Criticism after invoking the racist murders of africanamericans as he rails against the constitutionally provided house probe into his dealings with ukraine. And putins power play. As american troops withdraw from syria, Vladimir Putin expands his influence and strikes a deal with push u. S. Alied Kurdish Forces away from the border. Im wolf blitzer and youre in the situation room. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Were following multiple breaking stories including key testimony in the impeachment inquiry by the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine. Cnn just ambassador to the euro union told him President Trump wanted ukraines president to publicly announce investigations that could help mr. Trump politically in exchange for u. S. Military aid. Also breaking, the anonymous Senior Trump Administration official who wrote an explosive New York Times oped about the president has written a new book about mr. Trump called a warning. Well talk about the breaking news. Much more with congressman will hurd of the intelligence committee. He heard todays impeachment inquiry testimony. And our correspondents and analysts are also standing by. First, lets go straight to capitol hill. Our Congressional CorrespondentSunlen Serfaty is on the scene. Youre learning new details about the potentially very critical testimony in the impeachment inquiry . Reporter that is right, wolf. Cnn has obtained the Opening Statement of bill taylor the president s top diplomat in ukraine today up here on capitol hill. In which he lays out for the committee essentially his increasing concern about the words, an irregular informal channel and by with holding security aid for domestic political reasons and told lawmakers that he believed it was crazy then and Still Believes it is crazy now. Tonight the president s top diplomat in ukraine bill taylor testifying behind closed doors in what democrats are calling a sea change moment. In my ten short months in congress, it is not even noon, right, and this is my most disturbing day in congress so far. Reporter according to taylors Opening Statement, obtained by cnn, taylor told the committees leading the impeachment inquiry that he was told by the u. S. Ambassador to the e. U. Gordon sondland that security aid to ukraine was being held up in part due to the push for ukraine to publicly investigate cranes involvement in the 2016 campaign and burisma, the Ukrainian Energy company where joe bidens son hunter biden was on the board. Ambassador sondland told me that President Trump told him he wants president zelensky to state publicly that ukraine will investigate burisma and alleged ukrainian interference in the 2016 u. S. Election. Taylor told the committee today, adding that sondland said he also made a mistake earlier by telling ukrainian officials that a white house meeting was dependent on a public announcement of the investigations. Ambassador sondland said everything was dependent on such an announcement including Security Assistance, he said today. Hes filling in gaps and sharing with us in a candid way his experience. Reporter taylor today walked the committee through a detailed time line of events dating back to june when he assumed the post. And saying it was in midjuly that it was becoming, quote, clear to me that the meeting president zelensky wanted was conditioned on the investigation of burisma, and alleged interference in the 2016 u. S. Elections and clear that this condition was driven by irregular policy channel that i come to understand was guided by mr. Giuliani. And explained his rationale for raising concerned about a potential quid pro quo over Text Messages discussing the halting of u. S. Security aid to ukraine with former u. S. Envoy to the ukraine kurt volker and Gordon Sondland and on september 212019 now saying are we saying that security and assistance and white house meeting are cnned on investigations. And taylor writing i think it is crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with a political campaign. To which sondland answered, bill, i believe you are incorrect about President Trumps intentions. The president has been crystal clear, no quid pro quos of any kind. And taylors testimony is still going on right now behind closed doors. He has been with lawmakers now for going on eight hours. Taylor plans to return back to ukraine tomorrow. And a source telling cnn, wolf, that he still wants to keep his job. Lets see if he does. Sunlen serfaty. Thank you. To the white house now. And the anonymous senior Administration Official coming out with a brandnew book about the president. Our chief White House Correspondent jim acosta is joining us with the latest. So first of all, what are you picking up . Reporter well, President Trump is playing victim comparing the impeachment inquirt the president is saying, republicans and democrats are distancing themselves from the comparison but the tweet is not the only reading material that washington is talking about today. For a president who loathes tellall books this one might cause mr. Trump to hit the roof. The senior official and the writer behind the anonymous oped last year is coming out with a book entitled a warning that promises more damaging revelations about the president. The agent said the book has been written as an act of conscious and of duty. Keeping behind closed doors President Trump is lobbying another distraction from his social media bunker so some