Transcripts For KGO Good Morning America 20240713

A heads up on that. So i asked her kind of, you know, what is the next step here . She said she would try to find out more and she would try to call me by midnight. What happened next . Around 1 00 in the morning, she called me again and said that there were great concerns. There were concerns up the street, and she said i needed to come home immediately. Get on the next plane to the u. S. And i asked her why, and she said she wasnt sure, but there were concerns about my security. I asked her, my physical security . Because sometimes washington knows more than we do about these things, and she said, no. She hadnt gotten that impression that it was a physical security issue, but they were concerned about my security and i needed to come home right away. You know, i argued. This is extremely irregular, and and no reason given, but in the end, i did get on the next plane home. You said there were concerns up the street. What did you understand that to mean . The white house. Did she explain in any more detail what she meant by concerns about your security . No. She didnt. I did specifically ask whether this had to do with the mayor giulianis allegations against me and so forth, and she said she didnt know. It didnt even actually appear to me that she seemed to be aware of that. No reason was offered. Did she explain what the urgency was for you to come back on the next flight . The only thing thats pertinent to that was when she said there were concerns about my security. Thats all, but it was not further explained. Now prior to this abrupt call back to washington, had you been offered an extension of your post by the state department . Yes. Under secretary the secretary for Political Affairs had asked whether i would extend for another year, departing in july of 2020. When was that request made . In early march. So about a month and a half before this call . Yes. Did anyone at the state department ever express concerns about your Job Performance . No. Now after you returned to washington a couple of days after that, you met with the deputy secretary of state, and at your deposition, you said that the deputy secretary of state told you that you had done nothing wrong, but that there was a Concerted Campaign against you. What did he mean by that . Im not exactly sure, but i took it to mean that the allegations that mayor giuliani and others were putting out there, that thats thats what it was. And who else was involved in this Concerted Campaign against you . There were some members of the press and others in mayor giulianis circle. And who from ukraine . In ukraine, i think well, mr. Lutsenko, the prosecutor general and mr. Shokin, his predecessor certainly. And at this time, mr. Lutsenko was the lead prosecutor general, is that right . Yes, thats correct. Had president zelensky alluded to whether or not he would keep him on after . He indicated he would not be keeping on mr. Lutsenko. I believe you testified earlier he had a reputation for being corrupt, is that right . Thats correct. During this conversation did the deputy secretary tell you about your futureamssor to ukra . Well, he told me i needed to leave. What did he say . He said that i mean, there was a lot of back and forth, but ultimately he said, the words that, you know, every Foreign Service officer understands, the president has lost confidence in you. That was, you know, a terrible thing to hear, and i said, well, you know, i guess i have to go then. But no real reason was offered as to why i had to leave, and why it was being done in such a manner. Did you have any indication that the state department had lost confidence in you . No. And were you provided any reason why the president lost confidence in you . No. Now you testified at your deposition that you were told at some point that secretary pompeo had tried to protect you, but that he was no longer able to do that. Were you aware of these efforts to protect you . No, i was not until until that meeting with deputy secretary sullivan. And were you did you understand when he was trying to protect you from . Well, my understanding was that the president had wanted me to leave, and there was some discussion about that over the prior months. Did you have any understanding why secretary pompeo was no longer able to protect you . No. It was just a statement made this he was no longer able to protect me. So just like that, you had to leave ukraine as soon as possible . Yes. How did that make you feel . Terrible, honestly. I mean, after 33 years of service to our country, it was terrible. Its not the way i wanted my career to end. Now you also told the deputy secretary that this was a dangerous precedent. What did you mean by that . I was worried i was worried about our policy, but also personnel. And i asked him, how how are you going to explain this to people in the state department, the press, the public, ukrainians, because everybody is watching, and so if people see somebody who and of course, it had been very public, frankly the attacks on me by mayor giuliani and others, and mr. Lutsenko in ukraine. If people see that i who have been, you know, promoting our policies on anticorruption, if they can undermine me and get me pulled out of ukraine, what does ma fe that mean for our policy . Do we have the same policy . How will we firmly put that forward, number one . Number two, when other countries, other actors in other countries see that private interests, foreign interests, can come together and get a u. S. Ambassador removed, whats going to stop them from doing that in the future in other countries . Often, the work we do we try to be diplomatic about it, but as Deputy Assistant secretary george kent said, you know, sometimes people can get really angry with us. Its uncomfortable, and we are doing our jobs, but sometimes people become very angry with us, and if they realize that they can just remove us, theyre going to do that. How did the deputy secretary respond . He said those were good questions and he would get back to me. Did he ever get back to you . He asked to see me the following day. What did he say to you then . He really the conversation was more and again, im grateful for this, but really more to see how i was doing, and, you know, what would i do next. How could he help. But he didnt address the dangerous precedent that you flagged for him . No. Now you understand that the president of the United States could remove you and you served at the pleasure of the president , right . Thats right. But in your 33 years as a service officer, have you ever heard of a president of the United States recalling another ambassador without cause based on allegations that the state department itself knew to be false . No. Now you testified in your Opening Statement you had left ukraine by the time of the july 25th call between President Trump and president zelensky. When was the first time that you saw the call record for this phone call . When it was released publicly at the end of september i believe. And prior to reading that call record, were you aware that President Trump had specifically made reference to you in that call . No. What was your reaction to learning that . I was shocked. Absolutely shocked, and devastated frankly. What do you mean my devastated . I was shocked and devastated that and call between two heads of state in such a manner where President Trump said that i was bad news to another world leader, and that i would be going through some things. So i was it was a terrible moment. A person who saw me actually reading the transcript said that the color drained from my face. I think i even had a physical reaction. I think yeah. Even now words kind of fail me. Without upsetting you too much, i would like to show you the excerpts from the call. In the first one, where President Trump says, the former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad news, and the people she was dealing with in the ukraine were bad news. So i just want to let you know. What was your reaction when you heard the president of the United States refer to you as bad news . I couldnt believe it. I mean, again, shocked, appalled, devastated that the president of the United States would talk about any ambassador like that to a foreign head of state, and it was me. I mean, i couldnt believe it. The next excerpt when the president references you was a short one, but he said, well, shes going to go through some things. What did you think when President Trump told president zelensky and you read that you were going to go through some things . I didnt know what to think, but i was very concerned. What were you concerned about . Shes going to go through some things. It didnt sound good. It sounded like a threat. Did you feel threatened . I did. How so . I didnt know exactly. Its not, you know, a very precise phrase, but i think it didnt feel like i was i really dont know how to answer the question any further except to say it kind of felt like a vague threat, and so i wondered what that meant. It concerned me. Now in the same call where the president as you just said, threatens you, to a foreign leader, he also praises the corrupt ukraini prose led the false Smear Campaign against you. I want to show you another excerpt or two from the transcript or the call record rather where the president of the United States says, good. Because i heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down, and thats really unfair. A lot of people are talking about that. The way they shut your very good prosecutor down, and you had some very bad people involved, and he went on later to say, i heard the president was treated very badly, and he was a very fair prosecutor. So good luck with everything. Now ambassador yovanovitch, after nearly three years in ukraine where you tried to clean up the Prosecutor Generals Office, was it the u. S. Embassys view that the former prosecutor general was a very good and very fair prosecutor . No, it was not. And, in fact, he was rather corrupt, is that right . That was our belief. The Prosecutor Generals Office is a longrunning problem in ukraine. Is that right . Yes. So how did you feel when you heard President Trump speak so highly of the corrupt ukrainian prosecutor who helped to execute the Smear Campaign to have you removed . Well, i was it was disappoi disappointing. It was concerning. It wasnt certainly based on anything that the state department would have reported or frankly anybody else in the u. S. Government. There was an interagency consensus that while when mr. Lutsenko came into office, we were very