start there with cnn's political correspondent sara murray and so let's start with fiona hill and all of her testimony, nine hours' worth, yesterday, in washington, d.c. what did she tell the house committees? >> reporter: right. the president's top advisers on russia and laid out the concerns in the trump administration about these various back channels of foreign policy including rudy giuliani. talked how her boss john bolton referred to giuliani as a hand grenade who was going to get everyone blown up because of his efforts. she laid out for lawmakers the concerns she had and bolton then the national security advisers had about the way u.s. policies with ukraine was being conducted and believed there was wrongdoing going on there. people bringing um investigations. the biden investigations and bolton told her go and report this to the national security council lawyer. now, so much of this, brooke, you know, drives back to rudy giuliani and his efforts and the way he really bought in to this campaign against the ukraine ambassador maria yovanovitch, went seeking dirt on the bidens a

this was devastating testimony from fiona hill. >> reporter: it really was, andrea. as you mapped out, fiona hill testifi testified, according to our source in the room, that rudy giuliani was in fact running a shadow foreign policy with his efforts in ukraine. he has acknowledged investigating corruption and the bidens in ukraine. hill essentially saying bolton sounded the alarm bells about all of that. giuliani is firing back at bolton overnight, texting me this, andrea. i always liked and respected john. i'm very disappointed that his bitterness drives him to attack a friend falsely and in a very personal way. it's really ironic that john bolton is calling anyone else a hand grenade and john is described by many as an atomic bomb. it underscores the fact that there are holes in the white house's strategy. they sent out that letter saying they were not going to comply with this impeachment inquiry but that gets a lot tougher to do when you're talking about former officials like fiona hill who are not governed, they would argue, by the same rules and regulations as

as of fiona hill's testimony, what would you ask him?him what did he advise the president in terms of our foreign policy towards ukraine. i would want to know who was involved in influencing the president's decision, and certainly i would want to know what the president said to john bolton. i'm very concerned about rudy giuliani's involvement, last week's indictment of his two -- whether it's clients or associates demonstrates that the president was pursuing his own personal political agenda, digging up dirt on vice president joe biden to advance his own 2020 election goals instead of pursuing u.s. foreign policy, which is to root out real corruption but also to support the ukraine or ukranian government in their battle against russia. so these are some of the things i would want to know from john bolton. >> let's see what happens. every day is a different day on the hill right now. congressman, thank you for coming in. i appreciate your time. >>> we'll be right back. whoo-hoo! great-tasting ensure. with nine grams of protein and twenty-

fiona hill for many years now. she's incredibly smart. i said the doctor thing to give her credentials a little bit. she knows her constitution. she probably picked some good lawyers. but she also knows russia inside out. she knows ukraine inside out. she knows how things are supposed to function because she's worked for multiple administrations. so she can describe when things don't function properly. from the media account, i think we know she was quite angered by the administration that giuliani was running. it sounded like she was advocating for ambassador yavonovitch behind the scenes. sondland, i think, is behind the cabal, if you will. i think they were trying to have something. i think he's going to tap dance to try not to implicate himself. we'll see if he can. he can't get away with lying because the other two guys are being deposed by the southern district by the fbi right now. by attorneys in the fbi. >> evelyn, there is some feeling that the dam was breaking and witnesses they were trying to block are now getting around those

he will be asked about what fiona hill already told lawmakers. hill said she was alarmed by wrong doing in the white house's dealings with ukraine and that she tried to report that wrong doing. >> hill testified that former national security adviser john bolton shared her concerns and not only that, and i quote, hill testified that bolton referred to rudy giuliani, trump's personal attorney, as a hand grenade who was going to blow everybody up. the white house is calling this entire inquiry invalid. that's their response this morning. >> we're also hearing from joe biden's son. he's telling he did nothing wrong by being on the board of a ukrainian oil company. he says that was just bad judgment. you have a flurry of officials in the middle. it seems they're corroborating the whistleblower's story. >> yeah. and they're talking and describing what is -- can only be viewed as a power strug of osorts in the run up to that july phone call between president trump and president zelenski about everything that was going on with rudy giuliani's efforts to

