involving white house lures and other white house officials so essentially submarine evidence ofdent's behavior by hiding it in a secret server that wasn't designed to hold that kind of information, when you look at the balance of that actual allegation and the continuing evolving story we have got about how the whistleblower's allegation was handled at all levels of government in the intelligence agencies by the intelligence community inspector general, by the dni, the involvement of the justice department, the involvement of the white house council's office, are you equally concerned about those two things? how do you feel about the handling of the complaint vis-a-vis the overall serious about what he or she is alleging. >> some of these actors acted credibly. i think his legal analysis on its face appears sound. there could be potentially, you know, reasonable disagreement by lawyers parsing the words of a statute, but i'd have to say that the department of justice's interpretation seemed a little contorted to determine that disclosure to congress was not mandated. but in any

>>> a cover-up at the white house. a whistleblower says officials tried to hide damaging details about the president. and it was not the first time. what's next as the impeachment inquiry marches on. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it is 4:00 a.m. big questions for this white house, following a gripping day on grill. the whistleblower claims as why cover-up. yefr night, cnn learned the justice department knew about the allegations, soon after the july 25th call with the ukrainian president. the whistleblower informed a general counsel, who informed the justice department as required. the d.o.j., saying the timing of all of this, raising more questions about the handling of the complaint and effort to keep the details from congress. >> overnight, t"the washington post" says the white house is take steps to keep the moves secret. among them, reducing the number of aides allowed to listen in on calls. and some officials who

this white house.his very, very different. i think what pelosi and the democrats have to do is, one, tamp down the rhetoric and say to the president and the white house, we're willing to give you an open and fair hearing. we're willing to keep open mights on this. but we are going to insist on access to every single witness and every single piece of paper and document and if we don't get it within two weeks, say, we will draw a negative inference on all of the information that is already public and plenty to draw negative inferences and criminal inferences on and we will move to impeachment right away on the basis of obstruction of justice if you don't cooperate. and i think the white house i think a lot of people around the president are tremoring in their boots right now. i think they're very scared, that this is different from before and the white house buckled on the question of the ig, releasing the ig information and the transcript. i think the white house will be likely to buckle if pelosi has t

quoting again, white house officials told me that they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization and distribution to cabinet level officials. the whistle-blower continues, quote, instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwised use to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. one white house official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective. allegations do not come more serious than that. the president is back, we should point out, in washington now. our jim acosta joins us right now. jim, what's going on inside the white house? what are you hearing? >> anderson, the president is acting like his back is up against the wall. he didn't really take many questions from reporters today. he made that statement as he got off of air force one, called this a witch hunt again, and

probably didn't leak this out i wouldn't say the white house but there are individuals within the white house that may or may not i don't know but it would not be from an intelligence intercept i will say that. i'm not i'm just saying the dissemination the dissemination of these calls is supposed to be sacred right i mean it's and it is important for the state department and the appropriate agencies to get i'm not saying it's all in the intelligence agency but when a president talks to a foreign leader it's it's confidential contents are confidential there could be some facts of that conversation that you do want to get to the appropriate agency not just that not just the i.c. i want to be clear about that but but this is now the 3rd time i'm not aware of this ever happening before of the contents of calls like this getting now. i really don't know ranking member i'm not aware i don't have the numbers to take it's just seems to me though that it is unprecedented and i would also say i think that it's decision by the president yesterday to release the transcripts of his conversation with

white house. >> corruption is not the business or it shouldn't be of the white house or anyone in it. >> the white house decides to do what their privileged communications and information is i believe the business of the white house. >> do you believe that's true even if that communication involves crime or fraud? i'm sure you're aware there's an exception to any claim of privilege. privilege can't be used to conceal crime or fraud. >> any crime or fraud or instances of wrongdoing should be referred to the justice department for investigation, as i did. >> the whistle-blower further alleges that white house officials told the whistle-blower they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript of the call from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored and instead it was loaded into a separate electronic system that is used, otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. one white house official described

that is the business of the executive branch of the white house and the office of the white house. >> corruption is not the business, or it shouldn't be, of the white house or anyone in it. >> the white house decides to do with their privileged communication is the business of the white house. >> do you believe that's true even if that communication involves crime or fraud? i'm sure you're aware that there is an exception to any claim of privilege. the privilege can't be used to conceal crime or fraud? >> this is before any crime or fraud that should be referred to the justice department for investigation. as i did. >> the whistleblower further alleges that white house officials told the whistleblower they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript, that is, of the call from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored. and instead it was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. one white house official described this act as an abuse

