back to kaitlan collins at the white house. kaitlan, what do you know? >> the president just made brief statements on the firing of john bolton as well as john sanchez. the tweet said everything. it said he, meaning the president, did not like a lot of his policies and they disagreed. of course, john, everyone will tell you that is the understatement of the year on just how much the president and john bolton disagreed on things. the question is going to be, why now? because they've gone back and forth on sefrld skpurt policy issues over the years. you have to look at that discussion and then kans keld the leaders at camp david. the national security adviser had been beamed into this meeting that the president had with his national security team the friday before labor day, because bolton was still in europe. he wasn't present at that meeting, and that's the meeting that first came to the idea to host the advisers at camp david. of course he was one of the leading figures pushing back not -- and he has them believing, essentially, that the taliban has got

let's begin this hour with our kaitlan collins who joins us at the white house. good morning, kaitlan. look, i mean, i don't want know who the president is going to call on today, but whoever he does should certainly ask all about this phone call. >> and it's hard to see how the president doesn't get asked about it when he's standing there next to the australian prime minister. and this is something that is really hanging over what you described as, yes, the second state visit of donald trump's protest. something he was tweeting about just moments before he came out to greet the australian prime minister and his delegation here on the south lawn just moments ago. the president accusing this whistleblower of being partisan, though it's unclear if the president knows the identity of this whistleblower who has filed this complaint, knows any of their personal politics. but that's a similar argument to what his attorney, rudy giuliani was saying just last night. not only accusing this person of potentially being a democrat, trying to take down the president, but also

joining us now, kaitlan collins and david gregory. kaitlan raced into the studio with brand new reporting, so i want to get to you first. there's been this notion some suggest the president has made this happen. he's been looking for impeachment all along. but your reporting is huh-uh. >> yesterday the president was getting ready for meetings with foreign leaders. he took the time to place a call with nancy pelosi. they had not escalated to the point they were at yesterday afternoon. they discussed this whistle-blower's complaint. the fact it had been blocked from congress. it's unclear how that call ended. the president thought based on what our sources are telling us that he could cool things down by speaking with her directly. a short while after that call ended, he made the decision to release this transcript. he thinks it could undercut from democrats that he acted inappropriately. even though aides told him do not release this transcript. he made that decision. now they're working out a deal to get this whistle-blower's complaint

our kaitlan collins is at the white house,house, kylie atwood the state house. kaitlan whar kaitlan, what are you hearing? >> after the president's tweet came out, john bolton sent one saying he was not fired, that he offered to resign last night. sources are telling me that president trump and john bolton got in a bitter disagreement last night over the president's decision to host the leaders of the taliban at camp daifvid, a sentiment that the president later scrapped when he announced it on twitter this weekend. that was a bone of contention between the president and john bolton in recent weeks, though we know they were disagreeing on venezuela and north korea, a number of matters in the last couple months. the president was frustrated. there were reports about john bolton pushing back on the president to host those leaders at camp david, a meeting that was largely put together while bolton was not here but instead overseas in europe on a trip. he was having to be beamed in to meetings in the situation room. now you're seeing this pushback between the preside

cnn's kaitlan collins traveling with the president in los angeles. >> reporter: yeah. dave and christine, the president is waking up in los angeles today continuing this west coast tour. it's the final day he'll be over here before he heads back to washington. but something else notable is happening today. that's that back in washington the president's administration and the epa is expected to revoke one of california's signature environmental policies. their ability to institute those tougher tailpipe pollution laws stricter than the federal guidelineses something the president is going to roll back not only to a role to california but a role to his predecessor, barack obama, something the administration has been keeping an eye on, wanting to do for a ill whoo, and now sources say they're expected to do that today. >> kaitlan, thanks. >>> today we're remembering the giant journalist cokie roberts who has died from complications of breast cancer at the age of 75. roberts worked in radio and public broadcasting for more than four decades. she's survived by her husband,

kaitlan collins joins us this morning. well, kaitlan, corey lewandowski coming on to politically leave this effort? >> the white house is essential reeling from the way this has developed. you're seeing that the in the president's twitter feed, lashing out, calling for the chairman of the house intelligence committee to resign, saying adam schiff needs to be investigated, but also going after this whistle-blower, trying to create these credibility questions, saying a lot of what was in their complaint was inaccurate, when actually when you read through that nine-page complaint, a lot of what they said mirrors what was released -- that complaint was filed long before the white house standpoint decided to release the transcript. people that we have spoken with, what we reported a few days ago, is they believe the president is kind of indenialabout the situation he's facing. poppy and jim, we have only heard move of that in the recent days, several voices saying they don't think that the president understands what he is facin

