Lauren fox on capitol hill. Cnns Jeremy Diamond at the white house. Jeremy, what are we hearing from the president . Fill us in. Thats right, kait. What we are hearing from the president is that he says he is will he be issuing a letter to the House Speaker nancy pelosi and were hearing him comments. This morning we reported that white house lawyers are drafting a letter to the House Speaker, saying they are not compelled to comply with any document requests from the impeachment inquiry that the speaker has said that House Democrats opened until she makes the vote. White house Officials Say there is precedent in past impeachment inquiries for the house vole vote to be held. The House Speaker says she is under no obligation to hold such a vote, to hold this impeachment inquiry. If appears a standoff once again between the white house and democrats on capitol hill. The president is sls in miss remarks this morning on the White House South Lawn insisting again there was no quid pro quo involving holding Security Assistance to ukraine in exchange for asking the ukrainians to investigate the president s political rival joe biden and also circumstances surrounding that investigation into the 2016 election. Of course we have seen the Text Messages now in the past day between ambassadors involved in ukraine. And it was very clear from the Text Messages, kait, that there was significant pressure applied to the ukrainians and the youngers are concerned about the fate of u. S. Ukraine recommendations if they didnt carry out the investigations, kate. A lot has changed since we spoke and a lot is changing as we speak. Jeremy please stay close, i have a lot of questions for you. Lauren, first to you with, a ton to cover with you as well pl number one the Inspector General is on capitol hill. We have the Text Messages revealed after kurt volker revealed them to the committees yesterday. Pu first on what we hear coming from the white house. The president is daring the House Speaker to hold a vote unless and until he is not cooperating. What are you hearing from house members, the speaker, leadership, as this question is lingering out there . Thats right. This question has been lingering, kate for several weeks. I will tell that you aides to fans pelosi said repeatedly its not in the constitution, its not inhouse rules. We are not required to hold a formal vote on impeachment inquiry to start one. So we have already begun or inquiry. Its ongoing if the president doesnt want to comply with the records request, thats potential obstruction. Thats where democrats are standing right at this moment. Like you said michael atkinson, the icig in the scif drying to describe the complaint and explaining why the complaint didnt get in the hands of congress sooner coming after kurt volkers testimony yesterday with the explosive Text Messages we saw. I want to read you one that democrats are seizing on. It comes from bill taylor who was a u. S. Official says, as i said on the phone, i think its crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with a political campaign. Then four hours later. Gordon sondland, bill i believe urine correct about President Trumps intentions. Process the president has been Crystal Clear, no quid pro quo of any kind. The president is trying to evaluate whether ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that president zelensky promised during the campaign. I suggest we stop the back and forth by text if you still have concerns, i recommend you give lisa ken nay or s a call to discuss directly. Thanks. Then another message. This one from vomger to a top zelensky aide. Saying good lunch. Thanks heard from the white house assuming president z convinces trump he will investigate, get to the bottom of what happened in 2016 we will nail down a date for visit to washington. Good luck. See you tomorrow. Kurt. So thats what democrats are seizing op this morning. You can expect theyll have more questions about the Text Messages for the icig in the scif today. Kate. And bill taylor, one thing striking, lauren is how bill taylor clearly repeatedly i dont want everybody confused with the new names introduced to the conversation. Just think of it this is a top u. S. Official in ukraine repeatedly concerned about this idea that we dont know where he reached the conclusion that there was going to need to be this exchange of military assistance it would be received if and when you get these investigations. But repeatedly raising concerns about it, even in an earlier one saying are we saying Security Assistance and white house meetings are conditioned on investigations . Another top u. S. U. S. Ambassador actually just responds, call pay. I mean, these are remarkable in what you see in this. Context is key. And often everything except when its really right in front of you, which is a remarkable thing. Real quick, lauren, volker was before the committee for hours yesterday. Any word on how long the Inspector General will be there . Well, weve heard from at least one democratic member. Could be between two and eight hours. That gives you a sense of how little we know about how long the meeting could go go on. When they are in the scif its unexpected when this come out. Great right now about estimate. Jeremy diamond is bringing more reporting coming from President Trump. We bring in the tape when it wraps up and they will play it back from what he was saying on the south lawn of the white house. In the meantime i need a little more perspective here. Carolyn pelesi, a white collar criminal defense attorney. And a reporter for politico. And our Global Affairs staff writer and analyst for the new yorker. Carolyn i was bugging you as this was playing out before we came to air. What is your perspective on the question of look, if the white house wanted to have full transparency theyre not saying because you didnt follow this written rule in in step in this process were not going to hand it over. They could hand over information if they wanted to. Yeah, absolutely to be clear there is no rule. What is