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 directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically scored for coordination, finalization and distribution to cabinet-level officials. so it is significant. even though the president is doubting this person's credibility, behind the scenes white house officials on background, meaning not using their name, are confirming, yes, white house lawyers did direct staf

white house officials told me, this is the whistle-blower, they were directed by white house lawyerselectronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for finalization and distribution to cabinet level officials. the whistle-blower goes on to write, instead this transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. >> this raises -- the president said this call was perfect in his words. why then the extraordinary step of removing the records of this call from the normal record keeping system long established by this white house? we have jeffrey toobin as well as our panel. jeffrey, you read this complaint. it backs up a lot of the smoke signals that we have heard coming out about the whistle-blower to this point. >> more than that is that, remember, this was written before the transcript or partial transcript that was released yesterday. the whistle-blower is completely corroborated in his or her assertions about that phone call. >> right.

the white house has always seen the rows as can of the flowers. nally, a general propagating house and an orchid house. in 1902, everything changed. all of the greenhouses, as well as the conservatory that we see here, were unceremoniously torn down. the reason? to make room for the expansion of the white house under theodore roosevelt, specifically the new west wing, seen in the foreground, but the last remnants of the greenhouse are behind. that was that. there has never been another greenhouse at the white house since. so understandably, the loss of their indoor flower garden did not thrilled the president or his family. first lady edith roosevelt did come up with a wonderful solution to the problem. since the south grounds had been closed in 1893, it was possible to move the presidential flower gardens back outdoors. this is precisely what she did in 1902 and 1903. specifically, the first lady created two colonial style gardens along the south face of the mansion -- one a distance west of the south portico and the other in the same position on

by seeking help from a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 election, but also that the white house tried to cover it up, acting director of national intelligence joseph maguire was sharply questioned by democrats of the house intelligence committee about why he waited weeks to share the complaint with congress as required by law. and president trump has been railing against the complaint, demanding to know who the whistleblower sources were, comparing them to spies and alluding to execution as a punishment for what he called treason. we'll talk about the breaking news with the lawmaker driving the house investigation of all of this, the chairman of the intelligence committee adam schiff. correspondents and analysts are also standing by. first, the details of the newly released whistleblower complaint. justice correspondent jessica schneider is digging into all of that for us. jessica, some very, very serious allegations against the president and the white house. >> absolutely, wolf. now that the whistleblower complaint is in full view, we're not only learning more about the preside

i spent three years at the white house, i was the white house staff secretary. this is not code word classification. and by the way, it's improper and prohibited by executive order to classify things to avoid embarrassment. they did it to hide it. >> the whistle-blower alleges this isn't the first time they did something like this. do you have evidence to show where there were some other occasions? >> we're just getting started. we need to hear from the whistle-blower. we need to run down all the elements of the whistle-blower's complaint. we shouldn't take it at face value, by the way. we need to make sure we're getting the facts in a fair way. it needs to be expeditious and thorough. what you have here is wrongdoing at the very highest levels of the united states government and an effort to cover it up. we can't let that happen. >> will you be subpoenaing some of the people mentioned in the whistle-blower complaint and others who are not mentioned, are you looking to bring them before your committee? >> i'm going to did he ever to the chairman for that, mr. bl

all of this is raising further questions about who else in the white house was involved and why the white house selectively put head of state transcripts like the union one in this code-word system and not other transcripts. the white house just has not provided an explanation for that, so a lot to learn, anderson. >> pamela brown, thanks very much. as we said, this is a fast-moving story. these developments just happening. a key figure named in the complaint has just resigned. kurt volker, the u.s. envoy to ukraine. what have you learned about the resignation of this official? >> reporter: well, we should note that kurt volker is probably the key player when it comes to looking at if the state department was helping rudy giuliani a little bit too much with his partisan, politically motivated agenda in terms of encouraging ukraine to investigate joe biden, right? so what we know is that kurt volker had actually met with giuliani. he had talked with giuliani. he had even, according to the whistle-blower complaint, met with zelensky, president zelensky of ukraine and talked to him about how

