Political employee attempted to interfere with an audit of President Trump or Vice President pence. Rudys role, giuliani admitted that he created documents handed over to capitol hill and hes communicating with Paul Manafort through his lawyer in jail. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Following breaking news, special envoy for ukraine as the impeachment inquiry into President Trump gains steam. Washington post is now reporting that kurt volker told lawmakers that the president s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was warned that ukrainian claims of alleged misconduct by joe biden and his son were not credible. That didnt stop President Trump from repeating his request for foreign interference in the upcoming 2020 election. The president is now urging china to investigate biden, despite the impeachment probe that rose from a similar request to ukraine. And theres a new report just up from the Washington Post saying that an irs whistleblower complained that a treasury political appointee tried to interfere with an audit by either President Trump or Vice President pence. Oversight Armed Services committees and our correspondents and analysts are also standing by. Lets go to our chief White House Correspondent jim acosta. First, jim, the president now urging ukraine and china to interfere in the 2020 election by investigating joe biden. Thats right, wolf. Despite all the days developments its hard to look past what was a remarkable moment, one for the history books as President Trump stood on the grounds of the white house and called for interference on the 2020 election. Today he asked china to dig up dirt on former Vice President joe biden. Unlike his conversation with ukraines president , no call transcript is necessary here. He said the quiet part out loud. Sounded like he was saying, chi china, if youre listening. In what is fast becoming a game of chicken with House Democrats threatening impeachment, President Trump is calling on a u. S. Adversary, china, to interfere in the 2020 election, by investigating his unproven Conspiracy Theory about former Vice President joe bidens son, hunters, business dealings overseas. Saying he wanted the same out of ukraine. They should investigate the bidens. China should start an investigation into the bidens. Because what happened in china is just about as bad as what happened with ukraine. Biden as campaign immediately pounced, comparing the statement with the one he made in twk when he asked russia to dig up dirt on hillary clinton. Russia, if youre listening, i hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will be rewarded mightily by our press. Reporter biden accused trump out of acting out of fear. He did it because like every bully in history, hes afraid. Hes afraid of just how badly he may be beaten in november. Reporter the president is counting on republicans to remain loyal, pointing to his latest poll numbers and fundraising figures in a tweet and thanking mcconnell for his support. He would play a pivotal role in the senate if mr. Trump is impeached in the house. He read my phone call with the president of ukraine, mitch mcconnell. He said that was the most innocent phone call that ive read. I mean, give me a break. Reporter and the plot is thickening after the president s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani admitted to the Washington Post he has discussed his unproven biden claims with an attorney for former Trump Campaign manager Paul Manafort who is in prison. Contrast that with Vice President mike pence, trying to keep his distance from the ukraine investigation. It is great to be in arizona. Reporter sources tell cnn to expect the Vice President to spend much of his time over the coming weeks on the road, as his aides worry about the ukraine fallout back in washington, with questions swirling about what pence knew and when, he has latched on to mr. Trumps allegations. There are legitimate questions that ought to be asked and were going to continue to ask them since the American People have a right to know whether or not Vice President of the United States or his family profited from his position. Reporter the president is amping up his accusations on social media. Look at this photograph featuring music from nickelback only after being shut down by twitter that the band complained that was a copyright violatio violation. Thats why they do the impeachment crap. They know they cant do it fairly. Thats the only reason. They cant win. Reporter thats not swaying the growing number of democrat saysing the impeachment inquiry must continue. We have no choice but to proceed and the only person the president has to blame is himself. The Justice Department has instructed white house employees to preserve documents and emails that may have to be turned over to House Democrats as part of their inquiry. Its become more difficult for the white house and its defenders to accuse the whistleblower complaint of relying upon hearsay to accuse the president of asking a Foreign Government to interfere in the upcoming election, as mr. Trump did that today, outloud, that talking point, wolf, no longer holds up. Wolf . Jim, thank you. Jim acosta at the white