jeff bennett, nbc news, washington >>> an urgent manhunt is underway in texas tonight for who killed a key witness in the trial of amber guyger, the former dallas police officer convicted for the murder of her unarmed neighbor here is morgan chesky with that. >> reporter: his emotional testimony helps convict a dallas police officer of murder tonight, dallas p.d. trying to solve the mystery of who killed joshua brown. the scene six miles from the complex where brown lived last year when he heard the fatal gunshots fired by amber guyger killing botham jean. by the time police arrived here at the complex, officers found brown outside one of the buildings shot multiple times but alive. the only clue who pulled the trigger a silver four-door sedan seen speeding from the scene brown died at a nearby hospital but days before his family attorney says he expressed fears the high-profile trial made him a target his testimony expected in ancity of dallas. >> how pivotal a role would josh have played? the first witnesses we called. >> reporter: lee merritt, who represente botham jean's family a

joining me now is my nbc news colleague jeff bennett. he's been covering all angles of the impeachment inquiry. joel pane, democratic strategist. and matthew, founding editor of the washington free beacon. welcome to you all. by the way, at the end of the show, we get to do conspiracy theory friday. where both 2016 candidates are leaving in conspiratorial lands. but i'm going to start with mr. bennett. mitch mcconnell's op-ed. first of all, let me put up a full screen of an important part of it here. the combination of a u.s. pull back and the escalating turkish/kurdish hostilities is creating a strategic nightmare. mitch mcconnell writes for our country. even if the five day ceasefire announced thursday holds, events of the past week have set back the united states campaign against islamic state and other terrorists. invite the brutal assad regime and its iranian backers to expand their influence and we are ignoring russia's efforts to leverage its increasingly dominant power. jeff bennett, when mitch mcconnell writes an op-ed like this

this is a very serious person. >> jeff bennett, i think is still with us. i don't know if you're still plugged in. i know you were trying to get the ambassador to answer some questions for you. she has now entered the building. the last time -- how long do we expect this to go? i know the deposition last week was hours and hours and hours. is there any expectation that we have here? >> reporter: this is an all-day affair here, hallie. and here's the thing that people should know about yovanovitch. and you might have already said this. forgive me, i wasn't listening to all of the programming. this is a woman who has spent 30 years at the state department cullty vating her career. we don't know whether or not she is testifying, appearing here with the approval of the state department. if she is not, that would suggest to me that she is risking a lot. not just her government pension and all of that if she would have to leave her post or faces any sort of repercussions for testifying here today. but she is not like gordon sondland, who remember had no diplomati

katie hill stepping down and vowing to take up the fight against online exploitation lester >> jeff bennett, thanks. >>> news about the deadly shooting at a homecoming party in texas police arresting a suspect for the rampage that left two dead and 12 others injured near texas a&m university commerce police say they don't know the motive at this time. >>> and a disturbing case in massachusetts, a former boston college student charged with involuntary manslaughter after authorities say she drove her boyfriend to suicide nbc's stephanie gosk on what she was texting him. >> reporter: massachusetts prosecutors say a former boston college student repeatedly sent the same messages to her boyfriend alexander -- go kill yourself and go die. >> she was aware of his spiraling depression and suicidal thoughts abuse, yet, sh her abuse, yet she persisted, continuing to encourage him to take his own life. >> reporter: on the morning of his graduation, according to the d.a., yu tracked his phone to a parking garage where the college senior took his own life. >> she went to the garage and, in fact, was pre

jeff bennett, nbc news, washington >> the judge in the amber geyger trial is defending her decision to hug the former dallas police officer who was convicted of murdering her unarmed neighbor in an interview that will air on the today show later this morning, judge tammy kemp says it is her responsibility to show love and compassion. >> i was looking at her and then my memory said, your job is to do justice, to love mercy, and walk humbly. so how can you not hug this lady >> meanwhile, the you aurgent mt continues for the murder of a key witness in the trial here's morgan chesky >> reporter: dallas p.d. trying to solve the mystery of who killed joshua brown. >> someone has heard gunshots. >> reporter: the scene six miles from the complex where brown lived last year when he heard the fatal gunshots fired by amber geyger killing botham jean by the time police arrived here at the complex, officers found brown outside one of the buildings shot multiple times but alive. only clue who pulled a trigger, the silver four-door sedan seen speeding from the scene. brown died in the nearby hospital

washington state who serves on the intelligence committee and took part in today's deposition, jeff bennett, a correspondent for nbc news, greg miller, a security correspondent for "the washington post," and susan page, washington bureau chief for usa today. thanks to all of you for being here. congressman, we are talking about this hearing today you've been a part of for the past eight hours or so. so let me begin with you and ask you what you heard today from yovanovitch, from the former ambassador. does it in any way advance the case in your view for impeaching donald trump, and if so, how? >> steve, first of all, we're not talking about any of the specifics which the ambassador shared with us today, but 8 1/2 hours let me say this -- let me say three things. number one, this woman oozes integrity. number two if anyone wants to bead it all on your character and values they have to read the opening statement which she shared with us and now in the public domain. it speaks eloquently to this woman's commitment to her country, her patriotism and dedication to her profession. and finally num

