social media. although in fairness, haven't checked my snapchat all that recently. thank you for watching. ha great weekend. "deadline: white house" with nicolle wallace begins right now. ♪ hi, everyone d. where a few miles from here the diplomat who stands in the center three-fourths is closing in on donald trump today. an impeachment inquiry, a criminal investigation, into associates of his personal lawyer, and a whistle-blower complaint that put the entire dramatic series of disclosures about donald trump pressuring a foreign leader to dig up dirt on an opponent is offering an unsparing indictment of donald trump's foreign policy. that diplomat marie yovanovitch who the trump administration sought to block from appearing today claiming in her opening statement that her removal was corrupt. she writes this. quote, i was incredulous that the u.s. government chose to

remove an ambassador based as best as i can tell on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives. she added a warning about the risk to the country posed by the trump administration's conduct. quote, the harm will come when private interests circumvent professional diplomats for their own gain, not the public good. the harm will come when bad actors in countries beyond ukraine see how easy it is to use fiction and innuendo to manipulate our system. yovanovitch was also targeted by rudy giuliani's business associates who were arrested yesterday pictured there with rudy himself arrested yesterday for campaign finance crimes. they are smiling and waving. yovanovitch was also name-checked by donald trump himself as he pressed the ukrainian government for dirt on biden. that's according to that transcript released by the white house of what donald trump still maintains was a perfect call. in that transcript he says about

yovanovitch, quote, the former ambassador from the u.s., the woman, was bad news, and the people she was dealing with in the ukraine were bad news so i just want to let you know that. yovanovitch speaking to congress today for the first time and helping to shine a spotlight on rudy's influence over the state department and over the president, something that "the washington post" reports today was creating alarm and concern earlier and among more white house aides than previously disclosed. from that blockbuster report. least four national security officials were so alarmed by the trump administration's attempts to pressure ukraine for political purposes that they raised concerns with the white house lawyer both before and immediately after president trump's july 25th call with that country's president. that's according to u.s. officials and other people familiar with the matter. but on a day of fast-moving developments we start with a

dramatic rebuke today from former u.s. ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch. and we're joined by some of our favorite reporters and friends to do that at the table. senior writer for politico jake sherman. jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia and department of defense. donna edwards. and deputy chief for the "wall street journal" jean cummings. plus joining us from the "new york times" news room, annie carnie. i have to start with you. so far there have been witnesses that the white house has tried to block. there have been transcripts that the white house for some reason willingly released. all of the evidence paints the same picture. what is the most significant thing to you about ambassador yovanovitch's testimony? >> well, she, after 30 years in the foreign service, really lashed out at the approach of the trump administration, the state department at her tenure and at the tenure of professional diplomats, career diplomats, people who swear an oath to the country and serve in the best interests of the

nation. basically what she says is she says when president zelensky came in office, there was an effort underway to pry to utilize him for president trump's personal gain. but there were other aspects of that campaign that orchestrated campaign involving ambassador sondland, involving others from the state department to get president zelensky to get involved in the 2020 campaign. and ultimately president trump issued an ultimatum to the ukrainians and said if you don't do this, you are going to suffer consequences. she was clearly not on board with that, and in her testimony today she's clearly rebuking the administration for the firing of her and for the handling of this matter. >> in its most simplified version, i pulled these three stories out because she is a character in all three. she's named in the whistle-blower complaint that they wanted her out of there. she's in the indictment yesterday from the southern district of new york investigating corruption in these two associates of rudy

giuliani and donald trump himself in the transcript that he removes says that woman is bad news. why is she in all three of these forces? >> well, i think she was a force for professionalism, and she was a force for stable -- normal stable bilateral relationship between ukraine and the united states. and i think it's fair to say that what she saw beginning to emerge when she was fired was a dynamic in the relationship that she thought undermined american diplomacy and undermined american national security because the relationship was being premised not on the benefit of the united states but on the benefit of trump's re-election. once she saw that, once a diplomat sees that, they can not abide by that. i actually think that if she wasn't fired, she probably would've resigned in protest once she saw what transpired over the next few weeks. >> and she's not the only diplomat to have seen -- this goes back to donald trump standing in a maga rally i think over a year ago saying don't believe what you see, don't believe what you hear, just you and me, folks, because what you