house. Lets go to capitol hill right now. Truly some fastmoving developments. Lawmakers have been hearing privately from the former u. S. Special envoy for ukraine, kurt volker. Lets go to manu raju. What are you picking up over there . Reporter behind closed doors, kurt volker has been getting grilled for 7 1 2 hours now, and counting, as democrats and republicans have been trading off hours, questioning volker about his conversations with the president s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, trying to set up a meeting soon after the president s own phone call to the ukrainian president in which the president urged the ukrainians to launch an investigation into his political rival, according to the whistleblower complaint volker made clear he was trying to navigate concerns from the ukrainians about the differing messages coming from the Trump Administration as well as giuliani and other aspects about investigating joe biden. N now, at the same time, republicans have emergesed from this closed door briefing, have tried to push back, saying volker has provided nothing in their view to further the democrats impeachment narrative. Republicans are also being very careful not to say exactly why that is, exactly why they dont believe that this is adding any further fuel for the democrats push and at the same time also at the moment withholding their comments, saying they wont discuss this until after. Same time, wolf, this is coming amid a fastmoving inquiry after today. Tomorrow, the House Intelligence Committee will meet with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community who has previously met with this committee but has not talked with them since the whistleblower complaint was released. It was michael at kinson who deemed that whistleblower complaint credible, urge enter and members have a lot of questions about that as they decide how to pursue this investigation. At the moment, wolf, were waiting for kurt volker to emerge and well get a sense about how lawmakers viewed what actually occurred behind closed doors and what democrats will glean from this as they push ahead on the investigation. Wolf . Manu raju, thank you. The Washington Post is now reporting that kurt volker told lawmakers today that he warned trumps personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, that allegations against joe biden and his son were simply not credible. Rachel, first of all, tell us about that warning that volker gave. Hey, wolf. I spoke to two sources in the room for volkers testimony. Its still ongoing, obviously. They both told me that volker basically told giuliani that he needed to be careful with this information he was getting from the former ukrainian prosecutors who were pushed out for corruption. Obviously, giuliani was hearing all this stuff about joe biden, putting some sort of pressure on them to get rid of an investigation, but volker told him these were not credible sources and he needed to be very careful with the information he was getting. Sort of trying to warn him off. Obviously, that didnt take, because giuliani continued to pursue this matter. We are also learning that volker warned the ukrainians, even as giuliani was talking to him, that they should not be getting involved in u. S. Domestic politics. That if they were to sort of step into this mess they could potentially in the future be accused of meddling in the u. S. Election and it would hurt ukraine long term. He was also telling ukrainians, be careful. Were also learning there was an actual agreement between ukraine and the United States that the president of ukraine was supposed to come to the u. S. Right after zelensky was elected, to meet with trump. And they were really excited about this meeting. That was obviously delayed, delayed, delayed as the u. S. Was holding military Financial Assistance and trump was pressuring ukraine to have this investigation. And zelensky told lawmakers that that meeting and the delay caused a lot of internal panic and a lot of internal concern by a u. S. Ally, ukraine. And so coming out of this meeting, the sources ive been talking to say that this sort of solidifies this narrative that democrats, you know, have been investigating, that this investigation in what trump did with ukraine really infringed on u. S. Foreign policy and caused a lot of problems. Rachel, did volker tell the lawmakers how giuliani responded when he gave him that warning not to go with all those wild accusations . Reporter to be answered. I dont know at this point. Im sure he was probably asked that question. Were still learning details as they come out. Clearly, giuliani continued to pursue this matter, right . Clearly, giuliani continued to pursue this. You are also reporting, rachel, that volker handed over documents to these members of congress. What do we know about that . Ive seen some other reporting that he has turned over some Text Messages right now. We saw a text Message Exchange where he expressed concern about the u. S. Holding this financial military assistance. Ive not seen these Text Messages personally myself. A couple of outlets have matched them. What i do know and can tell you from these two sources i spoke with within the