k... welcome to the neighborhood, guys. there is reward. ♪ ♪ beyond work and life... who else could he be? there is the moment. beyond technology... there is human ingenuity. ♪ ♪ every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected, to do the extraordinary. take your business beyond. good morning, it's 7:00 in the east. 4:00 out west, here's what's happening. whistleblower firestorm. new information the mysterious objection against the president. why he reportedly pushed ukraine eight times on one conversation.

inside the complaint, how cot whistleblower have gotten access to information? insight this hour from a former double agent. after the testimony, what to make of corey lewandoski's moment in front of the house judiciary committee? plus how do you cope with 40 inches of rain? texas neighborhoods cut off by floodwaters. i looked outside and our whole entire yard was just covered in water. there was no way out. starting over. with what? because we don't have anything. >> when the waters will recede from the storm many call worse than hurricane harvey. but first, the political world reeling after new explosive reporting that president pressured a foreign leader to pursue an investigation that could deliver political dirt on his possible 2020 challenger. this is now being reported by three national newspapers, the "washington post," "the new york

times," and "the wall street journal." the journal first broke the story that president trump repeatedly pressed the newly elected president of ukraine to investigate the son of former vice president joe biden. nbc news has not independently confirmed it. the "journal" reports during a phone call in july president trump a urged the ukrainian president about eight times to investigate hunter biden. according to people familiar with the matter. a source tells the "journal" it does not appear the president offered anything in return. but the month after that call, the administration did block aid to ukraine until last week. former vice president joe biden released a statement which said, in part, if these reports are true, then there is truly no bottom to president trump's willingness to abuse his power and abase our country. at a minimum, donald trump should immediately release the transcript of the call in question. >> adding to the political firestorm, the mistvy deepening over the whistleblower complaint, which the administration is refusing to

release. the president is firing back. nbc news chief washington correspondent halle jackson has details. >> president trump now defiant and dismissive of that explosive whistleblower complaint against him. >> it's ridiculous, it's a partisan whistleblower. it shouldn't even have information. i don't know the identity of the whistleblower. i just hear it's a partisan person. >> new details about what's in that complaint, with the "washington post" reporting president trump in a july call pressured the head of ukraine to more aggressively pursue an investigation into political rival joe biden. according to two people familiar with the matter. one source indicated there was not an explicit quid pro quo in that call. nbc news has not independently confirmed the report. >> i can say that it was a totally appropriate conversation, it was actually a beautiful conversation. >> but the president would not say whether he brought up the bidens. >> it doesn't matter what i discussed. but i will say this, somebody ought to look into joe biden's statement because it was disgraceful. >> the president's personal

attorney, rudy giuliani, has suggested that then vice president biden tried to stop an investigation into a ukrainian company that named hunter biden to the board. >> did you ask the ukraine to investigate joe biden? >> no. actually i didn't. >> so you did ask ukraine to look into joe biden. >> of course i did. >> biden today -- >> not one single credible outlet that's geffen any credibility to his assertion. >> house democrats still demanding details from the trump administration about the complaint. >> this was about wrongdoing. and the idea that that complaint which was intended for congress should instead end up in the white house. is disturbing beyond belief. >> and in a new statement, former vice president biden is calling on the white house to release any transcript of the call in question. adding if what's being reported is true, then he says there is no bottom to president trump's willingness to abuse his power. >> nbc's halle jackson. joining me, kevin developi,

chief washington correspondent for bloomberg news and julie manchester, reporter for "the hill." kevin now that the "wall street journal" report is out suggesting the president asked the ukraine president eight times about the biden investigation, what more could be left in this whistleblower report? >> well there's two things that are on my radar. first and foremost, the president is set to attend the u.n. general assembly meetings next week. who is he set to meet with on wednesday? the president of the ukraine, zelensky. and the next day there's a hearing on the house intelligence committee, chaired by adam schiff, that's a dni meeting, the director of national intelligence, the deputy director, set to testify so there will be explosive questionings on that hearing as well. >> julia, of all the aspects of what we know about the whistleblower story, what parts do democrats generally believe is the most egregious? >> i think democrats are going to be looking at president trump's communications with president zelensky of ukraine

