[cheers and applause] this is "nightline". >> reporter: tonight, whistleblower blow back. >> i think the whistle blower did the right thing. >> reporter: but the president calls him something close to a spy! the impeachment storm swirling. new accusations of a possible cover up and the clash of party lines. >> president of the united states has betrayed his oath of office. >> and the ball of leakers are ginning up a fake story. plus, more moore. >> shocking. >> like so risqué. >> reporter: d'mee's sizzling cover photo changing everything and her high-profile marriage bruce willis and ashton kutcher, now, the actress baring it all.

>> i think something had to give. >> reporter: but first the nightline five. number one in just sixty seconds.

>> reporter: good evening. thank you for joining us. the impeachment inquiry took center stage on capitol hill today. and there was plenty of finger-pointing including at and from the president. >> reporter: technically this

was just a hearing of the house intelligence committee. t prcaes this might well be the opening gavel of president trump's impeachment process. >> the president of the united states has betrayed his oath of office, betrayed his oath to defend our national security, and betrayed his oath to defend our constitution. >> reporter: an historic moment, however it ends. the president, accused of using the power of his office to enlist a foreign government to dig up dirt on a political rival. today, watching from a distance, he was seething. >> i just watched a little bit on television. it's a disgrace to our country its another witch hunt here we go again. >> reporter: the sole witness today, the nation's top intelligence official. >> reporter: acting director of

national intelligence joseph maguire, summoned to capitol hill to answer questions about an unprecedented whistleblower complaint against the president. a complaint the administration initially refused to hand over to congress. >> would you agree that the whistle-blower complaint alleges serious wrongdoing by the president of the united states? >> the whistle-blower complaint involved the allegation of that. it is not for me and the intelligence community to decide how the president conducts foreign policy or his interaction with leaders of other countries, sir. >> reporter: the big problem, who can make that judgement? on what grounds? and subject to what review? >> trust is gone here, this is going to be vicious and for people who want to reach a fair judgement on what happened here that's going to be really hard. >> reporter: the trump administration finally handed over the whistleblower's report. a 9-page document with a bombshell accusation. "the president of the united states is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 u.s. election" in his july 25th phone call with the newly

elected president of ukraine. >> my call was perfect. the president yesterday of ukraine said there was no pressure putm atsoer, netsr. >> reporter:he whistleblower was not on the call, but relied on reports from "multiple white house officials with direct knowledge." the whistleblower alleges that senior white house officials "understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call" and proceeded "to 'lock down' all records of the phone call," including the transcript. >> it outlines a concerted effort by white house officials to conceal the contents of that transcript of that phone call in a way that was unprecedented. by one way of looking at that, that is a cover up beginning right after the phone call. that is evidence of consciousness of the president's t gu wrong on the phone call that they right away wanted to shift to another place where it might be harder to find. >> reporter: the whistleblower calls the president's lawyer rudy giuliani a central figure

in the alleged plot to influence the election with more than 30 references to him in the complaint. and concluded that attorney general william barr appears to be involved as well. the inspector general for the director of national intelligence found the whistleblower's allegations to be credible and of urgent concern. >> i want to stress that i believe that the whistle-blower and the inspector general have acted in good faith throughout. i have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and followed the law. >> reporter: today at a closed door event, trump reportedly attacked both the whistleblower and the white house staffers who cooperated calling the leaker almost a spy. the "la times" obtained audio. >> you know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, right? with spies and treason? we used to handle it a little differently than we do now. >> reporter: in the committee room -- >> i want to congratulate the democrats on the rollout of

their latest information warfare operation against the president. >> reporter: the president's republican allies, like congressman devin nunes, blasted back. >> a cabal of leakers are ginning up a fake story with no regard to the monumental damage they're causing to our public institutions and to trust in government. >> reporter: during the committee hearing today, his line of questioning and his opening statement were more in line with conspiracy theories on the internet than they were with the facts and the fact pattern of the case. >> what was really noticeable inside this hearing room is that a lot of republicans, while they were trying to poke holes in the complaint, raising questions about the process, accusing democrats of being political, they were not rushing to defend the president's actions. >> based on the new information that we got today both from the whistleblowers report and from the testimony that we heard. have we reached the point of high crimes and misdemeanors? >> look this is no question. the worst day thus far for the president.

you don't just have the phone call and the whistleblowers report which seems to back up some of what's on the call, but you then have the inspector general an independent voice reviewing the whistleblower and saying i found it credible and i did my own review and then you got the director of national intelligence saying i think they both did the right thing. >> reporter: more than guilt or innocence its about fitness for office >> impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office. >> reporter: that's senator lindsay graham back in 1999, making the case for bill clinton's impeachment. >> you don't even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic. if this body determines that your conduct as a public

official is clearly out of bounds in your role. >> reporter: here's lindsay graham today. >> the preside wasetween a d th opinions up and i have, and i'm really cle a this phone call is a nothing burger in terms of a quid pro quo. >> reporter: but, as speaker nancy pelosi made clear today -- >> this is a cover-up. this is a cover-up. >> reporter: it's already bigger than that phone call. >> use any metaphor you want, crossing the rubicon, a new day has dawned, any analogy. we are at a different level of lawlessness that is self-evident to the american people. >> reporter: president trump insists he has nothing to fear. >> what these guys are doing, democrats, are doing to this country is a disgrace and shouldn't be allowed. there should be a way of stopping it, maybe legally through the courts, but they're going to tie up our country.orhr imy

dominate what's left of president trump's first term. i'm david wright for nightline in new york. >> reporter: up next, from heartbreak to healing. the transformative chapters of demi moore's life. what does help for heart failure look like? it looks like jill heading off on an adventure. jill has entresto, a heart failure medicine that helps her heart so she can keep on doing what she loves. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. it helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effect kidney problems,

