>> sue gordon? >> well, sue gordon's gone now.y left around the time this -- >> sue gordon was passed over for the acting director of the national intelligence job. one thing we do know, don, separate from this complaint that's really been bolstered by it is the president likes to install people in acting positions and senior positions that serve his personal interest. so at this point based upon the history that we have with president trump, and really choosing lieutenants to implement his personal agenda, mcgwire's status here, the acting director of national intelligence is in question. based upon the letter you just read the inspector general is saying the acting director of director of national intelligence actions don't follow past precedent. so there are a lot of questions as to why maguire is choosing to take this course of action rather than listening to his inspector general. there maybe valid legal arguments. we haven't seen them yet. >> it's like, well, why not transparency. that's what everyone is asking. why not be t

law and yet it wasn't directed mcguire i was very pleased when you were named acting director you sue gordon was not going to remain i was grateful that a man of your support military background was chosen a navy seal for 36 years and director of the national counterterrorism center since december 28th seen your credentials are impressive and unlimited interactions that we have had since you became director of n c t c you have struck me as a good and decent man which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering why you chose not to provide the complaint to this committee as required by law why you chose to seek a 2nd opinion on whether shall really means shall under the statute why you chose to go to a department led by a man bill barr who himself is implicated in the complaint and believes that he exists to serve the interest of the president not the office itself mind you or the public interest but the interest of the person of donald trump why you chose to allow the subject of the complaint to play a role in deciding whether congress would ever see the complaint why you

. >> at that time the dni was dan coats and his deputy was sue gordon. the whistleblower claim was filed on august 12 and you took office on august 16, four days later. prior to taking your new job, or since, did you discuss the july 25 call or the whistleblower complaint with dni coates? dir. maguire: i would not have taken the job if i did. >> how about with sue gordon? dir. maguire: i do not think either director codes or our , had any -- sue gordon sense about this whistleblower complaint or that michael atkinson had it. >> before your current role, did you discuss ukraine with president trump? dir. maguire: i have not discussed ukraine with anybody. let me put it to you that way. >> you've not discussed ukraine with anybody in your current role as the acting dni? dir. maguire: we have about 190 countries out there, so whatever the president's daily brief is and matters pertaining to that. as far as intelligence equities, this has not been something that has come to my attention in the six weeks i've been acting dni. >> turning to the whistleblower a

no, sir. >> how about with sue gordon? >> no, not at all. to the best of my ability, i do not think either director coats or our principal deputy sue gordon had any sense at all about this whistleblower complaint or that michael atkinson had it. >> before your current role, did you discuss ukraine with president trump? >> no, congressman, i haven't discussed ukraine with anybody. let me put it that way. >> you haven't discussed ukraine in your arole as acting dni? >> we have 120 countries out there, but as far as intel agencies in that region right now, this is not something that's come to my attention in the six weeks i've been the acting dni. >> turning to the whistleblower and the inspector general, you don't know the identity of the whistleblower, do you? >> i do not and i've made it my business that i do not know. >> you don't know their political affiliation, do you? >> i do not. >> and you believe the whistleblower was operating in good faith? >> i do. >> and without bias? >> i don't know about that. i do not know about that. i do bel

three days after that dan coats and sue gordon leave the white house. before that week is out, president trump says publicly, that should be forgiven. russia and vladimir putin should be let back into the g8. politico is first to report trump put on hold $250 million in military aid to ukraine, money that was appropriated by the congress to help ukraine stands up to russia. before the next week is out, the white house announces that it is cutting almost the entire military construction budget in eastern europe that is specifically designated to help other nations on russia's border stand up themselves against russian aggression of the type faced by ukraine. two days after that, the "washington post" publishes its op-ped about trump allegedly demanding help from ukraine for his re-election effort and threatening to deny ukraine u.s. military assistance unless and until he gets it and now there's a new acting director of national intelligence that isn't letting the whistle-blower complaint that's reportedly about ukraine be forwarded to the intelligence c

