the public hearings and the start of the sondland testimony in the morning. thank you for being here with us tonight and good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. it's another day in the public impeachment hearings, and this morning, we may hear from the most anticipated witness yet, eu ambassador gordon sondland. he may be one of the few witnesses able to confirm that president trump wanted ukraine to investigate the bidens in exchange for military aid. and has testimony follows a marathon day on capitol hill. we heard from four witnesses who delivered testimony that was deeply damaging to the president's case that the july 25th phone call with the leader of ukraine was perfect. good morning, everybody.

it is wednesday, november 20th, i'm yasmin vossoughian. ayman is out sick. this morning, we'll hear from one of the most consequential witnesses yesterday, ambassador gordon sondland will testify at 9:00 a.m. this morning. people close to the administration telling "the new york times" maggie haberman that sondland is the one they're most concerned about. one of the first witnesses to testify behind closed doors but later amending his testimony that he now remembers that a white house aide and new testimony was sought by the president. sondland's name came up several times during yesterday's marathon hearings, identified as one of the main officials who carried president trump's message to the ukrainians. >> ambassador bolton cut the meeting short when ambassador sondland began to speak about

ukraine deliver specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with president trump. followed this meeting there was a short meeting in which ambassador sondland emphasized the 2016 elections, bidens and ba ruris burisma. >> what did ambassador sondland say to tell you that he told mr. yermak? >> that the ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general make a statement with respect to the investigations, as a condition of having the aid lifted. >> after this larger meeting with vice president pence and president zelensky, you testified at your deposition that you saw ambassador sondland, immediately go over and pull andre yermak aside and have a conversation, is that right? >> president zelensky left the room, vice president pence left the room. and in sort of an ante room, ambassador sondland and vice

president yermak had this discussion, yes. what did ambassador sondland say to you that he told mr. yermak? >> that the ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general make a statement with respect to the investigations as a condition of having the aid lifted. >> among the discussions i had with dr. hill were about ambassador sondland. i think she might have coined it the gordon problem. and i decided to keep track of what ambassador sondland was doing, i didn't necessarily always act on things gordon suggested he believes were important. >> so, sondland will also face questions over the phone conversation he had with the president while sondland was inside a ukrainian restaurant. on friday, state department official david hale told investigators behind closed doors that trump was speaking so loudly, you could hear him ask

sondland about the status of the investigations that he was seeking from ukraine. we're going to get a first person account of what happened inside that restaurant when hale testifies later today. it was a marathon day of testimony in the impeachment probe yesterday, though. in the morning we heard from lieutenant colonel vindman. a stop security official on national security. and jennifer williams. and mr. trimp listen in on the july 25th phone call with the leader of ukraine, and they both testified that the call gauge them cause for concern. watch this. >> on july 25th, along with several of my colleagues, i listened to a call between president trump and president zelensky, the content of which has since been publicly reported. i found the july 25th phone equal unusual, because in contrast to other presidential calls i had observed it involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter.

>> i was concerned by the call. what i heard was inappropriate. and i reported my concerns to mr. eisenberg. it is improper for 9 the president of the united states to command a foreign government investigate a u.s. stipulate and political opponent. it is also clear that if ukraine proceeded into the investigation into the 2016 elections, the bidens and burisma, that it would be interpreted as a partisan play. >> it was a bit of an emotional play, in his opening statement, lieutenant colonel vindman thanks his father for leaving the soviet 40 years ago, and bringing their family to the united states. he later drew a round of applause when he explained why he was not afraid to testify yesterday. >> dad, i'm sitting here today in the u.s. capitol talking to our elected professionals, talked to our elected professionals is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the soviet union,

