mcguire is the antithesis of that. he is a career intelligence official, served in the navy for 26 years, and, you know, as his friends say, they don't expect him to be auditioning for the president despite his acting director title and expect him to be straightforward and apolitical with the facts despite the criticism he has received for the way he's handled this whistle-blower's complaint. as one source who formerly worked with mcguire said to me, at this point the way the whistle-blower's complaint came to light, the way it surfaced is actually the side show, and at the end of the day, this really is about the president, impeachment and the constitution. but again, the intelligence community will be watching mcguire closely and to the way he handles and defends the intelligence community as the president has increasingly politicized the situation. >> jacqueline alemany and andrew desiderio, thank you for being with us. >>> and "the 11th hour" back after this. is skincare from around the world better than olay? to f

mcguire is the antithesis of that. he is a career intelligence official, served in the navy for 26 years, and, you know, as his friends say, they don't expect him to be auditioning for the president despite his acting director title and expect him to be straightforward and apolitical with the facts despite the criticism he has received for the way he's handled this whistleblower's complaint. as one source who formerly worked with mcguire said to me, at this point the way the whistleblower's complaint came to light, the way it surfaced is actually the side show, and at the end of the day, this really is about the president, impeachment and the constitution. but again, the intelligence community will be watching mcguire closely and to the way he handles and defends the intelligence community as the president has increasingly politicized the situation. >> jacqueline alemany and andrew desidario, thank you for being with us. >>> and "the 11th hour" back after this. "the 11th hour" back after this sizing you up... calculati

mcguire. experts say there's a legal question over mcguire can share intelligence that involves executive communications. schiff says the justice department is ininvolved and indicated the administration may be as well. >> i don't know whether the white house is directly involved because we can't get an answer to that question. we know they're making some claim that a privilege may apply. well that narrows the category who may be intervening here. >> shep, that testimony from mcguire is scheduled for a week today. >> shepard: catherine herridge live in washington. thanks. legal analysis on this matter coming up at the bottom of the hour. next though, how many times have you heard there is no cure for the common cold? well that could soon change because some scientists appear to be on to something quite big. the break through that could stop your sniffles as reporting continues on this thursday afternoon. my insurance rates are probably gonna double. but dad, you've got allstate. with accident

says a whistleblower complaint involving present all trump is unprecedented mcguire has been testifying to congress about the complaints which were 1st to press. trump's communications with his ukrainian counterpart congressional democrats have been grilling mcguire to explain why he withheld the whistleblowers memo for weeks makers have now been given every day acted declassified version of the complaint which spurred democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry against a president trump the complaint is that least partially related to a call between president trump and ukrainian president a lot of resilience in which president from him to investigate democratic political rival joe biden. want to go now were 2 of my colleagues public fully ileus that he is our washington correspondent pablo again a very were markable day in d.c. the director acting director of national intelligence joseph mcguire is still testifying about the complaint of the whistleblower what stood out for you. hyla that's right i've got one eye on the testimony taking place at the moment well we'll just start from the

he could have gone the other way, mcguire could have gone the other way. the justice department has done what the president wants on this whistleblower report. what should be the penalties for the people who don't approach this work the way don mcgahn did and refuse to do the illegal things that the president wants them to do? >> well, let me just say, number one, if you're breaking the law, you're breaking the law and you should be held accountable, and i think that is something we should be looking at every step of the way of holding people accountable. because every time we don't, we're creating a perverse incentive in the future for people acting this way. i just want to say in the trump administration, those people who are witnessing the kind of things he does on a regular basis, the kinds of things this person does to demoralize that office, the people who are enabling them, there is a cold, frigid place in the historical eye. they will go down in history as despicable actors who enabled one of the presidents doing the worst things to office in the h

he could have gone the other way, mcguire could have gone the other way. the justice department has done what the president wants on this whistle-blower report. what should be the penalties for the people who don't approach this work the way don mcgahn did and refuse to do the illegal things that the president wants them to do? >> well, let me just say, number one, if you're breaking the law, you're breaking the law and you should be held accountable, and i think that is something we should be looking at every step of the way of holding people accountable. because every time we don't, we're creating a perverse incentive in the future for people acting this way. but i just want to say, i've seen this and have been saying this since the beginning of the trump administration, those people who are witnessing the kind of things he does on a regular basis, the kinds of things this person does to demoralize that office, the people who are enabling them, there is a cold, frigid place in -- upped -- under the historical eye. they will go down in history as despicab

thank you, director mcguire for your testimony today. i want to say thank you, also, to the whistle-blower for having the courage and the bravery to come forward on behalf of the nation. thank you to mr. atkinson, also the inspector general for his courage in coming forward to congress. you mentioned that you believe that the whistle-blower's report is credible, that the whistle-blower is credible, that the whistle-blower acted in good faith. you've had a chance now, as we have and i believe the american people have, had an opportunity to review the whistle-blower complaint and the transcript released of the phone call between the president of the united states and the president of ukraine. you've read both documents by now, haven't you? >> yes, congressman. >> would you say that the whistle-blower's complaint is remarkably consistent with the transcript released? >> i would say that the whistle-blower's complaint is in alignment with what was released yesterday by the president. >> okay. i want to read you a quick section of both to und

