Track and field World Championships than anyone talks about running, motherhood, and helping other moms. Love her. Its wednesday, october 9th, 2019. Heres todays eye opener, your world in 90 seconds. What we see in this impeachment is a kangaroo court, and chairman schiff is acting like a malicious captain kangaroo. Reporter the white house says it wont cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. If the president thinks that hes going to prevent us from moving forward, hes sadly mistaken. We have ample evid. Its shocking behavior of the president. Its illegal. Two people are dead after a shooting in germany. Police in the area have tweeted that one person has now been arrested. Hundreds of thousands of californians left in the dark. Pg e started shutting off power to prevent power lines from sparking fires. Just something new that people are going to have to get used to. Democratic president ial candidate Bernie Sanders says he is going to scale back his Campaign Schedule after suffering a heart attack. I must confess that i was dumb and i should have listened to those symptoms. Simone biles just became the most decorated female gymnast in history after winni aening her championship medal. Rob gronkowski joining fox sports as a football analyst. There will definitely be some dancing, right . All that. Only in philadelphia, where the flyers have created the first ever rage room, and actually, gritty has to get in the act. And all that matters hey on cbs this morning. Democrats are now considering extraordinary steps to protect the identity of the whistleblower, including masking their voice. Possibly with modification technology. What other way would they possibly do it . He must be removed from office before democracy erodes beneath our feet. I say this not just as a patriot, but as a member of the lollipop guild, the lollipop guild, the lollipop guild. This mornings eye opener is presented by toyota. Lets go places. [ laughter ] Stephen Colbert will never run out of material. Now, i love chance, i love james corden, but please translate what that song was. I have no idea. I loved it. I was listening with both ears welcome to cbs this morning. We begin with this. A lot of angry people in california, where hundreds of thousands of people in that state could be without power for days in the largest Public Safety outage in that states history. Pg e started shutting off the power last night in more than half of californias 58 counties because of what the Company Calls an unprecedented wildfire danger. Roughly 800,000 customers are likely to be affected. Jonathan vigliotti is in santa rosa, about 50 miles north of San Francisco. And jonathan, i understand the neighborhood youre in was destroyed by wildfires just two years ago . Reporter good morning to you. Its been two years, and still many homes in this neighborhood under construction. For that reason, many of the people weve spoken with say they understand the need for these power cuts but worry about how many days theyll be in the dark. Already at this hour we can tell you more than 200,000 people are without electricity. Wind gusts expected to pick up to 50 Miles Per Hour. Pg e at this point taking no chances. This is what pg e hopes will never happen again. Station fire underneath the transmission line. Reporter a wildfire sparked by faulty transmission lines and fueled by high winds devastated the town of paradise, killing 85 and destroying almost 19,000 buildings last november. Pg e is facing billions in liability for that fire. This time, the states Largest Energy provider cant afford to take any chances, no matter how long it takes. We can expect that we may not have power some certain areas up to seven days. Sometimes i feel like were being punished by pg e, you know, because of all the lawsuits. Reporter in 2017, that did mazzonis neighborhood burned to the ground, that fire sparked by a prior electrical system. It was a mess. There was nothing else left. What do you think about their ability to turn off electricity . Just something new that people are going to have to get used to. A new reality. A new reality. Reporter meteorologist mike pechner agrees. The winds in this case will be around 55 miles an hour, but theyre Strong Enough to take down lines. You cant take away the oxygen and you cant take away the fuels, but you can take away the ignition source. Reporter meanwhile, the mayor of oakland warned that power lines arent the only way fires get started. Do not use equipment that may cause sparks. Be extremely cautious if you are a smoker. It might be a good week to quit. Reporter and pg e says they are spending billions of dollars over the next four years to make safety upgrades, but they do warn customers of significant increases to their power bills. Those customers that we have spoken with say they already spend enough money on what they say should be safe power. Jonathan, thank you. That is the last thing those customers want to hear. We thank you. We have breaking news from turkey, where the countrys president says a military operation targeting u. S. Backed Kurdish Forces is under way in northern syria. U. S. Troops were ordered to get out of the way before that mission began. Turkish soldiers gathered at the Syrian Border early this morning and air strikes have been reported inside syria. Turkeys president tweeted this our aim is to destroy the terror corridor which is trying to be established on our southern border. We have breaking news from eastern germany, where two people were killed in a shooting this morning. Police say theyve arrested one suspect. They urge people near the