healthy™ >>> there's details from the impeachment transcripts of two witnesses, lieutenant colonel alex vindman hill. manu, what are the highlights so far? >> reporter: yeah, significant development here that vindman, who staerves in the national security council, said mick mulvaney, acting chief of staff, was trying for this effort to push for the investigation into the bidens at the same time the ukraines were seeking a meeting in washington between the new incoming administration and president trump, saying that mick mulvaney was involved in this effort, which some people would call a quid pro quo. now, this is what he says of colonel vindman. he says, i heard him say this has been coordinated with white house chief of staff mick mulvaney. that's according to gordon sondland, the ambassador to the european union, who said at this meeting that there needs to be an investigation into biden and into the 2016 elections, things that could help the president with that meeting in ukraine taking place. he said mick mulvaney had coordinated that ask. later on he also said he heard gordon sondland tel

so, jeff, i want to do one excerpt here with lieutenant colonel alex vindman. vindman, correct.ind as to what the president, our president, was asking for as a deliverable? alex vindman, there was no doubt. so is it -- this is the first eyewitness, i guess, or ear witness account. >> right. >> not a second hand source, not the whistle-blower. the ear witness account at this point that we've had so far. >> you're right ant thabout tha chuck. there are four fact witnesses who went before house investigators in private and testified to the existence of a quid pro quo or a shakedown or a bribery plot. there are six, if you include senator ron johnson and mick mulvaney who admitted to a quid pro quo before trying to walk it back. so on this day, in which president trump tried to refocus the nation's attention to this july 25th phone call, which president trump says was perfect, we got the testimony, the transcript of the testimonies of two more white house officials. people who cannot be described as never trumpers, who according to their testimonies, reacted in horror in real time a

first up this morning, there you go, first up this morning, lieutenant colonel alex vindman and jennifer williams, a top aide to vice president mike pence. williams described the call as unusual and inappropriate and tied to the president's personal now, there are nine witnesses scheduled for the next three days a dramatic and critical week in this impeachment inquiry as you mentioned, nbc news has learned the president is fuming with secretary of state mike pompeo for hiring people whose testimony thre pint of that on monday take a listen. >> i'm not going to get into the issues surrounding the democrat impeachment inquiry. if somebody else has a substantive question about something that the -- that the world cares deeply about, i'm happy to take it >> all right so things get under way here on capitol hill very early this morning. a little less than since hours with the first session getting under way a little after 9:00/9:30 with alex vindman and jennifer williams. second session at 2:30 this afternoon. counting down to a very consequential day. frances, back to you. >> craig, thank yo

>> a source familiar with alex vindman's testimony telling cnn that vindsman testified he was told by top nsc lawyer john e n eisenburg not to discuss the call. he expressed concerns to the lawyer. he was told to keep quiet about the call. this is significant because this shows yet another example of white house efforts to conceal this phone call that is at the center of the impeachment inkwierp i inquir inquiry. the phone call that the president continues to say is perfect the it's significant because alex vindman was a ukraine expert and his job is to talk to other administration officials about ukraine and it would be important for him to talk about the call that the president had with ukraine's president. now the press secretary of the white house responded to this reporting saying we can't comment on testimony we didn't get to be in the room to hear. of course, the white house has commented on other testimony like yesterday tim morrison which viewed in its favor. >> you're getting new information about republican efforts to help guide the president's strategy in dealing with this

that's fiona hill, gordon sondland, that is alex vindman and tim morrison, some of those will be released publicly and then you'll move to the public phase of this. so i think we need to look at what the president is both saying, what he has said and what he's done. and as you're pointing out, he's very clear on this, that he wants to hear directly from the whistle-blower, at the same time there are clear whistle-blower protections. and hallie, you remember three, four weeks ago when you asked the president if they wanted to find out who the whistle-blower's identity is and the president almost seemed to hint that they wanted it out at that stage. now, he's come back a little bit on that. he just says he wants to hear from him. but on the crucial question, does the president know who the whistle-blower is, and how convinced is he that this person is a never trumper, he's been hinting now for some time. that may become clear when we have a chance d-- and i know you're going to be down here to ask the president some questions today. >> i know you're heading to kentucky. i'll take your place

amy: army lieutenant colonel alex vindman responding to a question from democratic congressman sean maloney of new york. earlier during the hearing, vindman detailed why he was so coconcerned with trump's acacti. >> i was concerned by the call. what i heard w was inappropriat. i forwrwarded my concerns to mr. eisenberg. it is improper for the president of demand a foreign government investigate a u.s. citizen and a political opponent. i was also clear that if ukraine pursued an investigation commit -- it was also clear if ukraine pursued an investigation into the 2016 elections, the bidens andd b burisma, it wouould be interpreted as a partisan play. this would result in ukraine losing bipartisan n support, undermining u.s. national security, and russia's strategic efforts. juan: the second hearing on tuesday featured testimony from kurt volker, the former u.s. special envoy to ukraine, and tim morrison, former senior director for european and russian affairs on the national security council. both witnesses were requested to testify by republicans but volker debunked conspiracy theories abo