day if a democrats become a president and the republicans win the house, they could impeach the president without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All republicans must remember what they are witnessing here. A lynching. But we will win. Aides to the president defended his comparison of the impeachment to ag insisting he wasnt conjuring up the painful history of africanamericans being murdered by white mobs in the decades following the civil war. The president is not comparing what happened to him with one of our darkest moments in american history. Hes just hes just not. What hes explaining clearly is the way hes been treated by the media since he announced for president. Reporter democratic president ial candidates pounced with senator coory booker tweeting lynching is an act terror used to uphold white supremacy. Try again. While some of the president s own party were uncomfortable with the lynching tweet i dont agree with that language. It is pretty simple. Some hopped on the bandwagon. This is a lynching in every sense. This is unamerican. When a mob grabs and you they dont give you a chance to defend yourself and dont tell you what happened to you, they just destroy you. That is exactly what is going on in the United States house of representatives right now. Reporter the president and his defenders are complaining about the guarded impeachment process with key witnesses like the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine bill taylor testifying behind closed doors. We want to conduct it in a way that other witnesses dont know what witnesses are going to say. Because otherwise they could Work Together and cook up alibis and tailer testimony and the fact that weve kept it so close has protected against that. Reporter the president s allies are telling him to accept the likelihood hell be impeached as a poll finds 50 saying mr. Trump should be thrown out of office. All part of a steady trend toward supporting impeachment. Bipartisan outrage is building over the president s green light for turkeys invasion of syria. Russia and turkey reached an agreement for a patrolling area of syria abandoned by the trump administration. The announcement featuring a meeting between turkey president and none other than russias Vladimir Putin. I would like to thank them for a very businesslike and open conversation, talks and all of this has been done on the basis of good mutual interest. Reporter democrats say the president should have seen this coming. Turkey, russia, iran, syria, the assad regime are being empowered by this when the president is withdrawing all of the nations and they are being empowered. Reporter as for the situation in syria, Mitch Mcconnell as well as other gop senators have introduced a resolution opposing the president s green light to turkey. That may be too little too late as turkey, a nato allies, worth remembering a nato ally, has joined forces with russia in the region. Wolf. Very disturbing developments indeed. Jim acosta reporting. Thank you. Lets get more on the breaking news. Joining us now, republican congressman will hurd of texas. Hes a member of the intelligence committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Lets get right to your reaction to bill taylor the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine, his testimony today. You were inside that room. I was, wolf. And because it is being treated as a deposition, there are many things i cant talk about but we have seen the Opening Statement that was provided to the press and on the website and there is a lot of questions that this brings up and it means more people probably have to come back in and reanswer some questions. We need to talk to mayor giuliani about his activity in that region. And this is ultimately a question about how diplomacy should be conducted and having an informal channel is not a good way of doing that. And the question that were going to be answering here is does this reach a level of impeachment or is it a disagreement on policy and there is a lot of more questions that need to be answered. I also think that those questions should be pursued in other committees rather than the House Select Committee on intelligence. It started in hip c and because of the whistleblower, it should be protected the whistleblowers identity now this moved into state departments and other areas that doesnt include classified information, i think some of the other committees are appropriately staffed to be able to handle that. Because i want to see the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence review the intelligence we knew before turkey invaded Northern Syria to kick out the syrian kurds. What intelligence do we have and what are we trying to collect to prevent isis from rebuilding in syria and northern iraq. How do we make sure there is enough humanitarian support to the iraqi kurds who have to deal with the humanitarian crisis right now. I want to get to that syria issue and it is explosive. But the top diplomat in crane, bill taylor still testifying, and in his single spaced 15page testimony said this. Referring to ambassador Gordon Sondland, the u. S. Ambassador to the european union, ambassador sondland told me President Trump had told him he wants president zelensky to state publicly that ukraine will investigate burisma, that is the Ukrainian Oil and gas company that hunter biden was on the board. And alleged ukrainian interference in the 