and looking at how this could appears to be some sort of a situation where president trump asked an ally of the united states to investigate a political opponent. within the united states. and i think you're going to see a lot of democrats, whether it's in the house intelligence committee or other committees in the house. look into this as another example of president trump communicating with a foreign entity in this case, another country. and investigating a political opponent. so it will be interesting to see whether this moves the needle on impeachment. you're seeing lots of critics of the president push for impeachment on twitter saying this is another reason to push towards it. it will put nancy pelosi, who has stood back from the issue of impeachment at this point in a difficult spot, if more members of her caucus, which the number has been growing, push towards the issue of impeaching president trump. >> kevin, what is your take here? is there a general consensus on what aspect of what's been reported could be the most

damaging to the president? or what might be seized upon by democrats, most aggressively? >> well look, it's a great question. there's so much we don't know at this point. i think that it puts again, heightened awareness on wednesday's meeting at the u.n. general assembly between president trump and president zelenski. and i think there will be heightened awareness at wednesday's meeting at the u.n. general assembly. it puts ukraine in the broader geopolitical context in the front and center of the 2020 election, as it was a front and center issue of the 2016 election. there's going to be a lot more to come with regards to this. not just from the whistleblower. not just from the hearings next week scheduled on thursday, this is going to be a common thread line that we're going to be talking about. particularly should biden become the nominee. republicans that i talk to are willing to force this issue and to look into biden's relationship with the ukraine.

and democrats in contrast are clearly apprehensive about the president utilizing his power as commander-in-chief. to have these type of conversations with foreign leaders. >> and kevin, here's the president yesterday talking about the whistleblower, let's listen. >> i don't know the identity of the whistleblower. i just hear it's a partisan person. meaning it comes out from another party. but i don't have any idea. >> kevin, what do we know about the whistleblower. and how does the president know he or she is partisan? >> dara, we don't know much. because the department of justice has refused to make public the whistleblower. when i talk to sources, they say because this is a whistleblower, they want to protect the anonymity and protect the individuality of whomever this person is. they want to respect the whistleblower and there's, important guidelines that are in

place to protect whistleblowers from when they come forward. the question now becomes whether or not there's politicking going on to protect certain aspects to prevent other information from being disclosed. the president yesterday speaking at the white house saying there has to be or he believes that the individual is partisan. but quite frankly, until that individual is made public, we don't know. that's why thursday's hearing in the house intelligence committee is so important. there could be new details released on thursday. >> julia, to kevin's point is this going to be the line of attack by the president's supporters that this is another partisan attack? >> absolutely. we're seeing a number of the president's supporters, invoke the term "deep state." saying this is partisan deep state attack on the president. a sign of media bias. that number of national outlets have covered this. this is definitely more of the same. rest assured, on the other side, you can rest assured that president trump's critics and democrats will continue to go after president trump on this issue.

saying it's another sign that president trump is using a foreign entity to go after a political ally in the united states. so you know in terms of whether that's plilgically feasible for democrats going into 2020, we'll have to see. because we know that the american public has been fatigued with a lot of these investigations. first we had the mueller report, then we had president trump's tax returns, and now we have this new investigation. so we'll have to see how this goes and how democrats portray this. we know that republicans will certainly say that this is just another incident in which the deep state, the washington establishment is looking to undermine president trump's administration. >> and kevin, are you surprised about how fast we learned about all this? i mean from the complaint to suddenly the details about it, and asking eight times? does this surprise you at all? >> dara, nothing surprises me any more, my friend. i just -- i just you know, i think to julia's point.

you interview chairman nadler of the house judiciary committee in terms of the impeachment proceedings, he believes this is one more additional investigation to look into. whether or not democrats as a whole believe that? we'll have to wait and see, but nothing surprises me any more. and nothing surprises you any more, either. >> i'm standing right there with you, every day a new day. kevin vili, julia manchester, great to have you here. some call it worse than hurricane harvey, what's being done to help those stranded by floodwaters in southeast texas. , raise your steins to the king of speed. ♪ work so hard ♪ give it everything you got ♪ strength of a lioness ♪ tough as a knot ♪ rocking the stage ♪ and we never gonna stop ♪ all strength, no sweat. ♪ just in case you forgot ♪ all strength. ♪ no sweat secret. all strength. no sweat.