it's not just the white house. it's not just the white house. look at how the justice department, it appears, has been corrupted by their involvement with this presidency. look at how they became part of the coverup of this process. >> to your point, the question about quid pro quo -- how could holding back on a presidential visit, one, but at the saum tmee withholding military assistance in light of what the president wanted from ukraine, how can that -- >> it's a willful ll lly obtuse reading of the complaint. it's right there. they are talking about aid. then he says, do me a favor. you don't get more quid pro quo than that. there was an understanding. i think we cannot get caught in the trap of unless it says only if you investigate the bidens will i give you the money. if that phrase isn't spoken that somehow it's not there, we need to look at the common understanding. >> what you are seeing -- we will keep this going until they gavel in. you see members of the house intelligence committee. they are getting seated to begin this critically i

white house staff have done that. in the house judiciary inquiry. i don't think he is going to fool with that. i think he is going to get right down to it and tell them a lot about what was going on. >> yeah. he'll be under oath so he has to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. you in your excellent reporting with bob woodward many years ago sparked the impeachment inquiry against richard nixon. where do you see this heading right now? >> i think it's much too early to predict. i think there are two things going on at once. both of grave consequence to the country at a very perilous time. the first is a very serious impeachment inquiry based on preliminary evidence that really suggests that the president himself has compromised the national security of the united states. that he has collaborated with a foreign power to try and obtain dirt on a political opponent, something that's never happened in our history in this manner from a foreign power but the other thing that's going on right now is we

why that location at the white house? arrival is very special. it is a welcoming. iteyou to house. very symbolic around the world. shot of the press facade of american totem is very symbolic around the world and certainly to prime minister mrs. morrison. that will be the shot sent around australia. having their prime minister stand in the significant space the president of the united states and first lady. host: who do we see at north portico before we see the president of the united states and first lady? capricia: first you will have people running around scampering to make sure things are clear and clean and in place. tom the white house butlers the ushers office. there are so many people that make sure every detail of this visit has been taken care of. spec of dustere a on the red carpet? then you have the entrance of our military. it makes me so proud to watch that entry. and take theirgh position in the flanked semi circle fashion that you sigh a moment ago. then they stand behind the commander-in-chief. is sending a message. here we are, not just the presiden

that prompted white house officials to limit access to the transcript of that conversation, a patternn that damning whistle-blower complaint. joining us former house republican intelligence committee chairman mike rogers and eric ericsson. chairman rogers, what do you make of this new "washington post" report now? >> it's very concerning for me if it in fact is true. the president seems to have a very hollywood, sinister struvif what american intelligence is about and not concerned with the russians and how they conduct themselves around the world. a, it's absolutely wrong and, b, it's a little offensive because you're telling our adversaries it's kind of okay to do what you do, keep at it. that is, in my mind, a little bit dangerous. the russian, by the way, will take it that way. >> eric, just from your standpoint, i'm wondering how you see just the events of this past week. i follow you on twitter and stuff. there's so much to talk about but what do you make of this? how serious do you see this from your standpoint and do you think other republicans see this? >> i definitely think

president of abusing his power and further accuses the national security structure around him in the white house of trying to cover it up. the complaint directed to the heads of the house and senate intelligence committees was filed august 12, about two weeks after trump's phone call. quote, i have received information from multiple u.s. government officials that the president of the united states is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 u.s. election. this interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the president's main domestic political rivals. the president's personal lawyer, mr. rudolph giuliani is a central figure in this effort. attorney general barr appears to be involved as well. the whistle-blower notes there were -- they were not a direct witness to the events described, but that the details came to light over a period of some four months. they add this, quote, in the days following the phone call, i learned from multiple u.s. officials that senior white house officials had intervened

