from the time bill taylor expressed concern about the quid pro quo and when gordon sondland got back to him. >> there are real questions about whether that call happened. he was specific. it happened in between those two tects. one after midnight and one at 5:00 a.m. which is strange to think about it. he's calling the president at 1:00 a.m.? 2:00 a.m.? the testimony of two other witnesses was different about that call. they say it happened three days earlier. he told us about it. we have contemporaneous notes about when he told us about it. what was stated was much worse for donald trump. it was no quid pro quo but he needs to get -- zelensky needs to get to a microphone. that's, i believe, what really happened. and i think sondland's engaged in some fudging here. it's a tricky scenario for democrats. even though he fudged in trump's favor, he's still helpful to their case. i'm looking for that report to see how they cast him. >> before we leave, the other question is do democrats expand this beyond the ukraine issue, right? the instances of alleged obstruction found in the mueller

a few of them were asked specifically like bill taylor and george kent, do you think what the president did was impeachable? they said that's not our decision to make. we are fact witnesses. we are laying out the case for what we saw transpire vis-a-vis ukraine. what's different now is that you are having experts that can answer that question, whether or not what they witnessed, what was described was impeachable. >> and to try to educate the public on just because this is a political process doesn't mean it's not grounded in something that as jeffrey is describing as very important which is a high crime or misdemeanor which is abuse of power that only resides within the power of the presidency that must be checked. and i think there's a debate among democrats now when they get to articles of impeachment, if it goes beyond ukraine. they're thinking about the public relations. there's a larger point to be made. nancy pelosi has made it to say, no president can stand up and say basically, i can do whatever i want. that is the check. whether that finds much resonance with the american peop

taylor, is now being ordered to leave ukraine. in other words, this is far from over. there is still a lot we don't know, which highlights the need for new witnesses at trump's senate trial. there are 41 witnesses at andrew johnson's trial, three at bill clinton's. >> republican house managers told the senate they have a witness list, finally naming names. president clinton's friend vernon jordan, sidney blumenthal and monica lewinsky. >> the senate laid down the law today. house prosecutors can persuade the senate to call witness, but only a few, and only if they can add to the case to convict the president. >> in fact, republican senators back then felt they needed witness, including some who will be voting on trump's fate. now like susan collins. >> i need witnesses and further evidence to guide me to the right destination to get to the truth. >> with me now, former acting u.s. solicitor general neal katyal. his new book "impeach: the case against donald trump." and just minutes ago he published a new op-ed in "the washington p

the open hearings that the house intelligence committee had when asked george kent, to bill taylor, to marie ivan vich, are you aware of any crimes, bribery, extortion, none of them had anything. case-by-case, the depositions that were taking place or the open hearings, throughout, the entire case is actually in dispute, but they're so invested in this narrative to try to take down the president that they won't see the forest for the trees.t i'll give you one example. the president zelinsky says no demand, no pressure, no quid pro quo. andre your mack said the first version that adam scschiff uses that meeting that took place in warsaw is not accurate. that's from the ukrainian side. we heard it from the u.s. officials and the ukrainian officials but pelosi, schiff, nadler, they keep saying the facts are uncontested. they're wrong. >> i think the most revealing comment came from nancy pelosi i believe last week. she said we didn't rush it through, we've been working on this for 2 1/2 years. that's revealing in itself. i want to move on to other topics because i think the impeachment ta

. >> nbc news is arguing that bill taylor who testified at the house impeachment inquiry will be leaving his post at the end of this year. taylor was previously the ambassador to ukraine under president george w. bush. taylor had voiced concern over the president withholding nearly $400 million of military aid to ukraine. saying in a text to gordon sondland, u.s. ambassador to the european union, quote, i think it's crazy to withhold military assistance for the campaign. at the moment, it's unclear who replaces taylor who now turns over his position to the current deputy chief of commission to ukraine. >> some of president trump's fiercest conservative critics have launched a new super pac to punish republicans who say have enabled the president. the pac known as the lincoln project represents a single step forward. it's led by a former john mccain adviser steve schmidt and george conway. according to a "the new york times" op-ed written by the group, the pac's commission is to defeat president trump at the ballot box and to elect those patriots who will hold the line. organizers say the

people like ambassador bill taylor, a west point graduate, a vietnam veteran, people like doctor fiona hill, people like laura cooper. official after official, after official from the trump administration. these individuals serve in the presidents administration. ambassador taylor was not appointed by president obama. he was appointed by president trump. i would hope that my colleagues, is we proceed with the solemn duty that this committee is charged with, that we respect the people who came forward, who have served under republican and democratic administrations, to tell the truth undergrowth, and to help this committee as it seeks to hold this administration accountable. with that i yield. >> i thank, you mr. neguse. i was listening to this debate most of us here are lawyers. but the idea that the founding fathers in 1789 would be considering the u.s. coal president, and the mcconnell case precedent, and other presidents in 1789, is simply ridiculous. mr. neguse has pointed out with the founding fathers had in mind with the impeachment clause, and we know that high crimes and misdem

