Another key witness. Former National Security adviser john bolton. The New York Times reporting that impeachment investigators are negotiate with boltons attorneys for him to testify as well in private. And as the impeachment inquiry continues, centered on a request by the president for a foreign country to investigate his political opponents here at home, we are learning that attorney general bill barrs investigation of the origins of the 2016 russian probe has now become a criminal one. Lets begin with the impeachment inquiry. A lot of developments there. Sunlen serfaty is on capitol hill to explain. And were expecting another in a line of witnesses that in effect corroborates the core of the whistleblower complaint on ukraine. Thats right, jim. This is Significant Development for the House Democrats and their impeachment probe. Tim morrison has been lined up to appear at some point on capitol hill next week. And he really is a key player on this. Hes one of President Trumps top advisers on the National Security council. And his testimony notably marks two significant firsts here. And when were talking about the line of witnesses who have appeared up here on capitol hill, he will be the First Official from inside the white house to testify in this probe. He also will be the first person who was actually on that nowinfamous call between President Trump and the ukrainian president on july 25th. So potentially providing some insider accounts of what he heard on that call. His name also notably appeared 15 times in the Opening Statement of bill taylor. The president s top diplomat in the ukraine who testified up here earlier this week who essentially laid out the quid pro quo. And sources tell cnn that morrison is expected to corroborate a lot of those claims that bill taylor made. But he is also expected to say that he did not see anything wrong with what the administration was doing. And that important to note there also negotiations in the works right now for potential testimony for former National Security adviser john bolton to appear on capitol hill. That would be big for many democrats, jim and poppy. For sure. You wonder if they get him to testify, is that something theyd take into public hearings as well . For more on how the white house is handling this, lets bring in our White House Correspondent jeremy diamond. So a lot of the focus in the last 24 hours has been on even Lindsey Graham talking about this. What is your strategy . Are you going to have a strategy like the Clinton White house did during impeachment proceedings . Is there a united one this morning . United, not quite yet, poppy. Theres an effort at the white house to develop a strategy to respond to this impeachment inquiry. And part of that is centering around whether or not the white house should be hiring somebody new to handle the impeachment messaging at the white house. Im now being told by three sources familiar with the matter that tony sayeg is the leading contender to be hired as to lead this impeachment messaging effort here at the white house. There is this desire among some officials, including the president s soninlaw Jared Kushner to bolster the messaging operations at the white house in the face of complaints from some republicans that the white house has not been kind of active enough in terms of pushing back on this impeachment inquiry. Im told that kushner does support the high hire of not on anybody but for tony sayak. He was the spokesman at the Treasure Department and rumored to be a potential hire for White House Communications director after the president s close aide hope hicks left the white house last year. Now im being told the president has not yet signed off on this pick and there are some white house officials who oppose his hire already. But again, this is the latest that were seeing so far from the white house as they look to develop this kind of impeachment messaging strategy. Jim, poppy . Perhaps a war room by another name. Jeremy diamond at the white house. Lets speak more about this with political analyst sabrina sadiki for the wall street journal and cnn national and security legal analyst susan hennessy, a former nsa attorney. Democrats are now saying that they may not need to call the whistleblower to testify that they have enough from the complaint, plus they have concerns as expressed by adam schiff about exposing this whistleblower to attacks, et cetera. Is that legitimate in your view as democrats are proceeding in a formal impeachment inquiry . So i dont think theres that much sort of substantive value at this point of bringing the whistleblower in. Again, as republicans were claiming this was all secondhand knowledge, all hearsay by the whistleblower, what weve seen is that complaint sparked off a series of primary source testimony. People like bill taylor and next week, tim morrison who are actually going to be able to speak to what happened. So the idea that the whistleblower is now going to come in and provide Additional Information is probably relatively unlikely. Now the whistleblower might be in a position to point to other individuals who might be able to testify, right, who told this person about what was going on. How wide ranging was it . Did they hear anything else . But ultimately, this is going to become essentially a question of political optics. Because republicans had been unwilling to defend the president s substantively on what he did, theyve really been focused on the process. So, of course, the process surrounding the formal vote of informal impeachment inquiry and surrounding this whistleblower complaint. So were going to see very