jeff bennett so capitol hill. kelly o'donnell at the white house. jeff, let me start with you.democrats' strategy and we heard a little bit of it from the congressman after the white house said it won't cooperate. he said we're just moving forward here. is that your sense from others? >> reporter: yes, and the take-away in listening to your conversation with congressman ro khanna is that democrats were prepared in part because the white house had telegraphed this position for days and warned that the letter was on its way. and this notion that the white house isn't going to play ball with house democrats in this impeachment inquiry, that is not new news to house democrats who say they've been trying to surmount a wall of obstruction that this white house has put up, not just on this ukraine issue, but on a number of investigative efforts. so late last night the house speaker nancy pelosi responded to the letter from the white house counsel with a statement of her son, which reads in part this way. she says the white house should be warned that the continued efforts to hide the

jeff bennett is in capitol hill. hallie jackson is at the white house. jeff, let me start with you in today's bizarre standoff. it was clearly a planned stunt. the timing of it and all of that. where do things stand right now? and when are we going to hear -- when are they going to resume their ability to hear testimony? >> you know what, chuck, i have to credit dan balls i think for perfectly distilling the current moment. he says it's no longer a question of whether or not president trump withheld this ukrainian military aid to compel ukraine's leaders to investigate trump's political rivals. all of the evidence points to yes. even the evidence that the white house put out points to yes. he says the question now is how does president trump explain it? and how do republicans respond to it? well, we've seen how republicans have responded to it. they have been making this process argument for days, if not weeks. complaining that because this fact-finding mission that democrats are embarking on, because that is not happening in the light of day, it is someh

let me bring back in nbc's jeff bennett following the action. tell us what the letter says and what the lawmakers are looking for. >> here's what we know. in about 20 minutes we expect to hear from house speaker nancy pelosi and the chairman of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff. what nbc news has now learned is that you do have the three committee chairman from the respective committees that are looking into this question about what happened between president trump and his interaction, his phone call with the ukrainian counterpart and so what we've learned is that the three chairman are releasing a memo and a draft subpoena that would compel the white house to turn over any related documents. i think it's interesting that we're learning of this now, the subpoena will be released formally on friday. but this is still in a memo form, as i understand it, that cummings has shared with members of the house oversight committee. we have seen a dramatic shift in the approach from house democrats. i think the speed of this impeachment inquiry

joining me from capitol hill now is nbc's jeff bennett. jeff, before we get into today's testimony, let me start with what you just heard. what you just learned about tuesday's testimony from lieutenant colonel alexander vindman. what have you heard? >> well, ali, two sources familiar tell my colleague leanne caldwell and me that lieutenant colonel told house investigators during his closed door testimony that the white house offer of a meeting between presidents trump and zelensky, as well as the delivery of that nearly $400 million worth of military aid, in his words, was entirely contingent on ukrainian officials opening multiple investigations into the 2016 election. into barisma, the company hunter biden sat on the board of. into the bidens. so in his opening testimony, the testimony we obtained a copy of, he said i did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a u.s. citizen. in his testimony, we're told, he went beyond that. he drew a direct line between those white house deliverables and this demand for

jeff bennett's on capitol hill. so, kelly, a lot to unpack here. the president was meeting with the leader of italy. that obviously was just a vehicle to express no regret now after, i guess, expressing some with his decision to pull troops from northern syria. >> the president was very much on message truck saying that he believes his decision to withdrawal u.s. troops is the right one and that it is up to turkey and syria to deal with their own affairs. and he really disconnected from any cause and effect based on his actions. what's really been puzzling of watching this all unfold today is you were just outlining the sort of, i would say, heavy-duty personality in the meeting that just transpired where there was apparently some name calling and some heat. but we also learned from michael mccall, who is the top republican on the foreign affairs committee in the house, that in the meeting that there was a discussion of keeping a residual force in syria in order to protect u.s. interests there and to prevent the rise of any threat to the u.s. well,

joining me now is nbc's jeff bennett on capitol hill. and bob bower. welcome both. ff why did ambassador sondland show up? is he concerned perhaps about some of the subsequent testimony that challenged his recollections? >> reporter: i don't have that level of detail, but a source familiar tells me he returned to the hill to review the transcript of his eight or nine hour long testimony. we've seen a number of previous witnesses return here to do just that, to include kurt volker. i don't know if he's coming back because he was concerned about of revelatory things we learned about his testimony. we do know charles cupperman who has emerged as a key witness because house investigators be in question between president's trump and zelensky. he was also acting nsa when that aid to ukraine was ultimately released. the other part of this is that the push to get cupperman before these house investigators is by and harlarge a proxy fight to g john bolton to do the same thing because they share an attorney. the attorney general for cupperman makes the case that because the wh

