hill? dr. hill: only from newspaper reports. >> this is for you, mr. holmes, did you know that burisma's legal representatives met with representatives just days after the vice president forced the firing of the chief's top prosecutor -- the country's chief prosecutor? mr. holmes: no. todid you know that they try secure a meeting the same day that victor shulkin's firing was announced? mr. holmes: no. called aware that he president poroshenko at least three times shortly after the president and owner of burisma's home was raided by the secretary of state prosecutors's office? mr. holmes: no. >> did you know that they reached out to debbi deputy secretary of state blinken shortly after? mr. holmes: no. >> dr. hill, i do not want to ask all of those questions over again -- dr. hill: i also did not know. did not know. ok. so you obviously know that the president had concerns about burisma, had concerns about 2016 election meddling by the ukrainians. when you were in there at the desk, dide ukr

carving the black hills.hat controversy came from tribal people and people today we would call ecologists. the tribes were looking at a place where they would come in and honor and have honor ceremonies, spend some time. at that time period -- we are talking 1925 -- that wasn't looked at the same way we look at today. today we still have tribal people who are concerned about the black hills being carved. we try to honor that. some of that group our interpretive - -through our interpretive programming. every summer, we hire cultural interpreters. these are people who are looking. --they talk about the lakota story. we are trying to share the importance of the black hills for all of these people, as well as what that sculpture means. it is a balance. the sculptor, gutzon borglum, had started in stone mountain, georgia. there was a conflict there. he left to work for the state of south dakota. the first challenge was finding arve, something appropriate. bignd his son found this outcropping. your next challenge i

was an early black hills frontier and a modern black hills -- he helped that transition along. he may have helped transform it in his way when he was the advisor of the u.s. marshal and did good for the entire black hills, but he is probably not the great transformational figure that other can claim title to in deadwood. >> right now, we are inside the information center, which is the home base for the city of presidents foundation and rapid city has come to be known as the city of presidents. this was bought by the founder of the foundation to come and see, more and as you can we are surrounded by the miniatures of the sculptures that are displayed in downtown rapid city. downtown, there are full-sized to's statues, and we chose have the statues depict something about the presidents. they are not just stationary statues with them standing with their hands in their pockets. they are on their hips, so it actually shows something about the president's life. you see them in various poses that tell something about their story. ande are biographies hung, that is how the section of t

hill. dr. hill left the ns clrks in july after more than two years in that position. dr. hill and mr. holmes provide a unique perspective on issues relating to ukraine. dr. hill from washington, d.c., and mr. holmes from on the ground in kyiv. dr. hill became concerned about the presence of giuliani who was asserting quite frankly in public appearance that he had been given some authority over matters in ukraine. her boss joe bidhn bolton was p attention as well as holmes at the u.s. embassy in kyiv. bolton viewed giuliani has a hand grenade that is going to below everybo blow everybody else and was powerless to marie yovanovitch's firing. yovanovitch's dismissal as a result of giuliani's smear campaign was one of the things that concerned hill. 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

i yield back to me we are joined by dr fiona hill and david holmes dr fiona hill is a former deputy assistant to the president and senior director for europe and russia on the national security council before returning to government she was a senior fellow at the brookings institution where she directed the center on the united states and europe she previously worked at the national intelligence council eurasia foundation and the john f. kennedy school of government david holmes is the political counselor at the u.s. embassy in key or he serves as the senior policy and political advisor to bastard taylor who testified earlier in these hearings is a career foreign service officer he has previously served in moscow new delhi. and pristina is also served on the staff of the national security council as his special assistant as special assistant to the united states secretary of state 2 final points before witnesses are sworn 1st witness depositions as part of this inquiry were unclassified in nature and all open hearings will also be held at the unclassified level and the information that may to

hill." this is during the presidential campaign when president trump was then the nominee for the republican party. and this is ambassador charlie who was then, you know, still the ukrainian ambassador to the united states being critical of president trump who was then the nominee for the republican party for making comments about ukraine, crimia and russia. >> may i interrupt you there? let me be very specific about wha what those comments were. the president when he was a candidate said the people from crimia would rather be with russia than where they were. ambassador charlie is responding to that in that article, is that correct? >> that is correct. >> to be honest, the whole article is about ukraine and this is classic, for anyone that wants to write an op-ed you pick something that you or somebody else might have said and you proceed to say what you want to say. this is what ambassador charlie does. he talks about ukraine's position. >> let me just read. it's worth people hearing what