the rule on you have to have a formal vote on impeachment on the floor before i hand over respond to the subpoenas. You dont. There is nothing in the constitution that dictates that would have to have a formal vote just to conduct the oversight function. Now, there is a precedent in nixon both nixon and clinton impeachment they had the vote before. Pelosi and schiff say that just the response to this, the white house is stonewalling, theyre using that as more evidence of obstruction of justice in the impeachment inquiry as it stands. So absolutely not thp theyre playing games here. Done it with executive privilege before. Its one thing for congress to have a theorile legal right to information quite another to see it play out in realtime. And theyre see egg the obstacles. Its taking time thgt through courts. And if you think about citing a contempt citation in the criminal context, who is involved in that . The doj. Bill barr. When you think about it, bill barr is certainly not going to issue a contempt citation or the white house stonewalling. Its a really mucky situation. Welcome to where we are in general. Yeah. I think there is always a a need for clarity on when important moments are happening. Im told by the control room that President Trump also just said that there was no quid pro quo in his dealings with ukraine despite the Text Messages discussed between u. S. Diplomats showing President Trumps the administration putting pressure on on the country. Carolyn, when you look at these Text Messages that we have sienna have been released from the committee, do you think that is evidence of a quid pro quo despite the president said zpl its laughable you can tell me the sky is purple but obvious lites blue. The Text Messages do nothing if not corroborate if not krobt corroborate what we have known about this it doesnt matter whether there was a quid pro quo. Lets think about the lessons we learned from the Mueller Investigation in terms of thinking about this too strictly in a legal sense, quid pro quo soundslike a statutory legal language. The issue in quichement obviously as we learned has nothing to do necessarily with whether or not you meet the statutory definition for a crime. This is this type of behavior is quint essentially what the framers had in mind when they think about impeachment process. This is exactly putting a president s own personal, whether political or economic, you know, things. Priorities. Priorities in front of the nations. Thats exactly what the founder thought. If we think about in terms of legal question, yes there was a quid pro quo and its what it is. With you but it doesnt matter. We dont need to get that question. We have the tape come in any moment. Were taking a quick break. More coming in from the white house and far beyond. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol®. For fast pain relief. kickstart my heart by motley crue truck honks wheels screeching clapping sound of can hitting bag and bowl clapping always there in crunch time. Ive edge . Its the sleep number 360 smart bed. Can it help me fall asleep faster . Yes, by gently warming your feet. Can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you effortlessly comfortable. Will it help me raise my game . Yup so, you can really promise better sleep . Not promise, prove. So i can be my best for these guys . Yes, and those guys. Sleep number. This is not a bed its proven quality sleep. From 999. Performance comes in lots of flavors. dramatic orchestra theres the ampedup, overtuned, feedingfrenzyof sheetmetalkind. And then theres performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. Thats the kind lincolns about. Welcome become. Any moment now we are heading back to the white house where President Trump has been speaking with reporters as he is leaching the white house from the south lawn. And what he has been saying he has been defending himself. He has told reporters when asked about the damning Text Messages revealed overnight from congressional committees from top u. S. Officials, also the president s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, President Trump is insisting that there was no quid pro quo with the dealings with ukraine. That, though when you lock at the Text Messages, though it shows in written word talk of quid pro quo. I will read one of them for you. We read them before. But they are worpgt repeating over and over again. From one top u. S. Official to another, as i said on the phone i think its crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with a political campaign. In response in response another official says bill i believe urine correct about the president s intentions goes on to lay out its Crystal Clear he does not want a quid pro quo but suggests i stop we stop the back and forth by text. If you still have concerns i recommend you reach out to the two people to discuss directly. In this moment, there is a need for perspective. Let me bring in right now susan glaser for a little bit of that. Susan, when you look at Text Messages revealed handed over by kurt volker to the committees yesterday, what picture does this paint, despite what we hear this morning from the president who says, the conversations were perfect, there is no quid pro quo to look at. Well, its a pretty striking development, i would say, having seen a lot of document dumps. This was a breath taking thing to have written down and to be released publicly. At the very beginning i should point out yesterday was the first witness in this impeachment inquiry. Exactly. To have the new information coming to us. Veteran prosecutors, lawyers reviewing millions of pages of documents in krers they might never come across evidence so explicit and damning on its face. It would be almost a textbook definition in fact of what a quid pro quo would be. Bill taylor, i should point out is the senior u. S. Official in ukraine after President Trump fired the previous u. S. Ambassador to ukraine in the midst of a campaign by his son don junior and Rudy Giuliani because she apparently