house intel and judiciary committee member john ratcliffe was here the congressman was in the room when he testified on friday but the controversy now is at the center of this impeachment inquiry and also the reaction to a word of a second whistleblower this morning, and he spoke to the intel community 's inspector general. plus, former trump campaign aid george papadopoulos is here, on the attorney general william barr's trip to italy amid the justice department's review of the origins of the russia probe. there is speculation that part of the trib concerned the man who mr. george papadopoulos says told him that russia had hillary clinton's e-mail as part often trapment. also, china expert jonathan ward is here on how beijing is eying the impeachment inquiry what impact it could have on the upcoming trade talk set to begin on october 10 all that and a lot more here right now on "sunday morning futures." and the white house is preparing to send a letter to nancy pelosi tomorrow morning, refusing to cooperate with the house impeachment inquiry, until the speaker holds a floor vote on the

i've got to ask you where this is headed stay with us more with john ratcliffe coming up. (burke) at farmers insurance, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. even a- (ernie) lost rubber duckie? (burke) you mean this one? (ernie) rubber duckie! (cookie) what about a broken cookie jar? (burke) again, cookie? (cookie) yeah. me bad. (grover) yoooooow! oh! what about monsters having accidents? i am okay by the way! (burke) depends. did you cause the accident, grover? (grover) cause an accident? maybe... (bert) how do you know all this stuff? (burke) just comes with experience. (all muppets) yup. ♪ we are farmers. ♪ bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum maria: welcome back i'm back with republican congressman from texas, john ratcliffe, and congressman i want to go back to something you were just saying about adam schiff. you want him to recuse himself, step down from running this impeachment investigation, and said number one, it's because it's not in the right committee and the jurisdiction is in judiciary, not intel, and number two, you say they are being, it's bein

here was kevin mccarthy and devon nunes on fox news last week. >> we had john ratcliffe destroy taylor'shole argument. >> congressman ratcliffe tell us what happened. >> we can't really talk about it but what we're fighting is just his question in 90 seconds refuted everything of what adam schiff puts out there. there's no quid pro quo. maria: congressman we know that you're limited in terms of what you can say about these testimonies but what can you tell us about that quid pro quo argument? >> well, what the democrats wanted to believe is that ambassador taylor's testimony would support what the whistleblower said when in fact his testimony established the opposite. he established as a matter of law and as a matter of fact, that a quid pro quo involving military aid could not have occurred on july 25 in the call between trump and z elinski, because neither any ukraine yankees was aware there was a hold on military aid on july 25 so as much as the democrats who quickly tried to spin-out of that and say well when we said quid pro quo on july 25, we really meant some time in august , and

maria: last week we had on congressman john ratcliffe, and he mentioned three reasons that this seems questionable. number one was that, typically in any impeachment, the jurisdiction for impeachment is the judiciary committee. it's not happening in the judiciary committee, which nadler runs, it's actually in the intel committee. number two, it is all happening behind closed doors. we don't know what anybody said on friday you had another testimony from the ukrainian ambassador. her opening statement leaks but then everything else as part of that is behind closed doors. and now they're calling him a fact witness, john ratcliffe called adam schiff a fact witness because, of course, he did meet with the so-called whiting blower before -- whistleblower before the complaint was public. >> john's exactly right. adam schiff is so deeply involved in this, this is a man who once said, you know, there's collusion in plain sight. we'll do whatever we want to do because the president needs to be impeached, and we've got the proof. he's beening -- been saying this for well over two years. he's a

john ratcliffe serves on judiciary and intelligence committees.ou've been inside a lot of these interviews behind closed doors. you can't talk about it as well. explain legally how secretary perry can make the case there is no quid pro quo based on what we think we know. >> he is right and mick mulvaney was right. we withhold foreign aid to influence policy decisions all the time. u.s. has always done that and should do it. remember what the quid pro quo is using something to influence behavior. it is supposedly military aid. what is undisputed at this point no one in the ukraine was aware there was any discussion that military aid might be withheld for any reason at the time of the trump/zelensky call. that makes a quid pro quo impossible. so adam schiff can trot in all of the ambassadors, one after another that you and i have never heard of before. unless he brings someone forward that says that they were told specifically that military aid would be withheld unless the ukrainians investigated hunter biden, this is just yet another baseless inves