hill. >> thank you, mr. chairman. do i need to adjust the microphone? >> i believe it is now. is that >> yes, perfect. dr. hill: thank you, again, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, ranking member nunes and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify before you today. i have a short opening statement. i appreciate the importance of congress' impeachment inquiry and i'm appearing today as a fact witness. as i did during my deposition on october 14th. to answer your questions about what i saw, what i did, what i knew, and what i know with regard to the subject of your inquiry. i believe that those who have information that the congress deems relevant have a legal and moral obligation to provide it. i take great pride in the fact that i'm a nonpartisan foreign policy expert who served under three republican and democratic presidents. i have no interest in advancing outcome of your inquiry in any particular direction except toward the truth. i will not provide a long statement becau

fiona hill, correct.nt out here our intelligence agencies were pretty thorough about the investigations and things here. look, and i'm sorry to get testy about this back and forth because i'm really worrie worrit these conspiracy theories. you just have the senate report informing us all yet again bipartisan, non-partisan senate report about the risk there is to our elections. if we have people running around chasing rabbit holes because rudy giuliani or others have been feeding information to the hill or politico, we're not going to be prepared as a country to push back on this again. the russians thrive on misinformation and disinformation. and i just want to say that was the reason i went into this administration. we are in peril as a democracy because of other people interfering here. the russians were who attacked us in 2016 and they are now writing the script for others to do the same. and if we don't get our act together, they will continue to make fools of us internationally. lee zeldin disappeare

fiona hill. she plans to push back on the narrative that ukraine tried to influence the 2016 election. you know, that's a big underpinning of the supposed legitimacy of the president's intentions. instead, hill plans to hone in on what everybody should see as the truth. russia was the sole person to focus on and that they still pose a very real threat to the 2020 race. hill's going to be joined this morning of course by david holmes. he is the ukraine embassy official who says he overheard president trump call gordon sondland in ukraine to check in on the investigations. wolf? >> you know, it's amazing that sondland himself blew up the inquiry wide open with his testimony yesterday confirming there was, in fact, a quid pro quo and that it came directly from the president of the united states. the eu ambassador said everyone knew exactly what was going on. holding up military aid in exchange for announcing political investigations from the vice president mike pence to the secretary of state mike p

hill today. you see immigrant stories of people who have accepted the idea, embraced the idea of america, and have given their lives in service to that idea, without reference to partisanship. and i know that's one of the most vanishingly irrelevant phrases of the moment, "without reference to partisanship," but we only have 16, 17% of americans who trust the government to do the right thing some or most of the time, down from a high water mark of about 77% in 1964, '65. it's a critical number, it's a critical part of this crisis of faith. and i would hope that no matter where you stand on the spectrum, no matter what you think should happen, because i personally don't think there's any disputing the facts of this, i've been struck by the republicans even seem to have sort of given up trying to frontally attack the facts, they just throw a bunch of dust in the air. and then you can disagree about what you want to do about it, right? if you don't want to impeach or you don't want to remove, that's

hill, wouldn't you say? and she just destroys them. right, and also puts into context authoritatively and with some passion why it's so bad for the united states that the republicans are approaching it this way. what is so dangerous to our national security and who they are helping by doing this, which is not the united states of america. it's our adversaries who seek to do us the most harm, and they are playing that game for those adversaries. so that's what it's been like behind closed doors so far. the public impeachment hearings start next week, which means it's show time in terms of his presidency and the possibility that the house will impeach him and the senate will be asked to consider whether to remove him from office. we know heading into next week the list of witnesses the house has assembled even with those first two hearings is a formidable and serious bunch. if fiona hill is any indication from her closed door deposition, the republican questioning of these witnesses is going to be a thing to behold. now, in addition to t

hill became impressed with the personal grievances. hill was not alone in her concerns. her boss and national security advisor was also paying attention as were other nsc and state department officials including holmes at the embassy in kiev. he viewed goouli ygiuliani that hand grenade that would blow everyone up.na holmes was stunned by the consistency of attacks on yovanovitch. yovanovitch's dismissal as a result of giuliani's smear campaign is one thing that bothered dr. hill, along with ukraine policy in may when he was lead by secretary rick perry to president zelensky's nomination. alexander vindman also attended the inauguration. and in a meeting with president zelensky took the opportunity to advise the ukraine lead tore stayai out of u.s. domestic politics. anotherti concern that rose for dr. hill was the discovery of a nsc back channel on ukraine. and forn her may have been providing ukraine related information to president trump that dr.re hill was not made awe of. according to holmes following the zelensky inauguration, they took a role in formulating priori

