on television like we did during watergate. >> no, i think the whole thing is going to be shaped by the democrats to make sure their narrative holds up. eric: how do they do that if

it's public, how do you do that if the republicans are inside. >> they're auditioning right now. they're listening to all these witnesses and figuring out which ones will sound best to bring out to the public. for example, there may be some witnesses who would side more with the president and uphold his view that he hasn't done anything wrong. will we hear from those witnesses? will republicans be able to call those witnesses? or will it only be democrats choosing their witnesses. another great question, will they limit it to just the intelligence commit you at this or will they let these other two panels who are involved in the depositions also ask questions because then you're bringing in aggressive trump defenders like jim jordan, mark meadows. will they be a allowed to ask questions or will they narrow the approach? my view is, democrats are going to try to keep this very limited. they'll do a public hearing but only to make sure it upholds their narrative. the republicans will most likely fight for fairness and bringing in witnesses that they think are

necessary to provide a fuller picture of what's really going on here. this is going to be a real battle over how this thing airs publicly. i don't think democrats have figured out how to do it. getting back of to the original narrative about what the president's going to do, if he brings in criminal defense attorneys, people who know how to defend him publicly against really a crime he's been accused of by the democrats, impeachment crime, that will help him. right now, democrats are fighting about process. -- republicans are fighting about process, saying it's all closed doors. eric: there's things in terms of the facts and what the constitution says and all that. part of that may be communications where they'll -- reports say pam bondy and tony saig. here is the president saying he doesn't need a team. he's a one man tweet. here he is. >> here's the thing. i don't have teamings, everyone talks about teams. i'm the teams. i did nothing wrong. this has been going on since

before i got elected. eric: what about that? he could have a whole team and the president could obviously come out and say whatever he wants. >> right. he does do that and i think what these criminal defense staff can do in helping him is articulate why it's not wrong. a lot of people don't understand. if you listen to public opinion, well, it's not right, they shouldn't have been talking about joe biden in a phone call, quid pro quo, how commons is that? a lot of people don't understand how that works. the democrats are aware of the lack of understanding the public has about these very complicated issues. so i think the president needs to be more detailed as to why what he believes that what he did isn't wrong because more and more information is going to come out about his behavior on need phone calls and his effort to get ukraine to investigate the buy dense, get ukraine to investigate what the democrats are doing in 2016. more details from the president about why they were having those discussions, what's common

practice in the white house, and just to be able to defend himself a little more in detail rather than just saying it was a great call, i did nothing wrong. you know why, eric? i think the public is going to want to know more. because democrats keep spitting out information a that supports their narrative. the public is going to want to know, we need to understand what was going on here. they're not hearing all the details because the impeachment proceedings have been closed up until now. eric: we'll see if tony asig and pam bondy join the team and there's n more communication, as this is wrapping up. susan, good to see you. thanks for joining us. arthel: could china's new fiber security rules put businesses at risk of losing their trade secrets? asia expert gor gordon chang wes in next. because allergies... shouldn't get in the way of a good time. because a heart attack...

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arthel: growing concerns among u.s. businesses over chinas' revised cyber security rules which demand all foreign companies doing business in china to stope stop encrypting r data which would give beijing full access to intellectual property and raises privacy concerns. the white house says the concerns have been addressed in trade talks. >> phase one includes very solid chapter on intellectual property and a good start on this issue of forced technology transfer, in that the chinese are accepting the rule that the government of china must not force technology transfer. phase two would flesh that out. arthel: let's bring in gordon chang, foreign affairs journalist and author of the coming collapse of china. we'll get to the trade talks in a second, gordon. why would china want this and how does this change the game? >> this is a cyber security law with new rules going into effect on december 1 and the reason why they want it, arthel, is because

they're going to get all the information of foreign companies, they're going to give it to their own chinese enterprises which will out-compete us because they'll know everything we know. the chinese have done this so many times if the past and they've even bankrupted large companies like nortell networks. this is going to be an effort to sort of crip l he'l cripple forn companies and you put them out of business. arthel: how much leverage does china have to enforce the law? >> it has a lot of leverage right now. we have trade talks going on. i don't know if any agreement is ever going to be able to he help us. foreign companies want to do business in china. only when the chinese economy will start to crumble, and it will probably do that pretty soon, until that time, beijing has the upper hand. arthel: when you say pretty soon, how soon? >> this could be sixes months, a year. we're seeing bad numbers coming out of beijing, underlying indicators that were released in september, for instance,

