counsel and steve castor and i would say law school i'm familiar with steve steve by extension as representing the g.o.p. but really donald trump's interest i wouldn't want to be steve castor and i've heard people say on social media he's done a bad job the truth is he has a bad case and that's a bad job to have fact of the matter is i wouldn't want to defend trump or the g.o.p. in this instance because the facts aren't on their side for. so we have still have unanswered questions in your mind or not of course we have unanswered questions we have a number of witnesses who have not testified namely mick mulvaney the chief of staff who went on camera days after this came to light and said there's a quid pro quo and quid pro quos happen all the time he needs to testify he walked back that testimony he needs to testify i think we also need to hear from my pump alle the secretary of state i think we need to hear ultimately from rudy giuliani who is at the center of all of this so the truth of the matter is the people who we need to hear from most of the people that donald trump is preventing from c

guest: there will mostly be a man by the name of steve castor. he is congressman jordan's chief investigator to counsel -- investigative council. he has now shared staff, so when counsel -- congress been jordan was brought over, they brought steve over. congressman nunez is expected to yield much of his time. thereyou said mostly, is another lawyer that could do questioning? guest: during the deposition phase, other lawyers on different committees have asked questions including the foreign affairs committee. the foreign affairs committee will not be involved in the public hearings, is basically just going to be the intelligence committee and whatever shared staff is brought on. almost all ofally the time in terms of the staff lawyers on the republican side to mr. castor. host: republicans insisted that other witnesses, the witnesses that they would like to hear from get called before the committee, one being the whistleblower, others being hunter biden. any indication that that will happen? guest: there are a couple of people i can see democrats v

former federal prosecutors in the southern district of new york and then on the republican side steve castor, jim jordan chief investigative counsel for the house oversight committee and, of course, mr. jordan was added in part because of the tough questioning he asked on wednesday. more of that again on friday. capitol police line outside and inside 1100 of the longworth house office building. a reminder this hearing is also streamed on the web@c-span.org, on our youtube and facebook page as well as on our free c-span radio app. you can listen to it throughout the day live on c-span radio. our coverage is getting underway in 45 minutes. we will continue to give a sense of what it is like inside the room as the hearing gets underway in 45 minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible c

this afternoon, she had to go through 45 minutes of questioning by devin nunes and by steve castor, his lawyer for the republicans who are going to try to poke holes in her argument and also david holmes. this was they fiona hill show. i think before it was over, republicans realized they shouldn't really try to mess around with this witness. at one point, steve castor -- i was not sure whether he was trying to say sondland is a kook or you are in a possible bureaucrat, but said you and sondland didn't get along, did you? as you pointed out, she said, no, that's true, we didn't get along. at one point, we fought a few times. she said i watch what he said yesterday and understood. i would now cut gordon sondland a break, because he was involved in a domestic political errand, which is an interesting choice of words. we were involved in national security policy. most tellingly, she said that it one point she's had to gordon sondland during one of their disagreements, i think, gordon, that this is all going to blow up. and she felt that this was not the result of that, that we had a policy

counsel, steve castor, questioning gordon sondland's memory. saying he has no records, no notes, no recollection, calling that a "trifecta of unreliability." but the ambassador saying one of the reasons he doesn't is because the state department and the white house is not giving them access to all of his notes and call records. this all centers around president trump, what he did or didn't say to his aides and advisors. while this was happening, president trump, on his way to austin, texas, for a visit to apple out there, stopped by reporters with what he doesn't usually have -- a written note pad on comments about this very thing. on the south lawn of the white house, let's listen in. >> president trump: i'm going to go very quickly, just a quick comment on what is going on in terms of testimony with ambassador sondland. i just noticed one thing, and i would say that means it's all over. what do you want from ukraine? he asks me. screaming. "what do you want from ukraine?" "i keep hearing all these different ideas and theories. this is ambassa