to come here to the united states of america in search of a better life for our family. do not worry, i will be fine for telling the truth. >> you realize, when you came forward out of sense of duty that you were putting yourself in direct opposition to the most powerful person in the world, do you realize that, sir? >> i knew i was assuming a lot of risk. >> and i'm struck by that phrase "do not worry" you addressed to your dad. why do you have confidence you that can do that, and tell your dad not to worry. >> congressman because this is america. this is the country i've served and defended, that all my brothers have served and here, right matters. >> thank you, sir. yield back. >> so lead republican council steve castor pressed lieutenant colonel vindman about an offer he had received to take a division agency defense minister in ukraine. it was a line of questioning

designed to raise doubts about the colonel's allegiance to this country. >> did mr. danyliuk offer you a position of defense minister with the ukrainian government. >> he did, every single time i dismissed it. upon returning, i notified my chain of command. i'm an american. i came here when i was a toddler and i needed dismissed these offers did not entertain them. the whole notion is rather comical. >> rather significant that the ukrainians offered you the post as defense minister. did you ever think that possibly if this information got out that it might create at least a perception of a conflict? >> it's much more important what my civilian white house national security council chain of command thinks more so than anybody else. and frankly, if they were concerned about me being able to continue my duties they would have brought that to my attention. >> so, the theory about vindman who is a ukraine-born american system that immigrated to the united states as a child was

highlighted in a fox news segment last month that speculated vindman committed espionage and could be a double agent. a man who has served this country extensively. democratic congressman jim hines, though, of connecticut later debunked castor's line of questions. watch some of this. >> they've accused you of espionage and dual loyalties. we've seen that in this room this morning. the three minutes that were spent asking you about asking you about the offer made to be the minister of defense, that may have come cloaked in a brooks brother suit and parliamentary language but that was designed to give the media an opening to question your loyalties. >> meanwhile, the former ukrainian national security official who offered vindman the position telling the daily beast that, quote, it was clearly a joke. and he never had such authority to make such an offer. the republicans have argued that

the impeachment testimony has been speculation or hearsay. sean patrick maloney pointed out yesterday that those arguments were not applicable for lieutenant colonel vindman and for williams. >> let's do the substance, can we do that because we've had a lot of dust kicked up. miss williams, you heard the call with your own ears, right? >> yes, sir. >> not second hand, not hearsay, you heard the president speak, you heard his voice on the call? >> correct. >> and your delusion about what he said about the bidens was in your words unusual and inappropriate, am i right? >> that was my testimony. >> mr. vindman, you were treated to a july 25th meeting in the white house where you heard sondland raising conditions on investigations that you thought were unduly political, i believe that's how you described them. and you went to nsc council and you reported it, correct? >> correct. >> later, you two were on the white house call, am i right? >> correct.

>> not secondhand, not from somebody else, not hearsay, right? >> correct. >> you heard the president's voice on the call. >> i did. >> and you heard him raise that subject again that ambassador sondland had raised before about investigating the bidens, right? >> i did. >> joining me msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos and also senior adviser from the hill scott wong. scott, let's talk about this question of loyalty when it comes to vindman. i think it was pretty tasteful across the board, questioning someone who has served this country selflessly as he has. what has been the reaction so far, and what were republicans trying to gain from all of this? >> well, i think you alluded to it earlier in the statement there was a lot of gossip and innuendo suggestions about loyalty. and republicans were sort of in a box. they could not attack vindman

directly and, you know, say are you loyal to this country? but they cloaked their questions in various ways to try to just draw at some of those suspicions to try to question his credibility. and his loyalty. obviously, the man appeared at the hearing in uniform. and so it made it very difficult for republicans to attack him direct directly. but you saw that vindman was ready for those attacks. he had some zingers in his pocket when devin nunes, the top republican on the panel called him mr. vindman. vindman came back and said i would prefer it if you called me lieutenant colonel vindman suggesting he obviously had earned that title as a purple heart recipient and decorated iraq veteran. >> danny i want to get your take on the opening statement first and foremost.

