thousands of more u.s. troops are preparing for deployment to saudi arabia, another country in the middle east. brian, ainsley, steve? brian: yeah, trey, that is odd. we don t know exactly what they are doing there. steve: we don t. but they are trying to figure it out. 22 minutes now before the top of the hour. jillian, good morning. jillian: good morning. we have news that you guys talked about at the top of the hour. just joining us. this is a fox news alert. stung and sad news out of d.c. this morning. elijah cummings has died. cummings office says he passed away at john hopkins hospital overnight due to ongoing health complications. secretary of state mike pompeo tweeting just moments ago saying, quote: saddened by the news that representative cummings, a dedicated public servant, has passed away. our prayers are with his family and friends at this difficult time. cummings has been representing maryland s seventh congressional district sips 1996. 19 since 1996. he leaves behind
on it. i would say within the next weeks to months, kate. couldn t happen fast enough when you look at what you re dealing with. thank you, sanjay. amazing work. thank you, everyone, for joining me for another rocking day. inside politics with john king starts right now. thank you, kate, and welcome to inside politics. i m john king. thank you for sharing this important day with us. we begin the hour with the trump administration, pushing back forcefully and defiantly against the house impeachment inquiry. the secretary of state mike pompeo tweeting a while ago to the foreign affairs committee. he said it s not feasible to depose state department officials. here s a quote from that letter. i m concerned with aspects of your request that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully and treat improperly departments of state,
confidence the only second thoughts the president was having was whether to be tougher and more aggressive. this comes straight from him when i tell you the president was saying maybe we should have gone even tougher on china. one other big issue that was rumbling around here at the g-7 which when may see manifest itself. president trump talking with the other leaders of the g-7 bringing vladimir putin and russia back into the fold, and making it the g-8 again. don t forget, next year the g-7 is in the united states. when you host the g-7 as president trump will, you are allowed to invite other leaders beside members of the g-7. it is possible. i don t know if he would do this in an election year. it is possible you could invite he could invite vladimir putin. mike: secretary of state mike
russia for sending nuclear capable bombers to venezuela. they can carry missiles with a range of 3400 miles meaning the us is within striking distance. the defense ministry claims it is part of military cooperation with venezuela but mike pompeo tweeting russian and venezuelan people should see this for what it is, two corrupt government squandering public funds and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer. donald trump, national security strategy to ensure deadly weapons do not fall into the hands of terrorists, preventing extremist groups like isis from using weapons of mass distraction against the us, the trump administration promises to be the effort to put pressure on weapons dealers and strengthen defenses at home. attorneys for paul manafort going to court for a discussion