at this point there is a lot of leads pointing at the white house and specifically at the white house council's office in terms of how this bad behavior has been trying -- has been covered up so far. if they are going to try to stop them from further covering it up, it seems like we will have to act fast. all right. we'll be back. stay with us. (classical music playing throughout) wow! that's ensure max protein, (classical music playing throughout) with high protein and 1 gram sugar. it's a sit-up, banana! bend at the waist! i'm tryin'! keep it up. you'll get there. whoa-hoa-hoa! 30 grams of protein, and one gram of sugar. ensure max protein. the ncome on.y glc. [ cars honking ] it's so late. yay. it fights traffic. no parking. -i told you. oh, a spot! hold on. it fights tension. seriously, did you take my phone? passenger light on. it even fights...fighting. innovation that keeps people together. the 2020 glc. lease the glc 300 suv for just $479 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. (groans) hmph... (food grunting menacingly) when the food you love doesn't love you back, stay s

the white house has not been forthcoming as yet. >> carol lee and natasha, ladies, thank you very muchning us. >>> earlier today house speaker nancy pelosi sat down for an exclusive interview. she gave a preview of how the democratic party plans to make the case for the impeachment of president trump. >> this is about the constitution of the united states, the clarity of the president's actions is compelling and gave us no choice but to move forward. this is as serious as it gets when it comes to protecting the constitution of the united states. the oath of office that we take, i think the president violated that oath. >> joining me now from capitol hill, nbc news correspondent jeff bennett. jeff, walk us through the next steps. >> well, katy, we now know that the house intelligence committee will continue to take the lead in this ukraine investigation. interestingly enough, one of the other things the house speaker said in that interview on ""morning joe"" is that evening as these other house investigations continue into the findings of the muller probe, to trying to access the presid

cnn white house reporter jeremy diamond is live outside the white house. jeremy, first this new cnn reporting about the lengths the white house went to to limit access to records of the president's calls with putin and bin salman. what can you tell us about this? >> reporter: we learned already from the list complaint that that call from the president of the united states and the president of ukraine in july was indeed moved to highly classified system in the intelligence record of the security council. but we are also learning that it was not the only call to be -- to have its access restricted. according to multiple people familiar with the matter, the president's call with the crown prince of saudi arabia mohammad bin salman, records of those calls were also limited with the transcript of that call never circulated to people who normally would have had access to that call transcript. and then there was also at least one phone conversation between president trump and president vladimir putin of russia, access to records of that call were also restricted.

>> 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 facing. that's something they're trying to get the president to come to grips with right now. >> indicakaitlan collins, thank >>> thanks, great to have you

the white house in crisis. i'm jake tapper and what has been a nonstop and truly unprecedented day of news. president trump apparently furious about the whistle-blower who's allegations now threaten to bring about his impeachment. sources tell cnn mr. trump behind closed doors earlier today said he wanted to know who in his administration spoke with the whistle-blower and according to the "new york times" which first reported the story president trump then said "because that's close to a spy. you know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right? we used to handle it a little different than we do now." apparent reference to excuses as well as a misuse of the term treason, but the president's overthe top response comes in context, comes after a key moment in the trump impeachment inquiry. today we got our first look at the full whistle-blower complaint about the president. the one that sparked this whole impeachment investigation. this whistle-blower sournding te alarm abou

since i was white house counsel, the ethics rules have changed, and now the client of the white housenald trump, it's the office of the president. so i think he should be in there protecting that office. that particular conversation that you had the video on was actually an hour and 50 minutes, don. it was -- i actually tried everything i could to turn the president and failed. >> interesting. caitlyn, you know, this afternoon the president pushed to another conversation with ukraine president to be made public. listen to this. >> i think you should ask for vp pence's conversation because he had a couple conversations, also. i could save you a lot of time. they were all perfect. one or two of them. they were all perfect. >> what can you tell us about the vice president's involvement here? >> that was something that really caught white house officials off guard. the president was suddenly bringing the vice president back into this because you'll remember when trump cancelled his schedule trip to poland, that's when he was going to sit down with the ukrainian president and instead, penc

quote, white house officials told me they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which transcripts are typically stored. instead it was loaded into a separate system otherwise used to store classified information of an especially sensitive nature. one white house official described this act as an abuse of the electronic system because the call did not cop tain anything sensitive from a national security perspective. the reason they're now in so much trouble because they got caught red handed but there's also more. because this was not just contained in the white house. according to the whistle-blower a state department official listened in. and it gets even worse from there because after the whistle-blower is talking to all these people who are all pretty torn up about this, they think they've watched the president, violate his oath, abuse his power and he makes the complaint, takes the risk to make the complaint, and then the acting director of intelligence sends it over to the department of justice for advice on what to do