strong calls from republicans wanting to get the whistleblower in. Not because they want to find out more information about what happened, but because they are going to want to find out potential communications with House Democrats, potential political bias. Theyre essentially going to want to use this as a distractionary tactic to impeach the overall story this person set off. Sabrina, to you. Theres some really intriguing Washington Post reporting this morning that at the same time that that military aid was being withheld from ukraine, robert lighthizer, the white house key trade representative was told by john bolton that he may not want to go to the president s desk with a proposal to restore some of the trade privileges to ukraine. I should note its an important caveat. Its not clear if there was ever a conversation between the president and bolton and thats why it went to lighthizer. We just dont know. But what is the significance of that, if it does come out there were other things being withheld. Not just the white house meeting, not just military aid but aushllso, you know, differe trade levers being pulled here. Thats precisely it. This raises the first possibility that the Trump Administration was willing to leverage other policy outside of the congressionally appropriated military aid to ukraine in order to try and build pressure on the Ukrainian Government to launch these investigations that the president sought. We dont yet know what conversations if any may have transpired with the president and who was behind this decision but it certainly would fit into a pattern of really trying to amplify pressure on the new Ukrainian Government to heed the president s calls. And i think it does reinforce that for republicans were so focused on the process because they cant defend the president on the substance. They dont know what else might come out in the coming weeks. So thats why i think youve seen this very aggressive move by members of the president s party to try and take some kind of control of this narrative and blast the process as tainted or biased, even if there isnt any evidence to support that claim because all of the evidence that has come forward on capitol hill so far has been very damning for the president and his allies. Its essentially painted a picture, pretty clear picture from people who are career public servants, detailing the ways in which the president sought to withhold military aid to ukraine because he wanted an investigation into his political opponent as well as investigation to undermine the origins of the russia investigation. And i think that more and more might come out in the coming weeks in this Washington Post report suggests there may be more to this Pressure Campaign against ukraine than was already known. True. But as you know, susan hennessy, and as sabrina was noting here, attacking the process, those attacks are resonating among republicans. We can see it in the polling. And if you look at opinion on this, its kind of stabilized, almost right in line with President Trumps approval and disapproval ratings. I wonder, based on what youve seen, what more needs to be discovered, right, or established to move that dial . Or have we kind of reached the ultimate point here . The ultimate split in terms hough not only lawmakers see this but how the public sees this . Yes, i think this is a difficult question for House Democrats. They already have enough evidence confirmed evidence, not just the testimony of people like Gordon Sondland and bill taylor, but actually that call transcript that the white house itself has released. They have enough evidence and enough of a record to move forward and actually go to an Impeachment Vote itself. Now as sabrina mentioned, theres indications there may be a much wider ranging wrongdoing going on here. And so theres a lot more facts out there to be discovered. And so the balance that the House Democrats have to make is, how much are they losing sort of the legitimacy and how much has the public essentially losing focus on what exactly is going on here that really clear messaging by extending this out against, you know, the obligation they have to do the work on behalf of the American People to really find out the whole truth and to go into this very, very solemn decision of whether to impeach the president armed with all the facts. So weve seen them move very, very kwuk quickly. Its only been a few weeks since we heard the early allegations of this inappropriate phone call with president zelensky. So i do think that were going to see them wrap up in relatively quick order now. All right. Sabrina and susan, that will be quite a spectacle. Formal Impeachment Vote, perhaps a trial in the senate. Of course, well be covering it. New this morning, investigators in indonesia have released their final report on the lion air crash. It killed 189 people last year. The report blames several factors for that disaster, including pilot error, but also design flaws in the boeing 737 max jet. Now boeing is promising to change the aircraft software. Richard quest is with me on the latest. Sdwhat what does it tell us . Its a long report, 322 pages. It lays out numerous proximate causes that led to this. Pilots were young and inexperienced. They hadnt been properly trained. Didnt even know about this new mcas system onboard the aircraft. Too many noises. Too many bells and whistles when the incident happened. They were overwhelmed. But, of course, the proximate cause was the activation of mcas. This boeing installed software that pushed the nose down. And they said the report basically says that design faults