hopeful that he would actually do the things he had set out to do, including the Prosecutor Generals Office, but that did not materialize. So this was not the uniform position of official u. S. Policymakers. Is that right . Right. Now lets go back to the Smear Campaign that you referenced, and in march when you said it became public, and you praefseviously testified th Rudy Giuliani, President Trumps lawyer and representative who was also mentioned in that july 25th call, was in regular communication with the corrupt prosecutor general in late 2018 and early 2019. And at one point in your deposition, you said that they that being giuliani and the corrupt foreign prosecute general, had plans to, quote, do things to me. What did you mean by that . I didnt i didnt really know, but thats what i had been told by ukrainian officials. Did you subsequently understand a little bit more of what that meant . Well, you know, now with the advantage of hindsight, i think that meant removing me from my job in ukraine. Who did you understand to be working with mr. Giuliani as his associates in ukraine . Well, certainly mr. Lutsenko, mr. Shokin, i believe that there were also ukrainianamericans, mr. Fruman and parnas. They have been indicted. Those in new york . The Southern District of new york. At the end of march, this effort by giuliani and his associates resulted in a series of articles in the hill publication that were based on allegations, in part, by lutsenko, the corrupt prosecutor general. Just to summarize some of these allegations, there were among others, three different categories. One category included the attacks against you which you referenced in your Opening Statement including that you had bad badmouthed the president and had given the prosecute general a do not prosecute list. There was another that included allegations of ukrainian interference in the 2016 election, and then there was a third related to concerted allegations against burisma and the bidens. Is that correct . Yes. Yes. Were those allegations promo promoted by others associated with the president of the United States . They seemed to be promoted by those around mayor giuliani. I want to show you a couple of exhibits including a tweet here by President Trump himself on march 20th which was the first day that one of these articles was published. It appears to be a quote that says, john solomon who is the author of the articles colon, as russia collusion fades, ukrainian help clinton emerges, unquote. seanhannity, foxfews. If i could go to a few days later, this is donald trump jr. , we need more richard grenelles and hes the ambassador to germany, right . Thats right. And less of these jokers and ambassadors and its a retweet of one of John Solomons articles or an article referencing the allegations that says, calls grow to remove obamas u. S. Ambassador to ukraine. Were you aware of these tweets at the time . Yes. What was your reaction to seeing this . Well, i was worried. What were you worried about . That this didnt seem these attacks were, you know, being repeated by the president himself and his son. Were you aware of whether they received attention on Primetime Television or on fox s news as well . Yes, i did. Was the allegation that you were badmouthing President Trump true . No. Was the allegation that you had created a do not prosecute list to give to the prosecutor general in ukraine true . No. , in fact, didnt the corrupt prosecutor general himself later recant those allegations . Yes. Now when these articles were first published, did the state department issue a response . As you said, there was a series of articles, so after the first article, which was an interview with mr. Lutsenko, and was only really about me and made certain allegations about me, the state department came out the following day with a very strong statement saying that, you know, these allegations are fabrications. So the statement addressed the falsity of the allegations themselves . Yes. It didnt say anything about your Job Performance in any way . Honestly i havent looked at it in a very long time. I think it was generally probably laudatory. I cant recall. Did anyone raise any concerns with you or express any belief in these allegations . No. I mean, people tugwas ridiculous. After these false allegations were made against you, did you have any discussions with anyone in leadership in the state department about a potential statement of support from the department or the secretary himself . Yes. After the tweets that you just showed us, i mean, it seemed to me that if the president s son is saying things like this, then it would be very hard to continue in my position and have authority in ukraine unless the state department came out pretty strongly behind me, and so, you know, over t over the weekend of, like, march 22nd. I think thats about the date, there was a lot of discussion on email among a number of people about what could be done. The secretary for political afar affairs called me on sunday, and i said, you know, its really important that the secretary come out and be supportive. Otherwise, its hard for me to be the kind of representative you need me to be here. He said he would talk to the secretary. Thats my recollection of the call. That may not be exactly how it played out. That was my recollection. This is david hale, the Political Affairs, the number three person at the state department . Yes. Did he indicate to you that he supported such a statement of support for you . I think he must have because i dont think he would have gone to the secretary if he didnt support it. You wouldnt bring a bad idea to the secretary of state. Your general understanding is you did have the full support of the state department, is that right . Yes. And, in fact, during your 33year career as a Foreign Service officer, did you ever hear any serious concerns about your job in office . No. Was the statement of support ultimately issued for you . No, it was not. Did you learn why not . Yeah. Yes. I was told there was a concern on the seventh floor that if a st statement of support was issued whether by the state department or by the secretary personally that it could be undermined. How could it be undermined . That the president might issue a tweet cricketiontradictt or something to that effect. Let me see if i got this right. You were one of the most senior diplomats in the state department. You have been there for 33 years. You had won numerous awards. You had been appointed as an ambassador three times by both republican and democratic president s, and the state department would not issue a statement in support of you against false allegations because they were concerned about a tweet from the president of the United States . Thats my understanding. I would like to hop on that question. It seems like an appropriate question. Ambassador yovanovitch, as we sit here testifying, the president is attacking you on twitter, and i would like to give you a chance to respond. Ill read part of one of his tweets. Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in somalia. How did that go . He goes on to say later in the tweet its a u. S. President s absolute right to appoint ambassadors. First of all, ambassador yovanovitch, the senate has a chance to confirm or deny an ambassador, do they not . Yes, advise and consent. How do you respond to the president s attack that everywhere you went turned bad . Well, i i mean, i dont think i have such powers, in somalia and other places, i actually think where i have served over the years, i and others have demonstrably made things better for the u. S. , you know, as well as the other countries. Ukraine for example, where there are huge challenges including, you know, on the issue that were discussing today of corruption. Huge challenges, but they have made a lot of progress since 2014, including in the years that i was there, and i think in part, the ukrainian people get the most the most credit for that, but apart of that credit goes to the work of the United States and to me as the ambassador in uk. Ambassador, you have shown the courage to come forward today and testify. Not withstanding the fact that as you testified earlier, the president implicitly threatened you in that call record. And now the president realtime is attacking you. What effect do you think that has on other witnesses willingness to come forward and expose wrongdoing . Well, its very intimidating. Designed to intimidate, is it not . I mean, i cant speak to what the president is trying to do, but i think the effect is to be intimidating. Well, i want to let you know, ambassador, that some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously. Mr. Goldman. Ambassador yovanovitch, you indicated that those same articles in march that included the Smear Campaign also included allegations related to ukraines interference in the 2016 election and the Burisma Biden connection. Is that right . Yes. So im going to end my questioning where we were before which was the july 25th call. President trump not only insults you and praises the corrupt prosecutor general, but he also as you know by now, references these allegations. President zelensky thanks President Trump for, quote, great support in the area of great defense, unquote. President trump responds, i would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot, and ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with ukraine. They say crowdstrike. I guess you have one of your wealthy people, the server. They say ukraine has it. Then he goes on in that same paragraph to say, whatever you can do. Its very important that you do it if thats possible. Now ambassador yovanovitch from your experience as the ambassador in ukraine for almost three years and understanding that president zelensky was not in politics before he ran for president and was a new president on this call, how would you expect president zelensky to interpret a request for a favor . The u. S. Relationship for ukraine is the single most important relationship, and so i think that president zelensky, any president would, you know, do what they could to, you know, lean in on a favor request, and im not saying that thats a yes, but they would try to lean in and see what they could do. Fair to say the president of ukraine soon dependent on the United States would do just about anything in his power to please the president of the United States if he could . You know, if he could. I mean, im sure there are limits, and i understand there were a lot of discussions in the Ukrainian Government about all of this, but yeah. I mean, we