listen, sue gordon was a top notch intelligence professional.think every member of the intelligence committee, democrats and republicans alike, thought that she should have been the acting director of national intelligence. i think it is a great loss to our intelligence community, the integrity of our intelligence community, that she was treated shabbily. >> the vice chair of the intelligence committee. thanks to the both of you. thank the senator as well. appreciate it. we're watching you heard the senator talking about facebook but also about that whistleblower complaint. we are watching for more with the inspector general of the intelligence community on capitol hill right now. we will bring you anybody talking about it live the second we get him at those microphones and follow developing news from our neighbors of the north the re-election campaign of canadian prime minister justin trudeau has taken on a big blow. why? you may have missed this. a photo surfaced of justin trudeau wearing brown face and just about a month voters in canada head

if sue gordon was not going to remain, i was grateful that a man of your superb military background was chosen, a navy s.e.a.l. for 36 years and director of the national counter-terrorism center since december 2018. your credentials are impressive. and in the limited interactions we've had since you became director, you have struck me as a good and decent man, which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering. why you chose not to provide the complaint to this committee as required by law. why you chose to seek a second opinion on whether shall really means shall under the statute. why you chose to go to a department led by a man, bill barr, who himself is implicated in the complaint and believes that he exists to serve the interest of the president, not the office itself mind you or the public interest but the interest of the person of donald trump. why you chose to allow the subject of the complaint to play a role in deciding whether congress would ever see the complaint. why you stood silent when intelligence professionals under your care and protection was ridicu

. >> how about with sue gordon? >> no, not at all. to the best of my ability i do not believe dan coats or sue gordon had any sense of this whistle-blower complaint or that michael atkinson had it. >> in your current role do you discuss ukraine with president trump? >> no, congressman, i haven't discussed ukraine with anybody, let me put it to you that way. >> you haven't discussed ukraine in your current role as acting the dni? >> we have 190 countries out there. whatever the president's daily brief is and matters that pertain to this. but this is not something that has come to my attention in my six weeks as acting dni. >> turning to the whistle-blower and the inspector general, you don't know the identity of the whistle-blower? >> congressman, i do not. >> and you don't know his or her political affiliation. >> i do not. >> you believe the whistle-blower was operating in good faith? >> i do. >> and without bias? >> i do not know about that. >> but you have no reason to believe he or she was acting without bias; is that correct? >>

if sue gordon was not going to remain i was grateful a man of your superb military background was chosen. a navy s.e.a.l. 36 years and director of national counterterrorism center since december 2018. your credentials of impressive. and in limited interactions we've had since you've become director you have struck me as a good and decent man. which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering. why you chose not to provide the complaint to this committee as required by law. why you chose to seek a second opinion on whether "shall" really means "shall" under the statute. why you chose to go to a department led by a man, bill barr, who himself is implicated in the complaint and believes he exists to serve the interests of the president, not the office itself, mind you, or the public interests but the interest of the person of donald trump. why you chose to allow the subject of the complaint to play a role in deciding whether congress would ever see the complaint. why you stood silent when intelligence professional under your care and protection was ridiculed by the presid

if sue gordon was not going to remain, i was grateful a man of your background was chosen. a navy seal and director of the national counterterrorism center. your credentials are impressive. in limited interactions we have had since you became director, you have struck me as a good and decent man. which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering. why you chose not to provide the complaint to this committee as required by law, why you chose to seek a second opinion on whether shall really means shall under the statute, why you chose to go to a department led by a man bill barr who himself is implicated in the complaint and believes he exists to serve the interests of the president, not the office itself, mind you, or the public interest but the interest of the person of donald trump. why you chose to allow the subject of the complaint to play a role in deciding whether congress would see the complaint. why you stood silent when intelligence professional under your care and protection was ridiculed by the president, was accused of potentially betraying his

no, sir, >> how about with sue gordon? >> to the best of my ability i don't think either director coates or our principal deputy sue gordon have any sense whatsoever about this whistle-blower complaint or that michael atkinson had it. >> before your current role did you discuss ukraine with president trump? >> i haven't discussed ukraine with anybody. let me put it to you that way. >> you haven't discussed ukraine with anybody in your current role as the acting dni. >> intelligence reports. we have 190 countries out there. whatever the president's daily brief in and matters that pertain to that. as far as intelligent equities in the region now this hasn't been something that has come to my attention in the six weeks that i've been the acting dni. >> turning to the whistle-blower and inspector general, you don't know the identity of the whistle-blower, right? >> i do not and made it my business to make sure i don't. >> you don't know his political affiliation. >> i don't know this individual. >> or her political affiliation