and then, of course, there is bill taylor. west point graduate. what did he say? to withhold that assistance for no good reason other than help with a political campaign made no sense. it was illogical i could not be explained. it was crazy. that is the evidence that has been established. donald trump did not care about alleged corruption in ukraine, he sought a political favor, and at the same time, that donald trump was allegedly concerned with corruption in ukraine, he authorized eight billion dollars in weapons sales to the corrupt kingdom of saudi arabia, and other gulf states. eight billion dollars in april he authorized. he was supposedly concerned about corruption, this is a regime that butchered a washington post journalist with a bone saw and then lied about it and at the same time he was withholding money from ukraine, he authorized eight billion dollars in weapons sales over the objection of congress. the president pressured a foreign government to target an american citizen for political gain. he solicited foreign interference in the 2020 election. th

taylor. here is what he said in his testimony. >> to withhold that assistance for no good reason other than help with a political campaign made no sense if the was -- it was counterproductive to all of what we had been trying to do. it was illogical, it could not be explained, it was crazy. >> illogical, unexplainable, crazy. mr. goldman, according to the testimony from ambassador taylor are the only explanation for the withheld aid that made sense is that the president was seeking help with the political campaign, correct? >> that is the only logical explanation as multiple wi witnesses said. >> and ambassador sondland who gave a million dollars to the president's inauguration, he testified that he came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from ukraine committing to the investigations, correct? >> yes. and that was subsequently confirmed in a conversation with president trump himself. >> lieutenant colonel vindman is a decorated ir

of course, bill taylor, who currently is the u.s. top diplomat in kiev is going to be leaving just very shortly before pompeo gets there. and whether or not the secretary of state stays as close to the president as he has been in that trip is going to say a lot about the direction and the future of the u.s./ukraine relationship. >> just tie this together with the latest developments. betsy mentioned one that pompeo is heading to ukraine. i would guess that the mission is to try to repair the u.s. relationship there. but trump took another call with putin and the first readout came from the russians, not the white house. >> and that's become standard procedure. in fact, the readout from moscow came almost a full 24 hours before we learned that the white house put out its own accounting of the call and 12 hours before the white house could confirm the call happened. and it was based over russia, putin, thanking trump for help, details of which have not fully been released. >> did ukraine come up? >> not that we've heard, but that doesn

then of course there's bill taylor, westpoint graduate. what did he say? to withhold that assistance for no good reason other than help with a political campaign made no sense. it was illogical, it could not be explained. it was crazy. that is the record evidence that has been established. donald trump did not care about alleged corruption in ukraine, he sought a political favor. at the same time, that donald trump was allegedly concerned with corruption in ukraine, he authorized $8 billion in weapon sales to the corrupt kingdom of saudi arabia, another gulf state. $8 billion. in april, he authorized. he was supposedly concerned about corruption. this is a regime that butchered a "washington post" journalist with a bone saw and then lied about it. at the same time, he was withholding money from ukraine. he authorized $8 billion in weapon sales over the objection of congress. the president pressured a foreign government to target an american citizen for political gain. he solicited foreign inference in the 2020 election. the record is clear, he abused his p

the current top diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor -- you see him right there -- he actually will not be there for pompeo's arrival, according to a source. he will hand off his duties on the day before. taylor was an early voice raising concerns about withholding aid for political reasons. >>> a federal judge side-stepping a ruling on the extent of the white house's immunity. he dismissed a lawsuit filed by former trump national security official charles kupperman, who challenged a house subpoena in the impeachment inquiry. the house withdrew the subpoena. the judge says since there is no expectation the house will reissue it, the lawsuit is unnecessary, but he noted, things may change in the future. important because the white house claimed immunity for many witnesses in the probe. house members believe kupperman had firsthand knowledge of president trump's decisions regarding ukraine. >>> a chinese national has been arrested for allegedly entering a restricted area at a naval basis in key west, florida, and taking some pictures there. court documents say he passed a security fence with

americans like laura cooper, david hale, george kent, bill taylor, jennifer williams, marie yovanovitch, all of whom have served in nonpolitical positions for all or most of their careers, all of them who testified before congress under subpoena. these are just a few of the 2.1 million americans who make up the federal civil service and the foreign service. they work together here at home and abroad in every field of endeavor and on behalf of all of us. for example, budding entrepreneurs can call on the small business administration loan officers for help accessing capital and foreign service officers to help sell their inventions to the world. farmers know that the natural resources conservation service employees can help them keep their land productive for the long term, and foreign agricultural service diplomats help american farmers make a living feeding the world. yet, too many of our colleagues , including many on the other side of the aisle, have defamed public servants and now accuse those who testified in the house of attacking the president. that accusation has it exactly back