i know steve castor from my time at the fbi when he was can the committee and we had some dealings togetherent guy. let's face it, castor doesn't have a case. right? he's trying to defend the indefensible in many respects so he doesn't have much to work with. i think that came through today. >> hmm. so, abby, some republicans were not happy with castor's performance. do you -- are they going to do anything about it? are they -- i mean, you know, as greg's saying, if it's about the case, it may be about that more than the lawyer. >> you know, this reminds me of the brett kavanaugh hearings when there was sort of independei independent person doing the questioning and republicans wsht hap warrant hap weren't hawpe how she questioned brett cavanaugh's accuser. i wouldn't be surprised if there was rethinking of the strategy here. republicans were not happy with the lack of what seemed be drive in his questioning. and i think that that is something that he can fix certainly, but it's hard as greg pointed out when there's not much of a case there. there's not much for him to drive at. >> and, jim

and steve castor is on the other side.se guys are described as no nonsense, just the facts, ma'am. tell us what you know. >> adam schiff who's the committee chair, he's going to give him time. dan goldman, i know him personally. i worked with him hand and hand. we tried a mafia murder case against the boss. a five -murder case against three defendants. steven castor, he's a longtime congressional aide. >> these two guys get 45 minutes to begin the questioning? >> exactly. each side gets 45 minutes. i expect those two attorneys to do the questioning. both gave lengthy testimony. they testified for hours each. what we're going to see is a best of greatest hits where the attorneys are going to boil down the most important things, and watch for this stylistic difference. when the democrats are questioning, it's going to be open-ended. what did you do next, why doid you do that. when the republicans question, it will be closed-ended situations, and you did this, and why did you. >> there will also be a moment where as we have s

then it will be kicked over to the republican side, and that's steve castor, the attorney for jim jordantop republican. castor will be asking those questions for about a 45-minute round. then we'll get into the five-minute rounds of questioning from member, from member to ask those questions. so expect this to be a lot different to how we've seen impeachment hearings in the past because democrats hope that they'll be able to draw out this narrative for 45-minute question and answer session. allow these witnesses to get into real detail about what they witnessed and what they saw and republicans hope that their 45-minute round will allow them to push back. wolf? >> it's going to be very significant. manu, we'll get back to you, especially as the witnesses arrive and members arrive as well. gloria, this process, daniel goldman, the house intelligence committee's director of investigations, former u.s. assistant attorney, he's going to be focusing in on these two witnesses, getting them to say said in closed door sworn eady - depositions that there was this so-called quid pro quo, that the

but we will see what the republicans, particularly their lead counsel, steve castor, are able to achieve. >> bret: we spent a lot of time talking about the president's tweet and the fact that adam schiff read that tweet, and all the fallout from that. mark levan, clearly supported, has tweeted "but for schiff reading it out loud to the witness, she wouldn't have known about it in real time. if schiff was in fact worried about intimidation, why did he read it to her?" obviously he read it to her for political impact. you had eric swalwell on, martha, earlier. he was saying it might be about other witnesses that can come forward. the key point is that republicans are saying they are not getting their witnesses. they have three of them, but they are not getting all of the witnesses they've asked for, including the whistleblower. and republicans, andy mccarthy, are saying democrats are in search of a smoking gun. and this witness, while compelling and sympathetic, is not a smoking gun on the charge of bribery that they are going down. >> no, i don't think she advances the ball on the bribery

one, i think that steve castor fellow is doing us no favors. and, two, jeff reepsterey epsted himself. back to you. >> kathleen is on the democrats line. >> yes, sir. this is so disturbing what is going on right now in this country. trump was impeachable if he was even president. russia, if you're listening do this for me and then when you kept saying and repeating himself over and over again, i have so much money. i have so much money. oh, man, do i have a lot of money. i start to think, right, that these people that defend him so much, they're getting paid off! when they talk and defend him, it's like a chicken with their heads cut off. none of it is making sense. so i'm wondering, why would he say that over and over again? i have so much money. you know? i mean, did he -- is he paying people off to back him up to protect him no matter what he does, what he says? it's a very sad time for our country. thank you for listening, carry. >> grantville, ohio, this is the independent line. >> this was amazing. this was what we needed to hear. america

republican steve castor a solid defense of president trump and making his case against the radical left'schment theatrics. president trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani in a wall street open said dispelling the phoney claims about a quid pro quo writing this, mr. trump offered nothing to you a crane in return tore cleaning up -- nothing to ukraine for cleaning up corruption. if you doubt me, read the transcript. i have and he's right. a report that i.g. michael horowitz is getting ready to release his report on the russia interest force investigation. if it is released it would conclude a 20-month long process. acting ambassador to ukraine william taylor today seemed at times dismayed when discussing special envoy to ukraine kurt volker's allegiance to the united states. >> we have ambassador koa -- am, a man of unquestioned integrity. >> that correct. >> somebody with incredible knowledge of the region. >> very good knowledge. >> and the best interests of the united states. >> i'm sure that's right. >> and the best interests of ukraine. >> his first priority is clearly the united st