see in the text messages from another diplomat bill taylor, is to another diplomat i think it's crazy to tie for an aid for a political campaign. i think the most damaging thing for the president and the reason public opinion appears to be swinging is every development reinforces the most dangerous story for the president. >> true. and then you have another diplomat saying let's take this off line and talk in person and let's not talk about this over text which is equally i'd say damaging. one thing to keep in mind is something the white house did that this ambassador circumvented. the white house tried to block her testimony. the committee issued a subpoena today. the committee issued a subpoena and she came to capitol hill anyway. democrats are trying to methodically build a case that the trump administration is trying to block and interfere with this legitimate constitutional investigation, whether you don't like the constitution or not, that's

another issue. but this is an impeachment, this is not an optional exercise for the president, although he seems to think it is. they tried to block her. she came up and she appears to be giving quite fruitful testimony to republicans and democrats. and democrats put out a statement today. i mean, this is still going on as far as i know saying that republicans and democrats are asking her questions and are talking honestly about this. and they tried to position this obviously there is some spin here. but they are trying to position this as a fair and legitimate hearing where a lot of information is being gleamed. >> and we still have some work to do. and there are still areas that we're just now beginning to probe. and, for instance, this week we have reported that what went on at the office of management and budget where the money was being held. >> that's an incredible story. take us through that. >> well, basically just days before the july 25th phone call from president trump to the ukrainian president, president

trump put a hold on the $400 billion in aid. >> military aid. >> military aid. >> then they have their phone call in which a favor is asked. and then the money continues to be held. well, there are -- there's a regular process by which this kind of foreign aid is allotted and distributed. and the career workers inside of omb became alarmed that legally they didn't have the right to hold this money anymore. so they brought the issue up. the political operatives in omb heard their concerns. and so then suddenly the oversight of this 400 billion was moved from the career workers to a political appointee. and he is the one who was sitting on it until it was released in late september. september 11th. >> under pressure from senators who worried that the fiscal year would end on september 30th. and then the money would go

away, and they could never send it to ukraine. >> by the way, money appropriated by congress. this is again not an optional exercise here. >> and it happened to be the day though that was john bolton's last day. it may be a coincidence. but let me just read for you some more of the reporting from "the washington post" story. amid a broader discussion in which white house officials were encouraging ukraine to continue its work to eliminate corruption in the country's energy sector. sondland blurted out that there were also investigations that were dropped that need to be started up again. bolton went ballistic after the meeting the official said. in the ensuing days senior nsc officials including bolton and kupperman huddled over concerns about ukraine. it's my understanding that one of those was this military aid being held up. >> and i think what we are learning here is that, you know, there are people throughout this administration in the executive branch who are raising questions about what happened with this.

and the reason i think that ambassador yovanovitch's testimony is so significant today in the way that she did it and that she had her lawyers but not state department lawyers there is because it then becomes a signal to others who are career professionals, who are civil servants, that they can come forward to irrespective of what the administration says. >> annie carnie, it was monday morning that your office broke the news that sondland would be a no show. ambassador yovanovitch, the white house tried to block her. she is there as we speak. i think we counted at least four diplomats heading to capitol hill as part of this impeachment inquiry that's gaining support among the public and gaining some investigative momentum. here's a shot up on your screen. if you can't see it, it's ambassador yovanovitch, ambassador sondland, i don't have on my glasses. i think the next one is bill