joining me tonightyamiche alcindor, white house correspondent for the pbs nehour philip rucker, white bureau chief for the washiton post. ncy cordes, chief congressional correspondent for orcbs news.it and n collins, white house correspondent for cnn. let's begin with spea pelosi's decision. here isaihat she sd thursday. >> it's a sad week for our country. very prayerfully andate oticly, we had t-- pat patriotically, we had to come to a decision to move forward with an impeachment inquiry of the president of tf united states. this is notng that w take lightly. we wante o have a fuller understanding of the facts. >> why was this complaint the democrats?oint for house nancy, you've been on pitolpi hill 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 ameri public to unrstandhan the russia issue. it g os to the heartf thert president's actions, wreas the mueller investigigion that we all lived tough for two years had to do with a lot of people around t president, lers remov

continues, the white house officials told me they were directed, directed again, a quote, by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization and distribution to cabinet-level officials and the complaint then takes it even further saying instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate system used to store classified information of an especially sensitive nature. one white house official described this act as abuse because the call did not contain anything from a national security perspective. it was sensitive from a political perspective and it was sensitive in that the president of the united states broke the law and apparently it was wanot the first time this happened. the whistle-blower says and this is a crucial line. according to white house officials, this was not the first time under this administration that a presidential transcript was placed into this code-word level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive rather than security-sensitive info

democrats take firm control, not just of the process, but also of the narrative because what the white house will try to do every day is disrupt it. and what is encouraging about the depositions moving so quickly is that the house is in recess for two weeks. unlike after the mueller report where you really didn't hear from democrats, it appears democrats are going to move and work during the two weeks. very important good move. >> with the words of advice, stand by a little bit. we will bring in our next guest, california congressman, one of the seven democratic a freshmen from districts who won by trump who penned an op-ed last week. representative, you heard what david jolly was saying. are you moving forward in a firm way? >> well, we need to get to the bottom of this. the american people deserve to know the answer of what actually happened with this phone call, what the president was doing and trying to entice a foreign government to get involved in our elections and putting our national security at risk. so we need to move quickly. that's what the chairman is doing. we are moving in a s

i mentioned the white house notes today that were released by the white house. notes from the president's call with the president of ukraine. i mean it's right there in black and white that president trump in fact did what democrats are accusing him of doing and why they have brought impeachment proceedings against him. in the notes released by the white house, the president overtly does ask ukraine for help digging up dirt against president trump's potential 2020 democratic rival, joe biden. there's a lot of talk about biden's son. that biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that, so whatever you can do with the attorney general, meaning with bill barr, that would be great. at this point i feel like i need to apologize. i hereby apologize. last night on this show i said somewhat cavalierly that while we were expecting the white house to release notes of this phone call today, there was no reason to expect that the trump white house would allow for the release of any notes from this call that implicated the president and the beh

it was a white house memorandum. here you have the leader of republicans in the house of representatives who hasn't even read the transcript, who hasn't even read that memorandum, because everybody that read it said the most important line, the most germane line was the one that scott pelly read him, i'm going to need something from you, though, and kevin m he did know it was in the transcript. >> it's a stunning moment. we've got the transcript in front of me. the president, i would like you to do us a favor, though. nobody in the white house seems to have understood that the information in the transcript itself put together with the facts that are known about what was happening in that period paint a picture of a president requesting the most personal political advantage from a new ukrainian president who was at that time facing a u.s. arms embargo. the commander of the ukrainian army on the ground who needed weapons we had promised them, congress had voted to give them were waiting for their arrival. they were held