are an important relationship on the Security Side and on the political side. So the president of ukraine, one of the most important functions that individual has is to make sure the relationship with the u. S. Is rock solid. Now are you familiar with these allegations of ukrainian interference in the 2016 election . I mean, there have been rumors out there about things like that, but, you know, there was nothing hard, at least nothing that i was aware of. Theres nothing based in fact to support these allegations. Right. Yes. And, in fact, who was responsible for interfering and meddling in the 2016 election . Well, the u. S. Intelligence community has concluded that it was russia. Ambassador yovanovitch, are you aware that in february of 2017, Vladimir Putin himself promoted this theory of ukraine interfering in the election of 2016 . You know, maybe i knew that once and have forgotten, but im not familiar with it now. Well, let me show you a press statement that president putin made in a joint press conference with viktor orbon of hungary. He said, second, as we all know during the president ial campaign of the United States, the Ukrainian Government adopted a unilateral position in favor of one candidate. More than that, certain oligarchs, certainly with the approval of the political leadership, funded this candidate or female candidate to be more precise. Now how would this theory of ukraine interference in the 2016 be in Vladimir Putins interest . Well, i mean, President Trump must have been aware that there were concerns in the u. S. About russian meddling in the 2016 elections, and what the potential was for russian meddling in the future. So, you know, classic for an Intelligence Officer to try to throw off the scent and, you know, create an alternative narrative that maybe might get picked up and get some credence. An alternative narrative that would absolve his own wrongdoing . Yeah. And when he talks about an oligarch and he talks about the support of the Ukrainian Government, theres also a reference in the july 25th call to a wealthy ukrainian. He said, your understanding of what Vladimir Putin is staying here in this press statement in 2017 is similar to what President Trump says related to the call in the 2016 election . Maybe. Now let me show you another exhibit from the call related to the bidens which im sure youre familiar with. President trump says the other thing. Theres a lot of talk about bidens son, that biden stopped the prosecution, and a lot of people want to find out about that. So whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it, it sounds horrible to me. Now are you familiar with the allegations these allegations related to Vice President biden . Yes. Do you know whether he ever went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution of anyone . No. And, in fact, when Vice President biden acted to remove the former corrupt prosecutor in ukraine, did he do so as part of official United States policy . Official u. S. Policy. That was endorsed and was the policy of a number of other international stakeholders, other countries, other nmonetar and financial institutions. In fact, if he were to help remove a corrupt ukrainian prosecutor general who was not prosecuting enough corruption, that would increase the chances that corrupt companies in ukraine would be investigated. Isnt that right . One would think so. And that would include burisma, right . Yes. Now at the time of this call, Vice President biden was the front runner for the democratic nomination for president. President trumps potential next opponent in the election. Is it your understanding that President Trumps request to have Vice President biden investigated, was that part of official u. S. Policy as you knew it . Well, i should say that i had at the time of this phone call, i had already departed ukraine two months prior. Right, but youre familiar with it didnt change that much in two months, right . It certainly would not have been the policy in may when i left. And were these two investigations part of the anticorruption platform that you championed in ukraine for three years . No. And these investigations, do they appear to you, to be to benefit the president s political and personal interest rather than the National Interest . Well, they certainly could. Returning to the allegations in the hill publication in march that were promoted by mr. Giuliani, the president s lawyer. Were those two allegations similar to the two allegations that the president wanted president zelensky to investigate . Yes. So ultimately in the july 25th phone call with the ukrainian president , the president of the United States endorsed the false allegations against you and the bidens. Is that right . Yes. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, i have an inqui inquiry. Votes are fairly immine. Ss. K mr. Chairman, i have a parliamentary inquiry. The gentleman can seek recognition after we and were going to have a recess now in this second day of testimony in the house impeachment hearings. Ambassador yovanovitch testifying for the last hour and a half. Shes leaving the Briefing Room right now, the committee room. Soft voice testimony from a career diplomat that was also steely and at times, stirring, talking about her anticorruption efforts in the ukraine, talking about her reaction when she heard that President Trump was speaking with the president of ukraine on the phone calling her bad news and saying she was going to go through some things, and also laying out in some detail, how she believed that the campaign against her by Rudy Giuliani and others close to the president , including the president was based on fabrications and lies. Statements corroborated by the state department. Perhaps most extraordinary in the course of this hearing, even though the white house has said the president wouldnt be watching, the president by tweet attacked ambassador yovanovitch. I want to two to mago to mary b is just outside the room right there. You pointed out this is not the strategy recommended by house republicans. Reporter republicans were hoping not to go after the ambassador directly like that, not to question her prior work, and you can see from her Opening Statement why that would be a strategy they would be hoping to avoid. She cast herself as very dedicated, public servant, someone who spent her life trying to further americas goals abroad, yet you had the president in realtime questioning that. On twitter pointing it to the places she previously served had immediately gone bad, that things had gone wrong in those countries, and then you had this moment with chairman adam schiff directly asking the former ambassador to respond to the president. Incredibly tense. You can see the real concern on the ambassadors face there. She was visibly upset in having to defend herself against the president like this. Adam schiff then took things a step further suggesting that the president was essentially engaged in witness intimidation, and it of course, came just a few moments after ambassador yovanovitch had been explaining her reaction to the president s comments on that phone call with the ukrainian leader when he had described her as bad news. Ambassador yovanovitch relaying how at the time she was shocked. She says she was visibly upset then as well saying, you know, that in those moments, she recalled almost the blood draining from her face, and she had this visible reaction to hearing her president , the president she was representing abroad, directly attacking her in a phone call with a foreign leader, jorgeorge. Mary, you could see it in her face, the emotion welling up in her eyes, but she did not give an inch. She really didnt, and the secondary story line is her disappointment with the leadership at the state department. She said, i remain disappointed that the departments leadership and others have declined to acknowledge that the attacks against me and others are dangerously wrong, and as she answered the questioning there, the reason there was no Public Statement from secretary pompeo she believed was because it could be undermined and when pressed what did she mean, by that, she said, with a tweet perhaps by President Trump, and the irony is during the testimony there would be a live tweet from President Trump. She was pushed you could see, and as mary could see, you described the color leaving her face when she learned of her name being brought up in that phone call, and we watched it again today. They bring up the state department, and it seems like the leadership is caught in the middle between the ambassador they have supported and believe did nothing wrong and the president of the United States. Reporter thats the drama that Marie Yovanovitch is describing and she personifies it. Shes a person like the others that we have heard, who have given her life really in service to the country in Foreign Service, and that is a noble calling. That has traditionally been a Career Opportunity that transcends partisan, changes in the administrations, but the president does have the right to remove ambassadors because George Washington james monroe as ambassador to france because he thought james monroe was getting a little bit too profrance for washingtons taste. This is an inherent power of the president s and shes saying it was abused here, that it was exercised and not because the president had some policy direction he wanted to go in, but because there was this corrupt Second Channel of Foreign Policy being run by Rudy Giuliani. That said, she did not really get us any closer to an action that would demonstration the guilt of donald trump of an impeachable offense. She describes a very sad and disturbing situation regarding the state department, the Foreign Service and her role as ambassador for the United States to ukraine, but she doesnt get any closer to an action by President Trump. Well, that is one of the questions at issue because i think one of the things that was trying to be established in the questioning was to get to the state of mind of President Trump, and whether indeed he was sincere about taking on corruption, and on that point, i want to mark if you can hear me, bring up 2 28, where she talks about ukrainians who had a desire to take her out because of anticorruption efforts. Perhaps it was not surprising when our anticorruption efforts got in the way for desire of profit or power, ukrainians who prefer to play by the old, corrupt rules sought to remove me. What continues to amaze me is that they found americans willing to partner with them in working together, they apparently