if sue gordon was not going to remain i was grateful a man of your superb military background was chosen, a navy seal for 36 years and director of the national counterterrorism center since december 2018. your credentials are impressive. and in limited interactions we've had you have struck me as a good and decent man. which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering. why you chose not to provide the complaint to this committee as required by law, why you chose to seek a second opinion on whether shall really means shall under the statute. why you chose to go to a department led by a man bill barr who himself is implicated in the complaint, and believes that he exists to serve the interests of the president, not the office itself, mind you, or the public interest, but the interest of the person of donald trump. why you chose to allow the subject of the complaint to play a role in deciding whether congress would ever see the complaint. why you stood silent when intelligence professional under your care and protection was ridiculed by the president, was accused of pote

was dan coats and his deputy was sue gordon. as you know the whistleblower claim was filed on august 12th of this year and then you took office on august 16th 4 days later mr prior to taking your new job or since did you discuss the july 25th call or the whistleblower complaint with d.n.i. coats and i wouldn't take on the job of what did you know sir and how about with sue gordon no not at all i don't believe up to the best of my ability i do not think that either director coach or our principal deputy sugo and have any sense whatsoever about this whistleblower complaint or that michael at consider had it before your current role did you discuss ukraine with president trump no congressman i haven't discussed you haven't discussed ukraine with anybody let me put it to you that way you haven't discussed ukraine with anybody in your current role as the acting d.n.i. well as we have intelligence reports you know we we've got about $190.00 countries out there so whatever the president's daily brief is and matters to pertain to that b

how about sue gordon? director maguire: no. not at all. i don't think either director coates or principal deputy sue gordon have any sense whatsoever about this whistleblower complaint, or that michael atkinson had it. representative: before your before your current role, did you discuss ukraine with president trump? director maguire: no, i haven't discussed ukraine with anybody he put it that way. representative: you haven't discussed ukraine in your current role as dni? director maguire: we have about countries out there, but as far as intelligence equities in that region right now, this has not been something that has come to my attention in the six weeks i have been acting dni. representative: turning to the whistleblower and inspector general, you don't know the identity of the whistleblower? director maguire: i do not and i have made it my business to not know. representative: you don't know their political affiliation? director maguire: i do not. i don't know this individual. representative: you believe the whistleblower was operati

>> i would not have taken the job if i did, sir. >> sue gordon? >> no, to the best of my ability, i don't think director coates or sue gordon have any sense at all about the whistle-blower complaint or that michael atkinson had it. >> before your current role did you discuss ukraine with president trump? >> no, congressman, i have not discussed ukraine with anybody. let me put it to you that way. >> you have not discussed ukraine with anybody in your current role as the acting dni? >> we have about 190 countries right now, so whatever the daily's brief is and whatever matters pertain to that, but as far as equities in that region right now, it's not something that has come to my attention in the six weeks i have been the acting dni. >> you don't know the identity of the whistle-blower, right? >> i do not. >> and you don't know his political affiliation, obviously? >> i do not know -- >> or her political affiliation. you believe the whistle-blower was operating in good faith? >> i do. >> and without bias? >> i don't know about that. i do not know a

no, sir. >> how about with sue gordon? >> no, not at all. i don't believe to the best of my ability, i do not think that either direct coats or sue gordon have any sense whatsoever about this whistle-blower complaint or that michael atkinson had it. >> before your current role, did you discuss ukraine with president trump? >> no, congressman. i haven't discussed ukraine with anybody. let me put it that way. >> you haven't discussed ukraine with anybody in your current role as the acting dni? >> well, as intelligence reports, we've got about 190 countries out there so whatever the president's daily brief is and matters that pertain to that, but as far as intelligence equities in that region right now, this has just not been something that has come to my attention in the six weeks that i've been the acting dni. >> turning to the whistle-blower and the inspector general, you don't know the identity of the whistle-blower, right? >> congressman, i do not and i've made it my business to make sure that i don't. >> you don't know his political affil