hill? [laughter] >> mr. holmes, in your testimony, you said that sondland said he loves your ass and also said he will do anything you want. mr. holmes that information had nothing to do with the subject matter, the subject matter of any of these hearings. it was antidotal, it was extraneous. your statements your interest are protecting ukraine are very dubious when you embarrass president zelensky by making those statements. he didn't have to make. who cares that ambassador sondland said that? you know you didn't embarrass ambassador sondland. you embarrassed zelensky because you know he got asked that country in his own statement. and hearing that statement as true. >> the time of the gentleman is inspired. mr. carson you are recognized. >> does he get to answer. >> thank you both for your service. dr. hill, i would like to talk a little more in-depth about chief of staff mic mulvaney's role in the event under investigation. you testified, ma'am, that mr. mulvaney and ambassador sondland

hill, you should too in terms of national security. lawyer, well, let me help you understand here, i'm trying understand. fiona hill, it is a fiction that the ukrainian government was launching an effort to up end our election. up end our election to mess with our democratic symptoms. republican lawyer, okay. hill, i'm not sure where we're going with this line of inquiry here. lawyer, i'm just asking you about -- hill, because if you're trying to peddle an alternative variation whether the ukrainians subverted our election i will not be part of it. lawyer, i'm not trying to peddle anything. fiona hill, it's the thrust of the question you're asking here. everything that happened in 2016 was a result of ukraine in some fashion? lawyer, yeah, i'm not saying that. i'm not. hill, well that's certainly what it sounds like to me. the lawyer, i'm not going down that path. fiona hill, the russians are the government that sbrn proven from the very top to be targeting our government systems. and i'm sorry to be very passionate. but this is precis

hill. another was the role of gordan sondland who emerged as a key player in ukraine policy in may when he was named as part of the u.s. delegation led by secretary rick perry to president ugurati. lieutenant colonel alexander vindman also attended the inauguration and as holmes recalls, during a meeting with president zelensky, took the opportunity to advise the new ukrainian leader to stay out of u.s. domestic politics. another concern that arose for dr. hill around this time was her discovery of a potential nsc-backed channel on ukraine. hill learned that an nsc 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 a very active and un conventiconventio in formulating our priorities for the new zelensky administration and personally reaching out to president sondland's newfound assertiveness concerned

hill. today two witnesses, dr. fiona hill and david holmes. hill, the chief russia expert, and holmes, you overheard sondland talking to the president about these investigations. mary bruce is up on capitol hill this morning, and dr. fiona hill expected to deliver a blistering -- a blistering attack on those who question whether it was russia who interfered in our 2016 elections. instead suggesting it's ukraine. >> reporter: george, straight off the bat, fiona hill is going to be chastising the republicans on this committee. it's a bold and rare move. she has this warning that seems aimed directly at the top republican on the committee, devin nunes. fiona hill will say that partisan politics is driving a dangerous and fictional narrative about ukraine, and she will accuse members of the committee of falsely believing and perpetuating this theory that ukraine, not russia, meddled in the u.s. election. she will warn that is a false theory perpetuated by russia, and only helps russia, and she'

hill? >> mr. holmes, in your testimony, you said that sondland said he loves your ass and also said he'll do anything that you want. mr. holmes, that information had nothing whatsoever to do with the subject matter o any of these hearings. it was anecdotal, extraneous. your statements that your embarrass president zelensky by making those statements. you didn't have to make. you who cares that ambassador sondland said that. you know you didn't embarrass ambassadored sondland. you embarrassed zelensky. he got asked this question in his country. people are hearing that statement as it's true. it's totally dubious if you did. >> mr. carson. >> thank you, chairman. thank you both for your service. dr. hill, i'd like to talk a little more indepth about chief of staff nick mulvaney's role in the events under investigation. you testified, ma'am, that mr. mulvaney and ambassador sondland were both involved with a letter president trump sent to the ukrainian president on may 29th congratulating him on his