you also tweeted that vindman's opening statement, quote, surely caused some eyes to well up among viewers. i imagine you're talking about that moment where he addressed his father. his brother was also in the room yesterday to support him. looks as if he kind of glanced at his brother as well during that moment. take me for to your reaction. >> yeah. that statement hit home. my father is an immigrant, as children of immigrants, one of the things that emerged, the republican strategy that lieutenant colonel vindman lacked loyalty is inappropriate. they can properly question his judgment as did mr. morrison. they said they testified in some senses they questioned his judgment really how good he might have been at his job. that is acceptable on one level, but loyalty is something else that really can't be questioned especially with somebody like a background like this. a combat background in the u.s.

army, a career public servant. as were some of the other witnesses, too. including morrison a public servant as well, or was. i think that strategy of challenging his loyalty was all but shot after vindman's opening statement. >> how do you think outside of that vindman's testimony along with jennifer williams' testimony, how do you think they landed yesterday? >> for the first time, you had actual participate witnesses. you haven't heard the other things going on. this defense is moving to republicans to corruption is corruption wherever it is, if it happens to include biden, it includes biden, but it's the president's prerogative to root out corruption wherever it may be however he sees fit. >> and the testimony going late into the night with volker as

well. scott, i want to talk about sondland who we're going to be hearing from later today. his name mentioned multiple times thrown coming up throughout both sets of testimonies. how might these testimonies from yesterday impact sondland's hearing today? >> well, it really raises incredible pressure on sondland. and we don't know what he's going to say at this moment. just hours before the hearing begins. but the big question, i think, in everyone's mind is, you know, does he throw the president under the bus, does he point the finger at the president and say he was simply carrying out the president's orders when he was talking to the ukrainians in the white house, when he was talking to the ukrainians back in kiev. or does he say that -- or, you know, was he just glitti inadmi going rogue and acting on his own. there was a lot of testimony that yesterday said, well, sondland, he's just a big personality and has a big ego

and likes to think of himself as perhaps a bigger player than he really is. that's sort of what people are watching today. but there was incredible testimony yesterday of people who interacted with sondland, who heard these conversations from him. who heard him talking specifically about the demands that were being placed on the ukrainians say nothing military aid until ukraine takes the steps to carry out these investigations. so, we rae don't know what is happening today but we'll all be watching. >> there was a minute, i want to get your take on this with regards to morrison yesterday, he talked about the fact he reported the phone call because he felt there were concerns there. but didn't necessarily give a reason as to why he actually reported the phone call. he said he went to lawyers to report the phone call but didn't necessarily have any deep concerns what took place in that phone call. a lot of people online are

questioning that chain of events with morrison. >> very interesting because stark contrast to lieutenant colonel vindman's reasons for reporting phone calls. morrison wasn't concerned about the substance, but he did report it and he offered explanation along the line. he was concerned about it. >> political fallout. >> pretty colitical fallout. so that gets into if you're worried -- >> o-- then you must be worried about the substance of the conversation? >> exactly. it undermined, that i wasn't worried about the substances but damaging if it got to the atmosphere. >> but i felt like they didn't have success in getting to the bottom of the reasons as to why he actually reported the phone call. >> no, as astonishing as it may sound it may not have been enough time to get to the real questions that mattered. >> danny cevallos thank you,

scott wong. new reports that secretary of state mike pompeo has plans to resign from the administration. but his problem is how to get out. plus much more from yesterday's impeachment hearings, including the questioning that ambassador kurt volker faced in discrepancies in his testimony. those stories sany ies and of c check of the weather when we come back. come back. - [narrator] meet the ninja foodi pressure cooker with tender crisp technology.