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it's a partisan whistleblower. shouldn't even have information. i've had conversations with many leaders that are always appropriate. >> have you read the complaint? >> no. i just tell you it is, everybody has read it, they laugh at it. >> president trump taking on the whistleblower who filed a complaint about the president's communication with a foreign leader. the "washington post" reports that complaint involves ukraine. let's dig deeper with a former fbi double agent, navid jamali is the author of "how to catch a russian spy." great to have you here. who could this whistleblower be, given the people who have access to the content of the president's phone calls with foreign leaders? what's your best guess? >> i don't think that the whistleblower is blowing the whistle because specifically of

the phone call. whether i think i spent ten years as an intelligence officer in the navy. for someone to file a whistleblower complaint with the i.g., it meant most likely that the president actually issued an order or there was an action taken. so for example, if we have an agreement with ukraine to share information. or if we have collection requirements that as we're spying on ukraine and those collection requirements are changed, if the president wanted to change any of those to sort of push this message, that would have been an order that trickled down to someone who is in charge of that and that could have perhaps been the basis for this actual complaint, that someone who did this, i think this is beyond just a phone call this was just a phone call with the president talking to and asking to do this. i don't think we'd be talking about this. i think most likely there was a follow-up action or actions, that were meant to reinforce this push to get ukraine to help him. >> so how could this person get access to the president's conversation? he would need to have a full transcript if the specific new reporting we've seen is

accurate. >> i think most likely -- let's play play devil's advocate here. let's say someone who is a connecting analysis who has intelligence sharing agreement with ukrainian government is told they should no longer share that information. that person goes back and asks why are we no longer sharing information? as a result of that request it comes down to this is being ordered by the president and the justification as to why they want this done is made available to this person and that becomes the basis for the i.g. complaint i don't think that the person saw the transcript of the phone call or was in the room with the president. rather it's more likely they were involved in actually the subsequent action, the order that the president gave to support this and they were told to do this because of this additional phone call. >> so what could be the motivation then of this whistleblower? some voices on the left have called this person a hero and courageous. trump allies say the person is some kind of political agenda. you know the intelligence community. what's the likeliest scenario

here? >> so, i'm sure there's a level of morality. there's another part of this which is saving your bacon. we're trained as intelligence officers, executive order 12333 which denotes we're not allowed to collect on u.s. persons. if you are a young intelligence officers and you're told to collect on a u.s. person, you have a duty to report that. so this could be something as simple as this person got this order, they were ordered to act on this specific thing and they were concerned about breaking the law. and as a result of that concern. they started an i.g. complaint. their motivation was morality. they did the right thing. i think it was much more practical. which is they probably didn't want to go to jail. >> the president has a history of enmity with the intelligence committee. could this whistleblower just not reflect the president's actions but the frustration of the intelligence community with the president? >> look. again, being the intelligence community, i kind of, yeah, i discount that a little bit. i don't think this was politically motivated. i think much more of this was

practically motivated. at some point, someone had to act on an action, and that action disturbed them morally and also probably disturbed them in the fact they were concerned they might be breaking the law. the second part is probably the reason that they filed that complaint. >> and as you know, the inspector general of the intelligence committee deemed the whistleblower complaint urgent. but the acting director of the national intelligence refused to release it to congress arguing the complaint does not involve conduct by a member of the intelligence community or involve an intelligence activity. cot president seeking foreign help against an opponent be considered an issue of national security? >> i think it does. but it's, look, i, i'll say this as a personal opinion, i have no love for donald trump. but as that being said, as the president he has the right to ghost how he sees fit. i think that when it starts to pass the transom, when it becomes something that congress should investigate, it would have to include follow-on orders. so discussion with ukrainians

about this. while it's discussed, not even distasteful. i don't know without those orders it rises to something that involves criminality. so that's the concern i have. focus on the phone call. what came from the phone call? was it just an idle phone call? or as we're hearing when they suspended aim to the ukraine. was there action taken to a help the ukrainians follow through. that's the stuff that concerns me. i can understand while the intelligence community doesn't want to talk about what sources and methods we have in place to monitor the ukraine, but i do sense there was probably more than just a phone call here. that the president probably issued orders directing people to do things that were going to encourage the ukrainians to act on what his request was. >> and only time will tell if we do get that information. another point. according to public records, annual complaints to the

