as "the new york times" reports, rudy giuliani has confirmed -- and by the way, giuliani is on the recordere talking about plans by the president's personal legal team to head to ukraine. why? they're trying to encourage the government to find material that could help them run against joe biden and discredit special counsel bob mueller's investigation. so, yeah, it would seem from this that the trump team is not just asking a foreign government for help in 2020. they're also asking that government for help downplaying that other foreign help they got in 2016. as part of what giuliani told the "times," he said, i'm asking them, the ukrainians, to do an investigation because that information will be very, very helpful to my client. and in text messages to our team here at nbc news, giuliani made it pretty clear he's looking for information from the ukrainians that would exonerate president trump and implicate joe biden. we have a whole heck of a lot of questions on this story and in a couple minutes i'll be joined by one of the top officials in the trump campaign. but first let's start with

just a side note on giuliani, i was here when giuliani was running the city. after he left office, so many people felt he was exploiting 9/11 and he went from there. he's become such a despicable figure, such a tragic old man doing anything to stay relevant. what a disappointing, sad little old man that has taken on such a evil, twisted manner that he would display this in the last 24 hours. probably just a publicity stunt in the first place. out of all the president's men, of all these swamp things, rudy giuliani stands out to me as the lowest of the low. >> giuliani is just saying this in the last couple of minutes that we won't go. let's play just a little bit more. give you a sense of what he's saying right now. >> okay. so no trip to sunday, no trips to ukraine. >> no trips because i believe i was walking into a bunch of people, one of whom already has been found to be involved in this that i wasn't aware of and i think this was a setup. >> okay. again that was giuliani just a couple of minutes ago. this was a couple of hours ago, the president speaking t

>> it's hard to know with rudy giuliani. he has a long history of sort of making a number of different bizarre statements and getting the press riled up around what he is commenting and then walking back. he did the same thing when president trump was trying to deal with the issue of stormy daniels. giuliani got out in front of it and said that the president knew about the payments to the former porn star and then later said that the president didn't know about it. so it's hard to know. i wouldn't be surprised if giuliani would have gone over to ukraine to stir up media coverage. it appears that the ukrainians were not necessarily okay with the idea of being seen in this light in the u.s. media that they might be meddling in a foreign election, meddling in the u.s. presidential race. but it is a clear sign that the president and his allies see joe biden as a threat for 2020 and they see him as someone they need to put their eyes on at this moment, even though we are several months ahead of even the first primary votes being

jeffrey harris, former assistant to rudy giuliani.port who are has been covering this story. jeffrey, is what rudy giuliani is doing, as he says it could be improper, is it even allowed? >> no, it is not allowed. rudy knows that. what i think is going on here is that people like rudy giuliani are emboldened by the fact they think they have teflon on them in the trump administration with an attorney general like barr that they can do what they want and even though it might cause scrutiny in another administration, they sort of feel free to do whatever suits their purpose. >> so, michael, from your reporting, let me just quote rudy giuliani again. we're not meddling in an election. we're meddling in an investigation and he says it will help his client very much. his client being the president. joe biden is part of the story. this is the context here. joe biden is at the head of the democratic polls. he could be the opponent for president trump. rudy giuliani says there's questions about biden's efforts to remove a ukraine prosecutor who

giuliani? >> i believe that we should, yes.arning the wrong lessons from the russia investigation that we just had. i think because essentially republicans in congress are giving a green light for this type of behavior to continue, they believe, well, there's not going to be a penalty for it. the attorney general, as we see demonstrated by his stonewalling, would allow it. so why not just be transparent about our efforts and willingness to work with with other countries to affect our election. it's a betrayal of democracy to work with other countries to affect our elections. it's just a flat-out betrayal. >> today ou introduced a bill with some of your democratic colleagues and it essentially pauses the statute of limitations so a president can be prosecuted for any prosecutable crime once they leave office. do you think that president trump needs to be charged with a crime after his term? >> i can tell you i believe he is going to be charged with a crime just from what we have reviewed. just from michael cohen's testimony, it'