2016 u. S. Election. In addition, taylor said that sunlen told him that everything depended on that. His word everything including not only Security Assistance but a meeting with the president. That sounds like a quid pro quo directed by the president. Does it to you . Well, he also said sondland said this is not a quid pro quo. That is what sondland said but were talking about what bill taylor said today. Quoting sondland. And i assume you want sopd sondland so come back for more testimony. Sondland needs to come back and answer some questions and it is clear on what did the ukrainians know and when. And i think in the documents on your website it makes it clear that the ukrainians did not know about the aid issue until after the phone call whose transcript was provided by the white house. Now, again, i think there is two lines of effort here. Is this the way diplomacy should be conducted and was there a a crime and was there a committing of a crime. Think people made it clear if you try to use federal resources to benefit yourself, whether that is getting information on an opponent, that is a crime and so this is something that there are still more questions. This is why ive been supportive of the hearings. To try to understand these questions. But also im going to make sure that were hearing everything out and turning over every stone. Unfortunately some people have already made a decision on what they think should happen after this investigation. And whether you disagree with the president , you think everything is an indication of impeachment, whether you support the president , you think everything is an example of exoneration, i want to make sure that were continuing to get to the truth and there is a lot more people that we need to hear from and more questions we should be asking. Not only sondland but want to hear from Rudy Giuliani as well. Who is apparently conducting some sort of shadow diplomacy. You believe bill taylors testimony today. And do you believe it would be impeachable conduct to withhold 400 million in congressionally authorized and appropriated military funding for ukraine in return for political dirt on the bidens . I think that would reach a level that we should be considering. And that is why we have to continue to do these investigations. We are not in an impeachment inquiry yet. And i think that we should have these investigations and these hearings to determine whether that is the next step. But there is still a lot of questions it is premature to have that conversation, wolf. And especially it is important to make sure that the right committees are looking at this because what is happening in Northern Syria and the fact that turkey is in russia today announcing what the turks have called a groundbreaking deal, i think that was the adjective used, it is absolutely outrageous. Especially when turkey is a nato ally. Nato was created in the ashes of world war ii to deal with russia. Youll have a significant loss of life because of the humanitarian crisis that this is creating and especially if the turks are going to try to drop a 3 million refugees back in syria which could be a violation of international law. There are questions about whether the turkish troops have used white fos forrous in their invasion to kick out the syrian kurds. Now that people that are going to monitor whether the turkish troops and their affiliates are the russians, this is this is a crazy situation. And again this humanitarian crisis is going to continue to build. It will put pressure on the iraqi kurds because theyre having to deal with this now. These are some of the questions and ultimately why should we care about this . We cant let isis rebuild. And the turmoil and the chaos this is going to create will create a situation in which isis can rebuild and for me i remember september 11th, 2001 and seeing the beheading and people set on fire by isis. And that is an important issue that unfortunately i dont think is getting enough attention right now. It is a critically important issue. Before i let you go, let me get your thoughts. The president today compared the entire impeachment inquiry against him to a lynching. He used that word lynching. Youre the only africanamerican republican serving in the house of representatives. What is your reaction when you hear that word lynching, this comparison . Well, it is a crazy statement and shouldnt have been said and shows a leave of insensitivity to a horrific period in our history of our country. And this is one of the things that stop using this kind of language because it takes away from the message. But also it contributes to this notion that republicans are not understanding of the plight of minorities. I wouldnt have done it. I would advise him to stay away from that and this level of insensitivity to a dark period is not acceptable. Will hurd is also a former cia officer. Were grateful for your service. Thank you so much for coming in. Wolf, always a pleasure. Up next, more on todays bombshell testimony in the trump impeachment inquiry. Testimony democrats are calling disturbing, a sea change and damning for President Trump. Woman what gives me confidence about Investment Decisions . Rigorous fundamental research. 