while steve castor asked, did anyone bring concerns to you that he may have leaked something? and morrison answers, yes. this all goes to withholding sensitive information and leaking perhaps sensitive or secret information. what about this? >> it's a serious problem for adam schiff and his group of cohorts out there. obvious -- it appears to me that they didn't really vent their witnesses carefully in terms of the credibility of their witnesses. they apparently thought that simply trotting out a military officer with all sorts of ribbons on his chest would be sufficient to grant unquestioned credibility to the witness. well, that's not the case. even though she this is not a legal proceeding, it is a proceeding in which the other side, the republicans have some ability to delve into an attack on the credibility of the witnesses that the democrats bring forward and apparently, vindman has some problems in that regard. >> i think that would be a mistake for the democrats and republicans to do. vindman has a very distinguished career, a terrific background, and i think you can p

for the democrats, their counsel is daniel goldman and the republicans, it is steve castor.here will be more rounds of extended questioning as the hearing is expected to go until around 4:00 p.m. eastern time. c-span has 7 cameras to get all the different angles of today's hearing. we have been designated the pool for the hearings on capitol hill meaning we will be sending from the seven different cameras individual feeds to the networks and they will decide how they show you the room. we will do that as well and you can watch our gavel-to-gavel coverage on interrupted, no commentary, no filters at 10:00 a.m. on c-span 3. host: you can follow along on our radio app. if you are going to be out at about, go to the store that supports your device and download that. we invite you to go to the impeachment inquiry section of our website. not only will you see proceedings taking place, but everything that has led up to this point. you can find that available at c-span.org. we will re-air this hearing at 8:00 tonight. you can see that on c-span 2. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748

staff attorney and guy at the gym judging how much you can squat, steve castor.seemed to have a clear strategy-- keep bringing up a bunch of insane debunked republican conspiracy theories. >> in the information published by sergey luschenko about the manafot black ledgers in august of 2016, i mean, the very day that was published, mr. manafort resigned from the campaign, correct? >> i don't know, mr. castor. >> but certainly that gives rise to some concerns that the ukraine establishment were out to get the president, and that is a very reasonable belief of his, correct? >> i-- i don't know. i don't know, sir. mr. castor, i don't know. >> stephen (as lawyer): "mr. taylor, can you verify where barack obama was born? is hillary clinton her own stunt double? was hunter biden paid $50,000 a month by burisma to spray the chem trails that are turning my dog gay? why else is my dog humping my leg, sir!" correct? ( laughter ) in a follow-up question, castor tried to clarify-- kind of. it wasn't really clear. >> the runup to the 2016 election, there's many facts that rema

what can you tell us about what we can expect from him and if you can weigh in on steve castor doing the questioning on the republican side. >> so i expect dan goldman to take a prosecutorial approach tomorrow. he only has 45 minutes. that's way longer than we're used to seeing. longer than the five-minute snippets with corey lewandowski. but it's still not much time. the depositions ran eight, ten hours each. he'll go v have to go right for jugular. a good prosecutor knows when you have a good witness, and these witnesses, taylor and yovanovitch, are going to be friendly to house democrats. so the focus should be on the witness, not the questioner. the other individual i don't know but from all impressions that i've heard, he's an experienced and capable questioner as well. so it should be capable people both ways. >> it's interesting that they are handing this over to the lawyers because they want to focus the questions as best they can. frank bowman, if i can go to you. you listen to manu raju's reporting about a key part of the gop strategy here for instance on bill taylor is to

. >> so lead republican council steve castor pressed lieutenant colonel vindman about an offer he had received to take a division agency defense minister in ukraine. it was a line of questioning designed to raise doubts about the colonel's allegiance to this country. >> did mr. danyliuk offer you a position of defense minister with the ukrainian government. >> he did, every single time i dismissed it. upon returning, i notified my chain of command. i'm an american. i came here when i was a toddler and i needed dismissed these offers did not entertain them. the whole notion is rather comical. >> rather significant that the ukrainians offered you the post as defense minister. did you ever think that possibly if this information got out that it might create at least a perception of a conflict? >> it's much more important what my civilian white house national security council chain of command thinks more so than anybody else. and frankly, if they were concerned about me being able to continue my duties they would have brought that to my attention. >> so, the theory about vindman who is a