republican congressman john ratcliffe says that's no coincidence. >> the work done by

joining us right now with reaction from dallas, republican congressman john ratcliffe. be with you. steve: it's good to have you. you see a direct connection between the lead story that first broke on the "new york times" yesterday that apparently now this is a criminal investigation with the fact that mr. horowitz has announced yeah, my report, which is about as thick as a phone book, is coming out very shortly and it's essentially going to lay out the road map why there is a criminal investigation now. >> i do. this is not a coincidence that it's happening at the same time. inspector general michael horowitz' report looks into potential fisa abuse. steve, you remember that republicans put out a memo that said that obama administration officials in the department and the justice and the fbi appeared to have abused the foreign intelligence surveillance act and court to obtain surveillance on carter page. democrats put out a memo saying that's a bunch of nonsense. the fbi and the department of justice did everything right and how dare republicans malign good people like

maria: we should point out that earlier on the program we had john ratcliffe from intel committee and and, you know, i mean, it's nancy pelosi and adam schiff who are making the rules in terms of what -- what testimonies they can hear from and what -- what briefings the house comes, they are in charge and they are focused on impeachment and not allot more, chris, good to see you this morning, thank you. >> thank you. maria: that will do it for they-hour presentation of sunday morning futures this way to let your kids have fun and learn a skill that can save their life. swim lessons, woo! this is how we got started. that's right, my parents wanted me to feel safer around the water. these big kids know swimming is fun, but, safety that's serious. studies show that formal swim lessons reduce the risk of childhood drowning by 88%. and, it's so easy to enroll. we have nearly 1,000 local partners in communities like yours who can't wait to help. join us today, go to usaswimmingfoundation.org and click on the find swim lessons link, it can open up amazing possibilities. i learned how to swim

maria: we should point out that earlier on the program we had john ratcliffe from intel committee and said that there have been no hearings on syria in weeks and, you know, i mean, it's nancy pelosi and adam schiff who are making the rules in terms of what -- what testimonies they can hear from and what -- what briefings the house comes, they are in charge and they are focused on impeachment and not allot more, chris, good to see you this morning, thank you. >> thank you. maria: that will do it for they-hour presentation of sunday morning futures this morning, i'm maria bartiromo, i will see you tomorrow on fox business. have a good morning, everybody. let's get down to business. the business of hard work... ...hustle... ...and high fives. modernized comfort inn's and suites have been refreshed because our business is you. get the lowest price guaranteed on all choice hotels when you book direct at choicehotels.com. gillian: president trump announcing the death of abu bakr al-baghdadi in u.s.-led raid in syria overnight. welcome to america's news headquarters, live from washington on

republican congressman john ratcliffe says that's no coincidence. >> the work done by michael horowitz could result in criminal referrals. regardless, john durham had to let michael horowitz finish this work, and i think when people read the inspector general's intending report, it will be very clear why the durham investigation has now moved to a criminal probe, which will allow him to impanel a grand jury and bring in witnesses and ultimately perhaps bring criminal charges. >> harris: on the flip side of all all this, former acting fbi director andy mccabe says there's nothing to investigate here. >> i know. i was there. i was in the room when these decisions were made. i worked with the team that opened and initiated these cases, approved their work, i know nothing improper was done. what you had was not, you know, political operatives planning a coup. there was no improper purpose to the discussions we made. >> harris: chief white house correspondent john roberts joins us live outside the white house. the president has departed on marine one. what's the latest? >> good afternoon, h