jeff bennett, carol leonnig, phillip elliott. >>> coming up, we will talk about how big a boost that federal judge might have given the democrats' impeachment effort today. later, could it be that an armored column of u.s. troops are moving into a different part of syria not to protect the kurds but to protect the oil fields? the 11th hour is just getting started on this friday night. in front of the iwojima memorial. rse i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro. fidelity has zero commissions for online u.s. equity trades and etfs, plus zero minimums to open a brokerage account. with value like this, there are zero reasons to invest anywhere else. fidelity. there ar♪ zero reasons to invest anywhere else. >> i don't think so because i think rudy is a great gentleman. he's been a great crime fighter. he looks for corru

here is jeff bennett. >> reporter: tonight, china no longer playing ball with the houston rockets following an uproar over this new deleted tweet from the team's general manager daryl morey that support protests that have both angered and embarrassed china's government basketball is big business in china. the league says an estimated 800 million watched nba programming last season in china where the rockets are one of the most popular teams. thanks to china's own yao ming that played eight seasons following the tweet, several earned reputation for social consciousness, the nba distance. a swift backlash leading quick walk back.now. you know, we love china. we love playing here. >> reporter: and from morey himself, i did not intend my tweet to cause any offense and the rockets and adding the economic impact is already clear. republican and democratic lawmakers crying foul. >> it's unamerican to gag people when they are speaking out on behalf of freedom. >> reporter: some republicans quick to condemn the nba while staying silent about president trump's latest overture to the communist regime

joining me now, jeff bennett. politico's senior writer, jake sherman.shington post's" bureau chief and former senior director at the national security council. gentlemen, welcome. jeff bennett sh first to you. vinman b has been on the hill now for a few hours. what are we hearing about what's going on behind those closed doors? >> well, we expect according to the opening statement that he is telling house investigators that not only did he listen in on the july 25th call in question between president trump and zelensky, but that he was so disturbed and so krped by what he heard that he flag ged the c nfc -- sondland linked. here at all in itself significant. a white house official was sub pea naed, willingly not to come ply and because there would been that republican talking point that the whistleblower complaint was based on here say. well here you have an army officer who appeared in dress blues essentially corroborating the whistleblower complaint. jeff, what's going to happen with sondland? i know he was on the hill yesterday to review his testimon

congressman gregory meech, susan and jeff bennett. let me start with you to take us through. the day began with ambassador sondland apparently being told, quote, you're not going to be giving that deposition today. and the day now ending with the white house putting out this letter saying they're not going to cooperate on anything. what's is going on here? >> if you read the letter, it actually reads more like a political document than a legal one. so it appears the white house is trying to give republican allies of president trump some talking points to use in his defense as they try to run out the clock here. but house speaker nancy pelosi has made clear that this argument made by the white house has no legal ground that it's not based on the constitution, certainly not based in-house precedent. and so what we've heard from adam schiff is that in the face of anymore stonewalling past democrats aren't going to seek legal remedy through the courts. what they're going to do is chalk that up as a new potential avenue, another article of impeachment, and beyond that adam schiff

i'm joined by dina titus, peter baker, glen kirschner, a former federal prosecutor, and jeff bennett is nbc news white house correspondent. jeff, tell us about your reporting today that vindman in his sworn testimony yesterday in that deposition said the military aid was contingent on the dirt on the trump enemies. >> and remember, chris, in the opening statement we obtained vindman told investigators he did not think it was proper for this administration to demand that a foreign government investigate a u.s. citizen. that word, demand, struck me as curiously conspicuous. he could have chosen any number of words. he could have said request, encourage, suggest, but he used the word demand. it turns out during the course of his testimony he went beyond that prepared statement. and investigators were told by two sources familiar is that the president drew a direct line between the white house deliverables, this noelgz that there would be a meeting between presidents trump and zelensky, this delivery of nearly $400 million in security and aid money and to this demand that ukrainian offici

i want to start with jeff bennett. kelly o'donnell is at the white house for us. jeff, as we come on the air, i want to start with chuck schumer. he's going to be on the senate floor introducing something to try to protect alex vindman. we're going to talk more about what vindman said in this testimony in a second but what's schumer supposed to say? >> he's prepared to announce that he's sending a letter, hallie, to the army secretary and the army chief of staff trying to get whistle-blower protections for lieutenant colonel alexander vindman. it's important to point out that vindman in his testimony makes clear that he is not the whistle-blower, but schumer says that he wants guarantees that vindman is protected from reprisals given his testimony, his bombshell testimony before congress. so we're watching for that. schumer is expected to take the senate floor some time in about 15 minutes or so. the other thing we're watching is what you mentioned, house investigators hearing today from two more state department officials, career officials. the first, katherine cr