room, he has expressed concern about the u. S. Halting the military assistance to ukraine. They didnt know why it was happening. I was told that they never were given an explanation for why this was not going through, and they thought it was damaging to ukraine and the u. S. ukrainian relationship. It was not something that he, being a longtime foreign ambassador, somebody who has expertise in ukraine and worked in the Foreign Service for decades, for years, not something he would have wanted. Excellent reporting, rachel. Thank you so much, rachel bade, Washington Post, cnn contributor as well. The Washington Post is reporting a new, yes, new whistleblower has filed a formal complaint. This time a career irs official by a political employee, Treasury Department political appoint appointee. Lauren fox has been working the story for us. What are you learning about this second whistleblower . Reporter we knew this whistleblower had existed because this person came forward in july according to a Court Document filed by house ways and Means Committee chairman richard neil. From an august court filing, neil wrote to treasure secretary Steve Mnuchin saying a whistleblower came forward and said there was inappropriateness in the audit situation and i am concerned. They are alleging at least one political appointee was trying to influence the audit system when house ways and means chair oneill requested the tax returns, he basically argued that this Audit Program was not enshrined in law and wanted to look at whether or not there was undue political influence depending on whether youre a democrat or republican coming into office. Right now every time a new administration comes in, the president and Vice President s taxes are audit. That program is pretty secret. Theres not a lot of information known about it. This whistleblower is alleging theres undue political pressure. Im continuing to try to call sources and get more information on what precisely was in that complaint. Emily excuse me, lauren. Lauren fox reporting for us. Thank you. Lets get more on all of this, congressman rokan is joining us. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. I want to begin with kurt volkers testimony on capitol hill behind closed doors, as you heard from the Washington Post. He told Rudy Giuliani he was receiving untrustworthy information on the biden family and that he warned the ukrainians against getting involved in u. S. Politics. Whats the significance of this new information . Its deeply concerns. Obviously the person who understands the Foreign Policy clearly said the concern and smears against the Vice President biden had no credit. And yet we see them pushing a narrative thats false. Did his testimony give you new leads, new witnesses to pursue . Based on the public reporting what concerns me the most is the text he apparently sent to one of the ambassadors, saying he doesnt understand why the president is withholding financial aid, military aid from ukraine for a political campaign. If that is true if, that text exists, that shows that the sitting ambassador envoy to ukraine was concerned that President Trump was using our military, our National Security for aiding his own political campaign. So do you believe the information were all learning today, Public Information will bolster the case for impeachment . I do. But, wolf, you also have the president of the United States going on television and asking china to interfere in our election, asking ukraine to continue to interfere in the election. At this point there is no dispute about the facts. The president is basically saying that hes allowed to get foreign leaders to interfere in our elections. At some point even republicans have to say this a total violation of our republic. Some republicans walked away from the kurt volker deposition saying they dont think that volker shed new light on any impeachable conduct. Are they saying the same thing in private to members like you . What theyre saying in private, wolf, is that the president s conduct is inappropriate, his tweets are inappropriate, but it doesnt rise to the level of an Impeachable Offense. Thats what you hear in private. My question to them is what would be impeachable . If you dont believe soliciting foreign interference sis impeachable, going after your political rival with foreign leaders is impeachable, then what is impeachable . As you point out correctly, publicly today for all the accura cameras, at the white house, publicly urging china to investigate the bidens. The president is being brazen. He is basically saying hes trying to normalize this behavior, saying its perfectly appropriate. Its as if someone is accused of robbing a bank, goes on television and says im going to continue to rob banks and youre not going to be able to do anything because ive got a lot of money in my Campaign Account and the poll numbers are good. When are people like senator mitt romney going to speak up and say enough is enough, this is about our constitutional d democracy . We need profiles of courage, republicans to stand up against this president. Congressman ro konna, thank you. Thank you, wolf. Stay with us. Former special envoy to ukraine testifies on capitol hill. As President Trump calls on ukraine and now china to investigate the bidens. One third of our classic crust is made with cauliflower but thats not stopping anyone o, thats good enterprise car sales and youll take any tradein . Rom thats right great here you go. Well, it does need to be a vehicle. But i need this out of my house. vo with fair, Transparent Value for every tradein. Enterprise makes it easy. 