>> this is the nation's top intelligence official, joseph mcguire testifies in open session before the house intelligence committee where chairman adam schiff calls it deeply troubling seeking answers as to why it was withheld for weeks. >> it is attractive see that this was withheld as long as it was because it wasn't urgent matter, it is an urgent matter and there was no basis to keep this from the committee. >> we will hear what mcguire has to say, questions about what we may here. how far can they go and open session and did they play any role to assess the credibility of the whistleblower? chris stewart who has seen the complaint had this to say. >> if you think this is dramatic read the transcript from this phone call and tell me if that is dramatic because most american people go what is this about? >> reporter: mcguire is denying the washington post report that he threatened to resign if he could not speak freely to lawmakers and issued this statement, quote, at no time have i considered resigning my position since assuming this role on august 16, 2019. i never quit anything in

congressional democrats have been grilling mcguire to explain why he withheld the whistleblowers memo for weeks while lawmakers have now been given every day acted declassified version of the complaint which spurred democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry against president trumpeting the complaints is at least partially related to a collie tween president trump and ukrainian president was a lot of mirrors olinsky in which president trump urged him this to gate democratic political rival joe biden. people all right so let's go to do abuse a public figure foley ileus he is our washington correspondent good to have you with us pablo the u.s. acting u.s. director of national intelligence a joseph mcquire is still testifying i understand on the complaint of the whistleblower what did he say so far. going to break it down you're right has been testifying now for a few hours and it began very much with the focus on the humbling of the whistle blower complaints and now it seems to have moved on more to the contents that we heard from the acting director of national intelligence from the ve

mcguire citing advice from the department of justice's legal counsel, a d.o.j. official tells nbc news. a top democrat accusing the white house of trying to keep it secret >> if the assertion is accurate that the department of justice has made and the dni has affirmed that this involves a potentially privileged communication, then at one level or another, it likely involves either the president or people around him >> reporter: but republicans tonight are dismissing this latest firestorm >> this is not something i would ever see the president doing, and i would instead of jump to uallncget ths fit. >> reporter: mcguire has agreed to testify publicly next week. and what we still don't know, who the foreign leader was and what the president allegedly promised lester >> all right, kristen, thank you. >>> tonight one of the surviving crew members from the dive boat inferno that killed 34 people is suing the boat's owner and operator his attorney calling the ship a death trap here's miguel almaguer now with the exclusive interview. >> may day, may day, may day >> rep

director of national intelligence joseph mcguire said he said that if a president pressured a foreign government for help winning an election it would be on warranted unwelcome for the nation but he did not say if it was illegal now what i think we should do really is here actually directly from him because of course are you speaking for our 'd almost 3 hours today in washington i believe that everything you hear in this matter is totally unprecedented and that is why when former directors of national intelligence forwarded them to you whether or not that urge you could sure whether it was serious this was different i mean he's obviously in a very difficult position the acting intelligence director there was a moment's pub low when he was asked about the credibility of the whistleblower who brought all of this to light what was his answer to that question. his answer was very clear he was asked on several occasions he said that the he believes that both the whistleblower who fold filed a complaint against president trump and the inspector general who handled it acted in good faith he

mcguire citing advice from the department of justice's legal counsel, a d.o.j. official tells nbc news. a top democrat accusing the white house of trying to keep it secret >> if the assertion is accurate that the department of justice has made and the dni has affirmed that this involves a potentially privileged communication, then at one level or another, it likely involves either the president or people around him >> reporter: but republicans tonight are dismissing this latest firestorm >> this is not something i would ever see the president doing, and i would instead of jump to conclusions, actually get the facts first. >> reporter: mcguire has agreed to testify publicly next week. and what we still don't know, who the foreign leader was and what the president allegedly promised lester >> all right, kristen, thank you. >>> tonight one of the surviving crew members from the dive boat inferno that killed 34 people is suing the boat's owner and operator his attorney calling the ship a death trap here's miguel almaguer now with the exclusive interview. >> may day,