our kaitlan collins is at the u.n. kaitlan, you have learned new details about the president's involvement in freezing that aid. tell us about that. >> reporter: there was real confusion about the timeline that happened here, but we have now learned that actually in the days of that late july call the president had with the president of ukraine where he pushed into that probe of joe biden and his son, that's when they were doing this broad review throughout the administration of all these foreign aid packages, and the president zeroed in specifically on ukraine, which surprised staffers in the administration who said before the president had a general uninterest in engaging with ukraine, even sitting down with the president. all of a sudden he was talking about ukraine, ukraine, ukraine, and accusing them of being corrupt and wasting money. that drew attention, of course. that led to mick mulvaney, the chief of staff, to tell the pentagon to give that aid. there is another reason why he says for that phone call. listen

kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >>> biden is slamming president trump's comments. the former vice president, now the democratic front-runner in the 2020 election was campaigning friday in the pivotal state of iowa. >> wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. not one single credible outlet has given credibility to his assertion, not one single one. so i have no comment. >> let's talk about this story you've got tom homas giff talki you've got us. we appreciate you talking you've got us. president trump supporters will deny it. the president dismisses it. how does this look, a whistle bl blower belowing the whistle on the president. >> there are things we don't know but it could breach proper executive conduct. here we would have a president using his power in the oval office and, in fact, the full force and weight of the u.s. foreign policy to try to compel another country to engage in essentially opposition research on a potential political adversary going into the 2020 election. if that's not problematic, i don't know what is. this could escalate to another ec

let's get right to kaitlan collins. kaitlan, it's interesting timing, obviously, less than two hours before the house democrats meet, the president tweets he's going to release what he claims will be the full transcript of the call with ukraine. >> reporter: yes, jake. the president believes by releasing the transcript is going to prove him right. he didn't say anything inappropriate during the last known phone call with the ukrainian president, and he says that's why he's going to release the unredacted, quote, declassified version of this transcript because he says, quote, you'll see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call where there was no pressure and,his words, no quid pro quo. of course this is going to be released tomorrow, the president says. that's the same day he's set to meet with the ukrainian president here at the united nations summit. releasing this follows an internal fight inside the white house whether or not it should be made public. people like the secretary of state, mike pompeo, were ar

kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. >>> latest check in mobile, alabama.es there. >>> widespread destruction, though, to tell you about in the bahamas. people there are reportedly -- of course many people missing, many people desperate, searching for loved ones. we'll hear from some residents there as "newsroom" continues. to turn their unsold seats into amazing deals, family reunion attendance is up. we're all related! yeah, i see it. and because priceline offers great deals by comparing thousands of prices in real time, sports fans are seeing more away games. various: yeah-h-h! is that safe? oh, y... ahh! not at all. no, ma'am. nope. and more people than ever are enjoying romantic getaways. (romantic music) that's gross priceline. every trip is a big deal. that's gross since you're heading off to dad... i just got a zerowater. but we've always used brita. it's two stage-filter... doesn't compare to zerowater's 5-stage. this meter shows how much stuff, or dissolved solids, gets left behind. our tap water is 220. brita? 110... seriously? but zerowater- let

our kaitlan collins is in fayetteville, north carolina where the president is heading later today, and kaitlan, we're learning that president trump overruled the objections of some key advisers when he planned the taliban meeting in the first place. who did he overrule, do you know? >> reporter: not many people agreed with the president when it came to this, not only on the venue but also on the tactic. as far as the strategy of this, we know that the national security adviser john bolton has thought for some time now that in these peace talks, the taliban was simply having too much leverage here, but he was also someone who disagreed with holding this forum at camp david as well as the vice president mike pence, who they both advised the president that holding this summit with the leaders of the taliban on the week of the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack was not a good idea fr, was not going to good optics, but of course our reporting shows in the end the president overruled those advisers telling the president he shouldn't move forward in that way until, of course, they scrapped

cnn's kaitlan collins traveling with the president. >> reporter: yeah, dave. is spending his final day before heading back to washington. something else is happening. that's back in washington the president and epa is expected to revoke one of california's cigna turn environmental policies. their ability to institute those tougher tailpipe pollution laws stricter than the federal guidelines, something the president is going to roll back not only in a blow to california but also in a blow to his predecessor president barack obama and his environmental legacy, something we've seen the administration keeping an eye on, wanting to do for a while now, and sources say they're expected to follow through with that today. dave and christine? >> kaitlan collins in los angeles. thank you. >>> this morning we're remembering cokie roberts. the legendary journalist died of complications due to breast cancer at the age of 75. she worked for four decades, winning three emmys. back in 1978 cokie joined the upstart national public radio and left her imprint on the network. the