we had fiona hill yesterday. tomorrow, we expect michael mckinley. he's the former adviser to mike pompeo, the secretary of state. he resigned last week citing personal reasons. we also expect gordon sondland on thursday. highly anticipated deposition happening behind closed doors with those three committees. a very busy week on capitol hill and members will be back this afternoon. >> lauren fox on the hill, thanks very much. joining us to talk about this, global affair analyst susan glasser and cnn little analyst elie honig. susan, you look at what's coming out in this testimony, the headlines so far, of folks who served very closely with this president in the administration and had firsthand knowledge of the interactions with ukraine. and it just strikes me that it corroborates, does it not, whistle-blower's complaint throughout about genuine concerns about this president using influence to force ukraine to investigate biden. >> the evidence that's come forward has reinforced that and to add new details. the timeline is not just around the presiden

fiona hill is considered a key witness. i'll speak with democratic congressman eric swalwell of the intelligence committee and our correspondents and analysts will have full coverage of the day's top stories. first, let's go to jim acosta at the white house. what is the president saying now about these new sanctions on turkey? >> president trump is reversing course somewhat announcing imposing sanctions on turkey and leave something u.s. forces in the region. the question is whether that amount of backpedaling will be enough for lawmakers from both parties who have slammed mr. trump's syria policy. another big potential crisis for the president playing out up on capitol hill as his former russia visor fiona hill is sitting down with members of congress leading the impeachment inquiry. with his former top official on russia, fiona hill talking to lawmakers behind closed doors in the ukraine investigation, president trump is suggesting that the whistle-blower behind the impeachment inquiry be outed and forced to appear before

fiona will hours and hours and hours. denny heck said the republicans are only complaining because they need some excuse to justify the white house not cooperating with the investigation. but i wanted to play you what congressman heck said in part because he also suggested republicans might want to be careful what they wish for in terms of this testimony becoming public. he's suggesting they probably wouldn't like if the american public got to hear what was being said behind closed doors. >> you want to know what i think about that? i think the iron. >> there they wouldn't invent another excuse for the administration not to cooperate. but here's what i really believe. they are down lucky these weren't public. >> to a man named michael mckinley is expected to testify on wednesday. ambassador gordon sondland, who was basically sent in to handle ukraine matters along with rudy giuliani after they ousted maria yovanovitch. sondland is expected to testify on thursday and on friday is laura cooper. she is a new addition. she's

congressman jamie raskin of maryland came out of fiona hill's testimony tonight and said that fiona hill ambassador marie yovanovitch will be remembered as the heroes of this story in u.s. history. well, tomorrow, a new deposition is scheduled for a man named george kent. he is a current high level state department official with responsibility for ukraine policy. documents turned over to congress by the state department inspector general last week included emails from george kent where he pushed back against rudy giuliani and the president's conspiracy theories in realtime. you can see george kent doing that in emails like this one, a rundown for other state department officials of the, quote, daily update of the fake news driven smear out of ukraine. the fake news driven smear is what giuliani and trump were trying to leverage ukraine to do in exchange for a white house visit and potentially military aid. there is also this email in which george kent aid. there is also this email that yavonovitch had given prosecutors a do not prosecute list. he calls that idea complete, quote, poppycoc

talk to me about what you hope to hear from fiona hill. if there's one thing you're hoping to learn from this deposition, what is it? >> well, i think what we saw last week and what's been coming out in the media suggests that there was indeed a very powerful shadow foreign policy being operated out of ukraine by the president's lawyer rudy giuliani and mr. parnas and mr. basical across purposes with official government policy, which was to oppose and root out corruption in ukraine. and they were trying to bring corruption back to ukraine, both in terms of their corrupt business dealings, but also in terms of applying coercive pressure on the ukrainian government to produce dirt on the bidens. and so i think that she would have a comprehensive overview of that whole situation. >> do you expect her to say or do you think that she'll say she was unhappy with the way this shadow foreign policy, as it's being called, unfolded? >> she's obviously a professional. i don't expect her to do a lot of editorializing. but like ambassador yovanovitch,

you mentioned fiona hill, let me read you some of nbc's reporting on fiona hill because she's a new figurend potentially an explosive witness for the fact-finding mission around aid for dirt. fiona hill who was until recently president donald trump's top aid on russia and europe plans to tell congress that rudy giuliani and gordon sondland circumvented the white house counsel. a person familiar with her testimony told nbc. hill's appearance next week before congress has stoked fear among people close to the president giving her central role overseeing russia and ukraine policy. it would seem, annie, that even if sondland is favorably disposed to donald trump's charm and foreign policy acumen, no one is disputing, no one close to pompeo, no one close to fiona hill, no one close to kurt volker who's already resigned. no one is disputing that donald trump and rudy giuliani had the ambassador fired and were running a shadow foreign policy in ukraine. are they? >> um, no. i think that what volker's testimony showed us was the strange ways that donald trump conducts off the book foreign policy a