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I have 45 seconds to digest the information . I dont know if all of it is true. I havent been able to read the whole article. I have to tell you, its kind of jaw dropping. This has been a week of jawdropping moments and its part of the pattern, isnt it . The president of the United States has been on a rampage to try to do one thing, and that is to discredit, of all the 330 some odd Million People in the country, of all the crime that happens in this country and around the world, corruption and otherwise, he has singled out one human being by name of joe biden. Who is he . He happens to be the person lead nth poll to be his challenger in the general election in 2020. So, you know, im anticipating that as these reports circulate further that allies of the president , as they always do after the firing of jim comey and other people will, say he has the absolute Constitutional Authority and power to relieve people of their duties because they serve at the pleasure of the president f this turns out to be true, have you a president who is abusing his power in the service of one thing, his own personal benefit. In this case an election benefit. On top of all that, basically he read to me, you once again have Rudy Giuliani i dont know what his port fofolio is, i don know what legal capacity he is serving the president in. The way that story reads, a career diplomat who is respected by members of both parties was removed because Rudy Giuliani didnt like how she was getting in the way of the dirty work that the president wanted Rudy Giuliani to do. Thats abhorrent, will push the story further. Thats the kind of thing over time, when you keep getting stories about this kind of activity happening, there becomes no question in the mind of any rational person of what the president is trying to do. At some point ill be asked whether certain things constitute a crime or not. I dont know. Its clearly an abuse of power. Let me read another couple of sentences from the wall street journal report that was just posted. State Department Officials were told that miss yuvanovichs removal, she was told by state Department Officials they couldnt shield her from attacks by the president and his allies, according to people close to her. And earlier today, the president was asked, why did you recall the u. S. Ambassador from kiev, and he said specifically, i heard very bad things about her and i dont know if i recalled her or someone else recalled her but i heard very bad things about her for a long period of time. Not good. This is presumably going to open up another avenue for those supporting this impeachment inquiry. And i think it furthers the need for Rudy Giuliani to come and testify. There will be a wider scope to his testimony if he chooses to come and testify or has to be fought in the courts and also secretary pompeo. And it goes to the president s good faith. Look, there are all these things that the president has the power to do, up to and including having people who are on his team, but if you have, time and time again, it turns out that the reason that someone was removed was because he was trying to do something that was inappropriate, namely in this case trying to get an investigation done of his political rival, then thats a problem and i think its an impeachable problem, right . Its fine to do what you want to do and if youre acting in good faith, but is there any rational thinking human being in the world who thinks in all these instances the president was doing anything other than trying to smear a political opponent . If thats the basis on which youre conducting foreign pol y policy, staffing of your state department, staffing of your Justice Department, then i think congress has a right to question whether or not that person is fit to lead. Did you think it was a crime today when the president said on television publicly, not behind closed doors, that he wants china to investigate his main, arguably his main democratic rival, joe biden . Maybe. In the last couple of weeks ive been resisting the urge or impulse not to opine whether something is a federal crime or not. We now know after two years no one in the Justice Department is going to charge the sitting president with a crime, whether or not he committed one because of this guidance that lives within the Justice Department. The critical question now is, does it rise to the level of an Impeachable Offense . Im not a member of congress, nor are you. We can sit here and talk about a rational way of thinking about this conduct is. He stands up in front of cameras and does just like he did with ukraine except this time, as you mentioned, out in the open. Hes exerting his power not as a candidate but the sitting president of the United States of