taylor, and then fiona hill. how, annie carnie, did the white house fail in their stonewalling effort? how are all four of these diplomats potentially eyewitnesses to donald trump's demands for an investigation into the bidens end up on their way to capitol hill? >> that's the big question here. i mean, today's testimony about the ambassador blows a huge hole in their entire strategy, which is to stonewall, which is to really declare war on congress's ability to investigate the white house. but there are different pieces here. for instance, what change between sondland not being allowed to testify and now saying he will next week as he got subpoenaed and he is not going to break the law on behalf of the white house. at the same time the white house isn't really bothered by him going and testifying. there was always a split inside the white house about whether he should be allowed to go or not. a lot of people thought he should go because he actually

has a story to held that's helpful to trump. on the text messages you will remember that he is the one who stops the conversation and says there was no quid pro quo. he's a trump ally, a campaign donor. so the decision to stop him from testifying was made because of precedent, not because they are scared of his testimony. so that's a different bucket. but fiona hill's testimony is causing some consternation in the white house. and this is showing that the lawmakers on the hill can call former administration officials and test to see whether or not they can claim executive privilege over these people. fiona hill and the ambassador are stonewalling. >> i think there are differing opinions about just how helpful sondland will be. i think the fact that he's a trump donor calls into question his credibility. you mentioned fiona hill, let me read you some of nbc's reporting

on fiona hill because she's a new figure and potentially an explosive witness for the fact-finding mission around aid for dirt. fiona hill who was until recently president donald trump's top aid on russia and europe plans to tell congress that rudy giuliani and gordon sondland circumvented the white house counsel. a person familiar with her testimony told nbc. hill's appearance next week before congress has stoked fear among people close to the president giving her central role overseeing russia and ukraine policy. it would seem, annie, that even if sondland is favorably disposed to donald trump's charm and foreign policy acumen, no one is disputing, no one close to pompeo, no one close to fiona hill, no one close to kurt volker who's already resigned. no one is disputing that donald trump and rudy giuliani had the ambassador fired and were running a shadow foreign policy

in ukraine. are they? >> um, no. i think that what volker's testimony showed us was the strange ways that donald trump conducts off the book foreign policy and has different people playing unofficial roles involved in different things so no one knows the whole picture of what's happening. this is sort of how he does what he does. he was certainly running an off-the-books foreign policy with giuliani where people who should've been in the loop didn't know the full picture of what was happening. that is the clear picture that is emerging here. fiona hill was always an interesting character in this administration. she was known as a russia hawk and is widely respected as a foreign policy expert. and never seemed in line with trump's world views. and her serving in the administration at all gave some people were happy that someone like her was in there. and now we will see what happens when she testifies next week. it's part of why she is causing fear inside the white house

right now. >> you know, jeremy, i think annie hit on why this is resonating with the public. off the books foreign policy connotes scandal. it has a real echo to nixon and the watergate break-in. that's exactly what this was. this was off the books, potentially illegal foreign policy. >> i think that's right. and it's kind of revenge of the formers. kurt volker came forward and he provided the text messages to the committee, which made clear that there was a demand presented to the ukrainians that they investigate trump's rival. that's clear. whether or not it was specifically or implicitly tied to the military aid, folks can debate. but what is debate is that there was a demand for a foreign government to get involved in trump's re-elect. that's clear from the sondland text, the volker and giuliani and everybody else. revenge of the formers. >> it's john bolton who, yoet, went ballistic. >> it's i think team bolton

speaking into "the washington post" article that we read today about his own discomfort here. and of course fiona hill who was referenced was a member of the national intelligence council and senior intelligence intelligenofficer, a russia expert who was always a little bit of a fish out of water in donald trump's white house. and to the team's credit they kept her there for they are expertise. but there is no way she is going to create a demand to ukraine. we have all the evidence from the transcript of the text. i don't think members of congress need much more to understand exactly what the president's end game was. >> all i was -- all i would put to you is all the reporting, and especially in your paper it's been extraordinary. i mean, true and i take your point. but when you read as i think rebecca reported a couple fridays ago that on that call eight times, i mean, it's the detail that is swinging public opinion eight times donald trump