intelligence watchdog hotline have more than doubled since trump took office what does that say to you? >> i think people are worried, i think there's a concern. you have to trust your commanders when they give you an order, that order is both ethical and it's legal. i think that what you're finding here is a breakdown in that chain. that if people start questioning both of those things, not only are they not going to act swiftly and efficiently in carrying out that order it shows you the confidence in the chain of kmant command. if the chain of command has no confidence by the people that are following it, this is the end result. we're not safer if the intelligence community isn't working as damn hard as they can to make sure that those that want to do us harm are monitored. >> great to have you here this morning, thank you. the most striking moments from cory lewandoski's testimony before the house judiciary committee and what they mean for the push to impeach the president. ♪ (dramatic orchestra)

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now to the morning headlines, no word yet on why a person drove an suv through a chicago-area mall. police say the suspect in custody drove through a side entrance and smashed through several kiosks friday, sending customers and employees running in fear.

>> i saw him going forward and backwards, going forward and backwards, hitting all the kiosks in the way. i was trying to dodge him. trying to figure out which way to go and i panicked. >> no one was injured in the incident. investigators still don't know this morning what caused a deadly tour bus crash near bryce canyon national park in utah. the bus ran off the road, smashed the roof and tore off the passenger compartment. 13 people on board. 15 in critical condition. and at least four killed. walmart is getting out of the vaping business, the nation's largest retailer announced friday it will stop selling electronic cigarettes at its walmart and sam's club stores. management says the move is due to the growing federal, state and local regulatory complexity regarding vaping products. health officials are investigating 530 cases of a mysterious lung disease that's killed eight people. an nfl star antonio brown is

under investigation and once again, without a job this morning. after being released by a second team in less than two weeks. the new england patriots dropped the wide receiver friday after signing him when he was let go by the oakland raiders, brown is accused of sexual misconduct by two different women. he has denied any wrongdoing. and now to the unfolding disaster in the heart of texas. let's take a look at today's front page of the houston "chronicle." what they're calling a heartbreak in imelda's wake. communities are cut off by floodwaters from the tropical storm with dozens of water rescues carried out yesterday in huffman, northeast of the houston city center. morgan chessky is there for us. and morgan some of this went through this not so long ago. what are you hearing from them today? >> yeah, dara, we're hearing that's what makes this such a frustrating situation for thousands of people in southeast texas. in fact, water rescues happening overnight from people trapped

inside because everywhere they look the water is staying put. water everywhere with simply no place to go. the fact that hurricane harvey came here two years ago and let theft with an identical situation is what brings so much heartache in this area. this morning a disaster deja vu for southeast texas. tropical storm imelda turning homes into islands, putting roads under water and leaving many like jesse mcintosh stranded. >> the water was up to here. >> two years after hurricane harvey flooded her home, she's right back where she started. >> i have to go through it again, it's just you know you, you don't want to, you want to tear your house down and not have to do it again. >> residents beginning to assess damages as thousands prepare for a massive clean-up. >> every room had water in it. every room. so -- we've lost just about everything. >> the rising waters have kept rescue crews busy for days and one county alone teams evacuated more than 1700 people. the coast guard doing their

part. hoisting one person after another to safety. on the water, a frightening moment when break-away barges slammed into an interstate bridge. the highway is shut down the extent of the damage still unknown. in houston the storm unleashed so much rain it made for the city's wettest september day on record. at one school teachers turned benches into a bridge doing their best to keep students dry on their way to lunch. authorities say imelda is responsible for five deaths. >> everybody is devastated. >> for those who did survive, the fate they now face is all too familiar. >> just having to do it all over again, it's like how do you go back? and how do you even stay strong enough? you know to do that? there's no words for it. >> and while the majority of flood watches and warnings have been lifted for a lot of the areas in southeast texas, as you can see around me, this water

going to be an issue for days to come. a lot of the people in this neighborhood unable to reach their homes to see how bad the damage is. because this water is refusing to recede. back to you. morgan, hoping for a better day ahead, morgan chessky, thank you. to the nation's capital and developing this morning, democrats ramping up pressure on the house judiciary committee to hold corey lewandoski in contempt of congress. this after the president's former campaign manager refused to answer questions in a contentious hearing as part of the committee's impeachment inquiry. >> stop the clock again for this obstructive behavior. >> white house has directed me to not disclose the discussion with the president or his advisers to protect executive branch confidenty. the white house has directed i not disclose the discussions with the president to protect executive branch confidenty. >> joining me is michigan representative debby dingell.