this is jeff bennett reporting marie yovanovitch is set to be deposed at 10:00 a.m. eastern. sources familiar say they expect her to show up despite a white house vow not to cooperate with the inquiry. she would have to quit the state department before appearing. fox news in their story previewing disappearance today or perhaps not if she doesn't show looks into how the trump administration has viewed the ambassador. trump and his surrogates have painted yovanovitch as a rogue employee with an anti-trump political bias. her ouster came amid alleged attempts by rudy giuliani to press ukraine into investigating joe biden and his son. those efforts triggering the impeachment inquiry. the story goes on to note the news yesterday on the ukrainian front and the former ambassador's involvement. federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment alleging two donors to a pro trump fundraising committee were engaged in lobbying efforts on behalf of ukrainian politician seeking yovanovitch's ouster. they are u.s. citizens who helped giuliani's efforts to pursue the investigation of joe biden an

my nbc news colleague jeff bennett. jeff, we know they're preparing for the -- the rules vote today and i'm going to have a conversation with stenyhoyer about that. what did we learn today that adds to the story? >> oh, man, chuck, where to begin? well, the two state department career officials testified here back to back. you had katherine croft. she told house investigators that she participated in a meeting last summer where white house budget office staffer told her that mick mulvaney put an informal hold on military aid to ukraine. and it was her understanding, croft's understanding, that president trump was the one who requested it. we also heard or house investigators rather heard from christopher anderson. he was a special advisor to the former special envoy to ukraine kurt volker. he testified that john bolton told him to be cautious about rudy giuliani. that in bolton's view, rudy giuliani was an obstacle as it related to having the u.s. engage appropriately with ukraine. and as you mentioned, john bolton himse

we're not there yet. >> jeff bennett, one of the chief complaints with eheard it from congressman kensinger moments ago, one of the chief complaints is this impeachment inquiry is done behind closed doors. what are the plans to bring it out to the open? and is nancy pelosi considering holding a vote to officially authorize an impeachment inquiry? >> reporter: to the second part of your question, no in fact, the house speaker yesterday said she is not at this point going to move this vote to the house floor, to open a formal impeachment inquiry. she says the constitution doesn't make that clear. there was a question why she doesn't call republican's bluff on it and make a vote. she says this isn't about calming a blue. this isn't a game here. this is deadly serious work. when is this going to break out into the open? i put that question to adam schiff yesterday. we have some of his response which we can hear now. >> maybe we don't have it. we do anticipate a time when we will be releasing transcripts and we do anticipate there will be a time when we may call b win session and we may call wit

joining me nbc news correspondent, jeff bennett, msnbc political contribute eer, jake sherman, "new york times" chief white house correspondent and msnbc political analyst, peter baker and with me, reuters white house correspondent, jeff mason. jeff bennett, i thought the framing you and garrett had today on what was happening on capitol hill was very insightful. tell me what you're hearing about what george kent is telling lawmakers right now. >> well the members themselves that we've encountered outside the hearing room and capitol happen tight lipped. kent is the state department official responsible for ukraine. the reason why he was even call nd the first place is because he is among those who raised red flags about the smear campaign that rudy giuliani and his associates aimed at folks like marie. she's connected to this because she herself raised red flags about the work giuliani was doing. she was trying to bring his influence campaign into proper state department channels. giuliani according to reported testimony, didn't like that too much and then he target ded her for her even

joining us now, jeff bennett. andrea mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent for nbc news is here to talk about all things state. pete williams, our justice correspondent to talk all things justice. jeff, let's start with you and the news just breaking in the last few minutes, the change to the schedule, nothing tomorrow, but walk us through what we know. >> so, in just the last five minutes or so, chuck, our team has learned from two committee adds that marie yavanovich, he's postponeing her appearance. speaking to the joint house intellige intelligent, oversight and foreign affairs committee. she's saying she will appear to appear next friday, october 11th. that is the agreement between the committees and her counsel. we should be clear. that is her specific counsel, not the state department counsel. kurt volker, who was scheduled to appear thursday, rather, now confirms that, yes, he will appear on thursday, as was planned. our previous reporting on this was that he resigned abruptly last friday after the

joining me now, jeff bennett who was at the service today. a lot of bold-faced names speaking there obviously the ones who get the coverage. but there were a lot of people from the community there. from maryland. talk to me about what elijah cummings was to the people he represented. >> ali, it's such a great point because as you well point out, elijah cummings, he was lionized today as a great congressman and a great man. not just by former presidents and top politicians but by the regular people he represented. i talked to a woman here who was with her young son. her son had fallen asleep over the course of this three or four-hour funeral and she mentioned that she was a social worker and given the kind of work that she does, she said it was important to her to have someone representing her who she felt had her back. and, you know, i've gone all over the country over the course of my reporting. you talk to people. most people don't know who their member of congress is. but you come to this district, and people not only knew who elijah cummi