objected to giulianis interference in ukrainian affairs. And so this person who is raising this objection is a highly credible Career Foreign Service officer. No flame thrower i should pointed out not only not partisan but described to me by someone flowing him well as a complete boy scout. The fact he puts it down in writing was explicitpy done. The fact he did it twice numerous days apart points out that his concerns were not only not asaujd but seemed to be heightened about the explicit use of leverage by the United States of america and President Trump on ukraine to get something of value for President Trumps personal political interests. This is a fact set i have not encountered in almost three decades as a journalist. One thing im struck by is that President Trump, if he were any other president would be advised very strongly to shut up and to stop talking, because the new arguments he makes, first of all, setting a standard that he cant meet, claiming there is no quid pro quo when there appears to be evidence of it. Oh, going to interinterrupt, susan because the tape it coming in High Pressure lets listen to what President Trump has to say about this. Just came out and theyre the best numbers we have had in over 50 years. The unemployment number is zoun to 3. 5 that goes way, way wak. We havent had numbers like this in a long time wages are up by almost 3 . Thats a fantastic increase for everybody out there working. Were very happy about those numbers. The stock market is substantially up as it was yesterday. And our country does well. Europe is not doing well. Asia is doing poorly, to put it mildly. And we continue to do very well. Were the miracle. But the unemployment numbers just came out, 3. 5 unemployment. And thats a tremendous number. The lowest in over 50 years. So very happy. I think really very important, again ill awages are up. When i was running wages were no where. They were going down and people were having two and three jobs and making less money than they made 20 years before. Now wages are up. So were happy about that. One other thing having to do with poland. Poland is a country, great people, we have a lot of polish americans living in the United States. Ive just signed, will soon be signing and signed certain preliminary applications. We will be giving a full visa waiver to poland. That means that people from poland can easily travel there. And people from here can easily go back and forth. They can each people from the u. S. , people from poland can easily go back and forth between the United States and poland. So theyve been trying to get this for many, many decades. And i got it for the polish people in honor of the polish people in the United States and in poland. So were very happy with that. Adam schiff got four picken os. He he should have gotten those two and a half years ago thats a nice question let me shake your hand come here. Thats a very nice question. Almost a surprise. I figured that was a trick question right. What did your letter to pelosi say. Well be issuing a letter. As Everybody Knows wove been treated very unfairly. Very different from anybody else if you go over not only history, i mean you go over any aspect of life youll see how unfairly weve been treated. Weve done a fantastic job. Everything to me is base corruption. We want to find out what happened with the 2016. As you know there is a lot of work going on in that. I dont care about bidens kban. About you i do compare about corruption. His campaign thats up to him. I dont care about politics. As i think i made clear and yesterday somebody asked me a question. And i give an answer. But always in the form of corruption. What i want to do and i think i have an obligation to do it probably, a duty to do it, corruption we are looking for corruption. When you look at what biden and his son did and other people, what theyve done. And i believe there was tremendous corruption with biden. But i think there was beyond i mean beyond corruption having to do with the 2016 campaign. And what these lowlives did to so many people to hurt so many people in the trump campaign, which was successful despite all of the fighting us. I mean, despite all of the unfairness. So we are looking at corruption. Were not looking at politics. Were looking at corruption. What did you say to the chinese about the bidens, zblier i dont know somebody said that a long time ago was that in 2017 . I dont know youd have to tell me when. All i can tell you this when i speak to foreign leaders i speak in an appropriate way. If you notice, they dont mention the call that i had with the president of ukraine. They dont mention that. Because it was so good. The only time they mentioned it was when adam schiff made it up. You talk aboutpy noek owes. He made up a phoney story. Adam schiff. They dont talk about anymore. When this came out, it was quid pro quo. Well there was none. Also yesterday, the ambassador who i heard was tremendous and a tremendous person, he was 100 for what were seeing. 100 . And if you look he also there was no quid pro quo. Thats the whole ball game. But now the democrats dont bring it up anymore because they lost. Look, they never thought i was going to release the phone cull between the ukrainian president and myself. When i released that call, they were they were jumping around like you wouldnt believe. They didnt know how to respond. And then they found out then they found out that the call itself was so bad for them. It was a perfect call. There was nothing we handed that call out. We handed the call out to people and they say, wow, this is incredible. Were very proud of the call. When you speak to a foreign leader i speak in an appropriate manner. Now were also doing trade deals with china and were doing deals with a lot of people for the country. So im not looking to insult people. I can tell you that. But we could probably find that out. Would you be more willing to do a trade deal with chinese if they investigate biden. No, has nothing to do with it. No i want to do a trade deal with china but only