. >> reporter: the panel's republican lawyer, steve castor, established that unlike others who have testifiedu.s. envoy to ukraine kurt volker and former nsc aide tim morrison, did not view the july 25th call as problematic. >> -- asked you if the deposition that it in no way shape or form, in either readouts from the united states or ukraine, did you receive any indication whatsoever or anything that resembled a quid pro quo. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> did anything concern you on the call? >> no. >> morrison also taking issue with vindman's interpretation of the july 25th call. >> sir, i'm not intimately familiar with the whistle-blower complaint, but i did not hear a demand in that call. >> reporter: and in another key moment, volker amended his earlier testimony behind closed doors, in which he said the issue of investigations didn't come up in a july 10th meeting with top u.s. and ukrainian officials. volker explaining -- >> since these events and since i gave my testimony on october 3rd, a great deal of additional information and perspectives have come to light. i've learned

the democratic attorney and the republican attorney dan goldman on the house democratic side, steve castor on the house republican side. part of the reason why they want to do this is so get into the substance, the meat of what has happened in this -- throughout their investigation, what bill taylor has to say. oftentimes those five-minute round of questioning does not lead to that. a lot of members give speeches instead. we'll see how the staff members do at drawing out information from these key witnesses. >> some of them ask long questions. we have experience on that. so house gop, they released their defense on impeachment. and one interesting point is they're trying to zero in on whether these witnesses really knew what the president wanted or intended here. of course we should note at the same time the president has prevented witnesses who would know that from testifying at all. tell us how they plan to make that argument. >> reporter: bill taylor is testifying tomorrow, he testified that he had been told by the ambassador of the european union that president trump had withheld every

now you have at these hearings both daniel goldman for the majority, steve castor for the republicaninority. they've been in the spotlight with varying degrees of success during these initial questioning sessions. what are you going to be watching for from both of these men specifically? >> i think as ned mentioned, what dan goldman did so effectively last week i think is in a very workmanlike fashion is hit some of the highlights presented in the deposition testimony and really let the words come out of the witnesses' mouths themselves. the one to watch is gordon sondland who might be more of a hostile witness. we'll have to wait and see. >> we've got a lot of tv viewing this week. thank you. appreciate it. >>> coming up, pete the one to beat? mayor pete buttigieg surging to the top of the democratic pack in iowa but he is the party's best bet to beat president trump. e party's best bet to beat president trump. when you move homes, you move more than just yourself. that's why xfinity has made taking your internet and tv with you a breeze. really? yup. you can transfer your service o

and then questions from the republican counsel steve castor. much different than the way congressional hearings go where each member gets five minutes of questions. that will occur after the counsels themselves question but, wolf, this is just again, the beginning of a significant round of public hearings that will take place and will set the course for the democrats who are moving very quickly in deciding whether to impeach the president which will be the third time in american history if they go that route, wolf. >> this is, once again, an historic moment right now. manu, we'll get back to you. thank you very much. later today, lawmakers will also hear from the u.s. diplomat who says he overheard that cell phone conversation where president trump asked the u.s. ambassador to the eu gordon sondland about the status of ukraine's, quote, investigations. david holmes, a career foreign service officer, will testify behind closed doors. kylie atwood is here with me watching all of this unfold. what do we know, first of all, about this diplomat? >>

that's daniel goldman on the democratic side, steve castor, republican counsel for the republicans. i can tell you about goldman. former prosecutor with the southern district of new york. castor from the house oversight committee brought over specifically for this. and, kate, i'm going to send it back to you, but goes without saying, the members will also get to ask questions, 12 democrats on the left, five minutes each. eight republicans on the right, five minutes each. kate. >> fascinating. thank you, renee. knowing where it's going to begin is an important part and how it's going to all unravel from there on, we have to wait and see. >>> joining me now, michael allen, a former staffer under george w. bush, also a staffer for the house committee, the committee we're talking about just now that's going to be presiding over this hearing. and kaitlan collins, cnn white house correspondent. michael, let me start with you. how does this format change how this is going to play out, not five minutes back and foth, back and forth, but rather these big chunks of time for either side and th