rudy giuliani says that president trump know what is he is doing in the ukraine? >> yeah, but now the trump campaign says they are distancing themselves and that rudy giuliani is a private citizen. but he is also the president's personal lawyer. bind's campaign, they are not commenting. >> mary, thank you. >>> next tonight, the headline causing e headlines nationwide. a second grade teacher forced to pay for her own substitute. here is adrienne bankert. >> reporter: a popular second-grade teacher battling breast cancer in san francisco tonight is being forced to pay for her own substitute. >> she's wonderful, she's a beautiful lovely great teacher. she's one of the best teachers. it's terrible. >> reporter: california's between school districts and the teachers' union allows ten paid sick days a year. after that, teachers may qualify for 100 days of paid sick leave. the cost of a substitute. the teachers' union says their hands are tied. >> we'd love to change it but we're working under a public school system that's been on starvation resources since the '70s. >>

we heard that rudy giuliani is heading to ukraine to meddle in two foreign investigations. he'll reportedly meet with the president elect to urge him to pursue inquiries that allies of the white house contend could yield new information about two matters dealing with mr. trump. one is the involvement of former vice president joe biden's son in a gas company owned by a ukrainian oligarch. giuliani tells the time, quote, we're not meddling in an election, we're meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do. there's nothing illegal about it. somebody could say it's improper and this isn't foreign policy, i'm asking them to do an investigation that they're doing already and that other people are telling them to stop. and i'm going to give them reasons why they shouldn't stop it because that information will be very, very helpful to my client and may turn out to be helpful to my government. so the next time someone asks you how bad things are here in our politics, you can tell them they're so bad that the current president publicly depends on foreign governments to p

and rudy giuliani should just back off. >> reporter: giuliani's trip to ukraine comes as former fbi director james comey is blasting the president, saying in cnn's town hall he agreed with hundreds of former federal prosecutors who said mr. trump could be charged with obstruction of justice if he werc weren't in office. >> yeah, i agree. >> no doubt? >> no doubt. again, there's ten different episodes. i actually think the ones that would be most likely charged are not the ones that involved me, but particularly this mcgahn episode. >> reporter: comey added that russia could still have compromising information on the president. >> i don't know the answer to that. >> do you think it's possible? >> yes. >> reporter: he also slammed attorney general william barr. >> do you think he's behaving less than honorably? >> i do. look, i'm sorry -- >> reporter: and former deputy attorney general rod rosenstein for their handling of the mueller report. >> so rod rosenstein you're saying is a person not of a strong character? >> yeah, i don't think he is. of accomplishment, very bright. but he's not stron

giuliani is if nothing else, outrageous.ling around the world and claiming he is going to give a speech which was cooked up two years ago to pay for his trip. what do we make with how it fits into the intrigue of the willingness to go to the east for help? >> ironically what he said he is doing to trying to undermine the mueller report. findings in the mueller report and prove that in fact it wasn't the trump campaign colluding, but rather the clinton campaign colluding with u vain. he seeks assistance and clearly there was irony there. there are legitimate questions. he said he is acting as president trump's personal lawyer, but in ukraine the perception is not so clear. you have someone coming over as the ear of the president to meet with an incoming president, president-elect, and you can see why the ukrainians would want to curry favor with trump. they have a new administration and they are probably looking for signs. what does trump want. what can we do for trump? giuliani said this is what you can do for trump. >> you

it's all about giuliani. he's a very giuliani centric individual. >> the president said out loud he liked the idea, too. >> yeah, i know. i understand that. ultimately, i hope this is giuliani's detriment. it's unseemly to have him out there doing this sort of stuff. it's not acceptable behavior. >> michael, let me get you on the democrats effort to get the president's taxes. they have issued subpoenas to the irs, treasury department. one deadline came and went. there's a new deadline of may 17th. if the subpoenas are ignored, what is the next step, potentially? is it contempt for the treasury secretary or anybody else? if so, does that matter? >> right. so, what's at the heart of this is that the treasury -- the ways and means committee has asked for the tax returns of the president and his businesses. they have a right under specific statute to do that. the white house is pushing back, actually, the treasury department on behalf of the white house pushing back saying there's no valid, legislative purpose fo