no, sir. >> and how about with sue gordon? >> no, not at all. i don't believe -- to the best of my ability, i do not think that either director coats or our principal deputy sue gordon have any sense whatsoever about this whistle-blower complaint or that michael atkinson had it. >> before your current role, did you discuss ukraine with president trump? >> no, congressman. i haven't discussed -- i haven't discussed ukraine with anybody. let me put it to you that way. >> you haven't discussed ukraine with anybody in your current role as the acting dni? >> as we read intelligence reports, we've got about 190 countries out there, so whatever the president's daily brief is and matters that pertain to that, but as far as intelligence equities in that region right now, this has just not been something that's come to my attention in the six weeks that. >> now turning to the whistle-blower and the inspector general, you don't know the identity of the whistle-blower, right? >> congressman, i do not. i made it my business to make sure -- >> correct. and yo

no, sir. >> how about with sue gordon? >> no, not at all. to the best of my ability, i do not think director coates or sue gordon have any sense what receiver abo soever about this whistleblower complaint. >> did you discuss ukraine with president trump? >> no. i haven't discussed ukraine with anybody. let me put it to you that way. >> you haven't discussed ukraine with anybody in your current role as the acting dni. >> we've got about 190 countries out there, so whatever the president's daily brief is and matters that pertain to that. as far as intelligence acqui in this has not come to my attention in the six weeks that i've been acting dni. >> you don't know the identity of the whistleblower? >> i do not. >> you don't know his or her political affiliation. >> i do not. >> you believe that the whistleblower was operating in good faith and without bias? >> i don't know about that. >> you have no reason to believe they were acting in good faith? you have no reason to believe that the person was biassed? >> i would not know whether biassed or

at that time the dni was dan coats and his deputy was sue gordon.he whistleblower complaint was filed on august 12 of this year, and then you took office on august 16th, four days later. dir. maguire: yes, sir. rep. krishnamurthy: prior to your new job, or since, did you discuss the july 25 call or the whistleblower complaint with dni coates? dir. maguire: i would not have taken the job if i did. no, sir. rep. krishnamurthy: how about sue gordon? dir. maguire: no. not at all. i don't think either director coates or principal deputy sue gordon have any sense whatsoever about this whistleblower complaint, or that michael atkinson had it. rep. krishnamoorthy: before your current role, did you discuss ukraine with president trump? dir. maguire: no, congressman. i haven't discussed ukraine with anybody, let me put it to you that way. rep. krishnamoorthy: you haven't discussed ukraine in your current role as the acting dni? dir. maguire: we have about 190 countries out there, but as far as intelligence equities in that region right now, this has not been

they trust sue gordon from her many decades serving in the intelligence committee. mutual trust and understanding that doesn't exist with mcguire right now. and the fact you have an open dispute is evidence of that. we'll see how this gets resolved. he has agreed to come before the panel for a hearing. it will be contentious if there isn't more opening of the communication between his office and the hill before then. >> yeah. will we see transparency? a classified briefing. terrific reporting from "the washington post." karoun demirjian, good reporting. >>> an apology from justin trudeau after a photo of him in brownface went public. not what the prime minister needed. the existence of the photo was first reported by "time" magazine. trudeau said he did not realize at the time that his actions were racist. >> in 2001, when i was a teacher in vancouver, i attended an end-of-the-year gala, where the theme was "arabian knights." i dressed up in an aladdin costume and put makeup on. i shouldn't have done that. i should have known better, but i didn't. and i'm really sor

ofh last month's departure dan coats and sue gordon, two exceptional leaders and friends, i was asked to step into their very big shoes and lead the intelligence community until the president nominates and the senate confirms the next director of national intelligence. i accepted this responsibility because i love this country. i have a deep and profound respect for the men and women of our intelligence community and the mission we execute every day on behalf of the american people. haveghout my career, i served and led through turbulent times. i have governed every action by the following criteria. it must be legal, it must be moral, and it must be ethical. individual'ske an integrity away. it can only be given away. if every action meets those criteria, you will always be a person of integrity. in my nearly four decades of public service, my integrity has never been questioned until now. i'm here today to unequivocally will that as acting dni, i continue the same faithful and nonpartisan support in a matter that adheres to the constitution and the laws of this great country as long

