Justice that trump appointed could potentially be the swing vote. Welcome to the lead and im jake tapper. We begin with the politics lead. Today House Democrats are saying they will issue a subpoena against a key witness in the ukraine scandal for documents and testimony after the white house today blocked him from testifying on capitol hill. As democrats probe details concerning President Trump using the power of his office to push a foreign country to conduct investigations to help him politically. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the president blocking this key witness a, quote, abuse of power. That key witness is u. S. Ambassador to the European Union and major trump donor, Gordon Sondland. Republican senator ron johnson told the wall street journal that sondland told him u. S. Military aid to ukraine was tied to ukraine agreeing to, quote, get to the bottom of what happened in 2016. That is trump speak for a push to undermine the Mueller Investigation and the larger conclusion by u. S. Intelligence that russia interfered in the election to help President Trump. That conversation on top of the recently released Text Messages linking u. S. Aid to ukraine, to ukraine investigating the bidens. The top diplomat in ukraine bill taylor wrote to sondland, quote, as i said on the phone, i think it is crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with the political campaign, unquote. Sondland waited about five hours and then replied, quote, bill, i believe you are incorrect about President Trumps intentions. The president has been crystal clear, no quid pro quos of any kind. A source now tells cnn that during that time gap, sondland phoned President Trump himself. Now the president has said publicly that the ukraine conversation was, quote, perfect and there is nothing wrong with what hes done and there is no quid pro quo. That is what he says. And what he and the white house have done, well, that is a different matter. They hid the rough transcript of the call with the president of ukraine in a hypersecure Computer System and tried to keep it from congress after the whistleblower went to the Inspector General. Theyre attacking the whistleblower. And now, as of today, theyre blocking witnesses. Well leave it to you to judge. If that is how officials with nothing to hide behave. Cnns Kaitlan Collins picks up coverage with new reporting on how the white house immediately tried to bury that ukraine call to keep it from the American People. Reporter today the white house intervened for the first time to stop a key witness from cooperating with democrats impeachment inquiry. Blocking top diplomat Gordon Sondland for showing up for his deposition, only hours before it was scheduled to take place. By preventing us from hearing from this witness and obtaining these documents, the president and secretary of state are taking actions that prevent us from getting the facts needed to protect the nations security. Reporter President Trump said he stopped it because the inquiry is illegitimate called it a compromised Kangaroo Court and his allies signaling there could be a broader strategy to stonewall with one saying the days of playing nice are done. When you have a speaker of the house that said we need to strike while the iron is hot and the chairman of the committee who is so bias against this president reporter the fight coming as cnn is learning more about the call that started it all. Sources say as soon as trump hung up with ukraines president in late july, a mad scramble began inside of the administration. At least one National Security counsel official alerted the white house National Security lawyers that there were concerns about what trump said. Those are the same lawyers who later ordered the transcript moved to a more secure server in order to limit those who could see it. Several aides frantically asked if they should notify other senior officials that werent on the call, like those at the Justice Department since the president had invoked the attorney generals name several times and now the focus turning to those who listened in on the call, including the secretary of state, top National Security officials and aides for the Vice President and chief of stave. Democrats say despite efforts to stonewall, theyll continue the investigation of whether trump abused the power of his office. Through this impeachment inquiry we are determined to find the answers. Thank you. Reporter now, jake, were also learning that the white house has reached out to outside attorneys to get counsel on impeachment. One of those, according to a source pam brown, a former congressman trey gowdy following the reporting that the president had been resistant of the idea of performing a Impeachment Defense Team or bringing in new attorneys believing that either would make him look weak. Kaitlan collins at the white house. Thank you. Lets chew over this with experts. Amanda, im interested in your opinion on this. To me, just having covered enough of these things, taylors texts in which he said, just as i said on the phone call, blah blah, i dont approve of this, read like somebody trying to establish a paper trail and sondlands text five hours later or so, read like somebody who just talked to a lawyer and said what should i write back . Do you agree. Yeah, i agree. And i wonder why the house isnt going after bill taylor more. He is the key to this. He is the guy that clearly saw something was going wrong and tried to document it and maybe they are trying to work something out behind the scenes but this goose chase to get Gordon Sondland and the president s lackeys. I dont understand that. Talk