this is classic rudy giuliani of late, i will say.t the old rudy giuliani, but it is such a shape and a stain frankly on him and his character >> let me give you another -- if i could just -- >> hurry up. quick point. >> this is also important because you have to communicate to the american people that the entire world tries to influence the united states. the united states has the same amount of power or more than the roman republic at the height of the roman republic's influence and later empire. the whole world -- allies, enemies of the united states want influence in the united states and there are all kinds of ties that exist in washington, d.c. among politicians, family and friends. so why not expand the discussion from this obsession on russia to bringing up legitimate questions? >> just remember what you asked for. as we get into the campaign, remember you said this was okay. jennifer, niger, thank you for this on a friday night. if you're watching at home and said, god, it's like they just switched sides, all of the sudden on

this is classic rudy giuliani of late. i will say. it's not the old rudy giuliani.uch a shame and stain on him and his character. >> another reason -- >> hurry up. >> this is also important because you have to communicate to the american people that the entire world tries to influence the united states. the united states has the same amount of power or more than the roman republic at the height of the influence and empire. the whole world allies, enemies of the united states want influence in the united states. and there are all kind of ties that are in d.c. why not expand the obsession to bring up some questions. >> remember what you ask for. as we get into the campaign. remember you said this was okay. thank you for doing this on a friday night. if you're watching at home, and you said it's like they just switched sides. one is saying it's great to pursue this stuff. and saying there's nothing there. didn't that just happen in reverse? yes, it did. we'll track it down and keep the facts straight. and keep it on course. now, i urge you stay with me tonight. here's

. >>> now to the change in travel plans for the president's personal attorney rudy giuliani. following major backlash, he is backtracking on plans to go to the ukraine. here's abc's lana zak. >> reporter: the president's personal attorney, rudy giuliani doing a complete 180. reversing course on his planned trip to ukraine to advocate for foreign investigations that include looking into democratic front runner joe biden. >> i'm not going to go because i think i'm walking into a group of people that are enemies of the president, in some cases, enemies of the u.s. >> reporter: initially giuliani said he was trying to convince the new ukrainian president to investigate claims against biden that as vice president, he advocated for removing a government official who reportedly looked into corruption at a company where biden's younger son, hunter, worked. the biden campaign claims there was no wrongdoing. democrats pounced, accusing giuliani of trying to leverage a foreign government to affect the upcoming elections. >> it's an investigation to affect one of the candidates they fear

. >> rudy giuliani is opening his play book for all to see. he is encouraging ukraine to get involved in issues that help is quiet and friends, the president of the united states and calling for an investigation that will hurt joe biden. rudy giuliani is headed to ukraine with two key missions in mind, he wants to investigate if the democratic national committee and hillary clinton may have worked with ukrainians to reveal damaging information about paul manafort with hopes it would help clinton with the white house bid. the second giuliani objective involves getting ukraine's president elect to investigate joe biden's son hunter's involvement in an energy committee, something biden joked about last year. >> if a prosecutor is not fired you are not getting the money. they put in place someone who was solid at the time. >> he is referring to the chief prosecutor in ukraine who he wanted fired. >> reporter: peter schweitzer says biden was spreading to withdraw loan guarantees from the united states if they didn't drop the probe. >> that prosecut

giuliani is going on a fool's errand.ople who tell him what he wants to hear. >> but that doesn't mean it's true. >> absolutely not. there's a whole setup by which the american embassy and others in the ukraine are set up to find what they need to. >> giuliani said we're meddling in an investigation, which we have the right to do. what do you think? >> i think this is -- i mean, there's been so much news this week, and i know it's hard to stay, you know, sort of surprised and outraged by a lot of the outrageous stuff that happens in politics right now, and especially this administration but this is a new one. this is a new low, pressuring -- i mean, ukraine is not exactly a client state but it is a country that's dependent on the u.s. and the west for protection against its hostile neighbor. and the idea that the president's lawyer is going to go over there and pressure this country that is dependent on arms and influence of the united states for dirt on a former vice president is just scandalous. and, look, this is what