asked the leader of ukraine to investigate joe biden. i mean, the investigation is yielding sort of the texture. and when donald trump utters these things that rudy giuliani confesses, damn right i asked him to investigate biden. no one ever heard from the people accused of this conduct. >> well, it is true. i mean, it was supposed to be a courtesy phone call congratulating him on his victory that managed somehow eight times to be brought back by trump to the issue of the bidens and how they could get some dirt on them or evidence of some wrongdoing, none of which has ever emerged. fiona hill intrigues me because of her role as a russian adviser. and the fact that after the white house released that transcript of the conversations between the two presidents, vladimir putin was the first world leader to say you can't release mine, not without my

permission. >> and to say it publicly. >> exactly. sending a warning to the white house be careful what you do with any transcripts and notes that were taken during my conversations with the president. and fiona hill might have been in a position to have listened in on those kinds of conversations. >> annie, i want to give you the last word. the white house is your beat, you cover it better than just about anybody. what is the mood there? are they distracted? the president seemed particularly deranged last night at his rally somewhere saying things not fit for family-friendly cable. but what are you picking up from your white house sources? >> i'm really picking up that they're all over the place and they're not on the same page and there's a lot of finger-pointing. but it's really, you know, it's more disjointed than ever. you saw yesterday president trump coming on and saying we actually can't hire trey gowdy

for the job that we just announced we were hiring for as outside counsel because of lobbying rules he can't start till january. this is a job they wanted him on helping in an impeachment inquiry that they expect to be wrapped up by december. that there's internal finger-pointing about why they got themselves in that mess in the first place and whose fault it was. no one knows who's in charge, people don't know what they're supposed to be doing. but there is also sort of a sense that overall a confidence that president trump is going to barrel on in his re-election campaign and that confidence and the weakness of the democratic field that they think that overall he is going to win a second term. >> all right. well, we'll be watching. annie carnie, thank you for spending some time with us. when we come back, rudy giuliani gets the michael cohen treatment from donald trump. but will it turn out the same from rudy? we'll get the latest as part of the sdny's ongoing corruption investigation. and all the president's men were

once harsh trump critics. will they stay true to the man one of them called a carnival barker and a stain on conservatism when the investigations close in on them? and the president's biggest syncophant. all those stories coming up. devices are like doorways

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>> over there, ask them. is rudy going to be the new michael cohen? trump seeming to throw him under the bus much like he did to michael cohen who now sits in prison. comes as rudy appears more and more exposed in a federal investigation that's already swept up two of his top fixers in ukraine. "the washington post" reporting, quote, a person familiar with the investigation said federal agents are skrcrutinizing dealings. as the fbi examine the pa ir's finances. rudy giuliani for his part not backing down. and he is standing by his mech men. giuliani said he had no reason to believe he was under investigation by the fbi and said, quote, i certainly am not going to disavow them. i have no reason to doubt them. everything i've known about them says they would not commit a

crime. the table's back. i mean, so, okay. sdny didn't think so. >> obviously if rudy is their principal lawyer, he's not a very good one because they got arrested going from the first-class lounge to their plane at dulles yesterday. i think there are many questions here. number one is what was the nature of his representation, what was he representing to them in connection with? he also says in addition to being a lawyer on potential criminal matters he was also giving them, quote, civil business advice. no one really understands what that means. and also a third question is did he go to them and say i want your support and your assistance in my relationships in ukraine to promote the effort that we ultimately came to see which was this ultimatum presented to president zelensky to get involved in the 2020 election. there are a lot of questions here. and none of it looks good for rudy giuliani. and the fbi has got wire taps and investigations of these two men, clearly they have communications with rudy giuliani as well. >> two national security officials said to me yesterday