maria: we should point out that earlier on the program we had john ratcliffe from intel committee andave been no hearings on syria in weeks and, you know, i mean, it's nancy pelosi and adam schiff who are making the rules in terms of what -- what testimonies they can hear from and what -- what briefings the house comes, they are in charge and they are focused on impeachment and not allot more, chris, good to see you this morning, thank you. >> thank you. maria: that will do it for they-hour presentation of sunday morning futures this this is the age of expression. everyone has something to say. but in a world full of talking, shouldn't somebody be listening? so. let's talk. we are edward jones. with one financial advisor per office, we're built for hearing what's important to you. one to one. edward jones. it's time for investing to feel individual. and i recently had hi, ia heart attack. it changed my life. but i'm a survivor. after my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. it's for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. brilinta is taken with a low-dose aspirin.

congersmen john ratcliffe expects the inspector general horwitz's report on fisa abuses the next week or two. bill barr and john durham good moving forward to expose the origins of this russia witch hunt so-called probe. you see deep state actors trying to run interference i had what my sources are telling me will be the explosive findings on the weaponization of intelligence against this president and, yes, the american people. here with reaction, fox contributor sara carter and jason chaffetz. let me start, sara, with you. we've been expecting this from horwitz. my sources are telling me that there is an explosive email chain with comey and brennan on that that says they didn't verify the dossier which would mean premeditated fraud on the fisa court as we've been saying. >> that's the exculpatory evidence that congress has been screaming about on the republican side for more than a year now. not only was there an email chain that i'm hearing as well, sean, but there were the issues that were withheld in the foreign intelligence surveillance court regarding george papadopoulos, also

maria: we should point out that earlier on the program we had john ratcliffe from intel committee andings on syria in weeks and, you know, i mean, it's nancy pelosi and adam schiff who are making the rules in terms of what -- what testimonies they can hear from and what -- what briefings the house comes, they are in charge and they are focused on impeachment and not allot more, chris, good to see you this morning, thank you. >> thank you. maria: that will do it for they-hour presentation of sunday morning futures this ♪ limu emu & doug and now for their service to the community, we present limu emu & doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] it's an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. and now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ (thud) (crash) (grunting) (whistle) play it cool and escape heartburn fast with tums chewy bites cooling sensation. ♪ tum tu-tu-tum tums ♪ ♪ everything your trip needs, for everyone you love. expedia. a

congressman john ratcliffe says the american people will be shocked when they learn more about housentelligence chair adam schiff's involvement. senator lindsey graham says we may need to hear publicly from the whistleblower. to speak of the inspector general's testimony on friday will shock you, with respect to his investigation into the contact between adam schiff and his staff, and the intelligence committee, and the whistleblower. if the whistleblower allegations are turning to be an impeachment article, it is imperative that the whistleblower be interviewed in public, under oath, and cross-examined. if that doesn't happen in the house, i will make sure it happens in the senate. >> harris: what may not shock you is that democrats have a rebuttal. watch. >> the desperation of some of the republicans is quite extraordinary at this point. it used to be a bipartisan commitment that we protect whistleblowers, because we want them to come forward with the truth of the conduct of our elected officials. >> harris: let's bring a former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of

house intel and judiciary committee member john ratcliffe was here the congressman was in the room whenestified on friday but the controversy now is at the center of this impeachment inquiry and also the reaction to a word of a second whistleblower this morning, and he spoke to the intel community 's inspector general. plus, former trump campaign aid george papadopoulos is here, on

invited to testify to the house oversight committee in front of congressman mark meadows and john ratcliffeher three witnesses were jim comey, and loretta lynch. when i went to testify behind closed doors before these prominent members of congress. it was clear there was a lot at least some sort of surveillance going on our me in london. the key question is was that based on facts and a legal basis or was there something more insidious going on here. in my opinion, and i think my testimony for anybody who is interested, they can google it it's public now, will see i actually notified authorities my meetings with these people including the australian government because of how bizarre they are. i thought they were up to something they shouldn't have been doing and they were opening spying on me. these meetings were some of the most of consequential events surrounding this investigation william barr and john durham are spearheading. now that mueller's testimony has come to a close and the next chapter opens. these events will have to be scrutinized from a different perspective. trish: what do