at the same time, rudy giuliani is calling for an investigation that could her joe biden. >> rudy giulianiheading to ukraine with two key missions in mind. first, he wants to investigate if the democratic national committee may have worked with ukrainians to reveal damaging information about former trump campaign chairman paul manafort, with hopes that it would help clinton with her white house bid. the second giuliani objective involves trying to get president-elect to investigate joe biden's involvement in an energy company, something biden joked about last year. >> is that, leaving in six hours, if the prosecutor is not fired, he's not getting the money. the son of a [bleep] got fired, and they put in place someone who was solid at the time. >> he is referring to a chief prosecutor in the ukraine, who he wanted fired. >> investigative journalist peter schweitzer says biden was threatening to withhold a loan guarantee is from the united states if they didn't drop the probe. >> here is the problem, that prosecutor was investigating his son hunter biden, who was on the board and being paid

we frame this as rudy giuliani as a direct agent of donald trump.his is the trump administration and the campaign asking for foreign assistance. again, to investigate a former white house vice president. >> the top democrats are reacting today. here is judiciary chairman nadler and chairman schiff. >> i haven't read the details, but my reaction is we have come to a very sorry state when it's considered okay for an american politician never mind the attorney for the president to go and seek foreign intervention in american politics. >> it's just appalling and his defense that he's not seeking a foreign government's help in the election just an investigation. yes, it's an investigation designed to affect one of the canadas they fear -- candidates they fear the most, biden. >> ashley parker, there's almost an exhaustion that comes across in the two responses. you know, we just got through a 2 year long investigation into conduct that at least is recognizable in this. this willingness, this openness, to aid political aid in the domestic political campai

giuliani also reportedly hoped

. >> reporter: tonight, in a bizarre move, rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, says he is seeking help from ukraine to politically hurt joe biden, trump's top 2020 rival. >> i guarantee you joe biden will not get to election day without this being investigated. >> reporter: as first reported by "the new york times," giuliani says he'll travel to ukraine and ask its government to dig up information about actions biden may have taken as vice president and is urging ukraine to look into the origins of the special counsel's russia investigation. giuliani says that information will be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government. but he insists, we're not meddling in an election. we're meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do. but democrats are furious. >> here you have the president's lawyer seeking help from a foreign government again to influence an american presidential election. i mean, it's just appalling. >> reporter: giuliani has defended the trump campaign's willingness in 2016 to accept help from the russians. >> th

peter giuliani told fox yesterday and we can follow up on the story we are going to cover he said the steel memorandum was written in ukraine. what do you how do you react to that i am not surprised because ukraine is now a land of the miracles and anything that can come from there including in christopher steele's dossier if you get it tells me that you know it when you get involved in business practices quote unquote business practices in ukraine it's called corruption here now you get involved in ukrainian politics and someone somewhere somewhere somehow is going to be accused of collusion here finish it off and i suppose that well if you are jeff bezos and you have billions but you support the right people you are an interpreter your if you have some whiny and you met with madiba to put you in and you didn't speak to his face you are an oligarch that's the difference between already gox and then took us in the view of the mainstream press 20 seconds out of 20 seconds. biden's going to have to face the music peter hunter biden was heavily involved in ukraine he was heavily involved

how does it make sense for rudy giuliani to advertise this? >> there are people in the white house who wish rudy giuliani would stop making comments like that ones he's making there to the "new york times." they do not think it is helpful. people inside the justice department and the white house think they are responding properly to the russia investigation and the outcome of the mueller report, especially as it relates to the attorney general. they do not find it ever helpful typically based on people we have spoken to inside the west wing that when rudy giuliani makes stunning comments saying he's seeking help from other governments to discredit some of the investigations or prop up the president, that's not something the white house wants to hear from the president's outside attorney. there is consternation inside the west wing about what rudy giuliani does, especially things like this. this is something they don't want him to do or say publicly on the record to the "new york times" >> this has to do with a story that broke in the "new york