marie yovanovitch staying silent with nbc's jeff bennett. >> what do you hope to share with the house investigators today? >> reporter: but answering questions behind closed doors as lawmakers look to understand why she was yanked from her position in april and what she knows about rudy giuliani's work to dig up dirt on the bidens in ukraine. giuliani has publicly acknowledged encouraging the president to fire yovanovitch who is still employed by the administration in her scathing opening statement obtained by nbc news, yovanovitch says the president pressured the state department to pull her from her post did you put pressure to have her fire the ambassador to ukraine? >> she may be a wonderful woman. i don't know her >> did you pressure them >> she may be a wonderful woman. if you remember the phone call i hwith the president, the new president, he didn't speak favorably. >> reporter: yovanovitch testifying, i do not know mr. giuliani's motives for attacking me, but individuals who have been named in the press as contacts of mr. giuliani, likely referencing two recently indicted giu

jeff bennett, our correspondent for nbc news, covering this story. betsy woodruff swann is a politics reporter with the daily beast and glenn kirschner, of course, former federal prosecutor. let's start with jeff, my friend, you're covering on this case, is it inevitable, am i right, we're going to impeach? the u.s. house of representatives is going to impeach the president? >> and chris, it's great to see you. welcome back. i think all signs point to the inevitability of impeachment. and when we say that, we mean impeachment as a process, not impeachment as an end result. and the reason i say that is because what we know about nancy pelosi is two things. really, she does not make idle threats. and two, she does not waste political capital. and for weeks, you've seen the house speaker say what president trump already admitted to is in itself is a crime. is in itself, pelosi says, an impeachable offense. president trump so goes the theory of the democratic case, using his public office for personal gain. that is the story that democrats have really sti

jeff bennett, thank you. joining me at the table, bloom berg national political reporter, msnbc contributor. and the senior vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the american enterprise institute. yes, and also an msnbc contributor. that's a lot of title we just threw out. >> i know. >> we got to get you some more title. leanne and saheel, i want to get at how are we going to get you all this done? >> it's an insurmountable task. we only have a few weeks to fund the government. this is happening with this impeachment inquiry and as jeff mentioned, the president has an incentive for the government shutdown. he can change the -- the -- the topic of the conversation to his pet issues, which are the wall, immigration. distract away from impeachment. then again, there is usmca. there is one thought about that nafta 2.0 that perhaps nancy pelosi has more of an incentive to get it passed because she can show -- then show -- that she can walk and chew gum at the same time. >> and that's the thing sh

jeff bennett from nbc reporting that marie, the u.s. ambassador to ukraine is set to be disposed today at 10:00 p.m. eastern. sources say they expect her to show up for spite a white house bow valley not to cooperate. she would have to quit the state department before appearing. fox news previewing this appearance today or perhaps not if she does not show. looking into how the trump miadministration has viewed the former ambassador. painting as a rogue state department employee her ouster in may came a midge rudy giuliani. those efforts, of course, triggering the triggering the impeachment inquiry. going on to note the use yesterday on the ukrainian front and the former ambassador involvement there. prosecutors unsealed an indictment alleging two donors were engaged in lobbying efforts in the u.s. on behalf of a ukrainian politician. soviet board defendant. citizens who have efforts to pursue their investigation of joe biden. when it came through ukraine. we are watching for that today. other views this morning on other upcoming parts o

jeff bennett, tell us what's happening so far on the hill as far as you know. >> reporter: fiona hillased on our reporting is telling these house investigates that ruth bader ginsberg -- rudy giuliani, that those two men ran an influence scheme that fell outside the normal protocol and procedures of the state department and that they in effect ran a shadow foreign policy in ukraine. fiona hill was not just president trump's top russia advisor, she was also a well-known russia hawk, a putin skeptic who at times was at odds with president trump over his stated desire to improve relations with vladimir putin. it's important to know that she was not at the white house. she was not a part of the nsc when this call in question happened, this july 25th call between presidents trump and zelensky, so she can't really speak in detail to that, but she can give house investigates a sense of what led up to it, the motivations of those involved, including how or why white house officials would have locked down, democrats say cover up, the details of that call, what has now been released in the summ

joining me now is nbc's hans nickels at the white house and nbc's jeff bennett is on capitol hill. so many, many hours behind closed doors, jeff. do we have any idea what's going on with fiona hill? >> well, katie, i can tell you our reporting has been born out in the sense that we are getting some reporting that she has conveyed what we were told that she would convey to these house investigators. that it's her view that rudy giuliani, the president's outside attorney, and gordon sondland, the ambassador to the e.u. who is set to testify later in the week, those two men ran, as you put it, a shadow foreign policy on ukraine. running the trapping outside the formal, normal processes and procedures. not working in the national interest but working in their own self-interest at the behest of president trump. i'm also told she's gone a step further to defend the work and the reputation of marie yovanovitch, the former ambassador to ukraine, who was ousted at least in some part having to do with the disinformation campaign that rudy giuliani set about. trying to -- trying to smear her b