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Were following multiple breaking stories including a top u. S. Diplomat testifying he was told everything involving u. S. Assistance to kraep wukraine wa on the biden and investigations that would politically benefit President Trump looking forward to the 2020 campaign. Lets bring in our political and legal experts to talk about this truly bombshell testimony. And among other things, susan, bill taylor, the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine said this about the president s attitude. Ambassador sondland tried to explain to me that President Trump is a businessman. When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asked that person to pay up before signing the check. Ambassador volker was the special envoy. I used the same term several days later. I argued to both that the explanation made no sense. The ukrainians did not owe President Trump anything and holding up Security Assistance for domestic political gain was crazy as i said in my text message to ambassadors sondland and volker on september 9th. What does that say to you. This is the playbook of corrupt politicians around the world, in exchange for an official act you need to grease their palms, line their pocketbooks. And donald trump and his close allies are describing him as being owed something. Not the nation of the United States. Not our National Security interests. But donald trump personally, politically. What bill taylor is describing here and throughout the 15 pages of astonishing testimony is describing a quid pro quo. One thing, quid, white house meetings and military assistance, will not happen unless there is another. Namely the political investigations of the president demanding so this really is for all of the republicans who have been sort of holding their fire, saying we need to wait until we see more, until we see more, this is bill taylor laying out absolutely every piece in meticulous detail and noting and pointing quite explicitly to where corroborating evidence is including conversations like this that show quite clearly that ambassador sondland and kurt volker were away of whats is going on. Is it a quid pro quo and is it impeachable. I think it is a quid pro quo by definition of the term and it is something that the president of the United States should be impeached an convicted and removed. That is one of the most astonishing uses of president ial authority we have ever seen and it is the president extorting a foreign leader by holding congressionally military aid to an ally in exchange for coercing foreign interference in a u. S. Election. Abby phillip, ambassador taylors testimony contradicted ambassador sondlands testimony a few days ago. Because clearly there are differences and it is clear that the committee is now wanting sondland back. Absolutely. It is clear that sondlands description of what he believed happened, he claimed that it was solely based on his conversation with President Trump and that he had no independent reason to sort of verify one way or another. But what bill taylor is describing is that sondland, even though he got these assurances from President Trump that the president didnt want to use the term quid pro quo, what sondland was describing to bill taylor as susan just laid out is in fact a quid pro quo and he did not testify to that. It seems based on the fact that will hurds just spoke, he wants him to dock back. So it raises questions about Gordon Sondland being truthful about what his understanding of the demands were clearly, and President Trump wanted the ukrainian president to ensure this investigation was publicly announced and that investigation needed to be about not just the 2016 election, but also about burisma that Energy Company and joe biden. It is interesting, bianna, because democrats are saying the ambassadors testimony today was very damning. Do you expect the revelations will now lead to what some are already calling a pivotal shift in the entire impeachment inquiry . Well it is interesting that youre not hearing from many republicans at this point. Look, this is a very well laid out methodical transcription and testimony of what has happened over the past few months that weve seen from bill taylor today. Anybody who wants a synopsis of what were talking about at home should go online and read his testimony because he laid it out crystal clear. And what struck my attention was specif iic when he talked about two channels of communication. The regular channel of communication, visavis protocol in ukraine and u. S. Policy, something he oversaw and something hes very familiar with and doing this since 1985 and then there is the irregular channel that was overseen by the quote unquote three amigos leading to Rudy Giuliani and ultimately to President Trump. And that is what stood out. He said the irregular policy channel was running contrary to the goals of longstanding u. S. Policy. That should send a red flag to both democrats and republicans. He also lays out early in the testimony that ukraine is a strategic u. S. Partner. Ukraine is important for our own security and anybody at home trying to understand why this is important, there it is. He lays it all out. And two other issues, scrutiny over mike pompeo and Mick Mulvaney and ambassador taylor said he sent a memo, a cable to secretary of state pompeo expressing his concerns. Where is that memo . Remember, we heard secretary pompeo said that everything according to him was fine from the transcript. He was actually on that call. So where is that memo . Im sure many in congress would like to see that. And also Mick Mulvaney, his role in with holding the