i did it to make things even worse giuliani trouble trump's lawyer has grabbed on to this and he said that he was going to go to ukraine and take a look into it further but now he's decided not to go to ukraine and he was on fox news the other day and giuliani told fox news and i quote i wasn't going to start an investigation he was referring going to ukraine they already have an investigation of how ukrainians felt the d.n.c. and hillary operatives to get in some cases false dirty information about the truck campaign not only that peter giuliani actually mentioned said again a member of the ukraine parliament was already under investigation for doing what for interfering in the 2016 u.s. elections and to take things even further peter giuliani said he wasn't going to ukraine because he fears that this is a set up and a trap because the current you create the new ukrainian president has a lot of corrupt people surrounding him like to not make him. sort of her eyes surprise surprise you know it's coming full circle i mean that i want to really reinforce the point here is that william b

giuliani insists this is not meddling in an election, it's just an investigation. does any of this sound familiar? joining us now to talk about this and so much more kaitlan collins cnn white house correspondent, s.e. cupp and bianna golodryga cnn contributor. great to have all of us. kaitlan, let's start with you. so they wanted russia's help in the last election and now rudy giuliani admits wanting ukraine's help for this election to investigate one of the president's top political opponents in joe biden and is there anyone hodges that this is a little strange? >> it's a pretty stunning statement coming from the president's personal attorney saying that he willingly is going to do this and even saying it on the record. it's causing a lot of confusion inside the white house which typically is the result of what rudy giuliani says in public. people in the white house will readily admit when he makes public statements like this it makes their life harder. they think they've been handling the outcome of the mueller investigation just fine and they do not like when ru

just spoke with giuliani just a few minutes ago.e confirmed he is going to ukraine some time soon. he would not confirm when that is. he also says he plans on meeting with the president elect who has just won that presidential election and will be taking office at the beginning of june. rudy giuliani says that he's going in his capacity as trump's personal lawyer. he wants to find out what's going on. both on the supposed conspiracy he says happened during the 2016 election between democrats and certain ukrainian officials and also to look into the relationship between vice president joe biden and his son hunter biden, who sat on the board at the time of a large natural gas company in ukraine that was under investigation. rudy giuliani says he simply wants this to be investigated. he's going to the ukraine to follow up on interviews he's done with ukrainian officials over the last several months. but asked if there's any proof of any sort of conspiracy, he said he hopes that the justice department looks into it. >> all right, so a f

this is biden's response. >> rudy giuliani. it's hard for me to comment on rudy giuliani.ause my irish may come up. it is a personal attack. i expect that from rudy giuliani and the president. it's not been one ounce of evidence that my son interfered and i got involved in anything other than doing the job i was supposed to do. i'm proud of him. i think it's the way these guys play. >> what sparked his decision to speak out now? >> well the fact he's taking questions from reporters, something he's been more comfortable doing more of late. it's interesting in terms of his relationship between joe biden and rudy giuliani, i can't help but remember the 2008 primaries when joe biden was last a candidate. remember he shown through in the debate performances. one of those famous moments when asked a question about rudy giuliani who was then a candidate for president on the republican side and remember his famous response. the only thing we hear from rudy giuliani is a noun, a verb and 9/11. you get there's a bit of personal animosity between rudy giuliani and the vice president.

i'm pleased giuliani isn't going. and i roughly agree with joe biden's statement, but it has to apply to both sides. >> mr. trump was busy on saturday, retweeting 62 tweets on a wide range of issues. everything from the subpoena of his son don jr. to the fisa warrant, the steele dossier, the mueller investigation, jobs, on and on. it was one retweet a minute over an hour's time, kate. is this presidential venting of frustrations, how do you see it? >> i'm sure that the president is frustrated that despite the mueller investigation, more or less clearing his name, though some areas like obstruction of justice were inconclusive, it seems that people have -- many people have not actually taken his innocence in that sense on board. so we see a lot of frustration. the president uses twitter as his main platform to communicate to his base. this isn't particularly new. but, you know, leading up to 2020 he's going to face some real competition. you have the center left of joe biden and the further to the left bernie sanders w