to people who want to talk and people trying to document this rather than trying to go after hostile witnesses and building up a case about obstruction. Im sure i dont know. But im sure theyre going after taylor, too. Phil i want to get your take. How does this read to you. Taylor said, quote, think attempt message on whats app. Are we now saying Security Assistance and the white house meet rg conditioned on investigations which is a quid pro quo and sondland writes back, call me. What does that mean to you . Call me. I only spent 25 years in government and only should have just called him. But this is pretty simple. Youre correct. This is called record copy. That is the appointed official, the nontrump official, the ambassador is saying i want it on the record what were doing here because phone conversations are going to be he said, she said if it goes public. But individual on the other end of the line and in this case text messaging is saying, i dont want that on the record. Call me because a phone call is going to be it is months ago, nobody remembers both of them are trying as you suggested, it is not what you think, jake, this is a fact. It is what you suggested. They both want a record copy. Each of them, a career guy wants a record copy saying the president just screwed us and the political guy wants a record copy saying that never happened. And how is the white house preparing for this other than mean tweets and having the mignons in congress go out there and lie . It is very telling that even though sondlands testimony is scheduled for many days, the decision to pull his testimony only came last night. They are making these decisions on the fly. Responding in large part to what the president wants. The president himself made it clear he was the one who was not comfortable with sondland testifying. Here is why the previous conversation were having and that question are related. Sondland is the person who was communicating directly with President Trump about all of this. All of it. So bill taylor knows what he thinks was going on. Sondland knows what was actually going on because he was communicating with the principal about it and that is what makes him an important witness and the white house and the president nervous about him getting in a setting where hes testifying under oath and can not lie to Congress Without risking potential jail time. And lets talk about sondland for one second. Hes a very, very wealthy hotel guy. He was a jeb bush backer. Then gave 1 million to President Trumps inaugural committee and got in that way and now he is the u. S. Ambassador to the European Union. Now im no expert on International Affairs but last i checked, ukraine is not in the European Union so what is he doing here in your view. I think hes trying to execute the orders of the boss man and that is the challenge with Civil Service and those dedicated to the cause rather than to the person. The entire state department has been rattled, not just by this incident but previous i. G. Reports from the past summer about how political appointees have been calling holdovers traitors and questioning their loyalty to donald trump and it underscores how important it is to have a service that is dedicated to American Values and the constitution. That is ultimately what is being tested here with this. Unfortunately the Trump Administration seems to be hanging their hat on this idea they argued in court today that the nixon impeachment process was improper and that that is your argument . That nixon was railroaded. When you have gone that far down the line, it shows that you are far more interested in obstructing justice than you are in telling the truth. Geraldo rivera told sean hannity, im paraphrasing, thank god for you. If you were around for nixon he never would have been impeached. This is painful as a former government guy. When new people come into town, whether it is democrats or republicans, people like me reviewed a suspect, two dogs at a fire hydrant. Theyre sniffing out each other saying who is the other dog here. When the new guys come in and the political guys say they know a lot at the cia and state department but they are not reliable. This is a reliability test and the politics guy saying i cant trust you and i need you to call me because im afraid youll take those texts and give them to somebody. I believe it is reported that these texts were on the personal devices on the whats app app which is to keep stuff from individuals. It is official communication. This is about official stuff and intelligence chairman adam schiff said the state department has personal devices belonging to sondland with more text and emails they want to see. I recall them being offended when somebody else had like what was her name . Had a system for avoiding for avoiding this kind of way that the government could easily get to something. The secret servers and messaging apps will come back to bite you. But im seeing a theory gaining steam, they come out and say, this is bad. All of this is bad. The messages, the secret server and it is not impeachable. We need an election to decide what is going on. After the Mueller Report, i thought that was a decent rational but you have the president and his men participating in election offenses. So how do you ensure that youre going to have a free and Fair Election in 2020 when the president has shown a willingness three times with russia, ukraine and china to cheat. This is what it comes down to. People talk about election and foreign interference. It is cheating to win an election. So republicans, if you dont want to impeach him, what are you going to do to stop it. I dont know they have the answer. Stick around. We have more to talk about. The two moves Congressional Republicans just made on the hill in an an attempt to push back. Plus the nba now saying they are not sorry for the tweet that could cost the league billions of dollars in china. Stay with us. Heres the thing about managing multiple clouds for your business. 