all right, rachel scott. on that point, let's bring in george stephanopoulos.e's our chief anchor, and he'll be hosting "this week" later this morning. >> he doesn't need their cash. i think that's an understatement. >> he's going to spend north of $37 million this week alone. the other campaigns are attacking him, they would love to have that financial freedom, but there's a real danger here. jeb bush sort of did the same thing. he raised this war chest, and it bought him little support. >> i have to start off by saying this is unlike anything we have seen before in presidential politics. he's worth at least $50 billion. we have reported he's going to spend in his first week alone, $37 million or $38 million alone. it's probably more than that. what he's trying to do is basically turn march 3rd, super tuesday into a national primary. you're exactly right. does money guarantee support in absolutely not. are there questions about whether michael bloomberg is a real democrat? you'll see those questions raised by other candidates, but i think what he's doing here

>> no, no. >> rachel scott joins us live. outside the block berg bloomberg campaign headquarters in new york city. rachel, the strategy to self-fund his campaign poses an immediate problem with the debates. he won't meet current donor thresholds? >> reporter: that's right. under current rules, he will not be on the stage in december. but next year things could be different. the party says they're open, to changing its rules andry considering after the first of the year and after voters head to the polls. >> rachel, thank you. >>> now to the new headlines about impeachment and rudy giuliani, being repeatedly asked what happens if his top client throws him under the bus. giuliani raising eyebrows with his answer saying he has insurance. abc news learning the house intelligence committee has obtained video and audio from one of rudy giuliani's indicted associates. abc's david wright at the white house. >> reporter: this weekend, the president's lawyer went on fox news to say he's not worried his client might expect him to take t

here is abc news reporter rachel scott with more. >> reporter: the divide over health care deepening the battle of the future of the democratic party. >> 2020 is our time to win the fight for medicare for all so nobody goes bankrupt over health care. >> reporter: senator elizabeth warren still rising in the polls but taking heat over her ten-year plan to pay for medicare for all. how do you convince voters that your health care plan is feasible? >> well, i think we start witllg taxes by one penny on middle class families. >> reporter: but senator bernie sanders, splitting with his progressive rifle on the $20.5 trillion plan, specifically taking issue with her proposal to draw some of the funds from employers. >> i think that tat would probably have a very negative impact on creating those jobs. >> reporter: the senator argued under his medicare for all plan, taxes for the middle class would go up but overall health care costs would go down. >> i think we have a better way, which is a 7.5% payroll tax which is far more, i think, progressive. >> reporter: former pv joe biden labeling

> we have candidates out there that are good, don't need anyone else in the race. >> reporter: rachel scottustice ruth bader ginsburg is back home after being discharged from the hospital. the court spokesperson said she was in the hospital after experiencing chills and a fever. ginsburg was evaluated at a hospital in washington, then transferred to hospital in baltimore. she's at home now and doing well. >>> the public policy institute of california found 85% of californians are concerned about the homeless issue. a majority of those surveyed also backed a proposal that would require cities to provide enough shelter beds for the homeless to sleep indoors. >>> 22 people were killed earlier this year at a walmart in el paso, texas. a 30-foot-tall memorial is made up of pieces that group together to form a massive candle. the grand candela, as it's called, is built on the store's parking lot. >> those who perished and their families will not be forgotten. with this candela memorial, we'll always honor your memory. >> the suspect in the shooting, as you might remember, drove more than ten hour

rachel scott takes a look at some of the democrats hoping to win their party's nomination. >> reporterith the iowa caucuses three months away the candidates are making their case to voters. >> we can have medicare for all without raising taxes one cent on middle-class families. >> reporter: health care continues to be an issue that divides the democrats. >> the only way we're going to provide comprehensive, universal health care in this country, the only way we're going to ugosts is to move to a made care for all single payer system. >> reporter: cory booker is pushing a different method one of unity, saying americans need to unite. >> it is time we get back to sense of common cause, common purpose and understand we are not each other's enemy that the enemy is our division. >> reporter: former vice president joe biden has been an early frontrunner since launching his campaign. >> i feel confident about where we are. i think we'll do here. >> reporter: south bend mayor pete buttigieg has seen a surge in the polls. >> our vision is connecting with iowans. the idea of not just making sure

here is abc news reporter rachel scott. >> reporter: after weeks of closed door testimony the public a first look at some of the transcripts now being publicly released. president trump claims he isn't worried. >> i'm not concerned about anything. the testimony has all been >> reporter: he spoke just hours before house democrats made the decision to release more transcripts from fiona hill an expert on russia and army lieutenant colonel vindman a ukraine expert on the infamous july 25th call between president trump and ukraine's president. in his ten-hour testimony vindman told lawmakers he was disturbed by what he heard on the phone call where trump repeatedly urged ukraine's leader to investigate joe biden and his son. vindman told congressional investigators i did not think it was proper to demand a foreign government investigate a u.s. citizen adding it would underminus us national security. hill in her testimony quoted then national security adviser john bolton as being angry about the involvement of the president's personal lawyer rudy guiliani in ukraine matters. she quoted bo