. >> but as they testified, vindman, hill, bill taylor, appointees of this president i should note, they were carrying out u.s. policy as stated not just by the president, but as authorized by congress, which was to provide military aid to an ally. they weren't making this stuff up. >> but if you go back and look at their testimony, i mean it is pretty clear that their agenda was different than the president's agenda and they were advancing their agenda. you can't look at that are testimony and assume anything differently. so i have no problem with the president saying heck, i'll send someone on my own behalf. kennedy did that with khrushchev and it worked pretty good. >> congressman green, always good to have you on the program. >> thank you. >>> turning now to discuss, paul, so nice to have you. >> good sitting with you. >> so just your reaction to nancy pelosi making that statement this morning we're moving forward. but the way she did it, starting to harken back to 1776. >> i thought that was moving. yesterday i watched the whole hearing but during a break, i waeched t watched the ta

and then of course there's bill taylor, west point graduate. what did he say? to withhold that assistance for no good reason other than help with a political campaign made no sense. it was illogical. it could not be explained. it was crazy. that is the record evidence that has been established. donald trump did not care about alleged corruption in ukraine. he sought a political favor. and at the same time that donald trump was allegedly concerned with corruption in ukraine, he authorized $8 billion in weapon sales to the corrupt kingdom of saudi arabia and other gulf states. $8 billion in april he authorized. he was supposedly concerned about corruption. this was a regime that butchered a "washington post" journalist with a bone saw and then lied about it. and at the same time, he was withholding money from ukraine, he authorized $8 billion in weapon sales over the objection of congress. the president pressured a foreign government to target an american citizen for political gain. he solicited foreign interference in the 2020 election. the record is clear. he a

american citizens, look ambassadors bill taylor and maria yovanovitch, lieutenant vindman, david holmes and fiona hill. they demonstrated an unclouded understanding of right and wrong. they testified to congress despite opposition from the president and at great personal risk. we expect these qualities in our public servants. we must demand them from our president. this president has failed that test of honor, of unselfish service to our country, of understanding the difference between right and wrong and above all of the need to put aside his personal interests when our nation's security and our values are at stake. this moment is about more than disagreements with the president's personality or policies. those disagreements belong in the voting booth. our task today is not to judge the president himself. instead we must judge the president's actions and whether they have undermined our government because it is the office of the president to which we owe our loyalty, not the man who occupies it. we must not turn a blind eye to the undisputed facts. the president used the highest office

what did fiona hill or vindman or sondland said and what did bill taylor said was wrong. that is not the argument. it is just they've created an if alternate reality. and rudy giuliani is away and the white house strategy carried to thenth extreme. >> and this is what jackie was alosing to. the white house has spent two months decrying this process seeking to cast it as illegitimate despite that not being the case so there was no reason to believe they would come and sit before the house judiciary committee to play ball and especially to the outset to bill's point they haven't engaged on substance because it doesn't look good for the president so they've made this a process driven argument to try to present the inquiry as politically motivated and that is the message to the base and perhaps to independents if they think that impeachment is not swaying independents in favor of democrats. but also there is another point here. the white house has not cooperated as you pointed out, they've withheld key documents and sought to block key witnesses from testifying before these h

taylor's notebook. that was not allowed -- >> i think the republican retort to that will be that every president since washington has asserted some manner of executive privilege. they'll note that the previous attorney general -- the attorney general under the obama administration had actually been held in criminal contempt of congress. >> eric holder. >> eric holder. and that we shouldn't and can't start impeaching presidents for asserting privileges and immunities especially when for example the white house counsel agrees with that and that it's up to the democrats to go to court if they don't agree. >> but we have never ever seen any administration, including richard nixon while he was under impeachment investigation, including bill clinton when he was under investigation, issue a blanket refusal to produce no witnesses, to produce no documents, to produce no e-mails, texts. yes, it is true that there are legitimate grounds for dispute about each perhaps certain of the documents that the house has so

secretary pompeo will not be meeting with ambassador bill taylor, the guy who famously texted, quote, i think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign. the guy who testified before congress that it was his, quote, clear understanding security assistance money would not coming until ukraine's president committed to pursue an investigation. that guy, ambassador taylor, is now on his way out. he plans on leaving ukraine literally a day before secretary pompeo arrives in the country. and get this, just yesterday, right, right before pompeo is going to make this big trip, taylor is leaving, we learn that president trump had a phone convo with russia's vladimir putin on sunday. how did we learn it? only because the kremlin posted a brief readout of the conversation yesterday. the white house did not provide anything until 10:45 this morning because why would anyone be curious about private conversations between president trump and president putin? according to the readout, trump did not mention russian election interference or its continued occupation of

on twitter the president tried to smear ambassador bill taylor, a former military officer who graduated at the top of his class at westpoint, served as an infantry commander in vietnam and earned a bronze star and medal for a d device for valor. he was attack for doing his duty by telling the truth? >> he did his duty by testifying, yes. >> president trump also attacked other administration officials who testified before the intelligence committee including lieutenant colonel alexander s. vindman, the director for ukraine on the national security council and jennifer williams, the special advisor of europe and russia with the office of the vice president, am i right? >> the hearat is right, yes. >> another troubling part of this is the president's treatment of ambassador yovanovitch. when you questioned ambassador yovanovitch, you asked her about the president's remark that she would, and i quote, go through some things. she told you that that remark sounded like a threat, is that right? >> yes. in the july 25th call, that's when president trump said that. >> ambassador yovanovitch is a