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. I have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Now, theres skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90 clearer skin at 4 months after just 2 doses. Skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches or coughs, or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. Nothing is everything ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. Todays Senior Living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. And theres never been an easier way to get great advice. A place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. A place for mom. You know your family we know Senior Living. Together well make the right choice. Do you recall, not long ago we would walk on the sidewalk all around the wind blows we would only hold on to let go blow a kiss into the sun we need someone to lean on blow a kiss into the sun we needed somebody to lean on all we need is someone to lean on thenot actors, people, whove got their eczema under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. Many people taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin. And, had significantly less itch. Thats a difference you can feel. Dont use if youre allergic to dupixent. Serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. Tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. If you take asthma medicines, dont change or stop them without talking to your doctor. So help heal your skin from within, and talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent. Were back with the politics lead as House Democrats grapple with how to respond to the new stonewalling from the white house, republican lawmakers are pushing for a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry. Sun lan serfaty is on capitol hill. Speaker pelosi said she didnt need a house vote. Why are they pushing for this. First on the process, republicans believe if they have a full house vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry it potentially could give them power that they dont have right now, at least more power than they have right now. Potentially even giving them a chance to subpoena their own witnesses, subpoena their own information that they want. And politic alley speaking they see this as an opportunity to delegitimate the narrative as weve heard them say over and over again as weve heard out of the white house, that the democrats have not voted on the full floor to authorize the impeachment inquiry and as you said, Speaker Pelosi has not ruled out a full house vote but doesnt believe it is necessary. At the same time, democrats control the house and republicans control the senate and senator graham said he invited Rudy Giuliani, the president s personal attorney to testify. What will that accomplish . That is right. And this would put Rudy Giuliani in front of a much, much friendlier audience over here in the senate than he would be in he were to appear in front of the house. And even in making in that announcement today, the fact that this committee is not only chaired by a Top Republican here in the senate, Lindsey Graham but one of the fiercest defenders and friends of trump and graham making that announcement acknowledged he wanted to hold a hearing on corruption and other improprieties in ukraine and not saying anything about the format, no word if it would be an open session or not. So certainly much better set of circumstances potentially laid out before him senate side than house side. Giuliani today telling cnn hes still a lawyer and will have to deal with privilege but added given the nature of grahams invitation about my concerns, i might be able to do it without discussing privileged information. Sun lan serfaty. Thank you. And i want to bring in jim baker and thanks for being here and elliott let me start with you. I understand the political argument for not holding a formal vote on the impeachment inquiry. They dont want to give the republicans more power including subpoena power, the democrats. And cloud everything up. They dont they want to protect the vulnerable members. Those are politic arguments and i dont have a legal argument or a principle beyond wanting to control the process. Am i wrong. Youre right. There isnt a legal argument here and theyre trying to do two things, number one make it about process. If your talking about process, youre not talking about the substance. And if youre talking about the process, youre not talking about the president s conduct. And number two, what tear trying to do is put vulner democrats in the position of having to vote on whether they proceed with impeachment. The democrats in trump won districts. There isnt a legal basis here. What happens is when an article of impeachment is introduced the house of representatives will vote on it but you dont have to have a vote to decide whether you are moving forward with impeachment. That is silly. And jim, as a Law Enforcement person, how would you tell, advise democrats to proceed to make this as much about law and standards of law and standards of behavior and not about all of the political mess. Focus on what the law is that applies in this area. And the law that applies in this area is the constitution directly. That is where the focus should be. Not