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welcome back. the ukrainian national gas executive andrew savor plans to meet. a source kelling nbc news this, parnas and fruman are suspected of being players in investigating joe biden and son

hunter. federal prosecutors are looking into giuliani's business dealings, that's where he comes in. two executives saying in march giuliani wants to recruit him in a venture to export up to 100 tanker shipments a year of u.s. liquefied gas into ukraine. and giuliani is told that they would remove marie yovanovitch and replace her. yovanovitch was recalled to washington in may. "time" magazine is reporting that secretary of state mmp pomp mike pompeo plans to resign from the trump administration. pompeo reportedly told three republicans that he wants to run

for senate next year. according to the report, recent developments including the house impeachment inquiry are hurting pompeo politically and straining his relationship with the president. the state department has denied the story saying, quote, secretary pompeo is only focused on executing president trump's foreign policy goals and completing the mission for the american people at the state department. anyone who says otherwise is just wrong. still ahead, it's a war of word between president trump's press secretary and former aide. stephanie grisham claims departing staffers left nasty notes. now president obama's aides are hitting back. my gums are irritated.

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white house press secretary instead stephanie grisham is facing backlash after she testified that aides left intimidating language around the white house on president trump's inauguration. grisham claims that aides left obama books throughout the white house and taped a big you will fail sign on the door before trump officials moved in. five officials who were in the white house say they do not remember the note described by grishman. and susan rice tweeted this is another bald-face lie. grisham said she saw the notes in sort of a prank and something that always happens. grisham made the claim of the

radio show why there weren't more loyaltyists in the earliest days of the administration. and pete buttigieg surged 15 points. the poll shows buttigieg with 25%. joe biden and elizabeth warren tied at 15%. bernie sanders comes in with 9%. and amy klobuchar and tom steyer with 6 and 5%. it's likely they polled more voters with higher education. still hahead, a top dougipl wants to probe the cell phone use. and gordon sondland is not the only one testifying today. we'll have a preview of lawmakers and who else will be in the hot seat today. we'll be back.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we are gearing up for another high-stakes day in the trump impeachment hearings with testimony from three key witnesses. the first hearing starts at 9:00 a.m. and then another one this afternoon. u.s. ambassador to the european union gordon sondland is first up this morning. he had a direct line to the president and admitted to lawmakers after amending his original testimony about military aid in a white house visit for ukraine's president was contingent on the country

announcing investigations into the 2016 election and joe and hunter biden. this afternoon, we're going to hear from david hale. he's the diplomat who overheard a conversation between president trump and sondland while sondland was in a ukrainian restaurant. hale told investigators that trump was speaking so loudly he could hear him ask sondland about the status of those political investigations. also this afternoon, defense department official laura cooper is expected to testify about the military aid that was frozen. democrats hope she can give insight into who was involved in the decision to freeze the aid and why. also in his testimony before the house intel committee, lieutenant colonel alexander vindman confirmed that the phone calls between the ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky was never to tackle corruption, take a look. >> colonel vindman, you indicated that you did include in your talking points the idea of ukraine rooting out corruption. but that president trump did not

mention corruption. so, when the president says now that he held up security assistance because he was concerned about rooting out corruption in ukraine, that concern was not expressed in the two phone conversations that he had with president zelensky earlier this year. start? >> correct. >> so the lieutenant colonel also struck at the heart of one of the arguments from the president's defenders that the president could not have expected something in exchange for the military aid because the ukrainians didn't know that the aid was actually frozen, watch this. >> did you discuss at all at any point their concerns about the hold on security assistance? >> to the best of my recollection, in the august time frame, the ukrainian embassy started to become aware of the hold on security assistance, and they were asking if i had any

comment on that, or if i could sta substantiate that. >> and that was before it became public, is that right? >> yes. >> so former envoy to ukraine kurt volker attempted to testify. just in his last month testimony, volker attempted to clarify with the meeting between gordon sondland and ukrainian officials but yesterday, that story changed. >> i participated in the july 10th meeting between national security adviser bolton and then ukrainian chairman alex danyliuk. as i remember, the meeting was essentially over when ambassador sondland made a general comment about investigations. i think all of us thought it was inappropriate. the conversation did not continue and the meeting concluded.