that's where we find jeff bennett and kelly o'donnell as well. >> jeff, talk through what we're expecting on capitol hill today. you've got a former top pompeo aide who has just shown up for a closed-door deposition. >> start with mckinley, because until last week he had been the top adviser to secretary of state mike pompeo, functioning really as his chief of staff. but he stepped down amid rising dissatisfaction within the state department over what was seen as pompeo's reluctance to better protect state department officials who have been ensnarled or targeted as it relates to this ukraine controversy. mckinley could perhaps shed better light on what was happening in the state department around the time of this interaction and how mike pompeo is tied to it. the other thing we're tracking the curt volker. he was already up here for closed-door testimony. he has returned to complete or perhaps clarify his prior testimony. so we're watching that as well. we understand that those interviews are happening separately. both of them seeing conducted by hind closed doors. the other thing we're t

joining me from capitol hill is nbc's jeff bennett. so as the picture starts to become clearer as we're hearing from these various people, both behind closed doors and in the briefing room, we know democrats feel their case is filling in fast. but what are you hearing from republicans? >> well, chris, republicans up until yesterday, their preferred talking point had been president trump wasn't involved in any quid pro quo. that was until mick mulvaney really drove a mack truck through that chosen line of defense. we've talked before about how you don't need to have a quid pro quo for there to be a crime when an american citizen solicits foreign interference or anything of value from a foreign national in connection to a u.s. election. the other thing republicans are still making a lot of hey about is the process. they're making the point these depositions should not be happening in private. if impeachment's going to be an open political process, this should all be happening in the light of day. and adam schiff has explained specificall

we're going to head down to capitol hill now where nbc's jeff bennett is posted. since we talked just about 24 hours ago there's been a lot of stuff that has come out about secretary of state mike pompeo. what pete just discussed related to the attorney general, how is this all playing out where you are? >> reporter: i'll tell you, hallie. house democrats haven't really fully digested all of the reporting around the pompeo issue. what we're focused on primarily right now is the president's personal attorney rudy giuliani. house democrats are adding more deadlines and depositions to the docket. you've got the house intelligence committee in consultation with the house oversight and foreign affairs committees yet subpoenaing rudy giuliani for any documents he might have regarding his communications with ukraine. now, rudy giuliani over the course of his colorful tv appearances over the last couple of weeks has acknowledged that he has the text messages, he has the evidence that democrats argue are really pertinent in their ongoing impeachment inquiry. the question i

. >> jeff bennett, appreciate it. i want to go to hans nichols over at the white house. >> reporter: the latest is the president of the united states appears to be suggesting that the whistle-blower was a cia agent. he's quoting ed rollins, republican operative on that. nbc news is not saying that. hallie, as you remember from a few days ago, you asked specifically if the president knew who this whistle-blower was, and he said we're investigating into a whistle-blower. so it leeseems like the identitf the whistle-blower is of importance to the president. we just heard the helicopters land here on the south lawn and we're expecting the president to depart at any moem. but once again, the president adding new lines of attacks on twitter as he really seems to be quarterbacking the impeachment strategy himself from both his comments on the south lawn. but what he's putting out there on twitter. and the comment we got this morning is he's really making this fine distinction on why you can investigate a former sitting vice

. >> and jeff bennett, obviously a lot of conversation has been had since mm mick mulvaney's news conference. what are you hearing on capitol hill? >> caller: chris, i can tell you that minutes after that remarkable press briefing wrapped up yesterday, we caught up with adam schiff and he told me in his view that things have gone very, very bad to much, much worse for the trump administration. we should be clear about one thing, though. the law makes plain that it is illegal for any person to accept anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a u.s. election. you do not need a quid pro quo for a violation to occur. and that is regardless of whatever mick mulvaney said that he's now trying to unsay. setting that aside, though, democrats here on the hill have said that his candid admission, his brazen admission, really only adds fuel to their fire. fuel to their ongoing impeachment inquiry. here's what congressman ra ja chr had to say. >> to me it was like seeing where jack nickel son tells you the truth in "a few good men" so i think that mr. mulvaney gave a new meaning to ac

. >> josh lederman, kristen welker, jeff bennett, thanks to all of you. i know it's going to be a busy monday for all of you. it's also a busy monday for our next guest, congressman jamie raskin, a democrat from maryland and a member of the intelligence committee. thank you for being with us. i understand after this interview you're going to walk into the room where fiona hill is being dpoesed. >> yes. as a member of the oversight committee, not the intelligence. >> that's correct. 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 busines

nbc's jeff bennett is on capitol hill. what do we know about the second whistle-blower and where do things go from here? >> reporter: well, i can tell you a number of u.s. diplomats have been called to the hill for their depositions as house democrats continue their impeachment inquiry. there was a scheduled deposition today, but george kent, who is the state department deputy assistant secretary, is not expected to show. so what we expect, what we're tracking really is action on capitol hill tomorrow and friday. tomorrow you've got gordon sond lond, the u.s. ambassador to the european union who was involved in encouraging the ukrainians to open the investigation into the bidens. the orting is that he will show for his deposition tomorrow. and then fry you've got the former ambassador, yo van vich. heading into next week you've got a number of deadlines for document requests that house democrats are made of rudy giuliani and the vice president's office and of the white house. a couple of quick things we're watching today.

