President and ahighs Mick Mulvaney claims holding up military aid to ukraine which is at war with russia for political purposes is another day in the Trump White House, and acceptable. So the demand for an investigation into the democrats was part of the reason that he it was. Wanted to withhold funding to ukraine. The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about. To be clear what you just described is a quid pro quo. Its funding will not flow unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well. We do we do that all the time with Foreign Policy. I have news for everybody. Get over it. There is going to be political influence in Foreign Policy. There you go. Mulvaney did later try to walk back the admission of regular Trump White House quid pro quos. But lets be clear here. Dont let yourself be gas lit. In the span of less than a month the president and the white house have gone from attacking the ukraine whistleblower as
Doral. First on ukraine. There are seven scheduled depositions including the revealing testimony from the acting ambassador to ukraine bill taylor. The investigators want to know whether he has information for a possible prid pro quo. And he said it is crazy to help with assistance of a political campaign. And the white house chief of staff is insisting that he did not admit there was a prid quo pro. What puts the issue to bed is that the aid flowed. And once we were able to satisfy ourselves that corruption, and that they were doing better with it, there is not a quid pro quo. But you were asked by jonathan if there was a quid pro quo and you said it happens all of the time. My language never said that. But back to the tape thursday. Did he also mention to me in the past that the emails related to the dnc server, absolutely, and that what we did to hold up the money and the look back to 2016 is part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. Withholding the
Conduct counteris missions. According to es per, a u. S. Brokered cease fire seems to be holding, however soldier and Democratic Forces have been killed in the past 24 hours and both sides are accusing the other of violating the agreement. The syrian kurds have until tuesday to aban dan a large piece of land in a buffer zone. Speaking today, mike pompeo depended the agreement. This was about getting a cease fire, a secure area and that a this in fact will save lives in that very space. That was our mission set. We accomplished it. And now we need to make sure that the xhicommitments made in statement were honored. Earlier this month, the president announced the pullout of troops in the area then days later, turkey launched a military offensive to force kurds out of the area. Nic, youre seeing about 500 troops on the move right now . As we understand it, yes, nearly 500 troops on the move inside that convoy. The exact numbers though, how many will remain, how many are going out, not ent
Cnn correspondent phil mattingly. Phil, lets start with what promises to be critical testimony from colonel vindman. What do we know . Yeah, thats exactly right. First, let me set the stage for who Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman actually is. As jim noted, hes been in the military for more than two decades. He served in iraq. While in iraq, he served a purple heart while he was wounded there. He has been the top official related to ukraine on the National Security council inside the white house for a number of months now. And the significance here with this testimony is this. Hes the first Current White House official to testify in one of these closeddoor depositions that democrats have held inside their impeachment inquiry up to this point. He is also the first individual who was on that july 25th call between President Trump and the ukrainian president , the white house has released the transcript of. In his sixpage testimony which we have reported publicly now, he talks about t
Transcribed is a quid pro quo. Its funding will not flow unless the investigation into the into the democratic server happened as well. We do we do that all the time. With Foreign Policy. I have news for everybody. Get over it. He put out a statement just hours later trying to say that he never said that or didnt mean that which is a hard case to make when you put it in the context of two weeks of congressional testimony, documentary evidence on the question. Two thursdays ago lawmakers released Text Messages among the key players outlining the aid for dirt deal. As well as one diplomats sharp objection to a quid pro quo. He called it crazy. He testifies next we can. Past monday russia adviser fiona hill told investigators that Rudy Giuliani was doing an end run around professional diplomats for the president and then National Security adviser john bolton was so alarmed told her to alert white house lawyers. Following testimony from Mary Yovanovitch that she herself was cut off the loo