you also have someone who who is a decorated war veteran, alex vindman, testifying next week.here is a debate on how hard to go after these folks. i would look out for gordon sondland, i think republicans are starting to whisper about the idea he was maybe politically motivated, maybe they try and throw him under the bus. they don't have a whole lot of good options here. >> thank you, ladies. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. >>> don't miss a cnn special, the white house in crisis, the impeachment inquiry hosted by chris cuomo tomorrow night. >>> coming up an unprecedented legal move, president trump asked to block a subpoena for his tax returns, the last-ditch appeal right after this. at verizon, we're building the most powerful 5g experience for america. that's why the nfl chose verizon. because they need the massive capacity of 5g with ultra wideband, so more screaming, streaming, posting fans... can experience 5g all at once. this is happening in 13 stadiums all across the country. now if verizon 5g can do this for the nfl... imagine what it can do for you. >>> in

learning more about the view of giuliani and the administration viewing him as a live hand grenade as alex vindmanut t. i think bolton did. >> and vindman also called him a live hand grenade. >> consensus. >> exactly. they both did. so it's fascinating, though, because as giuliani continues to be at the center of this and engulfed in the impeachment probe the president appears to be undeterred by that continuing to talk to him and view him as a member of his legal team. this all just goes back tock according to sources of the sense of loyalty to giuliani. they go way back. back to the '80s. going up the ranks in new york together and the president still very much appreciates giuliani standing by his side after that "access hollywood" tape, and so far they're sticking by each other. >> giuliani the only one that would go out and defend him. >> yes. >> kaitlan, today a really bad day for mick mulvaney acting white house chief of staff. both vindman, lieutenant corner works on the national security staff and dr. fiona hill who used to work in the white house both identified mulvaney as somebody that

just testimony today, alex vindman called giuliani a live hand grenade. noted, at the center very much of this impeachment inquiry. it remains to be seen how much strain all of this will put on the relationship between the two men. as of now, our reporting indicates they continue to keep in touch, and as michael noted, as of late october, they're talking about once a day. >> all this as giuliani beevfbep his own legal counsel. thank you both for that update. >>> cease and destistdesist. trump sending a tweet to the whistleblower telling him to stop. the president is only ramping up his rhetoric. >>> president trump went on the attack again this morning calling the whistle-blower to come forward. wanting that person to be outed. >> the fake whistle-blower said something about the call, many things, that were wrong. when the whistle-blower came forward he talked about this horrible call. it turned out to be a perfect call. >> everything he wrote in that report, almost, was a lie. because he made a phony phone call. my phone call was perfect. he made it soun

among them willde be alex vindman, ukraine specialist on he was on the call when president trump askedthe ukrainian leader to investigate the bidens. and gordon sondland, the u.s. ambassador to the eu, was a key fire as the white house wi held military aid to ukraine. this comes as president trump said this morning he may be willing to testify. one of the 100 senators who may eventually decide the president's fate is sherrod .rown, democrat of ohio and he joined my colleagues michelle fleury and christian fraser earlier toda michelle: do you tnk those in the house so far are doing a good enough job to make the case that the president should be removed from office? sen. brown: i think they are making the case and have made it well, and i trust speaker pelosi. e of the things i say in my book, she is the best legislative leader of the last 100 years in our cntry. her judgment has been put so -- good so far. i think there is no questionha that thirisen to the level of indictment in american courts of law, an indictment in a court of law is equivalent to impeachment in t house of represent

and alex vindman and vinland. >> you testified that perry gave a list of some sort to president zelensky in that meeting. do you recall that? >> yes, in the meeting with the president, secretary perry as the headec of the delegation opened theth meeting for the american side and had m a numbe of s points he made. during that period he handed over a piece of paper. i didie not see what was on the paper. but secretary perry described what was on the paper as a list of trusted individuals, recommended that president zelensky could draw from that list for advice on energy sector reform issues. >> do you know who was on that list? >> i didn't see the list. i don't know. other colleagues -- other people have been in the mix for a while. other people a secretary perry mentioned as being people to consult on reform. >> are they americans? >> yes. >> do you recall that colonel vindman spoke to president zelensky in that meeting? >> yes. >> what did he say to president zelensky? >> he was the last to speak. >> he talked about the importance of ukraine to national security and said it was very impo