>> why didn't you tell us about this? >> because that's what i remembered from the meeting, what i provided in my october 3rd statement. as i said, i learned other things including seeing the statements from alex vindman and from fiona hill. and that reminded me that, yes, at the very end of that meeting, as it was recounted in colonel vindman's statement, i did remember that, yes,er that, gordon did bring that up, and that was it. >> so volker also claimed that he did not understand until recently that investigation talks of ukrainian gas company burisma were linked to hunter biden. >> in hindsight, i now understand that others saw the idea of investigateing burisma s to former vice president biden, i saw them very different. the former being unremarkable. the latter being acceptable.

>> at one point, during the hearing, intel chair adam schiff interrupted questioning by ranking member nunes, after alexander vindman revealed that he discussed a phone call with an unnamed member of the intelligence community. >> as you know, the intelligence community has seven different agencies, what agency was this individual from? >> if i could interject here, we don't want to use these proceedings -- >> it's our time. >> i know but we node eed to prt the whistle-blower. please stop. i want to make sure there's no effort to out the whistle-blower throughout these proceedings. >> all right. joining us now from washington, senior staff writer for the hill, scott wong. scott, good to talk to you once again. let's talk to you about the reaction of ambassador kurt

volker changing his story on several aspects of the impeachment inquiry here. >> well, i think what the stories have shown that there is the possibility of new developments happening. democrats have said don't expect much news. this is just our opportunity to make the case before the american people. but we have seen in a number of these hearings, new developments, and kurt volker changing his tune on this critical july 10th meeting at the white house, with the ukrainians. testifying, confirming testimony from other individuals in that room that gordon sondland brought up this idea of investigations to the ukrainians is a significant development. because it shows that, while in the white house, they were discussing this sort of quid pro quo holding up the military aid, in exchange, while demanding these investigations. it remains to be seen whether or not, you know, he would be

prosecuted for lying to congress. i think that's a pretty high bar. and what volker has said, he simply did not remember it at the time he was testifying behind closed doors. but certainly raised a lot of eyebrows on capitol hill. >> we had talked a lot about gordon sondland whose testimony will be beginning this morning at account a.m. his name coming up a lot yesterday. another name we heard quite bit is former national security adviser john bolton, and his role in this. how crucial will it be, scott, for house investigators to hear from john bolton now, especially after he was more closely tied to the situation? >> yeah, this is the debate that's happening within the democratic caucus right now. i talked to a number of democrats in the caucus and also on the intelligence committee who said they are trying to decide whether or not to wait and delay, you know, additional hearings. in order to secure testimony from john bolton. or just to plow ahead and move

forward with the process, and try to get this all wrapped up and on the house floor by christmas. john bolton is significant, because in that same july 10th meeting that i referenced, he raised concerns. he abruptly ended the meeting according to vindman and williams over this idea of the investigations that sondland had mentioned. and so, bolton is significant. he's de. he would be a strong witness for the democrats. >> all right. scott wong, thank you as always, my friend. thank you. i want to get to exclusive new reporting from nbc news out just this morning. the state department is being asked to investigate the use of personal cell phones by senior u.s. diplomats in the wake of the impeachment hearings. joining us now the reporter behind the story, nbc news national political reporter josh letterman. josh, good morning to you. thanks for joining us on this.

i'm going to go ahead and assume this has something to do with the conversation between gordon sondland and the president and that now ukrainian restaurant that is at the height and much the talk of the testimony we've heard so far. >> that's a safe assumption, yes. people's jaws really dropped where they learned about this conversation where you have gordon sondland at a restaurant in public in kiev, at a restaurant with waiters coming and going, calling up the president on his cell phone. and you heard the president so loudly that several other people at the table with sondland could overhear him. and we had another witness in impeachment process call this poor op set, bad operational security. we know it's not just sondland. because as we've learned through the many hours, many senior diplomats were often communicating using cell phones texting with whatsapp or sms

messaging. and that's raised real concerns about whether or not national security matters are being discussed in a laissez-faire manner that are being discussed. and that puts a difficult situation in ukraine because it's such a intelligence focus for the russians. in the past, the u.s. has had instances where a top diplomat's phone call was recorded and then leaked and blamed on the russians. whether it comes to the cell networks, we had david holmes testify that u.s. diplomats in ukraine regularly assume because the russians own at least two, if not all of the cell networks in ukraine, that any communications they have there are being monitoring. that meaning that president trump's phone call nairy very well have been listened into.

