Transcripts For CNNW At This Hour With Kate Bolduan 20191017

That future was going to be better for them and that they would bring with them our values. In that regard in term of a Better Future im so proud that this morning richie neil announced in the hearing they were having with hr3 lowering the cost of Prescription Drugs he was suggesting to name the bill for Elijah Cummings. So appropriate because elijah was a fighter for low income and Prescription Drugs, reaching across the aisle to do so. He always chose to reach across the aisle and treat all of our colleagues with respect and even had dialogue with the president for a while on this subject. So it would be very appropriate that hr3 would now be the eliemeliemjah cummings low drug cost now legislation, whatever the formal title will be. Its very sad, very sad for all of us. Weve all lost a friend. Im devastated by the loss and conveyed the condolences of our caucus to maya, his dear wife this morning, and she said what we all knew, he just fought to the end. But thats what he was not only on his personal health but what he believed in the congress of the United States. So were back now after our district work period where members all over the country were part of a drum beat for hr3 for our for the People Agenda, our first number one was to lower the cost of Prescription Drugs. They presented hr3 feed pack and we are benefitting it one with energy and commerce, the other in education and labor. The hearing in the ways and means this week and then the mockup next week and then well be well on our way to reconciling different versions and bringing something to the floor. I think its really important to note that since the break or towards the end of break we did get this congressional budget offices cbo score of 345 billion in savings just in the Medicare Part d part of the bill. Other savings 158 billion in savings for family households. 46 billion of rebates and the rest. So savings are considerable, and the congress will decide how some of it will be reinvested into innovation at the National Institute of health, perhaps at Community Health Centers Across the country and expanded benefits for medicare, visual hearing, dental. Perhaps committees will hear back from them in just trying to lower the cost to the community. Bobby scotts committee is marking up this bill. But as many of you know earlier in the week we announced his College Affordability act, and were very proud of the response from the members on that. And that will be making college less expensive. Were still at work on the u. S. Mexicocanada trade agreement and making progress every day on our path to yes. But were not there yet. The soonest we can get the assurances from the administration and from the other everyone involved that there will be enforceability of some of the provisions of the legislation that it will really be an improvement on the current nafta then well be able to receive. But im optimistic about that. Im still hoping and this came up when we were focused on the for People Agenda Lower Health Care costs and bigger paychecks by building the infrastructure of america, cleaner government. That was our agenda and again paying one of our priorities in this session has been to reduce the risk of gun violence in our country. Its now been 232 days since we sent our Bipartisan Legislation to the senate. Every day about a hundred people die from gun violence. Nearly half of them children and up to the age of teenagers. My colleague, frederica wilson, when i was in florida during the break gave me this bracelet made from bullets and the orange color of gun violence prevention. So were not going away until we get legislation passed to reduce gun violence in our country. As you know this has been a week of some issues that relate to our foreign engagement. I was very proud of the work on the floor of congress to associate ourselves with the democratic aspirations of the young people of hong kong. Ive been working with now three generations of hong kong Democratic Leaders just from the chinese regime to obey the basic law under which hong kong was to exist one country, two systems living under the basic law which made certain guarantees that are not being lived up to. But congress came through this week, spoke very clearly in a bipartisan way about our support for that and that we had bipartisan support in the senate, too. So hopefully that will come up soon there. As you know yesterday on the floor 354 members voted in a bipartisan way to oppose the president s dangerous decision in regard to syria. By 21 republicans voted to oppose the president s actions. There were only 60 votes in favor of the legislation. The legislation would have called for turkey to use restraint, for us to have our friends be a trustworthy ally to kurds and especially humanitarian needs now theyre being bombed by the turks or being attacked by the turks. And also calls for the president to show a clear plan for how america will be protected from isis which has been further unleashed. Actions taken that renege on our handshake with the kurds and now we need to have a plan to deal with what happens with isis. As you know that was the subject of conversation yesterday at the white house. I also pointed out to the president i had concerns that all roads seemed to lead to putin. The russians have been trying to get a hold in the middle east unsuccessfully and now the president has given them an opportunity with the kurds reaching out to them for support in syria. They