that for them to have sort of the knowledge that they were going from lunch with giuliani at the trump hotel to the airport, they must have been listening. if they were listening to them, they may have also been listening to rudy. >> well, i think what you just touched on is the most damning thing here. let's paint this picture here. they are sitting at the trump hotel with one-way tickets in their pocket proverbially to get on a one-way plane abroad as they are about to be arrested. and they are having lunch with the president's attorney. >> i spend a lot of time on trip adviser. buying a one-way ticket to a foreign country like screams get me. >> i know it's bizarre. and the indictment does indicate it seems to indicate at least that there are phone taps because it references conversations that they were having on the phone. so you would have to guess that someone was listening into a lot of what they were saying. so this whole picture just doesn't look terribly good to say the least. >> your paper's an extraordinary

body of reporting on all the happenings at sdny. there was a not at all veiled insinuation yesterday from jeff berman who is a don mcgahn ally, trump appointee, runs that office. he made perfectly clear the investigation was ongoing. and i think both of the gentlemen that spoke yesterday had comments that didn't necessarily relate to the indictments but spoke out about foreign interference. >> absolutely. and with these two associates of rudy had done and we've reported today surpr to have no real job right? no business that's operational. and yet they somehow manage to republican candidates and super pacs in just the last couple of years. of course the big problem they face is they are accused of

funneling foreign money through an llc, so enabling a foreign straw donor to give to an election. so that's -- >> illegal. >> it's called a clue. [ laughter ] >> and not a coincidence. it wasn't a canadian donor. it was a russian donor. >> absolutely. and so, i mean, there is so much more we need to explore here. but i thought what's interesting too in that press conference was i got -- they seemed to leave the sense that their comments were not done yet. these guys were about to go to vienna. so we went and got them, but we're not done. >> one more observation here. what the charges kaet to me, and i'm not a lawyer but i've covered this stuff and followed them. they charged them on kpans finance charges which are not terribly weighty charges. it's still against the law. but that would indicate to me and indicated to some of my colleagues that they are trying to get more information. >> a deal might be available. >> and they're not going to jail

most likely i don't think for campaign finance charges although these are serious charges. it just does seem like the combination of them saying we are still walking with the investigation that is ongoing plus the campaign finance charge. >> and remember when we were sitting around this table talking about the campaign finance violation for which michael cohen is now sitting in jail, and that was used as a lever to get additional information. i think it's a real signal that we are at the very beginning of this story of an investigation and not at the end. >> and they got something for their money. >> right. >> because they gave money to representative sessions, former rep in texas. and then asked him to write a letter to urge the state department to get rid of the ambassador in ukraine. >> and he did. so just tie the first two stories together for us. >> i an effort that rudy giuliani was in the middle of to obtain support from a foreign government to

interfere in the 2020 election, period, full stop. in some ways the conduct here which happened in 2018 all pre-dated president zelensky's emergence as a potential counterparty for this transaction between the united states and ukraine. and in some respects the criminal process is going to take longer than the impeachment calendar. so i'm not really sure at the end of the day how relevant whatever information they have may be. however, it just puts a taint over everything. for them as you noted to sit at the trump hotel with one-way tickets in their pocket and to claim we are the corruption team, we are the anti-corruption team, we are the ones fighting corruption really i think undermines the argument. >> there were some allusions to these two gentlemen as the 2019's version of nixon's plumber. >> i love that. [ laughter ] because, i mean, they are kind of clown like. they go over to ukraine and they drop names and, you know, they talk about how close they are to the president and to rudy

giuliani. and then they try to get investors for these companies that fail over and over again. and then, so, and they come back here, and they try to prevent like they have big investors overseas that could help them with any companies they tried to start in this country. and ultimately they end up in a bunch of lawsuits and bankruptcies. >> maybe in jail. we love when you're here. thank you so much for spending some time with us. when we come back, they had a front-row seat to donald trump's lack of character, lack of knowledge and lack of conservatism and they said so on tape, on camera. now they're ensnared in his impeachment scandal as part of his cabinet. will they revert back to what they once said or stay true to a man who has never stayed loyal to anyone. that story next. over adversity. and live your lives. that's why we redesigned humira. we wanted to make the experience better for you. now there's less pain immediately