on statutes or the procedural rules and to echo what elliott was saying, the president and the outsiders dont get to tell the house of representatives how to deal with impeachment. That is by the constitution reserved so them. They decide the process. They decide the substance and they decide whether to go forward or not and so were talking directly about the law here, it is the constitution of the United States and the house gets to decide not the bodies and the minority cant force the majority to do what they dont want to do. Elliott, the top lawyer for the House Democrats told a judge today that President Trump could be impeached for lying to the American Public, that is not a crime, lying to the American Public. It is a crime to lie to the fbi but not to the American Public or to prosecutors, but not to me. And the president would not have to be to commit a crime to be impeached. That sounds like theyre outlying outlining what the strategy in the house might be in court. Right. So ultimately congress has sort of said there is no real rules on what constitutes a high crime and misdemeanor when ch are the words in constitution. Typically what Congress Found is number one if a president or a high official has abused power, number two, engaged in behaviorin campusible with t campusible for the role of the office or acted in personal gain. So acting in an obstructive manner would fall in that conduct but there doesnt have to be a crime committed in the sense that he met the standard for obstruction of justice or Something Like that. If one of the areas is met it is absolutely impeachable. And the House Democrats lawyer said that impeachment threads could also include theoretically, findings from the Mueller Report and that Speaker Pelosi is on board with that. Do you think that is smart or would it be better just to keep it focused exclusively on this ukraine story . I think i think they could do it. And doug ledder who represented the house is a suburb lawyer and they could do it. Im worried that is going to drag them and delay things and have the focus lost. Right now it seems like the American People, at least a significant number of them, are upset about the president s conduct with respect to ukraine and his comment about china. And so i guess i would try to focus on that. When youre investigating or prosecuting any type of case, you dont want to load up your indictment with a bunch of extraneous stuff if you think it will distract the jury or open the door to the defendant making sort of a circus in front of the jury. So a tight, focused proceeding is probably in their best interest. Jim, elliott, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Breaking news on president s call with ukraine and the New York Times is reporting on one white house officials concerning description of that call. What that official told the whistleblower, thats next. Anyone can deliver pizza. Only marcos can deliver americas most loved pizza. Hot and fresh, and right to your door. Every day, get two medium, onetopping pizzas for just 6. 99 each. Hello to americas most loved pizza. Hello marcos. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. 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Yeah, i totally agree, they dont have any of those. I want to know what im paying upfront. Yes, absolutely. Do you just say yes to everything . Hm. Well i say no to kale. Mm. Yeah, they say if you blanch it its better, but that seems like a lot of work. No hidden fees. No platform fees. No trade minimums. And yes, its all at one low price. Td ameritrade. Breaking news. The New York Times is reporting that a white house official who was listening to the trump ukraine call in july described the conversation as crazy and frightening. Those words in quotes. Crazy and frightening. The person was visibly shaken by what had happened according to a memo written by the whistleblower. Lets chat about this. Is this the kind of thing that would be in a whistleblower report, that other people reacted saying they were shocked and frightened . If im in the whistleblower team, im really careful about this. If you read the initial report as a former cia guy, very well written, factual, sort of unemotional. This adds emotion and judgment. I want that out of there. This is what happened. This is what the president said. I would view this from the whistleblowers perspective as a problem. That said there is one angle that is critical. You have one whistleblower report and republicans say it is secondhand what this tells is you they are saying this is secondhand and i had the same response this person said and these kind of people i think will come out of the wood work that didnt like what happened. Here is the thing about Inspector General report, they go throughout the department and agency and they take the type of anecdotal evidence and use it as a cultural statement about how things are going on so i think it is important to recognize that these are statements that acknowledge there is a deep, deep problem with how donald trump and this administration are conducting the business of the country. And we should note i want to note this is not according to the whistleblowers complaint. This is according to a memo that the whistleblower provided. So ultimately i would say the same thing, that this was not actually in the whistleblower report for the reason that you outlined. But it does suggest according to the reporting that very shortly after this call between President Trump and president zelensky, the whistleblower memorialized what people were telling him about the call. And ultimately the concern that President Trump has