was alex vindman's boss. the ukraine aid was not even up by ukraine.d they did not say anything to us until just before it was released. and then it was released. as jim jordan pointed out, guess orderkraine had to do in to get that hold released? nothing. to releasehiff needs all the transcripts right now. crowd member: yes! [applause] ourn behalf of constituents, on behalf of the american public, for everyone misledpissed about being by adam schiff and his cohorts, theng in the bunker of capitol basement, using you to lie to our constituents, release transcripts! let's have a conversation about substance, because i'll tell you what, you lost the conversation process. you're losing the conversation about process. bring it on about substance! because our president was right in being concerned about corruption. our president was right in to look into the interference in the 2016 election. and the president of the united right to be concerned about a corrupt foreign company corrupt ukrainian oligarch, hiring a

hill: alex vindman, colonel vindman. >> and who did this individual refer to, in the office? dr. hill: the individual just said the name cash. >> did you know who that was? dr. hill: initially, i had to i rch my mind, the only one knew was kash patel. >> and he did not work on ukraine matters, is that right? dr. hill: not that i ever saw. >> so the indication is that informationrovided to the president without your knowledge? dr. hill: that seemed to be the indication. >> i want to go back to the july trumpl, where president asked about his potential political opponent, vice president joe biden. in this excerpt, the president said, the other thing, there's a lot of talk about biden's son, that biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. biden went around bragging he stopped the prosecution, so if you could look into it, it sounds horrible to me. course onehis was of of the allegations rudy giuliani was pushing, is that right? dr. hill: correct. >> and now confirmed in this july 25

to testify over the next three days, beginning on tuesday, ending on thursday, kickg off with alex vindman. first witness that will testify, the first witness we've heard from that was on that july 25th phone call you can see the other witnesses there wrapping up a very busy week, a very consequential week on back to you. >> the testimony will move the needle >>> let's turn to breaking news in hong kong a fiery standoff between police and protesters it's one of the most violent clashes we've seen during the six months of demonstrations police tried to sform a university occupied by days by activists. the protesters responded with fire bombs forcing the police to retreat. nbc's matt bradley joins us from hong kong. matt, tensions there have reached an all-time high. >> reporter: frances, this is not ending any time soon the last couple of minutes, before you came to me, there was a fire once again started on the campus if you can -- it just kind of da ma was visible from here across the harbor we're quite a distance away. this just goes to show there's some hundreds of students who are stil

white house ukraine director alex vindman was at the meetingg rainiald havto bidens.t it was explicit.d th this d coordinated with chief of staff mulvaney. >> the money held up had absolutely nothing to do with biden. >> reporter: mulvaney, who ignored a subpoena today, has downplayed his role. >> i never said there was a quid pro quo. because there isn't. >> reporter: but fiona hill says former national security adviser john bolton was so alarmed by the meeting that he told her to go straight to a top white house lawyer. "tell eisenberg that i am not part of whatever drug deal sondland and mulvaney are cooking up on this," he said. in a court filing today, lawyers suggested that bolton has more he can share with congress if a federal judge clears the way. bolton, they write, had many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies so far. >> o'donnell: nancy joins us from the hill. so many details. what about fiona hill? she revealed today she's been harassed and received death threats. is she still willing to testify publicly? >> reporter: amazi

first of all, alex vindman. he was on the president's phone call and described it later as "improper." bill taylor, a top diplomat who expressed concerns about a quid pro quo. and ambassador marie yovanovitch, who was ousted by president trump. democrats say they want to focus on just a few witnesses who they believe can best describe this pressure campaign to the american public. >> o'donnell: nancy, thank you. we didn't see the president today, but he weighed in on twitter immediately after the vote. the president called the impeachment inquiry the greatest witch hunt in american history. ben tracy has more of the concerns from the white house. >> this president's good for the country, and we're going to keep working, and they can continue to do their sham. >> reporter: white house press secretary stephanie grisham dismissed the now-formal impeachment inquiry as illegitimate, even though it was the white house that said it would not cooperate unless the house voted. >> we already released a transcript showing

lieutenant colonel alex vindman, who testified earlier this week, said that when he went to a top whitese lawyer to share his concerns about the call, he was told not to discuss it with anyone outside the white house. >> the democrats are crazed. they're lunatics. >> reporter: president trump, with his first public reaction tonight to yesterday's historic vote, laying the groundwork for impeachment hearings in as little as two weeks. >> what the president did,rainut >> reporter: a new "washington post"/abc poll finds that nearly half the country thinks the president should be impeached and removed from office. but that number drops to 18% among republicans. >> those opposed, say no. >> no! >> opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. >> reporter: which helps explain why every g.o.p. house member voted against this week's resolution establishing impeachment rules. >> i don't think there's one republican vote in the u.s. senate for impeachment based on this phone call. >> reporter: but two of the president's aides have testified that they were so worried about his call with the president of