then you've got fiona hill today, right? and then you've got mick mulvaney who is acting white house chief of staff. you've got rudy giuliani, the president's personal attorney. now, just -- i just want to read this. and just tell me what you think of this one graph here. it says mr. bolton, because he was so concerned about what they were doing over there, instructed fiona hill, who is gonna -- who testified today. the senior director of russian and eurasia affairs to notify the chief lawyer for the national security council that mr. giuliani was working with mick mulvaney, the acting white house chief of staff, on a rogue operation with legal implications. ms. hill told the investigators according to two people familiar with her closed-door testimony. that's a pretty big statement right there. >> it's huge. it means that inside the white house at the very inner circle of the oval office there was deep concern not just about impropriety, but potentially legally implicating action by the president's closest advisers, includi

it makes sense someone like fiona hill would praise her in testimony today. i think republicans in some cases are making legitimate arguments about process, process does matter here. i think the democratic majority has to take into account two elements as they proceed, number one, transparency and i think chairman schiff could do a little better in that space being more transparent, more forthcoming. secondly, sobriety. to the degree republicans are using these process arguments to deflect attention from some of the central issues which you just mentioned the way that foreign policy was being carried out, that is unacceptable. the president seems to think that conducting foreign policy is like trying to put together real estate deal in manhattan and that's just not how it works. you can understand how professionals like marie yovanovitch would be shocked and very disappointed in getting caught in the middle of that. i think again and i've said this before there is a pass/fail test here for republicans regardless of what they think about impeachment specifical

well, fiona hill is a former official.he fact that she is there testifying today under subpoena,under scores the fact that the white house cannot block everyone from testifying. sondland is expected to be there later this week. that raises some questions about just how solid this strategy is. it all comes as president trump demands that the whistleblower testify, something that adam schiff indicated over the weekend might not happen over security concerns. >> thanks to all of you. >>> up next, there's outrage in texas. family members and community leaders right now calling for justice after the death of a 28-year-old texas woman fatally shot in her own home by a police officer. plus, race against the clock, the rush to find a survivor after saturday's deadly building collapse in new orleans. deadlyg collapse in new orleans. as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchemel... cut. liberty mu... line? cut. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. cut. li

and fiona hill today and mike mckinley who is just a superb ambassador.ll of these people are coming forward to really tell the truth to the american public. and it's quite wonderful, i think, that it is public servants who really serve the constitution and serve all of us who are going to show the president what the truth really is and what the constitution is really about. >> the latest reporting from the "new york times" indicates that the thousands of troops that we have there that the president moved are now trapped. they don't have an actual way out since turkey has cut off the roads and the exit routes that they might use, and so now there is the question of will there be an airlift? how will we get the u.s. troops out? >> this is reminiscent, you'll know this. we haven't had to get troops out like this since the fall of saigon. this is going to be very, very difficultme difficult. it is one of the many, many down sides of the dangerous kbimpul e impulsivity of the president. we also have 50 tactical weapons at the air base in turkey, and turkey is

susan, let us begin with fiona hill. what do you think she can offer here in the midst of this impeachment inquiry, kind of where they are right now? >> well look. she is the first witness who was working in the white house to testify as part of this impeachment inquiry. she obviously held a significant position. she was not actually still there during the july 25th phone call. she left the white house on the 19th and deeply familiar with the event that is led up to it and a source familiar with the testimony's told "the times" sha she is preparing to testify extensively of the firing of the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine which was something done at trump's own behest. fiona and others were professionals were deeply concerned about this. she apparently relayed her concerns about this to john bolton, then national security adviser. bolton has not yet been called by the committee but obviously would be a key potential witness. he is reported to be -- to have objected to this, as well. i think in all if you step back, it

fiona hill, and you can explain to our viewers who she is. there is a parade of people who worked inside the executive branch for the trump administration heading to capitol hill to basically tell different variations of the story you just explained. >> that's right. and let's just always, always remember the basic facts are all in the partial transcript and the text messages between the diplomats and the ukrainian official that we got last week. it's all clear as day. you don't have to believe me, you don't have to believe any other guest and you don't need any whistle-blowers at this point in time. and all of these people including fiona hill who's testifying today i'm sure are just confirming the facts that we already know. to underknow who fiona is, she worked longer than almost anybody at the white house as president trump's chief adviser for europe and russia. so believe me she knows a lot if she chooses to talk about it today. >> rick stengel, you worked at the highest levels of the state department. there is some exquisite irony in th