president donald trump joseph mcguire said the complaint concerning the president was on president and he defended his handling of the lawmakers have been given a redacted declassified version of the complaint it is alleges that trump trying to pressure the president of ukraine to investigate former vice president joe biden and joe biden's son and that the white house then tried to cover it was withholding military it was urgent and important. my job as director of national intelligence is our let's go live to do that we used to. use to anybody who wants you to publish president drum. some choice words for what happened on capitol hill that you're absolutely right brant and of course that comes as no surprise but you know what's quite interesting here is that u.s. media has been has released a recording of president trump who is referring to the whistleblower and in it in this recording he says the information about the call with the ukrainian president whoever the whistleblower is or what whoever it provided the information to him is close to a spy and that the added that in the old d

during that public hearing, some of the house intelligence committee, joseph mcguire said multiple times, this situation is unique and unprecedented. house democrats criticized him for not releasing the complaint sooner, while republicans called all of this a charade.>> the whistleblower complaint driving the controversy behind president trump's call with ukrainian president and igniting in impeachment inquiry released to the public. in it, the whistleblower alleges the president used the power of the office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 u.s. election, by asking for dirt on former vice president joe biden and his son, he goes on to accuse white house officials of trying to lock down records of the call. >> i want to stress that i believe the whistleblower and the inspector general have acted in good faith throughout. >> this morning, the acting director of national intelligence testified about the whistleblower in front of the house intelligence committee. house democrats pushed mcguire about why he initially withheld the complaint and said he was restricted

>>mcguire said while the complaint didn't initially go to congress it was sent to the fbi for further investigation, utah congressman chris stewart defended mcguire, i will say to my colleagues in here i think you're not. >>if you think you're going to convince the american people that your cause is just by attacking this man. >>mcguire told lawmakers he does not know who the whistleblower is that he is working with the inspector general's office to protect that whistleblower which is required by law. >>i believe that the whistleblower and the inspector general have acted in good faith throughout california congressman devin nunez says the complaint hasn't been completely verify. >>one of the quotes are going to use from you is you saying that this was a credible. a complaint that will be used and spawn as you're saying that it was true. >>mcguire also told lawmakers that the whistleblower will be allowed to testify before congress, although that may be up to the whistleblower reporting in washington. alexandra leigh mount. >>meanwhile, the president came out today in basically called

morning with minimal redactions and in just hours, the acting director of national intelligence, joseph mcguire, will appear before congress. he will testify at an open hearing before the house intel committee at 9:00 a.m. eastern and then speak to the senate intel committee behind closed doors this afternoon we'll have more on what to expect from capitol hill in a few minutes. but first, nbc's susan mcinhe is has new details on the call between the president and ukraine's leader >> reporter: president trump in a news conference again denying the claim at the heart of a congressional impeachment inquiry that he pressured a foreign power for political gain >> no push, no pree, no nothing. it's all a hoax, folks, all a hoax >> reporter: earlier the man at the other end of the controversial phone call issuing a similar denial >> nobody push it, pushed me, yes. >> in other words, no pressure you know what, there was no pressure >> reporter: and after resistance from the white house, a whistle-blower complaint about the phone call was released to congress reviewed by members of the intelligence comm

presidential election well the acting director of national intelligence joseph mcguire sort of made a very clear in his appearance earlier he said that if a president pressured a foreign government for help winning an election it would be on warranted it would be unwelcome and bad for the nation but he didn't say it was illegal it was sort of more what we were hearing from add the republicans in the committee hearing at they sort of focused more on the claims that it was a hoax cooked up by a crooked by crooked journalist who were in ca who received improper leaks from the intelligence community where the chair the democrats focused more on the content and they said that they need to push forward with this inquiry into the impeachment inquiry and publish the new york times is reporting that a cia officer is the whistle blower they are saying that 3 sources have told them that this cia officer worked inside the white house we're hearing there and then of course we've got joseph mcguire the head of national intelligence he was in a difficult position today there was a moment when he was

we've been listening to testimony from batman the acting director of national intelligence joseph mcguire. a lot of questions from the committee over the whistleblower complaint and they let us know which was released before that as well it's been pretty intense stuff for a lot at times as well you've seen the partisan lines drawn between republican and democrat members of the committee and it will continue but we're going to take a little break and talk to cast our correspondent on capitol hill today to well heidi where do we start basically i mean this seems as a say there's been a lot of back and forth you've you've seen some quite shall we say robust questioning particularly from the. republicans but i think the thing which i've heard the most from mr mcguire is his continued statement that no one is above the law. yes he has said that many times but at the same time we have to keep in mind that he is a trump appointing that got this job no more no more than 6 weeks ago and he has been very careful in his responses to not pass judgment on actually the the contents of that call between