focused on is who inside of the white house was so concerned about the call that they told the whistleblower about it. I think that is a critical piece here. There are people who are probably currently serving in Trumps White House who are the sores for this information and that is what that is what is problematic for the president. It is potentially yet another avenue for the democrats as theyre pursuing this impeachment inquiry. But here is what i think is problematic and i struggle with this. Were talking about the possible impeachment of a sitting president , removing him from office, largely based on someone that we dont know who it is. I think everything is credible. I think it is backed up and documented. He was meticulous. But i think if were seriously talking about ripping someone elected out of office we need to know who that person is. And that is unfair, it is hard. He or she will get smeared. But its a difficult thing to keep basing everything on this when this person hasnt come out in light and given testimony yet. Not yet. It is early yet. But i want to point the fact there is a New Washington post poll out today that finds that 58 of adults polled say they support the decision to start an impeachment inquiry. 58 say should have, congress should have begun and 38 say should not have. That is a lot of support for beginning impeachment inquiry. And that special shows that the American Public is starting to make a distinction between the Mueller Report and what happened in the relitigation of 2016 which does leave a distaste in many peoples mouth and acknowledging that this president in office shortly after mueller testified was doing exactly the same thing that the report outlined and so this is happening in realtime and it comes at the time when people are already sick of dirty politics, feeling theyre under attack and things are divisive so to see a president of the United States who should be leading in syria and Foreign Affairs and on the economy, tweeting all day about whether or not somebody should testify, this is not the type of leadership any american wants. And phil, independence, i think of you as an independent. Independents support for beginning the probe but the inquiry has gone up 20 points, it is 57 now against 38 . But that number the post notes has gone up. Im a little bit skeptical on the independent side because i dont think what the American People understand what their asking for and the difference between the house and the senate process and they dont fully understand what Mitch Mcconnell is saying. They think this is a simple process when the house goes and investigates and votes and something happens with the president. I think that word impeachment is loaded and looking at through that lens, the polling is different. I agree with republicans but i think it will backfire in that Speaker Pelosi should hold a vote to on the impeachment to go forward on inquiry so they define what this is about and right now it looks like endless investigating and fighting and if they have a vote and it is written on paper so people could evaluate the problem they are looking into, that would be helpful for everyone. And abby, there is a new quinnipiac poll out today and this is a different question, asked if President Trump should be impeached and removed from office. Not just the inquiry but impeached and removed from office, 45 of the American People say yes and 49 say no. So there isnt this zest to get him out of office even if people do want the inquiry to begin. It does suggest that people do understand the removal part of this is a step further and they are not quite ready to go there yet. I wish some of the polls would ask both questions separately. So that we could have a sense of whether people want the inquiry and removal or just the inquiry and not removal. But well take it up with the pollsters later. I think it is important for us to note that while all of these numbers are kind of a little bit noisy went the noisy between the polls, but they suggest people are uncomfortable about the behavior they know about outlined and that is another source of problems. When people hear about what is going on they dont like it and they think the president is potentially abusing power. That is more of what we should Pay Attention to going forward. It is a request for accountability and wanting some check on the administration. Everyone stick around. We have more to talk about. President trump on the defensive after his biggest supporters ripped into his decision to withdraw troops from syria. Well go live to the middle east next, stay with us. How do you make red lobsters endless shrimp even hotter . You bring back Nashville Hot oh yeah its back. Crispy shrimp. Tossed in a spicy rub. And drizzled with sweet amber honey. More shrimp more ways. Endless shrimps just fifteen ninety nine. Hurry in. kickstart my heart by motley crue truck honks wheels screeching clapping sound of can hitting bag and bowl clapping always there in crunch time. We have breaking news for new our world lead. Right now staffers on capitol hill are being briefed on the Current Situation in northeast syria. Both Political Parties including loyal allies and the Republican Party have excoriated his decision to withdraw given the kurds that live there have been stall wort allies and without the u. S. There turkey might massacre them. Clarisa ward joins me live from Northern Iraq and signs that a turkish strike against the kurds could be imminent . Reporter that is right, jake. Essentially it could happen any moment now. No clear timing, the turks saying everything is in place to begin. They are calling