dr hill said something. to that effect she wanted to sort of dispel any partisan ideas that trump is say a russian puppet or giving a direct russian talking points which he said instead is that while trump had sort of adopted these theories it's not clear that he is operating on behalf of russian foreign policy she doesn't want to make those kinds of allegations but merely to point out that in order to do really u.s. foreign policy by chasing these theories peddled by russia he is sort of affected foreign policy in a negative way so it's not quite that she's saying he's going to rush again i don't know if it has derailed him not necessarily saying that he's doing it because they are telling him to but the fact is the same thing he's still repeating things that have been debunked by his own intelligence community he is doing that and that has been the consistent message and also. essentially resisting the findings from by part part of bipartisan findings from senate intelligence and from the house democratic

abc's mary bruce leads us off from the hill tonight. >> reporter: fiona hill came to congress calling it her moral obligation and she brought with her a message for the committee. >> some of you on this committee appear to believe that russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country. and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, ukraine did. this is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the russian security services themselves. >> reporter: she testified the conspiracy theory was being promoted by the president's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, and that the president was listening. >> is it your understanding, then, that president trump disregarded the advice of his senior officials about this theory and instead listened to rudy giuliani's views? >> that appears to be the case, yes. >> reporter: hill says she watched as giuliani launched a smear campaign against the u.s. ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch. hill went to her boss, former national security adviser, john bolton. >> i'd asked if there was anything we could d

hill. in one hour, another impeachment witness, another rejection of the white house's narrative on why ukraine was pressured. we are now learning how dr. fiona hill, president trump's former top russia adviser on the national security council will push back on the president. more potentially bad news for the president. >> because it's going to be more perspect biff what was true versus what was being offered up as motives for the president's actions. hill will dismiss the core of the gop impeachment defense that ukraine tried to influence the 2016 election so it was okay for the president to say it needed to be investigated. instead she'll make clear it was not ukraine meddling in 2016. it was russia. and it will be russia again in 2020 and we are not ready. joining hill this morning, david holmes. he's the ukraine embassy official who says he overheard ambassador gordon sondland in that july phone call with president trump at that restaurant in ukraine, wolf. >> it's interesting, the eu a

hill's story.ghter of coal miners, comes to this country believing in its promise, saying my working class accent never got in the way, and look at her success. and she knew right from wrong. she went and reported what she saw, and boy, she demonstrated clarity and courage today. and david holmes, same thing. that's a guy who understood what his duty was, stepped forward and said have i the direct evidence people are complaining is missing, and i'm going to come give it. and of course they come on the heels of people like lieutenant colonel vindman and ambassador yovanovitch and bill taylor, military heroes, distinguished members of the foreign service, all telling a story at risk to their own professional careers. it was an extraordinary week, and we're grateful to all of them. >> i want to play something actually that happened yesterday. you in a question you had with ambassador sondland in response you had to something he said impromptu. let's take a look. >> excuse me. i've been very forthright

hill. chip, we also see david holmes, who will also be testifying today, career diplomat who is stationed in kyiv. what w testify to today? >> reporter: well, he will talk about that phone call that you mentioned, that he overheard gordon sondland having with president trump. he said president trump was speaking so loudly that he could hear every word. and they were talking about investigations. holmes said it was so extraordinary that he immediately went to his boss and told him about it. he says he represents it vividly because it was so unusual. holmes also says that after the phone call he asked sondland if the president really gives a blank about ukraine. and sondland said, well, he only cares about the big things. this was in holmes' testimony behind closed doors that he already did. and holmes said, well, this is pretty big. ukraine needs our aid to fend off russia. and lasondland said, well, i me things that concern him, like the biden investigation. >> all right. chip reid there on

fiona hill put it. a domestic errand that put it to risk -- >> even if they don't succeed in the new year in the house? >> no. i think -- >> go ahead, sorry. >> i think the time has virtually run out, they should make one more serious effort and it's clear that the president and his senior advisers so far have blocked all testimony by those who were in the room other than gordon sondland, and frankly, they should give them one more chance and move on. >> so do you think senate democrats will be able to stop republicans when this comes to you and of course, the republicans being the majority in the senate to make it clear to everybody, and calling witnesses like huntser biden frm testifying in the senate trial. >> it's entirely possible that rules will be passed by a bare majority. i hope not. ultimately, during the clinton impeachment, republicans and democrats were able to come to agreement about witnesses and where and how they testified and so forth. i do think it would be a complete farce to bring h