money. He is the official omb director even though hes acting secretary counsel as well. And jamie youve been speaking to a source closer to ambassador taylor. What are you learning about the veteran u. S. Diplomat. He is not only a key witness, that he is a reliable witness. His former colleagues say hes a straight shooter. Hes honest. Hes professional. He didnt have to do this job. He went back because he was determined to do the right thing. And lets just remember for context. The state department did not want him to testify today. Their guidance was not to go. He defied that. He was given a subpoena this morning. That gives you some cover. The second thing is there was no state Department Attorney in there with him. Republicans im talked to on the hill keep talking about in the impeachment inquiry a bright line, something that shows specifically that something wrong done. This testimony today by someone like bill taylor, that is a bright line. It is devastating testimony. They really want giuliani, who is apparently conducting a lot of this Foreign Policy to testify. What are the chances, susan, he will. Well giuliani will attempt to not have to testify and frankly he probably has a reasonably strong argument for invoking the fifth amendment. There are serious concerns for Rudy Giuliani. Because hes under investigation by the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york. Because he is personally under investigation and weve seen he tried to assert Attorney Client privilege with the president. That said, bill taylor is laying out a story that shows that Rudy Giuliani was taking direction directly from the president of the United States himself and unlike past scandals in which weve seen president s harmed by things staffers were doing. It is very clear this is being driven personally by the president of the United States. Trump was personally dictating directing and deeply involved in these efforts. These efforts to oversee essentially two channels that were operating across purposes. One pursuing the stated National Security goals, bipartisan goals of the United States and supporting ukraine against russian aggression, and another channel that was actively undermining that attempting to withhold military assistance and until the president got what he wanted which was dirt on political opponents. It is interesting, abby, if you read the testimony and i read it a couple of times, they really wanted president zelensky to do a public interview and they mentioned cnn a few times, that is what the president really wanted. A Public Statement that he was going to investigate this firm burisma and the bidens, the 2016 election, and ukrainian involvement, allegations that ukrainian as opposed to russia was interfering in the American Election and they wanted a Public Statement from president zelensky. That struck out at me as well. Why would they need that Public Statement to be sort of presumptively on camera, something that could be replayed over and over again. And taylor alose alluded to the fact that he wanted president zelensky to personally do it himself. And it leads to questions. The most obvious explanation could be this is exactly the kind of thing that can become part of a political campaign. It can be used against Vice President joe biden. And based on Rudy Giulianis own Public Statements in the months leading up to all of this, giuliani made it very clear that he believed that this issue of burisma and joe biden should be a part of the 2020 campaign. It should be counted against the former Vice President. So we have to measure up what were learning from the hearings, from bill taylor and also what giuliani actually said out loud publicly to everyone who would potentially hear it about what he was trying to do politically for the president. And i just want to add one more character that i think will become critically important and that is the former National Security adviser john bolton who also at the center of a lot of this. He no longer works at the white house. He also left on bad terms with the president. He has a lot to say about this. And some of it has to do with the ways in which he tried to memorialize the concerns while he was at the National Security council. Well see if he shows up, im sure before the committees. Stand by. There is a lot more news were following, including an exclusive cnn interview with the defense secretary mark esper and what is ahead for u. S. Troops pulling out of syria and u. S. Influence in the middle east now that russias Vladimir Putin is stepping into the void. My body is truly powerful. I have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. Because i can still make my own insulin. And trulicity activates my body to release it like its supposed to. Trulicity is for people with type 2 diabetes. Its not insulin. I take it once a week. It starts acting in my body from the first dose. Trulicity isnt for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Dont take trulicity if youre allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. 