fiona hill would know about that.give the road map to what documents are out there in addition to again talking about this bizarre relationship between president trump and president putin. here is another important thing. by all accounts hill was not the most natural fit at the white house. it's obvious president trump has not treated people particularly well around him famously firing rex tillerson on the phone and obviously famously trashing former national security advisor john bolton on the way out who knows his relationship with fiona hill. there are a lot of people on the outside of the white house who know things. if i'm the democrat, the people i'm looking to talk to are the people that have left and who might feel compelled to come forward and have for pre free -- more freedom to share information and careered foreign service people that know they want to be there after the trump administration. don't want to go the ship. we've seen in this extraordinary letter yesterday them trying to stonewall the whole inq

what are lawmakers hoping to learn today from fiona hill? >> hill left the job at the time of the fateful phone call with ukraine's president but she could tell lawmakers a lot about the lead-up to it. she's expected to describe the shadow foreign policy being conducted by rudy giuliani by going around the structures of the state department and national security counsel and talk about the firing of former ambassador marie yovanovitch and talk about the way the white house was essentially preparing for that call or the overall posture the white house took on ukraine. if you're wondering when we in the public might learn more about what's being said behind closed doors in all of these depositions you're not alone. republican members of congress have become increasingly vocal about that need for more transparency about a process that's gone on almost entirely behind closed doors so far. here's jim jordan on the way into this morning's deposition. >> 432 members of congress weren't present to hear the testimony from the witnesses that mr. schiff

fiona hill testified for ten hours. about rudy ghoulian aiuliani an. john bolton was furious when he found out thwhat he was up to. from the hearing they testified that they told her to notify the top attorney about the rogue effort comparing the entire thing to a drug deal. i have to bring in kirstin welker. how is rudy giuliani responding to this. >> he is firing back amid these reports that john bolton and fiona hill about kiesing -- i always liked and disrespected john. i'm disappointed that he was driven to attack a friend. he is calling other people a hand grenade as he is described as an atomic bomb. a very forceful response there from rudy juliani who says he was not involved in any corruption. big picture here, steph, the white house has tried to block a number of folks from testifies and key parts from fiona hill's testimony and that resulted in the bottle m line into it under jr. stores the fact that the strategy might not hold up. >> congress is officially back in town today, lots of temperature ahead, where do we go from here? >> it is loo

bianna, the house had been hearing this testimony from fiona hill. what sort of context do you think she can provide given the nature of the u.s./ukrainian relationship and that phone conversation that president trump had with president zelensky? >> well, look, she's a career intelligence officer. and is a russia hawk. specifically a putin hawk. she's worked in multiple u.s. administrations and what's different regarding her relationship with donald trump as opposed toian avich's claims that she spoke ill of them, which were false, fiona hill was under the radar. while she was tough on russia, a lot of people who follow russia were actually relieved when she joined this administration and joined this team as an adviser given some of the past things this president has said running up even throughout the election, that he said about vladimir putin. she's been there for the meeting saidering not the one on meetings, but some of the meetings with vladimir putin, and given her connection to russia, she's also very informed and read in on u.s./ukraine rela

her name is fiona hill. there she is. republicans say she came willingly, still house democrats subpoenaed her. that is because of the white house attempts to direct witnesses not to cooperate. a little bit of background. hill left her job on the national security council because the president's infamous call with the ukrainian president. and she plans to testify she didn't know about some agenspec of the ukraine scandalp p the star witness coming thursday, trump's ambassador to the eu, warren sundland will talk despite the white house prevented him from doing so last week. we go back to capitol hill to our senior congressional corporate manu raju. what are you hearing about the testimony today? >> it's been five hours or so behind closed doors. answering questions from republicans and democrats, answering questions about the runup to that foreign call in july with the president of ukraine and president trump, which president trump urged her -- urged the ukrainian government to investigate the bidens. also there have been

he had a confrontation with fiona at one point. he says i'm in charge of ukraine policy and she recalled that sounded a lot like al hague after the reagan assassination attempt and he was acting he said in any way to take charge in the way of ucrepe policy even though there had been career staff and then later bill taylor in kiev people like fiona hill basically bypassed and so when we see gordon sondland go in on thursday we won't actually get to see it from the outside but obviously the people who do the questioning will have a lot of questions why he did that and what he talked to the president about that. >> i mentioned the press conference still ongoing there. nancy pelosi the house speaker did just say as that press conference wrapping up, she did say before leaving there will not be a house vote on authorizing inimpeachment inquiry. she said a few weeks ago. democrats are now on impeachment victory, she just said no vote. congressman eric swalwell thank you for joining us, peter baker, elise jordan thank you for rolling with