august 15th, former director of national intelligence dan coats and his chief deputy, the veteran sue gordonft administration. >> still with us, carol leonnig, phil rucker, jeremy bash. as is frequently the case, i have more questions for our guests than time allowed. carol leonnig, congress truly does not seem to know and if the law works, they are not supported to know the identity of this whistle-blower. do you get the same feeling about the white house? >> oh, deep breath. i would just say that we don't know for certain, brian. here's one thing i want to say about the whistle-blower, however. this person is in a bit of a bind. i agree with jeremy, very brave person to put their neck out like this and some intelligence operatives have essentially said this is a career-defining moment. you're skiing off the edge of a mountain and there may be no turning back. it seems like it is definitely within the white house's ability to know exactly who this is. this whistle-blower has some advocates in the inspector general. the inspector general has basically sent a letter saying, you know, we'd lik

after dan coats and sue gordon, his debbie were both fired by trump because he did not like people who actually disagreed with him occasionally. this guy is clearly -- has no idea what was going on and he was thrust into a situation that he did not understand. so in a way, i kind of pity him. but he also should not have taken a job like this or he did not really understand the parameters or the dynamics going on. amy: what about? lay out what we understand at this point his involvement in the story is. >> i think it is a little unclear but in the phone call with the ukrainian president, trump says "i want you to talk to both my attorney rudy giuliani and the attorney bidens barr about the and help them get damaging information or makeup damaging information about them so that we can then go after the bidens. the justice department claimed now that trump never talked to barr about this. so we don't know if that is true or not, but we do know maguire took the whistleblowers complaint both to the white house and to the justice department and the justice department told him he did not have

time three days after that call you had dan coates leaving, then his deputy the highly regarded sue gordon0 year plus career intelligence officer. you also had in may as rudy giuliani was meeting with leaders from ukraine and trying to stir this up, you had the u.s. ambassador to ukraine, a real professional, a career professional being forced out of the state department. then in june fiona hill, who does ukraine and russia policy, also highly respected republican and democratic administrations, nonpartisan, she also departs somewhat unexpectedly. then john huntsman, our ambassador to russia quits and takes a step back. so you've had a complete changeover of the professionals working on these issues. russia is obviously involved because russia is the belligerent against ukraine. that's why the weapons that ukraine were expecting that were approved by congress in a bipartisan vote were being held up so long until they were released just last week. >> you certainly laid out a laundry list there. and i think a couple things are clear. as you say, some of it could be a coincidence. and when pe

under privilege concerns like the former director of national intelligence dan coats and his deputy sue gordon. these are the red flags for president trump and for people in the white house. this probe can move much more quickly because there is a laundry list of potential witnesses that can be called before congress to help this process go at a much faster clip and reveal really new information that we may not already know. >> it's interesting, because there is. you could build a long list of people. okay, even if you were a republican and actually wanted answers, you could build a list. let's bring them in, put them under oath and we could debunk it. but there are other democrats who say we have the president's own words. on that memo from the call to ukraine, we don't really need a lot more. >> what will you investigate? what more do you need to know about that call? >> i don't believe we need to know much more. i would recommend to my colleagues that we keep this simple. of course, the president is entitled to a fair process like anyone, but that we don't need to have months-long hearings,

august 12th, days before then director of national intelligence, dan coats, as well as his deputy, sue gordon, were pushed out by the president august 15th. it was also after the president had communicated with a number of world leaders, including presidents of ukraine, prime minister of israel, dictator of north korea, the amir of qatar and the president of russia, vladimir putin. acting dni joseph mcguire is walking a tightrope here, jake. one hand he has a complaint from someone in his own intelligence community. on the other, it's about his boss, the president. mcguire had refused to appear today in front of the house intelligence committee, but he is now due to testify to both house and senate intel committees next week. jake? >> alex marquardt, thank you very much. pamela brown broke the story in the white house and department of justice also advising the dni, director of national intelligence not to share it with congress. are they providing any explanation for this? >> they are not but the white house counsel's office has been in discussions with dni and so far the refusal to turn ove