so the optics of this clearly don't look great for rudy giuliani. but' peers to be moving forward.s a question about whether or not he's actually going to have a meeting with the president-elect of ukraine who takes office at the beginning of june. >> are there any official meetings or did he tell you about his plans as he's over there? >> reporter: he sort of reticent about telling me or anybody else exactly what he's doing. he said there are no plans confirmed to meet with zellin ski, that is the incoming president of ukraine. but he has been in touch over the last several months with several current and former ukrainian officials over skype and including one meeting he had with the current prosecutor general of ukraine in new york. it stands to reason he may try to meet those folks while in ukraine as well. >> zellinski, the new reality tv show comedian turned president of ukraine. just reminding everyone so we're all on the same page. michael warren, thank you. >> thanks, brook. >>> coming up next, the mother who warned a colorado school about another columbine as the campus is

anyway, that was rudy giuliani then. does anyone remember that?his now is a low, low, i would say. and he's advertising it. it's not illegal as he points out, or possibly isn't. but as someone who's been to ukraine a number of times there during the 2015 elections, as part of the election observer mission, we interviewed all the candidates, the big issue, surprise, was corruption. and there's no reason to think now that rudy giuliani can't get any answer that he wants and bring it home. >> because clearly ukraine is for sale. could that be his strategy? while we're sitting here debating that trump tower meeting, don jr. being subpoenaed, what he could have done, rudy giuliani right in plain sight is announcing, i'm headed to ukraine to do the same thing again. is he trying to normalize that this is simply how politics works when you and i both know it's not. >> you and i don't want it to work this way. democrats do this too. let's understand. it's not one-way dirt. in this case let's remember, paul manafort and some others are being prosecuted for

. >>> this morning rudy giuliani abandoned travels to return to kiev.ian investigation on robert mueller's investigation and the other on the involvement of former vp joe biden's son on an oligarch. >> i'm not going to go and walk into in many ways a enemy of the united states. i will just step back and watch it unfold. >> let's bring back abigail tracy from "vanity fair." he's following this story. how did this come about? >> i think the key is we've seen this ukraine area bubbling up the last couple of months. rudy giuliani chief among them but other allies of the president and individuals on different networks and realities, fox news, have been putting this era of huntser biden, joe biden possibly abusing his authority as vice president or all of this sort of big narrative around then, and this other narrative around the origins of the mueller investigation and clintons and paul manafort. i think we've seen this bubbling up. and you see rudy giuliani amping up this measure and you saw he was go to take this trip to ukraine to speak to the attorney ge

was this an oversight by giuliani and the white house about the optics? >> i spoke with mayor giuliani at length this week not about ukraine specifically. but there's still a real belief, a strong view in the administration and among the president's friends that there's more work to be done in the area of trying to find out, you know, where this deep state conspiracy that they believe went against the president originated and that they may be able to find some of the answers for that overseas. i'm kind of surprised, i guess. it's hard to be surprised at anything any more. i'm surprised after getting help in the 2016 election from russia and going through the entire mueller investigation process and being in this process in congress that may lead to impeachment, that the president's allies would seek foreign assistance in the next election and, obviously, the president won in 2016, but at some point someone will make an argument that this isn't exactly the way americans conceive of their elections being won and perhaps voters will be more swayed by that ha

giuliani being one of them. focus the attention on or the media attention, really, if you will, on things that could draw attention to biden, what he's done right and wrong and make sure you kind of, i won't say take him down, but look at his record and why he is a threat. >> what they can do to beat him. >> right. >> i want to get to foreign policy and north korea. the president had an interesting revelation in this conversation with politico when asked about north korea's decision to launch the short-range missiles. here is what he said. they are short range. i don't consider them a breach of trust at all. you know, at some point i may. at this point, no. they were short range missiles and standard stuff, very standard. now, the president made it very clear north korea shouldn't be launching anything. how are we to read into what the president is doing sf do you think, at this point, this is a sign he's trying to keep the lines of communication open between himself and kim jong-un? >> yeah. and, partly, too, i