you have been listening to a remarkable hearing with dni joseph mcguire testifying about three hours on capitol hill. that testimony coming hours after a publication of a whistleblower complaint that raises allegations the president of the united states used his office to pursue foreign dirt for the 2020 election. we have a great group here to discuss it. a lot of process in that hearing, a lot of politics in that hearing. mr. mcguire clearly very uncomfortable when asked to make any judgments, should this be investigated, do you think the president crossed the line. he didn't want to talk about that. what he wanted to say is i received this complaint. i did the best i could in a situation he acknowledged jeffrey tine was unprecedented. a whistleblower complaint not about somebody in the intelligence community, but about the president of the united states. what did we learn? >> well, the issue that the democrats in particular were focusing on is why, when the law says when there is a credible and urgent inspector general's report, when the law says it shall be turned over to the cong

senate about to gavel in for more debate on executive nominations including brian mcguire to be deputy undersecretary of the treasury. the first set of votes are scheduled for 11:30. senators are also planning to take a break in the afternoon for their weekly caucus meetings. before the week is over, we also expect the chamber to take up a temporary spending bill passed by the house to fund the government until november 21st. floor action on that is still at a time to be determined. now live to the senate floor. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, give our lawmakers the power to live with purity. remind them that for each test and temptation, you have provided a way of escape. when they stumble, help them to receive

we have the director the acting director of national intelligence joseph mcguire now testifying before the house. a committee on intelligence and we've been seeing begin since about 6 o'clock this morning and it's been nonstop here for the past 3 hours and they've been grilling him as to why he initially refused to share that complaint was congress despite being required to by law. >>and we're going to go live now to capitol hill to get the very latest fr>m karen cases, she's been standing by monitoring what's going on inside the hearing room. outside has the perspective on what this means to the impeachment hearings that are continuing. >>for just about 3 hours now the acting director of national intelligence intelligence joseph maguire has been in the hot seat before the house intelligence committee answering questions about the trump administration's handling of that whistleblower complaint now just before this hearing got started. there version of that complaint released to the public and it reveals some new details about the allegations. for the second day in a row congress is com

acting dni joseph mcguire is walking a tightrope here, jake. one hand he has a complaint from someone in his own intelligence community. on the other, it's about his boss, the president. mcguire had refused to appear today in front of the house intelligence committee, but he is now due to testify to both house and senate intel committees next week. jake? >> alex marquardt, thank you very much. pamela brown broke the story in the white house and department of justice also advising the dni, director of national intelligence not to share it with congress. are they providing any explanation for this? >> they are not but the white house counsel's office has been in discussions with dni and so far the refusal to turn over the complaint information to capitol hill. white house and doj advised odni that the controversial complaint is outside the scope of intelligence communities that would be protected under law. odni has told the committee from the general counsel of odni that essentially it's not an urgent matter under law and there could be confiden

tried to mcguire what was your 1st day on the job. my 1st day on the job was friday the 16th of august and i think i set a new record in the administration for being subpoenaed before and yeah yeah yeah that you had a heck of a 1st week didn't and i got much more information or the complaint is dated august 12th. whatever else you've done right in your career sure timing is it's got to be something you're about congressman i think the dan coats timing is better than mine so to look at there's been a lot of talk here today about the process i just want to just summarize a couple of things that's ok so you're in your 1st couple days on the job search you're you're hit with this complaint and it says that the president of the united states pressured a foreign leader to help him investigate a political opponent and that political opponent son in fact. that president asked the foreign leader to work with a private citizen mr giuliani and the attorney general of the united states bill barr on that scheme the president at that time not dispu

spy chief joseph mcguire to explain why he hadn't passed on the complaint to the committee. that whistleblower by their very act of coming forward and showing more dedication to country more of an understanding of the president's oath of office than the president himself in a tense hearing mcguire defended his handling of the whistle blows lead he would not add see if he consulted with the president of the matter but he stressed that officials like the whistleblower have complied with government rules. i have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and follow the law. now the mainstream of the republican party is standing by president trump they say the whistle blows complaint is full of he say and doesn't prove its case and make use democrats of using the letter as part of an ongoing which against the president they don't want answers they want to public spectacle and so we've been treated to an unincorporated of press releases press conferences and fake news stories away from the few remaining of the white house president trump supportive sheriff