taylor talked how ukrainians are dieing every day to protect their territory and the west in general against russian aggression. the tragedy in all of this is that we talk a lot about the aid finally getting through, but the fact is the trump administration has done nothing inner its of countering vladimir putin on his annexation of crimea and support for separatists there. it's the front line for us, too. not just for europe. this is where the tensions that played out during the cold war and now in the post-cold war world, so much is at stake and the repercussions of this report and what happens in this impeachment hearing i think will play out for a very long time. not just in our elections. >> and undere scoring my point. we're going to decide who we are and what we will tolerate. a line on page 3. the impeachment inquiry found that president trump personally and acting through agents within and outside of the u.s. government solicited the interference of a foreign government, ukraine, to benefit his re-election. to your point, how embarrassing. he's there for nato, with the queen

diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor, texted the u.s. ambassador to e.u. gordon sondland and writes this - "are we now saying that security assistance and white house meetings are conditioned on investigations?" sondland says, "call me. >> seth: oh, man, anytime you text someone and they write back, "call me," it is not good. [ laughter ] it's like if you texted your fiance, "can't wait to get married tonight." and they just wrote back, "call me," you'd better find out -- [ laughter ] if that honeymoon suite is refundable so naturally, the democrats want to interview sondland as part of the impeachment inquiry. but trump is simultaneously blocking sondland from testifying while also claiming that he would love to let sondland testify >> on twitter, the president insisted he would love to send ambassador sondland to testify but unfortunately, he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court >> seth: i'm sorry you're calling them a kangaroo court? you're the one who literally puffs out your chest like you're defending your territory [ laugh

taylor, is now being ordered to leave ukraine. in other words, this is far from over. there is still a lot we don't know, which highlights the need for new witnesses at trump's senate trial. there are 41 witnesses at andrew johnson's trial, three at bill clinton's. >> republican house managers told the senate they have a witness list, finally naming names. president clinton's friend vernon jordan, sidney blumenthal and monica lewinsky. >> the senate laid down the law today. house prosecutors can persuade the senate to call witness, but only a few, and only if they can add to the case to convict the president. >> in fact, republican senators back then felt they needed witness, including some who will be voting on trump's fate. now like susan collins. >> i need witnesses and further evidence to guide me to the right destination to get to the truth. >> with me now, former acting u.s. solicitor general neal katyal. his new book "impeach: the case against donald trump." and just minutes ago he published a new op-ed in "the washington p

taylor, the former u.s. top diplomat in kyiv will be leaving shortly before pompeo gets there and whether or not the secretary of state stays as close to the president as he has been in that trip is going to say a lot about the direction and the future of the u.s./ukraine relationship. >> just bring, tie this together, with the latest developments, that were mentioned, that one, that pompeo is heading to ukraine, and i would guess that the missions to try to repair the u.s. relationship there, but trump took another call with putin, and the first readout came from the russians, not the white house. >> and that's become standard procedure. in fact, the readout from moscow came almost a full 24 hours before we learned of the white house, put out its own accounting of the call and frankly nearly 12 hours before the white house confirmed the call happened and largely based over russia, putin thanking trump for help foiling some sort of terrorism plot allegedly in russia in the last few day, details of yet which

taylor testified, he wanted zelensky to be in a, quote, public box. he wanted a public commitment, which, of course, is part of the reason why this aid was withheld until september 11th, when the public find out about it. >> sonam, i wanted to get more into that email that we were discussing here. michael duffey added this line here to the july 25th email -- "given the sensitive nature of the request, i appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know." how do you interpret that? >> well, again, i think it speaks to the fact that this was very unusual. this went against every aspect of u.s. foreign policy and u.s. national security. and we saw a senior administration official tell "the new york times," i believe earlier this weekend, that the email -- that the way the email was being portrayed was inaccurate and that this hold had been announced before and it was all part of an interagency process. well, if that was the case, then why did michael duffey send another email on september 11th saying "i'm glad this issue is

. >> we saw those texts between bill taylor and ambassador sondland where he says it would be crazy we're conditioning military aid on those investigations. explain for our viewers how you got those and what the importance is of getting more documents like that? >> it was thedo courage of peopo to come forward and provide information that the white house said notio to provide. ambassador kurt volker provided those terms. david holmes, of course, heard the republican concerns all the wayth over in ukraine this was n based on hearsay and he raised his hand actually i heard the he president ask ambassador sondlandam on july 26th about h investigations. so we have shown time and time again the different acts that are notts in dispute. that's a theme today. there are a number of acts that are not in dispute. not disputed that president trump fired the ambassador who was trying to clean up ukraine. not disputed that president trump pulled vice president pence back from going to ukraine. not disputed that president trump asked president zelensky to investigate the bidens. not disputed that presi

