i like how you made that, though. it s a very big deal. they all do matter but, really, gordon sondland is the man your other witnesses keep identifying as a hub, who had a special relationship, a special connection to these designs. we ll see what he says this morning. it s going to happen in, what now, almost 45 minutes. so thank you very much, congressman. good luck today. thank you. still to come we ll watch. it matters on a day like today to watch the people show up. what do you read in their faces? how do they enter this room? who are they with? u.s. ambassador to the european union gordon sondland. i would argue the biggest witness yet in the public impeachment hearing. there s too much importance to what he says. the key question how will he explain why he was doing what he was doing under oath. who knew what and when? stay with cnn.
how the republicans in the room seem to project a, we must stay in line on this. you are saying you are picking that up. frankly, chris, it breaks my heart because from our perspective and my perspective, they are putting self-interest in defense of the president before country. but as i suggested to you off camera, they re in a vice. if they step out of line at all, we see what the president will do. goodness sakes, we see what he s done to his own employees. we see what he did to ambassador yovanovitch, to colonel vindman, a man who still walks around with shrapnel in his body, for goodness sakes. he ll viciously, cruelly attack them and seek to destroy their reputation and career. they see that to one side. on the other side, i think they ought to answer their better angels. they ought to understand what the constitutional stakes are here in play.
exposure. its congress now but there could be a referral to the department of justice by congress on any of these matters and any of these subjects and the individuals that come before them. and that s a very heavy burden to bear on a morning like today. wolf is 100% right. let s get a feel for what s going to be going on in that room. we have democratic congressman denny heck, a member of the house intel committee, of course. he ll be questioning sondland just a short time from now. congressman, thank you. don t worry about the ifb because it s just you and me anyway. a phone hung up in my ear. it happens to me all the time. we were having an interesting conversation. we get caught up in the politics and the substance so easily here, and it matters, of course. but the human beings in the room and what the feel is in there, and we were i was sharing my recollection about the clinton impeachment, how different this is, not just procedurally but personally. what is your personal fe
president, mulvaney, bolton and pompeo. pompeo, thank you. sondland is the only one who has agreed to testify. all of the others who were so close to the president and who were in direct communication with him and know exactly what his intentions were have been unwilling to come before. so sondland really is carrying, i think, a great amount of responsibility today. the president says he might be willing to answer questions in writing. want to bet? i m not i have money here in my pocket. are you sure? i suspect that s not going to happen. everybody stick around. we re only minutes away from ambassador gordon sondland s historic arrival up on capitol hill. people are gathering in the house intelligence committee briefing room. much more right after this.