just as mcguire evidently in a very difficult position there was a moment during the hearings when he was asked about the credibility of the whistleblower was his answer to that question. his answer was very very clear he said he believes both the whistleblower who filed a complaint against president trump and the inspector general who humbled and acted in good faith he said he said he doesn't know who the whistleblower is and he's also said but never asked him to find out the identity of the whistleblower now he also stated the greatest challenge the intelligence community has right now is maintaining the integrity of our election system and he stressed also so you know it was a it was a pretty clear answer later now in the meantime. the house speaker has told reporters that the president donald trump's handling of this controversy amounts to a cover up a very serious allegation does that mean that the impeachment inquiry will now you know really focus on this you create schedule scandal of rather. well it appears like the democrats are going to continue with the impeachment inquiry

this is after mcguire told lawmakers last week that he didn't receive enough notice. my guest sits on that committee. let's begin with impeachment. you called for this back in july after the mueller report came out, before mueller testified. adam schiff, the chairman of your committee, did not but he has this week. here's what he said on cnn this morning. this is the, quote, most serious misconduct of the president thus far, referring to ukraine. do you agree with him? >> i do. it's egregious, even for donald trump, because it puts his campaign ahead of our national security. that's number one. number two, it's easy to understand. the mueller report was somewhat confusing but this is pretty easy to understand. the president basically withheld aide in order to try to extract assistance for his campaign which put the national security of the people in jeopardy. >> here's the thing, congressman, you're going a bridge further than the facts do right now, right? we know that he pressed for an investigation of biden and his son. we know that he withheld $400 million in aid

and as far as joe mcguire, they nailed it, i think he is stuck in a situation, don't think he probably wanted to be acting dni. he is prepared to go to congress a week from today to give testimony in open session. he finds himself in the middle of a political battle and a very peculiar situation that nothing would have prepared him for. >> last point to you. clearly you're stressing how out of the ordinary this is, what else do we need to know? >> the person endorsing this complaint, the inspector general, is a career justice department official. he is on the hill testified in closed session. and from what i understand, he is kept from briefing them. will we ever get to know what this complaint says. and thank god we have a free press. this is a safety vafl, we are going to work to find out what it was, stephanie. >> no doubt you are, thank you both very much. great reporting. i'm going to dig a little deeper. we know what happened let's go deeper, chris lou served as deputy labor secretary. clint watts, and elise jordan who worked in the state house. people are going to say this is pu

what i found interesting, and i thought that was a great assessment, was the fact that dni mcguire has had a stellar reputation in his career. this is not a political bone in his body. he is not playing the game here. if he says this doesn't involve the intelligence community, i'm going to guess that the so-call so-called thing that was said within the intelligence community, which he's saying that didn't have anything to do with us. i'm guessing it was not related to intelligence business -- >> does it mean congress should not know? >> listen, i think congress should know. but here's the problem. let's just say -- this is a serious charge, it's a serious allegation. it needs to be handled in a serious way, but you don't do it by having press conferences pointing fingers and implying that this is an awful, horrible thing. i can't wait to read it to this. the whistleblower only works if you keep quiet and then it goes to a second step. would you ever any adjudication if you went to congress and tried to get any sense of fairness? probably not. this is how it's unraveling now. >> i want

earlier i asked peter mcguire his views on the pound. what we have seen isjust a whip soaring over the last matter of days and a heavy sell—off. we have centre bounce up. the uncertainty leading forward will cause again continued volatility for traders and the uncertain long—term player for borisjohnson the uncertain long—term player for boris johnson and his the uncertain long—term player for borisjohnson and his government. so much concern at the moment from the pound value. there are basically in two risks for the pound against the us dollar going forward. what are the positives and negatives that could put the pound up or down against the greenback? it will be whetherjeremy corbyn calls an election and the other side play into it, at least that's what boris johnson needs. there is that and i think that will cause uncertainty over the next few trading sessions. and if there is an election called then i think that you could see the pound rally a little bit to the upside. again, there are so many moving parts with this it could

spy chief joseph mcguire to make him explain why he hadn't passed on the letter to the committee that whistleblower by their very act of coming forward as showing more dedication to country more of an understanding of the president's oath of office than the president himself in a tense hearing mcguire defended his handling of the whistle blows let us know when he would not answer if he consulted with the president of the mag round but he stressed that officials like the whistleblower had complied with government rules. i have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and follow the law docs for now the mainstream of the republican party is standing by president tromp they say the whistle blows complaint is full of he say and doesn't prove its case a person and that he's democrats of using the letter is part of an ongoing we charge against the president they don't want answers they want to public spectacle and so we've been treated to an unending parade of press releases press conferences and fake news stories away from the fury in congress of the white house p