if its good for our country and it could happen. As you know theyre very much coming over. Next week as i understand it. Id like to do a trade deal with china. But only if its a a great trade deal for this country. One thing has nothing to do with the other. Do you want the house to sproed with the quichement inquiry official. I wouldnt mind because we have no rights. The way they are doing it they have taken away our rights. So if they proceed and you know theyll get their people theyre all in line because even though many of them dont want to vote. They have no choice, having to follow the leadership. Well get to to the senate and the we win. This the the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country. We beat the one that started immediately. We went through two years of mueller. And that came out like a 10. Came out perfect. And a few days go by and they start this nonsense thp this is just as ridiculous. So the democrats. Unfortunately have the votes. They could vote easily. Even moet of most of them many of them dont believe they should do it. I do believe that because of what theyre doing with pelosi and and their real leaders. Aoc plus three. Thats the real leaders. I believe they are paying a tremendous price at the polls. We saw the first glimpse of it two weeks ago in a great state, North Carolina. We saw a great, great glimpse of whats going to happen. Because in North Carolina we had two races. One gentleman, dan bishop was down by 17 points with three weeks to go and he won easily. And the other man, as you know, greg murphy was up by a very little bit and won by a massive amount. Splaps in the 20s. 20 or something, maybe higher. So i think you got your first glimpse of whats going to happen. The big key is i have to campaign there. But if you look at what happened in North Carolina, two races we won both and won them easily. And one was almost tied. And the other one was a big, big lead. And that one turned and the tie became a landslide. [ inaudible question ] well, i dont know about mitch. I have a lot of respect for mitch mcconnell. I saw his statements. And he thinks this is ridiculous. He thinks its unfair. I saw his statement yesterday he put out where he read my phone conversation, and he thought it was a wonderful conversation. And it was. But, see the democrats dont talk about anymore. They try and go to other things. These people are looking for anything they can get, because they know theyre going to lose the election. And were in election season now. For them to be doing this now, its never been done. What. North korea what expect . Were dealing with north korea. They want to meet. And well be meeting with them. Its probably being set up as we speak. But well let you know. But north korea would like to do something. Iran would like to do something. We have a lot of countries that are in a very good position right now, despite the witch hunt which hurts or country and hurts america. But iran wants to do something. North korea wants to do something. And china would like to do something. [ inaudible question ] i dont know. That youd have to ask is the Justice Department investigating joe biden . That youd have to ask attorney general barr. But i can tell you just as an observer what i saw biden do with his son, he is pillaging the countries and hurting us. How would you like to have as an example, joe biden negotiating the china deal if he took it over from me after the election . He would give them wait he would give them everything. He would give them everything. How would you like to have that . Joe biden would just roll out the red carpet. He would give them everything. So, again, this doesnt pertain to anything but corruption. And that has to do with me. And i dont care about politics. I dont care about anything. But i do care about corruption. And to have somebody take out a billion and a half dollars out of china who is totally unfit he is unfit to have him get 1. 5 billion. And now i hear the number of 50,000 a month. Now i hear the number of 50,000 a month is very low. Its a much higher number. That bidens son was getting per month. In fact much higher. And for him to as a total for him as a totally unqualified person to be getting hundreds of thuses of a month is very, very sad. So, again, is the Justice Department investigating that . I just dont know. Do the democrats have the votes . Do you think you. I think they follow the leader. One thing with the democrats. I give them credit for it. A lot of them dont want it. You know that you interview them. A lot of them they call them in the trump districts where i won and then they won after when i wasnt running but im winning them big. If you look at whats happened with my polls through the roof. You know why because of this phoney witch hunt. If you look at what happened with the fund raising we have set a record, the republicans, because people are sick and tired of it. I got a call the other night from pastors, the biggest pastors, evangelical christians saying we have never seen our religion or any religion so electrified. They say they have never seen anything like it. Churches are joining. Hundreds of thousands of people to a large extent because of you. And your partner the democrats. Do you think it will pass the house and die in the senate. I think this. We have great we have a great relationship in the senate. I have a 95 Approval Rating in the Republican Party. I believe the senate and i havent spoken to that many senators. But i believe the senators look at this as a hoax, a witch hunt. Its a disgrace. Should have never happened. Just like russia collusion delusion should have never happened. That was a witch hunt. And just like that, should have never happened. So i think in the senate i think they feel that the Republican Party has been treated very, very badly. Now, in the house, they have the majority. They all vote with aoc and plus three. Nancy pelosi is petrified of them. She is afraid she is going to lose her position. Nancy pelosi will lose her speakership right after the