the system will remain too far east. >> that was kaitlan collins reporting.ernor of north carolina has also requested a federal disaster declaration, which will need president trump's approval. if granted, it will need federal assistance. >>> we'll have more on dorian's path, next hour, with live reports from the florida coast. you're watching cnn. do stay with us. this is rick blomquist. his life is pretty comfortable. then, he laid on a serta and realized his life was only just sorta comfortable. i've been living a lie. (laughs) the serta icomfort hybrid mattress. not just sorta comfortable, serta comfortable. my hands are everything to me. but i was diagnosed with dupuytren's contracture. and it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. thought surgery was my only option. turns out i was wrong. so when a hand specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. like you, my hands have a lot more to do. learn more at factsonhand.com today. like you, my hands have a lot more to do. (vo) vfundraising. giving

kaitlan collins is live at the white house. kaitlan, what are we learning. >> reporter: this is significant because for the first time the white house is saying, yes, white house lawyers did direct staff to move that transcript of the president's call with the ukrainenian president from wher they are typically stored to a highly secure area where they aren't typically stored. a cnn white house official said, quote, nfc meeting financial security lawyers directed the white house document be handled appropriately. what you could read into that is there is a national security council luawyer who instriktuct his staff to move this transcript to an area where they're not normally kept, because even though the president is on twitter this morning questioning the credibility of this whistleblower, this backs up a key part of the complaint from the whistleblower. look at the complaint. the white has been dismissing it, saying he's imparting inaccurate information. the whistleblower said, quote, one of the officials said they were direct

cnn's kaitlan collins reports. >>today the president teeing up at his golf course outside washington. as hurricane dorian battered the bahamas and bore down on the u s. >>critics reminding him of this promise he once made to supporters. >>i'm going to be working to you i'm not going to time to go play golf. i'm not going to play much god. >>he also spent the morning attacking the media and a prominent union leader on twitter well read tweeting updates on the storm and the boat fire in california as white house officials insist he was briefed hourly on dorian's movements federal government's and >>after a weekend at camp david the president returned to washington for a briefing at fema's headquarters where he appeared baffled by the storm's intensity, i'm not sure that it never even heard of the 5 minute exists >>even though there have been 4 category 5 hurricanes since he's been in office. >>it's not the first time he's claim surprise about the common term. he said the same thing after hurricane irma in 2017. >>i n

cnn's kaitlan collins is at the white house. what more did we hear from the president earlier about this whistle-blower? >> reporter: the president defending himself how he conducts himself with world leaders which has come under scrutiny. the president didn't offer a lot of details. defends him, disputing certain things alleges he believes the whistle-blower is partisan, when asked how he thinks that, the president didn't provide an answer. >> i don't know the identity. i hear it's a partisan person meaning it comes out from another party. but i don't have -- which conversation? figure it out. you're supposed to be the media. figure it out. it was -- which conversation? >> july 25th with the -- >> i really don't know. i don't know. >> reporter: you see there the president not denying, though, he may have discussed joe biden with the ukrainian president when asked. whenever he said it didn't matter what he discussed. what's coming under question is the white house is maintaining the president did nothing recall. all conversation

kaitlan collins in north carolina for us. the house judiciary committee is now poised to take a key step forward, this week, in its impeachment investigation of president trump. manu raju is on capitol hill for us. lawmakers will vote on a resolution defining the parameters of their impeachment probe. does that mean an inquiry is under way. >> reporter: democrats say it is in fact under way. that there is an impeachment investigation happening and thursday's vote, which will lay out how the hearings take place procedurally in the days and weeks ahead shows they're doing that. investigating whether or not to impeach the president of the united states. i just had a chance to ask the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, whether or not she agrees that they are in impeachment investigation. she wouldn't exactly say. she said they have been investigating for some time, russian interference as well as the president's apparent misconduct while in office. i asked her if she agreed what he said that there are formal impeachment proceedi

. >>> turn to cnn correspondent kaitlan collins with me. you step back from this we have facts, the military aid to ukraine was held up by president trump. we know that president trump and rudy giuliani acting on his behalf were pushing ukraine to investigate his political rivals and now we no the crytranscript that call was put into a computer server. it looks really, really bad. how worried are white house officials? >> reporter: interesting's typically people in the past lived under a drumbeat of impeachment so many times this is the time it will happen and never has. this left people in the west wing shell shocked even in the white house. saying these investigations democrats were doing were over reaching. too much. this prompted a lot of concern inside the white house. especially once the transcript was released. people did not think it was a wise decision and seeing people in the past not concerned really concerned about this and not sure c what the strategy will be moving forward. >> what are you learning about the president's mood s