presidency the acting director of national intelligence joseph mcguire questions from a congressional committee over his handling of a whistleblower complaint what amounts to the 1st steps of an impeachment inquiry we've seen the reports of that complaint we've seen details of the phone call in which president urged ukraine's needed to investigate his potential rival former vice president joe biden and now this hearing which started with committee chairman adam schiff reading out comments from the july phone call and what is the president's response well it reads like a classic organized crime shakedown shorn of its rambling character and not so many words this is the essence of what the president communicates we've been very good to your country very good know the country has done as much as we have but you know what i don't see much reciprocity here i hear what you want i have a favor i want from you though and i'm going to say this only 7 times so you better listen good i want you to make up dirt on my political opponent understand lots of it on this and on that i'm going to put yo

the nation's attention without the courage of a single person the whistleblower as you know director mcguire more so than perhaps any other area of government since we deal with classified information intelligence committee is dependent on whistleblowers to reveal wrongdoing when it occurs when the agencies do not self report because outside parties are not allowed to scrutinize your work and to guide us if that system is allowed to break down as it did here if with whistleblowers come to understand that they will not be protected one of 2 things happen serious wrongdoing goes unreported or whistleblowers take matters into their own hands and divulge classified information to the press in violation of the law and placing our national security at risk this is why the whistleblower system is so vital to us and why your handling of this urgent complaint is also so troubling today we can say for the 1st time since we have released this morning the whistleblower complaint that you have marked on classified. that the substance of this call is a core issue although by means no means the only issue

mcguire is asking for appropriate consultations. the intelligence committee chairman adam schiff immediately responded saying quote the acting dni cannot provide the complaint as required under the law or he will be required to come before the committee to tell the public why he is not following the clear letter of the law. now, schiff had demanded that mcguire's testimony happen on thursday. it doesn't look like that will happen. mcguire's lawyer says it's so short notice it wouldn't be available and it wouldn't be a productive exercise, kate. >> it definitely will be an exercise in something coming up. it will be an exercise of wills it seems coming up. thank you. >>> joining me right now is a former attorney harry litman. i got a lot of questions. i'd like your perspective on this. there is a whistleblower law. what does that mean for this situation? >> it means the administration position is bankrupt and directly contrary to the law. remember why we have whistleblowers in the first place? we seen them in doj and other places is

as a result, mcguire is saying they need more time for appropriate consultations. this letter fell flat with adam schiff who immediately responded saying, he can provide the complaint or he will be required to come before the committee to tell the public why he is not following the clear letter of the law. schiff had demanded that mcguire's testimony happen on thursday, that's tomorrow. it doesn't look like that's going to happen. mcguire's lawyer is saying at such short notice he won't be available and therefore it wouldn't be a productive exercise. so here we have what's really shaping up to be a dramatic showdown between the nation's top intelligence official and the committee that is assigned to oversee it on a potentially explosive claim about the trump white house. >>> to israel now where prime minister benjamin netanyahu just announced he has cancelled his upcoming trip to the united nations general assembly in new york and his hold on power is hanging in the balance right now. aaron david miller is here, he is a senior fellow at the carnegie endowment. the

acting director of national intelligence, joe mcguire, will testify in open session before the house intelligence committee. open session, that means it will be on tv, which means you have to call in sick probably. then at 11:00 a.m. he is going then at 11:00 a.m. he is going to testify before the senate intelligence committee. that will not be on tv, that will be a closed session so we'll be watching for any characterization that come out of that closed-door session. also tomorrow the general inspector for the intelligence committee, michael atkinson who fielded this complaint, and we learned tonight from "the new york times" apparently interviewed witnesses in the white house that could corroborate the whistle-blower's complaint. he is also going to be testifying before the senate intelligence committee behind closed doors after the acting dni is in there first. so this story developed in ways that were not hard to follow -- i mean you can follow every piece of it. they were just sort of hard to believe as each new piece of it fell into place today. i think tomorrow may be another

. >> acting director of intelligence joseph mcguire, names the president the straight to the house. >> a recon souled with the white sox office and we found that it the was subject to executive privilege. >> mcguire refuseded to say and he revealed that trump never asked him to reveal the whistle-blower. >> i can say that i would not discuss my conversations with the president, i can tell you emphatically, no. >> president trump allowed it to be public. and. >> the president of the united states has betrayed his oath of offense. >> i want to congratulate the democrats on the roll out of the latest information war fair against president. >> but as trump and the gop allies took blame, mcguire says he thinks the whistle-blower did right thing. >> i think he followed the law. >> and the president's reaction, ignore the accusations, attack the messenger. he laid out the possibility. implaying they committed treason. >> i want to know who is the person who gave the whistle-blower? who gave the whistle-blower the information. that is close to a spy. you know what we yaus dod in world days wh