did this hearing convince you even more we need an impeachment inquiry? >> i think it was in front of the judiciary committee and therefore i think for me, the impeachment inquiry has begun and this is trying to get to the facts. this was one of the most arrogant days of hearing i've ever seen. it's very disturbing and i'm someone who holds they will hold him in contempt of congress. >> and house speaker nancy pelosi said during a private meeting that she would have held lewandoski in contempt right then and there. do you want to see him held in contempt? >> i think he begged it to happen. you know people are so focused on that that they didn't even pay attention to some of the things that were said like at the end of the hearing where he admitted he had no responsibility to tell the media the truth. so why are media outlets paying him to go on air when he is saying he's not going to tell you the truth? i found it very disconcerting and one of the patterns that i'm

deeply concerned about what i'm watching right now. happening in the executive branch. >> i want to take a listen to something that speaker pelosi said. while she isn't moving her stance on impeachment. she's discussing another way to hold the president accountable. let's take a look. >> our founders could never suspect that a president would be so abusive of the constitution of the united states. that the separation of powers would be irrelevant to him and that he would continue any president would continue to with hold facts. i do think that we will have to pass some laws that will have clarity for future presidents. president should be indicted if he's committed of wrongdoing. >> is this something you would support and how soon can we see the ball roll on this? >> i think we have to look at a number of things, quite frankly, everybody is stunned at some of the things we have witnessed in the last three years. i mean, there's so many.

from no one has ever -- used their own property and made money off of the government. no one has ever just not feel that they're accountable to the congress. he's tearing this country apart in ways that is just absolutely unbelievable. foreign policy has never, ever been a partisan issue. we were americans, once you left our borders. and to see what's happening now, in terms of even the whistleblower this week -- we are going to have to look to how we're going to insure that things we've witnessed in the last three years, we're going to get balance back to our country and insure that there is a balance a of power between the three branches of government. >> and congresswoman dingell, i want to get back to that whistleblower note there. because the white house and congress, the trump

administration, they're trying to keep this under wraps and nbc news has not confirmed details beyond the fact that the complaint involved a phone call. but according to "the wall street journal," the president repeatedly pressured the president of ukraine to investigate joe biden's son. what concerns do you have over all of this? >> well, first of all, it's a whistleblower that the inn inspector general investigated the case and said it's an urgent matter. think we have to be very careful. i think we have to get the facts. but inspector generals don't make those kinds of findings willi willy nilly. they were supposed to report it immediately to the intelligence committee. they did not. the white house determined it didn't rise to that level. we're all hearing reports about what some of this is about. it is very clear that personal issues or political issues are being used to leverage official commitments to a foreign leader. apparently, i guess i have to

even be careful there. we don't know the facts. but this is just very dangerous precedent. and very, very disturbing. with putin involved. somehow in this, the president should never be going into a the kinds of meetings that he has and not having somebody there and what is being said in those exchange. i'm just worried. >> how do you think your fellow democrats can break this impasse and get the information that they want, and what exactly can you do with this information if the reports prove accurate? i mean how do you hold the president accountable? >> you know, i was very young when watergate happened. i was working for republican senator by the name of bob griffin and i've gone back and read all of those watergate times and all of those, the things that happened and the republicans were solidly behind president nixon until the tapes became public. and it was very clear that president nixon had lied.

and with 17 days he was gone. i'm somebody who has always said, we must meticulously gather the facts. we have to know what we're dealing with. i hate seeing the division that's dividing this country. and by the way, the mueller report also talks about how the russians are trying to divide us. they're being quite successful at that. but we need a the facts and when the american people get the real facts, not facts ra that are being tied up in all the swirling and -- we're going to have to see what happens and that's why, being slow and deliberate, is the right thing to do. so we have the facts. >> quickly before you go, this is now day six of the united auto workers strike against general motors. both sides are still in negotiations on health care and job security among other issues. how is this stand-off affecting the people in your state? >> so i mean people, you know i walked the picket lines on monday, i'm very close to the uaw, most people know that i'm in their halls every weekend.