we begin with rachel scott in cedar rapids, iowa. chel, good morning to you. >> reporter: dan, good morning. yes, election day may be a year out, but the first vote will be cast right here in iowa in less than 100 days for the iowa caucuses. the early frontrunners are hoping the momentum sticks. it is the issue of health care that is defining some of their campaigns and dividing this crowded field. the divide over health care deepening in the battle over the future of the democratic party. >> 2020 is our time to win the fight for medicare for all so nobody goes bankrupt over health care. >> reporter: senator elizabeth warren still rising in the polls, but taking heat over her ten-year plan to pay for medicare for all. how do you convince voters that your health care plan is feasible? >> we start with the fact that we can have medicare for all without raising taxes by one penny on middle class families. >> reporter: but senator bernie sanders splitting with his progressive rival on the $20.5 trillion plan, specifically taking issue wit

here is abc news reporter rachel scott. >> fiona hill warned of the 2016 election. >> i refuse to beg jit mize an alternate narrative that the ukrainian government is an adversary and that the ukraine, not russia, attacked us in 2016. >> that message from hill served as a direct contrast to what the top republican on the intelligence committee said just one day earlier. >> the thing that the democrats have been unwilling to accept is that their operatives got campaign dirt from ukrainians in the 2016 election. >> hill, a former senior white house official who reported directly to former national security adviser john bolton said bolton had serious concerns about the role of the president's personal attorney. >> in the course of that discussion said that rudy giuliani was a hand grenade that was going to blow everyone up. >> several witnesses have painted giuliani as a central figure in an alleged pressure campaign against ukraine, pressure the president has repeatedly denied. diplomat david holmes gave lawmakers his take. >> my clear impression was that the security assistance hold w

. >>> let's head to rachel scott. >>> "glamourhas named you with the rebel award tonight.o what do you think has been the most rebellious thing you've done in your career? >> it's tocool of a title for me. there's nothing rebellious about that. >> charlize got emotional accepting her ard. >> that's why i do all of this, for my girls. jackson and auggie, they are t reason i'll never stop nighting. i'm a mess. you all [ bleep ] me up. >>> now to a little known hollywood bromance between brad pitt and adam sadler. >> we go way back, but what i love most, you have a reputation for being very kind, very honorable. >> can i just say watchingou i'm like thas my buddy? >>he fan boying was next level during "variety studio, actors on actors series." the two bonded over the fact that no matter what they'll always get recognized. >> dude, i put on a dinosaur mask and i got recognized in new york city. >> i was skiing one time, had the helmet on, the dicky up, the goings and i was like this is going to be a fun day. no one is gonna -- literally like 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, hey ad

rachel scott, des moines. >>> coming up on "this week" abc news chief anchor george stephanopoulos goes with democratic presidential candidate mayor pete buttigieg. you can watch the full interview on "this week with george stephanopoulos" at 8:00 right here on abc 7. >>> a mandatory evacuation order has been issued when a southern california man noticed a neighbor had not gotten out. >> henry. henry. get out. >> this footage was captured by marcy's doorbell camera. you can see that neighbor frantically knocking on the door. the hillside fire was closing in on their neighborhood. she says her nay boar had four young kids under 6. she saw how close the fire had come and got her family out quickly. six nearby homes were destroyed. she says firefighters saved her that is one good neighbor. >>> all right. an award winning racehorse dead, another, the 37th horse to die at the santa anita racetrack. mongolian groom was euthanized over a practice to his left hind leg during the breeders' cup classic. four vets were called in before the decision was made to euthanize him. the deaths have prompt

abc's rachel scott is in des moines with more on that. el, good morning to you. >> reporter: whit, good morning to you as well. sources close to beto o'rourke's campaign tell me he was planning on weighing whether to throw in the towel or lay off his campaign staff or throw in the towel. he ended up deciding to end his bid for the presidency telling me he's heading home to continue his fight no longer as a candidate but as an american. >> welcome to iowa! >> reporter: as the democratic primary enters a pivotal stretch the candidates are either marching forward or calling it quits. >> the decision that we made so recently and so reluctantly. >> reporter: just hours before taking the stage at the fund-raising dinner known for boosting campaigns former congressman beto o'rourke made the decision to end his. >> we have to clearly see at this point that we do not have the means to pursue this campaign successfully. >> reporter: some of his supporters emotional. the texas congressman now encouraging them to look at the other candidates in the ra