america in the middle of trade negotiations with arguably our greatest, most significant gechlt opolitical rival, which happens to be a communist country and enlisting their aid not to fight general corruption, talk about intellectual property theft, cyber crime but to talk about one human being, the human being to leads in the polls against donald trump generally and also in the primaries. And the only reason he could be doing that is to gain a political advantage. That is not how the presidency should be used. He can run ads, say all you want to do on television, but i think congress would be right to question whether or not its appropriate or whether or not its an abuse of power for the sitting president to use his power against a political rival. I think its a problem, whether or not its a crime. Does it make a difference whether the question is ton in private, such as the phone call with the ukraine president or in public, like we saw today . Well, it shouldnt. I was recalling earlier today, and i tweeted about it. Theres a passage from the Mueller Report in volume two where they address this issue. The president s supporters would say some of what looked like obstruction of justice were done out in the open and Mueller Report states theres no legal distinction trying to intimidate a witness privately or publicly. Ultimately they didnt come up with a conclusion of whether or not a crime was committed but the same holds true here. You do something behind closed doors its a problem, in front of cameras, its the same problem. Psychologically, politically or optically maybe it helps him a little bit, because rational people, who are used to norms being observed by leaders like their sitting president dont brag about doing things that are problematic, potential crimes and abuses of power. By normalizing it, talking about it in a way in which he has doubled down on it, maybe it causes people to think rational people dont brag about their bad conduct. Maybe its not bad conduct. Theyre failing to appreciate this is not a normal person who engages in that kind of speech. Preet baraha thank you for joining us. Thank you, wolf. I want to begin with this bombshell in the wall street journal, that the president asked that the ambassador to ukraine be removed after complaints from Rudy Giuliani and others. Rudy giuliani is like zelig. Hes everywhere. One of the reasons he didnt like her, she had exhibited antitrump bias in private. Seems like a cleansing of all people who dont like donald trump. And youll notice in the phone call that the president had with zelensky, he called her bad news. We have that quote. Let me put it up on the screen and ill read it to our viewers, former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad news and the people she was dealing with in the ukraine were bad news. So i just want to let you know that. Thats the phone call between president zelensky and President Trump on july 25th. Special envoy to ukraine, kurt volker, has been up there for hours. Who knows what hes saying behind closed doors. We shouldnt be terribly surprised. The trump you see in the ukraine transcript, ill remind people, was released by the white house, is trump. So, this is not the exception to how he acts this is how he acts. Fastmoving developments in the ukraine. I would be a little bit surprised if we dont see other reports of calls he has made because, again, its who he has been his entire life. The expectation that donald trump would somehow change once elected president , this is who he is in that ukraine call is who he is. He has no awareness of boundaries, no sense of what he is doing is right or wrong. It is his responsibility to learn about those things as president. It doesnt excuse the conduct. Thats who he is. Its not as if the president today was asking a friendly ally, canada, the uk or even ukraine for that matter, for dirt on a political opponent. He was asking china for that kind of information. The president has not been able to effectively wield and abuse u. S. Law enforcement against the Civil Liberties and Constitutional Rights against u. S. Citizens so hes going to authoritarian regimes that are more comfortable with doing this, open and notoriously. By doing so, he is calling the bluff of republicans in congress, right . Weve seen them sort of refuse to defend trump on the substance. To say theres process issues and theyre waiting to see more information. Trump has sort of said im going to do it right out in public and that will force the question of republicans, either they defend him now, defend these statements he is making on National Television or they admit its not impeachable. So whatever information comes out later, its going to make it more difficult. This really is a moment in which republicans are going to have to decide. One thing thats worth noting about this wall street journal story, this is additional evidence that the president was not pursuing u. S. Interests. He was pursuing his personal interests and that a u. S. Diplomat working on behalf of the United States of america, who was getting in the way of those efforts, was essentially retaliated against for it. And pompeo was involved, by the way. You have the secretary