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Today the russian president Vladimir Putin and the turkish president erdogan announced their forces will conduct joint patrols along the turkish Syrian Border to remove kurdish fighters. Earli earlier Christiane Amanpour sat down for an interview with mark esper while he was visiting an air base in saudi arabia. Can you tell us first and foremost, there seems to be some confusion that maybe you could clear up. Where are the u. S. Forces in syria going. The president said a contingent could stay in syria and you said theyre redeployed to western iraq but the latest news that the iraqi command said welcome to come across the border but only on route out. He doesnt anticipate your troops staying there. So where will they be . Were conducting a phased withdrawal from northeast syria and began with the what we call phase one which is was an immediate zone of attack. And now were into phase two which is from the northeast quarter if you will and then eventually we have other phases that will draw the forces out. We will temporarily reposition in iraq pursuant to bringing the troops home so one part of a continuing phase but eventually the troops will come home. So they are coming home. They will come home. None will stay in syria. Right now the president is authorized the that some would say in the southern part of syria in tanf and keeping some Additional Forces to ensure that we deny isis and others access to these Key Oil Fields also in the middle part of the country if you will. But that needs to be worked out in time. The president hasnt approved that yet. I need to take him options sometime here soon but the bulk of the force would reposition in iraq and eventually go home. So none of this is clear first and foremost and those who might stay might be away from the border, away from the bulk of the isis trouble and securing oil fields from who . Well i dont talk about securing oil fields as much as i talk about denying isis access to the oil fields. So they cant have revenue to continue their bad behavior. And with regard to the deployment, what i try to do and keep my options open and the president s options open so as evens change on the ground, whether it is up in northeast syria or other parts we have the flexibility to respond to the president s direction. How are you going to have a flexibility to respond to a resurgence of isis and as you know this is a big concern from inside of the military, from amongst your allies, from many in the president s party back in the United States and analysts and politicians all over the world. All of these years that youve managed to deny them the ability to pose a serious threat, they are now open for business again and people are very, very concerned. In fact, general pet rayus said this does not end in endless war, this prolongs it because this gives isis an opportunity for resurgence. This is not a strategic success. Look at the facts on the ground. Base pd on the intelligence and reporting we have of the 11,000 or so detainees that were in prisons in northeast syria, weve only had reports of a little bit more than 100 have escaped. And the sdf are maintaining guards over top of the prisons, they have control of. So right now weve not seen this big prison break that we expected. That is good the news peiece. And ill be meeting with my allies, United States allies in brussels in the coming days to have a session on what do we do with the defeat isis campaign now in a new phase to ensure that we could maintain pressure on isis so it doesnt resurge. Golly, secretary, in a new phase. Some would say you have i dont know want only or willingly ended the success on isis. You heard what general pet rayus said. It is not a new phase. The metrics are not about territory. They are about resurgence and regrouping and the ability to do so and even before the withdraw of the u. S. Forces many in your military were watching a resurgence and cells come together. I wouldnt classify it as a resurgence. I would say this. Keep in mind why we partnered with the sdf going back to 2014. It was to defeat isis and we ended up destroying the physical caliphate of isis as of march of this year. And the task then is to make sure we maintain the enduring defeat and part and parcel of that is making sure that local security could handle that. So, yes, we are in a new phase of the defeat isis came pain, to maintain that defeat and destruction. Im still confused. The local forces making sure that that happen were the sdf and those are the forces who by withdrawing you have allowed to be victims and targets of the turkish offensive which is precisely designed to get them out of the way of the area that youve been stabilizing. The sdf are still in control of the prisons under their control and the turks have told us theyve taken control of the prisons in which they now have responsibility and our mission in that area was to train, advise and assist. We werent guarding prisons in that part of the word. It is not just about prisons it is about fighting and the kurds were your real on the Ground Fighting force. Tragically about eight american lives were lost during the fight for isis. But more than 11,000 kurdish lives were lost. That is right. And we were theyre enablers and air force so we had mutual interest and it was to destroy the physical caliphate of isis. Correct. And make sure that isis doesnt come back as a fighting force which people are worried they will right now including members of t pentagon. And we are continuing the enduring defeat of isis. Im having trouble with the word enduring. But let me ask you first. You say youre going to nato to talk to allies. Sure. Allies are quite shocked and ill be interested to know what they say to you because those were your allies, the Kurdish Forces on the ground and