abc news roir rachel scott has more from des moines, iowa. >> well welcome to iowa. >> as the democraticry enters a pivot alstretch in iowa, the candidates are either marching forward. >> or calling it quits. >> the decision that we made so recently and so reluctantly. >> just hours before taking the stage at the fund raising dinner known for boosting campaigns former congressman beto o'rourke made the decision to end his. >> we have to clearly see at this point that we do not have the means to pursue this campaign successfully. >> some of his supporters emotional. the texas congressman now encouraging them to look at the other candidates in the race. >> i thurj everyone who was part of this campaign or supported me in my bid for the nomination to do everything they can to support whoever the nominee is. >> president trump also on the campaign trail taking one last jab at o'rourke at his rally in mississippi. >> beto. beto. did you hear? beto? poor pathetic guy he was pathetic. >> the rest of the feemd fighting for the chance to take on the president, speaking to 13,000 democrats here in

rachel scott is just back from iowa. >> reporter: with the first vote less than 90 days away, the democratic candidates for president are bracing for a shake-up. billionaire michael bloomberg setting the stage to jump in the race. and the national early front-runner, former vice president joe biden, saying bring it on. >> i have no problem with him getting in the race. in terms of he's running because of me, the last polls that i looked at, i'm pretty far ahead. >> reporter: sources close to bloomberg say he's worried that the current field of candidates won't be able to beat donald trump. and he thinks he can. but progressives are criticizing the former new york city mayor for relying on his immense personal wealth to find a path to the nomination. >> i think that our elections should not be something that are bought by billionaires. >> sorry, you ain't gonna buy this election. >> reporter: this weekend, vermont senator bernie sanders on a multistop swing through iowa. >> hello, iowa! >> reporter: campaigning for the first time with congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez, a key endorsement

here's rachel scott in iowa tonight. >> reporter: tonight, facing criticism from her rivals, elizabeth warren defending her health care plan, challenging critics to release their own proposals. what is your message to your rivals? >> if somebody has a better plan to deal with the $11 trillion, that families will pay over the next ten years, they should put it out. >> reporter: warren claims taxes will not go up for the middle class under her plan. which pulls more than $20.5 trillion in funds for a ten-year period. by calling for new taxes on the wealthiest americans and corporations. asking employers to pitch in, too. >> the math is certainly controversial. there are variations in the estimates in the trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars. and we don't have to go there to deliver health care to everybody. >> reporter: biden's campaign has called the plan mathematical gymnastics. >> you couldn't even get it passed. >> reporter: bernie sanders admits that taxes would go up under his plan. but says overall health care costs will go down. >> i think we have a better way. a 7.5%

rachel scott, abc news, washington. >>> former u.n. ambassador nikki haley is alleging disloyalty among senior aides who worked for president trump, claiming they tried to undermine him and enlist her to oppose some of his policies. >> in her new medical lawyer, haley says former secretary of state rex tillerson and former chief of staff john kelly told her they resisted the president because they were trying to save the country, and she claims tillerson said people would die if trump was unchecked. >> haley said they should have gone to the president with their concerns and quit if they didn't like what he was doing. >> big accusations. >>> you can forget the calendar, because winter has already somehow arrived in the midwest. >> it sure did. this is a live look at detroit where it is snowing. and there's snow overnight from wyoming across to new york state and into the south. >> north dakota's going to be digging out this morning after as much as 8 inches of snow fell. so let's get the complete forecast from accuweather's adam del ro

rachel scott, abc news, capitol hill. >>> the state supreme court unanimously ruled today that presidenttrump will not have to disclose his tax returns to appear on california's primary ballot in march. the court ruled that the law, the first of its kind in the nationunconstitutional. that required them to file copies of personal income tax returns dating back five years. >>> it's a critical time for tom steyer, the bay area billionaire appeared on the stage during the debate in atlanta last night. but he has yet to qualify for next month's debate in los angeles. the 62-year-old told reggie aqui why he got into the race. >> he said from the beginning, this is the most corrupt president in american history. it's a matter of right and wrong. he has to be held to account under the constitution. neither party wanted us to pursue this. but those 8 million people dragged washington, d.c. into public televised hearings which is what we've asked for from the beginning to show the american people how corrupt mr. trump is and to let us make up our own mind about that. running for president for ver