succeeded in orchestrated the removal of a u. S. Ambassador. How could our system fail like this . How is it that foreign corrupt interests could manipulate our government . Which countrys interests are served when the corrupt behavior we have been criticizing is allowed to prevail . Such conduct undermines the u. S. , exposes our friends and widens the Playing Field for autocrats like president putin. And i played that for a reason. Ill bring in our legal team. I think terry is right that ambassador yovanovitch does not tie this directly to the president , but the democrats seem to be laying the groundwork here, dan, and let me bring you in on this, that the president s taking on of corruption was not sincere, instead he was really pursuing biden and the democrats which could leading to an article of impeachment. People were wondering, why was the ambassador being called . She wasnt there. Now we have some answers to that question. In part, the answer is shes analyzing the call. Shes now able to go through the words that were on that call and effectively make the case that this undermines the president s claim that he was trying to root out corruption, and, in fact, he was trying to encourage corruption, and i think thats a critical point that shes making here because the defense again and again has been, what is wrong with the president trying to encourage the ukrainian leader to root out corruption in his country . Shes now making it clear, this wasnt about rooting out corruption. All this is doing is encouraging them to support the corrupt prosecutor who was there. The president does have these powers, but the power is not as adam schiff said, it is not absolute. This is not absolute president ial power. Obviously president s can make decisions about policy choices, but you cannot make aol picy choice by removing ambassador for the purpose of furthering some corrupt personal interest, and thats the point she made her effectively, and its a standard prosecutors move to lay out a narrative of this corrupted administration that yovanovitch is frankly appalled at, and acting against, and then shes removed and no longer an impediment to their interest. On wednesday, a lot of the republicans were trying to establish. I thought the clip you just played was it reminded me of a george kent moment from wednesday when he said, you cant root out corruption without pissing off corrupt actors and the narrative today she was this anticorruption advocate, and she was ousted for doing that, and with this tweet, you see it happening again. Shes criticizing corruption, and what happens . She gets targeted again, this time by the president personally. He injects himself right back into the center of things by this tweet today. Another way, and jon karl, we saw ranking republican devin nunes, read that rough transcript of the president s first phone call with president zelensky, back in april, and it does seem to be at odds with the summary of the phone call the white house put out at the time of the call, particularly on this issue of corruption. Reporter yeah, george. This was a brief phone call he made while on air force one, and at the time, the white house sent us with a readout, a brief summary of the call. This is back in april. That readout, the white house said that the president spoke to zelensky, congratulated him and talked about reforms that strengthen democracy, increased prosperity, and root out corruption. We were told they talked about rooting out kruchcorruption. The white house released the rough transcript of the call. As you said, congressman nunes read it for everybody. We heard mention of the Miss Universe contest which the president used to run, but we heard no corruption. It was not on the call, this readout from the white house back in april was clearly inaccura inaccurate, but i have to come back to this tweet regarding Marie Yovanovitch. The president says wherever she went things turned back. She started in somalia, how did that go . She was a junior state Department Official tasked to a hardship post in civil war torn somalia. She had no influence into what was going on in this country, and the president in the midst of this testimony to attack her personally and suggest she was somehow responsible for what went down in somalia is one of the most extraordinary moments i have seen covering this white house. Theres no question about that, jon, and we have talked about the president s tweets before how at times unhinged they can be, as someone in the white house, working in the white house during somalia, which is one of the major crises, that that city, one of the most dangerous cities in the world, that a senior Foreign Service officer could have anything to do with that,is beyond absurd. Its stunning to me, and i wonder, jon. We have talked about this in the past. Is there anyone in the room with the president in the white house right now as hes watching these hearings or being told about these hearings that says, dont do that . Well, you know, its clearly contrary to the strategy that they set forward. They decided they were not going to attack her personally. That was not part of the plan, so its clearly the president operating on his open, and frankly i dont think there is anybody in the white house that can go in there and say, this this was this was frankly nuts to accuse her of somehow being responsible for what went down in somalia, not part of the white house strategy. Not part of the republican strategy, and really a smear on somebody who remember, george, somebody who served as she mentioned, an ambassador to three different countries. For two of those ambassadorial posts, she was appointed by a republican president. This is not somebody who had a track record of being of being a political opponent of the president , and somebody who was highly regarded in the Foreign Service, a highly regarded Foreign Service officer. Barbara comstock, House Oversight during the impeachment of president clinton. Your reaction to this mornings testimony . Reporter i thought the ambassador was powerful and eloquent, and i think shes told the story. It makes clear that the president was using secondhand of information that certainly appears to be coming from Rudy Giuliani and corrupt officials including these former prosecutors that the state department had told the president this information was false. So you have Rudy Giuliani peddling this information, the state department pushing back on it, but then they werent able to defend the ambassador anymore, and this shows why we need to have Rudy Giuliani testifying. Understand the first hand people, and also understanding i put down, you know, this is why fiona hill testified. John bolton said, you know, he opportunity want to be involved in this drug deal Rudy Giuliani has going on. This fills on the drug deal that was going on, and was pushing and if the president is going to be attacking her, he needs to put up his first hand witnesses, the people he got the information saying she was bad, about, you know, Rudy Giuliani needs to tell that story. You need to have mike pompeo explain, what was the back and forth, and why didnt the white house say these were false . And john bolton who certainly has a very distinguished and respected view among republicans on these policies too. So i think her testimony was very devastating and i think she points out the very challenging situation that people have. She understands that she is serving at the pleasure of the president , but she is pointing out we dont want to have corrupt officials be able to come in and affect what the president does, and then his own state department and his own white house isnt able i want to bring in Pierre Thomas for more on this. She mentioned Rudy Giuliani. I dont think hes going to be appearing before that committee. We do know hes in the crosshairs right now as two of his former colleagues are under indictment. George, im struck how giuliani is at the core of the testimony today. He is, as you said, the subject of the investigation, according to our sources, involving this effort to get rid of yovanovitch from that post. According to an indictment that was handed out in the Southern District of new york, two of Rudy Giulianis associates, lev parnas, and igor fruman, who are american businessman, they apparently engaged in getting rid of yovanovitch and, george, it involved thousands of dollars. They came up with a plan to pay 20,000 into the campaign of a congressman who weve identified as pete sessions, who they were going to lobby to get rid of yovanovitch. So the Southern District is looking at all of that and, again, the point here is that these people were working at the behest, according to the u. S. Prosecution team, of ukrainian officials who wanted yovanovitch gone, george. Pierre thomas, thanks. I want to come back to our legal panel right here in the studio. Going back to the tweet, kate shaw, it hit me immediately when adam schiff brought up the tweet, it wasnt just for the shock value to bring up the tweet. He seemed to be laying the groundwork for another potential article of impeachment. I think thats right. Witness intimidation. He said those words and its not something youve seen in a previous president ial impeachment, specific targeting of somebody who is maybe a critical witness against him. It could be pafrt rt of an obstruction of justice charge. Maybe some of the potential groundwork for a new article of impeachment or a new piece of obstruction article. George, what im particularly interested in now is do republicans follow his lead, right, because before this we talked about the fact that republicans were not planning on attacking her personally. Typically what youve seen is the republicans following the president s lead on tone and direction and defense, et cetera. Are we now going to see that from the republicans on the committee who say, okay, so in effect these are the marching orders, which is shes to be attacked, and are we now going to see this when the proceeding continues. So one thing i think is really interesting that we didnt see the president come out with these attacks on wednesday against george kent and ambassador taylor. So it is surprising but perhaps not so surprising that when we have a woman testifying powerfully and forcefully, that he is exercised to say something. Interesting point. David muir, weve seen the history with the president on these kinds of attacks. And in this case a powerful woman in front of the American People today. Chairman schiff just moments ago in doubling down on this hinting of a strategy moving