election when the republicans take over the house. Sir can we talk about the text mention that including holding off a visit. The one text message that i saw was just about the last text message because i dont know i dont even know most of these ambassador, didnt know the names. But the text message the text message that i saw from ambassador sondland who is highly respected was there is no quid pro quo. He said that. He said, by the way, its almost sounded like in general. He said by the way, there is no quid pro quo. And there isnt. Now, for bidden there would be. But listen to this. There is no pro quo. And that was the text message i saw and that nullified everything. Asked foreign leaders for any corruption investigation that dont involve political opponents, involving other cases. We would have to look but what i will always ask for is anything to do with corruption with respect to our country. If a foreign country can help us with respect to corruption and corruption probes and i dont care if its biden or anybody else. But if they can help us if biden is corrupt, his son is corrupt when his son takes oh out billions of dollars, billions and he has no experience he just got fired from the navy when they do that, thats no good. So the only just to finish the question, anything having to do with corruption, i actually feel i have an obligation to do that. Including with miss pelosi. Is anyone advising you its okay to solicit the help of other governments to investigate a potential political opponent. I dont say anything is okay. Ill tell you whats okay. Here is whats okay. If we feel there is corruption like i feel there was in the 2016 campaign. There was tremendous corruption against me. If we feel there is corruption we have a right to go to a foreign country just you know. Just so you know. Including putten. I was investigated. Putin as well. I was investigated. Okay. Me. Me. In my campaign i ran. I won. I was i wont say that i was investigated. I was investigated and they think it could have been by uk. Could have been by australia. They think it could have been italy. So when you get down to it, i was investigated. By the obama administration. By the obama administration. I was investigated. So when these people talk but as far as im concerned, what i want to look at and what we want to investigate, anything having to do with corruption. [ inaudible question ] i view china as somebody were trying to make a deal with. We have a very good chance of making a deal with. Weve had good moments with china. Weve had bad moments with china. Right now were in a very important stage in terms of possibly making a deal. If we make it it will be the biggest trade deal ever made if we make it. But i view china as somebody we deal with on the world stage. I would like to get along with china if we can. And if we can, thats great. If we cant, thats okay too. But what were doing is were negotiating a very tough deal. If the deal is is not 100 for us then were not going to make it. And i will and i will say this. I will say this. I will say this. China very much wants to make this deal. China is getting killed. The tariffs are killing china. Whats happened is they have now 3 million loss of jobs. Their chains are broken up. You look at the supply chain, its a disaster. Companies are going to other countries, including us. Mcright now is a total disaster. [ inaudible question ] anything to do with a investigation into joe biden . No, no, no, let me tell you im only interested in corruption. I dont care about politics. I dont care about bidens politics. I never thought biden was going to win, to be honest. I picked somebody else a long time ago. And well see what happens. But i never thought biden was going to win. But i dont care. Frankly if he won hed be very happy. I think he would be an easy opponent. But i never thought biden was going to win. I dont care about politics. But i care about corruption. And this whole thing is about corruption. This whole thing is this whole thing is about corruption. [ inaudible question ] this is about this is corruption. And this is not about politics. This is about corruption. And if you look and you read our constitution and many other things, we i have an obligation to look at corruption. I have an actual obligation and a duty. Mr. President mr. President the house subpoena. What. Are you going to cooperate with the house subpoena investigation. Thats up to the lawyers. The lawyers think they have never seen anything so unfair. Never seen anything so unjust. Ive been president now for almost three years. And ive been going threw this almost three years. Its almost become like a part of my day. But in the meantime we have the best economy weve ever had. We have the best job numbers weve had in 51 years. The best unemployment numbers that weve had in a half century. The best numbers that weve ever had, africanamericans, hispanic americans, aging american, women, everything. We have the best numbers weve had in many, many, many decades. And you know what . People understand that. People are working. Theyre making money. If you look at one very important number that was just announced, wages up 3 . Thats unheard of. Thats unheard of. So its a great one. I didnt hear you. Go, go. [ inaudible question ] were investigating corruption. Were not investigating campaigns. I dont care about his campaign. As i said i didnt think i didnt think and i dont think biden is going to win. All right . I dont think. And maybe to anticipates your question, when you say who is going to win . Id rather not make a prediction but i have a feeling about somebody. But i didnt think because ive watched biden over the years and biden is not the brightest person. I never thought he was going to win. I never felt he was going to win. If you look at his other two campaigns he was a 1 percenter. Got very fewer votes he got taken off the garbage heap by obama. Obama took him off the garbage heap. But i never thought that biden i didnt think biden was going to win. I guess everybody has a shot. But