Refused to meet with that new country, unless, this is key, unless they agree to investigate joe biden and a Conspiracy Theory during the 2016 election. Meanwhile, aids are telling the president to accept he will likely be impeached and now is the time to start attacking the impeachment process, itself. Although, it seems thats already started. Lets go to cnn manu raju on capitol hill. I think it bears repeating why and how taylors testimony, a trump appointee, a military veteran, served both democratic and republican administrations, why his testimony particularly, in particular, was damming . Reporter yeah. And he is a top diplomat for the president in ukraine a who had visibility about everything that was happening, about why military aid had been withheld. His concerns that he had raised for some time about pushing, allowing this military aid to be provided to ukraine when he said peoples lives were on the line. People are at risk of dying, if they were not provided this aid approved by congress because of a military conflict. That ukraine is in with russia. They needed this money desperately. And he learned through the course of his time serving as the president s top diplomat that the reason why this had been withheld was because the president had been seeking the public declaration from the ukrainians, that they were investigating the company that was tied to the former Vice President joe bidens son, hunter wide were, as well as the 2016 elections, as part of an effort to undercut the Intelligence Committee findings that russia interfered to help in the lelection president trum. The ambassador to the European Union gordon sondlandals told me he recognized he made a mistake earlier telling the ukrainian officials at a white house meeting with president zelensky was dependent on a public announcement of investigations. In fact, ambassador sondland said everything was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance. He said President Trump wanted president zelensky in a public box by making a Public Statement about ordering such investigations. Moments ago, right now, currently, guys, House Republicans are right outside where the meeting is taking place, where laura cooper, a top defense official is testifying about military aid, attacking the process. So expect those comments, those criticisms by republicans to intensify as they try to side with the president amid these damming revelations. Guys. Manu, thank you very much for that reporting. Appreciate it. Joining us now to discuss democratic congresswoman from washington. She sit on the judiciary and budget committees. Thank you so much for taking this time this morning. Thanks, its great to be with you. Lets talk about bill tayl taylors testimony, respected diplomat, served in republican and democratic administrations and served in the 181st airborne if vietnam. He says he was told by multiple officials in his position that the president personally ordered the aid connected and withheld pending an investigation of the bidens. In your view, does that give you sufficient evidence for an article of impeachment on abusive power by this president . Well, jim, it is certainly damming testimony. I think what is most damming, though, is the president s actions. This is an unusual case, jim, where we have the number one witness early in the process. That was the president of the United States himself saying exactly what he did, admitting it in public. You know the republicans are not attacking what is actually being said. Theyre attacking the process. Because its very difficult to attack numerous piece of corroborating evidence to what the president said at the beginning. That he abused the power of the white house, that he betrayed the constitution, that he betrayed our values and our National Security and i think bill taylor was the perfect example of a career diplomat with tremendous credibility actually testifying to exactly what happened. Lets talk about the process for a moment. Because these interviews are being discussed. Are being held in private and i know there is precedent for that in the early stages about the fixen and clinton impeachments. But i want to ask you this should democrats commit now to calling witnesses such as bill taylor back to testify in a public setting when impeachment hearings begin, do you believe thats a commitment democrats should make . Well, as you know, the chairman has said all these depositions will be released. There is a process to make sure the witnesses themselves approve those deposition transcripts. That will happen. The American People will get a chance to see all of that. I do think we will have some public hearings. I hope that the republicans dont turn it into a show for the president. Thats pretty much what a lot of these public hearings have been, have been an opportunity for them to just turn this into a show. But yes, i agree they have a right to ask questions. Every hearing can turn into a show. But they have a right to ask questions. Absolutely. At home want to see rather th read see this testimony. Yes. Butrget, they are asking questions. There were what 72 people in the room when taylor was testifying. That is a quarter of congress and there were absolutely republicans in the room to do that. Because remember, these are committees where we have republicans and democrats in the same process. Thats fair, its a silly point, republicans are granting that they arent allowed to be asking questions. I want to be