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must be clearly diagnosed, excised, and discarded. >> do i like donald trump? no. is he a role model for two of my 16-year-old triplets? was he a role model for my tons? absolutely not. yes, i'm supporting donald trump. i am doing so as enthusiastically as i can even though i think he's a terrible human being. >> donald trump says the other day that if he tells a soldier to commit a war crime, he will just go do it. he said they will do what i tell them to do. he ignored our constitution. we don't need four more years of that. >> but you, mike pompeo, do what he tells you to do. what a difference a few years makes. that was his energy secretary rick perry, the guy in charge of i guess everything because there's not many people left there, including chief of staff mike mulvaney and mike pompeo, all three men subpoenaed or documents of theirs subpoenaed in the ukrainian caper.

jeremy, i don't even know what to say. >> well, i wonder whether or not actually, um, senior officials in the cabinet around where the president actually endorsed the ukraine effort that the president and rudy giuliani launched. or whether or not they were more in a position to sort of gasp as other senior white house officials were when they learned of it and be involved in the cleanup aisle eight. and there is a lot of scrutiny in the cleanup aisle eight and sort of how they handled the documents. but i actually think this came from the top. i actually think this came from the president himself who said the only way we are going to give ukraine anything is if they help me win re-election. period, full stop. this is all about his conduct. >> we are joined by pulitzer prize-winning columnist eugene robinson. eugene, i watch that and i have like a physical reaction to these, as whoopi goldberg would say grown-ass men who lay down

at the feet of a corrupt and i.d.otic president. >> i mean, do we have a body snatcher situation here? are these clones or something? >> because even if he says it came from him, they are all accomplices now. >> and, look, ambassador yovanovitch, she worked for mike pompeo. and she was pushed out and the impulse may have come or the order may have come from president trump but it came down through the state department. and again for mulvaney and then perry we are yet to understand what role he might or might not have played. >> a cancer to be excised he says. >> so you're working for cancer, you know? [ laughter ] it is stunning. it really is. the degree to which has taken over not only the republican party but people who for their

entire political careers posed as principled conservatives. and pompeo as, you know, a god-fearing evangelical. people who understand the moral rot at the center of donald trump as well as the fact that he's not a conservative the way he doesn't believe in what they believe in. and yet they fall right in line. >> let me show you h.r. mcmaster who has found some religion. >> do you think it is appropriate for the president of the united states to solicit foreign interference in our political process? thank you. >> of course no. it's absolutely not. >> why is that hard? >> yeah. i think, listen, i think a few things. and i know pompeo and mulvaney. congressman edwards knows them too. pompeo seems to see his based on public statements and reporting

to back this up, seems to see his role as helping the president achieve the ends that he wants to achieve, not to redirect the president's impulses or policy. >> even when they're corrupt? >> i don't know about this specific incident to be honest. but mulvaney is another person who has -- i mean, he didn't abandon some, you know, small details of his make-up. mulvaney abandoned the car principle on which he was elected. he ran against the budget chairman from south carolina, conservative democrat, relatively conservative democrat, who he said had just plunged the nation into debt and was spending recklessly. and he goes to first omb where they're racking up deficits up to the eye and then goes to the white house and is in charge of a white house that is spending a lot of money, not pursuing the goals that he plunged the government into shut-down over. this is not ambiguous when it

comes to mulvaney, at least. >> i mean, i think that it's really clear that every single individual agency the president touches goes into the mud. and that is true with mulvaney. it's true with pompeo. i had frankly forgotten that rick perry was even in the administration until the last couple of weeks. >> i'm sure he was fine with that. now he's been subpoenaed. let me show you the position trump's put elected officials in. this is senator gardner. >> do you believe it's appropriate for the president of the united states to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival? yes or no? >> if this is what we're going to get into, the senate intelligence committee is having a bipartisan investigation. unfortunately though what we've seen is a very political process take over. >> but the question is, is it appropriate for -- >> look, we are going to have an investigation. it's a nonpartisan investigation. >> it's a yes-or-no question. >> that went on for four