imports, which showed a decline. it doesn't look good at all. arthel: but that's six months. you don't have a crystal ball. but even in six months, gordon, that's enough -- if the rule goes into effect december 1, that's all they need. they need a few days to get it. >> yeah. this is onerous. as you pointed out, no encryption permitted. no virtual private networks permitted. those allow companies to access websites that are banned in china. probably companies will have to use chinese servers, there will be intrusive inspections by beijing, source codes will be given up to beijing authorities. this is really, really bad, arthel. arthel: eye ironic, the visitl wall private networks -- virtual private networks are what we use to protect yourself. does the u.s. have a choice? >> i think we've been trying to

delay the a application of these rules for quite some time. we've been successful up to now. but that looks like it's coming to an end. the u.s. can actually force u.s. companies out of china because we got tradeing with the enemy act and the international emergency economic powers act. it sounds harsh but we're not driving this. the chinese are. xi-jinping, he basically wants to put all foreign companies out of business. we don't have much of a choice because our backs are against the wall. arthel: can americans companies afford not to do business in china? >> well, you know, they think that they have to be there and they've got a big consumer market. but on the other hand, with the crumbling economy, one that could fall apart, we might be doing them a favor by pulling they'll out of china. but clearly, one thing is xi-jinping, the chinese ruler, is pushing them out. arthel: let's go to the trade talks. what happens to the trade deal with china? you heard mr. navarro saying -- supposedly, there's a signature happening next month. but can it really protect

american companies? >> we've had so many trade deals with the chinese. many of them on intellectual property protection and the chinese have dishonored all of them. they've stealing hundreds of billions of dollars of u.s. ip each year. we don't know exactly. but agreements aren't going to really do this. it's unfortunate but, you know, you can't trust beijing's word. arthel: are we kidding ourselves to think that china doesn't already have access to any private information or intellectual property that it already wants to have access to? >> it has access to a lot, arthel but these rules that go into effect on the first of december would give them more access. right now, yes, the chinese are stealing a lot but they'd be stealing even more. arthel: what can we do? what can president trump, peter navarro, what can they do to stop this? >> i think get u.s. companies out of china. before that, we can negotiate with xi-jinping, try to defer

the p application of these rules like we've done in the past. arthel: did it work in the past? >> it worked in getting a deferral. but clearly a lot of what we've been trying to do with china has completely failed. because the business environment has deteriorated and not just for u.s. companies but for european companies and for others. arthel: they want intellectual property from everybody, not just us. >> yeah. i mean, this is the biggest theft in history as people say. we're talking over the course of decades, we're talking trillions of dollars of everybody else's information and knowledge and know-how and trade secrets. arthel: for now we have to end on this very unr fort -- unfortunate note. there's no real protection that i hear you telling me. we'll leave it there. gordon chang, hang you ver thany much. you're always great. thank you. eric: thank you. well, rudy giuliani may have to lock his cell phone. the president's personal lawyer apparently accidentally telling

an nbc news reporter, leaving voice mails criticizing the bidens and discussing how he, quote, needs some money. jacqui heinrich is live in the newsroom with more on what the former mayor said. hey, jac ky. >>jackie.>> it was a three minue left while the reporter was asleep at 11:00 at night. it's not the first butt dial for the president's personal attorney. the first accidental call actually came last month when the reporter was at a 5-year-old's birthday party, calling to voice mail and guliani could be heard disparaging the buy dense, claiming the foreller vice president used the power of his office for personal gain and tried to stop the investigation of an ukrainian gas company because his son hunter was on the board. the source mentioning there's not been any proof in support of the claims. house democrats are investigating whether the white house withheld military aid to the ukraine while pushing them to get to the bottom of of it,

the subject of the impeachment inquiry against the president right now. the most recent butt dial is less easy to he decipher. it seems to record a conversation between giuliani and another man in the same room. it's unclear exactly what the context of the conversation is p. it involves a man named charles and robert and a big sum of money, a few hundred thousand dollars. here a snippet. >> charles would have a hard time with the case because he didn't do you due diligence. tomorrow, -- we've got to call robert again tomorrow. is robert around? the problem is, we need some money. >> reporter: the calls might have gotten the president's attention. he tweeted last night to tim, as in tim cook, ceo of apple, the button on the iphone was far better than the swipe. mr. giuliani has still not returned our requests for comment. eric. eric: if you get one of those