. >> so, you know, here you had people like bill taylor, who, you know, as his testimony revealed, graduated top of his class at west point. he chooses to go to vietnam during the height of the war and i loved when he was asked, because he's so self-effacing, you know you got some distinctions while you served in combat he said, "well one i'm most proud of is the combat infantryman's badge. you know, i also got a bronze star, but, you know, the one i really care about -- this is a guy who's basically downplaying a bronze star. >> seth: sure. >> and this is a guy they're attacking. colonel vindman got a purple heart. they're attacking him. ambassador yovanovitch had dangerous posts around the world. they're attacking her. there is nothing beyond their willingness to debase themselves for this president and, you know, i keep making the point, what are you going to tell your grandkids when they ask you what you did while this awful man was in office, to stand up to him? and -- >> seth: he doesn't like you [ laughter ] >> i get that impression >> seth: we know that, yeah. and a lot of the judici

taylor, west point graduate, vietnam war hero, republican appointed diplomat discussed the issue of military aid. here's a clip clip of his testimony. >> again, our holding up security assistance that will go to a country that is fighting aggression from russia for no good policy reason, no good substantive reason, no good national security reason, is wrong. >> to the extent that the military aid was being withheld as part of an effort to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election, is that behavior impeachable? >> yes, it is and if i could go back to one of the words you read. when the president said do us a favor, he was using the royal we. it wasn't a favor for the united states. he should've said do me a favor because only kings say us when they mean me. >> is it correct to say and abuse of power that strikes at the heart of our democracy falls squarely within the definition of a high crime and misdemeanor? >> yes it does. >> some of my colleagues have suggested impeachment would overturn the will of the people. the american people express their will in november of 2018. t

they're people like ambassador bill taylor who has served this country for decades, graduated top in his class at west point, served during vietnam in combat, earned a bronze star. they're people like colonel vindman served in iraq, earned a purple heart. they're people like ambassador marie yovanovitch, served in dangerous places all over the world, one of the most respected of all of our foreign service officers. these are the people that my colleagues would perjoratively label as career bureaucrats. and why? because they have the courage to answer a subpoena to come and testify. and for this they're called career bureaucrats. well, we should have more career bureaucrats of that caliber. i'm pleased to-year-old one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. costa. >> madam speaker, i rise with a heavy heart. the two most difficult votes any member of congress ever asked to cast is to vote to go to war or to impeach. today i will vote for the articles of impeachment. over the last few minutes i have listened carefully to my constituents. i have weighed all of the available informa

the current top diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor -- there he is -- won't be there for pompeo's arrival on friday. he'll have to hand off his duties the day before. taylor was an early voice raising concerns about withholding aid for political reasons. >>> all right, the gators run wild in the orange bowl. florida making a statement in the first minute of the game. coy wire has this morning's "bleacher report." leyla's happy. >> i'm a gator! >> that's next. it's the next one. you always drive this slow? how did you make someone i love? that must be why you're always so late. i do not speed. and that's saving me cash with drivewise. my son, he did say that you were the safe option. and that's the nicest thing you ever said to me. so get allstate. stop bossing. where good drivers save 40% for avoiding mayhem, like me. this is my son's favorite color, you should try it. [mayhem] you always drive like an old lady? [tina] you're an old lady. us. it's what this country is made of. but right now, our bond is fraying. how do we get back to "us"? the y fills the gaps. and bridges our divides. do

secretary pompeo will not be meeting with ambassador bill taylor, the u.s. chief of admission in ukraine, the guy who famously texted, quote, i think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with political campaign. the guy who testified before congress that it was his, quote, clear understanding security assistance money would not coming until ukraine's president committed to pursue an investigation. that guy, ambassador taylor, is now on his way out. he plans on leaving ukraine literally a day before secretary pompeo arrives in the country. and get this, just yesterday, right, right before pompeo is going to make this big trip, taylor is leaving, we learn that president trump had a phone convo with russia's vladimir putin on sunday. how did we learn it? only because the kremlin posted a brief readout of the conversation yesterday. the white house did not provide anything until 10:45 this morning because why would anyone be curious about private conversations between president trump and president putin? according to the readout, trump did not men

diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor text the u.s. ambassador to e.u. gordon sondland and writes this. "are we now saying that security assistance and white house meetings are conditioned on investigations?" sondland says, "call me. [ laughter ] >> seth: damn. any time you text someone and they respond by saying, "call me," it is not good. [ laughter ] if you text a date, "looking forward to tonight," and they text back, "call me," -- that date is not happening [ laughter ] the only thing worse is seeing those three bubbles come up for a while as you just wait for your response. like, "i can see you typing. are you still typing how long is this message are we committing a crime? oh, no [ laughter and applause oh, no, it is a crime. so now the second whistleblower coming forward and all this new evidence is coming out, trump's looking for a fall guy and since he's a political mastermind who apparently is an expert in manipulating the press, he looked around and found the perfect guy. the guy everyone would believe was responsible for all of this. energy secretary rick perry. >> presiden