>> how do we see this playing out here? this just particular to the trump administration, or has this happened other times? >> we know of similar situations where this has happened in previous administrations although we go there's a more lax attitude in this administration. what happens now, senator bob menendez, the top democrat has asked the head of diplomat security at the state department to open this investigation. and as to punish any people who are found to have been a security breach, or to have violated policies on cyber security. he's now waiting to hear back from the state department about what exactly they're going to do about this. we've asked the state department and its diplomatic security service for comment on that. so far, no respond. >> josh letterman for us. thank you, josh. still ahead, in addition to ahead's impeachment hearings, we will also be watching tonight's democratic debate. don't forget about that. we're going to discuss why mayor

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in your deposition that you did not know the whistle-blower? >> ranking member, it's lieutenant colonel vindman, please. >> lieutenant colonel vindman -- >> welcome back, that was one of the most talked about moments in yesterday's impeachment hearing. another key moment dame from former enjoy kurt volker, one of the witness who testified about a shaufalse claim about biden. >> it's not clear to me that former vice president biden would be influenced in any way in financial motives by carrying out his duties as vice president. i don't think that raising 2016 elections or vice president

biden or these things i considered to be conspiracy theories that have been circulated by the ukrainians, including the former prosecutor general are -- they're not things that we should be pursuing as part of our national security strategy with ukraine. at the one in person meeting i had with mayor giuliani, mayor giuliani raised and i rejected the theory that vice president biden would have been influenced by money paid to his son. as i previously testified i've known vice president biden for 24 years, he's an honorable man and i hold him in the highest regard. >> so rudy giuliani and other officials allege as vice president biden pushed tour the removal of the ukrainian prosecutor to prevent the investigation into burisma, the ukrainian gas company that employed hunter, both ukraine and officials have confirmed

there's no evidence that biden did anything wrong. let's check in ewith the weathe. >> it's easy the top five coldest novembers we've ever experienced. in some cases, it's number one. today is not going to help. it's cloudy and dreary. a raw, miserable day. here's noon today, snow in new england. rain in areas to boston, providence, hartford, just cool throughout the city. and even through the afternoon, it lingers for all portions of new england, including cape cod. and tomorrow, things will clear out a little bit. today's forecast, 39 in albany, boston, 41, a little better in philadelphia and d.c. d.c. was not too bad. coolish in the great lakes. if you want the silver lining, finally, it looks like a warmer period. going to head to the east coast for the thanksgiving holiday period.

looks warmer than average for the first time in a month from florida all the way up the coast. unfortunately, looks like rain along with the warmer temperatures on the eastern seaboard. the only troublesome weather is in the desert southwest. we've got flash flood warnings and heavy rains continue there. apologies to everyone in the northeast. looks like we're going to end the month on a warmer note. axios has reporting on secretary of state mike pompeo after reports he's planning to resign. we're back in a moment. of a friendly gaze .♪ ♪for the holidays you can't beat home sweet home.♪ the united states postal service goes the extra mile to bring your holidays home.