forward on possible witness intimidation saying once again President Trump is going after this dedicated and respected public career servant in an effort not only to chill her but to show others who may come forward what could happen. He said we take this witness obstruction and inquiry very serious. You have to wonder, george, if the president himself has somewhat undermined the whole republican strategy which is to say the president has absolute power to remove an ambassador if thats what he chooses to do. Over the course of the testimony this morning she talked at length about how her own security was at risk and said i felt this was extremely irregular but told me there were concerns from the white house. Then she learns about the transcript of the phone call that she was included again about something going to happen to her, bad things could be happening to her. She again was concerned for her own safety. She was asked repeatedly about that. Then we have the live tweet that comes in while shes testifying again today. You see it in her face once again concerned and adam schiff putting a word to that, calling it intimidation. His attacks on the whistleblower as well. I want to bring mary bruce back in. I dont know if you had a chance to speak to any of the members who are out on the floor for votes. Any plans how the republicans plan to address the ambassador . We know the republican plan has been to come back and insist that the president has a right to appoint whoever he wants to represent the United States abroad. Now, republicans have been trying it was their strategy not to go after the ambassador personally, but instead to point out that the president is able to work with whomever he wants to and to make this about solely the president s actions because while democrats here of course are trying to point to the broader tone, the Broader Campaign that was at play here, republicans have been arguing that this really, when it comes to the question of im impeachment, should be about what the president himself said. Thats why they keep referring us back to the white house summary of the actual phone call that was released between President Trump and the ukrainian leader. We have although been hearing from some democrats coming out of the room and it is clear that they think that the president s tweet today was an example of him trying to intimidate a witness in real time. As we have been discussing here, democrats of course as they think about moving towards articles of impeachment arent just looking at whether the president abused his power but whether he has been obstructing this investigation, and that is where todays tweet will likely play a role. And terry moran, those kinds of obstruction articles have been they were a significant part of the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon. Thats right. His stone wall that went all the way to the Supreme Court before they knocked it down but that was one of the reasons that members of the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach him, that he obstructed the very impeachment inquiry. Congress is at its peak of power in the courts and in the mind of the public if the public backs it when they asked the president for information about wrongdoing that could lead to impeachment. What we have here is President Trump building a stone wall around those people who could come in, take an oath and say the words that i think a lot of voters would need to hear before they go along with this, President Trump told me to do x. And the closer they get to that, the more ferocious the defense of the president s privilege is and his demands that the impeachment inquiry will get because thats what an impeachment inquiry really needs. Remember, in watergate, the Republican Party stood by Richard Nixon until the tapes came out, and the American People could hear in Richard Nixons own voice him committing crimes. Thats the threshold that americans have traditionally had for impeachment and removal from office. No american president has ever been removed from office in this manner because the bar is set so high by the American People. It was his own aid, Alexander Butterfield who revealed that the tapes did exist. I want to bring jon karl back. There does seem to be as david muir pointed out at the top of the broadcast a slight crack in the wall of the president s inside the White House Office of management, technically a White House Office. Tomorrow well see the first witness from the office of management and budget who dealt with the military aid to ukraine coming before the committee behind closed doors. Reporter yes, this will be a staffer who will talk to the circumstances surrounding the withholding of that aid. This is a career staffer, not a political appointee. The white house has said they dont want anybody testifying. This is somebody who has decided to go forward. We dont know how significant the testimony will be but it will get to that question of what happened when the aid was withheld from ukraine, and by the way, why or what happened when it was reinstituted in september. Thats one of the questions, kate shaw, picking up on what terry was saying as well, is how concrete the evidence needs to be when youre considering impeachment. I think every impeachment has been a little bit different and it has been the case that there are usually multiple articles of impeachment so there are five that the Judiciary Committee considers and nixon approving at least and of course he resigns. There are four in committee and two approved in the house in clinton. So there are a bunch and you can offer a bunch of different arguments for why the president s conduct rises to the constitutional standard, satisfies the standard haof treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors, but its a question that the constitution doesnt define so we have to look to past practice and i think that it is true that the nixon example where you had pretty overwhelming evidence both in witness testimony and ultimately in the president s own recorded words seems to set the standard because people tend to agree that he would have been convicted and removed had he not resigned, but of course we dont have any actual successful impeachments in the sense of conviction and removal. Which why he left and it may be the reason when you talk about the democrats sharpening the argument, House Speaker nancy pelosi focusing on that word in the constitution, bribery. Precedent is relevant and significant and its going to be discussed but in the end the most important thing is going to be where is the public, where is the public sentiment. If you try to pursue too many different kinds of articles of impeachment, theres a potential price to pay, that the public says, oh see, theyre going after everything. Theyre trying to throw the book at him, instead of focusing it very narrowly that may be in a typical legal case not the right thing to do but when youre talking about a proceeding thats inherently political you have to adapt your strategy and as a result i think youre going to see more focus on particular types of articles where they think it could resonate with the public. Thank you all very much. Were going to stand by. Were going to take a break right now. Our live coverage is going to continue on abc news live, our 24hour streaming channel. We expect hearings to resume around noon. Im George Stephanopoulos in new york. Michael. All right, thank you. Now to a social media scam. Costco warning that the 75 coupon going around now to a social media scam. Costco warning that the 75 coupon going around on facebook is a hoax. Chief Business Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis is here with the details on this. Good morning, rebecca. Hey, michael, good morning to you. Yeah, thats right. This scam has been circulating all over facebook recently. Its advertised as a 75 coupon. You see it there on your screen. All you have to do is hand over a bunch of personal information like your name, your address and your phone number. Whats really remarkable here is this isnt the first time this scam is making the rounds. Costco was the victim of a similar coupon hoax last year, and the company is now reminding customers to never respond to unverified emails or provide personal details via email. If you want to visit a store website, type it directly into your browser, dont follow the link from someone else and beware of any requests to deposit a check or pay a fee in order to collect a prize or get a job, michael. Yeah, but if youve already been a victim of this scam, is there anything you can do . You should reach out to costco and let them know. Also the federal trade commission is the governing body that oversees this. Let them know, but my advice to people right now is to just be hypervigilant, emails, social media post, it is the holidays. The con artists know this. They know people are out there searching for deals. Dont respond to it unless its a website you know and trust. Dont even use it. All right. Makes sense. All right, thank you very much, rebecca, for that. Coming up, we have the woman who went undercover wearing a wire to help catch a killer. What happened next. Were excited about this one. How you can score one of those nearly. I need another job. 