calls, you can report it. arthel: you've got to lock your phone always. i don't care what kind of phone you have, just lock it. i'm paranoid about that. you've butt dialed me before. eric: i have? okay. i'll lock it. arthel: the pentagon taking big steps to keep isis away from syrian oil. whether the terror group could regain its strength amid concerns over the president's troop withdrawal.

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are now in one pot. and only the ninja foodi has tender crisp technology, so you can cook foods that are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. you may never need another appliance ever again. the ninja foodi pressure cooker. the pressure cooker that crisps. eric: the he defense secretary, mark esper, says several hundred u.s. troops will stay in eastern syria to help safeguard oil fields from isis. president trump okaying the partial he reversal of the troop withdrawal after discussions of how isis used oil revenues to fund terror operations. clashes continue to break out in northern syria despite the cease fire. joining us right now is jack keane, fox news strategic analyst and chairman for the

institute of the you city studf war. do you think 200 troops are enough for this type of diplomacy. >> i think it will be considerably more than that, eric. what's taken place here, the chairman of the joint chiefs came to he see president trump this week and laid out in front of him a new security zone in eastern syria you which occupies probably about 60% of the previous security zone in eastern syria. and it had two missions in it. one is as you mentioned in the introduction here, is to secure the oil fields that are in eastern syria. by the way, so the audience understands, 70% of all the syrian oil fields have been under the u.s. led coalition control in eastern syria and that's something we do not want to lose to the iranians or have isis take it back because at one time they controlled i it. the second mission, eric, is to counter isis is what we have been doing for some time and to do that, we will have ground

forces assisting the syrian democratic forces. there are 60 to 70,000 of them and we will continue to maintain control of the air space, something we have never given up. eric: there's dispatch from russia calling our troops occupying troops and saying they want us out. what do you make of that? could there be a potential clash? how is that navigated. >> that's a laugh, isn't it. after cr crimea that they acces, a military uncourages themselves into -- incursion themselves into syria. listen, what russia has been managing to achieve by our withdrawal from northern syria is that they want to consolidate all of syria under the control of the assad regime themselves and the iranians and that is why they so eagerly respondhood when the general from syria asked for

assistance. the russians sent the military police to do patrolling along the border with the assad regime. the assad regime is setting up outposts along the northern border, the first time syria ever controlled their northeastern border since the civil war began eight years ago. that's certainly a plus for them and to a certain degree for the russians. eric: this really has bolstered assad, russia and perhaps iran? >> yes. all three of them, because clearly we are opposing them and what they're doing in syria and fortunately i think this modification of the president's withdrawal plan will deny them having eastern syria, something that would be tragic because it will give rise to isis again and it would give the iranians the oil fields and using the revenue from those aisle fields, they would be able to reduce the president's maximum campaign of pressure, using sanctions on the

iranian regime. eric: what do you suggest? is the president on the right track? what would you like to see the administration do? >> what they are doing. we can't recover completely from the decision to withdraw from the north. it is what it is. but we don't have to give up all of eastern syria and the president decided not to do that for all the reasons i just discussed. we have a potential collision coming on tuesday, though, eric. and our viewers should be aware of it. and that is, is that that's the end of the second cease fire and in this provision of the cease fire that the russians and the turks agreed to is the ypg forces would move in their entirety from the northern border of syria and turkey back 30-kilometers. while that happened in a small contested area as a result of the first cease fire, it hasn't happened at large because the fighters are not going to move back without their families and to do that would involve hundreds of thousands of people,

they have no shelter, they have no facilities, there's no food and water other than what they would take with them. so they really haven't moved. and we'll see what happens as a result of the cease fire. certainly, turkey would want them to move. russia and syria would oppose that move. but russia wants them to move as well. eric: what do you think is going to happen? are we on the edge of a humanitarian crisis, mass killing of civilians and kurdish fighters? what do you think is going to happen? >> we already have at least 200,000 kurdish refugees who are without shelter and looking for food and water rights now. i think what will happen is a ypg will not move and the russians and the syrians will be reluctant to force them to move because they don't have the capability to do that. the ypg fighters outnumber them and the turks, if they come in, they're going to be pushed back by the syrians and also by the russians for the very reason that they've committed to taking