at the beginning of the week, people were excited. they were fighting for something and they're still fighting for something. i want to make that really clear. people began talking about this strike last year. immediately following general motors' closures of those plants a. honestly the strike do go on for weeks, they're fighting for job security, they're fighting for their future. we're going to have to see where this goes. i think people are going to get more down when you're in week three or four and you're only making $250 a week and i'm hearing from people who have lost their health care. it's now cobra is there, but the benefits that they can't get. so it's going to start to get more trying in the next week or two. but i'll be walking those picket lines again tomorrow and monday. >> congresswoman debby dingell. thank you so much for being here this morning. great to have you. >> thank you. well a walkout. millions of students demand action on climate change. the pictures, when we return. and at the top of the hour on

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raise your steins to the king of speed. students demanding action on climate change, leading and joining marches around the country and around the world. millions demonstrated in 185 countries and some of the world's major cities. the protests came ahead of monday's climate summit at the united nations general assembly.

nbc's matt bradley joins me from london. have we seen the last of the protests? >> no, we haven't, dara. these unprecedented global protests are continuing this morning. thousands more keeping up the pressure in the streets in places like south korea, and singapore. >> as our world warms, the heat is rising on streets worldwide as millions of young people are raising their voices. walk out of schools and bringing busy roads to a grinding halt. all demanding action on climate change. activists estimate four million kids and adults took part friday in the largest global protest on climate change to date. all inspired by 16-year-old swedish activist greta thunberg, who spoke to thousands yesterday. and new york's battery park. >> this is an emergency.

our house is on fire. >> thunberg spent weeks sailing across the atlantic to get to new york. >> i'm vegan and i have stopped flying. >> nbc's sekelly cobiya caught with her last month. >> when a child says that you're stealing my future, people feel very guilty. >> her message if grown-ups won't step up on climate change, then kids will have to do it themselves. >> we deserve a safe future. and we demand a safe future. is that really too much to ask? >> climate activists piling pressure on politicians as the amazon rain forest burns. and world leaders gather for a united nations climate action summit this week in new york. >> as the world wakes up this morning, those protests are set to continue. but the big test for these young people is whether u.n. delegates

will hear them when they gather in new york next week. dara? >> thank you, matt bradley reporting from london. now to new developments this week in president trump's legal battle to keep his financial footprint hidden after filing a lawsuit against new york's district attorney to block subpoenas issued to the president's accounting firm for eight years worth of tax returns. the lawsuit argues that president trump cannot be subject to the criminal process while in office. they also call the move a quote blatantly unconstitutional path. joining me now is msnbc legal contributor katie fang. what is your take now on this defense's position? how will that argument hold up in court in. >> well it's not supported by the constitution, dara, it doesn't have a any prior legal precedent. i doubt it's going to prevail for donald trump. like you said the donald trump position in this case, the argument being advanced in a lawsuit against mazar's, the accounting firm that's served

donald trump, his businesses, family trust, et cetera, for deck asds, is basically look, the president is immune from get this, not just indictment while sitting in office, but criminal investigations. again, that's never been tested in court. it has no precedent. it's not been recognized by any prior court system. i think it's going to lose when they advance the argument. there will be a hearing this coming wednesday, september 25 in court. cyrus vance, the manhattan d.a. has agreed to hold off on trying to enforce the subpoenas until that date. >> and what do you think? do you think we're going to see the president's tax returns? >> well it's eight years of personal and corporate tax returns this actual attempt has been done by congress, by elijah cummings, that's another lawsuit that was brought by donald trump. it's currently up on appeal in the united states district court in d.c. so there's actually going to be a prior ruling that we're going to get from a federal system. what's important to recognize, this is a state investigation. federal investigations, et cetera, those are entirely different. it's entirely different jurisdiction.

so this is a very novel attempt to be able to investigate whether or not those hush money payments made to stormy daniels and carrie mcdougal violated a felony in the state of new york to file false business records. >> katie phang, great to have you. the whistleblower firestorm and the affect it could have on the 2020 race. ♪ when you have diabetes, dietary choices are crucial to help manage blood sugar, but it can be difficult to find a balanced solution. try great-tasting boost glucose control.