clear, are you saying democrats are not going to exit to calling these key witnesses back to public testimony . No, not at all. I believe there will be some public piece to this, of course. And there should be. I do think that the question here is how long are the republicans going to continue to try to defend the president in the face of absolutely outrageous behavior where the president betrayed our National Security, our constitution and asked a foreign ally to interfere as their, you know, as the reason for releasing aid that congress has already appropriated. That is a question. How long are republicans going to continue to tolerate that behavior . Will the president s lawyers have the opportunity to cross examination witnesses at a later stage in the rim people. Inquiry . Well, as you know, if the house impeachs, it goes to the senate for the trial. Of course, that trial is presided over by the Supreme Court chief justice. This is a very serious process. None of us want to have a process other than one that allows the American People to see what happens and to be able to come to terms with the tremendous betrayal of a president and i think people need to be able to do that. Final question. You know, better than me, that democrats need broad public support for this to proceed with political backing but also to have a chance if this is your intention to have the president removed. Lets look at a cnn poll. 50 of americans for impeachment. Up three points from last month. When you look at these polls across the board, theyve stabilized around that level. Ours and other outlets. And if you look at swing state polling, swing state polling shows a minority only a minority supporting the president s impeachment and removal from office. Does that crate to you that democrats have more to prove to voters to move forward on this . No i mean, i respect looking at polls. We all do it. We need to do it. But this is about our constusion. We were swarmed to uphold and protect the constitution and the framers of the constusion made it very cheer that if you have a president that is violating the constitution, it is Congress Responsibility to take that on and to protect our republic. To protect our democracy. And so polling moves as you know and donald trump certainly knows this, polling moves based on what people in elected office say. How they use that platform. And that requires republicans standing up for the constitution. But ill tell you, i think if you look at the nixon polling, you know it was 19 when those impeachment hearings started. By the time the house impeached and it went, you know, it was at the end of the process, it was so inevitable that nixon was going to be impeached that he resigned. So public polling is not a static thing. It moves constantly. I think it will continue to move. The most important thing sheer we uphold our responsibility. The nixon poll that moved the voting in the end was those tapes. Well see if there is a moment like that here or maybe not. I think weve had it. Maybe. To some it was consequential testimony. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Great interview. Also busy morning on capitol hill. Take a look. Weve got live pictures. That is the founder and ceo of facebook, mark zuckerberg. He just arrived on the hymn. His testimony is about to begin over the next several hours, lawmakers will grill him on a host of critical issues, including election interference. Zuckerberg expected to face a lot of questions. Also about whether or not facebook should censor or allow false political ads to run on its platform. Our tech reporter is all over there. This, i mean, he actually did a good job last time he testified. He impressed miami. Right . Remember the last time he was on the hill. The questions now to him, though, i think are even more pressing. Theyre about the future of the democracy and the role that facebook plays in it. Yeah. This will be a major test for facebook as it try is to rebuild confidence and trust among policy makers. Facebook will face questions ranging from you know its handling of Digital Currency, libra, to its impact on the housing market. But given the kerps on faceboco on facebooks stance on political advertising, lawmakers say zuckerberg should be prepared for everything. Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia told reporters yesterday, when you are here as a witness, youve got to be prepared to answer whatever questions come. There are serious concerns in light of the news within the last 24 hours. It suspended fake accounts linked to russia and iran. They are seeking to divide americans ahead of the 2020 election. Thats not all. Facebook is now nation intrant trust scrutiny antitrust scrutiny from 47 for competitive concerns. And you know this is this ups the ante considerably for zuckerberg. This is the first time zuckerberg is testifying in front of Congress Since 2018. Its his third visit to d. C. Just in the last two months alone. It goes to show how significant facebook sees this. Totally in the face of democrats and republicans, you know, including president ial candidate Elizabeth Warren, who says facebook has too much political power. How will he answer those questions . Well watch. Thanks, we appreciate it. We have more on that explosive testimony from a top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine bill taylor. Sources tell cnn white house aids are pushing the president to accept the fact that impeachment is coming. Well talk about that next. A new cnn poll shows joe biden has his biggest lead since april. And prosecutors make down new charges in the College Admissions scandal against several parents including actress lorly laughlin and her husband. We will have more on that remarkable story coming up. [ tires screech ] mom, youve got to get yourself a new car. The cars fine. 