have the russians were the beneficiaries of any withholding of assistance or encouragement to the ukraine. Again, putin benefits. The russians benefitted, putin did. The president can place some doubt about our commitment to nato right from the start of his administration. All roads lead to putin. Then the president said, well, the reason im taking the troops utof syria is because i promised in the campaign to bring the troops home. My question to him was is saudi arabia home . Is saudi arabia home . Why are our troops going to saudi arabia if you promised to bring them home . He said, well, the saudi arabians are paying for it. Really, were putting our troops in harms way for saudi arabia because theyre paying . It just didnt add up. But what it did do is cause a melt down on the part of the president because he was unhappy with those questions. And it was unfortunate because we were invited to the meeting. The president started off the meeting by saying i dont know who asked for this meeting, i didnt. And were like, well, lets proceed anyway. And we had hoped our real mission was to find out what the plan was. Leader schumer was very forceful in that discussion with the president on what is the plan. My plan is to protect america, so thats a goal. Its not a plan. What is the plan for us to be protected from isis now that some of them have been unleashed in syria because of the green light that the president gave the turks and reneging on our trustworthiness as an ally with the kurds who had been our friends . So for these and other reasons that was most unfortunate. On a separate front of all of that im very proud of the work of chairman adam schiff. Again, this is so solemn. None of us came to congress to impeach a president. Thats not what we come here to do and any such actions are to be taken very solemnly, seriously and in my view prayerfully. We do have to go through we do have to on our oath of Office Protect and defend the constitution of the United States, our democracy and our republic as Benjamin Franklin said. Our republic if we can keep it. Well, it is our fight to keep it. As ive said to you before have found us to do just that. This isnt about politics or partisanship, its about patriotism for our country and i value the way hes conducted this, the equal time on all sides, the questions. You heard from him we were together when he presented how it was proceeding. He also sent a letter to members yesterday which is in the public domain. I call it to your attention in case you have some questions about the professionalism and the fairness on which these hearings are being held. Any questions . On the impeachment inquiry how important is it to you not to let this thank you for your question and thank you for your condolences on elijah. I keep saying to people impeachment is about the truth and the constitution of the United States. Any other issues that you have disapproving of the way the president has dealt with syria, whatever the subject is, the reluctance and cowardice to do something about gun violence, the cruelty of not wanting to help our dreamers and transgender people, the denial about the Climate Crisis we face, the list goes on. Thats about the election. That has nothing to do with what is happening in terms of our oath of office to protect and defend the constitution and the facts that might support. And we dont know where this path will take us but could take us down the further path but the two are completely separate. At what point might you say let the Voters Decide . The voters arent going to decide whether we honor our oath of office. They already decided that in the last election. Republican leader mcconnell seems to think an impeachment trial in the senate could wrap up by the end of the year. The does that seem unrealistic to you . I have no idea. The time liep will depend on the truth line and thats what were looking for. On the syria policy number one youve gotten into this question of and the second part as you said yesterday that this could lead over into the impeachment issue let me ask you a second question first. When i became speaker the first time no, maybe not but there were those who were here who knew that hundreds of thousands of people in the street were asking me to impeach president bush because of the war in iraq and because of the misrepresentation that was made at the time as to why we should be going into iraq. Thats a policy matter that isnt in my view an impeachment matter. And i said if they had any case to make they could make it but i was not going down that path. Again, what could be worse than a war in iraq and the misrepresentations that were made to the american people. And as you know, says i, i was the senior democrat on intelligence. I had the adam schiff job, the one he had before become chairman in the majority. But in the minority i was in the gang of four. I knew there was no intelligence to support the threat that the administration was putting forth. And i said at the time the intelligence does not support the threat. Senator graham of florida was kelly the chairman because they had the majority at the time, the democrats, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee and he came to the same conclusion. We both voted no on the war. So i think that the war in iraq was one of the worst mistakes in our country. I did not think it was about impeachment. Its about policy and thats a different debate. Impeachment is about the law, not being above the law, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, about