we had witnesses who were a degree of separation or so out like bill taylor and even sondland although he talked to trump a little bit, he said he never talked directly on this core point. we don't have someone saying trump saying this is connected to that. i myself am going to condition these two things on announcing investigations into the bidens. and everyone is assuming what else could it be? that has to be it. but the people that trump talked to about this the most directly explicitly himself would be people like mulvaney and giuliani and we know that john bolton had a one-on-one meeting about this very issue in august. so that is a knowable fact, what go trump say about this. democrats don't have it. why don't they have it? because the white house has told these people not to talk. that means that democrats would have to go to court to get an order, this he could win after months and then it would be appealed and they could win after more months and it would be afield and it would be to the supreme court and finally maybe they would win and they would be dragged before congress a

they're going to have to tell the stories instead of a bill taylor or instead of alexander vindman. if you get those witnesses on the floor, there's a vocal debate about this. if you're a democrat, do you think it's more valuable to get a vindman or if you're lucky a pompeo or a bolton f the trade offer is you'll see the white house pursue aggressively getting hunter biden on the floor or continue to unmask and get testimony from the whistle-blower on the floor? everyone is doing the algebra here and trying to solve for what's the better outcome for your side. do democrats want to take that ris snk do they think they can peel off 20 republicans, an enormously difficult challenge if they get those witnesses or do they try to make the narrowest of arguments possible rather than risk the republican side getting to call their two or three witnesses and having that be more damaging to their argument or to the broader effort to remove president trump in november if you can't do it on the floor of the senate in january. >> i think the headline here, garrett, is there's still a lot of unkno

taylor is. >> i did. >> lieutenant colonel vindman, fiona hill, and the list goes on and on and on. these are not people who are political. they are career public servants who stuck their necks on the line to tell the truth. and because of that, i think that the american people believe them. >> i think they did. thank you. those who watched and listened believed. thank you, raja krishnamoorthi. >> thank you. >> let me bring in former director of the cia. a long weekend, i kept thinking, you know, there was a time when there was -- a period in which a reasonable person might have voted for trump when they heard he was going to rebuild the country. he's going to be a great executive because he made all this money. he has not rebuilt anything. he gave all the money to the rich. in terms of the government he was supposedly going to run, he has attacked it from day one. in other words, instead of being a chief executive, he's a chief attacker of the entire u.s. government. it's like he never took it over. >> so i wonder -- >> by the way, a lot of these cases wear reasonable person would

taylor about what he overheard, and repeatedly referred to the call in other conversations. well while that was happening on one side of the hill, on the other side house speaker nancy pelosi responded to president trump's criticism of the impeachment inquiry. the president had called it impeachment-like for including just two articles and, impeachment light for including just two artand nancy pelosi defended the house probe. >> the president is wrong. what can i say? we have put forth articles of impeachment. i am very proud of the committee, six committees have been working on this for a very long time. this is nothing swift about it. but it is urgent. >> speaker pelosi also explained why the charge of bribery which she has accused the president of committing was not included in the final articles of impeachment. >> you yourself accused him of bribery. why did you decide not to make bribery one of articles of impeachment. >> i myself am not a lawyer. sometimes i act like one. and not as often as i act as a doctor, i practice medicine on the side, without benefit of diploma

taylor. here is what he said in his testimony. >> to withhold that assistance for no good reason other than help with the political campaign makes no sense. was counterproductive to all of what we had been trying to do. was a logical, it could not be explained, it was crazy. >> a logical, explainable, craz crazy. so according to testimony, the only explanation for the withheld aid that made sense is that the president was seeking help with the political campaign, correct? >> that is the only logical explanation is multiple witnesses said. >> ambassador sondland is a trump appointee who gave a million dollars to the presidents inauguration and he testified he came to believe the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from ukraine committing to the investigations, correct? >> that was subsequently confirmed with president trump himself. >> lieutenant colonel vindman is a decorated iraq war veteran and member of the white house national security council and

>> well, i think this comes right after bill taylor, the person who has been serving as acting ambassador in ukraine, is about to step aside. he was obviously the top official who was part of the ukraine investigation, who raised alarms all the way up the chain of command about what he was seeing in terms of investigations that trump and the white house and rudy giuliani wanted. so i think mike pompeo is there to reassure the ukraine government that the u.s. continues to be an ally, that they want to smooth over relations. this ukraine saga really has rattled relationships between the united states and ukraine, precisely what russia wanted. and so i think mike pompeo is there to reassure them that the u.s. will be standing by the ukraine side. >> joel, to garrett's point, we haven't seen any cracks in the republican position on impeachment, but on the democratic side, bam senator doug jones is being eyed as a potential defector. here's what he said last week. >> i've been trying to read this, i'm trying to see if the dots get connected. if that is the case, and i think it's a serious matt

now ambassador bill taylor, west point graduate and vietnam war hero and republican appointed diplomat discussed this issue of military aid. here is a clip of his testimony. >> again, our holding up of security assistance that would go to a country that is fighting aggression from russia for no good policy reason, no good substantive reason, no national security reason is wrong. >> to the extent the military aid was being withheld as part of an effort to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election, is that behavior impeachable? >> yes, it is. and if i go back to one of the words you said. when the president said use us a we a favor. it is a royal we. he should have said do me a favor because only kings say "us" when they mean "me". >> is it correct that an abuse of power that strikes at the heart of our democracy falls squarely within the definition of a high crime and misdemeanor. >> yes, it does. >>> some colleagues have subjected that this will overturn the will of the people and the american people expressed their will in november of 2018, the will of the people elected a new

