national intelligence director under former president barack obama. want to read you part of what the group wrote. it says, quote, whatever one s view on the matter discussed in the whistle-blower s complaint, all americans should be united in demanding that all branches of our government and all outlets of our media protect this whistle-blower and his or her identity. goes on to say, simply put, he or she has done what our law demands. and now he or she deserves our protection. for more, we re joined from england by natasha linstadt, professor of government at the university of essex. thanks for joining us. thanks for having me. as we ve been reporting, this second whistle-blower has come forward. this time with firsthand knowledge of the phone conversation between president trump and his ukraine counterpart, backing the claims of the first whistle-blower. how significant do you think all this is? and what could it potentially
that has been asked on capitol hill and all over washington over the past few days. bill: i ll bet it has. looking forward to whatever comes of this today, bret, thanks, bret baier from washington. martha: interesting that former defense secretary robert gates is coming out in support of president obama and his call for action in syria. remember, gates served as the secretary of defense in both the obama white house and also in the george w. bush white house. in his statement on this, he said, quote: whatever one s views on current u.s. policy towards syria, failure by congress to approve the request with would, in my view, have profoundly negative and dangerous consequences for the united states not just in the middle east, but around the world. both now and in the future. bill: so we re also keeping an eye on paris, france, and the french parliament. france is the only country saying they might be a part of military action in syria. the prime minister says his country will not launch