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i cannot stop smiling about it ♪ new reaction from democrats to those exploeszive reports about the whistle blower complaint against the president. some democrats unleashing as the allegations feed major concerns about the upcoming election. >> i have no comment except for the president to -- >> donald trump appears to be collaborating with foreign governments to attack america's democracy. clearly doesn't get the job of what it means to be president of the united states. >> it's extremely disturbing. it raises so many questions about what is happening. what they're trying to hide and why. >> it's time for congress to step up and begin serious impeachment proceedings against this man. >> biden's written statement more forceful.

demanding the transcript of the call in question be released so americans can judge for themselves. joining me now is teslin figuroa and adrianna cohen. great to have you here. i want to get your take on the responses from the 2020 democrats. so far, if this is what they're going up against in this election, are they prepared to combat it? >> well, what i see is that democrats are singing while republicans are swinging. joe biden's response when he said that, you know, the president needs to do a better job being president. president trump told the media they were absolute joke. so i don't see, you know, the same type of vigor we should see on the democratic side. to be honest, i don't think they're prepared. you're going to inpeach -- impeach or not.

that failed last week and it was embarrass. there's a lot that needs to be done not just for democrat candidates but the congress. what are democrats doing in congress. >> president trump added to questions with his nondenial of the reports yesterday. he was asked whether he discussed joe biden, his son or his family with the leader of ukraine. here is his response. >> it doesn't matter what i discuss but i will say this, somebody ought to look into joe biden's statement. it was disgraceful. he talked about billions of dollars that he's not giving to a certain country unless a certain prosecutor is taken off the case. somebody ought to look into that. >> how problematic is that response, especially given all the history around foreign election interference in 2016? ? >> i don't see a problem with the president's statement. he's highlighting the elephant in the room that, you know, joe biden's actions that he bragged about at the foreign council

relations meeting on video. we have him on tape admitting he was bragging about strong arming ukraine if they didn't remove the prosecutor that was investigating, this natural gas company where his son was a board member, that he was going to withhold a billion dollars in u.s. loan. he bragged within a couple of hours this prosecutor was fired. so there's a huge double standard here. democrats want to paint this picture it's wrong to have u.s. officials speaking with foreign governments to get opposition research on a candidate but we see the democrats have done it time and time again. i mean, the dnc and hillary clinton's campaign paid for russian dirt to use against president trump and the ukrainian embassy reported a dnc contractor alexander whichalupas trying to get dirt on paul

manafort. >> i want to your reaction. what do you make of president trump's response? >> i think his response has been what it's always been. go ahead and blow it up big so it will blow up in their faces. joe biden has been careful asking the information gets released. if it blows up in his face, it will not only hurt joe biden but it will hurt president trump, as well. rudy giuliani bragged about asking foreign government to look into joe biden's affairs. so it's going to hurt both sides but it will hurt joe biden more so than president trump because president trump already has his base locked in. period. it will hurt biden worse than trump. >> shouldn't be republicans be worried about what is in the complaint and the transcript of the president's call? why haven't they been calling for their release? >> well, first off, i think that democrats are making a grave mistake that candidates like elizabeth warren calling for impeachment when they haven't seen the transcript. we need to take a deep breath.

let's see what in the transcript to see if there's any wrong doing. until then, the washington -- excuse me, the "wall street journal" reported there was no quid pro quo. until we see the transcript, no one should be calling for impeachment on this. >> we will certainly look forward to seeing what we can find out in the complaint. thank you for joining us on this saturday morning. >> thank you for being here. and at the top of the hour, it's up with david gura. among his guests, peter welch. i'm dara brown. thanks for staying with us. daran thanks for staying with us i am royalty of racing, raise your steins to the king of speed.

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saudi arabia. the treasury department sanctioning iran's central bank as that country's president makes his way to new york. and many of the candidates vying for the democratic nomination are in iowa for a steak fry in des moines being called the caucus cochella. that's joe kennedy iii prepared to announce he's running for senate in massachusetts. the announcement scheduled to start in about an hour's time. jamil smith is a senior writer at rolling san antonio atone. and a senior analyst for cnbc and with us this morning, from boston, ambassador nicholas burns. former undersecretary of state for political affairs. currently a professor at the harvard kennedy school. let's start with those new details emerging overnight about that whistle blower complaint. the chairman