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Thank you, guys, for being with us this morning. And tomorrow on saturday gma well have an intimate look at the life of the late superstar prince from his new memoir, but happy friday. Today is a big day for music. We begin this morning with exciting news about the American Music awards. Now while we already know some of the amazing acts hitting the stage to perform this year including selena gomez, lizzo and shania twain just to name a few now we also know who will be hosting the whole night. Ciara. Yeah. Yeah, thats going to be one this wont be her first appearance on the ama stage. Last year she killed it in her performance of level up and ciara is clearly excited about the gig. She took to social media to to post this video with the caption, todays mood, were going to have so much fun at the amas. Cant wait. You can catch all the fun when they air sunday, november 24th at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. [ applause ] level up level up is that you . No, not quite. But trying. It doesnt work for all of us. Speaking of award show a big night at the 20th annual latin Grammy Awards, and also historic. The show opening with a special tribute to the last 20 years of latin music with 20 artists performing together for the very first time. So awesome. Yeah. And grammy winner ricky martin served as the cohost of the biggest night joined by actors rosalynn sanchez and pas vega. No relation. It is not cecilias family. And the artists definitely came to perform. Colombian superstar juanes sang several of his biggest songs along with a duet with alessia cara and presented with the person of the year award and alicia keys brought out miguel for her new single show me love. The Recording Academy is showing keys quite a bit of love announcing her as the host for next years Grammy Awards for the second year in a row. Congrats to her. Yeah. [ applause ] those hosting gigs are a lot of pressure. I commend these guys. Now to harry styles announcing some news that music to our ears going on a 2020 world tour and posted that it will kick off in the United Kingdom and head all over europe before coming to north america. If you want to catch him stateside the leg, love on tour 2020 will begin in philadelphia on june 26th and tickets are on sale today if you are someone who plans ahead. [ applause ] you dont have to wait until next june for harry, though, his brandnew album fine line drops in exactly four weeks on december 13th . Mark the calendar. Mark the calendar. Now, it wouldnt be a sara pop news with just music. We got to show some pup love. We have one dog who is sliding into the weekend like a true champ. Oh. That is lenny, the golden retriever. This is one of his favorite things to do is sliding down a hill in his neighborhood in spokane, washington. It turns out he doesnt even need a sled. His owner jackie posting more videos of him taking a plunge down that same hill. It made me laugh because i dont know when i became cynical but i think of the bath you have to give him when you go home. I literally was thinking, hes dirty now. So dirty. Right when you walked in youre in the shower, mister. Exactly. Thank you so much for that, sara. Now to our gma cover story about an International Scholar who vanished at the university of illinois, and bobwoodruff, he traveled to china as part of a 20 20 investigation into her disappearance, and here with the exclusive new details. Good morning, bob. Good morning. This is a huge tragedy for this but this case would not have been resolved unless his girlfriend came forward and went undercover. Reporter this is university of illinois scholar Yingying Zhang last seen getting into this black car in june of 2017. People on campus are wondering is there a kidnapper out there . Is he going to strike again. Reporter authorities tracked that vehicle to its owner, a university of illinois grad student, brendt christensen. And this interrogation video he admits to picking up a young asian woman but investigators release him with hopes hed lead them to yingying. They throw somewhat of a hail mary. They ask christiansons girlfriend terra bullis to wear a wire for them. Reporter the girlfriend agrees in hopes of exonerating him or helping to find ying ying. And he should be coming over around 5 30 so im turning it on. Reporter the way the recordings progress, the first few, there was little evidence towards the crime necessarily. I have already done more than i had to for them. I want to find this girl. Reporter but everything changes when christiansen and bullis attend a individual vigil. With that he spills the truth. Were at the benefit for the walk and brent has a thing of alcohol and he is drinking while hes here. She was very frightened many times. This really impacted her, the things that were said to her. She was valiant. She was . She was. Did she fight . Uhhuh. Nobody knows what happened. Nobody will know what happened. Except for me. I am the only one. This hell never find her. The family, you know, we are gonna leave emptyhanded because no one will ever know where she you know, this girlfriend took a huge risk to make this happen. Without her this would not have been resolved as i said before but also the amazing thing is the local police officer, the way he was ultimately to find this suspect, you never would have expected this one. It was incredible work by them as well. Youll see these the story tonight on 20 20. You said they threw a hail mary. That was chilling to hear that. Yeah, without that, you know, this would not have been nobody would be going to prison right now. Yeah. But he is. Bob, thank you. Thank you so much. You can see much more on a twohour special edition of 20 20 tonight at 9 00 p. M. Eastern here on abc. Cecilia. Thank you. tis the season to earn some extra cash. Now that Holiday Hiring is under way experts are telling us that there are almost a million new jobs up for grabs and becky worley is in San Francisco with more on how to land the perfect seasonal job. Good morning to you, my friend. Good morning, cecilia. Youre right. Its the tightest labor market in decades. That means employers are sweetening the deal for Seasonal Workers but what kind of flexibility do they offer and how much can you really make . Reporter holiday jobs go way beyond managing the crowds for santa. The Unemployment Rate is 3. 6 . Thats a 50year low so employers are reaching into new populations to staff up. Two most in demand skills are communication and customer service. That means just about everybody with a positive attitude is qualified to go get one of these jobs. Reporter retailers alone are expected to hire more than 500,000 temporary workers. Target plans to hire more than 130,000 Seasonal Workers with starting pay at 13 an hour and a perk of a 10 employee discount. Kohls wants to hire 90,000 with a 15 discount in their stores. Others like Amazon Warehouse jobs offering 15 to 20 an hour. Having a seasonal job allows me to continuously network. Reporter retail worker brittany says its about extra cash and that next job. But retail is not the only option. The bulk of the jobs that are seasonal are related to ecommerce shopping consumers are doing. Reporter while these facilities may seem daunting at first it was intimidating. Just the sound, you know what i mean . Reporter this woman started working over the holidays. Now graduated from school and full time on a management track here. U. P. S. Plans to hire 100,000 Seasonal Workers. Hey, im becky. How are you . Welcome to u. P. S. Like . Im not qualified for this job. I sign up to be a delivery helper. How long does it take for someone to ramp up and be ready to work either on the line or in the trucks . Once they go online with the application, its within 24 hours. 24 hours from approval to on the job. Yes, for sure. I get to ride with the door open. This is awesome. I run the packages. 885. Okay. And kevin preps the next delivery. There are a few heavy boxes. I can do it. And some very yippee dogs. Run away, yeesh. But this job starts at 14 an hour with a fair bit of flexibility. Turning a seasonal job into much needed holiday cash that may become a career. Most of these companies are ramping up now. Its not too late. In part because the prechristmas rush is just the start of the busy season. After december 25th there is the returns rush and then the gift card rush when everybody buys the things they really wanted as presents. So apply now, i mean, what do you have to lose, right, cecilia . Yeah, seriously. There is a paycheck waiting for you. You mentioned the record 50year low that doesnt necessarily include folks unemployed for a really long time. Sounds like some could be good for them. Oh, absolutely. U. P. S. Says 35 of the people that work as seasonal employees are eventually hired permanently. And some of those permanent parttime positions offer health care for employees who work as little as 20 hours a week and as we all know that health care for many is the gift that keeps on giving, so give it a shot. Certainly is. This is really great information. Thanks, becky. Well head over to ginger now. Thank you. We have a gma moment coming to us from gulf breeze, florida. And i have to set this one up because we all know the person who is already playing christmas music. They may even have their tree up. Now i think they may have been born that way. I mean that, is 8monthold liz. Shes only 8 months old, so she couldnt have possibly been prepped for that. Its really something. So i kind of believe it now. Like youre born with yourself. Take a moment. Drop your gma moment on my facebook page. Lets go ahead good morning. Im abc7 news meteorologist mike nicco. Check out the Golden Gate Bridge and the accuweather highlights. Spotty drizzle and i will have the sunglasses handy this afternoon. The heat wave of the fall is going to end tuesday. And the mid60s inland and around the bay and low 60s along the coast. Le cooler tonight, 50s in santa rosand we are excited because its time now for deals steals with tory johnson. She has savings that will take the stress out of your holiday shopping. Everything is 20 or less, tory. So much fun. So much fun. So we brought a little fun to help us. Legacy shave. This is truly the gift of the ultimate shaving experience. Michael, you can put it right on. Im okay. So heres how it would work. This little cap right here pops on to just about any traditional size, dont worry. There is a safety lock on here because i was nervous of getting that near you. Thank you. But theres a child safety heres whats awesome about this. No mess, right . Except if sara is in the house. Goes straight from the can to the face. How many people are shaving . Because of this brush you get that awesome exfoliation, less razor bump. You could use this on your legs. Its fun too, right . Its a lot of fun. Yes. So many things. This is a gift for guys this season so they come in a twopack. Normally 40, today slashed in half, 20. 20 bucks. [ applause ] that is amazing. Thats creative. Really fun gift. Next up, this is a gma favorite. Look at this hat right here. Look at the awesome interior. Oh, look at that. Faux sherpa lined. Social Security Super fluffy. These gloves, you got mittens. You could text and be warm at the same time. We have boot sock, slipper socks, this is the gift of ultimate comfort. Men, women and kids. Weve got everybody covered with these. The patterns are fun. One of oprahs favorite thing. Oprah . Oh, yeah, but you know what, more importantly, more importantly its one of fonsis favorite things over there. Wow. Oprah . 