eastern, we will talk with john ratcliffe, he is my special guest this weekend. t the john durham investigation is now a criminal investigation. that's 10 a.m. eastern live sunday morning on fox news. and right here on fox business weekdays, start smart every weekday from 6-9 a.m. eastern, and join me for "mornings with maria". that'll do it for us right now. thanks so much for joining me. . i'll see you again next time. ♪ ♪ gerry: hello, and welcome to "wall street journal at large." the impeachment investigation of president trump and who will challenge him in 2020 once again dominated the headlines this week. on tuesday the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine, william taylor, went before congressional investigators and said he was told that president trump had held up military aid to ukraine as well as a meeting with the country's new president until kiev announced it would investigate the business dealings of former vice president joe biden's son and the alleged ukrainian interference in the 2016

eastern, we will talk with john ratcliffe, he is my special guest this weekend. investigation is now a criminal investigation. that's 10 a.m. eastern live sunday morning on fox news. and right here on fox business weekdays, start smart every weekday from 6-9 a.m. eastern, and join me for "mornings with maria". that'll do it for us right now. thanks so much for joining me. . i'll see you again next time. ♪ ♪ gerry: hello, and welcome to "wall street journal at large." the impeachment investigation of president trump and who will challenge him in 2020 once again dominated the headlines this week. on tuesday the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine, william taylor, went before congressional investigators and said he was told that president trump had held up military aid to ukraine as well as a meeting with the country's new president until kiev announced it would investigate the business dealings of former vice president joe biden's son and the alleged ukrainian interference in the 2016

eastern, we will talk with john ratcliffe, he is my special guest this weekend. hn durham investigation is now a criminal investigation. that's 10 a.m. eastern live sunday morning on fox news. and right here on fox business weekdays, start smart every weekday from 6-9 a.m. eastern, and join me for "mornings with maria". that'll do it for us right now. thanks so much for joining me. >> barron's round table sponsored bill. this week ceos stepping down, why prominent executives are on the hot seat. tech titans talk regulation, disruns and uniforeign -- disruption and unicorn ip os. the 2020 election and more. barron's round table starts now. ♪ ♪ >> well welcome to barron's round table where we get behind the headlines and prepare you for the week ahead. i'm jack otter. what we think are the three most important things investors should be thinking about right now. tech earnings, facebook, apple

on sunday morning futures i spoke with john ratcliffe.im about this ongoing investigation into the whistleblower and accusations of the quid pro quo. watch. what can you tell us about that quid pro quo argument? >> well, what the democrats want to believe is ambassador taylor's testimony would support what the whistleblower said when in fact his testimony established the opposite. he established as a matter of law and a matter of fact that a quid pro quo involving military aid could not have occurred on july 25th in the call between trump and zelensky. it raises a real question about the whistleblower's credibility and motivation because the whistleblower came in to meet with chairman schiff before that. the whistleblower's testimony has become more essential, the most important witness we should be hearing from is that person because it will tell us whether or not this was organic or whether it was orchestrated. maria: and tom, it was john ratcliffe who basically blew a hole into the whole testimony on friday after they leaked the openin

. >> john ratcliffe destroyed this witness. there is no quid pro quo. jesse: a president is being impeached in secret and his party has no rights. this whole process is a threat to the republic. donald trump is expressing frustration when he used the phrase lynching. it was used before in the 90s a lot. >> even if the president should be impeached, history is going to question whether or not this was just a partisan lynching org whether or not it was something that in fact met the standard, the very high bar set by the founders as to what constitute an impeachable offense. jesse: this is what biden said. trump this week. impeachment is not lynching. it's part of our constitution. to even think of making this comparison is abhorrent, it's despicable. peter doocy asked him about it. >> when you called president trump despicable for comparing impeach to the lynching, did you know there was a tape of you saying that. >> yes, i did, and i apologized for it. i didn't it's as a dog whistle. he's use it as a dog whistle. jesse: have you in the only liberals hea