cnn's kaitlan collins joins me live from the white house with this breaking news. kaitlan, what are we learning? >> reporter: the president today said he did not deny discussing joe biden during the last known phone call with the president of ukraine. a phone call that came at the end of july. but now the "wall street journal" is reporting that during that phone call about eight times the president pressured the cranan president to work with his personal attorney rudy giuliani who you saw on our air last night on a probe looking into joe biden because according to the journal the president told the ukrainian president that people in washington wanted to know if the allegations were true or not. that comes after just hours ago in the oval office the president said he didn't know if it that was phone call that prompted a whistleblower to complain. president trump's second state visit overshadowed today as he faced questions about a whistleblower complaint he made an alarming commitment to a foreign leader. >> it is just another political hack job. that's all it is. >>

and as kaitlan collins reports, president trump is lashing out amid all of this, and promoting the ideahment could lead to civil war. >> this whole thing is a disgrace. >> reporter: while aides wish he would focus on an impeachment strategy, president trump this afternoon is demanding to know the identity of the whistle-blower. >> we're trying to find out about a whistle-blower. when you have a whistle-blower that reports things that were incorrect. >> reporter: he's already raising the idea of arresting the house intelligence chairman for treason. >> he actually took words and made it up. >> reporter: after adam schiff read a fictionalized account of his call with the ukrainian president. >> and by the way, don't call me again. i'll call you when you've done what i asked. >> reporter: but as trump fumes, white house aides fear they've squandered an opportunity to shape public opinion. >> the president is the whistle-blower here. >> reporter: trump is resisting calls to create an impeachment response team or hire new attorneys. >> this is about proving that donald trump was framed by th

let's begin with our white house correspondent kaitlan collins. good morning. >> the president is about to come out here. it's only the second state visit of his entire presidency. the first was with the french. he's going to welcome the australian prime minister and his wife and the delegation here at this welcoming ceremony behind me which is going to include an inspection of the troops, 19-gun salute. all this pomp and circumstance. but what is hanging over this state visit and what the president was tweeting about just minutes before he was scheduled to come out here and greet the australian prime minister is this whistleblower's complaint. the president on twitter this morning was implying this whistleblower is biased and is partisan, even though he provides no basis for why he believes that. and that's similar to an argument that his attorney rudy giuliani was making to chris cuomo just last night. >> did you ask the ukraine to investigate joe biden? >> no, actually, i didn't. i asked the ukraine to investigate the allegations that there was

kaitlan collins is with me now. you've got some more reporting on the president's feeling on impeachment? >> reporter: yeah, so there has been this kind of long-standing assumption that the president wants this impeachment fight because he thinks it's going to help him politically, and there are definitely aids who have argued as much but based on our reporting from the president's reaction to nancy pelosi coming out yesterday announcing she was going to launch this formal impeachment inquiry, that is not what we're hearing the president -- and how he reacted to that. essentially he made this phone call to nancy pelosi yesterday morning, talked about guns for a little bit but really wanted to cut to the chase here as he's hearing growing calls for impeachment from her caucus, many more calls than we had heard previously and he wanted to talk to her about when whistle-blower's complaint. the fact that we called her speaks to the president trying to de-escalate tensions here. he wanted to ward off this clash. he didn'

what's different is the way they approach president trump. >> kaitlan collins, thanks so much.'s chew over all of this. as someone who served in both the state department and the white house, how concerning is it if the national security adviser in the white house and the secretary of state don't have a good working relationship? >> well, in a normal white house, the national security adviser is really the coordinator of the entire national security team, so they're not a person who would be negotiating deals typically or traveling a lot. sometimes they travel a bit, but the break down is a reflection of the dysfunction here, right? so if pompeo and -- if they're not talking at all, if bolton and pompeo are not talking at all, it means they're not having kind of conversations after national security meetings. they're not having phone calls where they're saying where do we go with this? what do you think of this crisis? that's a huge problem. though reading this story, i think what stuck out to me was the fact that the isolation of bolton because pompeo clearly has an in to pres

thank you so much, kaitlan collins. stick around. we'll keep you on the show today. >>> hurricane dorian leaving behind a path of destruction but the monster storm may not be the best example of the climate crisis our planet is facing. we'll explain why next. >>> then, president trump has reportedly encouraged members of his administration to stay at his properties but now vice president mike pence's visit to one of those properties is causing some problems for his boss. stay with us. when crabe stronger...strong, with new nicorette coated ice mint. layered with flavor... it's the first and only coated nicotine lozenge. for an amazing taste... ...that outlasts your craving. new nicorette ice mint. we really pride ourselves on making it easy for you >> tech: at safelite autoglass, to get your windshield fixed. with safelite, you can see exactly when we'll be there. saving you time for what you love most. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ spending time together, sometimes means doing nothing at all. holid