in her eighth hour testifying behind closed doors in the impeachment inquiry, fiona hill became the first person to appear before the democratic-led committees investigating trump. hill left her job days before the president called the president of ukraine and mentioned a favor before bringing up joe biden and his son. a call that sparked the democrats impeachment inquiry as lauren fox reports to capitol hill. >> reporter: the impeachment inquiry kicking off with high-profile testimony from the president's former top adviser fiona hill. hill is the first person from the white house to testify. and trying to determine if president trump pressured ukraine to investigate his political rival joe biden. democrats hope the closed-door hearing will shed light on what role rudy giuliani played in influencing the ukraine government. he is no longer the trump russian adviser at the time of the call with the president but according to "the new york times," part of her testimony today is expected to include that giuliani was running a shadow diplomacy effort in ukraine. house republicans blasting hou

give us the backstory on fiona hill. >> who is fiona hill? >> because we were talking before the show and you were talking about this extraordinary woman and her background. >> she was born and raised in my country, britain, in the northeast, very gritty part of england. >> near newcastle. >> near newcastle. >> for our viewers in america, roger bennett calls that the jersey shore. >> it was a tiny football club, everybody hates newcastle. >> okay. >> don't ask me to explain why have some they just do. everybody does. everybody hates newcastle ezblee elites. >> exactly. and she came and applied for oxford cambridge, they didn't give her an interview. harvard talent spotted her and took her over the atlantic and she's been here ever since. but she sis a gritty, tough professional. is an expert on putin. written one of the best books on putin out there. >> it's critical. >> very hawkish. she worked for the bush administration. she's an example more broadly as i think marie yovanovitch of how professionals behave versus how political appointees a

so he is reporting to fiona -- fiona hill, the senior director. he's the director for ukraine. so he has primary responsibility for coordinating the entire policy. and that's why he's so upset when he sees this, as his boss called it, drug deal happening in parallel. and what you read, lawrence, that sounds like a patriot to me. i challenge anyone to go after colonel vind lan, the way they the with ambassador taylor, when they called him a radical unelected patri eed bureaucrat. >> and because he's also an immigrant, we can expect donald trump to accuse him of being bias, in favor of ukraine. and josh letterman, colonel vind l lan is very well known in ukraine. he speaks the language. he is someone who has his own real experience there. and he's someone who i assume the government and ukraine has dealt with extensively. >> that's right. so he was a foreign area expert, which means that even though he served in some different capacities, he's currently detailed to the national security council. he's been focused on this region for quite a while. he had served here in kiev as wel

but let me just go back to the issue of fiona hill. he doesn't like their service. he doesn't use any briefing memos for the phone call, there s no question to what the president is actually doing and saying on the phone. lots of problems. >> the thing is that the impeachment bryce is shining a light on the president's state of mind. with the president having these two battles on hand, is that where he refers to be. it is a legislative agenda, we know the house passed 250 bills. so in some world does he prefer to be in the hot water he has been in? >> he likes the sprawling, the fight, he likes to make fun of the others. his approval rating seems to tick up the president is focused on almost entirely continuing these fights and these rallies if. >> you would rather be embattled than be at work. thank you so much, we're a little smarter as we start our monday morning. next, we will take you live to the syrian border and speak to a four-star general as the u.s. withdrawal ramps up. as the democrats get ready to debate again, this fascinating new insight. we have not h

we're seeing fiona hill on monday.s it seem that people who previously had been unwilling to are starting to talk and what's the significance of that? >> right. the relatively decent people inside the trump administration and fiona hill would top that list made a devil's bargain where they said i understand the president i'm working for is not patriot yacic and not very hone but if i'm here, at least i can do some good. that's a very laudable impulse or somewhat laudable but it connects you to a web of moral compromises. someone like kurt volker care d about ukraine, he had to make a series of ugly compromises in order to get weapons to ukraine. i think as the failure of that approach has become clear. a lot of people who held their tongues in an effort to do good at the price of some bad are deciding the price of bad is just too high. this was not shadow foreign policy that the president was running. it was a shady foreign policy. this is not about organizational charts or the president's sending a personal envoy arou