honoring our oath of office. On the u. S. Mca you said youre making progress, and leader mcconnell has charged in recent days the democrats impeachment is blocking work for american families. Are there ways for democrats to better convey good faith progress to prevent the president and Republican Leaders from charging that you are trying to plot this anybody else want to put all the republican talking points on the table because we could just get rid of them all at once. Let me just respond to the second let me respond to your question rather than their misrepresentations, okay . First and foremost it might be interesting to you in but a negotiation of this nature and the administration would support this, not only support this but its what they want, these negotiations are not in the public domain. The exchange of proposals in this i cant even share them with members. In fact, i have a hard time getting some of it myself from time to time. And i do it as pelosi written across it so should it go astray i try to copy it, that wouldnt happen. So these are a confidential back and forth and i can honestly say i think every day were coming closer with the meeting yesterday with the trade representative with some of our task force. I think theyre going to meet later today, perhaps one more time and then we should just see the issue is do we have enforcement. So the people who are saying that dont know what theyre talking about or have a different agenda that they want to present. But we feel very good about being on a path to yes. Were not there yet because we dont have the enforceability assurance that we need to have. While we have some good things in the bill, its only a good thing unless it can be enforced. Overarching is enforceability of the whole thing and then the three concerns as we have discussed before are environment and environmental concerns. And i can tell you firsthand that needs to be addressed but all the border states could tell you that as well, the southern border. But the agreement has to be respectful of global agreements that are there on the environment, that this is about what is realistic that we can get done. In terms of the Prescription Drugs, thats a very big issue in our caucus and we hope that we can resolve that. And then the third is workers rights and the rest. We dont see a situation where diminishing the prospects of workers in mexico is any good so we want that to be very fair in that regard. Thank you madam speaker, and again condolences on chairman cummings. There was a picture yesterday that was taken at the white house of you standing at the table speaking to the president. Could you tell us a bit about that picture and what was being said at that time . I think i was excusing myself from the room. I think i told you what the the thought that i conveyed to the president in the meeting about the 35460 vote in the house disapproving of his syria actions. Peag being my concerns about all roads leading to putin and the president said in the campaign i said i was going to take the troops home and is hope saudi arabia . That would be the essence of the either sitting down or standing up of what my conversation was with the president. But the most important part of the meeting was what is the plan . And that was part of my report on the legislation on the floor. What is the plan for fighting isis now that we have reneged on our handshake with the kurds to do that fighting for us there . And that was strongly presented by senator schumer. So one or other of those things that was being said i think it would be interesting if you tell me, if we could have a recording of what goes on in those offices. Because when they come out and say oh, this happened and that happened like we must have been at two different meetings because that didnt happen. But nonetheless then you get these kind of questions that have no fidelity to fact but its true what they say. So i dont know at that moment i was probably saying all roads lead to putin. Last question. As you pointed out chairman schiff describing the process hes going through and the committee saying there could be public testimony ahead. How do you determine including when the president will be able to have counsel or representation down the road to impeachment. This is matter for the committee and the rules are we have rule of the house that govern all of this, but i think its really important to reiterate the following. The process that the house is going through right now would be the equivalent of a special counsel in case of whatever the name was, if a clinton or jawarsky and they had prosecutors who were doing the investigation and they were not doing that in the public domain. And so this is the part where we gather evidence, and as ive said to the president over and over if you have i said this to him on the phone the other day we made our announcement about proceeding with the inquiry that weve asked for your taxes. If you have nothing to hide, show us your taxes. This, that and the other thing if you have nothing to hide were giving you opportunity to show that you have nothing to hide. Put what youre doing is just going further up in it court. Last friday we had five Court Decisions, five Court Decisions in our favor. Another one this week. So in terms of the law this is about the congress, the courts and the constitution. And in terms of the congress our responsibility is to fairly get the information according to the rules, and mr. Schiff is running that show for us now. Thank you all very much. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi right there, a lot to cover. Let me bring in cnn chief political analyst gloria borger, cnn political reporter and david sanger who of course is also a National Security correspondent for the new york times. Gloria, where nancy pelosi kind of ended off there talking about what democrats say was a melt down from the president in the white house meeting yesterday, a lot of the question has been since both sides put out that picture that we probably have an image of it we can put up to remind folks from that meeting, nancy pelosi now says it was her excusing herself and at that moment she thinks she was saying all roads lead to putin. Whats your take on after a colossal break down in any hint of communication that still remained between the two sides there going in. What now . Well, its hard to know. I mean its very clear people had different reads. I thought it was interesting she said maybe we ought to record these meetings because we come out and effectively live in alternate universes. And she made it very clear why the president was upset with her because she pointed out that he lost his republicans by a 21 margin in the house on the vote on syria, that she had said to him, okay, all roads lead to putin. And then she talked about troops in saudi arabia. And she said, well the president said apparently well i promised during the campaign i want all the troops home and she said what about our troops in saudi arabia. Is that home . And clearly he was incensed by this, and she didnt go into the back and forth about namecalling, but it does seem theres been a break down. And the president starts a meeting by saying i dont know why youre here, i didnt want you to be here. So what kind of communication is that . I think there is no communication. Honestly she wants a trade agreement, but its clear to me that these folks have come to an impasse and i dont know how this gets resolved. And this was all over syria. Nancy pelosi and all the leaders have said impeachment was not brought up at all during this meeting. And on the issue of syria, theres a bigger question going on right now as the situation devolves. And something youve been covering for a long time and when you look at the middle east what the options of the possible consequences or simply results from this one move pie President Trump to pull back u. S. Forces from the border and then remove them . Well, kate, first to pick up on glorias good point about that exchange the speaker reported having with the president where she raises saudi arabia where of course they announced last friday theyre sending 2,000 troops, his answer was fascinating. His answer was the saudis are paying for those troops. So the president s policy seems to be were going to pull back from the middle east unless we are paid back as mercenaries to act as a defense force. Yeah, unbelievable. Which, you know, sounds fairly consistent with things the president has said before. But to your broader question, so before the president had his conversation with president erdogan of turkey two weekends ago, there were a series of predictions about what would happen if the United States took a very small force, just really 50 or 60 people on the border and removed them. And that series of predictions included the military moves that it would benefit the russians, that it would benefit assad, the dictator in syria, that it would benefit the iranians, and that it would betray the kurds. What we almost came through what we missed was the size of the carnage that has taken place. And how fast its happening. The size and speed of the carnage, i would agree, kate. Rarely do you see a moment where a single president ial decision results in such an instantaneous result and one that seems to be at such a disadvantage to american interest. And the reason the president was so testy is even his own party has abandoned him on why the russians are occupying territory that we occupied a week and a half ago, why the iranians are moving in and why this has so strengthened assad. And i think this is what happens when you have a white house that has no process and laying out what the options are and the way the president absorbs and acts on. And even if it is hard and complex to track the history and whats happening on the ground there, what you just said, david, is something i think is important for folks to hear one more time. Territory ground that the United States occupied just last week, the russians now occupy. Thats all you need to know to figure out how much this has changed and how quickly. And with that im wondering what are you hearing in your reporting . The concept of course correcting at this point, can they even do that . Theres a partial course correction they could reach. Right now we have Vice President pence who were waiting to hear from in ankara and secretary state mike pompeo meeting with president erdogan. But what are they asking for . Theyre asking for a ceasefire. That would certainly be a great thing because wed stop seeing the level of killing going on. But it would also enshrine the gains that the russians and that assad and that the turks have made. They are not asking for turkey to come back over its border and bring its troops back home. Thats what we asked the russians to do after their incursions into crimea. They didnt do it, but its an interesting question. Would we lift the sanctions for turkey that the president imposed last week simply