in the way this was conceived, constructed and executed led to the crash. Richard, i mean, where does this all leave boeing, and can these planes fly again . Yes. Can boeing put together, and they already have, put together safety repairs that will make this plane absolutely safe. No question about that. The real issue for boeing is, how did they ever get to a situation so bad . Right. That they were able to construct a system that went against all the principles of which theyve always lived. Safety first, redundancy of safety features, pilots always having control of the aircraft. All the measures boeing are now putting into mcas were not being clever after the event. This isnt monday morning quarterbacking. If we had known the way boeing had built mcas, experts would say this is a problem. This will be taught at Business Schools for years n years to come. Dont rush. Stick to your values. Stick to make sure you know what you are doing. If youre making major changes, check, check and double check again. This would not have happened if mcas had been built properly. There were other factors, certainly, that contribute to it, but mcas was the proximate cause. Richard, thank you very much. Some answers for those families still devastated, of course. Jim . Relevant questions for all of us. Is it a safe plane to fly . President trump is pulling u. S. Troops from syria. Only now weve learned several hundred personnel and tanks could be going right back in. Another reversal . And should the rich pay more taxes . The former ceo, one of the nations most prominent banks told my colleague poppy harlow, yes. Should i pay more tax . I sure as heck would be willing to pay more tax if i could buy a more a happier and less polarized society, for sure. Fact is, every Insurance Company hopes you drive safely. But allstate actually helps you drive safely. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. And brake too hard. With feedback to help you drive safer. Giving you the power to actually lower your cost. Unfortunately, it cant do anything about that. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . Strongve is one of a kind brilliant unbreakable Engagement Rings now 20 40 percent off shop unique bridal styles at zales, the Diamond Store with Retirement Planning and advice for what you need today and tomorrow. Because when youre with fidelity, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. Because when youre with fidelity, here hold this. Follow that spud. [ tires screech ] the big idaho potato truck is touring america telling folks about idaho potatoes. And i want it back. What is it with you and that truck . Some other news here not related to the ukraine inquiry. A source tells cnn that attorney general bill barrs investigation into the start of the 2016 trump russia investigation is now a criminal matter. It allows prosecutors to subpoena witnesses and potentially file criminal charges. Jerry nadler says this raises profound concerns that the Justice Department has lost its independence and is being used for President Trumps political advantage. Lets bring back former nsa attorney susan hennessy. Lets set aside the timing here of the leak of this. Thats possibly material as a distraction with other bad news this week, but at the substance, because john durham, lets set aside barr for the moment, hes respected by both sides. He presumably would need to be on board, would he not, for the expansion of this in a criminal direction. How substantive, how significant do you think this development is . Well, so we dont know. The news reports that appeared in the New York Times said this had become a criminal investigation. So there is some kind of criminal predicate. But it doesnt say into who or for what. We dont know whether this is something that may be related to the opening of the investigation in line with the president s accusations or Something Else related. We do know that attorney general jeff sessions, then cia director mike pompeo, the Senate Select intelligence committee, they have all looked at the origins of this investigation and none of them found any sense of wrongdoing. So it does remain to be seen what exactly happened here that would make john durham think theres reasonable indication a crime had occurred. This is the next step you take to give you the power to subpoena witnesses, et cetera. You tweeted this was barrs plan all along. What do you mean . This really is the crux of the issue, whether or not an investigation is properly predicated or not. You cant open an investigation just because you dont like somebody. One of the concerns about barr early on opening this administrate uf review is it looks like there was no criminal predicate and doj was essentially going out with this administrative review attempting to find something that could be a reasonable indication of a crime in order to open the review. So the idea that its moving sort of on this time frame and now appears that the durham has found something, you know, because of barrs very intense and unusual personal involvement of the case, it really does raise the specter that theres political interference from the attorney general on this case. Susan, thank you. Always good to have your legal mind on this stuff. We appreciate it. Ahead for us, the u. S. May be sending hundreds of troops into syria. A source says the pentagon is considering also tanks to help protect troops near syrian oil fields. Well discuss, next. Of 1 2 3 medicines with trelegy. The only fdaapproved 3in1 copd treatment. Trelegy. The power of 123. Trelegy 123 trelegy. 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