15 to 40. Everything is slashed in half and starts at 8. Cant beat that. Speaking of comfort these are warmies. Grab this one right here. This little one went in the microwave for you. Pop it in the microwave for about a minute and it will stay warm. Its filled with flaxseed. Filled with flaxseed and lavender so you have this soothing scent of lavender, plus the adorableness of just a sweet animal. And are these for adults . For adults or kids. Relaxing. Smell this. He smells the same way. I knew what she was trying to do. Theyre adorable. And we also have their boots so the boots same thing, they go in the microwave and you pop them on. This is the gift of ultimate comfort. Normally 25 to 30 and start at 12. 50. I love these. This is great for everybody. Its either you can choose gloves or boots for the feet. Youre going to want boots. Ive seen your feet. Pop this into the microwave and it warm paraffin and coconut oil that creates this unbelievably soothing moisturizing treatment so any kind of cracked skin. Winter skin. It is winter skin. Winter feet. Its also whats great if you have any kind of joint pain because you use your hands or your feet a lot, this is for you. A set and theyre reusable. A set is 30. How many times can you use them . About four times. And you should know, michael. [ applause ] you guys have see this. This is all about celebrating the people in places you love. Heres a text. This one right here, i have got ill buy one for your family in iowa and florida. Florida is here. All 50 states plus the United States option this. Is great whether a burp cloth, a kitchen cloth, a bar towel. Everybody loves to celebrate people and places they love. 18 slashed in half, 9 bucks. Like a personalized gift. Yes, okay, ill give each onf this is a cork pop. Im not joking. Straight into the middle of that cork. I dont joke around with this. All the way down. All the way down. All the way down. Push the magic button. Pop that right here. Oop. Heres what it did. No pulling, pushing, tugging. No broken corks. The most awesome way to open a wine bottle. Really cool. Normally 26 slashed in half, 13. 13 bucks. Well, you know, we partnered with all of these companies on these great deals that tory brought us this morning. Get them on our website and good news, for our audience. Youre going home with products from pudus and cork pops. Thats right. And it doesnt end here, go online. Special digital deals. We have more tomorrow. Saturday gma. Well be right back. Sglood morning, north bay. This is the one to get up and get going. Good morning. Im kumasi aaron from abc7 mornings. Five men have been arrested in connection witheay ma shooting in orinda. It happened at a Halloween House Party two weeks ago, but the suspects were taken into custody in multiple raids yesterday in san marin, and san mateo and antioch. We have a problem in san mateo with an accident near west camilo real. The traffic is jammed in one direction, and both directions it is slowing into san mateo. And getting into San Francisco is tough because of earlier problems. 14 Miles Per Hour on 280 and northbound 101. Kumasi . Thank you, now, your accuweather forecast with mike nicco. Good news as you can see on the live doppler 7, the clouds are breaking up and the chances of a wet commute are starting to dwindle, but a sprinkle or two to be had. So fair in commute planner. As far as the forecast, the temperatures mainly in the 60s today and few 50s at the coast, and look at the warng trend excit about. . Ks. We will have another abc7 news update in about 30 minutes, but you can always find more on our welcome back to gma and we have a special treat. Were going live to chicago where the biggest starbucks in the world is opening this morning. Diane pathieu joins us now. Good morning, diane. Tell us what makes this starbucks so special in chicago. Reporter good morning to you, michael. Nice and chilly out here in chicago. This is the Worlds Largest starbucks. Already there is a line. It doesnt open for another hour and a half. These folks braving the cold, 20 degrees is what it feels like right now. They all want to get in desperately to see the brandnew starbucks. Four floors and a rooftop. 35,000 square feet. There are only six starbucks shops like this in the world and not just about cover fiat this starbucks. They serve cocktails here, as well. There was a preview of the interior for the press on tuesday night. This morning, though, were all about an unte grd opincong u [ applause ] do you know why they decided to choose chicago for this big store . Reporter yes, cecilia. We have always had a really special relationship with starbucks. Decades ago, you know, the seattle chain decided to open up its first chain outside of the Pacific Northwest here in chicago. That was 30 years ago and to honor that, theres going to be very special artwork on every single level of this starbucks, all of that artwork created by local artists here in chicago. Plus, the bean, the beans roasted inside this chicago location will only be roasted here and will only be served here at this location. Its the only place you can get these special beans. The idea was to really make this a travel destination, not just for folks who live around the midwest that can drive to it but folks here locally who want to stop by and honor chicago and the location. Back to you. Well, it looks fun. Thank you. Im awake even knowing about it. I cant wait to test the special beans. Theyre unique to chicago. Im excited. Now to all the buzz about the mandalorian. The first live action star wars series. The highly anticipated second episode out now on disney plus in morning. Chris connelly sat down with star pedro pascal, and executive producer jon favreau, good morning, chris. Reporter good morning, sara. Yay. Series creator jon favreau says it is inspired by some of the things that inspired george lucas when he created star wars, westerns with Clint Eastwood on horseback and those matinee serials that ended in a cliffhanger like the omg surprise that it served up this week. We headed to the set to learn more. You get to put this helmet on and let your imagine night sort of run wild. Reporter created by ace filmmaker jon favreau and starring game of thrones charismatic pedro pascal alive and kicking under the helmet. Its strangely liberating to be honest with you. Reporter the mandalorian is the first star wars live action series ever. Its episodes appearing only on the streaming Service Disney plus. You are a mandalorian. You see characters that are warriors but also have a code. Reporter the cliffhanger end of its First Episode blew the doors off social media with its Bounty Hunter hero unveiling a baby, even its masterminds were anxious. It was just exciting for us to get to the premiere of this show without anybody finding out about the baby, really. Ill confess. Ive never gotten into trouble but im not the best at keeping secrets. Okay. And this was the first time that i took you very seriously. Yes. I wouldnt i didnt tell my family. I can bring you in warm or i can bring you in cold. Reporter what do you admire about your character . Well, i love his mystery. It isnt as easy as you think and it isnt just about not knowing who he is or where hes from but also how he hides himself within the armor and what he hides from himself. Ese of star wars. What was your star wars past . We know that jon worked as a movie usher during return of the jedi and saw it over and over again. What about you . My whole childhood was shaped so, so much of our childhood was shaped by star wars. The movies and the merchandise. Literally have the action figures. Oh, absolutely. My favorite toys and thats fun. You can reenact who shoots first over and over again. To step into a job that stimulates in such a visceral way your childhood memories, im not going to lie, its very strange. Yeah, i think this kicks up happy childhood memories for a lot of people. Well after its buzzy launch the mandalorian has episode two dropping today on disney plus. Guys. We are all very excited about that. All right, chris, thank you so much. Our next guest, everyone, is an emmy winner, threetime oscar nominee and you guys certainly know him as the hulk in the avengers movies now playing a reallife hero in the new movie dark waters. Please welcome mark ruffalo. Whatever it takes [ applause ] whatever it takes [ applause ] whatever it takes [ applause ] great to see you. My brother. How are you doing . Good to see you, man. Good to see you. Always. That is all yours. Have a seat. [ applause ] oh. Oh. Hello. We are so glad youre here. Glad to be here. Its nice. We got to start by taking it back a little bit. You posted something on instagram that got everybody all talking about it and it was a throwback of you and jen aniston. I think weve got it. So you guys 2005 rumor has it. Such a great movie. You guys look the same. I know. Thats not a throwback. Us together is a throwback. Yes. The reconnection is the throwback. I hope i didnt imply that. You havent changed a bit. She looks great. She doesnt age. She broke the internet when she joined instagram. Yes, she did. Did you give her any tips on dos and donts . No, i learned a tip from her. Wait ten years before you get on instagram. We did too. 9 million the first day i think. Yeah, 9. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there was a red carpet moment everybody is talking about. The bromance, you see paul ruud and everybody is talking about the antman hulk romance going on. Are you always this excited it to see each other . Pretty much. We pass each other, you know, going to the bathroom and we have that reaction to each other. How long have you guys been friends . Oh, we came up in the new york theater scene back in the day and started in the late 90s. We were both here, kind of making our bones. A lot of hugs. A lot of hugs. No, but he was always like here and i was down there and i was always marveling at him and, yeah, ive been a huge fan of his for a long time. Now we all marvel at you. Yeah. There we go. [ applause ] nowyour mov, or and ds t a ruining any endings . You have a reputation for sometimes saying maybe a little too much. No. No. I do not. Thats a lie. A little bit. Does that help you though because everyone knows how this story goes. Yeah, and im producing it so id have to yell at myself. [ laughter ] yeah, ive gotten in trouble. But unlike tom holland [ laughter ] sorry, tom. Meet the bus. Mine are planned except for the tenminute broadcast of thor ragnarok from the theater with my phone on accidentally. Oops. I got yelled at. I got a call from kevin feige like, whats going on. What are you doing . And youre like what i didnt know how to work my phone. [ laughter ] i didnt know how to turn it off. I didnt know how to turn it off but the next day i saw him and said, that was genius. We got more press from that than the whole premiere. Do