that should be adam schiff for his treatment of admiral mcguire today. my thoughts on the endless assault against this president. we are coming right back. >> the never trumper's assault keep trying to overthrow our president. they couldn't stop his candidacy but they tried. putting spies in his campaign and running fbi snare operations against the president. but no luck for the bad guys. then spy chiefs of the cia, the fbi, and dni did their worst to trap president-elect trump then president trump. led by dirty cop comey and his cronies, they conjured the special counsel and the almost two-year investigation of president trump and alleged russian collusion. the president under investigation and surveillance for almost three years and then fully vindicated. radical dems dismissed that special count report and focused their baseless claims of obstruction of justice squarely on the president. but quickly abandoned that when they fully realized lacking a crime, very few people indeed would buy into obstruction. then the short-lived lull in radical dimms sco

. >> while passing no judgment on the veracity of the allegations, mcguire testified -- >> i want to stress that i believe that the whistle-blower and the inspector general have acted in good faith throughout. i have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and follow the law. >> based on a justice department legal opinion, mcguire's of the complaint did not meet the legal standard for immediate congressional notification because the president's call was diplomatic and not an intelligence activity. and because the president's private call is at the heart of the complaint, mcguire said the next hurdle was executive privilege. >> he went to the subject of the complaint for advice first about whether you should provide the complaint to congress. >> it did appear that it has executive privilege. it was not stonewalling, i didn't receive direction from anybody. i was just trying to work through the process and the law the way it is written. >> the complaint also alleges that the was moved to a secret system in the white house. "reserved for colbert level intellig

the house intelligence committee will hear from the acting director of national intelligence, joseph mcguire about the process and handling of the whistle-blower report. we'll have that live tomorrow morning here on cspan 3 starting at 9:00 a.m. eastern. >> president trump is holding a news conference this afternoon and just minutes ago tweeting about the efforts on capitol hill to hear from the whistle-blower who issued a complaint to the inspector general over interactions between president trump and the ukrainian president. president trump tweeting i have informed the republican leader kevin mccarthy and all republicans in the house that i fully support transparency on the so-called whistle-blower information, but also insist on transparency from joe biden and his son, hunter, on the millions of dollars that have been quickly and easily taken out of ukraine and china. additionally, i demand transparency from democrats that went to ukraine and attempted to force the new president to do things that they wanted under the form of political threat. that's from president trump. we expect to hea

joe mcguire is by all accounts an honorable guy, he was a navy s.e.a.l., defended his country. it is time he defended his country as dni. >> let's remember that all these reforms to the cia grew out of the misuse of the cia by richard nixon during watergate. that's really the effort to make the intelligence community professional, not political, protected from politics, and if there's something going wrong, to ensure a whistle is blown and congress can find out to do something about it. when you start to interfere with that, you're attacking the integrity of the intelligence system, and our country's security is based on that. so what donald trump has done here and the actions of mcguire undermine the security of the united states and also effect our ability to protect ourselves all over the world and our allies and others' ability to rely on us. >> one of the arguments i heard from people that did not believe there should be any consequence to the mueller investigation or findings is that no outcomes were effected by what occurred. one can argue that, the evidence doesn't supp

, he was upset, schiff was upset that mcguire wasn't providing information as requested. now of course he broadened out concern to include the justice department and white house. and i think that tells you something as your setup indicated how complicated this case is becoming, and the problem is it is not like a normal whistleblower case, at least as reported. in a normal whistleblower case, an intelligence officer might be pointing to misconduct in the intelligence community, then it would fall to mcguire to report that as required by law to the intelligence committees. but if that intelligence officer, if as appears here is reporting misconduct or what he or she perceived was illegal behavior by someone outside the intelligence community and that didn't touch on intelligence issues, that puts mcguire in a difficult spot. that's why we are where we are. >> and adam schiff acknowledged he is in a difficult spot. he put it, if it is possible for the subject of the complaint to essentially quash the complaint, then the system is broken. understanding the complexities you t

director mcguire, i was very pleased when you were named acting director. if sue gordon was not going to remain, i was grateful a man of your background was chosen. a navy seal and director of the national counterterrorism center. your credentials are impressive. in limited interactions we have had since you became director, you have struck me as a good and decent man. which makes your actions over the last month all the more bewildering. why you chose not to provide the complaint to this committee as required by law, why you chose to seek a second opinion on whether shall really means shall under the statute, why you chose to go to a department led by a man bill barr who himself is implicated in the complaint and believes he exists to serve the interests of the president, not the office itself, mind you, or the public interest but the interest of the person of donald trump. why you chose to allow the subject of the complaint to play a role in deciding whether congress would see the complaint. why you stood silent when intelligence professional under your c