fiona hill and alexander vindman, the top ukraine expert.dman was on that july 25th phone call and testified that it was clear that president trump was demanding that the president of ukraine investigate the bidens. question, was there any doubt in your mind as to what the president, our president was asking for as a deliverable? vindman, there was no doubt. he added, quote, the power disparity between the president of the united states and the president of ukraine is vast and you know in the president asking for something it was a demand for him to fulfill this particular prerequisite in order to get the meeting. -- vindman and hill testifying that sondland was talking about how he had an agreement with chief of staff mick mulvaney for a meeting with the ukrainians if they were going to go forward with investigations. investigations into the bidens among other matters. upon hearing about that from fiona hill, that a white house

vindman and fiona hill. we'll dig

hill? >> from newspaper reports only. >> and did you know that -- and back to you, mr. holmes. did you know that burisma's legal officials met with the ukrainian officials just days after the vice president forced the firing of the country's chief prosecutor? >> no. >> did you know that burisma's new american lawyers tried to have a meeting the day that shokin was fired? >> no. >> did you know that the president called president poroshenko shortly after the burisma's ceo's home was raided? >> no. >> did you know that there was a raid on burisma, and that devon archer and the deputy secretary of state had inquired about burisma? >> no. >> and the same for you, dr. hill? >> i did not know, no. >> and you know that there was meddling in the elections with the ukrainians and you were in there as head of the ukraine desk -- >> right. >> did you raise it up to ambassador bolton with any concerns through 2017 or 2018 that concerned any 2016 election meddling or burisma concerns? >> the whole brief

let's go to manu raju on capitol hill. i know you've been looking over vindman's transcript right now. what are you learning so far? >> reporter: it's a significant transcript because this is a person who was on that july phone call, someone who serves on the national council and is involved with the ukranian policy but someone who has serious concerns about the direction this administration was going and what they asked him to do, to investigate his political rivals. we're getting a picture of what happened in that phone call. in here vindman reveals that the acting chief of staff, mick mulvaney, was involved in this ask, coordinated the ask of the ukranians to investigate the president's political rivals in exchange with a meeting the ukranians had sought at the white house. what vindman says here is he heard the ambassadors of the european union, gordon sondland, say directly this ask had been coordinated with mick mulvaney. this came before that july phone call happened over the summer. also he heard gordon sondland te

this was they fiona hill show. i think before it was over, republicans realized they shouldn't really try to mess around with this witness. at one point, steve castor -- i was not sure whether he was trying to say sondland is a kook or you are in a possible bureaucrat, but said you and sondland didn't get along, did you? as you pointed out, she said, no, that's true, we didn't get along. at one point, we fought a few times. she said i watch what he said yesterday and understood. i would now cut gordon sondland a break, because he was involved in a domestic political errand, which is an interesting choice of words. we were involved in national security policy. most tellingly, she said that it one point she's had to gordon sondland during one of their disagreements, i think, gordon, that this is all going to blow up. and she felt that this was not the result of that, that we had a policy toward ukraine that on one track was national security policy. what's best for ukraine, how do they stand up to russia. on the othe

fiona hill, at least publicly. but here's what we do know tonight. the president today invited some key republican senators to the white house for a lunch. so, let's get right to abc's jonathan karl with us live tonight. because jon, we know the president needs these republicans in the senate who could ultimately decide his fate. >> reporter: he sure does, david. and, in fact, there were two meetings here at the white house today with republican senators. there was the lunch with the president, there were eight republican senators at that lunch, including, interestingly, mitt romney, who is often the president's harshest republican critic. the president lashed out on the impeachment inquiry, he called it unfair, he insisted he had done absolutely nothing wrong. but the conversation quickly veered off to other subjects. the second meeting, which did not involve the president, was hosted by the director of legislative affairs here. mick mulvaney was there, jared kushner, six republican senators to talk strategy about a senate impeachment trial. somethi