scene to stay in place during the manhunt. Senior Foreign CorrespondentMark Phillips has new information. Mark, what do we know. Well, at this point, we know where the shooting took place, in the town of halle, southwest of berlin, and we know there are at least two victims. Police say they have arrested one suspect, but its unclear if anyone else was involved. A german tv station has been airing this video of a man in military clothing firing a rifle from behind a car. It doesnt show what he was shooting at, but the location and the clothing seems to match other pictures that were taken of the same event. This is the yom kippur holiday, and there is a synagogue in the area, so the suspicion expressed by local media is that this was an antisemitic attack. The suspect was then reported to have fled by car. There were reports of firing elsewhere, but its not clear if that was in connection with the arrests the police have reported. German authorities have announced a further tightening of security around synagogues and jewish cemeteries. A country that has experienced a notable rise in antisemitic sdpints ov incidents over the past few years may have had another. Mark, thank you. President trumps fight against the house impeachment inquiry is turning into a battle royale. In a letter to top congressional democrats, the president S White House counsel called their inquiry unconstitutional and said mr. Trump will not cooperate. The white house is daring House Speaker nancy pelosi to call for a vote on impeachment or take the president to court. Pelosi said in a Statement Last night, mr. President , you are not above the law, you will be held accountable. Nancy cordes is on capitol hill. Nancy, what happens now . Reporter well, democrats say theyre not going to let the white house force them into taking aote that they say theyre not required to do. And beyond that, privately, some democrats worry that taking this vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry would give the Minority Party an opening to demand more investigative powers of its own. Mr. President , are you interviewing lawyers to represent you . Reporter the white house now says its refusal to cooperate is rooted in the law. In an eightpage memo, the president s lawyer writes that the house impeachment probe has denied the president the right to cross examine witnesses, to call witnesses, to have access to evidence, and many other basic rights. We have basically an investigation right now which were not allowed to provide see evidence that theyre bringing forward, were not allowed to cross examine. Reporter democrats say the memo simply invents excuses to stonewall. This is really unprecedented. Congress has a responsibility to conduct oversight. Its a particularly serious responsibility in the context of an impeachment inquiry. Reporter democrats are gathering evidence around the president s nowinfamous july phone call with the ukrainian president. An early memo from the whistleblower cited a white house official who was on the call and described it as crazy and frightening. The American People have the right to know if the president is acting in their interests. Reporter the house issued another subpoena tuesday after the administration blocked gordon sondland, a key witness, from sitting for a deposition at the last minute. The president said he couldnt allow sondland to go before a totally compromised kangaroo court. This entire thing is a political charade. Reporter a handful of republicans defended mr. Trump, even as they urged the white house to loop them in next time. Ambassador sondland says hes disappointed that he wasnt allowed to attend this deposition today. Yeah, and i said the same thing. Were we wish we would have been able to testify, too, but we fully understand why the Administration Made the decision they did. Reporter democrats argue that if they were to take this formal vote that the white house wants, the president would simply come up with some other reason to block them from getting access to documents and witnesses. Yesterday on a teleconference with reporters, a Senior Administration official refused to answer questions about the conditions under which the white house would cooperate. Gayle . Nancy, thank you. Chief washington correspondent Major Garrett is at the white house with more onhis story. Major, both sides really digging in. Help us understand why the white house wants nancy pelosi to hold a formal vote or an impeachment inquiry. Reporter well, its arguing history, gayle. In every previous impeachment process the countrys gone through, andrew johnson, Richard Nixon and bill clinton, theres been an impeachment inquiry vote at the beginning of it. Speaker pelosi says the house can determine its rules. Shes not required to have this vote, but theres politics, of course, behind this. The white house assumes that if there is a vote on an impeachment inquiry, it could unite republicans and divide democrats, that there is some small number of House Democrats in districts President Trump won in 2016 who might vote against it. And even if it prevailed, the white house could argue, hey, we lost, but theres a Bipartisan Coalition opposed to an impeachment inquiry. Theres another practical aspect as well. The white house assumes all House Republicans will vote against an impeachment inquiry, and if they do, it would be very difficult, regardless of the evidence that emerges, for any House Republican to vote for an article of impeachment if it voted against the inquiry in the first place. The white house wants to lock down House Republicans. And for those reasons, nancy