of state. Yes. And theres some questions about bill barr, too. But to add to sutures point, the wall street journal make this is pretty explicit. They talked to giuliani. He acknowledged that he told the president she was disloyal. But in giulianis view, she had also been an obstacle in efforts to push ukraine to investigate mr. Biden and his son, hunter. Its pretty explicit there. Giuliani alcohol nonls it to the journal as they were reporting this story. Theres questions about why she was fired. Thats in the whistleblower report. The whistleblower indicated that he believed she was fired because she would not help pursue these investigations. And then theres also the question of what happened with that aide, what did senior officials at the state department know about why the president was holding up that aid . Thats something that kurt volker, on the hill today, will likely be able to reveal a lot of information about. He was there and likely would be privy to those conversations. That will help to connect the dots. Going back to glorias point, and preet mentioned it. Giuliani is trumps personal lawyer. Why is giuliani doing all these things . He is clearly at the center of this. Is he not a spoke on this wheel. He is the hub of the wheel from which all these stories are emanating. He is the lawyer. Why is he, by the way, telling the New York Times earlier its not illegal for us to meddle in an investigation. The president went around the government that he doesnt trust. Thats right. He doesnt trust the fbi, the Justice Department, aside from. The question answers itself. Hes using Rudy Giuliani because its not a legitimate government investigation. We put up one excerpt from the trump zelensky transcript. But theres another quote that says, quote, she is going to go through some things. Thats been overlooked as people have poured through this transcript. It does seem that he has explicitly threatened retaliation geps a u. S. Diplomat. If what were seeing here is a u. S. Diplomat that stood on principle, wanted to follow the rules, was not willing to abuse her office on behalf of the president , was actually trying to prevent Rudy Giuliani from interfering with u. S. ukrainian relations and she was retaliated for it i think this is another substantial development. Let me play a clip of the president earlier today speaking about the former u. S. Ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch. Why did you recall the u. S. Ambassador to ukraine . Was she a problem . Why did you recall her . I heard very bad things about her. I dont know if i recalled her or somebody recalled her. I heard very, very bad things about her for a very long time. Not good. From Rudy Giuliani. I dont know if i recalled her or somebody recalled her. This is a purge. This is what happens. This is a president who doesnt trust people in government who havent taken a loyalty oath to him. And hes allowed to appoint his own ambassadors and he as allowed to say i want my friends in an ambassadorial post. By all accounts shes a professional diplomat. Who served in democratic administrations and republican administrations and had an outstanding career. And the wall street journal story says that, you know, the suspicion was that she was socalled close to biden. Biden people say they didnt really know her. But, you know, giuliani had to keep this moving. All of a sudden, the Vice President today, he is weighing in. Hes sounding almost exactly like the president. Yeah. This is after a slue of stories in which his office seemed to be distancing themselves from this project that seemed to be under way of trying to get ukraine to dig up dirt on joe biden. His aides were saying to cnn and other outlets that the Vice President actually had no idea about this effort, that he believed the president really wanted europe to pay more and ukraine to root out corruption. But now mike pence is basically saying what trump is saying, echoing these baseless conspiracy theories, essentially, about joe biden and suggesting that is a legitimate u. S. Government objective, which it is not. I think we need to emphasize here, this is a political objective. Thats one of the main reasons why it is inappropriate for the president to potentially be doing this, because the objective here is to damage joe biden before a potential 2020 run and now mike pence is deeply in the middle of that effort. This is outsourcing your campaigns Opposition Research to Foreign Government, which is exactly what donald trump is doing. And hes doing it out in the open. Im suspicious enough of the thing about china today, to believe that maybe hes trying to innoculate himself. Can i finish . Yeah. In case a phone call is released or we learn of another phone call in which maybe he spoke about. We dont know. But why did he come out today and talk about china . That was sort of surprising. Its also worth going to the heart of the matter, that Vice President pence was suggesting theres something we should get to the bottom of what joe biden was doing. Joe biden observed all ethics rules. Vice president and president s chirps often have a business interesting, theyre affected by all kinds of u. S. Policy. Thats why we ask our