jeff bennett, we may get more corroboration. john bolton is the big fish. he's been called next week. his attorneys say he will not come voluntarily but if he's subpoena he may show up on capitol hill. another big witness today in timothy morrisson. tell us who he is and why he may be so significant, because he was also on that july 25th phone call listening. >> he was. he's a central figure in this case that democrats are building because if you go back to bill taylor's testimony, the actor ambassador to ukraine, taylor mentions morey sson some 15 tim. it has to do with his misgivings about this entire pressure campaign. he did listen in on that call and, according to taylor's testimony, he told other white house officials, other state department officials over the fact that it did not go that well. i'm paraphrasing something that taylor said that morrison told him. he told us he is leaving the nsc and he would be the third official do that. you have kurt volker, michael mckinley, both of them resigned amid this impeachment pro

jeff whgeoff bennett, thank you. coming up, president trump will host the g7 at doral. white house says he won't make a profit. but that is wordsmithing. we'll look at why this is a major win anyway. remember, that property is losing a ton of money. maybe they will just be losing less money. do you know what losing less money is? still a big, big win. ney is still a big, b wigin your home at wayfair, you get more than free shipping. you get everything you need for your home at a great price, the way it works best for you, i'll take that. wait honey, no. when you want it. you get a delivery experience you can always count on. you get your perfect find at a price to match, on your own schedule. you get fast and free shipping on the things that make your home feel like you. that's what you get when you've got wayfair. so shop now! was in an accident. when i called usaa, it was that voice asking me, "is your daughter ok?" that's where i felt relief. we're the rivera family and we plan to be with usaa for life. see how much you can save with usaa insurance. well i didn't cho

and jeff bgeoff bennett for us capitol hill. >>> and next, president trump keeps threatening the whistleblower. we'll break down all of the ways whistleblowers are protected in this country and why. >>> and there are questions about senator bernie sanders' health. we're in the hearing much about his team. we'll talk about the procedure that he had. >>> but first, mgm resorts has agreed to pay up to $800 million to the victims of the 2017 las vegas shooting and their families. the settlement is meant to resolve nearly all lawsuits and claims related to the devastating massacre. 358 people were murdered and hundreds more injured when the attacker fired into a crowd at a country music festival from his hotel room above. it was the deadliest shooting in united states history. ♪ ♪ 'cos i know what it means ♪ to walk along the lonely street of dreams ♪ ♪ here i go again on my--- you realize your vows are a whitesnake song? i do. if you ride, you get it. geico motorcycle. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. there are lots of people who are confused about which medicare plan is right for them. hey,

this is jeff bennett reporting marie yovanovitch is set to be deposed at 10:00 a.m. eastern.ources familiar say they expect her to show up despite a white house vow not to cooperate with the inquiry. she would have to quit the state department before appearing. fox news in their story previewing disappearance today or perhaps not if she doesn't show looks into how the trump administration has viewed the ambassador. trump and his surrogates have painted yovanovitch as a rogue employee with an anti-trump political bias. her ouster came amid alleged attempts by rudy giuliani to press ukraine into investigating joe biden and his son. those efforts triggering the impeachment inquiry. the story goes on to note the news yesterday on the ukrainian front and the former ambassador's involvement. federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment alleging two donors to a pro trump fundraising committee were engaged in lobbying efforts on behalf of ukrainian politician seeking yovanovitch's ouster. they are u.s. citizens who helped giuliani's efforts to pursue the investigation of joe biden and

jeff bennett of msnbc, tweeting ,ut recently that kurt volker split -- former special u.s., returning to capitol hill today to complete his prior testimony. remember, he was one of the first witnesses that the committees called behind closed door to testify for an entire day. apparently he's back up there to continue his testimony. macon, georgia, democratic caller, we are back to our conversation about which candidate is most electable. thank you for taking my call. joe biden would be my safe choice, not my best choice. the democratshat are spending too much time on the presidential candidate. the real purpose -- the real person they need to focus on is mitch mcconnell. harry reid and the democrats didn't know how much power they had. president obama could have gotten a lot more done and people would have been more satisfied if it wasn't for mitch mcconnell. even if we do win the presidency this time, mitch mcconnell is just going to stonewall, stop everything, the whole country going to be back where we are now. safe --e biden is your her first choice? -- your first choic

congressman cummings is taking place in just a cup of of hours, nbc news white house correspondent jeff bennett the cathedral? >> reporter: hey, willie. good morning to you. i will tell you this, listening to you read that op-ed written by elijah cummings current and former staffers, you get the sense of the kindness, the conviction, the sense of purpose he brought to his work. people that know him say that. those of us in the press who had the privilege of interacting with him, it certainly came through. you heard nancy pelosi refer to him as master of the house given his keen political abilities. she also referred to him as a mentor of the house, given his commitment to train up freshmen lawmakers. yesterday, today, what we are seeing is a public celebration of a man revered for his deep and abiding passion for public service, a man regarded for his strong moral leadership. he says that was instilled in him by his parents, both of whom were preachers. really, so much he have elijah cummings' life tells the story of the country. he was born in 1951, into jim crow. parents were south carolina s