for a ceasefire, not a return to the status quo ante . Thats a question someone will ask that we think will happen following their meetings in turkey. I think it crystallizes all of the fast moving moments and things happening in the last 24 hours. It range that was discussed in that press conference with nancy pelosi as she started off speaking about Elijah Cummings and talking about the congressman, the chairman of civil rights champion who passed oversight. And she said when he lived the American Dream and he wanted that for everyone else, that is really striking statement. And what are you hearing from folks on just the impact of the loss of Elijah Cummings in the present and in the future . Yeah, he was a lion of the house, right . A voice for moral clarity. You heard nancy pelosi talk about even before he got to congress and when he was in the house of delegates in maryland he got up to speak, people listened. And of course it was the same in the house as well. He was the son of sharecroppers i think were born in South Carolina and he ended up being a gr gradia graduate of howard university. And you saw him during the oversight hearings i think where people will remember him most recently again being a voice of clarity, moral authority and real insight in terms of where he thought the country should be, the kinds of questions that the Oversight Committee should have about this administration. He took his role very seriously, as you heard nancy pelosi speak there, very somberly and folks very sad today on the hill. And of course in maryland as well where he served going back to 1996 in the house, a member of the cbc as well. So a big, big loss for that state and for the country as well. And as we were talking, as nancy pelosi was speaking, barack obama, michelle obama, they just issued a statement about Elijah Cummings passing. Its worth reading. At one point they write as chairman of the house Oversight Committee he showed us all not only the importance of checks and balances on our democracy but also the necessity of good people stewarding it, yet open to new perspectives. Chairman cummings remained steadfast in his pursuit of truth, justice and reconciliation. Guys, thank you for being here. So much more to come still this hour. Thank you so much. Coming up still for us, back to capitol hill. Because in the hot seat right now is the Eu Ambassador Gordon Sondland. Behind closed doors testifying before house committees. And what hes testifying, he is saying that President Trump explicitly directed him and other diplomats to work through Rudy Giuliani with regard to the Foreign Policy of the United States. What could it mean for President Trump . Stay with us. The new 3 little john from jimmy johns is just like our original sandwiches. Only littler. So we bought a little ad. On lil jon. Little johns, yeah 3, what . were reporters from the new york times. No flights. No roads. Were trying to figure out what animals are being affected. Galapagos is a really challenging place to work. El nino is starting to go haywire. Everywhere is going to get touched by climate change. You may be at increased risk for Pneumococcal Pneumonia a potentially serious bacterial lung disease that can disrupt your life for weeks. In severe cases, Pneumococcal Pneumonia can put you in the hospital. It can hit quickly, without warning, making you miss out on what matters most. Just one dose of the prevnar 13® vaccine can help protect you from Pneumococcal Pneumonia. Its not a yearly shot. Prevnar 13® is approved for adults to help prevent infections from 13 strains of the bacteria that cause Pneumococcal Pneumonia. Dont get prevnar 13® if you have had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. Adults with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common side effects were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, limited arm movement, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, less appetite, vomiting, fever, chills, and rash. Ask about prevention. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about prevnar 13®. Great customizes your caru wheninsurance, tual so you only pay for what you need. Wow. Thanks, zoltar. How can i ever repay you . Maybe you could free zoltar . Thanks, lady. Taxi only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Ive said many times that we have a lot to news to get to and a lot happening this hour. Today may set a new standard. Two crises unfolding. The escalating conflict in syria and explosive testimony from a new witness on the impeachment inquiry. Gordon sondland is telling lawmakers President Trump directed him to work through Rudy Giuliani, the president s personal attorney rather than through government channels when it came to yeah crane. In part of sondlands Opening Statement hes telling lawmakers this. Based on the president s direction we were faced wachoice. We could abandon a white house meeting for president zelensky or we could do as President Trump directed and talk to mr. Giuliani to address the president s concerns. Lets go to the hill. Manu raju is there for us. Ambassador sondland is still behind closed doors with these committees. What are you hearing . Yeah, this is significant break from this president who contended there was nothing wrong in his action. But when ambassador sondland a trump aparticipaty was disappointed with the president s actions and directions he must work through Rudy Giuliani before they would strengthen this key strategic alliance. Now what sondland is telling