in a kyiv restaurant. he told lawmakers he was stunned by that call. he d never seen anything like it he said. a source tells cnn serl republicans were shaken by what holmes had to say. all of this as cnn learns that mr. trump has considered dismissing aides who testified against him. suzanne malveaux is live on capitol hill with our top story. reporter: good morning, alisyn. at this very moment capitol police are huddled inside that room as they get ready for a security sweep. we are three hours away from those four witnesses testifying, key witnesses, all of this following late last night when new transcripts release damning testimony, new testimony that poke major holes in trump and his allies arguments. four key witnesses will take the stand today starting with lieutenant colonel alexander vindman and jennifer williams who both listened in on the july 25th phone call between
with four key witnesses set to testify and a day that could bring some of the most contentious moments yet. this morning we ll hear from two top national security officials who heard the july 25th phone call between president trump and the president of ukraine, and they both say they were troubled by it. also, both witnesses have been attacked already by president trump and his allies. will the president resist. now republicans are expected to mount an aggressive line of questioning with one in particular, lieutenant colonel alexander vindman. and former special envoy to ukraine kurt volker, they will testify. they released two transcripts of two other key witnesses. david holmes, the u.s. diplomat in ukraine. he s the person who overheard president trump asking ambassador sondland about the investigation into joe biden during that loud cell phone call
publicly opening certain investigations. this is shocking behavior of the president. these witnesses have served their country both as military leaders, as leaders in the foreign service. they are incredible patriots. according to new transcripts, david hoemlmes testified behind closed doors last week that he overheard a phone call between trump and sondland where the president asked the ambassador about whether ukraine was going to agree to carry out the investigations he wanted. holmes says the conversation was so loud that he could hear it. holmes told investigators i ve never seen anything like this. holmes reveals that he reported the phone call to his superior at the embassy and even mentioned it briefly to friends soon after. i thought he was an excellent witness. frankly his revelation was jaw dropping. holmes also testified that it was clear to him that ukrainian officials, quote, gradually came to understand that they were being asked to do something in
president trump and ukraine s president. vindman testified last month that he raised concerns to the top national security council lawyer within hours of the call. as a former air force pilot, air force officer i know that just because you re in the military doesn t mean you re beyond reproach or question. you have to be held responsible for the comments you ve made and we think we ll be able to do that. williams, a state department employee detailed to vice president mike pence s told impeachment investigators trump s request for specific investigations struck her as unusual and inappropriate. former special envoy for ukraine kurt volker will testify this afternoon with tim morrison, the former top russia adviser on the national security council. volker told investigators he was unaware of a quid pro quo, but he said he was troubled by the rough transcript of the call. morrison who was on the july 25th call has said ambassador to the eu gordon sondland said the military aid was co
ago. they did it last night. they re starting to question whether or not his foreign policy goals were different than president trump s, and then ron johnson, the senator who s been involved with ukraine policy and involved with this whole situationi situation wrote a letter to the house where he said a significant number of burkts have never accepted president trump as legit maimate and resed his style. americans did not elect president trump knowing that he s an expert on ukraine foreign policy or russian foreign policy as well. you have advisers there to help guide you. this happens in every single administration. what doesn t make sense from johnson s letter is listen, if the president has a different view of foreign policy on ukraine, if he doesn t care about ukraine as we heard from some of the testimony, let him come out and say that to the american public. let him say, listen, i don t think we should give them that aid. i think it would benefit us if