. >> testimony from marie yovanovitch, from bill taylor, from fiona hill and others who would know because they worked in that world of foreign policy testified that rudy giuliani had undo influence. they talked about what happened with gordan sondland. they talked about john bolton, saying that rudy giuliani is cooking up something. it's clear that the people who would think that there's somebody in their space who's exercising influence over the president and foreign policy, to them it represented a shadow foreign policy mechanism or structure. the republican response that you and i talked about briefly that came out last night finds that that didn't exist and that there was, again, no wrongdoing by anybody but that such a thing didn't exist. if you put everything aside, there is a valid question as to what rudy giuliani is doing in the middle of all of this. >> that's exactly right. i think that what rudy giuliani appears to be doing is basically serving as the president's point man for all of his personal agenda items. basically, as ambassador sondland said, it was explicitly told to t

they are people like ambassador bill taylor, who was served this country for decades, graduated top in his class at west point, served during vietnam in combat, earned a bronze star, they are people like colonel been men who served in iraq and earned a purple heart. there are people like ambassador marie jovanovich who served in dangerous places all over the world, one of the most respected of all of our foreign service advisors, these are the people that my colleagues would pejoratively label as career bureaucrats. why? because they have the courage to do their lawful duty, to answer a subpoena and come and testify. for this, they are called career bureaucrats. we should have more career bureaucrats of that caliber. i am pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman of california. speak of the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker arrives with a heavy heart. the two most difficult votes and a member of congress ever has to cast is devoted to go to war, or to impeach. today i will vote for the articles of impeachment. over the last few months i've listened carefully t

this is one from bill taylor to again ambassador sondland and ambassador kurt volker. one thing kurt and i talked about was a senior aid to president zelensky that president zelensky is sensitive about ukraine being taken seriously, not merely an instrument in washington's domestic re-election politics. they not only felt the pressure, they got the message. they were not going to get a white house meeting and not going to get military aid unless they furthered prud eed presides re-election efforts. that is a corrupt abuse of power. another argument that is made, that trump never said quid pro quo. and what you will hear is on a call with ambassador sondland after a "washington post" article came out on september 5 which we will look at, after that, there was a "washington post" article that came out that again exposed the ukranian scheme. days after that, president trump was on a phone call with ambassador sondland and without prompting said there was no quid pro quo. because he got caught. but even ambassador sondland didn't buy it because ultimately then president tr

it was bill taylor that represented -- replaced her. i am proud of what this administration has done. we reverse the massive failures of the obama administration. it allowed vladimir putin to take crimea. given just blankets and nonlethal equipment. i am proud of what we have done. the state department is fully supportive of what we've done. >> no defense of your employees western mark -- employees? team employ the greatest in the history of the world? guest: it's interesting. he talks about the ambassador. the president was demonizing her. he did that on that phone call. as the secretary says, she was carrying out administrative policy. why was it that the president to see her go?ed host: you write about robert ford. his last job was ambassador to syria. he was sent there in 2011 when he thought his job was going to be calm and boring. civil war broke out. he ended up being chased through plainclothesy security guys. he had to leave syria as the civil war got underway. he had that job for two years. before that, he spent two hours in i

on twitter, the president tried to smear ambassador bill taylor, a former military officer who graduated at the top of his class at west point. he served as an infantry commander in vietnam, and earned a bronze star, and an air medal with a v device for valor. he was attacked for doing his duty to tell the truth to the american people, correct? >> he did his duty, by testifying, yes. >> president trump also attacked other trump administration officials who testified before the intelligence committee, including lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, who is the director for ukraine on the national security council, and jennifer williams, the special advisor on europe and russia with the office of the vice president. am i right? >> that is, right yes. mr. goldman, i think another troubling example of this is the president's treatment of ambassador yovanovitch. when you questioned a bachelor yovanovitch, you asked her about the president's remarks that she would, and i quote, go through some things. she told you that that remark sounded like a threat. is that right? >> yes, in the july 25th c

we heard from the sme from people like bill taylor that this is very unusual and it was undermining the roots of foreign policy. that is why where we are today. let's go to capitol hill and take a listen to what is going on in the chamber of house with —— house of representatives. members have notice thereof. the house will come to order. clegg may continue. november 20 2019, shift's clegg may continue. november 20 2019, shift‘s action... the chair declines to conquer in a proposed action of the ranking minority member. the ranking minority member shall have the right to refer to the committee for decision. the question whether such authority shall be so exercised and the chair shall convene the committee promptly to render that decision, subject to the noticed procedures for a committee meeting under clauses in rule 11. on november 21 2019, pursuant to clause two jay one of rule 11, the rules of the house of representatives, all republican members on that select committee on intelligence wrote to chairman shift demanding to call witnesses at a minority day of hearings. whereas su