they feel utterly betrayed. Youve seen this terrible tragic pictures, im sure no secretary of defense wants to see their allies throwing rocks and rotten fruit at retreating American Forces calling them liars and saying theyve betrayed them. I wonder what youre how do you feel when you see that . Here is what the allies said publicly and privately. We condemn what erdogan has done this irresponsible incursion into Northern Syria that upset upset what had been happening on the ground successfully. And so everybody opposes that. Were going to talk specifically about that and the context of what is next with regard to defeat isis. So that is i think where we begin at that point right there. Coming up, Vladimir Putin strikes a deal on syria with turkey. Is russia replacing the United States as a dominant force in the middle east . We trust usaa more than any other company out there. They give us excellent customer service, every time. Our 18 year old was in an accident. Usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. All i had to take care of was making sure that my daughter was ok. If i met another veteran, and they were with another insurance company, i would tell them, you need to join usaa because they have better rates, and better service. Were the gomez family. Were the rivera family. Were the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. Get your Auto Insurance quote today. Man can i find an Investment Firm that has a truly longterm view . It begins by being privately owned. 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Hes flexed his muscles all over the world with the help of President Trump. With handshakes and smile, putin greets turkish president erdogan in sochi where putin once hosted the winter olympics. He gives a characteristically benign statement about wanting to maintain security in syria. We are certainly concerned about the growing threat of terrorism and the contradictions in this particular region. These separatists moods and tendencies have officially from the outside. A vailed shot analysts say at the u. S. A senior Administration Official tells cnn trump is concern ed fr this deal to jointly patrol areas of Northern Syria could undermine the security there, but experts say putin has seized this moment. Message that putin is trying to send the that if you sign up with russia, russias going to be there. Its going to fulfill its commitments in a way the United States is not. Putin has been aggressively bolstering his power in recent months and not just in syria. Hes met with the de facto leader of saudi arabia. Scored key investments worth billions from the leader of abu dhabi. Met with kim jongun with an eye towards shaping his deal with President Trump. All with a calculation that putin and not donald trump would become an indespinsable player. This is an instrument for putin to return to the global stage as a necessary intermediary, as someone you have to include if you do not consider moscows interests here, theyll ensure you fail. Experts say in the middle east, donald trump might have handed putin the role of intermediary on a platter by withdrawing u. S. Troops from syria. And signals that he wouldnt stand in putins way. If russia wants to get involved with syria, thats really up to them. Well, i think he basically conceded influence over the future of syria. Sxwl experts believe the former kgb colonel has again deftly maneuvered against trump in the middle east. Putin wants to influence events in that region without owning any messy outcomes and as for fight lg terrorism, america shouldnt expect help from putin either. Russias problem with isis is no, they dont like isis very much, but theyre more concerned with winning the war for assad and as long as u. S. Allies like the kurds were focused on defeating isis, they didnt have to worry about that. Sfwl analysts have other worries tonight about putin. They say hes got his sights set on getting Russian Companies to rebuild, to do business with iran, to sell weapons in the region, to diminish americans. I understand even tonight since this deal between putin and the turkish president was reached b, the russians are moving very aggressively. Thats right. Tonight theyve announced theyre going to move additional military hardware into northeastern syria because the territory they control is growing so fast and putins ally is so giddy about this deal that putin just made with erdogan he personally thanked putin over the phone just a short time ago. Important stuff. Thank you very much. Theres more breaking news coming up next. Details emerging with key testimony in the impeachment inquiry. The top diplomat says he was told President Trump would withhold aid from ukraine until an investigation with joe biden. Full of woo full of good. So you can be too. Try our new warm grain bowls today. Panera. Food as it should be. Heres the thing about managing for your business. S when youve got public clouds, and private clouds, and hybrid clouds things can get a bit cloudy for you. But now, theres the Dell Technologies cloud, powered by vmware. A single hub for a consistent operating experience across all your clouds. That should clear things up. 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And in a new interview, the pentagon chief speaks out bt the withdrawal from syria and the Top Senate Republican is formally opposing the president s policy. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room