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but be that as it may, kaitlan collins reports for us now, homeland security, the defendant overseeingg chiefs with another top official of that department having just been fired. >> we're going to the border. >> reporter: president trump will close out a fundraising swing on the west coast with a stop at one of his biggest campaign promises. a promise he hasn't fulfilled yet. >> we're going to show you a lot of wall. we're building a lot of wall. >> reporter: despite that claim, no new wall has been built along the southern border as of august. though his administration argues that replacing old barriers with new barriers counts. trump's border tour comes one day after the white house fired the department of homeland security general counsel. he was expected to be pushed out months ago after trump's close adviser stephen miller pushed for him to go during a purge of the department's leadership. but he managed to hang on for several more months. his departure now adds to the revolving door of officials at dhs which critics say there is a void in the department supposed to oversee the n

first our white house correspondent kaitlan collins on the scene in new mexico now. amid this rising tension with iran, president trump getting ready to hold a rally where you are in mexico -- new mexico tonight. >> reporter: that is right. and just before he left the white house to head this way, the president would not rule out a military response to those strikes on the saudi oil facilities, instead leaving that open as an option and when he was just leaving the white house before boarding marine one he was asked if he thought a lethal response would be an appropriate one in this situation and, wolf, the president said he would. tonight president trump is warning he's prepared to take military action as the u.s. builds the case iran was behind strikes on crucial saudi oil facilities. >> that was a very large attack and it could be met with an attack many, many times larger. >> after saying the u.s. was locked and loaded, depending on verification, the white house is placing the blame on iran. while offering no public evidence. >> we pretty much already know. certa

kaitlan collins starts off from the white house. >> reporter: for john bolton, the firing came via twitter as president trump announced today he informed his national security adviser his services are no longer needed at the white house but in a surreal moment 12 minutes later, bolton denied he was fired. tweeting, i offered to resign last night and president trump said let's talk tomorrow. bolton was seen by cnn cameras outside of the west wing this morning. after a source said he got into a bitter disagreement with trump the night before. >> the alternative was the white house and you wouldn't have been happy with that either. >> reporter: they argued over the president's decision to host taliban leaders at camp david, a meeting trump later canceled. >> john bolton's policies don't line up with the president's. >> reporter: bolton's pushback to inviting the taliban on u.s. soil and telling reporters about his feelings after may have been the last straw. with one source telling cnn the leaking is what got him. but in recent weeks bolton found himself isolated from the president, iced out

cnn's kaitlan collins joins us now from the white house.w did we get from those comments wednesday to this tweet tonight where now the focus seems to be on counterfeit products? >> reporter: yeah, getting counterfeit products off the market is a big change from what the president was rolling out there in the oval office, saying they wanted to ban the sales of most of these flavored cigarettes, including mint and methanol. when the president made that announcement, it kind of startled the market because this was something we were told by sources was put together pretty quickly by the white house. they weren't sure what the level of hhs was at the beginning of that proposal being put together. and clearly the first lady, melania trump, who was seated there in the oval office, was heavily involved in this. as the president pointed out multiple times. but also it's a change from what the president was saying just yesterday when he was leaving the white house and was asked what kind of advice he's given his own son about it. he essentially said

here's kaitlan collins. >>and so doesn't affect his presidency.drumbeat of impeachment in the background. president trump is lashing out today. into question the credibility of the whistleblower who is nearly single-handedly put those gears in motion tweeting something more and more or like the so-called whistleblower isn't a whistleblower at. all secondhand information proved to be so inaccurate that's a statement his own aides seem to disagree with what a senior administration official confirmed one of the most explosive pop parts of the complaint acknowledge shane national security counsel lawyer directed staff to move the transcript of his call with the ukrainian president to a highly secure system. the whistleblower says it didn't belong there. and noted this isn't the first time, it's happened as the white house is attempting to sow doubt. >>house speaker nancy pelosi is condemning attorney general bill barr for handling the complaint that named him multiple times i do think the attorney general has gone rogue he has for a long time now sour

kaitlan collins is "outfront" at the white house.rr is a using the president's hotel for his family and to state the obvious, this is not normal. >> the question is it the new normal with aids as you noted brushing off that the vice president is staying there and of course, are the questions about bill barr himself and they are saying this is the first time the vice president has stayed at one of the president's properties when he's not been with the president, but obviously, it is raising the obvious questions about not only ethics but optics. logistics plays a factor because the vice president has several meetings with government officials in dublin, which is hours away if you're driving from where he was going to have these meetings compared to where the president's property is so there is questions about whether or not that was the most ideal place for him to stay when it's taxpayers footing the bill here. now, they are pushing back saying it was the president's suggestion he stay here because the president does often say his pro