i dont think he would be frankly my toughest opponent either. And just to finish off just to finish off, i dont think that he will win. I didnt think he was going to win and i dont think he is going to win. What do you think about facing Elizabeth Warren. Thats fine. I mean its fine. She is a socialist and maybe worse than that. But well see. I heard i havent seen the poll numbers. I havent seen bidens poll numbers. Joe bidden was never going to make it, all right. He tried it twois. He is at 1 . There is a reason. When i nounsed i went to number one day one and stayed there the entire primary season. I never i never was off center stage. I was never given credit for that except by steve. The oem one giving me credit was steve. [ inaudible question ] who . [ inaudible question ] they were trying no set up a meeting but he wanted sanctions lifted and i said you must be kidding. Rouhani wanted a meeting at the u. N. Our sides talked. He wanted sanctions lifted or partially lifted. And i said no. Venezuela for [ inaudible question ] were watching venezuela very, very closely. The people are suffering and we are watching it very closely. Were also gichg big aid to venezuela. Now, one thing, im now going to walter reed hospital. Were giving out five purple hearts to unbelievably brave young people. And im going to meet you. Some of you are going over. I dont know i think some of you are going over. We can talk further over there. Although when were there i would like you to respect the process. Were giving out purple hearts to brif people. Wounded warriors. Theyre just incredible people. Im going to be become here in probably two hours. Sir do you have an impeachment strategy . All right. So the president , a greatest hits of President Trump just now. And president the president said a lot as he does. First the one fact check that matters at this moment. Despite what the president said repeatedly over and over again about his political rival joe biden, there has been no evidence of wrong doing from either joe biden or hunter biden with regard to anything that the president is focusing on here. While the president is now suggesting and presenting himself as a fierce champion of corruption, i think maybe the most important thing that was asked and said in in very lengthy back and forth is the following. When a reporter asks, have you asked foreign leaders for any corruption investigation that dont involve your political opponents, the president says we would have to look and then cites no other examples except for joe biden. Lets get back to this right now. Susan glaser can i bring you back in, please. Susan, this is always one of the moments that its i dont feel like we can i always mess up the metaphor and the analogy, miss the forest for the trees. What did we just watch play out . Whats important to remember about all of this . Well, first of all, kate, you are right about the metaphors. Its exhausting to subject yourself to watch the president in full like that and its still to me you know even three years into it its remarkable. You have a president who is a unique combination of grievance and attack and aggression spewing forth a lot of misinformation along with very clearly he had something he wanted to say this morning, which is that somehow this is not political. And im only caring about corruption. There is no record to support that of course in dsh. And just to interject susan i think you are highlighting something important. Whereas we saw the beginnings of a new kbechment Defense Strategy which is i did it ill do it again. I think today we see the next chapter, which is its not about politics. Its about corruption. Yes. He repeated that by my count at least four or five times. Number one, number two. He did say at the beginning there was no quid pro quo. I think that is something thats been challenged overnight by the release of the Text Messages as well as volumous evidence. He continues to assert over and over again that the phone call with the ukrainian president july 25th was a perfect phone call. Of course that is a key piece of the evidence assembled against hum in the house impeachment inquiry. And he confirmed the reporting essentially this they are choosing a confrontational strategy with the house of representatives. He is relying lim exclusively here on his political reading of the senate, the Republican Senate as being a defense behind him. So far we have not heard rousing defenses from the senate but silence. We havent heard criticism. Right. Of the president either. So thats the political dynamic i think that were all watching right now. Lets hit on that. Melanie thank you so much for sticking by. This mab well for the 11 00 hour, the wild roller coaster we ride. The Text Messages what the president said about the letter he is sending back to nancy pelosi saying essentially i dare you to go to the floor unless and until youre not getting anything from us. Making very clear the standoff is going to be happening that everyone assumed would be coming. But the question is, with what we see in the Text Messages coming out, it puts the focus once again written word of officials repeatedly raising concerns that they were being asked to hold up military aid and more until ukraine agreed to investigate joe biden. With that that put the focus squarely back on capitol hill. And it seems a harder position for republicans to be in to defend. Youre absolutely right. This essentially blows up their strategy. They put all the eggs in the no quid pro quo basket. And they have said look maybe the call was inappropriate and maybe the question shouldnt have brought up biden in the call with ukraine but didnt rise to impeachable evidence because no evidence of a quid pro quo arrangement. But i think the Text Messages completely challenge that. In fact clearly spelling out that the Trump Administration as only giving a meeting to the president of ukraine who wanted the meeting if they investigated biden and the 2016 election. And not only that but they wanted a Public Statement the New