minutes, donna. >> i know. and it's painful just to watch -- >> 25 seconds of that. >> look. i think cory gardner, joni ernst, all of these electeds who are up for re-election are going to face this question. they are not going to be able to run away from it. there is not a good answer except, no, i don't think it's right for a president to investigate his political rival. there is no other answer if you believe in the constitution. and i think that the president will throw everyone under the bus. he'll do it with pence. he'll do it with pompeo. he'll do it with mulvaney. he'll do it on down the line. and if these people don't walk away from him, there is going to come a point where there is no place to walk. >> one more point on this. how do these people, republican senators who are up for re-election who could benefit from a trump or pence district, how do they have them in their districts? you watch that ernst clip. every single question was about

the impeachment investigation. she gets very little, in my opinion political upside. >> and it's been going on three and a half weeks impeachment. you got a majority of americans in fox news polls that support the inquiry. so, you know, riddle me that. >> fox isn't what it used to be. [ laughter ] >> it actually isn't. after the break on the third day of turkey's assault on u.s. allies in the middle east, new questions about the uncanny coincidence that russia wins again. that story next. ry next. honey, have you seen my glasses? i've always had a knack for finding things... ...colon cancer,to be exact. and i find it noninvasively... no need for time off or special prep. it all starts here... you collect your sample, and cologuard uses the dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers. you can always count on me to know where to look. oh, i found them! i can do this test now! ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. covered by medicare and most major insurers

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to help you grow and protect your wealth. ♪ applebee's new pasta and grill combos. choose from up to 12 combinations starting at $9.99. it's day three of turkey's military assault on america's allies, the kurds in syria. that's after donald trump turned his back on them. and dangers mounting. the "new york times" reports, quote, the turkish invasion of kurdish-held territory in northern syria raised new fears of a resurgence of the islamic state on friday as five militants escaped from a kurdish-run prison and the extremist group claimed

responsibility for a bomb that exploded in the regional capital. kurdish fighters said they had thwarted a second attempted jail break from a detention camp for families of islamic state members. trump neglecting our allies and allowing the threat of an isis resurgence raises questions of where his true allegiance lies. julia davis writing in "the daily beast," quote, president trump's surprise decision to abandon the kurds and sign off on turkey's operation in syria drew condemnation in the west but was cheerfully welcomed in russia. and for those who follow russia closely, the contrast revived the ghost of helsinki. everyone's back. you know, and we've been talking all hour, the thread that runs through this hour is that there are no coincidences once again a major foreign policy debacle in the eyes of republican and democratic national security officials and elected officials and a clear win for russia.

>> it always seems to come bouncing back to russia, you know, and we've never gotten fully to the bottom of why, and maybe we will someday. but, yes, they love this in moscow. they also love it in damascus and in terhan. assad's going to get the rest of his country back. and the iranians are his pals. all the people we don't want to be helping we're helping, and our allies we are abandoning as the death toll mounts and we get, you know, images and stories of what's unfolding over there. it's just going to get worse and worse. >> there is a bipartisan consensus, nicole, that this is a national security calamity in three dimensions. number one, isis is a threat. and if the jail doors are opened wide because the syrian democratic forces who guard those jails have to now turn and fight the turks, and isis spreads out, they will initiate

a rape eign of terror. remember, the paris attack that killed 130 people, remember the ariana grande concert, the nice attack in 2016, that's what isis is capable of. second is it is an all-out assault on our ally, america's ally the kurds. third as noted this empowers assad and syria, and it really strengthens the russia hand in the region because assad has been russia's client. and when russia goes in there and assad is powered so too is iran. that's why we have to race to bolster saudi arabia and other allies in the nation. that's why israel is against this. that's why every american ally and members on both sides of the aisle think this is a horrible, horrible development. >> jake, i hear from republicans sometimes that say why are you so mean to us now? i am disgusted that they've given donald trump so much

