On am f.m. Right in the u.k. On digital An online and Raj Shah were up all night President chum went out in front of reporters on Wednesday to read from a statement prepared with his favorite implement the felt tip pen I want nothing I want nothing I want no quid pro quo it read this is the final word from the president of the United States the president quoted from a phone conversation reported by the ambassador to the e.u. Gordon Sandland to the impeachment inquiry are quoting an amalgam of different conversations the ambassador offered a contrasting summary of these events was there a quid pro quo Mr Solomon said as I testified previously whether regard to the requested White House Call and White House meeting the answer is yes. And Sounders stepping back as we know from public duties for the forseeable future follows a growing backlash over what he knows says was his ill judged association with a convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his interview with Newsnight on Saturday in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon the Duke of York expressed what he said was his unequivocal regret at his links with Epstein He added that he did sympathized with Epstein's victims and with everyone who's been affected and want some form of closure as he put it it's become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein have become a major disruption to my family's work and the valuable work going on in the many organizations and charities that I am proud to support. Our correspondent Danielle Relf was a Buckingham Palace Charlie we haven't had a statement of this kind in terms of a senior member of the. Family in recent years it is really significant in a number of ways particularly in its tone how it is how it has addressed individually really all of the criticisms that came out of that b.b.c. Interview the week and he's talked about willing to cooperate now with the f.b.i. He has talked about feeling sympathy for the victims he's addressed how this is impacting his day today were all of those areas in which he was criticized he has now felt the pressure understood why he was criticized and really responded to those questions but what he has done here is step back from his public life in many ways today's day to day duties that we would see him do with his charities and other organizations with which he worked he is stepping back from having any public connection with that for now because all of those organizations of course have a world patron or world connection connection because they hope it's going to do them some good it's going to bring perhaps in more money or better networking and better connections that really is what is happening with Prince Andrew at the moment the Daily Mail reports this morning that the queen summoned the Duke of York to block him palace and told him to stay. The queen's former press officer Dickie Arbiter says the jukes announcement should have come in earlier so I'm surprised that it has come so late his position was untenable when it came to the sort of the interview he went into that interview believing it was crisis management created a crisis instead of Management and there was no one of the direction he could go. The f.b.i. Is investigating whether a criminal enterprise responsible for the death of the convicted sex trafficker and friend of the Jew Jeffrey up Steen in a New York jail in August the f.b.i. Continues to investigate Epstein's possible connections in a child sex trafficking network in his statement the jukes says he is willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required Gloria already is a u.s. Based lawyer for some of Epstein's alleged victims I'm very glad that Prince Andrew has indicated that he will be willing to speak to law enforcement but I don't know what he means when he says you know essentially that if it is required I don't know if he's requiring a subpoena or what now my clients who are victims of Jeffery Epstein did speak to law enforcement and they did not require a subpoena or anything else. I've been speaking to Professor Kate Williams who's a royal historian and I asked her to look back a bit and see if we've ever witnessed such a high profile retreat from Royal public duty. Well we've had voile scandals in the past we've had scandalous Voyles we might imagine the brothers of George the 4th one of whom really up the sale of Army commissions his mistress whens went in the witness box and whether or his love letter is making me laugh ing stock we've had all kinds of scandals but really there has been nothing like this nothing in which it is so damaging and nothing in which it has so come so close really to the question of how of the author it is having to speak about this very very serious matter so it is unprecedented that Prince Andrew is stepping back and also what some presidents did is he stepping back for an established amount of time I mean it could be possible that this is it is to him back in public for good and retiring you know so much earlier than his father has done we simply don't know but but but there as you mentioned his father his father comes right because his father of course for for all various reasons than the I mean is 98 years old yes we see we're all stepping back because they retire we've seen worst of him back to health reasons but Prince Andrew is not old and he's not got poor health he's perfect health and he's to him but because simply his presence is too damaging now to the royal family after this interview that with news on a night simply I think there were households being in damage control mode ever since and really this announcement today it had to be issued because otherwise those going to be an avalanche of more organizations more charities cutting their links we know that they were talking about it more organizations cutting their legs more bad press more pictures of Anjou having party is sweating going to like clubs the story wasn't going to way way there are questions about his finances. Lessons about his role as a business ambassador the story was not going away and we even saw it coming up in the leaders debate it was on i.t.v. Last night one of the questions is the whole family fit the purpose and simply when you have a fact that Prince Andrew is coming up as an election issue then it is obvious that it's time to really try and stop it in the only way of stopping it was saying that Prince Andras decking from public life so no more announcements from charities because he's no longer going to be a charity patron and they are hoping of course it is going to quieten things down and what we saw is him saying he will cooperate with your thought isn't that I think is keeping has been calling for that and that is really what he must do now when you when you think about his involvement with different things he's widely connected doesn't he and widely committed to a host of different causes Can you give us a sense of what Prince Andrew has been doing. Well we Prince Andrew got a lot of causes from the English National Ballet to Outward Bound lots of charities we know that he's very proud of the palace where entrepreneurs go to discuss their ideas sponsible lots of businesses and simply he sees himself as a hard working world but all those touching edges all those pitch at the palace everything like that that or has to end now because they are not being overshadowed by this overshadowed by the scandal. Overshadowed particularly