steve castor is the house oversight chief. he works for jim jordan who is part of the intelligence committee. so this will look different on its face. why does that matter? >> it's going to look so much different than any of the hear,s we've seen. the corey lewandowski, robert mueller. it's not going to be these five-minute increments where you see lawmakers giving their take on everything, not really asking questions. that's when staff does the questioning. sometimes you see these hearings are much more effective at getting at the point because members of congress on each side of not especially talented at this. >> a little grandstanding. >> the president himself has been frustrated by. and he's not just watching the points of the democrats here, what the witnesses are saying. he's also watching the republicans to see how they're defending him on this call. it will be interesting what route they take here if they focus on the president, the procedure, it's going to look a lot different because it's going to be these large chu

this place and in the when news like thousands, i was i'm going to do given the keys car dealer steve castor of hayward is describing the moments that a homicide suspect tried to carjack him. >>all while he was in the midst of trying to sell this minivan motors in hayward. >>is open it up somebody grab my arm and i thought it was a customer. the phone i looked to the side of some weird you should honor me that suspect can be seen in this grainy cell phone video shot after the fight broke out. >>he was shirtless through it all which is part of what matched him to the description of the man seen leaving the south they were bart station a short time earlier. castro says the keys slipped out of his hand up to the man initially grabbed him that man then grabbed the keys but castro was not about to let him drive away. >>you know she rangers, surge fighting with some sort of him too. couple times and we've got to know street analysts some of the car stopped car stopped the train jumped into the guy's car. carjack you but this fight did not end there. >>castro still didn't have the keys to his van a

go, and opening statements will be from the southern district of new york, daniel goldman, and steve castor from the house oversight panel on who moved over to intelligence and they'll have 90 minutes and then the committee members will each get give minutes to question the witnesses. sophia, you were there for the last time there were public impeachment hearings. what do you make of this layout tomorrow and what do democrats need to do to have this not backfire on them. first and foremost, we all need a collective deep breath. when the founders designed impeachment, it was a device to remove a rogue executive. it was not meant to be this partisan football. so the first thing that the democrats will want to do tomorrow is to establish the seriousness of the underlying act which is whether or not the president engaged in a quid pro quo and they'll do that with mr. taylor's testimony and other testimony, and of course, the republicans will have their turn, and if they're smart, erin, they're not going to go wild and not going to go on this name calling and demeaning like other hearings and th

steve castor may do some of the questioning for republicans. it's interesting these are the two people who may be more important than the committee members theps, which is what the democrats want. >> democrats discovered in those two other hearings the painful nature for what they were trying to do of having not just members of congress ask these questions who are notoriously in both parties not great at asking these kinds of question in hearings in terms of eliciting the answer they want, but also this five minute rule they had in place, i think they found it was stunting in terms of the information they could get. so i think you see them really trying to do this differently. i think they know that they've got one shot to sway public opinion beyond where it is now and it's this week. >> and it's important that it not look like a circus. >> it may still look like a circus, but at least for if they're actually getting information people haven't heard, if they're making a compelling case, that's really where they're going. >> that has been the wh

. >> sean: steve castor, the attorney representing the house republicans, who you saw in that clip, did a fantastic job cutting through the b.s. a lot of moments that hope and got us to the truth. so did many republican stars on the intel committee. great day for jim jordan, devin nunes, ratcliffe, mark meadows outside of the hearing, a beat down at the media that they deserve. democrats now look stupid and the mob and the media grabbing at straws. a nightmare for nancy pelosi. she's not even having a press conference with the compromised schiff. watching these people try to piece something together out of nothing is like a thing of beauty. today's hearing was so terrible for the democrats, one democratic congressman to actually tried to argue, hearsay evidence is better than direct evidence. you can't make this up. take a look. >> the american public needs to be reminded congress people have been convicted on hearsay because the courts have routinely allowed and created needed exceptions to hearsay. hearsay can be much better evidence than direct. >> none of those exceptions would appl