"hill: discord serves putin." former security aid and expert fiona hill warns the gop of fictions and dramatic comments on thursday. up in the great state of maine this was the portland press herald today. "witness: fictions about ukraine help russia" testimony in the last scheduled public hearings reinforces the case that the president's efforts work today the detriment of u.s. security. and then you see the subhead there below the fiona hill photo. "ex-white house aide says moscow was behind the claim." this is front page of "the washington post." multiple stories on the impeachment inquiry overall and again another big main photo taking up most of the front page. four columns wide in "the post" fiona hill arriving for her testimony under the big headline, whirlwind week of testimony wraps up, a warning that conspiracy theories advance russia and divides americans. and there's "the st. louis post-dispatch" from missouri. all-caps bold headline. it says "fictional narrative," hill says she predicted ukraine effor

hill? >> from newspaper reports only. >> and did you know that -- and back to you, mr. holmes. did you know that burisma's legal officials met with the ukrainian officials just days after the vice president forced the firing of the country's chief prosecutor? >> no. >> did you know that burisma's new american lawyers tried to have a meeting the day that shokin was fired? >> no. >> did you know that the president called president poroshenko shortly after the burisma's ceo's home was raided? >> no. >> did you know that there was a raid on burisma, and that devon archer and the deputy secretary of state had inquired about burisma? >> no. >> and the same for you, dr. hill? >> i did not know, no. >> and you know that there was meddling in the elections with the ukrainians and you were in there as head of the ukraine desk -- >> right. >> did you raise it up to ambassador bolton with any concerns through 2017 or 2018 that concerned any 2016 election meddling or burisma concerns? >> the whole brief

a lodge that was built in lincoln hills was the crown jewel of lincoln hills. bedrooms, the resort also had 17 cabins that were rented out between memorial day and labor day. you are probably asking the question, why only between memorial day and labor day? you saw the snowstorm yesterday. the roads were dirt roads going up to the mountain. up in that area during the wintertime, there could be three to four feet of snow. weeks lodge and winks tavern were only operated during the summer months. during the summer months, there were as many as 5000 visitors, and guess would come to the resort. wink's hills, along with panorama and the tavern were a monument and a testament to the ingenuity and the entrepreneurial spirit of black americans. nks" hamlan, the proprietor and builder of the lodge, was a valued citizen in the county. during his tenure from 1926 to 1965 -- that is when he passed away -- he not only operated the hotel, he was the deputy sheriff, he was a forest ranger, and those were some of the responsibilities -- he was also assistant postmaster in gelf

because i would trade 500 donald trumps for one fiona hill in government service. and same for vindman and the rest of the memch and i think that message really came through. >> two of our friends, thank you gentlemen for hanging out with us and talking about all the issues of the day. >>> coming up for us, this may test the theory that donald trump, he's dedicated to rooting out corruption wherever it occurs. that's because a big friend of his is in trouble overseas. 448,134 to be exact. they answered 410 questions in 8 categories about vehicle quality. and when they were done, chevy earned more j.d. power quality awards across cars, trucks and suvs than any other brand over the last four years. so on behalf of chevrolet, i want to say "thank you, real people." you're welcome. we're gonna need a bigger room. they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer

fiona hill worked with the security committee.lking time bomb. we will bring you those as soon as we get it. if youen to the president, he says the whole thing is a hoax. listen to mark meadows here of north carolina, one of the congressmen on capitol hill most loyal to the president. >> any time there was direct conversations with the president, there was no linkage. any linkage that has been alleged, obviously is based on many times second or thirdhand information, either rudy giuliani or people believing they understood what rudy giuliani might have wanted. >> in other words, maybe people did things they shouldn't have done, but nobody can directly tie it to the president. maybe it was rudy giuliani, but no linkage? maybe it never happened. and what rudy giuliani was not always aboveboard. the president says, look at the transcript. let's look at the transcript and read the president's own words. rudy very much knows what's happening and he's a very capable guy. if you could speak to him, that would be great. later on in the sa

fiona hill, her words, her warnings. frank, your words, your warnings will be on all of our minds as this goes forward. my thanks to all of you today for getting me through my last hour of coverage. this marathon week. thanks to frank, david, eugene, chuck, karine. ari melber and maya and claire and everyone who was with me all day and all week. that does it for this hour. "mtp daily with chuck todd" starts now. >> welcome to thursday. "meet the press" daily, and good evening, i'm chuck todd in washington where there's been another day in dramatic testimony in the house impeachment inquiry and it capped off a dizzying week of public hearings. the house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff closed today's hearings with what sounded like the democrats' closing argument. leaving a lot of us here in washington with the impression democrats are finished with this phase of the inquiry. here he is speaking in personal terms about why he's

