Insult insulted as you did today essentially blaming you for somalia. As if this is another step by the president to intimidate witnesses. He didnt intimidate you. Youre here. Youve endured. But there are other people out there that can expect the trump treatment if they come forward. Thats a question for us. Now, you also indicated that the president has a prerogative to appoint a noncareer person and to be candid, republican president s and democratic president s have done that. The mr. Sondlands transcript is out and he was someone who indicated that everything hinged, this the white house meeting and the release of the
vital defensive aid. Everything hinged on the president , president zelensky, being willing to do that investigation that would benefit the trump campaign. Youre aware of that . Yes. And youve indicated thats something that you would not agree to do. Yes. And sondland was quite willing to do. Apparently, so. I thank you for your professional service and i yield back.
and his trial begins this morning. 0ur north of england correspondent, fiona trott, is in paphos for us. morning. take us through the beginning stages of this trial, which starts today? this is where david hunter will come face to this is where david hunter will come face to face this is where david hunter will come face to face with the three judges who. face to face with the three judges who. over face to face with the three judges who, overthe face to face with the three judges who, over the coming face to face with the three judges who, overthe coming months, face to face with the three judges who, over the coming months, will decide who, over the coming months, will decide his who, over the coming months, will decide his fate. they are due to hear decide his fate. they are due to hear evidence from the prosecution this morning. one of david hunter s lawyers this morning. one of david hunter s lawyers has this morning. one of david hunter s lawyers has told me that w
potential obstruction of justice charges. here s what i would say to that. i was against going through with impeachment previous to the ukraine matter. i think we need to stay focused on ukraine. we do expect to lose some, and that s why i say it s a conscious volt. for months, the president and his allies have complained mr. trump deserves legal representation in the inquiry. we don t have rights to lawyers. not giving us lawyers. doesn t let us have lawyers. we had no representation. but on friday, white house counsel pat cipollone made it clear the president will not mount a defense in the house or even send lawyers to the judiciary committee s hearing on monday. will you testify? i don t know. i know this, that the impeachment thing is a total hoax. another unknown, the length and scope of any senate trial. the white house has signaled if there is a trial, the president wants to deflect attention from his conduct to a wish list of democratic witnesses. joe biden
the president is trying to do, but i think the effect is to be intimidating. well, i want to let you know ambassador, that some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously. witnessed intimidation in realtime by the president of the united states. we take this kind of witness intimidation and instruction of inquiry very seriously. i ll tell you about what tampering is, tampering is when a guy like shifty schiff doesn t let us have lawyers. tampering is when schiff doesn t let us have witnesses, let us speak. i have the right to speech just like other people do. sir, do you believe quiet, quiet, quiet. sir, do you believe your tweets and words can be intimidating? i don t think so at all. and while house democrats are calling president trump s tweet attacking marie yovanovitch during the hearing on friday as
former officials. but the white house said this about the latest hearings on friday, this is from stephanie grisham. it s difficult to imagine a greater waste of time than today s hearings and yet, unfortunately, we expect more of the same partisan political theater next week from house democrats. now, for his part, the president said the man behind the, quote, sham impeachment, adam schiff, is being not only unfair to him, but also to the american people, and they know it. and i ll tell you about what tampering is. tampering is when a guy like shifty schiff doesn t let us have lawyers. tampering is when schiff doesn t let us have witnesses, doesn t let us speak. and it s really sad when you see people not allowed do questions. it s totally nobody s ever had such horrible due process. there was no due process. and i think it s, i think it s considered a joke all over washington and all over the world. reporter: a lot of big names coming up in the testimony that we re looking forw