exchange because obviously the republican lawyer was not getting anywhere, he was only making -- steve castor was the republican lawyer in that exchange. for her to say, contrary to what sondland testified, she was not some weeping, you know, woman in that exchange, and in fact that coffee occurred back in -- >> right. without ever raising her voice or suggesting that there really is very much to be concerned about here, she just went through and destroyed about five things that sondland had said in his deposition. and by extension, was refuting the idea that there was a real linkage between what sondland was doing and the foreign policy that she was doing. in fact she said, listening to him yesterday, i realized that he was exactly right, he was doing something completely different, a domestic political errand as she described it, which, you know, is obviously not foreign policy, was the point she was making. and i think, you know, she made it in a way that was not really surprising to people who know her but was probably pretty surprising to some of the republicans on the committee. i found

steve castor, the council for the republicans, will pose questions to fiona hill and david holmes, the witnesses, along with devin nunes. then the house will be done with wood and probably until early december. your members will be out of town for thanksgiving, so they should be able to forge ahead than with that second round of 5-minute questions where they toggle through the 21 members on both sides of the aisle. the other issue is how democrats and republicans portray this over the break. which side is up, which site is down? most importantly, which narrative scripts with the public. which narrative sticks? to be have any polling that comes out over thanksgiving? is this a conversation over turkey and stuffing and apple pie that sinks giving dinnertable is a source of argument over the recess? we don't know. the waltham set the die. nancy pelosi indicated that the nixon impeachment took much longer, when she was asked about this was why this was "taking so long." it's unclear whether they will go down that road, but when the intelligence committee is done, this being the final poten

do the questioning for maybe as long as 45 minutes uninterrupted on behalf of the democrats and steve castor will do the same, a staff lawyer for the house oversight committee who has been detailed by the intelligence committee. he will do the questioning for 45 minutes on the republican side. we don't know these two individuals all that well. but pretty soon --? we will. >> -- the entire country will know. >> this is their television debut, people watch law and order and televised legal drama shows. this will be their debut. how do thigh appear on television? they obviously have experience behind the scenes interviewing these witnesses. they likely know where they want to go. they have practice. they certainly know the case. i think their goal will be obviously to lay this out in a clear and concise way, get some sound byte moments from these witnesses based on what they already know. i mean that's the thing. there have been hours an hours of transcripts released so far. how can they distill this in a way that is television friendly so that will be their goal here. >> ross, daniel goldman w

one of the exchanges with steve castor, the republican council asking many of the questions to the witnesses over two weeks. here is his line of questioning. [video clip] >> indicated you are upset -- you were upset with investor bolton, and i believe your counsel said that was an outright fabrication. >> you might recall i said unfortunately i had a blowup with ambassador sondland or a couple testy encounters. one of them was june 18, when i said who put you in charge of ukraine? and i will admit i was rude, and then he told me the president, which shut me up. this other meeting, i was actually to be honest angry with him, and i hate to say it, but often when women show anger, it is not fully appreciated, it is often pushed onto emotional issues or deflected to other people, and what i was angry about was he was not coordinating with us. i realized having listen to his deposition, he was right, but he -- that he was not coordinating with us because we were not doing the same thing he was doing. i was upset he was not fully telling us about the meetings he was having, and he said to me, but

guest: there will mostly be a man by the name of steve castor. s congressman jordan's chief investigator to counsel -- investigative council. he has now shared staff, so when counsel -- congress been jordan was brought over, they brought steve over. congressman nunez is expected to yield much of his time. thereyou said mostly, is another lawyer that could do questioning? guest: during the deposition phase, other lawyers on different committees have asked questions including the foreign affairs committee. the foreign affairs committee will not be involved in the public hearings, is basically just going to be the intelligence committee and whatever shared staff is brought on. almost all ofally the time in terms of the staff lawyers on the republican side to mr. castor. host: republicans insisted that other witnesses, the witnesses that they would like to hear from get called before the committee, one being the whistleblower, others being hunter biden. any indication that that will happen? guest: there are a couple of people i can see democrats volke