hill. dr. hill left the ns clrks in july after more than two years in that position. dr. hill and mr. holmes provide a unique perspective on issues relating to ukraine. dr. hill from washington, d.c., and mr. holmes from on the ground in kyiv. dr. hill became concerned about the presence of giuliani who was asserting quite frankly in public appearance that he had been given some authority over matters in ukraine. her boss joe bidhn bolton was p attention as well as holmes at the u.s. embassy in kyiv. bolton viewed giuliani has a hand grenade that is going to below everybo blow everybody else and was powerless to marie yovanovitch's firing. yovanovitch's dismissal as a result of giuliani's smear campaign was one of the things that concerned hill. 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

hill? >> mr. holmes, in your testimony, you said that sondland said he loves your ass, and also said he'll do anything that you want. mr. holmes, that information had nothing whatsoever to do with the subject matter of any of these hearings. it was anecdotal, it was extraneous, your statements that your interests are protecting ukraine, are very dubious when you embarrass president zelensky by making those statements that you didn't have to make. who cares that ambassador sondland said that, and you didn't embarrass ambassador sondland, you embarrassed zelensky because you know he got asked this question in his own country and people are hearing that statement as if it is true, and it's -- >> thank you, chairman, both for your service. dr. hill, i would like to talk a little bit more in-depth about chief of staff mick mulvaney's role in the events under investigation. you testified, ma'am, that mr. mulvaney, and ambassador sondland were both involved with a letter president trump sent to th

>> city know fiona hill, i traveled on air force one with fiona hill. she wasn't partisan to me.hough she previously worked for the brookings institution. she was supposed to be a fact witness, but she wasn't a fact witness. she lectured the republicans and accusing republicans that they don't bleach russia meddled in the 2016 election. but there is something interesting she said on lethal aid to ukraine. she said the obama administration, the president for political reasons didn't provide the aid. so where is the whistleblower from the obama years complaining that president obama didn't listen to the bureaucracy. that's what's going on with president trump. lou: one thing adam schiff and his radical dimm friends ben't. the bureaucracy and the arrogance of them. and i'm not talking about the political appointees. we are talking about foreign service officers. who do they think they are? who the hell do they think the interagency is, and i mean, i think the american people right now -- they have been served notice, you have a government not in the control of the people you elect.

because i would trade 500 donald trumps for one fiona hill in government service. same for vindman and the rest of the memch and i think that message really came through. >> two of our friends, thank you gentlemen for hanging out with us and talking about all the issues of the day. >>> coming up for us, this may test the theory that donald trump, he's dedicated to rooting out corruption wherever it occurs. that's because a big friend of his is in trouble overseas. is is so the whole world looks different. the unbeatable strength and speed of advil liqui-gels. what pain? hi. maria ramirez! mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs... prof: maria ramirez mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! to help more employees achieve their dreams. hi honey, we got in early. mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! yeah, and we brought steve and mark. ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a com

fiona hill.she was knowledgeable, she was prepared, she was disarming and fierce and stood her ground. you saw some of the republican members i think shy away from getting too tough with her because she knew her stuff. >> caitlin, at one point she described her anger toward the u.s. ambassador to the eu, ambassador gordon sondland, let me play this clip. >> i was actually to be honest angry with him. and, you know, i hate to say it, but often when women show anger, it is not fully appreciated, it is often, you know, pushed on to emotional issues, perhaps or deflected on to other people. and while i was angry about was he wasn't coordinating with us. actually realized having listened to his deposition that he was absolutely right. that he wasn't coordinating with us because we weren't doing the same thing that he was doing. so i was upset with him that he wasn't fully telling us about all of the meetings he was having and he said to me, but i'm briefing the president. i'm briefing chief of staff m

fiona hill.hat was the power of hery, testimohn, when you look at it especially as democrats try to use her as a way to counter what republicans are saying? john: well, shefr cted sondland directly inside the white house. and she has this argument with is wrong and tells him that to his face. that was stunning. think about it, they're having -- it's like acene outfter movie. they're having ant, argum you're breaking the law. she goes and relate this is to then national security director john bolton. and he goes tell the lawyers. he sends her because he knows it's troubling. it's a hugely dra make it mome. it was like in a movie. robert: it was a culture that was revealed inside the trump administration. was it about predent trump himself did sondland and others really reveal the president in his own involvement? >> in many wayse h did. fiona didn't necessarily apologiz toondland. but she did say after hearing his testimony, it was even more clear to her that he wasn't -- he thought he was doing h