kaitlan collins, do you have a second? you're on your phone. jump in as we're getting this information, i understand team biden responded. >> he's got a lengthy statement. read parts of it. he's talking about this transcript really. gotten from the white house, the white house version of this call. he is saying it makes clear and joe biden's word "the president ordered delay of congressional appropriated military assistance to ukraine implored the president to work with his personal attorney to manufacture a smear jens a political opponent and using a malicious conspiracy theory joe biden said is debunk universitily. interesting because of the focus on barr in this transcript. we also learned he planned to involve the united states department of justice in his scheme a direct attack on the core independence of that department and independence is essential to the rule of law. joe biden goes on to say he's not going to just focus on what donald trump is saying about him in these accusations but focus on his campaign, health care, those issues but

his aides are reportedly keeping him briefed on the storm, but as kaitlan collins now reports, the president may need help keeping the facts straight. >> reporter: today the president teeing up at his golf course outside washington as hurricane dorian battered the bahamas and bore down on the u.s. critics reminding him of this promise he once made to supporters. >> i'm going to be working for you. i'm not going to have time to go play golf. i'm not going to be playing much golf. >> reporter: he also spent the morning attacking the media and a prominent union leader on twitter while re-tweeting updates on the storm and the boat fire in california. as white house officials insist, he was briefed hourly on dorian's movements. >> the federal government stands ready to assist. >> reporter: after a weekend at camp david, the president returned to washington for a briefing at fema's headquarters, where he appeared baffled by the storm's intensity. >> i'm not sure that i've ever even heard of a category 5. i knew it existed. >> reporter: even though there have been four category 5 hurricanes since h

sources tell kaitlan collins the president spoke to house speaker nancy pelosi to try to cool things down before she even announced the impeachment inquiry. that gets to his state of mind. there are developments we're waiting on at this moment, just how important remains to be seen. remember, this all centers around accusations that the president and his personal attorney pressured a foreign country to investigate a political opponent, joe biden. some of which both men, the president and giuliani, have admitted to. in a matter of hours, the president claims we'll see a transcript of his call with the president of ukraine. will we get the transcript? how much of it, through what filter? that remains to be seen. two sources also tell cnn, the white house plans to turn over the whistleblower complaint against the president to congress as early as today. that, too, is in the white house hands right now, so what filter will that go through? house intelligence chair adam schiff confirms the whistleblower has asked to speak to congress directly. >> there's also new reporting about the role

alabama's own kaitlan collins, thank you so much. appreciate it.ou wrote an entire book about this, about how president trump gaslights the american people. look, no one disputes that a week ago there were some projections that showed a possible slight affect on a small sliver of alabama. the point is that on sunday, by the time he started warning alabama, those were outdate and the projections no longer said alabama was in the zone, as the national weather service a few minutes later said so. why is he doing this? >> i think all of this is done in service to his ego. he wants to constantly present himself as this chosen one, once in a lifetime president who can only defeat the most historic threats we've ever faced, right? so if he has the chance to hype the storm as something bigger than it is, of course he will do so, even if he has to take out a sharpie and extend the map westward. >> we don't know for a fact that he did that -- >> it definitely wasn't the guy with the sharpie on his desk, okay. >> on other occasions, he hyped the humanitarian

let's get to cnn correspondent kaitlan collins traveling with the president in new york. and kaitlan, not surprising the white house is trying to say nothing to see her but there certainly is. >> reporter: yeah, this is not the reaction the white house was expecting. they thought they would put out this transcript and it would prove the president didn't say anything inappropriate tieing military aid to the biden family and potential investigations instead in the president's own words people are -- can read not only did he bring up joe biden but he also told the ukrainian president to be in touch with the u.s. attorney general and his personal attorney on potential corruption investigations. he pushed a theory about stolen emails from 2016 tieing that to military aid immediately after the ukrainian president brought it up and it is also raising questions about the conduct of his attorney general now that people are learning that this was actually -- had a criminal referral that the justice department dismissed and said they weren't going to start an investigation into it. s

cnn's kaitlan collins breaks down bolton's exit. >>well john bolton, the firing came via twitter as president trump announced today he informed his national security adviser, his services are no longer needed at the white house. but in a surreal moment, 12 minutes later bowl and denied he was fired with tweeting i offered to resign last night and president trump said let's talk tomorrow. bolton was seen by cnn cameras outside the west wing this morning. >>after sources said he got into a bitter disagreement with trump the night before the alternative was the white house and you would have been happy with that either they argued over the president's decision to host taliban leaders at camp david. >>a meeting trump later canceled john bolton's. >>priorities and policies just don't line up with the president's push back to inviting the taliban on us soil and allegedly telling reporters about his feelings after. >>may have been the last straw all with one source telling cnn billy king is what got him to ran. recent weeks bolton, it foun