that follows ten hours of marathon testimony monday from fiona hill, the president's former top russia adviser. she testified she saw wrongdoing in the administration's ukraine policy and tried to report it to white house lawyers. cnn has also learned hill told lawmakers that former national security adviser john bolton referred to rudy giuliani as a quote hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up. hill also described a, quote, rogue operation carried out by the u.s. ambassador to the e.u., gordon sondland, and the white how f house chief of staff. all of this bolton characterized as being like a drug deal. >> house democrats have scheduled a meeting this evening to discuss the impeachment probe while a record 12 members of the party are 300 miles away in ohio for tonight's big cnn "new york times" democratic debate. this could be the end of the line for some of those democrats who are fighting for a chance to stay in the race. also, a very big night for joe biden, obviously his son hunter just did an interview. we played a clip for you a moment ago. we'll play more of it later abo

fiona also testified about her concerns about gordon sondland. he is and was the ambassador to the european union, as well as mick mulvaney, the white house chief of staff, essentially saying they were running a rogue operation which she says her boss, bolton, described as essentially a drug deal, again, when it came to ukraine. she's running through all of these things that happened, all these concerns that were playing out in the trump administration in the weeks leading up to what has now become this phone call that's central to the impeachment inquiry between president trump and the ukranian president. >> we're starting to get more pieces of this puzzle. sara murray, thank you for showing us that picture. i want to discuss all of this with eric columbus. he's a fomrmer department of justice official in the obama administration. we also have attorney general elliott williams and lopez with politico. eric, i want to start with you, because john bolton referred to the president as a hand grenade that's going to blow everybody up, and this was th

democrats came out backing fiona hill. republicans complaining about the process. >> rudy giuliani has clearly been a leading force for the administration in providing a shadow foreign policy in ukraine. >> you have witnesses along with their attorney trying to figure out what they can say and what they can't say. there's a reason why white house counsel should be present. >> hill said the reason it was so confusing, that was a situation that the russians could exploit. there's the lineup. today, a senior state department official. and then, thursday, mike pomppo. >>> a dozen democrats take the biggest prime minister stage ever. we have a preview from westerville, ohio. >> reporter: it is debate day in westerville. later tonight, 12 of the democratic candidates will be facing off in the democratic primary debate. front and center will be joe biden and elizabeth warren. in recent days, biden has ramped up his pressure on the president. and over the weekend, biden vowing his son or other members of his family will not be wor

michael, let me go back to fiona hills testimony yesterday. sitting there telling the house committees what she saw and heard from her time working at the white house and talking about the then national security advisers john bolton. a couple of quotes to highlight with you. she said "bolton said giuliani is a hand grenade who will blow everybody up" and "i'm not part of what sondland and giuliani are cooking up" medically speaking. what has happened between giuliani, sondland and mick mulvaney and also that it's john bolton sounding the alarm? >> john bolton as national security advisers, his number one job try to be an hoppest bro honest broker. may have been more as an at visor to the president. the department of defense, cia and state department and to have somebody out there with a separate channel trying to advance ideas and policy ideas is completely inappropriate and outside of scope of what the national security council is supposed to be dobb. doing. >> is it illegal or against procedures or just a big no-no? >> it's certainly a big n

so testified fiona hill yesterday. seems like a moment. >> yes, i mean, look, i think, nicolle, you talked about some of the legal implications of what we learned yesterday that kind of have gotten obscured busine by this extraordinary back and forth between rudy giuliani and john bolton, the notions of high explosives being thrown around here, hand grenades, atomic bombs, all kinds of stuff, the drama, melodrama of that, not sure i'd want to be compared to any of those things, maybe a neutron bomb that blows things up and leaves buildings intact. the most important things as we go forward are two things, one of which related to the appearance of mick mulvaney in the picture. we had previously talked about the three previous stooges who had the high stooges at the high table, rudy giuliani, bill barr, and mike pompeo. we now have mick mulvaney drawn into this, so currently people who should be subpoenaed, i would guess almost certainly will be subpoenaed are the secretary of state, john bolton the top national security

nbc news has learned new details about that marathon session yesterday with fiona hill. one tells nbc news that, quote, former national security adviser john bolton, remember him, was so disturbed to get the efforts to get the ukrainians to investigate the president, he called them a drug deal. we're going to bring in josh letterman with the new reporting. i gave the big headlines. fill in the blanks, josh. >> yeah, hallie, i've been talking to lawmakers part of that hearing saying that fiona hill was a perfect witness. that she shincredible recall. keep in mind, fiona hill is not some outsider. she had a front row seat to you of this. what she had to tell lawmakers, according to a person in that room for the hearing yesterday was pretty damning. she said that after she and john bolton learned about what was happening with this shadow effort on yooushg, that john bolton referred to the whole thing as a drug deal. he in fact told fiona hill you need to go and report this to the top lawyer at the national security council. he also referred to rudy giuliani as a hand grenad