York Times reported that two of the diplomats actually had a hand in krafting a statement that never went out. But the Trump Administration put so much effort on getting a strong Public Statement out there. Rudy giuliani also reportedly wanted them to specifically mention the gas company that bidens son was on. That just goes to show where the interests were. Why did they care so much about the statement . Why couldnt ukraine just operatively carry on the investigation if all you cared about was corruption angle back to susans point you are hearing trump hammer in on as i didnt view biden as a arrival didnt think he had a shot. And triing to distance himtz from anything about politics and trying to make it all about corruption. Youre ending perfectly transcriptioning bus i want to get to Jeremy Diamond at the white house. And the exact point melanie is raising there, jeremy. Donald trump saying that he this isnt base politics. This about corruption. This isnt base joe biden. And making clear he stays he does not he is not concerned about joe bidden. Your reporting is otherwise. Yeah, its the exact opposite kate. We have known for months the president has been consumed with joe bidens campaign for president. And he and many advisers have seen joe biden as the biggest threat to reelection prospect. The president long viewed joe bidens appeal in the midwest among working white class voters, he viewed thats a big threat. When the president says he never saw widen as a threat, never winning the democratic primary and still doesnt, none of that is true, kate, as borne out repeatedly reporting. The president yesterday already let the genie out of the bottle when he talks about china investigating joe biden. As much as the president is banging the corruption drum, in fact he is only talking about this case involving joe bidden for which there is scant to no evidence to back up any of his claims. Kate. Great stuff, jeremy thank you so much. Again, very much needed perspective when we have what played out again from the president on the south lawn let me bring in bradley moss. He represents whistleblowers. Your law partner is representing the whistleblower in behind this complaint. You are walled off from that, brad, i always just want to say. I am very curious with everything that we learn, every development that comes out. But especially the first witness thats being interviewed kurt volker and the Text Messages that come out. You handle a lot of whistleblower complaints. Handle a lot of whistleblower cases. How does this one stack up . Of course its unprecedented. Weve tucked about this. But the evidence being presented now. This is complete validation of pretty much the entirety of what the whistleblower set forward. I want to raise the idea that a lot of people have complained that the whistleblower process is flawed, deficient doesnt work well and has issues. But this if you get practical guidance and if you let the political powers that be do their jobs. The whistleblower brought the kblan complaint. It went through the process. The details have come out. The political players are doing what theyre supposed to do between these two branches. Nobody had to leak out anything. What ultimately results is neither here nor there as far as the whistleblower is concerned, what matters is that we have accountability here and the two branches of government is doing what theyre supposed to do when this concern is raised. One thing that came out about the whistleblower, one thats getting a lot of attention is cnn is reporting that the whistleblower went to the House Intelligence Committee for guidance first before filing the formal complaint. Is that normal to go to a Committee First . And i raise this because i wonder if this presents any sort of a problem in your mind, because President Trump is making it a major line of attack. Yeah, so this is all too common for individuals in the Intelligence Community who dont yet have qualified Legal Counsel on retainer, which most people dont always have that kind of money to have a lawyer around. They went within the agency, they thought they were being stonewalled, and it appears from the report, they were. So they reached out to the Intelligence Committee staffer for guidance. Didnt provide a complaint, didnt provide substance, sought guidance. The Intelligence Committee staffer did exactly what was right. Said you have to submit a complaint through the process and you should probably get a lawyer. They didnt recommend a particular lawyer, the whistleblower found a lawyer on his or her own, and the whistleblower drafted the complaint on his or her own, by himself or herself. They didnt have the lawyers writing it for them. This is all deflection and distraction by the president and his media allies, trying to make a mountain out of a monthlehill. Lets keep it in perspective. Caroline here with me. What were seeing with the president this morning and everything in the last 24 hours with Text Messages coming out, what is alleged in the complaint is confirmed by either the president or the details that are coming out just as he continues to attack the complaint of the whistleblower as inaccurate. At the same time, so thats with ukraine. Then you have cnns new reporting that even before the president said yesterday that he now wants china to investigate joe biden, cnns reporting is even before that. In june there was a phone call between the president and president xi and the president did the same thing. And that same conversation was also moved to that secure server. Just for perspective, because i heard Carl Bernstein say it today. When you see all of this coming out, what is coming together . He raised the prospect that he thinks what were seeing play out is it looks like a conspiracy led by the president of the United States, which is a very serious charge, of course. Do you agree . It is a serious accusation. And when you read the Text Messages, certainly they do have a bit of a conspiratorial flare, especially that one where somebody says, wait a second, it