and concern inside the white house. that the whistleblower's allegations could seriously wound the president. one source familiar with the situation described to nbc a sense of total panic. all of this over the past week, to address this new reality. another person familiar with the discussion described the mood inside the white house as shell shocked. with increasing wariness that as the impeachment inquiry drags out, the likelihood increases that president trump could respond erratically and become quote unmanageable. according to "washington post," trump's advisers are envisioning a split screen strategy in the coming week, the post notes trump is considering stepping up the fall schedule of campaign rallies to galvanize supporters outside of washington and portray house democrats as liberal insiders focused on impeachment instead of governing. >> yesterday morning, at a private event at the u.s. mission, to the united nations, here is a video obtained by bloomberg. >> i want to know who is the person in the room tha

an absolute cover-up by the white house. mr. lewandowski is here and has vital information about presidential obstruction of justice. the white house wants to limit our ability to hear it all. mr. lewandowski was called alone, one-on-one, into the oval office on june 19, 2017, and again on july 19, 2017, and the president did something i find startling. he dictated the speech to mr. lewandowski, not for mr. lewandowski, but for then attorney general mister sessions. he told mr. lewandowski to put the following words in the a.g.'s mouth. quote, i am going to meet with the special prosecutor to explain this is very unfair and let the special prosecutor move forward with investigating election meddling in future elections, so nothing can happen in future elections. the quote is from volume 2, page 91 of the mueller report. as the report found, limiting the investigation to future elections would've cut off any past conduct. it would've ended the investigation of the president's conduct. the evidence found by the special counsel met

and you can bet, alisyn, there are people out there that worked in the white house or work in the white now that know about this. we already know it from the whistle-blower complaint that they know about this. and that's the kind of evidence they're going to need to really make that strong case. because our senate colleagues, our republican colleagues are going to be key here. i think they have to put their country in front of partisanship. >> behind the scenes, are you hearing anything from your republican colleagues in the senate? >> yes. i mean, anyone that allegedly cares about national security has to care about this. >> what are they saying? >> we have long stood with our allies against russia. and the fact that he has crossed that line so many times, i'm shocked they haven't come out earlier. you had publicly senator romney coming out voicing concern. >> there's a handf fudidful -- >> and you have governors that are -- >> but are they talking to you and the scenes about this? >> people are concerned about this. i will leave it at that. and it depends on the case from the house. a

who in the white house opposed him making that call?t now, our kristen welker, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, this comes from a team of us and carol lee and kelly o'donell who have been tau talking to our sources that we determine that john bolton was not on that call that you just mentioned of the july 25th phone call between president trump and the president of ukraine. in fact, he was opposed the president making that call in the first place in concerns that he'll veer off topic and air some of his personal agreements which he had been doing in the public square talking about accusations against corruption in ukraine. now, we have determined that vice president pience was not o that call, no indication of why. significantly though certainly to know who was actually a party in hearing that call in realtime. it comes in this remarkable day when we are hearing john bolton for the first time since he left the white house. bolton is making it clear that he disagrees with president trump's foreign policy on some key issues as it rel

you went to the white house first. so you went to the subject of the complaint for advice first about whether you should provide the complaint to congress. >> there were issues within this, a couple of things. one, it did appear that it has executive privilege. if it does have executive privilege, it is the white house that determines that. i cannot determine that as the director of national intelligence. >> but in this case, the white house, the president is the subject of the complaint. he's the subject of the wrongdoing. were you aware when you went to the white house for advice about whether evidence of wrongdoing by the white house should be provided to the congress, were you aware the white house counsel has taken the unprecedented position that the privilege applies to communications involving the president, when he was president, involving the president, when he wasn't president, involving people who never served in the administration, involving people who never served in the administration, even when they're n

you went to the white house first. so you went to the subject of the complaint for advice first about whether you should provide the complaint to congress? >> there were issues with this, a couple of things. one, it did appear that it has executive privilege. if it does have executive privilege, it is the white house that determines that. i cannot determine that as director of national intelligence. >> but in this case the white house, the president, is the subject of the complaint. he's the subject of the wrongdoing. were you aware when you went to the white house for advice about werther evidence of wrongdoing by the white house should be provided 0 to the congress? were you aware the white house counsel taken an unprecedented position the privilege applied to communications involving the president when he was president involving the president when he wasn't president, involving people who never served in the administration and people who never served in the administration even when not talking to the president? were