this committee that he was not aware of what Rudy Giuliani was up to. He said they did not learn until much later that giulianis efforts may be part of a push, a political agenda to help the president s Reelection Campaign. Specifically Rudy Giuliani asked Gordon Sondland to do is that he wanted the Ukrainian Government to issue a statement in saying that they were investigating corruption, namely the 2016 elections including the dnc server as well as the burisma and that is code for hunter biden because his son sits on the board of that company in ukraine and giuliani was pushing for that investigation to be acknowledged before they moved through efforts to strengthen the ties. There were also questions why military aid was held up, military aid approved by congress to be sent to ukraine, why that was held up and whether that was part of anyfyg is saying that he talked to the president after concerns were raised this could be a quid pro quo. The president he said was in a quote bad mood and a very short phone call and said multiple times there was no quid pro quo. And then he says this in this testimony. Let me state clearly inviting a Foreign Government to undertake investigations for the purpose of influencing an upcoming election would be wrong. Withholding foreign aid in order to pressure a Foreign Government to take such steps would be wrong. I did not and would not ever participate in such undertakings, in my opinion, security aid to ukraine was in our Vital National interest and should not have been delayed for any reason. So he lays all of this claim essentially at the feet of the president who made this direction to with hold and certainly hold this meeting with president zelensky, raising concerns about the president s actions and making clear what Rudy Giuliani was up to could have been an effort to help President Trumps Reelection Campaign which goes to the core of what democrats are investigating and really the core of that whistleblower complaint the president was using his Office Allegedly to help his own political interests. This is just the Opening Statement we need to remind folks. What we learn from inside the room will be equally fascinating if not more. Hell be bringing us updates if he gets more inside the room. Let me bring in gloria back in right now. Gloria, an important bit of this is this a trump ally now saying he was directed to go through giuliani. I mean, what does this mean for forget giuliani for a second. What does this mean for President Trump . Well, it means that President Trump was going outside the normal circles, outside his National Security circles and potentially outside the state department. We have to hear where pompeo was in all of this. But imagine if youre these three guys, ambassador volker, secretary of energy perry and sondland. You come back from the inauguration, youre all pumped as one of my sources said to me. They think they can get this meeting between zelensky and the president said go to the white house. On may 23rd they sit down with the president , tell him things are going great over there, you need to meet with zelensky and he goes talk to rudy. And theyre asking themselves, what, talk to rudy, and president says i dont think things are going so well over there, theyre corrupt over there. And these people had a decision to make which was do they talk to rudy or do they just drop everything, and they decided, well, they had to work around it. And so sondland said, okay, well talk to rudy and perry reached out to rudy and eventually i guess all of them spoke to giuliani as well. Crazy. Thats definitely what im going to say. You mentioned pompeo, he says pompeo this Opening Statement he puts this at the feet of the president. But he also seems to throw pompeo under the bus. And not clear he talked about our ukraine strategy. Whats not clear is if that meant pompeo knew they were directed to go through giuliani. And i think that is a i think that almost puts the spotlight on mike pompeo once again. Right, it does. And im assuming pompeo knew a lot. I mean, we knew that a Senior State Department official who testified and quit went to pompeo and said youve got to stop all this bad mouthing of the ambassador to ukraine, shes a true public serve want. And according to the testimony pompeo apparently just sat there and smiled. So what does that mean . What did pompeo know and when did he know it . And was he involved in any way with Rudy Giuliani . I believe we know that he had had a conversation with him. But i believe that has to be confirmed. You know, but the point is at some point and you can see the committee kind of working up to it, at some point theyre going to want to hear from the secretary of state about what he knew. And then at the end of his Opening Statement, that couple of sentences that manu just read, and we can put it back up on the screen where he says it seems a to me hes condemning what the president has done publicly even short of an explicit quid pro quo. There it is. Let me state clearly inviting a Foreign Government to undertake investigations for the purpose of influencing an upcoming election would be wrong. You dont need a whistleblower report for that. You have the president who went to the south lawn of the white house who asked china and ukraine to do that already and the statement went onto talk about a quid pro quo. Look, hes a political appointee. He was a fundraiser for donald trump, and he is sayingen his Opening Statement that he did not know about that phone call between