lauren fox reports from capitol hill. >> reporter: well, a huge day on capitol hill yesterday, as lawmakers, republicans and democrats, were on the record when it comes to where they stand on impeachment. the resolution they voted on sets out the rules for the next stage of the impeachment inquiry. also yesterday, tim morrison on capitol hill, where he corroborated testimony from bill taylor. he is a 15-year diplomat, that told lawmakers he had concerns when he learned that the president was trying to use $400 million in military aid to ukraine, as a they to extract investigations that he hoped the ukrainian government would announce against his political rivals. morrison also testified that he didn't have any concerns about the legally of what president trump said on that july 25th call. but he had concerns of information leaking from that call. he said he was part of the conversation about what to do with the call transcript following the july 25th call. boris and christine? >> thank you for that, lauren. >>> washington has been fixated on impeachment for more than a month now. in a lot o

hill. i mean, that was -- i know we keep saying bombshell. that was so powerful. this is a -- yes, she's historically with the foreign service, but she is somebody who was, number two, a republican appointee, effectively. and she was clearly so upset by this. and then more broadly, this is about the corruption and the drug deal, but more broadly how outraged she was and others were that the president of the united states was basing american foreign policy on what his own intelligence community said was a conspiracy theory. the ukrainians did not, you know, infiltrate american democracy in 2016, it was the russians. and, in fact, it is a russian talking point to claim that it is the ukrainians. >> we have these things that keep getting called bombshells but the reason they keep come something because the people inside the bunker are not feeling the reverberations. >> shocking, people at foggy bottom don't like the president, right? career foreign service people -- >> who said they don't -- >

hill corroborated that. mr., and i think he can even draw a closer tie between the president and this, you know, effort to investigate joe biden. >> last question for you, sir. just as a retired colonel in the u.s. army reserve, vice chair of the armed services committee i want to ask you about navy s.e.a.l. eddie gallagher. acquitted by a military court of the majority of war crimes charges including charges of murdering a militant captive but convicted and demoted on a lesser charge of posing for a photo with this man's corpse. president trump has pushed back on the military's plan to strip him of his navy s.e.a.l. status and now saying, from the president, the navy will not be taking away war fighter and navy s.e.a.l. eddie gallagher's trident pin, sig nighing him being a s.e.a.l. this case handled badly from the beginning. get back to business. it appears, congressman brown, that the pentagon will follow this directive? first your thoughts on the commander in chief inserting himself here? >> sure. first of a

katie hill is among -- >> katie hill is among five house democrats who will leave office or not run for reelection. she is the only freshman member. the others on the list have served a minimum of 13 years in the house, and representative have served.rano george papadopoulos says he is running for the seat being vacated by katie hill. he tweeted, i am smelling blood in the water now that katie hill has resigned. california's 25th congressional district is wide open for the taking. ♪ c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up sunday morning, we will talk about the rising u.s. the americant with enterprise institute, and then a discussion on the 40th anniversary of the iran hostage crisis. a former arabian hostage and former white house domestic .olicy advisor watch c-span's washington journal live at 7:00 eastern sunday morning. join the discussion. ♪ >> >> earlier this week, lonnie bunche outlined his priorities at his installation ceremony. several lawmakers and supreme court justice john roberts who is also the chancellor of the

fiona hill said this.ie yovanovitch said that, and they will put it together in a way to make sense. the way witness testimony comes in normally is not the way you would present it to a jury, right? they're going to take this chance to say, to house republicans and more importantly to the american people, this is the case in a logical progressi progression. and in a persuasive way this, is what the president did. that's where they're going to try to change people's minds if they haven't been changed already. >> abby, what are republicans planning to do next, if we know? >> it seems that republicans are starting to feel more comfortable with where they are on this. coming out of these hearings yesterday, which frankly were devastating to the president's argument and to this -- in the words of fiona hill, fictional case, that somehow there was an alternative ukrainian interference in the 2016 election, the republicans are actually more unified, you know, representative will herd who was seen as somebody that