when the hearing resumes, steve castor who is with the staff of congressman jim jordan, republican from columbus, ohio, he will lead the questioning and we will hear from devon nunez, the ranking republican on the house intelligence money. back to the white house statement earlier in the day the president was watching a portion of the opening statement, most notably from devon nunez, stephanie grisham is the white house press secretary. from tennessee, democrat line, what have you heard so far today? >> i'm proud of the ambassador. she has the courage to get out there even though her family members were threatened, to tell the truth. this is wrong. everyone around the world sees what is going on. he won't let his people get up there and testify. these courageous people getting up to tell america the truth, what is going on with trump. get out there and testify if he has anything. this man is corrupt all the way. he said he is above the law, he can do anything he wants to do and what mitch mcconnell up there in the senate, he is not going to let the vote go through to impeach trump. and

play an exchange from yesterday between ambassador taylor and the committee's minority counsel steve castory rudy giuliani and others. take a listen. >> in fairness, this irregular channel of diplomacy, it's not as outlandish as it could be. is that correct? >> it's not as outlandish as it could be. yeah, i agree. it's a little unusual for the u.s. ambassador to the eu to play a role in ukraine policy. >> you know, might be irregular but it's certainly not outlandish. >> did republicans, david, accomplish anything more than preaching to the converted? or let me steal a line jennifer just used. did the republicans have a factual response that was effective as you saw it? >> well, look, i think what republicans were trying to do is poke holes in the process and poke holes in some of the witnesses by pointing out what we were hearing from the witnesses was opinion and not necessarily fact. in other words, interpretation of the testimony. >> where is the opinion? i mean, look, where was the opinion and interpretation? and if -- do you disagree with folks who say if you have to talk about proces

. >> martha and bret, steve castor the republican attorney. we'll hear from him during the cross examination and here how devin nunes handles this in a moment as well. >> reaction from the white house. john roberts joins us on the other side of the break as they take a break on capitol hill. we'll take a quick moment here and we'll be right back. i was on the fence about changing from a manual to an electric toothbrush. but my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. she said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. for cleaner teeth and healthier gums. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada for its effectiveness and safety. what an amazing clean! i'll only use an oral-b! oral-b. brush like a pro. here hold this. follow that spud. [ tires screech ] the big idaho potato truck is touring america telling folks about idaho potatoes. and i want it back. what is it wit

>> i'll tell you, steve castor is one of the most talented and professional people that i ever workedplttee under darrell issa, we was our all-star. he was the most important person on our staff. he is diligent. he is kind of a cross between the untouchables and friday from dragnet, really. he is capable, prepared, no nonsense, and someone who has never really sought out the limelight.ly he's not going to be there playing for the cameras. he's going do whatever his job is, his objective. and i think you'll see a succinct and precise line of questioning from him. >> set up the day, ari. the lead line of every headline as we move forward. >> non-partisan diplomats give evidence against president trump. what is that evidence? we know some ofga it from the depositions, butth anyone who's been around this process knows depositions in private are one thing, public pressure is another. p and for people rooting -- we all know, we all cover it -- there's a lot of political intensity for this. if you're rooting foric this an that outcome, you don't know. you have tou assess the witnesses.ss maybe

the first two witnesses followed by questioning from daniel goldman lawyer for the democrats and steve castorlliams and ada vice president mike pence and lieutenant colonel alexandra vindman assigned to the national security council are both testifying before the house intelligence committee. both williams and vindman were listening in on the july 25 phone call between president trump and president zelensky. they came for with concerns that he spoke with the newly elected ukraine present about political investigations into joe biden and his son hunter. vindman told the committee u.s. and passengers word gordon sondland said ukrainians need to deprive fight a deliverable which was the investigation. they should stay away from the request and stay out of u.s. politics. meanwhile and williams was questioned, she said she will submit a classified memo about a september call between vice president mike pence and president zelensky as part of the impeachment investigation. she testified she was advised by her lawyer to answer questions to not answer questions about that call. the lawyers of the vic

in this case, steve castor.trying to create a moment and it's only fueled her opponent for the next election raising a ton of money getting a ton of name i.d., her following is growing and she's now become one of the most watched races in the country because of her decision for whatever reason that no one can quite explain have this tantrum on tv and totally boomeranged on her. >> and started yesterday with 6,000 followers on twitter of last check has 145,000 followers on twitter. sort of has boomeranged indeed. how keen would you say was holmes testimony, how key that he heard president trump on the phone trying to assure ukraine's president conduct an investigation into his own political rivals? >> we've heard this week at the first two hearings on wednesday and friday republicans say, no firsthand witnesses. all we're hearing is secondhand testimony, secondhand accounts. well, now we have firsthand testimony of someone who says that they heard donald trump talk about investigating his political rivals. this i