the president and zelensky, what was talked about and discussed in that phone call. He says in his testimony he i did find that fascinating too, gloria, that none of the postcall summaries he got with joe biden or burisma mentioned at all. Thats right. And he does say, look, burisma was mentioned to me but i didnt know burisma equalled biden. Im sure theyll be asking him questions about it. But what hes doing is saying, well, i found about this, i read the transcript or summary along with everyone else and i had no idea until i read that, and that is wrong. Thats important, i believe, coming from someone whos an ally of President Trump, who was appointed by President Trump, raised money for President Trump and was trying to deal with ukraine and trying to get that meeting between zelensky and the president , and someone who also believes that the military aid, that the aid was existentially important for the survival of ucrepe. And the guy whos put in charge of ukraine essentially saying that he did not get a clear read out of a call with ukraines new president that is broader statement of what folks thought about that call and how things are being handled regardless with that and much more to come with that testimony. Coming up for us, heating up tensions rise as joe biden slamming President Trumps Foreign Policy. President ial candidate steve bullock, hes going to weigh in on all these headlines. He joins me next. If you build a truck tough enough to pull this much forward. You better make sure its smart enough to back it all up. Breaking news, a trump ally and ambassador testifying on capitol hill right now that President Trump directed him to conduct u. S. Foreign policy through trumps personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, first. This is just after democrats leave a meeting at the white house yesterday, saying the president had a meltdown over the evolving situation in syria. Two of the major unfolding situations were looking at. Let me bring in governor candidate, steve bolton. I guess first what were hearing on capitol hill, ambassador sondland testifying that essentially saying that the president explicitly conducted from Rudy Giuliani. This is whats going on from the president. What is your reaction today . This is not trumps private company, this is the United States of america. The idea, first of all, that you would even tell a president of another company that id like you to look into investigating a potential political opponent, but then completely take it out of all the confines of the state department and all of our federal government and say, talk to my private attorney . I mean, this isnt the way that anybody should be running the presidency or the United States of america. And i think, look, i wasnt an impeachment guy. Thats what i was going to say. I looked back, the last time we talked was just after the whistleblower report was revealed in the end of september. And at that point you were in a place of supporting the impeachment investigation, the inquiry. And you were in a place of wanting more information. Where are you today . Have you seen enough . I think that all of america has seen enough. From my perspective youre saying what you have seen has risen to the level the president should be impeached or removed . I think we have to go forward beyond an inquiry that the house has to take action. Now it has to go to the senate. At the end of the day, i dont know how the politics of this all sorted out, but this is bigger than politics. This is so much larger than politics. This is important, though, governor, you are the one person in this race who has won in a state that trump also won. And youre saying trump should be removed from office because of what youve seen come out from this whistleblower. I think we have to look at the daylight. I would much rather remove him at the ballot box. That would be my preference. But would you do you think what you have seen rises to the level of him being removed from office . I do. You do. I do. But i also recognize that there is probably 30 of this country that thinks this is all a scam, just trying to beat up on donald trump. There are great divides we have in this nation. Whether hes removed at the ballot box or an impeachment proceeding, we have to recognize that the next person coming in has to be able to deal with those divides to take this country back. Another area that is a major crisis unfolding is what is happening in syria. Biden says this decision the president made makes him the most incompetent commander in chief ever. What do you say when you see this . At the same time the president says we want to move out of middle east, hes sending 2,000 troops to saudi arabia. Just based on a phone call and one of his love letters, hes completely pulling away from the kurds. This is not how we conduct this country. And even bigger than syria, how will anybody count on americas word Going Forward . In this moment, what do you propose is the fix here, or at least the next move . Its very unclear to basically everyone. A, we never should have gotten into this position, but now that we are, i think we have to work. We cant just unilaterally put pressure on turkey to slow down. We have to actually talk to allies, everyone around there, and say that whats happening now doesnt work. Weve also pushed the kurds right to assad. You should have been able to see all of the dominoes that could fall as a result of this, but i dont think this president thinks that way by any measure. So we are in