well, now, it looks like giuliani is not going.ere's what giuliani told fox news. >> well, i've decided, sharon, i'm not going to go to the ukraine. >> you're not going to go. >> i'm not going to go because i think i'm walking into a group of people that are enemies of the president, in some cases enemies of the united states, and in one case, an already convicted person who has been found to be involved in assisting the democrats with the 2016 election? okay. so it's not clear who giuliani is referring to. his announcement comes hours after president trump told politico he planned to speak with giuliani about that trip to ukraine. joining me right now cnn political commentator and former judiciary staffer and brennan center for justice fellow victoria. good to see both of you. david, you first. so the trip is off, but, even though it's off, was this sort of another russia if you're listening kind of signal but this time involving ukraine? >> good morning, fred. i'm not sure what it is. but the fact that the trip is off is almost b

giuliani's attempts met with backlash in the u.s. the trump campaign distancing themselves saying they're not affiliated with these probes. last night giuliani claimed he acted independently. >> the reality is, this has nothing to do with the election of 2020. if i wanted to meddle in that election, which i don't, i could have held this for a year. >> reporter: but earlier the president's attorney admitted in a "new york times" article that information will be very, very helpful to my client and may turn out to be helpful to my government. democrats have called for a government inquiry, outraged. >> here you have the president's lawyer seeking help from a foreign government again to influence an american presidential election. i mean it's just appalling. >> reporter: now, the biden campaign declined to comment on giuliani's plans, and president trump says he isn't ruling out asking attorney general william barr to open a u.s. investigation into biden, dan. >> lana zak in washington. thank you. obviously a lot to talk about this morni

we heard that rudy giuliani is heading to ukraine to meddle in two foreign investigations.ortedly meet with the president elect to urge him to pursue inquiries that allies of the white house contend c

what are you learning about what giuliani is up to here, what's his intention?so rudy giuliani is the lead attorney for president trump, he says starting back in november he started speaking with some people, some ukrainian former officials, current officials, over skype and even in person in new york in which he says he was getting new information that he was learning about connections between democrats and certain ukrainian officials, somehow this had to do with the origins of the fbi investigation. he also said he learned some details about joe biden's son hunter biden's position on this ukrainian natural gas firm. now, both of these stories the details of which we have known bits and pieces over the last couple of years, there are a lot of holes in rudy giuliani's sort of story that this is somehow corrupt. but he says now "the new york times" reporting that he's going to ukraine to follow up on these things. we don't know for sure who he's going to be speaking with. he tells cnn last week that he had been speaking with the prosecutor general in ukraine who

rudy giuliani defended the decision, then back stepped. just for some context, this is related to events that took place in 2016 when then vice president, joe biden was pushing to oust the top prosecutor in ukraine. that prosecutor was investigating an energy company in which hunter biden, the son of the former vice president, had financial interests. on friday, trump told politico, he thought he would be within his rights to ask attorney general, bill barr, to look into this. here is what he said. certainly, it would be an appropriate thing to speak to him about, but i have not done that, as of yet. it could be a big situation. biden was not alone in calling for the removal of the ukrainian official. there were a number of other western leaders doing the same at the time. there's no evidence the actions biden took were connected to his son's business activities. before giuliani abandoned his plans to go to ukraine, chris murphy wrote a letter to republican chair of the foreign relations committee, asking him to press for more details abou

rudy giuliani's fishing expedition.r is heading to ukraine on a fact-finding mission to help get his boss re-elected, and why a california teacher who is out on medical leave fighting cancer has to foot the bill for her own

when rudy giuliani shows up in kiev, everyone knows who he is.hen facebook kicked a bunch of russian trolls and bots off its platform earlier this week, you will never guess what story one of them was amping. joining me now is a guest for whom this may all feel a little too floor, felipe ranez. he is now a co-host of the unb redacted podcast. your response to reading jew giuliani saying this is not illegal. >> i hope my microphone wasn't off. i have been screaming into it the last five minutes. we all come up with lines to describe it, but you have hit the nail on the head when you said donald trump and his kids and his campaign and his minions escaped and are emboldened. i'm not a lawyer. i don't know what the legal distinction is between what they did in trump tower and other things in 2016, but they committed moral and ethical treason against the united states, and what's interesting is they don't even realize when they did it. the donald junior defense is, well, when we had the meeting, nothing came of it. the truth of the matter is the momen