. >> sandra: this is how john ratcliffe explained it just a short time ago. >> john durham had to let michael horowitz finish this work. when people read the inspector general's impending report, it will be very clear why the durham investigation has now moved to a criminal probe. the things that we're looking at took place and can be verified before donald trump ever put his hand on the bible and became our president. bill barr, you know, was troubled by the lack of a predicate to investigate donald trump as a candidate is really what has lit the fuse behind this. what happened here is the obama administration took a vital national security tool, the foreign intelligence surveillance act and misused it to surveil for political reasons. >> jon: live fox team coverage and new reaction from kellyanne conway in a few minutes. we begin with griff jenkins live in washington >> good morning. this shift has serious implications for the reasons you mentioned. the power to subpoena witness and file criminal charges. what's unclear, jon, is what prompted the shift and when it happened. here is

john ratcliffe. thank you, john. a man i saw on television last night defending me. brilliantly defending me. i actually don't like doing this usually but i tweeted out, i said thank you very much, brian babin. great defense. i appreciate it. thank you, brian. that was great last night. i put a tweet out because it's owe easier than making a phone call and talking for half an hour. thanks, brian. i just said thanks. you know what, he would rather have that too actually, right? lance gooden. special person. lance gooden. thank you, lance. lance was 1 of 60 people who stuck in there. he was unbelievable. and ron wright, thank you, ron. great job. great job. these are great people. these are great people. along with republican party chairs and all of these winners. here's one. ronna mcdaniel. i will tell you what. you know, she was the head of michigan. michigan hadn't been won by republican for decades. it was tough. they all said you couldn't win michigan. i said why? we were getting these massive crowds. why? she was in charge of michigan. i said i want you to do me

consistent with testimony from at least two other witnesses and other cross-examination done by john ratcliffe and others. when we start to see the inconsistencies we think it's important for a full picture on the impeachment process american people and every member of congress that should be asked to vote one way or another should have the benefit. >> martha: tonight there's a request from jim jordan and jim nunes to representative adam schiff saying they want an interview with the whistleblower and any individuals relied on to assemble that complaint. where's that going to go? >> i think it will go nowhere with adam schiff because he wants to make sure this whistleblower's allocations, many of which, by the way, i don't know this has been report, but many allegations the whistleblower has put forth has been directly contradicted by even the democrats' star witnesses. we want to hear from them. in america you should be able to face your accuser and i can tell you when you find this out, when we start to look at the whistleblower and look at him, we'll see they didn't have first-hand knowledge

congressman john ratcliffe, a member of the house judiciary committee, says that schiff should not benvestigation. he should be testifying. >> washington post of all newspapers had to give adam schiff four b pinocchios when he said they did not have direct contact with the r with the whi. the president they're trying to remove from the office based on this impeachment deserves to know what kind of contact there was between adam schiff and his team and the whistleblower and a we shouldn't have to take adam schiff's word for it with a word shift press release or tweet that there's not much or we don't need to look at that. he needs to be put under oath, needs to answer the questions. that's the reason he should not be allowed to run the investigation where he and his team are central fact witnesses. heather: the president and house republicans have called for schiff to be sensorred or -- censored or resign from the committee. a fox news alert for you now, breaking overnight, the man connected to a deadly shooting at kansas city bar is under arrest while the search for a second suspect i