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welcome back, time now for business. boeing has finally made a deal on the grounded 737 max jets after a five-freeze on selling them. good morning to you, who broke the sales for boeing? >> this is the dubai international show. it's always a time when you get these deals come through. for boeing on monday they had an airline called sun express. they ordered two of the aircraft. they put in an order for ten aircraft and a letter of intent for ten and then a third airline we don't know who they are yet, boeing saying they will find out soon enough, make their name public. they've put an order in for another 20. good news after this aircraft has been grounded since march.

it's an issue in our british election coming up soon is that of wealth summers. larry summers, he's got new analysis outs with an academic colleague. he's saying unless the irs improves its enforcement action, the top 1% of taxpayers over there on your side of the pond will likely avoid around 5 tl s $5 trillion of taxes in the next decade. that 1% responsible for 70% of tax under reporting, guys. >> thank you, willem, great seeing you. coming up next, we're going to get the "axios" treatment on the morning's top stories. a lot of ground to cover over the next three hours, leading up to our special coverage of today's impeachment hearings. the key testimony from yesterday's impeachment hearings as we look ahead to this morning's highly anticipated testimony from ambassador gordon sondland. we're also gearing up for tonight's democratic debate from

atlanta. top democratic lawmaker stacey abrams joining us. also helping us get through this day, the "new york times" peter baker and "washington post." a jam packed session, we'll be right back. l be right back ♪ everybody needs somebody... ♪

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welcome back, joining us from washington, we'll look at "axio "axios" a.m. national political reporter for "axios" jonathan swan. >> big day ahead, talk to us about "axios's" one big thing. this is about pete buttigieg's remarkable rise in iowa. my colleague has looked into this. rather than riding on media attention which he hasn't had, if we compare the cable mentions or a viral moment. he's risen in iowa by spending a

ton of money on tv ads, $2.3 million. that's ten times more than elizabeth warren, another front runner has spent on iowa tv. he's also got more than 100 staffers on the ground and 20 field offices. why this matters is it reflects his campaign's central theory. they have made a huge bet on iowa, that this is his chance as an underdog from the midwest for a path to victory. iowa's demographics are very favorable to buttigieg, 91% white. as we know he's had tremendous difficulty winning any meaningful support among black voters, and if you look at his national polling, that's why he isn't higher up. also, if you look at the polling in south carolina, which is a state that could have a huge african-american turnout, it's another state where he's performing very poorly. it's all in on iowa, and when you see the tv spending there,

it's more than bernie sanders, it's more than double joe biden, and it's ten times -- more than ten times elizabeth warren. >> eyes and ears will certainly be on mayor pete tonight at the democratic debate. that is for sure. we mentioned earlier reports that mike pompeo is preparing to resign as secretary of state in order to run for senate. what more can you tell us about this? >> i like the headlines, swan late-night reporting. [ laughter ] listen, i've been following this story for a while. last night i was hounding the state department after this sto story came out. the story made a very specific assertion which is that pompeo has told three prominent republicans he's resigning. that surprised me because he keeps his cards very close to his vest. it took them a while, apparently in the first version of the story they declined to comment object record. they said on the record late

last night that he categorically denies this, that he hasn't said this and he's focused on being secretary of state. he's on a ton of pressure troun, and he's really caught between mitch mcconnell who is desperate for him to run. they're very worried about chris coback. he is seen as ied logically extreme. i've spoken to friends of his, and they said it didn't seem that he really wanted to run, but they couldn't predict one way or the other. i suspect we'll find out in the next weeks or at least within the next couple of months whether he's decided. he's got until about may next year to make his final decision. >> jonathan swan, thank you. we're going to be reading "axios" a.m. in just a little bit. that does it for me on this wednesday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts right now.

>> what did ambassador sondland tell you that he told mr. yer k yermak? >> that the ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general make a statement with respect to the investigations as a condition of having the aid lifted. >> 19 seconds, from over nine hours of testimony, spaeaking under oath, tim morrison confirmed that the trump administration conditioned military aid to ukraine on launching an investigation into joe biden. good morning, and welcome to "morning joe." >> never saw that coming. >> i didn't see it coming out of nowhere. >> he was a republican witness, too, which devin nunes must have been going, dude, we talked about this. >> this is problematic. >> volker was a republican witness, and he just -- he gave joe biden his closing 2020 campaign commission. >> a nice clip. >> along with