even he 1st, you know, what is giuliani coming over here?ere not friendly to him coming. i think it was a combination of both things. >> and trying to adjust this trip, giuliani said there were legitimate questions about joe biden's efforts to remove a top prosecutor that was back in 2016. that prosecutor had years earlier investigated a gas company connected to biden's son hunter. now joe biden is at the top of the polls, he may very well be trump's eventual opponent in the 2020 general election. before cancels his trip, giuliani said this -- we're nod meddle in an election, we're meddling in an investigation. there's nothing illegal about it. somebody could say it's improper. >> imagine this. i mean, donald trump has complains for quite some time they were manage uses the tools of the state. to rather his chief rival, not only that, but he's attempted to encourage his political rivals. we have never seen anything like this if there are any questions, one then we do know donald trump. >>> this has got to be a disquiet i disquieting set of c

this is the issue that giuliani said he really cares about.claims that he stumbled upon the biden information but what he really wants to know about is the supposed connections he said between the -- certain members of the cranan government and democrats during the 2016 election and said that somewhere in here there is a connection that explains the beginnings of the fbi probe into the trump campaign and particularly into paul manafort. he said that is something that he thinks the justice department should look into and he is again going to ukraine to find out what he can. he's already been speaking with a number of former and current ukrainian officials over skype. now he seems to be going to see maybe possibly a few of them face-to-face. >> michael warren. great reporting. thank you. >> thanks. >>> were there science of violence before this week's deadly shooting at a school in colorado? a cnn investigation, a concerned mom who told officials the school was, to quote her, a pressure cooker and not the only parent afraid. hear what she told u

. >>> plus the president's lawyer, rudy giuliani, canceled a trip to ukraine thought to be talking damaging information on democrats. why he suddenly decided it's not a trip worth taking. >>> and turning up the heat on chinese tariffs. how this move could potentially have a huge impact on voters in key states. >>> start the hour with the latest between the white house and congress. this could go as was just mentioned all the way to the supreme court. release of the president's tax returns still in question. there's a new deadline that came out just last night. the treasury has until friday now to release six years of tax returns. so says a house ways and means committee subpoena for both treasury second stephen ma nunu and the irs president. a formal request was made in april. deadline arrived. mnuchin refuse pd neil had two options. issue a subpoena or go to court. if mnuchin refuses the subpoena, another deadline, final. and testimony in congress, ten days away. what the "washington journal" first reported, pressuring counsel don mcgahn. he declined a request that came after mueller filed

i think the way rudy giuliani is handling this underlines that. if there was anything here, predication for investigating a major american political figure for corruption, you can be certain the fbi would be on that. there would be an office domestically being handled by a u.s. attorney's office. here we have rudy giuliani who instead of perhaps if you didn't ploo believe that the fbi can read the newspapers but perhaps legitimately sending information to the fbi, but rudy giuliani and trump have so little confidence in the quality of the allegations that they are making that they are taking it to a foreign government that they believe they can pressure instead of our domestic law enforcement. >> fair point. thanks to both. >>> coming up, paying the price. how president trump's trade war with china could affect your bottom line. stay with us right here. bottom line. ay with us right here. you know that look? that life of the party look. walk it off look. one more mile look. reply all look. own your look with fewer lines. there's only one botox® co

. >> help us understand what this whole giuliani going to ukraine thing was.week rudy giuliani, the president's friend and attorney unabashedly basically said he was going to go to ukraine to get their help before the 2020 election because of some investigation he wanted them to help with into joe biden. this came out of left field for many people and also sounded like a bad echo of what happened with getting the russians' help in 2016. you know, there are laws against taking a thing of value from a foreign country during an election. but rudy giuliani was headed off and then changed his mind, i guess, over the weekend. here is rudy giuliani trying to explain what he was doing or not doing. >> the reality is this has nothing to do with the election of 2020. the election of 2020 is a long time from now. if i wanted to meddle in that election, which i don't, i could have held this for a year and dropped it right before the convention. >> how do you see what he was doing last week? >> i don't think he was ever going to the ukraine to ask the ukrainians to investi