and then he by passed sue gordon for the dni job.laint was received from the whistle-blower joe maguire, a respected former navy seal said under oath he believes the whistle-blower is acting in good faith and did the right thing, shep. >> shepard: jennifer griffin live. thank you. i'll talk to republican congressmen about this in a moment. first a democratic congressman, ted lou of california. he's on two of the panels that are part of the formal inpeachment inquiry. thank you. good afternoon. >> thank you, shep. >> how concerned are you that the whistle-blower process will become more difficult now, that future whistle-blowers might step back and say what's going on right now is too much for me? >> thank you, shep, for your question. let me first say that i served active duty in the united states military because i believe america is an exceptional country. one of the things that makes us great is our shared understanding we're all americans and it's wrong and no american president should ever solicit a foreign government to target

august 12 just days before then director of national intelligence dan coats as well as his deputy sue gordon were pushed out by the president on august 15th. it was also after the president had communicated with a number of world leaders in the previous weeks, including the president of ukraine the prime minister of israel the dictator of north korea the emir of qatar and the president of russia vladimir putin. homelessness is a growing crisis in many cities and counties here in the bay area. >>as you know are trying different ideas to try to tackle a kid is a tall order kron four's maureen kelly though at the sonoma county to check out a village of tiny homes that are being used for homeless veterans. >>after being homeless for several years, jeff lawrence now has a permanent albeit tiny home to call his own measuring only 250 square feet, it's a small space for that whole navy vet, but as someone who came here with only the clothes on his back lawrence as it suits him just find the love it. yeah absolutely love it at his home is what's part of a veterans village made up of 14 tiny homes, l

call, president trump announces dni dan coats will resign on august 8 trump bypass es his deputy sue gordon the director of national intelligence position, four days later the ig receives the complaint from the whistleblower , who the current acting dni, joe maguire, a respected former navy seal said today under oath he believes the whistleblower is acting in good faith and did the right thing. liz? liz: jennifer griffin at the pentagon thank you so much. coming up the democrat roadmap to the white house is getting clearer by the day. dodge all of your questions about how their policies will slam your pocket book and elizabeth warren is out with a new plan a government take over of housing, and cars, along with healthcare and capitalism and loans and the whole energy sector and more. that story coming up plus president trump has another victory, another central american country that being honduras now joins guatemala and el salvador to enable u.s. to send migrants back to their countries the opposition mounting and also that big fire work display between thomas ho man, that story, coming up

what happened if sue gordon had this position, if dan coats had this position? what else stood out to me is looking at the pressure. not just put on by getting dirt on biden, those put on zelensky but, quote, working things out with putin. 13,000 deaths subsequent to russia invading ukraine. saying they should work things out and perhaps zelensky could get a white house invitation. yesterday he sort of joked about that and said we don't have a date yet. so, you see the extra pressure put on this very vulnerable country. the final thing i will say is bill barr and his role in all of this. if you go back to the mueller investigation when the report came out, bill barr himself came out and editorialized why he believed that the president, quote, could have at least looked like he obstructed justice and that was because he was in an unprecedented situation, entering office and thought this would impact his presidency with an investigation like this. okay, maybe he gave him the benefit of the doubt there. what does the president do the day after mueller's testimony?