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Lets hide behind the chainsaws. Smart. Yeah. Ok. If youre in a horror movie, you make poor decisions. Its what you do. This was a good idea. Shhhh. Im being quiet. Youre breathing on me if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Its what you do. Lets go to the cemetery more now on the dramatic testimony from bill taylor, the top u. S. Diplomat in ukraine and respected diplomat who served both democratic and administrations. Taylor undercutting there was no quid pro quo, revealing that he was told by multiple officials the u. S. , the president specifically would not release millions in crucial military aid to ukraine unless the ukrainian president publicly announced a politically motivated investigation. Sources are saying white house aids are pushing the president to except he will be impeached by the house. With us to discuss jim. Shes got this. You can respect my time when given the opportunity. So jackie, let me begin with you. How significant sit . Two things the way mcconnell responded, Mitch Mcconnell and, two, the fact the most damaging testimony for the president in all this has come from his guys, people that he hired, people he brought on like bill taylor . Its highly significant. I mean, bill taylor was brought in from pompeo out of retirement to hold this position so this is pompeos guy, as you said. This is someone this isnt the shady deep state that the president likes to point to. So that is very significant. Now mcconnell, the fact that he chose to distance himself from the president when he usually tries to keep this middle ground shows just how serious this is, that hes not willing to put his neck out for the president and there isnt a coordinates response on the hill now. The republican senators have kind of been left on their own to figure out what to say as all of this rolls out. And it seems like as yesterday, mcconnell wasnt going to have it anymore. Okay. Help me out legally here. Because there is still something of a firewall around trump, himself. Bill taylor said he was told by multiple Administration Officials said the president told the aid be held back. So far we havent had a john dean moment that someone says, yes, the president told me, i was in the room with him, he said, hold this aid back. From a legal perspective, short of that direct witness, is there a legal case here for abuse of power . Oh, i think there is. You know, i dont think that you need an email or a phone recording of trump you know literally telling someone to withhold the aid. Bill taylors Opening Statement actually states that he was told by the omb that they received direct orders from the president to withhold the aid. They werent told the reason. But the individual who received that order could clearly come in and testify. It looks like there was that kind of order. Even without it, we know from basically all of these different people testifying that this was the intention, that this aid was, in fact, being withheld, that ambassador sondland said that everything rested, that is the declaration of investigating the bidens in the 2016 campaign was conditioned on the release of this aid and that taylor was aware that if it wasnt released, that it would expire at the end of the fiscal year. So, i think its a pretty strong case. Again on the legal due process frontier, the case that the white house is making says this is totally unfair. Every american is smart enough to know when someone is denied due process. Do they have a case to make that the pros is es is not fair . Well, certainly not a legal case to make. There is no due process. In rece in any event, this is like a grand jury. The defense doesnt get an opportunity to present witnesses. The defense doesnt get an opportunity to cross examination witnesses. The prosecutor builds their case. Here in this context, the jury would be the United States senate. I imagine that Mitch Mcconnell would give the president a very fair hearing in the United States senate. I dont see any reason why he would not. Jackie, the politics, of course, impeachment is a political process. Politics are going to drive decisions on this for many. The polling seems to have stabilized. We have a new cnn poll. Again a majority, 50 is the figure now supporting impeachment and removal from office. Thats key, not just impeachment but removal from office. But it has in several outlets, polling recently, it stabilized around that point. Thats significant we should not under estimate how significant that rise is since march. Thats notable. Yeah. But harry enson made the point its very much in line with trumps approval disapproval ratings. I wonder if that has to cross some rubiconrubicon for the peo come on board. The blue and purple races have tough races, how theyre moving, what theyre saying. Those are thats will be the canary in the coal mine when you see susan collins, corey booker, joni ernst, some republicans that dont necessarily go in line with the president on every issue. But are facing some pressures at home. So while these National Polls are important indicato