go ahead, julie. >> fiona is a case in point. even experts in the region have a hard time getting to the bottom of who stands behind whom. >> exactly. >> everybody isn't just what they appear to be. there's a person behind a person, and then there's like a shall company behind that, and a shall company that owns that shall company. and by the time you figure it out it's not often the person you thought you were dealing with, as f rechlt id, who designed the sanctions against russia for their -- you always have to know who is buying the drinks in ukraine and i'm not sure rudy giuliani did. >> the picture that emerges is rudy giuliani with a mission. we know what the mission is, right? >> right. >> to go get dirt on hunter -- from the bidens from the ukrainian government and look into the origin of the mueller probe. meeting with with with all sorts of people, advertising to them that the way that you can get close to the president of the united states is if you supply that to him. >> exactly. >> compromise. >> right. and that's ju

and that is what fiona hill told lawmakers on monday. sources recounted the details to cnn. >> this corroborates the other information we had previously about mayor giuliani freelancing as president trump's private attorney. >> reporter: he'll testify behind closed doors that she saw wrong doing when it came to u.s. foreign policy toward ukraine and tried to report it. >> all of the witnesses are filling in the picture of what was taking place. because the famous or infamous july 25th telephone call was not some kind of one-off. >> reporter: hill told lawmakers that the u.s. ambassador to the european union gordon sondland and mick mulvaney were caring out a rogue operation. an administration that bolten likened to a drug deal and said sondland was in direct contact with the president. >> president trump has honored me with the job of being the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. and given me other special assignments including ukraine. >> reporter: in a july 10th meeting on ukraine, sondland mentioned the investigations which was seen as a refe

fiona hill is president trump's top aid on russia and europe. on thursday gordon sondland is expected to testify, defying a state department directive not to appear on capitol hill. first, let's break down who is fiona hill and why she's important in this testimony. hill is president trump's former top aide on russia and europe. the 53-year-old foreign affairs expert resigned from the trump administration just days before president trump's july 25th phone call with ukrainian president zelensky. now hill is expected to face some tough questions from house democrats as part of their impeachment inquiry into president trump. a former senior white house official tells nbc news that hill's appearance has stoked fear among people close to the president, given her role overseeing russia and ukraine policy throughout her time working for the trump administration. nbc news also confirms that hill plans to testify that giuliani and gordon sondland circumvented the national security council and the normal white house process to pursue a shadow policy on uk

and that is the president's former top aide on russia and europe, fiona hill. sources tell nbc news hill plans to give a stunning account of how the white house tried to pursue a shadow foreign policy on ukraine. according to a former senior white house official her appearance, quote, has stoked fear from people close to the president given her central role overseeing russia and ukraine policy throughout her time working for the administration. she is expected to tell lawmakers how the president's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, and the ambassador to the european union gordon sondland, quote, surcomvented the national security counsel in a normal white house process on alleged ukraine issues. that has raised policy concerns about diplomatic and security officials including then national security advisor john bolton. "the washington post" reports bolton went ukraine's new president where sondland blurted out there were, quote, investigations that were droppe again referring to those that involved former vice president joe biden and his son hunter. for more i'm j

. >> and you're reporting about fiona hill. >> yeah, then you have fiona hill, so she was in charge of russia and europe policy on the national security council from the beginning of the administration until this summer. she saw a lot and certainly knows everything in the run-up to this phone call in july with president zelensky and purcharet trump. her testimony is significant because the person familiar with her testimony told us she plans to basically say that rudy giuliani and sondland, the eu ambassador, were running a short of shadow foreign policy, an end run around the national foreign affairs process, and cutting out national security adviser john bolton, which is significant. her testimony and how that plays out is significant because it could be a signal for how these other former officials will be handled. there are those who know a lot, like john bolton and people around him who were unceremoniously ousted from the white house and saw everything up front. if fiona hill goes forward with her testimony, what does that many for former officials who were in the white house in

more on the interview with fiona hill and what might come next.he headliner is ken starr, former independent counsel and our guest next hour at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. >> sandra: a lot to keep track of with the ongoing conflict in syria. a scary scene in new orleans. >> oh my god. >> sandra: that is a hotel construction site collapsing killing at least two people and now a frantic search is on for one person still missing. we'll have a live report on this. >> bill: remarkable stuff. a family demanding answers after a police officer shoots and kills a woman in her own home. >> sandra: hundreds of isis prisoners escaping as turkish forces advance on kurd controlled towns there. retired faur star general jack keane will be here to weigh in on that next. >> the arc of turkey's behavior over the past several years has been terrible. we see them purchasing russian arms. culling up to president putin and all these things that concern us that with regard to the direction they're heading. you see clear skin. you see me. but if you saw me before cosentyx..