." >> reporter: lieutenant colonel alex vindman and state department aide jennifer williams were bothting in the white house situation room on july 25, listening as president trump asked his ukrainian counterpart to look into former vice president joe biden. >> without hesitation, i knew that i had to report this to the white house counsel. >> and what was your concern? >> it was inappropriate. it would undermine our ukraine policy. and it would undermine our national security. >> reporter: vindman, who is the chief white house adviser on ukraine, said president zelensky would have taken president trump's request for a favor as a demand. >> in this case, the power disparity between the two leaders, my impression is that in order to get the white house meeting, president zelensky would have to deliver these investigations. >> reporter: his impression was confirmed, he says, at a white house meeting with a ukrainian delegation where gordon sondland, the u.s. ambassador to the e.u., issued an ultimatum: >> he referred to specific iovestigations that ukrainians nould have to deliver in or

lieutenant colonel alex vindman also was at the meeting. and they advised the leader to stay out of domestic politics. another concern that arose for dr. hill around this time was the discovery of a back channel on ukraine. hill learned that a staff member who did not work on ukraine and for her may have been providing ukraine related information to president trump that dr. hill was not made aware of. according to holmes, following the zelensky inauguration, sondland and perry took an active and unconventional role in formulating our priorities for the new zelensky administration and personally reaching out to president zelensky and his senior team. sondland's newfound assertiveness concerned dr. hill who had enjoyed a cordal working relationship with the ambassador. hill had a blowup with sondland when he told her he was in charge of ukraine policy. dr. hill testified that sondland got testy with me and i said who has put you in charge of it. he said the president. on july 10th dr. hill was part of a meeting at the white house with officia

lieutenant colonel alex vindman also was at the meeting. and they advised the leader to stay out of domestic politics. another concern that arose for dr. hill around this time was the discovery of a back channel on ukraine. hill learned that a staff member who did not work on ukraine and for her may have been providing ukraine related information to president trump that dr. hill was not made aware of. according to holmes, following the zelensky inauguration, sondland and perry took an active and unconventional role in formulating our priorities for the new zelensky administration and personally reaching out to president zelensky and his senior team. sondland's newfound assertiveness concerned dr. hill who had enjoyed a cordal working relationship with the ambassador. hill had a blowup with sondland when he told her he was in charge of ukraine policy. dr. hill testified that sondland got testy with me and i said who has put you in charge of it. he said the president. on july 10th dr. hill was part of a meeting at the white house with officia

. >> colonel alex vindman. kurt volker. >> this makes it clear, that the president was using a meeting at the white house and taxpayer governments to benefit himself. >> whether you're dressed with all of the medals or not. >> this is a mind-boggling corruption of u.s. policy. >> this is "new day," with alisyn camerota and john berman. >> we want to welcome our viewers around the united states and the world. this is a special edition of "new day. it is tuesday, november 19th, 5:00 here in new york. four, important witnesses will take the stand today, in what could change the legacy of president trump's presidency. up first, two top national security aides who listened in on the july 25th phone call with ukraine's president. both witnesses have been attacked and republicans will mount an aggressive line of questioning with alexander vindman

business insider and the army is prepared to move lieutenant colonel alex vindman and his family to a safe location if necessary. reuters army sensing impeachment with the vindmans security and u.s. official. these articles are based done by the wall street journal. vindman is a virginia resident like you are. lieutenant colonel vindman is a patriotic american law you are. i'm not going to ask you whether you think it's appropriate to attack his loyalty or his patriotism or is judgment or his character because we know what you would think about such an attack and whether you think it's okay to use the white house social media account or their assets to amplify such an attack because we know what you would think about that but i will ask you this. and your role as deputy secretary of defense. will you make sure that members of the military are not punished or face reprisals for cooperating with congress? >> we take very seriously our responsibility to respond to congress and to the earlier part of your sentence it's related to personal security so not going to comment on measures we ta

. >> reporter: we have a long day yesterday because it began with decorated army officer alex vindmantified the call at the center of this impeachment hearing was inappropriate and improper. he was joined by jennifer williams, aid to mike pence and when it came to nancy pelosi's allegations, bribery, republicans dug in. >> you never used the word bribery or bribe to explain donald trump's conduct, correct? >> no, sir. >> you haven't either? >> that is correct. >> reporter: more key testimony for kurt volcker, the point man leading ukrainian policy for the us. and nfc staffer, republicans zeroing in on the withheld aid. >> the president of the united states ever say to you he was not going to allow aid to the united states to go to ukraine unless there were investigations into burisma, the bidens or elections? you took apart their entire case. aren't you the official channel? >> that is correct. >> reporter: the man leading this entire process, chairman adam schiff blasted republican defense of the president. >> their objection is he got caught. their objection is someone. the whistle