a much more dangerous place today than we were even a week ago. Unfortunately, how many times have we said that . You can count them. But do you think this one is more significant than others . First, its so good to finally see that this isnt just democrats alone. Twothirds of House Republicans support it. They are universally condemning this. I think its dangerous for both what is happening in syria, what happens with isis, but its also, i think, that much more compounding. How does anybody trust americas word at this point . Do you think anyone can . With this president , it becomes very, very challenging. Because it all ties back together. If youre not even going to use the institutions of the state department, if youre going to go around as he did as well and didnt consult with anyone as far as i could tell when he said that were going to remove the troops i havent heard anyone say theyve advised the president to do that, thats for sure. With the time i have left, there is one issue that has not been discussed enough and definitely not on any debate stage ive seen, and its something i want to ask the candidates. Its about mortality rates. It is reaching a crisis in this country. The United States is the only industrialization that is actually slipping backward and seeing rising mortality rates, and black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirthrelated complications than white women. The majority of these deaths are preventable, which is why there is so much outrage over it. Were not talking about a third world country. Were talking about the United States of america in 2019. What do you want to see done about that . Step one is access to Affordable Care and preventative care. We still have about 22 states that havent passed Medicaid Expansion. When we did that in montana, we know youre addressing some of the challenges early on. So many women, thats where they get their care when it comes to pregnancyrelated things. Completely. In the state of montana, were actually doing prenatal care, really getting women in before they even have the baby to both Start Talking about health needs and the prevention. If the emergency room is the only place people can go for health care, were never going to address either maternal mortalities or the racial and economic disparities in this. Unfortunately, those states that also havent passed Medicaid Expansion where you dont have base health care, a large portion of the africanamerican population. So this base level of health care has to be a requirement all across this country, and we can get there. Thank you for paying attention to it. Thank you for coming in. See you on the trail. Thanks, kate. Thank you, governor, really appreciate it. Coming up next, we have much more to come, much more of the breaking news. Were also awaiting a press conference from mike pompeo, mike pence in turkey. Well be following that. Well be right back. The deaf, blind, the different. Subaru presents the underdogs. These shelter dogs still love unconditionally. Theyre just hoping to find their human, who does too. To help, subaru is establishing National Make a dogs day to ask you to please consider adopting an underdog, or do something extraspecial for your dog. If youre on medicare, remember, the annual Enrollment Period is here. The time to choose your medicare coverage. Begins october 15th and ends december 7th. So call unitedhealthcare and take advantage of a wide range of plans with a variety of benefits. Including an aarp Medicare Advantage plan from unitedhealthcare. It can combine Medicare Parts a and b, which is your hospital and doctor coverage. With part d Prescription Drug coverage, and more, all in one simple plan. For a low monthly premium or in some areas, no plan premium at all. Take advantage of primary care doctor visits. Preventive dental care and an eye exam. All for a 0 copay. Plus, earn rewards for completing other Preventive Care activities, like flu shots and annual physicals. You could also get over 150 in free health and wellness products. So nows the time to look at unitedhealthcares variety of plans, and let us help find the one that works best for you. Also ask about our ppo plans that let you see any doctor who accepts medicare, without a referral. And take advantage of innetwork costs, at home or traveling, when you see doctors in the Unitedhealthcare Medicare national network. With many of our Medicare Advantage plans, youll have 0 copays on the most common prescriptions. In fact, last year our Medicare Advantage plan members saved an average of over 6,500. And with renew active, enjoy a free gym membership and up to 115 in rewards for staying active. You can count on our guidance and support to help you get the most out of your plan. We can also help you schedule appointments or find a specialist. Annual enrollment ends december 7th. Start taking advantage of all the benefits. Of the only Medicare Advantage plans with the aarp name. We make it easy to enroll, too. So call unitedhealthcare or go online today. [sfx mnemonic] im off to college. Im worried about my parents retirement. Dont worry. Voya helps them to and through retirement. Dealing with todays expenses. While helping plan, invest and protect for the future. So theyll be okay . I think theyll be fine. Voya. Helping you to and through retirement. Welcome to inside politics. Im john king. Thank you for sharing your day with us. The democrats build their abuse of power impeachment case. An Ambassador Says there is willingness to investigate the