so david gregory, fiona hill testified for ten hours.ly she has a near photographic memory and a vivid use of the english language. what does this describe to you, and what does this add to the investigation? >> well, we know the original piece of this, what the president and rudy giuliani have admitted they were doing, and they say it was fine to try to get to the bottom of corruption and pressure a foreign leader. what's becoming evident in the investigation is that piece by piece you started with a whistle-blower, and now some of these confirmation strands of people who are political appointees and who are career people, both groups saying this was way out of bounds. this was over the line, and you had an outside political lawyer who was trespassing on all of these areas of foreign policy in ways that the expert thought was completely inappropriate. i think that is the picture that's emerging, and we still don't know the full picture of what the testimony is, what other pieces may be there. we're seeing some of the highlights. >> hous

now, we don't know if that's true with fiona hill. fiona is of course a former. still haven't gotten to whether mar marie -- >> how wide does executive privilege here, as both hans and garrett brought up, how wide does it apply to both sondland's testimony along with fiona hill's that's going on now? >> it's up to the president to do so but it's not absolute. you know, as we learned in the supreme court decision involving president nixon, executive privilege cannot be used as a shield to prevent the disclosure of criminal evidence. so if it is being used to cover up for crimes, then that -- that shield would need to be pierced. sometimes there's a little bit of a chicken and egg problem there to prove that it was criminal, you need to disclose it. and you can't disclose it without violating the privilege. so it could be that we have to litigate this. take it to court and get a court to review the texts and review the conversations encamera privately and then make a decision as to whether it did involve criminal activity that should cause the waver of the privileg

back to you, fiona. i you, fiona. , susan, thank you.

vice president mike pence on monday the inquiry heard from the white house's former russia expert fiona hill who resigned days before trump crane's president to investigate joe biden and his son mike hanna has the latest from washington. yet another official from the trap administration has defied the presidential boycott of the going impeachment proceedings and arrived to give evidence before 3 separate congressional committees he is george kent an assistant secretary of state with responsibility in europe very much an expert on the ukraine now the committee is unlikely to be questioning him about evidence they'd heard yesterday from another ukraine expert and russian expert fiona hill who was a member of the national security council before reining in resigning shortly before president trump's conversation with the ukraine president now according to several sources fiona hill spoke about a shadow state department that was a stablished outside normal state department protocols to deal with the ukraine and to bring pressure to bear on the ukrainian president now this was headed she says

fiona hill describes corruption in the ukraine policy. she said her boss john bolton called ukraine a hand grenade and told her to inform house lawyers. >>> plus a battleground in ohio. health care and guns among the certain flashpoints. >>> hunter biden acknowledges his foreign business dealings but denies his last name is what opens doors. >> what do you say to people who believe this is exactly why people hate washington? a vice president's son can make money in countries where your father was vice president. >> i made a mistake in retrospect as it related to creating any perception that was wrong. and so, therefore, i'm taking it off the table. i'm making that commitment. i will see if anybody else makes that commitment, but that's the commitment i'm making. >> we begin with a very important night and event in the 2020 democratic presidential race. the debate featuring 12 candidates, a record right there in that hall in westerville, ohio near columbus. it is the first gathering of the democratic contenders since speaker nancy pelosi l

hope fall going to hear from fiona hill on monday. but for focus in theed a ministration is the call the red line? where is it? >> well, i think the red line may be the fact that when secretary pompeo talked about what happened on the call every career civil service member who had read the transcript, every one who's familiar with what happened on the call recognized that he was not being honest and genuine about what happened on the call. so i think the red line may have been a point in time like -- but you need people to start to come forward and this resignation will be the first step in seeing more people come forward. as this plays out o, a more clear picture is going to come into focus and for othersers involved, they got to be really nervous. does he have resignations as you have other individuals to say openly to members of the press that they were concerned. the dominos will begin to fall and they start to understand what happened here. i think that red line has already been crossed. >> and to your point about people raising