it again next time. Were not going to show that. [ applause ] were not going to give away the ending but do want to take a look at the clip. You guys want to see . Yeah. They want to show the world its no use fighting. Look, everybody, even he cant crack the maze and hes helped build it. The system is rigged. They want us to think itll protect us, but thats a lie. We protect us. We do. Nobody else. Not the companies, not the scientists, not the government. Us. [ applause ] oh, and this movie, this movie is about an attorney, a lawyer who took on the dupont chemical company. It was a lot bigger case than he was expecting but you became close to him. His name is rob bilott and you became close to him filming this movie. How tough is it or does it help you to be that close with the person youre play who is a reallife person . I find it really helpful. I mean, when youre playing somebody like that, you really and in a story thats this meaningful and connects to so many different peoples lives, you really have to be as honest as possible. And, you know, what i learned about this guy is his selflessness, his commitment to his community, his belief in other people to do the right thing if they if they find the facts and they hear it hear the truth and hes not emotional. Hes not hes not incredibly passionate, but he is the most incredible worker and now as an actor, you want to go for the big moment, you know. But what he taught me was to always leave space for people to be good, to give them that option. [ applause ] so as an actor its about being emotional and you have to take your emotions out of it but you know what, we love having you here, mark. You can take as much emotion out of it. Youre still going to be great. Thank you. The movie dark waters is in theaters on november 22nd. Mark ruffalo, everybody. Well be right back. [ applause ] ause ] of the new floor decor dont miin milpitas. Opening if you have never been to a floor decor, you have to go to the grand opening. Hardwoods, laminates, tile or stone. Holy smokes, this place is huge im on a budget and i was able to go to floor decor, and save a lot of money. You will be blown away by this experience. The pros come here. I come here. Floor decor. Now open in milpitas, off the 880 freeway on north mccarthy blvd. All right. Were all excited back with an incredible holiday deal that you can get right now and my friend, Rebecca Jarvis, is back to tell us about the big deaau theres a name for what youll talk about. Deal stacking. The whole idea is youre going to stack multiple discounts on top of each other to maximize the discount that you take home so store discount, coupon code, cashback credit cards and using an online portal called rakuten. You begin there, and get cash back at multiple retailers. Well show you how to do that. First one you have. Lenovo laptop. Lets take a look at the original price of this. 1,150. Okay. So the first thing well do is go through rakuten. 7 back and use the code, at lenovo. Com, 100 off, the final price, we went from 1,150 to 977. Below a thousand dollars. Wow. Stacking. Over here youve got a ninja dont look at it yet. The first thing well do the 3 cash back from rakuten then we get 50 off because its on sale right now at kohls. Then were going to use a kohls charge card. Now, the thing with a kohls charge card, only works at kohls. Its different from a credit card because credit cards work everywhe everywhere. Charge cards work in a single store. 30 off and that brings our price down to 147. [ applause ] okay. Over here. Weve got a calvin klein backpack. This is from macys . That is correct. 158 starting price. On rakuten, 10 cash back and 50 off because thats happening today plus 20 off, you use the shop coupon code storewide right now on the website and then a 5 cash back credit card, this one right now is the chase freedom. Thats what theyre doing. You bring your price down to 54. [ applause ] wow. Last but not least you have a pullover here from old navy. Itll be cold this weekend. Starting price, 45. 10 cash back at rakuten. 40 off online at old navy, use 20 off because olvyret y price is 15. You are officially our savings guru. Lets go shopping. You know where you wont need that . South florida because 232 days key west has been above 80 degrees. That is the longest stretch theyve ever had and these good morning. Im abc7 news meteorologist mike nicco. The likelihood of drizzle is dwindling as we head to 9 00. In fact, increasing sunshine and highs in the 60s jeff mauro right here mashing some potatoes. Hes going to show us how kerrygold has a taste so rich it can take you to irelands lush, green pastures. Where grassfed cows produce rich, creamy milk for a truly delicious taste. Kerrygold. The taste that takes you there. What are you searching a version of myself who doesnt make decisions based on fear . No, what streaming apps are you searching for . Oh. Because you have xfinity flex. It puts your apps in one place, and it comes with your internet. Try it kung fu panda. Ah. You have kids . Nope. Xfinity flex a personalized streaming dashboard thats simple, easy, awesome. Get started with xfinity internet for 29. 99 a month for 12 months and add a flex 4k streaming device on us. Click, call or visit a store today. Our countdown to thanksgiving two weeks away. This morning we have some very different ways to whip up a thanksgiving staple. It smells so good in here. Doesnt it . Mashed potatoes, everybody. Jeff mauro. Hes here to show us how its done. This is a family favorite. Everybody loves it. My mom has been making this for decades and why its great, other than besides your great mashed potatoes everybody grow up eating is this is 50 potatoes, 50 cream cheese and 50 butter. Thats 150 flavor, and thats never been done outside a vacuum. What were going to do, you can buy prewhipped cream cheese and well put well mash these by hand, right. After youve boiled it. Butter and saul and heavy cream, right. A little more fat. This is just a regular brown potato. Use a russet or yukon gold. Dont stray away from those. You want to use a starchy potato, and not a waxy potato. Plenty of salt, heavy coarse cracked black pepper, in a dish and before we broil it. Do it three day as head. Before you serve it, you put another half a stick of butter on it and put it in the droller broiler, and then you top it with some chives and everything. This is, like it is, seriously. It will change your life. Eat it with this. A healthier approach. Sweet potato so more butter and sugar and everything to it. Why did you decide to go this route . Its colorful and give people another option and its beautiful. You could do both. I would do all three. Wait till we get to the third. We make a crumble topping. This topping is what makes this. You need that crunch and that kind of traditional cinnamon warm spice flavor. And some oats for texture and we got flour and saul and butter, well zip this up. Our crumble topping and mash these again with butter. We steeped this on the stovetop. You could do this two days ahead. A little butter. Leave it like this. A half a stick or three. [ laughter ] thats what i thought. Its thanksgiving. You want to like have a right cake, ill make you a rice cake. Crumble topping, vanilla. Eggs and maple syrup. This crumble topping. Youve made a pie. Without the crust, right . I think its like a cobbler maybe. But whatever. Its called mash the Sweet Potatoes so you can eat more of it. But, wait, theres more. Theres one final dish. I got chubby smarts. Root vegetables. Nothing healthy here. Carrots, parsnips, which are, like, a sweeter, earthier carrot, and yukon goals in your slow cooker. All three of those. Our four together, mix and mash. Whatever is on sale, fresh and everything, play with turnip, parsnip, all that. Put in your slow cooker. The beauty of this, you keep it out of your oven out of the stovetop and can do this ahead of time. Im doing great recipes live on the new Food Network Kitchen app at 12 00. 3 00, 5 00, download it to try today. Its a great way to kind of cook alongside all the food network chefs. We y this. These recipes are on our website. Dont miss them. Were going to be right back. Good morning america is sponsored by shutterfly. Anything flies with shutterfly. Thanks again for the miss amazing Sweet Potatoes. And also we want to say thank you and goodbye to our wonderful associate director kathy matey. We want to thank you for everything you have done. You will be so missed. Everybody, thank you for being here too. Have a great day. Nk you for being here too. Have a great day. Your sister stopped borrowing your sweaters . Yeah thats yes for less. Stop stealing mine. Never. Holidagiyos sure to le at 20 to 60 percent off Department Store prices. At ross. Yes for less. At 20 to 60 percent off Department Store prices. Blow a kiss into the sun we need someone to lean on blow a kiss into the sun all we needed somebody to lean on swedens greetings. Enjoy one complimentary payment when you lease or finance a new volvo. Now through january 2nd. Hey, shaq. Its a 30 second tour. No man its like. Now its 26. Welcome aboard. Ocean skyride. Mini golf. Relax relax relax you take this man to be your husband . I do. Married. No time for basketball. Pool. Carnival. Choose fun. And you realize you are the the hostess with the mostest. You know when youre at ross yes yeah thats yes for less. Entertain in style all season long. It feels even better when you find it for lessat ross. Yes for less. Good morning, bay area. Lets get up and get going. This is abc7 mornings. Good morning, everyone. Im kumasi aaron from abc7 mornings, and here is mike nicco with our forecast. Good morning, everybody. Best chance of drizzle islo you can see the golden gate and fog has developed and dangerous sneaker waves at the beaches until 4 00 this afternoon. This is likely our last real push of warm weather for the fall season as we hit near 80 monday. Inland 72 around the bay and mid to upper 60s along the coast. And earlier accident in san mateo is causing big delays on eastbound 92, and as you go up to camino el real, and there is also a new overturn accident southbound 85 near 87 and it is blocking lanes and slow ride heading to richmond and the san mateo bridge backed up to the marina and the parkway. Thank you. Ryan its live with kelly and ryan today, Gwyneth Paltrow gives the house a lesson in the kitchen. And actress kobe smolders is here. Plus, john david washington. All next on live [cheers and applause] and now, here are kelly ripa and Ryan Seacrest [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] ryan hi