elected leaders to comply with ethic rules, divestment from, not hiring their family members, going to the state department so we know when theyre acting on behalf of u. S. Interests rather than their own personal interest when actual conflicts arise. Joe biden observed all those rules. Thats how we can have faith that he was acting on behalf of the United States. Donald trump in the meantime has violated every norm, law and, you know, sort of tradition of basic ethics in the United States, one thing that makes this particular line of attack so hypocritical and so astonishing. During the russia investigation, we were asking can you obstruct justice in public. Remember that . Right. And so now the question is, with china, here he is. Can you abuse the power of your office publicly . Robert mueller answered that question. He said yes, public acts are designed to obstruct. Very sensitive trade negotiations in the coming days and basically the president is saying, china, if youre listen i ing. He did it in the 2016 campaign, russia, if youre listening, get those emails. We know what happened days later. Committees are now spearheading the impeachment inquiry sparked by zblrchl. Adam schiff has become, dana, one of the president s top targets. Thats right and during the russia probe, the president tried to make Robert Mueller a boogie man, trying to discredit him and his investigation. Now his focus is on the top democrat, someone his colleagues call up for the job. He has to be really careful. Work together with shifty schiff. Reporter he thrives on creating political foils, especially in a crisis. Shifty, dishonest guy. Now thats adam schiff, spearheading the impeachment inquiry. What this means for schiff is that theres no room for error. Every move he makes, every word he utters, scrutinized by republicans and combed for mistakes like this last month. Weve not spoken directly with the whistleblower. Schiff says now, quote, i regret i wasnt much more clear. He may not have spoken to the whistleblower but it turns out his staff did. The whistleblower contacted his committee for guidance and was told to file the complaint with the Intelligence CommunityInspector General, which is what happened. Aide to the republicanrun Intelligence Committee said schiff followed protocol but that nuance is irrelevant to a president eager to discredit him. He new long before and he helped write it, too. Its a scam. Reporter schiffs aides and whistleblower says thats not true, the committee had no role in writing the whistleblowers complaint. That did not stop Trumps Campaign and conservative media from pushing the false claim. I have a favor i want from you. Reporter also pummeling schiff for reading a parody of the call with ukraines leader than the actual summary. Schiff did introduce it this way. This is the essence of what the president communicates. You better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand, lots of it. On this and on that. Im going to put you in touch with people, not just any people. He actually made it up. It should be criminal. It should be treasonous. He made it up. Every word of it, made up. And read to congress as though i said it. Reporter the president s hyperbole aside, cnn is told by democratic sources that schiff realizes it opened him up to criticism, despite telling wolf this. I was mocking the president s conduct. Good morning, everyone. Reporter the house speaker, a big schiff champion, backs him up. Y want them to hear it. So, yeah, its fair. Its sad but its using the preside president s own words. Its an interpretation of the president s words. Did not make it up. Reporter many House Democratic sources say pell oos was eager to put schiff in charge of the impeachment inquiry because of his intell t intellect, savvy and background as a prosecutor, which Opening Statement aside, came across during q a with the acting dni last week. More than ever some colleagues tell cnn he is well aware hes under the biggest microscope of his life. And im also told schiff is keenly aware of the pitfalls of leading an impeachment inquiry. He was elected to the house almost 20 years ago in a race against republican james rogan, impeachment manager who argued the case against bill clinton in that senate trial. Backlash against rogan for going overboard with that helped schiff win and now im told lessons of what he thinks his republican opponent did wrong are helping guide him now. Wolf . Very intriguing and interesting, indeed. Da dana, thanks for that excellent report. Coming up, President Trumps outreach to north Korean Leader kim jongun draws praise from, of all people, vladimir putin. Hi, my name is sam davis and im going to tell you about exciting plans available to anyone with medicare. Many plans provide broad coverage and still may save you money on monthly premiums and Prescription Drugs. With original medicare, youre covered for hospital stays and Doctor Office visits, but you have to meet a deductible for each and then youre still responsible for 20 of the cost. Next, lets look at a Medicare Supplement plan. As you can see, they cover the same things as original medicare and they also cover your medicare deductibles and coinsurance. 