president calling it, the most extensive day of hearing so far, the day began with decorated army, alex vindmantified at the phone call was inappropriate along with jennifer williams who said the call was unusual. a charge behind these cause of bribery republicans dug in. >> you never used the word bribery or bribe to explain donald trump's conduct? >> no, sir. >> you haven't either? >> that is correct. >> reporter: more key testimony from kurt volcker, the point man in the us, tim morrison again, republicans dug in. >> did the president of the united states ever say he was not going to allow wade to the united states, and the 2016 election. aren't you the official? >> that is correct. >> reporter: at the end of the day chairman adam schiff blasted the republicans defense of donald trump. >> their objection is he got caught, that someone. the whistle. they would like this whistleblower identified, the president wants this whistleblower punished. that is their objection. not that the president engaged in this conduct, but that he got caught. the defense is did he release the aid, after he got ca

conversation, just to be clear. >> who is the director of ukraine. >> director for ukraine is alex vindman, colonel vindman. >> who did this individual in the secretary's office refer to? >> the individual just said the name cash. >> did you know who that was? >> initially when i was thinking about it i had to search my mind. the only cash i knew at the national security council was cash patel. >> cash patel did not work on ukraine matters that you over saw is that right? >> not that i over saw, no. >> the indication is cash patel provided some information to the president without your knowledge? >> that seemed to be the indication. >> i want to go back to the july 25th call rht now where president trump in another excerpt asks president zelensky about his potential political opponent, vice president joe biden. in this excerpt, the president said the other thing, there's a lot of talk about biden's son, that biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. biden went around bragging that he stopp

we don't have a recording for the phone call to show the american people and we learned from alex vindman this week that words and phrases were removed. >> i think what anyone making this case and the house is acting like prosecutors if they go forward on impeachment, they have to clearly tell the public look, here was the president using his power, he was demanding a bribe. just the fact that it is happening, in a world where half a point or two points make all of the differences, that might be holding on to the presidency, the phone call is on the way to that. i could talk about the defense? -- defense in a second, but they are demanding a bribe, it is one of many steps alock the way and they got it and the other ukraine investigations went forward, they were reupped, so you have to tell that case. the defense is all about foreign policy and at the end of the day even if you don't like the current president a lot of americans think that you know, he has the power to kill, he has the power to drone. he has the power to drop a nuke, can't the get on the phone and push around another gover

>> director for ukraine is alex vindman, colonel vindman. >> and who did the individual in the secretary'sual just said the name cash. >> did you know who that was? >> initially, when i was thinking about it, i had to search my mind and the only cash that i knew at the national security council was cash patel. >> and cash patel did not work on ukraine matters that you oversaw, is that right? >> not that i oversaw. >> so cash patel provided some information to the president without your knowledge? >> that seemed to be the indication. >> i want to go back to the july 25th call right now where president trump, in another excerpt, asked president zelensky about his potential political opponent, vice president joe biden. in this excerpt, the president said the other thing, there's a lot of talk about biden's son, that biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that. so, whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. biden went around, bragging that he stopped the prosecution. so, if you can, look into it. it sounds horrible to me. now, dr. hill, this

national security council director alex vindman. tech rare acting o fai-- affair. as the accredited ambassador to the union did not credit nonmember states, he made clear that he had direct and frequent access to president trump and chief of staff mick mulvaney secretary perry, ambassador sondland, and ambassador sondland made clear they would take the lead on the zelensky administration. i became aware that mr. giuliani, a private lawyer, was taking a great role. and he was who was ultimately indicating privately that he had been contacted by someone named ghouli giuliani who said he is an advisor. in the following months it became apparent that mr. gullian a -- giuliani was having a direct influence on the ground president at one point in a preliminary meeting, someone wondered s aloud why he was so active in the media with respect to ukraine. mykr recollection is that damn , rudy, when he gets involved he fs everything up. in the meeting secretary perry, pass president zelensky that perry described as people he trusts. he said he could seek advice from people on

as i came into the boardroom, alex vindman, colonel vindman, and ambassador sondland were in an exchange pair that's when i noticed colonel vindman looked quite alarmed. i know ambassador sondland was asked yesterday -- because i watched all of his testimony and i watched it very carefully -- that there were some questions about yelling and shouting. i certainly never said that, and there was no yelling and shouting. that's some embellishment that has crept in, perhaps in media depictions, or how people like to retell the stories and add things to them. when i came in, ambassador sondland was in an exchange with colonel vindman, along the lines of, "well, we have an agreement to have this meeting." i came in and asked, "what's going on here?" and he said -- again, the ukrainians are there, ambassador bolton is there. at this point i want to stress that secretary perry had left. he was not in the room when i came. as i was coming in, secretary perry and his colleagues were leaving. so secretary perry has no recollection of this meeting because he was not in it. when i came in, gordon sond