and then his deputy sue gordon was also sort of asked to resign. and so there was a vacancy. he got tapped. it wasn't something he was looking for. he's not a career intelligence person who came up through the spy ranks let's say. here he is, new to the job, and he is thrust into this very politically perilous situation, and this is not something -- he's not a lawyer, very much not familiar with this issue. and we're told he's not, you know, he feels sort of caught between his competing instincts. >> i want to quote your reporting on why he has not complied with what appears to be the requirements of the law. your reporting says the dni has asserted that lawyers determined there was no notification requirement because the whistle blower complaint did not constitute an urgent concern that was within the responsibility and authority of maguire's office. do you have any indication where they got, what was the basis of that legal opinion? because i can't find anything in the law that that would point to. >> if you look at the statute, there is a line where they define urgent conc

with last month's departure of dan coach sue gordon. 2 exceptional leaders and friends.nto there very big shoes. and leave the intelligence community until the president nominates and the senate confirms the next director of national intelligence. i accepted this responsibility because i love and profound respect for the men and women of intelligence community and the mission we execute every day on behalf of the american people. and lived through turbulent times. i have covered every action by the following criteria. it must be legal. and it must be ethical. no one can take an individual's take anyway. it can only be given away. if every action meets those criteria. you will always be a person of integrity. in my nearly 4 decades of public service. my integrity has never been questioned until now. so unequivocally state that is acting dni i will continue the same faithful in non partisan support added that adheres to the constitution and the laws of this country as long as i serve in this position for whatever period of time that maybe. all right listening to the openin

former deputy dni sue gordon's resignation.he wrote that she was going to allow donald trump to appoint a member of his own team. john bolton's departure following a dispute over inviting the taliban to camp david. and of course robert mueller's two-year investigation that found 150 contacts between trump's team in russia and at least a half a dozen acts of obstruction of justice as detailed in his report. and now the whistleblower. and that is where we start today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. ell ellen nakeshima. former assistant director for counter intelligence with the fbi, frank figliuzzi. plus former deputy assistant attorney general harry litman, and sam stein and political reporter for the new york times nick. ellen, let me ask you to take us through your reporting. >> we are not hearing you, ellen. let us fix your mic and we'll start with frank figliuzzi. ellen, can you hear us? >> go ahead and take us through what your colleagues are reporting. >> so last night we reported that a whistleblower had

no, sir. >> and how about with sue gor n gordon? >> not at all. to the best of my ability, i do not think that either director coats or principal deputy sue gordon have any sense whatsoever about this whistleblower complaint or that michael at kin son had it. >> before your current role, did you discuss ukraine with president trump?>> before your d you discuss ukraine with president trump? >> no, congressman, i haven't discussed ukraine with anybody, let me put to you that way. >> you haven't discussed ukraine with anybody in your current role as the acting dni? >> as we get intelligence reports, we've got about 190 countries out there, so whatever the president's daily brief is and matters that pertain to that. but as far as i know tell against equities in that region right now, this has not been something that has come to my attention in the six weeks that i've been acting dni. >> turning to the whistleblower and the inspector general, you don't know the identity of the whistleblower, right? >> i do not and i've made it my business to make sure

if we had sue gordon in place. when you have so many unanswered questions from somebody who continued to say, listen, i did what i did because it was unprecedented. he seemed to not know where to take this situation and herein lies a big problem. >> hey, david, the rudy giuliani stuff is so fascinating. this whistle-blower complaint is rife with rudy giuliani references, as was the president's phone call with the ukraine leader. and again, i am just struck by all of the matchinations that rudy giuliani is going through. he travels to madrid at one point to meet the people involved with this prosecutor to see if there's anything on the bidens. he travels to warsaw at one point to meet with people who might know something. he's meeting with the former ukrainian prosecutor. i said this last hour, but i'm not joking, wouldn't it have just been easier for the president to talk about the economy? i mean, to win the next election? why are they going to these lengths? what does that tell you about what they think they need

the significance of that is three days later, dni coats resigned, insisted sue gordon resign with himcoincidence? >> not likely unrelated coincidence. i think that there's so much to talk about here. just the process of this reporting, these reporters, newspapers as they have been throughout the trump administration are on their game. right now, watching the magic of "new york times," "the washington post," "the wall street journal" building incremental stories, this is whether we get all the way to some explicit quid pro quo , around the back or implicit, this is a story with enormous potential, national security implications. what you see now is the way the white house is behaving in the middle of if, which i suggested before, they have a play book. but they're clearly uncomfortable. they have been the last 48 hours, continue to be uncomfortable with this. they recognize if this goes in a certain direction, and i continue to think there's a place over which this becomes -- nancy pelosi says i don't want to do impeachment, but i have to now, this story could get there. they're going