and kaitlan collins, white house correspoent for cnn. let's begin with speaker pelosi decision.is what t she saidrsday. >> it's a sad week for our country. very prayerfully andate oticly, we had to -- pat patrioticaey, we had to c to a decision to move forward with an impeachment inquiry of the president of tf united states. this is nothing that we take lightly. we wanted to have a fuller understanding of the facts. >> why was this complaint the breaking point for house democrats? nancy, you've been ohipitolpi all week. i've seen you in the hallways. why now? for speake pelosi? >> a couple of reasons. number one, this complaint, this ise, democrats feel, is easier for the america public to unrstandhan the russia issue. it goes to the hrt of t president's actions, wreas the mueller investigigion that we all lived through for two years had to do with a lot of people around t president, layers removed from the president. this was theredent himself in a phone call wit the t.rainian presiden also, with holding military aid and that gets to the heartf national securityoreignng affairs

kaitlan collins? >> can i point out that we're going to hear in the coming hours and days from allies of the white house that the president doesn't make an explicit ask about aid here and the investigation into joe biden, but if you are reading between the lines on page 2 at the end the russian -- excuse me. the ukrainian president says to the president, i would also like to thank you for your great support in the area of defense. that means aid, military aid. that's what this aid package was that just days before this call the president had instructed mick mulvaney to tell the pentagon to freeze while they're reviewing it. zelensky said, i would like to thank you for your great support in the area of defense. the next thing -- >> just read the next sentence. read the next sentence. >> let me make the point. >> i'm sorry. i apologize. >> the next line from donald trump is, i would like you to do us a favor though. >> i'm going to read it -- >> it is not explicit but it is an implicit ask from the pres

. >> let's get straight to new york and cnn's kaitlan collins. kaitlan, our white house team has some new reporting right now about the transcript of this phone call. what can you tell us? >> reporter: yeah, dana, we're told right now there are conversations happening inside the white house about whether or not they should release this transcript because some people are arguing that, yes, it could just help dispel some of the drama around it as they are maintaining the president didn't say anything inappropriate during that late july phone call with the president of ukraine. but others are pushing back, saying they released one transcript of his call with the world leader that then it's going to lead to a flurry of other requests from lawmakers, some democratic lawmakers wanting to know what he says when he's on the phone with vladimir putin and other world leaders they have questions about. that is the conversation happening right now about the transcript. there are also conversations about whether or not they're going to release this whistleblow

kaitlan collins is in new york following the president there at the u.n. general assembly. what are you hearing, kaitlan? >> reporter: clearly this has followed the president here to new york. it's kind of overshadowing a lot of meetings. right off the bat as the president arrived here at the united nations head kwauquarteq that was something he was asked about immediately. there is a question whether this will change democrats' minds, because some of them were arguing that this on its own was incriminating. the president was asked about that earlier today, brianna, and this is how he responded. >> how seriously are you taking the whistleblower comment? >> not very seriously. i had a personal phone call with the president of ukraine. everybody knows it. it's just a democratic witch hunt. here we go again. they failed with russia, they failed with the recession, they failed with everything. >> are you willing to clear this up by releasing the whistleblower report, sir? >> no. >> reporter: right at the end, trump was asked, will you release this whistleblower complaint asm man

let's go to kaitlan collins at the united nations. this ukraine talk has overshadowed the day. >> reporter: a lot of it has to do with president trump who brought it up as soon as he stepped on u.n. headquarters, going after the former vice president, saying he didn't pressure ukraine but saying it would have been okay if he had. >> the world stage overshadowed tonight with questions about his conduct during a phone call with a foreign leader. >> we had a perfect phone call with the president of ukraine. >> trump insists he didn't cross the line over the president of ukraine. >>, he questioned ukraine to investigate his political rival. though trumpl is formally accusing him tied to his son's job. biden says trump is abusing his power to smear him and should release the transcript. >> donald trump is doing this because he knows i'll beat him like a drum. >> trump's readmission has reunited democratic calls on capitol hill for his impeachment, warnings trump dismissed today. >> it's just a democratic here we go again. >> you can clear

kaitlan collins joins us now from the white house. >> reporter: they're touting this as a big win becauseurse they had a pretty big presence here at the end of this race with not only the president traveling to north carolina on monday but also the vice president there during that rally trying to get dan bishop over the line. the president is touting it so much as a win that his campaign went as far as to hold a call this morning talking about how the president was the one who really helped pull dan bishop over the line. of course, even though they are touting this as a win, you've got to look at the fact that this is a district that hasn't been held by a democrat in decades. yet it was closely contested in this race and even some white house officials the day of voting yesterday weren't so sure if it was going to go in their t favor. now they're touting it as this win. one thing they are looking at behind the scenes here is the number of suburban voters who voted for the democrat in this race and his appeal to them because of course that's a larger concern that president trump has going