recontrol of that northeastern sector. so yeah, this is complicated to be sure but we do have a potential crisis in front of us next week. eric: it is complicated as you say and contentious, confusing. we'll see what happens on tuesday. general jack keane, always appreciate your insight. arthel: thank you. with 100 days to go until the iowa caucuses, 2020 democrats are vying for support in another key early voting state. we're live on the campaign trail in south carolina, next. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop.

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arthel: a bit of a milestone on the campaign trail today. we are you now exactly 100 days away from the first in the nation iowa caucuses. right now, they are focusing on south carolina. there is senator warren, elizabeth warren there, live in florence, south carolina. 2020 democratic hopefuls are vying for support at a bipartisan criminal justice forum amid new controversy over president trump's speech there yesterday. so let's go over to columbia, south carolina where kristin fisher is reporting. >> reporter: organizer are unhappy that a dust-up with senator kamala harris is getting

so much attention. but it was a big deal. harris refused to speak at this event today until the group that organized this event, the bipartisan justice center, was removed as a sponsor. harris didn't like the fact that only a handful of students at this historically black college were allowed to go inside the auditorium and listen to president trump speak yesterday and she also didn't like this. >> i just couldn't believe that donald trump would be given an award as it relates to criminal justice reform. i mean, let's be clear. this is somebody who has disrespected the voices that have been present for decades about the need for reform of this system. >> reporter: president trump received the award in part for signing into law the first step act last april which among other things allowed federal prisoners to reduce their time behind bars by earning credit for good

behavior. but almost every democratic candidate that spoke here today made the case that that's not enough. especially after president trump compared the ongoing impeachment inquiry to a lynching just a few days ago. >> we can damn well do better than a president who compares his own impeachment, a constitutional process he brought on himself, to lynching, which just to be very clear is a pattern of white supremacist terrorism. >> reporter: right now, joe biden is wrapping up the last of seven candidates to speak at this forum today and he opened his remarks with a joke, he told the audience, quote, god love you, you've been here all day, my lord, you might feel like you're being incarcerated. arthel. arthel: kristin, thank you very much. eric: in washington tonight, the astros stepping up, they got it done last night in game three of the world series. they broke the nationals winning

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mine tasted like poopoo! mine tastes like broccoli, yuck! i want candy! pacifica: ted! goin' oneighbor: yes. takin' it off road station wagon? you know it's an suv! i know for fact your suv does not suck. why is that? it ain't got that vacuum in the back! we got to go. ♪ vacuum in the back, hallelujah! ♪ arthel: the houston astros were up against the wall down two games to one and they got it done last night beating the

nationals in game three last night. the big question is, can they do it again tonight? reporter: fans are starting to show up at nationals park. and they are curious about the same thing you were just asking. will it be a repeat with an astros victory or will it be like it was in houston with the nats claiming victory in the first two games. for those that are out there playing this game tonight, they say there is nothing else like it. >> you work so hard to get to the end of the ballgame and ultimately the team is giving you that ball and the opportunityt to shut it down. >> one run before the astros you will put the fans into the game.

reporter: for the fans, you have to be a big diehard baseball fan or have deep pockets. for standing room only seats were close to $1,000. but fans we spoke to said it's well worth the cost to show up for tonight's game. >> no way i'll not miss an under. one time, one balk bounce one way. the other type it bounces the other way. reporter: a lot of action ahead. a lot of people will be tuning into see what happens tonight. arthel: how excited are you? you have the best assignment of the weekend. >> i will be back here tomorrow, too. i am not giving it up. arthel: houston astros versus

the washington nationals. eric 1933 was the last time the nationals went to the world series. arthel: that does it for us. we are back tomorrow at noon eastern. jon: house impeachment investigators conduct a closed door interview with philip reeker. the state department directed him not to appear so the committee issued a subpoena. the rare weekend deposition drawing fierce criticism from republicans saying the democrat investigation has lacked transparency. >> every single hearing they are having down in this secure facility has been announced as unclassified. there is no reason he is having them down in this secure