invited to testify to the house oversight committee in front of congressman mark meadows and john ratcliffeher three witnesses were jim comey, and loretta lynch. when i went to testify behind closed doors before these prominent members of congress. it was clear there was a lot at least some sort of surveillance going on our me in london. the key question is was that based on facts and a legal basis or was there something more insidious going on here. in my opinion, and i think my testimony for anybody who is interested, they can google it it's public now, will see i actually notified authorities my meetings with these people including the australian government because of how bizarre they are. i thought they were up to something they shouldn't have been doing and they were opening spying on me. these meetings were some of the most of consequential events surrounding this investigation william barr and john durham are spearheading. now that mueller's testimony has come to a close and the next chapter opens. these events will have to be scrutinized from a different perspective. trish: what do

what john ratcliffe was saying yesterday is.et any of our questions when we cross-examine and everything just stays sealed. and it's got to stop. ed: yeah, in fact, "the washington post" has some breaking news this morning suggesting that democrats fear they're losing the narrative because it's behind closed doors. so they pushed it behind closed doors. the president pushed back by saying there's a lack of transparency. you are doing impeachment in secret, basically, republican leaders like steve scalise saying yesterday this is a soviet style process and they are fed up and not going to take it anymore. watch. >> if you remember, the mueller investigation was their idea 22 months, 2800 subpoenas. there was every kind of investigation you can imagine. and it yielded absolutely nothing. so what do they do? they don't give up. they go on and looking for something else. this is a witch-hunt. they are meandering around trying to find something. the only way they can do it not through a fair process where both sides get to call witne

. >> in 90 seconds we had john ratcliffe destroyed taylor's whole argument. are finding is dust his questioning in 90 seconds refuted everything in what adam schiff believes. >> charlie? >> charlie: now we gotten to the point where we are bringing in witnesses to psychoanalyze a president. who is this woman to judge what the president's intent was on the phone call. both sides of the phone call agree that there was no quid pro quo in president trump wasn't tying one thing to another and we have had these hearsay witnesses, it's just the most insane thing in the world. >> harris: it's just a dog chasing its tail for democrats. and if so is there risk for that and them? >> the reason they are talking about this, the reason they are doing this is because they don't want to run on the actual issues because they think they are going to lose against donald trump in 2020 and i think that they are, especially if come next summer we are sitting here in the heat of the 2020 election and democrats arguing, we want to impeach the president which means we want to take you

congressman john ratcliffe is saying publicly that the horwitz report and the durum probe are connectedwatch this. >> i think these two things are related. the work done by michael horwitz could result in criminal referrals, even though the report hasn't been released. regardless, john's people no one had to let michael horowitz finish this work. i think when people read the impending report it'll be very clear why the durham investigation had moved to a criminal probe which would allow him to impanel a grand jury and bring in witnesses and ultimately perhaps bring in criminal charges. >> jason: that would be justice in america but sadly not everybody wants justice. after two years of hearing mueller's witch hunt, jerry nadler and adam schiff are angry that the durham probe is a criminal investigation. "these reports, if true, raises profound concerns that the department of justice under ag barr has lost its independence and become a vehicle for president trump's political revenge." the department of justice may be used as a tool of political repetition or help the president of the poli

at "politico" story you named had other lies, one naming me, one with john ratcliffe. 0% accurate, 3% accurate -- i can't wait for the transcript to be released, and i hope they are, because the rest of the story, their narrative falls apart. >> the only truth to the stories, we were down in the basement. we happened to be there. after that, it's all false. >> laura: they have been smearing you for two years, and we know why. you are onto them from from the very beginning, and everything you did is fabulous. congressman bryne, you heard my thoughts on the process. nancy pelosi said today it is going to be quick and narrowly focused. i'm not sure what that means. is it going to be quid pro quo, doesn't exist, or obstruction? we don't know. to the senate, let's say you give them advice yourself, to mitch mcconnell. what would it be? >> if they think they have to take this up, they have to make sure it is a tight proceeding over there, don't let the democrats go wild with it. that is what they're doing with these guys. forcing them to come forward and show us bribery, treason, high crime