the acting director of national intelligence joseph mcguire will testify to the committee and explain why he blocked the inspector general's report of the whistle-blower's complaint. former house intelligence committee staffer will tell us exactly what the committee staff is doing right now at their desks tonight to prepare the members of that committee for tomorrow's hearing and what the members will be trying to achieve in that hearing tomorrow morning, beginning at 9:00 a.m. right here on msnbc. >>> as of tonight, this five-page memorandum of telephone conversation, released by the whoite house today, has made -- this is the five-page memorandum. it has made this 448-page mueller report now the second-most important public document in the impeachment investigation of president donald j. trump. the conversation only covered two subjects. first, military aid to ukraine, and second, investigating joe biden and joe biden's son. that's it. president zelenskiy clearly wanted to talk about military aid. president trump clearly only wanted to talk about joe biden. president zelenskiy used

. >> reporter: passing no judgment on the veracity of the allegations mcguire testified. >> i want to stress that i believe the was lower and the inspector general have acted in good faith throughout. i have every reason to believe they have done everything by the book and followed the law. >> based on the justice department legal opinion mcguire said the complaint did not meet the legal standard for immediate congressional modification because the president's call was diplomatic and not and intelligence activity and because the president's private call is at the heart of the complaint mcguire said the next hurdle was executive privilege. >> you went to the subject of the complaint for advice first about whether you should provide the complaint to congress. >> it did appear that it has executive privilege. i was not stonewalling, didn't receive direction from anybody. i was trying to work through the process and the law the way it is written. >> the complaint alleges the transcript was moved to a secret system in the white house, quote, intelligence information such as covert action.

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as acting director of national intelligence joseph mcguire testifies before the house chaired by congressman adam schiff, democrat california and congressman devon nunez, republican ranking member from california. on the handling of whistleblower complaint involving donald trump. live easton on c-span3. on live, c-span.org or listen on the c-span radio apps. >> next a hearing on the relationship between the cigarettes and an outbreak in lung disease. the house oversight and reform sub committee on economic and consumer policy, the centers for disease control, on e-cigarette use. and a string of lung illnesses resulting from e-cigarettes and mazars -- medical professionals were joined by a mother whose daughter was hospitalized after vaporing and a former smoker who uses e-cigarette as an alternative to traditional cigarettes.

by last night the office refused, writing that that time frame is unreasonable and that mcguire won't be attending a congressional hearing slated for tomorrow. chairman schiff says the inspector general who oversees the dni deemed the whistle blower complaint to be credible and urgent. the dni's top lawyer disputes calling it that. the top lawyer wrote the complaint involves potentially privileged matters with other stakeholders within the executive branch. here's a confrontation. we know nothing about the details except that it involves intelligence. >> more importantly, chairman schiff knows nothing about the underlying details except that it involves intelligence. he did say in the letter that he initially wrote to mcguire that this complaint and the inspector general's look into it has been shared with the justice department. so there's some suggestion that potentially it could have been shared with the white house or it involved the white house. really we don't know and he doesn't know what's in the complaint. what you have is kind of this standoff. given that it involves intelli

spy chief joseph mcguire to make him explain why he hadn't passed on the letter to the committee that whistleblower by their very act of coming forward has shown more dedication to country more of an understanding of the president's oath of office than the president himself in a tense hearing mcguire defended his handling of the whistle blows led a point he would not answer if he consulted with the president of the man ground but he stressed that officials like the whistleblower had complied with government rules. i have every reason to believe that they have done everything by the book and follow the law. for now the mainstream of the republican party is standing by president trump they say the whistle blows complaint is full of he say and doesn't prove its case and make his democrats of using the letter is part of an ongoing we charge against the president they don't want answers they want to public spectacle and so we've been treated to an unincorporated of press releases press conferences and fake news stories away from the few ring of the white house president trump supportive sh

details about the complaint to the house intelligence committee because he had not been authorized by mcguire's office. >> why were you not able to get an answer today about whether or not the white house intervened and an answer about the substance of the complaint? >> we can't get an answer because the department of justice and the director of national intelligence will not authorize the ig to tell us. and the inspector general is doing his very best, being very careful that he follow the law. >> reporter: the controversy has gathered new steam after a "washington post" report that an official in the american intelligence community was so bothered by a promise trump made to a foreign leader that a fo formal whistleblower complaint was filed. prior to the filing on august 12th, white house records showed that trump had spoken to or interacted with several foreign leaders, including russian president vladimir putin and north korean dictator kim jong-un. the inspector general deemed it credible and of immediate concern being something that is required to be turned over to congressional oversight