i have ken dilanian, hallie jackson, geoff bennett. and jeffi should start with you since that's where we had new testimony today. apparently more on his handling of the whistle-blower complaint than perhaps his initial investigation to sort of confirm some of those allegations. what more did you learn? >> and the reason why michael atkinson is important here is because he is the one who deemed the whistle-blower complaint to be credible and urgent. and remember, the reason in large part why this came to light is because after the acting dni went to the white house council's office and to the justice department to see if that phone call between president trump and president zelensky was covered by executive privilege, that delayed the transmission of that complaint to congress. that was supposed to happen within seven days. and it was atkinson who then flagged congress and said there was this issue that could not be resolved. that is in large part how the house intelligence committee first learned of this complaint. adam schiff has said that to

from capitol hill, geoff bennett, reuters white house correspondent jeff mason and here former u.s. assistant district attorney for new york and msnbc analyst mimi rocah also joining us. one calling for an expeditious impeachment of donald trump, former senior counsel of president clinton, paul rosenswag. ken delanian, walking us through what we got from the sndy? >> reporter: katy, i think the biggest news we just got was the investigation is continuing and that's really important because there's a lot that's important about this case that's not in this indictment. but i'll tell what you is in it, is they describe a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and state office and to make straw donations, to disguise a donation as part of an effort for these gentlemen to cultivate political interests for their businesses. one thing that's interesting, katy, it shows a scheme for federal and state office but it only explicitly describes foreign money going to state candidates in nevada. it doesn't suggest, for example that the $325,000 contribution made to the trump poli

bennett. from the white house, hans nicho nichols. jeff, i think one of the most stunning things we learned in the last 24 hours came from fiona hill's testimony, that john bolton was so worried about a rogue effort being run by rudy giuliani and others that he told hill to notify the chief lawyer for the nsc. as nbc has reported this was seen as a clear counterintelligence risk. how does kent's testimony right now play into that bigger picture? >> reporter: i'll explain it this way, chris. fiona hill offered house investigators an inside view as to what was happening in the white house as rudy giuliani set about his rogue operation as it's described, his influence campaign to do president trump's bidding. george kent offers the same house investigators an inside view of what was happening at the state department around that same time. as you mentioned, george kent is the state department official who is responsible for ukraine and our reporting is that as far back as march he was raising concerns, sounding the alarm, not just about what r

bennett on capitol hill. yamiche alcindor, pbs news hour. shannon pettypiece, senior white house reporter. and jeff mason, reuters white house correspondent extraordinaire. welcome, all. the president on the south lawn today saying it's about corruption, not about joe biden, and immediately going into joe biden. >> right, andrea, it was another extraordinary day on the white house south lawn. you saw the president defiant once again, doubling down, frankly, on his calls for ukraine and china to investigate joe biden. as you point out, his new line of argument is, look, this doesn't have to do with politics, this has to do with corruption. but of course those text messages that you talk about cloud that message, and the avalanche of headlines we were all tracking overnight. the question is what becomes of this strategy, it's not clear the white house has one. the president is very resistant to people thinking he has any type of a war room. at the same time, there have been meetings, top officials want there to be a broader all hands on deck approach to the messaging here. all of this comes, and i kn

jeff bennet on capitol hill. for the very latest, let's go to geoff bennett on capit ol hill.republican who we expected and that is it. >> you're right. those two democratstrump-friend districts. yes, this takes the process public. for the last three or four week, you've had them depose witness after witness behind closed doors. and that process is now coming to an end and house leadership made the point that as the private process grows public, you need a roadmap. so this resolution, what it says is that the investigative have i lifts will stay within the house intelligence committee, adam schiff leads that committee. so he will be in charge. and then when that comes to an end, their report will go to the judiciary committee, and then they will write up the articles of impeachment. you will then see at some point potentially another vote on the house floor on those specific articles, that would then set up the senate to have a trial. so house democrats are really laying out a calendar that has no dates on it. there is no time line for how long this will take. publicly we've h

bennett on capitol hill. peter, i don't know if people understand the gravity of what the president did. the president answered jeff mason's question yesterday. he did so in a public way, is anybody inside that white house realize that the president essentially owned up to what is being investigated for? >> we had an opportunity to speak to a white house spokesperson. we said why is it proper for the president of the united states to call on china to investigate a domestic political rival, that spokesperson's response to us, no comment. to put this in simple terms right now facing an impeachment inquiry quietly urging a foreign leader to investigate joe biden, the president today publicly urged another foreign power to investigate joe biden. he only amplifies this issue that existed to this point. the backdrop of all this as it relates to china, chuck, the chinese are in the middle of this trade war with president trump and in advance to those comments, he brought up china unprompted. >> is he connecting the two, peter? i got the impression he was essentially saying if you don't -- if you want a better deal for me