told impeachment investigators i have concern about lieutenant colonel vindman's judgment and fiona and others have concerns about alex's judgment. steve castor, g.o.p. counsel asked did anyone ever bring concerns to you that they believed colonel vindman may have leaked something? morrison answers yes. this all goes to withholding sensitive information, leaking, perhaps, sensitive or secret information. what about this? >> this is a serious problem for adam schiff and his group of cohorts up there. obvious -- it appears to me that they didn't really vet their witnesses carefully in terms of the credibility of their witnesses. they apparently thought that simply trotting out a military officer with all sorts of ribbons on his chest would be sufficient to grant unquestioned credibility to the witness. well, that's not the case. even though this is not a legal proceeding, it is a proceeding in which the other side, the republicans, do have at least some ability as we saw last friday, for example, some ability to delve into and attack the credibility of the witnesses that the democrats bring forward, and apparently vindman

steve caster pressed li ee eed colonel alex vindman about a job offer in ukraine. vindman's allegiance to the united states. >> did he offer you 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 immediately dismissed these offers. did not entertain them. the whole notion is rather comical. >> rather significant, you know, the ukrainians offered you post of defense minister. did you ever think possibly if this information was, got out, it might create at least the perception of a conflict? >> it's much more important what my civilian white house national security counsel 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. >> they have accused you of espionage and dual loyalties. we have seen that in this room this morning. the three minutes spent asking you about the offer made to make you

just like there's no evidence to back up the president's similar attacks on lieutenant colonel alex vindman, a ukraine expert at the national security council as well as the ambassador bill taylor, the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine, both of whom the president has also branded as never trumpers. but it is a pattern of the president going after these individuals who are bringing to light this ukraine scandal. jennifer williams testified in a closed-door deposition last week that the president's requests of ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky, in this july call, that he carry out these specific politically charged investigations was, quote, unusual and inappropriate. williams is just the latest trump administration official to face these kinds of attacks of course. but what was perhaps more startling here was the response from the vice president's office. vice president mike pence's press secretary, katie waldman, i asked her for comment on these attacks from the president on an adviser to the vice president. and her response was to say, jennifer is a state department employee. now, while th

as i said, i learned other things including seeing the statements from alex vindman and from fiona hillt 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, that's right. gordon did bring that up and that was it. >> ambassador kurt volker revising live his earlier testimony. he did that. he testified on the 3rd. today he said a lot of what he said on october 3rd was mistaken. tomorrow we're going to hear from somebody else who says his memory was jogged. e.u. ambassador gordon sondland. he has revised his testimony already. he did that in writing. now he's due to testify tomorrow in open session. the question is is he potentially in trouble for the continued revisions to his testimony. what do we make of these reports today, speculative reports admittedly, that he may find himself pleading the fifth. joining us is chuck rosenberg. former u.s. attorney. sir, i really appreciate you making the time after such a marathon day. >> nice to see you. thank you for having me. >> we saw ambassador volker revise his

president's calls and they say this one in april was handled by their up ukraine expert, that's alex vindmanestified behind closed doors about his alarm with the president's secretary call to ukraine. he's expected to go publicly on tuesday. kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >>> in california, the 16-year-old gunman who opened fire on his classmates before turning the gun on himself has died from his injuries. police say the teen shot five students killing two. and a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy. now as the community grieves, investigators are left trying to piece together why this tragedy took place. cnn's sara sidner reports. >> reporter: we're here in central park in santa clarita, california, this is where parents came to reunite with their children after a school shooting at saugus high school. the shock of that shooting has started to subside. now sorrow is setting in. a sign of sorrow and remembrance, a makeshift memorial grows each other after yet another deadly school shooting. this time it happened in saugus high school in santa clarita high school. >> me and my frie

but i think you look at those trump administration officials from-it state and from the nfc like alex vindmand and you admire the courage of these people and the white house officials kind of look at anonymous and say why can't you actually be not a coward, in their point of view, and reveal your name? stand by what you're saying. and the anonymous author says he'll do that. but it's going to be easier to sell books when you're someone not showing your name. >> daniel, thanks very much for joining us. >>> and coming up it was supposed to be a simple white house photo on. it became two-day story that once again sparked a discussion about their credibility. n about their credibility. post this... and be there like this. so we give you that. and right now, buy a samsung galaxy s10 or note 10... and get one free. but he wanted snow for thelace holidays.. so we built a snow globe. i'll get that later. dylan! but the one thing we could both agree on was getting geico to help with homeowners insurance. what? switching and saving was really easy! i love you! what? sweetie! hands off the glass. ugh!!