latitude that he did this. >> yeah. i think the world is going to come crashing on donald trump's doorstep in the next couple days on this topic specifically. so the treasury department today say that the president was going to sign an executive order which is aimed to dissuade turkey from human rights abuse. >> they're almost done. >> sanctions are going to pass with massive bipartisan numbers as jeremy said. it's going to be veto proof unless lindsay graham backs down which i don't think he is. because he says we are going forward with this no matter what. >> there are dead kurds. what's their point? >> i'm not sure, and i'm not the exoert this but i'm not sure how turkey is going to respond to sanctions. i think there are going to be a lot of interests that are going to try to water down these sanctions for legitimate purposes in turkey, going to lobby congress to do this. but the president seems not to either realize or not care that he's going to be railroaded here by his own party. >> well, we're going to have

the -- >> by the way 98 to 2. >> i agree with you. >> but erdogan is not going to stop now that he's got permission basically. he's got his foot in the door more than his foot. he's going to plow ahead and create that whole zone that he wants, ethnic cleansing away the kurds, resettling in the nonkurdish syrian refugees. >> when we come back, looks like enough is enough, one of the last guardrails against the trump reality. shep smith has resigned. next. shep smith has resigned. next too shabby! too much! too perfect! i can rent this? for that price? absolutely. what is this, some kind of fairy tale?

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i can read minds too. really? book at hilton.com. if you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25% off that stay. expect better. expect hilton. recently i asked the company to allow me to leave fox news. after requesting i stay, they obliged. under our agreement, i won't be reporting elsewhere at least in the near future, i will be able to see more of friends and family and we'll see what comes along. in our polarized nation it is my hope that facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive. >> that's shep smith. in my view, the most important voice at fox news. he took apart donald trump's uranium one scam, important voice for truth, in front of an audience that needs it

desperately. very sad news for the truth today. hopefully happy news for shep smith at fox news. >> there are a couple of bright lights in the news division at fox news, and shep was the brightest of them. i mean, really speaking truth to power in an environment that was very complicated and very difficult. speaking from an audience that needed to hear what he had to say. >> shep smith, i will confess, i am a huge fan, he is a friend, i am admirer of his journalism. he works in a newsroom where it is hard to do what we do here. >> well, the thing about shep smith's broadcast was it was an hour of the reality that you and i know as opposed to the reality that is seen on most other hours on fox news. and the two different realities, you know, in that other reality probably maybe arguably the most important story going on right now is still hillary clinton's

emails, and so shep smith, you know, for those fox viewers that watched him, it was a literal reality check. and at least questioned what they were seeing in the rest of the broadcast. so now, who replaces him, does that window close basically, is it kind of wall to wall. >> it cannot be overstated how this moment really sort of taints and pollutes everything, congress, media, fox news. >> yeah. i think it is shaken institutions. i wrote a book about congress and the trump era. i think one thing that was clear to us from two years of reporting was relationships change between members of congress, republicans and democrats, between media and members of congress. there's no question about that, that the entire city has been realigned in this era. >> we stand with you, shep. congratulations. i wish you all good things. we're sneaking in a last break. be right back. eaking in a last k be right back.

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we ran out of time. i want to thank my guests. most of all, thank you for watching and all week. what a week it was. "mtp daily" starts now. ♪ welcome to friday. "mtp daily." i am chuck todd in washington where it has been another wild,er rat i can day of developments, all centering on this question. can the white house and more importantly this president handle this moment. the president is speaking to reporters as he heads to another rally in louisiana. we'll be monitoring that footage when it feeds in. but folks, right now, this white house and the president are reeling from the president's decision to withdraw troops from northern syria and let turkey

attack our kurdish allies in the region. blow back so intense, the treasury secretary sai