. >> cnn's kaitlan collins at the white house. kaitlan, there are so many questions we're all trying to answer and dots trying to connect. what else did we get out of that moment with the president earlier? >> reporter: you're seeing the president's second state visit overshadowed by this whistle-blower's complaint as the president defends himself against it and he believes it's a political hunt against him he admitted while the whistle-blower is partisan he doesn't know who it is and hasn't read this complaint though says his staff has seen it and made them laugh though he didn't detail what was in the complaint that made them react that way and the president also doesn't recall which conversation it is that he had, if it is a conversation he had with the ukraine ian president that led to this whistle-blower's complaint, what was so alarming they needed to file a complaint against it. the president did not deny the fact he brought up joe biden during his last conversation with the ukrainian the oval off >> it doesn't matter what i

kaitlan collins is at the white house for us. when you look at tweet after tweet after tweet. is this indicative of how the white house plans to fight this? >> so far if seems to be what president trump thinks is a good idea. as you noted multiple times, what we're hearing from people who work here at the white house and the president's allies outside the white house, they think they've squandered these last six days since nancy pelosi launched this formal inquiry, they squandered that opportunity to really shape the public opinion in their favor. a lot of that has to do with the president is resisting calls to be aggressive here, to mount this defense by one saying he doesn't want to form this impeachment response team, a lot of allies think will help, you saw how the lawmakers were defending the president yesterday. that did little to tamp down the scrutiny of the president's call with the ukrainian president. the president is saying he doesn't need to hire any new lawyers. rudy giuliani is doing a fine job as you've seen him on cable news appearance to cable news appearance

. >>> with necessary, kaitlan collins, paul kane with the "washington post," and the "wall street journal." i get the sense from my in box this morning that everybody realizes this is real. the tone has changed in the last 48 hours. manu mentions these subpoenas. paul, i want to start with you in the sense that i lived through the last impeachment. there are big names here. will they subpoena mike pompeo? will they get rudy giuliani in the chair? but if you're building a case, or what impeachment is is a political trial, sometimes it's the impeachment we don't know much about publicly who will give you the clues, if you will, the crumbs, if you will. the ambassador and kurt volcker, democrats believe, can take us beyond the president's call. they believe this was going on weeks and months in advance and that the former ambassador and the former special envoy know all the critical pieces, a, about what rudy giuliani was doing, and b, how much government resources went into this. >> absolutely. they played a role into hearing from the state department, hearing from rudy giuliani who wants t

kaitlan collins is there in new york. on this topic of religious freedom. the president said he wanted the public to see the calls transcript, is he changing his mind? >> he seems to be wavering on it, he's gone back and forth over whether or not that transcript should be released. there was no wrongdoing or inappropriate conversations during that call. just a few moments ago, the president talked about this topic, and he seemed to be echoing what we heard from aids. they're worried if they did release this transcript, it could lead to them being forced to release a slew of others. >> you could authorize the release of the transcript. >> i could do it easily. but i'd rather not do it. i may do it. we had a nice call. it was a congratulatory call. he had had just won. >> now, brooke, as they're wrestling with whether they should release the transcript, they should release the transcripts. they say it's not gone so far. people have gone back and forth over that saying, it's the law. you have to release this complaint. as it's going on, the president is insist

kaitlan collins is in north carolina, getting ready for the president there, give us the details. any staff members for the president. the vice president, mike pennsylvania john bolton, neither wanted to see the taliban at camp david. >> reporter: the white house is facing backlash, the idea that they were planning on hosting the leaders of the taliban at camp david, you're seeing push back from people like liz cheney, several other republicans as well, but some of that resistance was also coming from inside the white house, including from the vice president mike pence who advised the president he didn't think it was a good idea to host them on u.s. soil the week of the 9/11 anniversary. the national security adviser also pushed back on the venue location, but we should note that as a lot of this planning was going on, they were overseas, and the national security adviser was also not in washington as these discussions were going on. the president announced they scrapped them. it was the president himself who pushed for the meeting to be in camp david and for the meeting to happen

. >> kaitlan collins, thank you for that reporting. bring in chief white house correspondent dana bash. you could see this coming. >> from a mile away. >> if the vice president did this. you heard kaitlan, other cabinet members had these suggestions and don't take them. why did he? >> he has argued, as kaitlan mentioned, and his staff has argued this particular town is important to him. that's where his family is from, which is why he, the vice president, brought his mother and other family members on this trip. but, you're right. you could smell the controversy from a mile away, or 181 miles away, as it were. that's how far this resort is from dublin. it might not be as big a story, had this not been a pattern, a pattern of the president going to his own golf courses, own golf clubs, hundreds of times now during his presidency, but more importantly, on this particular issue, it's taxpayer dollars, right? it's what we pay to help facilitate government officials' trips and so forth. that is really the question. that is really the key. a