it operation peace spring and make no mistake, this is going to be a major operation. Youre talking about 300 miles of border area. They want to cut a swath 30 miles deep and cover that entire area. So this is not going to be something that happens overnight. We have heard reports of military personnel, how and other military machines along the turkish Syrian Border and it appears the turks are not paying attention to trump who did something of a pedaling back by saying listen if you hit the kurds too hard, your economy will pay a very dear price and the turks responding by saying we will not bow down to any threats and are determined to go ahead. And President Trump tried to defend his position but it didnt seem like even his closest allies are convinced it is the right move. It is interesting. It doesnt matter who you talk to, whether it is his allies in the Republican Party, as you say, who see this as handing a victim to russia, to the regime of Bashar Al Assad or iran or even european allies very concerned about the real possibility that this could create a vacuum that all of the Syrian Kurdish forces currently guarding thousands and thousands of violent isis fighters in prisons under their purview could potentially be now forced to go on to the front lines to fight against a turkish invasion leaving the prisons with the doors open. Kurds very worried as well, of course, that they will simply be hung out to dry by their strongest ally, the u. S. Clarisa ward, live in iraq. Stay safe. Air ball, the nb commissioner seems to have listened to the backlash in the faceoff with china. That story next. [narrator] meet the ninja foodi Pressure Cooker with tender crisp technology. The best of pressure cooking and air frying are now in one pot. 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That should clear things up. Anyoonly marcos can deliver americas most loved pizza. Hot and fresh, and right to your door. Every day, get two medium, onetopping pizzas for just 6. 99 each. Hello to americas most loved pizza. Hello marcos. Do you recall, not long ago we would walk on the sidewalk all around the wind blows we would only hold on to let go blow a kiss into the sun we need someone to lean on blow a kiss into the sun we needed somebody to lean on all we need is someone to lean on we have more breaking news now. Cnn is learning that at any moment trumps lawyers will tell House Democrats in a letter that President Trump and the Trump Administration will not cooperate in the impeachment inquiry. Arguing that house Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding an illegitimate impeachment process. Pamela brown joins us live. What could you tell us about the letter. Reporter a source familiar with the matter said the white house is expected to release the letter to Congressional Democrats later today and were told it is a blistering letter, where the white house will make the argument that President Trump and his administration have no choice but not to cooperate with the democrats ongoing impeachment inquiry. The white house making this argument that the inquiry is illegitimate and an effort to overturn the 2016 Election Results and will make the case that it circumvents by not having the vote it circumvents President Trumps due process rights. And it will point out irregularities in the democrats investigation and im told it will take direct aim at adam schiff, when he said he hadnt had contact with the whistleblower but then we had later learned that the committee did have some sort of contact and then also schiffs reading of the transcript. Those will be a couple of the items in this letter that will be going to the hill momentarily. But we should point out im told the white house doesnt go so far as to corner itself in saying if you hold a vote then well give you everything youll looking for and cooperate. Jake. Pamela brown with the latest. And abby phillips, we should point out that the constitution does not actually have rules for how somebody is going to be impeached and the last time this was done during the bill clinton impeachment, the house of representatives isnt even set up the same way. The committees might be different. So they can claim this, but it is not based on the constitution. Exactly. And i think most people impeachment experts agree there is no requirement for an Impeachment Vote. So i think it really kind of calls into question whether this is a legal document or really more of a politic document. It sounds like from pams reporting theyre going to be rehashing some of the arguments weve been hearing from President Trump about adam schiff, claiming and i think we should say falsely there was something irregular about a Committee Staffer directing the whistleblower to go through a formal process. That is actually pretty much by the book how it is supposed to be done but theyll be raising that as part of the argument against this. And i think this is this is another part of the political pushback. I just dont know how much legal weight it has in stopping nancy pelosi. I think an Impeachment Vote would be a clarifying exercise but make no mistake this is the Trump Administration trying to stop them from getting subpoena power so every legitimate witness, expect to bring a Rudy Giuliani to blow it up. This is like the Mueller Report before anybody got to see it and bill barr said this is what it is all about and how it should be but this is oversight by the bodies of congress that already have a Legal Authority to conduct oversight. They dont need a vote to do that. Thanks for being here. The nba backtracking and saying they are not sorry for the tweet that caused controversy in china. Stay with us. Its my afterwork decompression zone. So when my windshield broke. Woman what . vo . I searched for someone who really knew my car. I found the experts at safelite autoglass. Woman hi vo with their exclusive technology, they fixed my windshield. Then recalibrated the camera attached to my glass so my Safety Systems still work. Who knew that was a thing . woman safelite has service i can trust. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Im happy to give you the tour, i lohey jay. It. Jay . Charlotte oh hi. He helped me set up my watch lists. Oh, hes terrific. Excellent tennis player. 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Lets bring in the atlantics jamil hill who published an oped arguing the problem for the nba is this isnt just a free speech issue, this is a test to see whether the nba has the stomach to fight for certain values when it compromised business. Thank you for being here. How do you think the nba and silver are handling this test . I think theyre handling it very delicately and the original way they came out with the statement where they rougher they referred to daryl moreys tweet as regrettable and it raised eyebrows and considered to be among the most progressive of all of the major prosports leagues and for them to seemingly back away and distance from an employee when it is built that reputation, it was very eyeopening to a lot of people and it looked as if the nba was just content to kind of kneel to china so as not to affect business and they forgot about the fact they have players and coaches and other League Personnel theyve allowed to be vocal on a number of political topics so it would be hypocritical for the nba to abandon those principles. Sally yenkins of tthe Washington Post said it is ludicrous to hand the nba and rockets the tab for american toting to authoritarian like beijing and they list walmart and others who have big business in china. Is it hypocritical to people go after the nba and turn a blind eye to others. I think it is a nuance. Sally is right, there are american businesses in china and they hold their nose as they write and receive checks. The distance is how many of them have the social responsibility brand that nba does. Keep in mind this is the same league who delayed the game in chrmt because of the controversial bathroom bill and steve kerr and lebron james and steph curry and durant have been outright critical of the president of the United States and theyre entire response has been, hey, let these guys say what they politicly believe. This is the same league where commissioner adam silver was dancing at the gay pride parade on a float in new york city. So they have made being socially responsible a part of their brand and that is why there is a different expectation for them. So you mentioned steve kerr. Hes the normally outspoken head coach of the golden state warriors. Take a listen to him. He was asked about this controversy and it was a reaction that ive never, ever heard from steve kerr. Take a listen. Its a really bizarre International Story and a lot of us are dont know what to make of it. But im not going to comment further than that. A bizarre International Story a lot of us dont know what to make of it and i dont want to comment any further. Did that surprise you . Hes so reticent there. I was stunned but i think that speaks to the depth of the relationship between china and the u. S. Basketball forces, if you will. Keep in mind you have players that are regularly making pilgrimages to china in order to sell their products and in order to be more marketable. The nba recently signed a 1. 5 billion contract extension with the largest Digital Media giant in china. There is a lot of money to be made here. And if we look at daryl moreys tweet which was an image and caption that was prodemocracy, what were supposed to be about in this country, it was benign. So if your steve kerr or anybody else asked to comment, if you saw how a tweet that was deleted rather quickly can cause this kind of incident, im not surprised there was a no comment. It is just surprising considering this is the league where everybody has worn this outspoken label as long as it draws them praise but the moment it conflicts with business then everybody wants to get silent. And very quickly, if you could, lebron james is in china right now. We ome have a few seconds. But do you think he should keep his mouth shut on this or what do you think . Well i would be surprised if lebron said anything because theyre looking at what happened as a result of this daryl morey tweet. If you are lebron james and you also are an empire unto yourself i would not be surprised if he were quiet. Now what does that mean for somebody who has this entire campaign called more than an athlete, i dont know. Jemele hill, thank you so much. Our coverage on cnn continues right now. Thanks for watching. Well see you tomorrow. Happening now, breaking news. Refusing to comply. President trumps lawyers are about to fire off a letter to house Speaker Pelosi refusing to comply with subpoenas until the full house votes on the impeachment inquiry. And now cnn has learn the the white house is lawyering up, seeking outside impeachment counsel. Blocking testimony. The white house orders the e. U. Ambassador not to testify before lawmakers and said it is done playing nice. Now House Democrats say theyll subpoena the ambassador. Calling trump first. Cnn has learned that the e. U. Ambassador called President Trump during the fourhour gap before he responded to a text message from another u. S. Diplomat who warned that holding up aid for ukraineor