since i was white house counsel, the ethics rules have changed, and now the client of the white housenald trump, it's the office of the president. so i think he should be in there protecting that office. that particular conversation that you had the video on was actually an hour and 50 minutes, don. it was -- i actually tried everything i could to turn the president and failed. >> interesting. caitlyn, you know, this afternoon the president pushed to another conversation with ukraine president to be made public. listen to this. >> i think you should ask for vp pence's conversation because he had a couple conversations, also. i could save you a lot of time. they were all perfect. one or two of them. they were all perfect. >> what can you tell us about the vice president's involvement here? >> that was something that really caught white house officials off guard. the president was suddenly bringing the vice president back into this because you'll remember when trump cancelled his schedule trip to poland, that's when he was going to sit down with the ukrainian president and instead, penc

he never worked for the white house. he was an outside adviser, don mcgahn, john kelly, under subpoena by this committee have been blocked by a white house who say they have absolute immunity lewandowski doesn't get to assert that. so the question really is here, what do they expect to accomplish here. as a political matter, ali, you know, you can make a case anybody who cares about this has already made up their mind about whether or not the president obstructed justice but there's another issue here which is for history we have a special counsel report that suggested that the president of the united states obstructed justice and that lewandowski was a witness to some of that but it doesn't come out and say that here's a chance to get him on the record, under oath, describing that episode where he was ordered by the president, according to the mueller report, to make this go away to tell the attorney general to not investigate and only future appearances. guess what, he never carried that out and a great question would

what is the white house saying today about the criticism out t there ths is a white house again in chaos turmoil when it comes to national security? >> white house aides are really pushing back on the idea thatn the white house is in chaos, en as democratand republicans become concerned with the idea that we have seen record turnover in the trump administration. now, white house sources i was talking to all day told me that john bolton was continuing to n afterhe president ev he made a dhiision onngs like north korea, on things like venezuela, and as a s sult, this mething they saw coming, but the fact is that at 10:55 a.m. this morning, white house staff put out a press release, press schedule that said that j ambassadn bolton was going to be briefing report esat 1:30 p.m., and then an hour later at tweeted that john was, inident fact, no longer going to be witt the administration. so what you havis within an hour a complete different message coming from the e,ite hond that in some cases people will say is the chaos of this white house. it's also noted that the president acted on social

was there a coverup in the white house? the acting director of national intelligence grilled today, asked why he held onto the whistle-blower's complaint. why he went to the white house first and not congress. he acknowledged the whistle-blower did the right thing. and tonight, what the whistle-blower's complaint now public reveals. he says white house officials were alarmed by that phone call with the ukrainian president and that some allegedly tried to lock down the transcript on a separate computer system to keep it from view. >>> meanwhile, as this was playing out today, president trump behind closed doors here in new york city, and a recording now surfacing of what he said. furious and unloading, comparing the whistle-blower and white house sources to spies. and telling people in the room, "you know what we used to do with spies and treason." some in the room shocked. >>> the first major snowstorm set to hit. the winter storm warning tonight. several feet of snow. rob marciano with the track. >>> the stunning new numbe

the white house you went to for advice about whether you should turn over a complaint regarding the white house? >> mr. chairman, as i said in my opening statement, i believed that everything here in this matter is totally unprecedented. that individual works for me, therefore, it is my job to make sure that i support and defend that person. >> dana: one of the biggest take aways, it accuses the white house of putting the transcript of that call in a separate computer system mostly used for classified information. it reads in part, quote, in the days following the phone call, i learned from multiple u.s. officials that senior white house officials had intervened to, quote, lock down, unquote, all records of the phone call, especially the official word for word transcript of the call that was produced as is customary by the white house situation room. this set of actions under scored to me that white house officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call. and president trump firing back after arriving back in washington in just the last hour, insisting again he did nothi

nothing new from this white house. >> we heard from adam schiff, chairman of the house intelligence committeeroblem of the law saying the law is written well how this information should come to congress. that said, if the law is not respected and congress has to go to court to get this information and they have to do this at every turn is there a problem with the law? >> yeah, well, there may about preview of times to come if jerriy enadler's committee continues, and essentially what happened with president nixon and wound up having to resign. the tapes became public and they showed he should have turned over those tapes. so far the president has a lot of flexibility conducting conversations with foreign leaders. if he said i promise we'll never hang you out to dry on this one, that's not actionable at all. >> he has shared classified information with the -- >> oh, we know that. >> -- russian leaders in the oval office and basically said in a tweet today it would be -- anyone would be dumb, basically that believed he would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a pote