if sue gordon was not going to remain, i was grateful that a man of your superb military background was chosen. a navy seal for 36 years and director of the national counterterrorism center since december 2018. your credentials are impressive. in the limited interactions we have had since you became director, you have struck me as a good and decent man. which makes your actions over the last month all the more will -- more bewildering. why you chose not to provide the complaint to this committee as required by law. why you chose to seek a second opinion on whether shall really means shall under the statute. why you chose to go to a department led by a man, bill barr, who himself is implicated in the complaint and believes that he exists to serve the interest of the president, not the office itself, mind you, or the public interest, but the interest of the person of donald trump. why you chose to allow the subject of the complaint to play a role in deciding whether the congress would ever see the complaint. why you stood silent when intelligence professional under your care and protectio

announcement and after he officially stepped down, coats walked into a meeting to tell his deputy sue gordon that she, too, needed to get out of dodge which she did the next day. were they mere coincidences or did his behavior lead the whistle-blower to come forward and leave joseph mcguire to get into between that whistle-blower's complaint and congress? i have two guests this morning. thank you all for being here. malcolm, i have to go to you first and get you to react to mike pompeo this morning, donald trump's secretary of state who came -- who was on abc this morning defending donald trump. he's asked about the reporting on the call with the president of ukraine. take a listen. >> "the wall street journal" is reporting that president trump pressed the president of ukraine eight times to work with rudy giuliani to investigate joe biden's son. what do you know about those conversations? >> so you just gave me a report about a whistle-blower complaint, none of which i've seen. i think i saw a statement from the ukrainian foreign minister yesterday saying there was no pressure applied in th

years at the cia and the thing that caught my eye instantly was dan coats resignation follow by sue gordon. the fact that dan coats said into a meeting and said sue, you've got to resign and that she did truncating a career that clearly hadn't reached its zenith. this was clearing the decks h the intelligence community, taking the top man out and his deputy out, giving trump an opportunity to select and choose another acting head of a huge organization. the intelligence community, 17 separate organizations that report to trump and that is the heart of where the truth lies. now there's an acting director in charge of that who of course has taken charge of this whistle blower information and refused to release it to the congress. >> and just to note, roll back just a little bit for people who don't understand what the director of national intelligence is. it didn't exist before 9/11. can you explain what it is and what it does. >> what the dni the director of national intelligence does is he coordinates all the intelligence agencies and there are 17 of them. most of them military organizatio

trump bypasses his deputies sue gordon for a director of national intelligence.om the whistle-blower, and it joe mcguire, who said under oath he believes the whistle-blower is acting in good faith and did the right thing. john? >> john: our pentagon correspondent jennifer griffin. >> we have known who donald trump is for some time now, a corrupt businessman who cheated people. we knew that he and his campaign invited foreign adversaries to tamper with our elections and now we know that in the course of his duties as president, he has endangered us all by putting his personal and political interest ahead of the interest of the american people. >> sandra: that was hillary clinton 10 minutes ago launching new attacks against president trump, saying he is putting his personal interest above presidential duties at a speech on the mic in georgetown university. the unit also expressing support for the house impeachment. joining us now is senior advisor lara trump. good morning. it has been -- every week has been but, we had this hearing yesterday. and a lot is changing

with last months departure of dan coats and sue gordon, two exceptional leaders, and friends, i was asked intelligence. i accepted this responsibility because i love this country, i have a deep and profound respect for the men and women of our intelligence community, and the mission we execute every day on behalf of the american people. throughout my career, i have served and led through turbulent times. i have governed every action by the following criteria. it must be legal, it must be immoral, and it must be ethical. no one can take on individuals liberty away, it can only be given away. if every action meets those criteria, you will a lwa ys meets those criteria, you will always be a person of integrity. in my nearly four decades of public service, my integrity has never been questioned until now. i'm here today to unequivocally state that, as acting dni, iwill continue to unequivocally state that, as acting dni, i will continue the same faithful and nonpartisan support as ideas to the constitution and the laws of this great country, as long asi laws of this great country, as long as