looks like wereholding aid to a fledgling kuchblt i tell my kids not to put things in Text Messages. Now that its in the forefront, its not the first time this has happened. With china there is a process in place. People around him were helping keep this behavior undercover with the passwordprotected device. Its all these are legal questions, and there are legal questions. It is a political process, though, that continues to play out. All of the focus not only on the president , now back to capitol hill. The Inspector General of the Intelligence Community is testifying right now behind closed doors. Much more to come on this. Coming up, though, weve got other big developments coming up in the 2020 democratic race. Senator Elizabeth Warren throwing out a very big fundraising number. Where she stacks up in these Third Quarter totals. What it means for her standing in the race and her standing with joe biden. Thats next. After chemo might mean a trip back to the Doctors Office just for a shot. But why go back there when you can stay home with neulasta® onpro . Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. In a key study neulasta® reduced the risk of infection from 17 to 1 a 94 decrease. Neulasta® onpro is designed to deliver neulasta® the day after chemo and is used by most patients today. Neulasta® is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta® if youre allergic to it or Neupogen Filgrastim . An incomplete dose could increase infection risk. Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems allergic reactions, kidney injuries and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. If youd rather be home ask your doctor about neulasta® onpro. Pay no more than 5 per dose with copay card. Wwithout it, i cannot write myl tremors wouldname. Xtreme. I was diagnosed with parkinsons. I had to retire from law enforcement. It was devastating. One of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. Prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. For sixty years, aarp has been fighting for people like larry. And we wont stop. Join us in fighting for whats right. Yof your daily routine. Lf so why treat your mouth any differently . Listerine® completes the job by preventing plaque, early gum disease, and killing up to 99. 9 of germs. Try listerine® and for onthego, try listerine® ready tabs™ thand find inspiration who win new places. Ct. Leading them to discover were woven together by the moments we share. Everything you need, all in one place. Expedia. Thats why Xfinity Mobile lets you design your own data. You can share 1, 3, or 10 gigs of data between lines, mix in lines of unlimited, and switch it up at any time. All with millions of secure wifi hotspots and the best lte everywhere else. Its a different kind of wireless network, designed to save you money. Switch and save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus, get 250 back when you buy an eligible phone. Thats simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click, or visit a store today. Breaking news just in, more Third Quarter fundraising totals for the president ial candidates are rolling in. We just received the number from senator Elizabeth Warrens campaign and it is a big one. Cnn correspondent mj lee has more details on this. So Third Quarter covers july through september. Thats right. Lay it out where warren stands now. This is a number weve been waiting for all week, her Campaign Just announcing she raised 24. 6 million in the Third Quarter. A couple key numbers that the campaign is sharing with us, 940,000 donations from around 500,000 people, 300,000 of those donors, the campaign says, are first time donors in the Third Quarter, average donation of 26. If we could bring up that graphic comparing her number to some others in the field, obviously she just fell shy of Bernie Sanders number of 25. 3 million. She outraised joe biden by more than 9 million and outraised others in the field as well, Pete Buttigieg, kamala harris, others you see there in the graphic. And just one key very important number the cam bayne is sharing with us as well, heading into the final stretch of 2019, the campaign has 25. 7 million of cash on hand. Obviously this Treasure Chest is so important in terms of the kinds of investments that the campaign can make, and kate, you know, we talked so much about the summer fundraising slump. This is what we refer to as its just being difficult for candidates to raise money because donors are vacationing, theyre just harder to reach. Whats notable is we saw folks like Pete Buttigieg and joe biden suffer from that a little bit. They raised less in the Third Quarter compared to the second quarter, but shes doing very well, right . Exactly, for sanders and Elizabeth Warren who are not doing high dollar fundraisers, theyre actually gaining momentum in their fundraising which is interesting because this democratic race has been so much about the small dollar grassroots fundraising, versus the candidates doing high dollar fundraisers. Especially for Elizabeth Warren dovetails with the early polls and the National Polls and her standing in the field. Thats right. In the First Quarter she only raised about 6 million, last quarter she raised 19 million, and now almost 25 million. Clearly that momentum we are seeing on a whole different level, whole number of levels. And not over yet. Good to see you. Thank you so much, mj. Really appreciate it. Guys, thank you so much for joining me today. Another wild ride. We are on it together. Inside politics with john king starts right now. Thank you, kate, and welcome to inside politics. Im john king. Thank you for sharing another busy news day with us. 3. 5 . That was the Unemployment Rate in september, the lowest number in 50 years. 136,000 new jobs added last month but there are some flashing lights when you look closer at manufacturing and other sectors bruised by the president s trade wars. Plus the president insists, insisting again just moments ago, nothing wrong with asking ukraine and china for dirt on the bidens. In a