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There is no obligation, so call the number on your screen right now to see if your doctor is in our network; to find out if you can save on your prescriptions and to get our free decision guide. Licensed humana sales agents are standing by, so call now. From the couldnt be prouders to the wait did we just winners. Everyone uses their phone differently. Thats why Xfinity Mobile lets you design your own data. Now you can share it between lines. Mix with unlimited, and switch it up at anytime so you only pay for what you need. Its a different kind of Wireless Network designed to save you money. Save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus get 250 back when you buy an eligible phone. Call, click, or visit a store today. The diplomatic impasse between President Trumps team and kim jongun is showing some signs of breaking even as the dictator continues his provocative behavior cht lets go to cnns brian todd working the story for us. What are you learning . That diplomatic dance between President Trump and kim jongun is set to resume in the form of talks between officials just below trump and kim. This comes even though kim jongun launched the most threatening missile test he has undertaken since negotiations began. Even as his own pentagon was demanding that north korea stop launching missiles, including a provocative test overnight tuesday saying they dont set the stage for diplomacy, President Trump said new talks with kim jonguns government which a source says start friday in stockholm are on. They want to talk, well be talking to them soon. Americas arch rival, vladimir putin, who met with kim in april, is weighing in, praising trump for meeting kim, holding talks instead of treating north korea as an outcast. Translator we must give credit to President Trumps courage and his ability to make unorthodox moves. And lists say the new missile test show that north korea is not acting in good faith. I think it is indication that they have no intention to denuclearize. They want their long range land based missiles and submarine launched ballistic missiles, that gives them a real nuclear deterrent. As diplomacy takes center stage, theres a new reminder of the brutality President Trump wants to cut a deal with. One of two women tried for murdering kim jonguns half brother at the airport has provided startling details of the 2017 attack. To the british tabloid, the mail. Sunday. She and her acome accomplish smeared him with nerve agent after being tricked it was a game. He looked annoyed and upset. I thought he looks like a rich man and he is clearly angry and might report us to the police. Kim jong nam collapsed within 20 minutes of the attack. The agents that recruited her for the attack posed as japanese tv producers duped them into thinking they were doing a prank for a reality tv show. Conducted rehearse also, practiced, and manipulated these young women to conduct this blatant assassination in broad daylight in an airport. And it is quite startling. She says she was so naive, she didnt know who kim jongun was, or where north korea was. I had no idea what i had done, she says. They told me they were going to make me a star. I feel so foolish for believing them so easily. I feel bad about what happened to kim jong nam. South korean intelligence says kim jongun ordered the hit which his regime denies. Charges were dropped against them. Human rights advocates are concerned in the zeal, theyre brushing aside incidents like the assassination. They do not treat human rights as serious subject of negotiation. It is not broken down into issues that ought to be negotiated with north korea. Despite the newly acquired status as a states man, analysts say he probably wont hesitate to kill again, launch assassination attempts against anyone he sees as a threat. Are President Trump and negotiators going to raise issues with the north koreans during upcoming talks . We pressed the white house and state department, they didnt comment. Wolf . Thank you. Well continue to follow all breaking news here in the nations capital. Were getting word of an active shooter situation in vancouver, washington. Stay with us. Well have details. Buckle up for some insurance themed fun at Progressive Park children yeah announcer ride the totally realistic traffic jam. Beep, beep, beep, beep children traffic jam announcer and the worlds first never bump bumper cars. Children never bump announcer its a real savings hootenanny with options that fit your budget. Thats fun for the whole family. Announcer only at progressive par. Maybe an insurance park was a bad idea. Yeah. Yep. Vo my car is more than four wheels. Y . Its my afterwork decompression zone. So when my windshield broke. Woman what . vo . I searched for someone who really knew my car. 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An irs official reportedly warned of tampering with the audit of President Trumps tax returns. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I am wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. We are following a lot of breaking news on the trump ukraine scandal. Tonight, the wall street journal reports that the president ordered