you went to the white house first.nt to the subject of the complaint for advice first about whether you should provide the complaint to congress? >> reporter: he said he would not discuss his private conversations with president trump, but he did make one exception. >> did the president of the united states ask you to find out the identity of the whistleblower? >> i can tell you emphatically no. >> republicans trying to undermine it all, questioning the integrity of the whistleblower and attacking the democrats in control of the committee. >> on page one, the complaint reads, quote, i was not a direct witness to most of the events described. this seems like a very important line to look into. >> i want to congratulate the democrats on the roll out of their latest information warfare operation against the president. >> the intelligence committee is not an appropriate place to try articles of impeachment. >> he offered testimony that boosted the whistleblower in many ways saying that he or she did the right thing and fol

the white house accused of covering up phone calls from the president and looks like the white housew about the whistleblower sooner than we thought. till he signed up for attention to his health, unitedhealthcare medicare complete. (bold music) now, it's like he has his own health entourage. he gets medicare's largest healthcare network, a free gym membership, vision, dental and more. there's so much to take advantage of. can't wait till i'm 65. a few more chairs, please. unitedhealthcare medicare complete plans, including the only plans with the aarp name. free dental care and eye exams, and free designer eyewear. go ahead, take advantage. woman: what gives me confidence about investment decisions? rigorous fundamental research. with portfolio managers focused on the long term. who look beyond the spreadsheets to understand companies, from breakroom to boardroom. who know the only way to get a 360 view is to go around the world to get it. can i rely on deep research to help make quality investment decisions? with capital group, i can. talk to your advisor or consultant for investme

and tt -- the white house hadn't commentedn it.oday the whistle-blower's complaint said white lawyers directed sff to move it there. today we got a statement from the white house sayg it was a national security council lawyer who told officials to move ite. th what that tells you is the white house council's office wants to say didn't have anything to do with this. it was a national security council lawyer w it. that's something people are going to be payayg attention to. >> we learned thatou the foreign affairs committee has subpoenaed the secretary of state, mikeul pompeo. we learn more about this whole operation if he's called to capitol hill?el >> absol what they reallyutant from pompeo is documen. they want to know more about foreign affairs officers a the embassy, in ukraine, who apparently expressed concern freelancing in that country as a sort of quasi diplomat. d, you know, what exactly the concerns were that they were they want to know more about, you know, giuliani is arguing that hell did this at the behest of the state

diplomat, has now suddenly resigned. >> the white house in crisis. have learned mike pompeo has been subpoenaed by three house committees. >> democrats saying if they don't get this and other subpoenas it will only strengthen their case for impeachment. >> impeach any president over a phone call like this would be insane. >> the president is blatantly extorting a foreign leader. >> no push, no pressure, no nothing. it's all a hoax, folks. it's all a big hoax. >>> welcome this saturday morning. we're glad to have you with us. we're following major news. secretary of state mike pompeo has been subpoenaed to turn over documents related to ukraine and the whistle-blower scandal. he's already missed two deadlines. his third and final chance to hanlds them over is now on file. >>> kurt volker is now out of a job. resources tell cnn he resigned yesterday. the whistle-blower complaint says volcker advised ukrainian leaders how to deal with president trump and rudy giuliani. >>> the "washington post" reported in 2017 president trump told two russian officials

he was not a white house aide. usually executive privilege is asserted when it pertains to information people in the white house are giving the president. two, communications he had with the president even before he became attorney in the transition could also fall under executive privilege. that is a really extreme interpretation. and to the questions that laura raises are all the questions we would want to know from corwin lewandowski, and the big question is, is he going to answer any of them? if he follows to the letter the instructions that have been given to him by the white house counsel, he's not going to answer some of these most important questions about what the president told him to do. >> all right, everyone stand by. we're going to continue this conversation. right now we're looking at live pictures from capitol hill. you can see corwin lewandowski there in the judiciary committee room. this hearing set to get underway. we're expecting opening remarks here any moment. >>> also developing, a cnn source