one it was tomorrow, lieutenant colonel alex vindman. en on wednesday we'll hear from ambassador gordon sondland, someone i would highlight for his uncertainty. lieutenant colonel vindman is the director on the national security council staff for ukraine, meaning he is the person charged with essentially knowing everything that's going on with the u.s. government vis-a-vis ukraine. so this is someone who has been at the center of this. this is someone who has reported those concerns twice and someone who certainly comes with a lot of background he will share with congress and the american people tomorrow. of course, the big show will be ambassador gordon sondland on wednesday. that comes with a lot of uncertainty because we're not sure which gordon sondland will show up. will it be the gordon sondland who gave an account to congressional investigators that he really had no idea this was about the bidens, he really didn't know what burisma meant. or will it be the gordon sondland who since has shown a different tune, first revising his sta

i want to show this emotional exchange you had with lieutenant colonel alex vindman. >> from one immigrant american to another immigrant american, i want to say to you that you and your family represent the very best of america. i assume you are as proud to be an american as i am, correct? >> yes, sir. >> so what's your reaction, congressman, to the ongoing attacks on these witnesses over their heritage by some of these fringe groups out there and some that may not even be fringe groups? >> i think it's reprehensible. in lieutenant vindman's case, i personally believe the attacks are motivated by his immigrant status. this gentleman came over when he was 3 1/2 years old as a toddler from the soviet union. his father, he and his brothers came here with his grandmother. his mother had died when he was very young. you know what they did? they set about basically committing themselves to america. all three brothers are in the military, wolf. the other thing that really bothered me about the attacks on lieutenant colonel vindman had to do, i think, in part with jewish heritage as well. this is

challenges the power between insiders in the outsider, the defining of her age, national security alex vindmanalled himself never trumper but while trump asking for an investigation is improper he was on interested in the obvious hiding in plain sight corruption of hunter biden been on the board of ukraine energy company while his dad was in charge of ukraine policy and channeling billions of dollars of u.s. aid to ukraine and some to the ukraine energy sector. that leads us to the third thing that we learned last week, courtesy of the time wasting chief himself, adam schiff. i've been on the democrats and really crusty to be for the way that they endlessly describe. >> investigations into his political rivals, the biden. >> investigating his potable rival. >> investigate political rival. >> investigation into his political rival. >> but joe biden is not just a political rebel, he is the fourth president facing credible allegation of corruption while he ran ukraine policy. now he wants to be president. that's what makes him a political rival. but it does not make him above the law. it was adam

we also heard from alex vindman, a white house official, tell lawmakers just last week he cull h actuallynd it was inappropriate to mention these investigations into biden in 2016 with the ukrainians and that fiona hill backed up his allegations, his statements there, it was inappropriate. we do not see ambassador sondland get into any details as far as the testimony that we have been able to review thus far with regard to that conversation, but, brooke, bottom line here is that ambassador sondland had to refresh his memory the night before in calling secretary perry and then he also refreshed his memory by adding this appendix added to his testimony transcript after the fact, after he saw what had come out from other u.s. officials regarding this policy to ukraine. and at the crux of that is that he now is refreshed his memory that he did tell ukrainian officials that it was likely that they would not be getting the security assistance unless they publicly announced there would be an investigation into biden and 2016. there are key elements what he initially said changing here as he's fo

lieutena lieutenant colonel alex vindman, he is a career army officer, an iraq war veteran, and an expert on ukraine. in july 2018 hi we was detailed the white house in part to coordinate policy on ukraine. jennifer williams is a career foreign service officer who is assigned to the office of the vice president. following these initial and congratula congratulatory phone call, the president asked vice president pence to attend the inauguration. vice president pence would have been an important attendee. rudy giuliani had planned to go to ukraine to pursue interest in having the bidens investigated but had to call off of the trip after it became public. jou giuliani blamed people around zelensky saying they were antagonists. ambassador sondland and ambassador kurt sondland said that johnson and vindman would also attend. several members debriefed president trump on their interactions with zelensky. but trump, instead criticized y ukrained instructed them to work with rudy. a few weeks later on july 10th, ambassador sondland met with officials including colonel vindman and said the white ho