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>> reporter: demi moore revealing in a new memoir a life packed with electrifying loves, devastating heartache, and a life-changing decision to hit the restart button. here is abc's diane sawyer. in 1991, a hollywood star and

a photo for vanity fair will take a wrecking ball to the old convention that pregnant women have to look chaste. >> so, today, when you look at it. >> i love it. i literally thought there's no way they would ever -- you know, do it. and not because i thought it was -- >> shocking. >> like, so risqué. you know, they dress women in peter pan collars. like, "i didn't have sex." i just was so fascinated with why is it being seen as, like, obscene? >> and in that photo, demi moore had started a revolution. in her new memoir, she writes about becoming a mom and being married to the high-octane "die hard" star bruce willis, who swept her off her feet. they meet, marry and get pregnant in just four months. and then the next 10 years together are a blur of rearing three daughters, making 33 movies and drifting toward

divorce, determined to put their children first. >> i think that we did a magnificent job of making sure that our children knew they were loved. >> she even walked away from hollywood at the height of her career to stay home with her kids at the family house in idaho. and then five years later she is ready to come back. it's 2003. the new "charlie's angels" movie and a part has been written for her. her bravado, her bikini. she is 40 years old and it's at this point one night she goes to a dinner and meets a young actor and entrepreneur named ashton kutcher. he's also 25 years old. she writes about the ease, the electricity -- >> i just felt like a 15-year-old girl hoping somebody

liked me. that's all true. i think that i had been s -- responsible for so much of my life, and all of a sudden this window opened up where i was safe. i had money. he loved my children. he -- he -- it wasn't something he feared. he seemed to be comfortable with the enormity of the ex-husband. i mean, you know, i felt like i was not coming with baggage, i had trunks. >> why do you think this culture is still so, what, shocked, unnerved, unsettled by a woman who is 15 years older? >> gosh, i -- i think -- i don't know. it's so silly. i think part of it is, we've been conditioned societally to look at the value of -- of -- of a woman being tied to her fertility. like, what would an older woman

have to offer? >> and then two years into her new relationship -- >> at 42, you were pregnant. >> uh-huh. >> six months? you go in for a checkup. >> at almost six months. >> and you said you will never forget the look on the doctor's face. >> you could see a combination of his dread and it shifting then immediately into matter-of-fact, practical information, because it was unquestionable because there was no heartbeat. >> and you tried again. you had in vitro? >> quite a few times. i can't even really bring fully

to words how lost, empty, desperate, confused. i really lost sight of everything that was right in front of me, which is the family i had. and -- and i think the weight that it put on ashton, you know. it's kind of a natural thing to pull back when somebody's, you know, clinging too tight. >> she had begun falling back into her old childhood fear of not being wanted, of losing everything. and after 20 years of sobriety, she had started drinking again and more. >> and then enter vicodin. twelve pills a day? >> yeah, it definitely got up there. >> after she and ashton kutcher had been together for eight years, she's celebrating a film she's directed. >> you get a google alert -- >> yes.

>> she called him. >> what did you say to him? >> i asked if it was true. and he admitted it right away. and i think my response was, "are you [ bleep ] kidding me?" that -- that was it. and i think i felt like i could barely take a breath. >> but she has to walk the red carpet and here she is at that moment. a thousand light bulbs flashing. we reached out to ashton kutcher and his representatives say they are not commenting on the book. >> i really know that there are parts of what occurred with this relationship ending that were a level of devastating for me that

wasn't really just about that relationship. it was really about my whole life. it was about being the two-year-old who wasn't safe. that this really represented that i'm not lovable, that i'm -- i'm not deserving. and that's not about him. that's all just about me. >> her marriage ended, her life unraveling. her children so worried about her strange behavior and health, they stopped speaking to her. a turning point. and then a decision. she writes, "i decided to sit still after a life of running and face myself." she got treatment. >> i think something had to give, when you come up to those -- those places you either go in or you go out. >> and the healthier she became, the more her family moved close again. her ex-husband and friend

bruce willis. and her daughters began to come back as she proved she was turning her life around. the oldest, rumer, reached out o screen in the movie striptease. >> you looked really pretty. yeah, you looked really great. >> thank you, baby. >> what's your prayer for them and to them? >> oh, my hope is that in understanding me, that they would better understand themselves and love themselves. >> she writes, "i've had extraordinary luck in this life. both bad and good. but we all suffer, and we all triumph, and we all get to choose how we hold both." >> i don't feel a victim to my life. if we get -- get to choose

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>> reporter: finally tonight, a big day for "star wars" fans across the galaxy. here is abc's will reeve. >> so you're with the resistance? >> obviously. >> reporter: if you've ever dreamt of joining the resistance, now's your chance. coming soon to star wars galaxy's edge, a new innovative attraction called "star wars: rise of the resistance." letting disney park visitors play a role in the "star wars" saga. fighting back against the first order >> so we came up with this really cool epic and very elaborate story for you to feel like you are truly in an immersive authentic and 360 degree experience.

>> reporter: for now, the details of the adventure are being kept top secret. along the way, guests will encounter not just fifty storm troopers, but rey and kylo ren. >> you know everyone everyone has a capacity to be a hero. and i think that's what we really want our guests to feel. >> reporter: "star wars: rise of the resistance" opens december 5th at disney world and in january at disneyland. that's nightline. you can always catch our full episodes on hulu. thanks for the company, america. good night.