reduces inflation. markets do not like interest rate hikes. they don t like inflation so they got the message they wanted which is why we are closing up on a mildly high note on markets. i will see you back here tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. eastern and then again at 3:00. deadline: white house with nicolle wallace begins right now. hi, everyone. it s 4:00 in washington, d.c. where today more high-level trump administration insiders are testifying on capitol hill under subpoena and drawing the line directly to donald trump and his demand for dirt on his political rivals in the fast-moving scandal. today s witnesses in the impeachment investigation expect it to paint a damning picture of what increasingly seems to amount to abuse of power from the president. the president s lawyers sought to block the testimony of today s witnesses. catherine croft and christopher anderson. both of them hailed from the
donald trump s hand-picked ambassador to russia john sullivan testified as part of his confirmation hearing and broke with the president on whether it was appropriate to seek political dirt on rivals from foreign leaders. he acknowledged being aware of giuliani s efforts in ukraine. and in doing so, sullivan draws secretary of state mike pompeo ever closer to the events in question. you were aware that there were individuals and forces outside of the state department seeking to smear ambassador yovanovitch. is that correct? i was. and that you were seeking to remove her. and do you believe mr. giuliani was one of those people? i believe so, yes. serve the and represented the united states capably and admirably? i told her so. yet, you were the one who told ambassador yovanovitch that she was being recalled early. correct? i did. in your view was there any basis to recall ambassador
you askwins, you tell me. and i am willing to comply with your ruling. so i wouldn t be shocked if you saw mr. bolton do something similar. let me bring you in, phil rucker, on this breaking news. invitations also extended in addition to donald trump s former national security adviser john bolton who left the white house and in a somewhat acrimonious way about the invite for the taliban at camp david. that he was not in alignment with rudy giuliani s rogue or in the words of diplomat bill taylor irregular foreign policy channel around ukraine. he s been invited along with that nsc lawyer at the center of this scandal, mr. eisenberg. he was on the receiving end of a phone call from the cia general counsel when she caught wind that plfrps a whistle-blower who
had concerns about donald trump s call with the president of ukraine. he was also on the receiving end of yesterday s witness mr. vindman who went and saw him when he became concerned about that call and about some omissions perhaps from the transcript that far call. talk about these developments just in the last hour on capitol hill, phil. yeah, nicole, this is a big deal because both of these gentlemen you just talked about have the potential to deliver the most explosive testimony yet in the impeachment inquiry. bolton, because it is his job to run the national security process at the white house during this period, and he would be able to detail in very granular precise detail because of his rigor as a lawyer, because of the note-taking that he took in the government to be able to show how the process was irregular, how rudy giuliani was involved in ways he may not have been appropriate in bolton s review. we should remember that one of bolton s deputies fiona hill
issues of, you know, domestic control of domestic elections. and so being pressed in this way should not be terribly shocking. even republicans on that committee are a lot more traditional russia hawks. for example, you ve got mitt romney, marco rubio who want to hear this same type of language whether it causes further problems with either of his two most direct superiors here in the persons of mike pompeo and donald trump, you know, i think he hopes to be far away in russia by the time that matters. the other thing that came out of this testimony today was confirmation of yovanovitch s telling of why she was fired that she was fired because nearly she had lost the confidence of the president, that this was nothing to do with her performance, that this was essentially part of a smear campaign against her also confirmed in public today. so all of these pieces continue to line up, whether it s on the house side behind closed doors, or in this case the u.s. senate