pelosi doesnt want to dance to the tune the white house is trying to call. So, what happens next . Reporter this goes to federal courts, in all likelihood. The white house has said its not going to cooperate. The House Democrats say we have a legitimate impeachment inquiry, whether you think so or not. And the federal courts will probably be asked to adjudicate access to documents, witnesses, and other matters the house believes pertain to the impeachment inquiry. And when the white house says this is illegitimate, the courts may look at its previous history of not cooperating with other congressional oversight, rule against it, and that could put the white house not only in a perilous legal position, but a political one as well. All right, major. Thank you. Thanks, major. A stunning, new report overnight reveals a Rape Allegation against former nbc news anchor matt lauer and a claim it was ignored. Variety magazine published new information about the alleged attack, that it was part of a wave of Sexual Misconduct allegations against lauer that ultimately led to his firing in 2017. Our national correspondent, jericka duncan, is here. Jericka, whats described in this report . Well, a lot of horrific details. You know, the details come as part of a new book by journalist ronan farrow. This is the first time that weve heard of a Rape Allegation involving matt lauer. According to variety, the book doesnt just paint a picture of a man who allegedly used his power to get what he wants, but it also accused executives of not taking action. Matt, matt, matt reporter two years after matt lauers fall from grace, a new report sheds light on the more explosive details from the Sexual Assault allegations against him. Variety magazine reveals that in an interview with ronan farrow for his new book catch and kill, former nbc news employee Brooke Nevils says lauer raped her in her hotel room at the sochi olympics. Lauer says he invited nevils to her hotel room after a night of drinks. Once in the room, she alleged he pushed her against the door and additioned her, then pushed her onto the bed, flipping her over and asked if she liked, quote, anal sex. She says she declined several times but was in the midst of telling him she wasnt interested again when he just did it. Nevils recalls that the encounter was excruciatingly painful. Nevils says there were more sexual encounters with lauer when he returned to new york, telling farrow this is what i blame myself most for. It was completely transactional. It was not a relationship. Farrow says nevils told colleagues and superiors at nbc about the encounters. In 2017, when the me too movement gained momentum with the downfall of hollywood mogul harvey weinstein, farrow says nevils confided in former today show coanchor Meredith Vieira about the alleged assault. Vieira urged her to file a formal complaint with nbcs office of human resources, which farrow says she did. According to nevils, after lauer was fired, she learned that nbc news president Noah Oppenheim and chairman andrew lack were, quote, emphasizing that the incident had not been criminal or an assault. He really used his power in these situations. Reporter varietys Elizabeth Wagmeister originally broke the story on the wave of Sexual Assault allegations against lawyer in 2017. At the time, they say nbc News Executives knew about lawyers alleged predatory behavior. It wasnt just lowlevel employees that had knowledge of matt lauers Inappropriate Conduct with women. There were also higherlevel employees that were aware and openly speaking about matt lauers conduct with other women at the today show. According to variety, farrow writes, nevils left nbc in 2018. The network suggested she tell people she left to pursue other endeavors. In a statement this morning, nbc news tells cbs that they find lauers conduct appalling, horrific, and reprehensible. They say thats why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague. Cbs news reached out overnight to representatives for nevils, lauer, oppenheim and lack, but have not heard back. Sources at nbc news told variety they havent read the book yet, but they plan to defend the companys decision against any of farrows claims. Wow, disturbing, new details on a lot of different levels. Yeah, really disturbing. All right, jericka. Thank you very much. Another couple has been sentenced in the sweeping College Admissions scandal. A judge sent gregory and Marcia Abbott to prison for one month. Prosecutors say the couple paid 125,000 to have their Daughters CollegeEntrance Exam fixed in order to get her into duke university. This comes as we learn prosecutors will seek a substantially higher prison sentence for Actress Lori Loughlin in the scandal. She has pleaded not guilty. President ial contender Bernie Sanders says he may have to slow down his campaign after he suffered a heart attack last week. The 78yearold senator is recovering at his vermont home. He told reporters he was, quote, dumb to ignore signs of trouble. I should have listened to those symptoms. I should have listened to those symptoms. So, if theres any message that i hope we can get out there, it is that i want people to Pay Attention to their symptoms. Sanders says he will be part of the upcoming Democratic Candidates debate next tuesday. Its in ohio. There is growing concern about a popular heartburn drug and its potential link to cancer. Ahead, the surprising evidence researchers at a Drug Testing Lab found in zantac and its generic version. We are starting off the day with light wind but as we go through the afternoon they will start to pick up especially in th