the truth is, in 2 minutes, john ratcliffe destroyed this witness. there is no quid pro quo. in addition, it continues to be alarming to me the lack of the understanding and the state department by the bureaucracy there about how much the ukrainians were involved opposing donald trump as a candidate. so just not understanding that the democrats had paid christopher steele for the dossier, which he got information according to nellie ohr, from the ukrainians, this is really frightening that people in the state department wouldn't have a clue, wouldn't understand -- why would a president send really giuliani to ukraine? perhaps because they dirtied him up and it would be his lawyer's responsibility to get over there to ukraine and figure out what the dirt is to try to defend his client which then was the president of the united states going up against the mueller witch hunt, as you say. >> sean: i am being told by my sources that the reason they are doing this all behind closed doors, the opposite of what newt gingrich did for clinton, the opposite of nixon, is because every si

intelligence community inspector general michael atkinson pane member john ratcliff talk about it on sunday morning futures. >> testimony on friday will shock you with respect to his investigation into the contact between adam shift and his staff and intelligence community and whistle-blower. bottom line is adam hist is a material fact witness in the investigation he shouldn't be running the investigation. >> so, molly is in washington where lawmakers are reacting to an attorney kifnlings that multiple whistle-blowers have come forward. molly what can you tell us? >> we don't know yet what the this or these new whistle-blowers proport to have heard or have seen, related to the the u.s., ukraine, president trump, joe biden allegation of corruption so far the lawyers have only said that unlike the first whistle-blower, this second whistle-blower has, quote, first hand knowledge of certain info. in thes believe this may add more fuel to the impeachment fire. >> the reporting that a second whistle-blower has come forward or is about to come forward i believe again would be someone who se

here is john ratcliffe with martha last night about testimony.ia reporting that he provided evidence of a quid pro quo involving military aid is false. i questioned him directly on that. neither he nor any other witness has provided testimony that the ukrainians were aware that military aid was being withheld. you can't have a quid pro quo with no quo. >> you would have to interview some ukrainians, we've gotten a lot of different stories. we here in the text exchanges that the ukrainians read about the hold on the aid, from a story in "politico." they got nervous. what is happening. we are told that they heard about it many weeks earlier. and this is something that would probably have to be nailed down, because one of the defenses that the republicans have offered is how can it be a quid pro quo if the ukrainians did not know that the aide was being held up. but one other point that i want to make it, there were republicans inside that room today. from the key committee. it's not like there were no republicans, i'm not saying that they don't hav

going to want to have republicans cross-examine and ask some basic questions from people like a john ratcliffeicit some truth and balance, and now that the person is being exposed as having all of these complex, that is part of their story. and it should be exposed. >> harris: really quickly, schiff said we don't need the whistle-blower who was on the call to tell us what took place during the call. we have the best evidence. we will move on. congress bidding farewell today as you know to one of the most influential members, maryland congressman elijah cummings. the house oversight committee chairman is the first african-american to lie in state in the capital. in statutory hall today. lawmakers gathering there a short time ago for the arrival of his casket. colleagues from both sides of the political aisle remembering him as a leader and a friend. >> he knew to balance firmness and fairness. he did not speak very often in our caucus meetings, but when he did, it was to bring people together. >> perhaps this place in this country would be better served with a few more unexpected friendships. i

. >> so take a listen to your republican colleague john ratcliff and his reaction to the inspector general's comments today. >> chairman schiff should be disqualified from running an investigation where his committee members or staff are fact witnesses about contact with the whistle-blower and the whistle-blower process. >> so he's referring to a "new york times" story since corroborated and confirmed by chairman schiff which is that the whistle-blower talked to a staffer on the house intelligence committee, somebody on the democratic side and received guidance on how to file his whistle-blower complaint. this is been an issue republicans have been talking about a lot. what is your reaction? >> it is a red herring, jake. the truth of the matter is that whistle-blowers often come directly to the committee. they come to the minority and to the majority to the democrats and the republicans. and seek guidance. we are one of the means by which a whistle-blower can come forward. it is then always referred to the inspector general to make sure that it is properly reviewed and classified. so it is m