capitol hill to participate in the inquiry, including senator bernie sanders, who sat down with our rachel scottnd i'm there. i guess i'm just going to have to be in washington, d.c., and des moines, iowa, and concord, new hampshire, at the same time. i'll do my best. we'll do what we have to do. >> reporter: but the tone somewhat measured among most of the presidential hopefuls, bracing for potential fallout. >> do you still worry that the public hearings, that the inquiry, is a potential distraction and can hurt democrats politically? >> some things come along and are so important that i don't know what the political consequences of impeachment are going to be, but i know what the moral and constitutional consequences would be if there were no accountability at all. >> impeachment to me has the potential to be a real distraction because any opportunity we have to present a new positive vision for the country is what we should be doing. >> reporter: democrats hope their message can cut through the noise as the president they wish to unseat digs in for a fight. >> i'm not concerned about anythin

capitol hill to participate in the inquiry including senator bernie sanders who sat down with our rachel scott. >> i'll be doing my job when i'm there. i'll have to be in washington, d.c. and des moines, iowa and concord, new hampshire at the same time. i'll do my best. i'm sure, you know, we'll do what we have to do. >> reporter: but the tone somewhat measured among most of the presidential hopefuls bracing for potential fallout. do you still worry that these public hearings, the inquiry is a distraction, and in some way, can hurt democrats politically? >> some things come along that are so important that you have to put the political aside. i don't know what the political consequences of impeachment will be. i know what the moral and constitutional consequences would be if there were no accountability at all. >> impeachment to me has the potential to be a real distraction because any opportunity we have to present a new positive vision for the country, that's what we should be doing. >> reporter: democrats hoping this cuts through the noise. as the president they wish to unseat, digs in for

rachel. >> hi, scott. >> what were you setting out to do in this year-long project?> we wanted to find out who were the big players. how do you find that out from a data perspective? you start with the fiassessor's . one of the wonderful things about having a multi-newsron collaborats we were able to have a team of data reporters from the mercury news, nbc bay area. going into this data, which is prty messy, line by line, cleaning it up, figuring out who owns the mt land. and also who owns the mo. valuable la >> and so obviously stanford university is thll800-pound gohere by far. and how did they acire so much land? >> well it all started with leland stanford, the dad of leland jr. who, of course, whom the university is named after. he was one of the original big four railrd barrens, robert from the guilded age. d addition to purchasing a beautiful knob hill mansion in san francisco, he also developed the country estate that grew and grew overtome the point where finally took over that land. >> that's a loof land. stanford has what i would say a more benign positive

abc's rachel scott has more. >> reporter: a historic vote in the house marking a critical turning pointer: for the first time lawmakers went on the record on their support for the impeachment inquiry. and it was a house divided. >> no one is above the law. >> this congress records more subpoenas than laws, that's the legacy. >> reporter: democrats who hold the majority pushing that impeachment investigation forward without a single vote from republicans. >> there is simply no cause for this impeachment inquiry. >> reporter: the impeachment investigation that has unfolded behind closed doors will now move to public hearings. that resolution will allow president trump and his lawyers to mount their own defense. republicans will have to get democratic agreement to call their own witnesses. >> this is soviet-style rules. >> reporter: house speaker nancy pelosi insists the president is getting due process. >> these rules are fairer than anything that had gone before in terms of an impeachment proceeding. >> reporter: president trump has urged his party to defend his call with ukraine's presi

rachel scott has more from mar-a-lago this morning. el, good morning. >> reporter: tom, good morning. yes, this secret mission was kept under wraps for weeks. it required president trump to sneak out of his mar-a-lago resort here in florida and go off the grid unnoticed for hours. this morning, president trump arriving back in the u.s. after secretly traveling to afghanistan for a thanksgiving day surprise. on air force one, lights out, cabin windows shut. the few white house officials on board stripped of their cell phones. the leader of afghanistan only notified shortly before president trump landed. and as for those thanksgiving tweets you saw on the president's twitter feed, those were scheduled ahead of time. on the ground the president greeting american troops and announcing renewed peace talks with the taliban. >> the taliban wants to make a deal. we'll see if they want to make a deal. it's got to be a real deal but we'll see. >> reporter: negotiations with the taliban have been stalled after president trump suddenly broke off th

rachel: joins us with the school principal who made it all happen. scottell us what was that like to see for the first time in color and explain to us the emotions that came over you. >> when i first saw color, everything kind of like popped and started to like attack me. and then i started crying because i was full of joy and a little bit of sadness because i haven't seen this my whole life. rachel: you said it was sort of you felt like you had missed something. >> yeah. i just -- i wondered why i missed out on this my whole life. ed: jonathan what did you see before the glasses on and what do you see now when the special glasses are on? can you describe for us the two different world? >> without the glasses on, everything dull and mellow and. it's kind of dark. and then when i put them on, everything like pops out and it like it's just amazing. pete: scott, as the principal your job is to want to change lives every day. to be a part of something so specific in that moment, talk to us about why you did this and what it means to you. >> you know, first of