what of the exchange with steve castor? many of the questions to the dr. fiona hill. >> you were upset with ambassador bolden and i believe your counsel said that was a fabrication. >> you might recall in my deposition i said it's fortunate we had a blowup with ambassador sondland. one encounter was in june when i said to him, who put you in charge of ukraine? i was rude. that is when he told me the president which shut me up. this other meeting was as he depicted it was. i was angry with him. when women show anger, it is pushed onto emotional issues or deflected onto other people. i was angry he was not coordinating with us. i should realize having listened to his deposition that he was right. he was not coordinating with us because we were not doing the same thing he was doing. i was upset he was not telling us about the meetings he was having. he said i am briefing the president, chief of staff mulvaney, secretary pompeo and ambassador bolden. who else do i have to deal with? we have a robust interagency process that deals with ukraine that includes mr.

think people at home may not have understood the subtext of what was going on when, who was it, steve castor, the republican, was asking vindman, lieutenant colonel vindman, who he spoke with. just so people know at home, behind the scenes during the closed-door testimony, there were attempts to introduce the name of the alleged or suspected name of the alleged whistle-blower and ask lieutenant colonel vindman if he had, in fact, spoken to that individual and the objections came up at the time, as well. and i guess it was nunes, maybe -- >> it was nunes. >> who brought it up this time. let's listen to that exchange. >> mr. vindman, you testified in your deposition that you did not know the whistle-blower. >> ranking member, it's lieutenant colonel vindman, please. >> lieutenant colonel vindman, you testified in the deposition that you did not know who the whistle-blower was or is? >> i do not know who the whistle-blower is. >> how is it possible for you to name these people and then out the whistle-blower? >> i -- per the advice of my counsel, i have been advised not to answer specific quest

i'm wondering, if you can't see time, can you go don't like dirn steve castor is going i take my representing he can be interrupted by more succinct lawmaker if that is indeed the case? steve: i wouldn't be surprised if the republicans try to interrupt democrats when they have a line of questioning. brian: that will be interesting. ainsley: we had congressman kevin mccarthy on our show, the house minority leader earlier today. he said the democrats keep changing their terms because they're trying to find a crime. listen. >> we never had an impeachment in the first term. they are so afraid to face the president in the election that they're trying to frame him. it ironic. exactly why they're doing it. you see it time and again. they already accused him of being guilty. they keep changing the term because they're trying to find a crime. adam schiff continues to lie to the american public, take us down another nightmare. from number one day this president got elected they wanted to impeach him. what did the freshman say on inaugural night. what were think going to accomplish? impeachment. this co

questions from the republican counsel steve castor.annah from massachusetts on the democrats line. if you were to write a headline from the hearing, what would include? caller: wake up, america. impeach, impeach, impeach. host: go ahead with your comment. caller: turn off fox news, take off your blinders, put on your listening ears. if you're not worried about the constitution and our government under trump, you are just not listening to the right people. what do you like so much about trump? d like his bankruptcies? do you like his three wives? his prostitutes? do you like his child is bullying and tweets? what about new york foundation banning him because of his corruption? host: elaine on the republican line. same question to you. go ahead with your comment. caller: get back to work. my comment would be, thank you c-span for allowing me to voice my opinion. i would like to take this time to thank my president. a job well done. as far as his withholding the money to verify we were giving get to a corrupt government, that is a wise de

i thought the republicans did a really good job and steve castor had an interesting delivery when he down to george kent who is clearly to me anti-trump administration. when he broke down the concerns that kent had about burisma. when he broke down that he went to the u.s. aid program for having a charity inside the ukraine that was sponsored by burisma he said excuse me, you do not want to sponsorship about burisma and, was asked, who -- what high profile person is on that board? the president -- former president of poland. keep going. hunter biden. did you express concerns about that? yeah. in writing? absolutely. so what they are trying to say is this. the president has legitimate concern about 2016. he has legitimate concern about who is running affairs for the previous administration in 2016. joe biden. weirdness of hunter biden being on a board because his dad used to ride amtrak for a while and he had a position on that board. so he is establishing why the president would have a raised eyebrow about giving $390 million to a country. he provided a logic for it. it's to a reluct