now ambassador bill taylor, west point graduate, vietnam war hero, republican appointed diplomat, discussed this issue of military aid. here is a clip of his testimony. >> again, our holding up of security assistance that would go to a country that is fighting aggression from russia for no good policy reason, no good substantive reason, no good national security reason is wrong. >> to the extent the military aid was being withheld as part of an effort to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election, is that behavior impeachable? >> yes, it is. and if i could go back to one of the words you read. when the president said do us a favor, he was using the royal we there. it wasn't a favor for the united states. he should've said do me a favor. because only kings say us when they mean me. >> and is it correct that an abuse of power that strikes at the heart of our democracy falls squarely within the definition of a high crime and misdemeanor? >> yes, it does. >> some of my colleagues have suggested that impeachment would overturn the will of the people. the american people expressed their wi

diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor, testified that there was in fact an explicit quid pro quo in which trump held up hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to ukraine in exchange for a pledge to investigate his political rivals according to reports, taylor's opening statement was 15 pages long and prompted a lot of sighs and gasps. and unless you're reading aloud from your book of erotica that is not good. [ laughter ] as a general rule, it is never good to hear sighs or gasps. it never means you are innocent. [ light laughter ] there are only two reasons why room full of people gasp when someone makes a shocking accusation in court, or when you and your buddies are watching a super-cut of skate board fails [ laughter ] "oh, damn. rudy tried to do an ollie and got the skateboard wedged up his ass. [ laughter ] people in the room called taylor's testimony disturbing and said he drew a direct line between president trump's withholding of aid for ukraine and his demand for investigation into joe biden and the democrats. and taylor, reportedly backed up all of his assertions with

i think when bill taylor testified, a ukrainian had died at the hands of a russian soldier that week in ukraine. and the behavior is the same from the president. >> so, you know, an hour ago, we were having this conversation. first, we were talking about eggs. but then we were having this conversation about moving goal posts,go right? the goal posts are now like in the parking lot with the tailgaters. right? they're just going to lie. it's not an issue of we're going to change the standard by which we're going to go because it would have made sense for the president to say we're waiting for thet better report with durham. no, they're justwi going to lie. like, who do you believe? your lying eyes or what i'm telling you. that's basically what the president is giving us right now. and i g think what we're also going to see, which is also disturbing,e' it's not just goi to be, they're going to go back and say horowitz came in with jeff sessions. we don't like jeff sessions anyway. you are going to see a character assassination of the individuals involved inhe putting together this repor

the people like ambassador bill taylor who has served this country for decades, graduated top of his class at west point, served during vietnam in combat, earned a bronze star, serving in iraq, earned a purple heart, people like ambassador maria, served in dangerous places all of the world and one of the most respected of all of our foreign service officers. these are the people that my colleagues would label as career bureaucrats and why? because they have the courage to do their lawful duty to answer a subpoena to come and testify and for this, they are called career bureaucrats. well we should have more career bureaucrats. well we should have more career bureaucrats of that calibre. i more career bureaucrats of that calibre. lam pleased more career bureaucrats of that calibre. i am pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman of california. i rise with a heavy heart, the two most difficult quotes any member of congress has cast to vote to go to war are to impeach. today, i will vote for the articles of impeachment. 0ver today, i will vote for the articles of impeachment. over the

show they knew what president eyo do.as doing, showed what this is one from bill taylor to, again, ambassador gordon sondland and kurt volker. gordon, one thing kurt and i talked about yesterday was sasha danylluk a senior aide of president zelensky's point that president zelensky is sensitive about ukraine being taken seriously not merely an instrument in washington domestic re-election politics. they not only felt the pressure they got the message. they were not going to get a white house meeting. they were ultimately not going to get military aid unless they furthered president trump's re-election efforts. that is a corrupt abuse of power. another argument that is made is trump never said quid pro quo. what you're going to hear is on a call with ambassador sondland, after a "the washington post" article came out on september 5thhe w a "the washington post" article that came out that, again, exposed thkrainianeme. days after that president trump was on a phone call with ambassador sondland and without prompting said, there was no quid pro quo. because he got caught. so he is offering his de

this is one from bill taylor to, again, ambassador gordon sondland and ambassador kurt volker. gordon, one thing kurt and i talked about yesterday was is a that, a senior aide of president zelensky point that president zelensky is sensitive about ukraine being taken seriously, not merely an instrument in washington's domestic re-election politics. they not only felt the pressure, they got the message. they were not going to get a white house meeting. they were ultimately not going to get military aid unless they furthered president trump's re-election efforts. that is a corrupt abuse of power. another argument that's made is that trump never said quid pro quo. and what you're going to hear is on a call with ambassador sondland after a washington post article came out on september 5th, which we will look at. after that there was a washington post article that came out that, again, exposed the ukrainian scheme. days after that, president trump was on a phone call with ambassador sondland and without prompting said there was no quid pro quo. because he got caught. so he's offering