as i said i learned other things including seeing the statements from alex vindman and fiona hill, andreminded me, yes, at the very end of that meeting as it was recounted in colonel vindman's statement, i did remember that. yes, that's right, gordon did bring that up, and that was it. >> ambassador kurt volker revising live today his earlier closed door testimony. and he did that on a number of fronts today. he testified behind closed door october 3rd. and he testified a lot of what he said on october 3rd was mistaken. today we're going to hear from someone else who said his memory was jogged, eu ambassador gordon sondland. he's amended his testimony he gave behind closed doors already, and now he's due to testify tomorrow in open session. the question is he potentially in trouble for continued revisions to his testimony, and what do we make to these reports, speculative reports admittedly, he may find himself pleading the fifth tomorrow? joining us is justin rosenberg. i really appreciate you making the time to be hereafter such a marathon day. >> nice to see. thank you for having me

we will hear from mike pence's aide, lieutenant colonel alex vindman and kurt volker and aide tim morison. abc news reporter megan derizian will have a live report coming up. >>> ar as just s francisco, oakland and san jose. but there's so much more. like all this. it's where we work, live, a problems and everyone is looking for solutions. that's why abc 7 is looking for answers and inspiration in communities throughout the region and revealing how they're tackling the same big problems. how is fremont working to build a better bay area. >> the people of fremont are passionate about their community. dozens packed the townhall last night at washington hospital. >> they heard from a panel of city business health and community leaders. >> these types of conversations allow us to hear from the people who see and the people that we serve. >> kristen zee and phil ma tear moderated the event and touched on city growth, quality of life and housing issues. people are determined to find solutions. >> because it is as important as preparing for the future and going to urbanization is protect the ass

delegation also included senator johnson, ukraine's session envoy volker and lieutenant colonel alex vindman, the national security council.rati was not my first four days after assuming my post as ambassador in july of 2018, i received an official delegation from the government of then ukraine, the meeting took place at the mission of brussels and prearranged by career eu missions staff and i've had several meetings since then in brussels. later, in february of 2019, i worked well with u.s. ambassador marie yovanovitch in making my first official visit to ukraine where a u.s. navy visit to the strategic black seaport of odessa. the reason i raise these prior ukraine activities, the meetings in brussels, my visit to odessa, is to emphasize that ukraine has been a part of my portfolio since my time as an ambassador. any claim that i muscled my way into the relationship is simply false. on may 20th, the u.s. delegation developed a very positive view of the ukraine government. we were impressed by president zelensky's wanting to promote a strong relationship with the united states. we admired h

negotiations kurt volker representing the state department, national security counsel director alex vindman representing the white house, temporary acting affairs joseph pennington, and ambassador to the european union, gordan sondland. while ambassador sondland's mandate as the accredited ambassador to the european union did not cover individual member states, let alone nonmember countries like ukraine, he made clear that he had direct and frequent access to president trump and chief of staff mick mulvaney and portrayed himself as the conduit to the president and mr. mulvaney for this group. secretary perry, ambassador sondland and ambassador volker later styled themselves the three amigos and made clear they would take the lead with the zelensky stwradministration. around the same time i became aware that mr. giuliani was taking a direct role. mr. zelensky's childhood friend and campaign chair was appointed the head of security services in ukraine indicated to me e haivbeen contacted by, quote, someone named giuliani who said he was an adviser to the vice president. i reported the message

alex vindman testified that eisenberg is the one who told him not to say anything about the july 25thall and eisenberg is the one who moved the transcript of that call to a highly secure server. how critical is his testimony at the end of the day tomorrow, if he shows up. >> yeah, if he shows up is exactly right. we don't know if he is going to come. he and his deputy, so another attorney for the nsc are supposed to testify tomorrow. both of them are very key. they were two people that a lot of these other witnesses went to to voice concerns. therapy the ones who made the decision to put, as you said, put this sort of put this phone call in the vault or to put it away. they are both very important. i know house investigators very much want to talk to them but we don't know if they are going to show up. we have been seeing that other people are not coming as the white house has told them not to, so we are just not sure what they are going to do. i think as the weeks go on, more attention is paid to both the attorney and his deputy. both of those attorneys at the national security counc

based on open source, without firsthand knowledge, alex vindman on my -- alex vindman, on my staff. the question then, he reports to you, correct? answer, he does. lieutenant colonel vindman's direct report was mr. morrison and it didn't happen. lieutenant colonel vindman, in your deposition, page 96, the question was, okay, after the call on 7/25 do you have any discussions with mr. morrison about your concerns? answer, after the call i -- well, per the exercise in the chain of command and expressing, i immediately went to the senior nsc legal counsel and shared those concerns. that would be mr. eisenberg, correct? >> i'm sorry. my lawyer was talking. >> you went to mr. eisenberg. we've already said that. we can go on. you were not a j.a.g. officer, you're not a lawyer. and on page 153 of your testimony deposition in reference to that meeting with mr. eisenberg, you said, i was not making a legal judgment. all i was doing was sharing my concerns with my chain of command. yet we've established that your direct report is to mr. morrison. so, let's establish your role and your title.