by what is the most disastrous go interview in history I mean there's nothing to equal it there's many more hours of major gaffes many wars of the wrong thing but there is nothing to equal this interview in which for the combination of bad alibis refusal to regret his friendship with that scene and a complete lack of sympathy with the victims with those holy trinity of disastrous attitudes Prince Prince Andrew just threw himself into the fire and really it's very damaging for him incredibly damaging for him I can't see how it is to stay the office anymore but also damaging to the wider world family as well well indeed at a time you know when some of us at least are gripped by the queasy fiction of the crowd in the new episodes. As a green never really faced a challenge like this in the family she's had after all a death of Diana I mean there was a monstrous challenge for wasn't Well yes there's the death of Diana to Alice however those in which the divorces of her children including the burning of of Windsor cars than the public reaction to that and the queen has battled with public opinion in the past and you know the big drop I think you're exactly right in suggesting it was the death of Diana and yet the Queen went on television addressed the nation and turned it around. And I do think that he was thinking of that he thought of the Queen he thought of President as interview he thought of Prince Harry when he made the direct address to his press statement he thought of all these things and they'll all do the same but the difference is is that they've been all of them well. We're discussing possible crimes not of them were discussing consulting with a criminal and so this is why when Prince Andrew just simply it simply was a massive shock went all over the world and to many people who thought it was possibly you know he possibly mean people maybe because he will hold it will be misconstrued Also didn't you know many of the details I'm afraid that everyone knows now about Prince Andrew it's been all over the newspapers and I don't think that the queen has faced anything like this within her family anything equivalent to this the death of Diana was a tragic horror the divorce of her children were terrible but the none of you know these things were not engaged with the f.b.i. When you look at the the public relations side of this I mean everybody's agreed of course are public relations debacle but what how did the palace lose control of its own public relations because used to be a very tight ship and they was a very tight ship but I think the fact is is that if of oil wants to override the Paris advice then he or she will and that's exactly what we see with Andrea he was determined to do the interview we understand his secretary was behind him but they've been various attempts to blame it on Sarah Ferguson his ex-wife I mean you know really it was his decision to do the interview and also his decision to say what he did had he come on the air and said to Miss mate list oh I wish I'd never met Epstein it was he was a he was a terribly bad person shocking I wish I'd known that girl a matzoh would have any of them my heart goes out to the victims I hope they get recompense and closure and I'm just so shocked. If he'd said that then I think there would be a chance to come back for it but he said the completely the opposite he talked about how he never noticed the girls in Epstein's house because they were the Might it was just like Buckingham Palace doffed mean this is the comparison between trafficked women in Buckingham Palace footman that's just ridiculous and you know again with these strange things about pizzas and all the rest of it so he will be condemned himself and I think that's. The the Voyles they they allowed him to do this because he was so insistent he Well what we saw on Sunday night was a man who believes he's innocent and that's why he went on there you don't you don't you know he in these white shows news knows about news because they know that Newsnight is a is a tough program Miss Mavis is a forensic interview and they thought that well if we can it can be it with her then it's fine but of course you know she picked him up caught him out in so many different ways and he often just she just asked him a question is that of course is mean it's really him self into the fire so the palace I think the as you they've always had is not saying a thing never saying a thing and unfortunately Prince Andrew felt that the way to clear suspicion was go out and say things and he said all the possible wrong things. That was Professor k. Williams And just to reiterate part of the chip statement he says that Jeffrey abstained suicide left many unanswered questions particularly for his victims and he said he deeply sympathizes with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure. Well for many watchers this wasn't just another of President Trump's allies falling by the wayside and saying the pressure on Ukraine to minds and inquire into Joe Biden son was what the president wanted they saw the president's appointed ambassador to Brussels as the linchpin of the scheme and Gordon saw in London Blige to amass a song lead who'd previously said he had no recollection of any such instructions Ted said in the plainest possible words that it was Mr Trump himself who want to pressure brought on Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival for the presidency Joe Biden and he told the inquiry that he was following the president saw and others when he pressed Ukraine to investigate Prisma a gas farm employing the son of Mr Biden Hunter Well Ambassador Sunland said there was absolutely a quid pro quo in that he and the other diplomats were forced to work with President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani as I testified previously Mr Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Selenski Mr Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing the investigations of the 2016 election d.n.c. Server and the recent Mr Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States and we knew these investigations were important to the president busser saw and also implied implicated several senior White House officials including the secretary of state might pay 0 and the Acting White House chief of staff moving everyone was in the loop it was no secret. I told President Selenski in advance that assurance is to run a fully transparent investigation and turn over every stone were necessary in his call with President Trump Mr Trump continues to deny that is done anything wrong and says Secretary of State pump aoe and White House chief of staff McVeigh need all issued statements to the effect that they distance themselves from. As did the vice president Mr Pence speaking to reporters on a visit to an awful fact in Austin Texas president trying once again condemn the impeachment hearings and attack both the Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff who he calls shifty ship Let me tell you it's a hoax it's a disgrace and it's it embarrassment to our country Nancy Pelosi has done a terrible job a speaker this Democrat is because it's done so little. And she's totally incompetent and shifting him to stand somebody else lie. All day long so we have no due process we can't have anything and yet not going to win today it's over . Not only did we win today it's over there's an interesting take on the events let's join Amber Philip sort of porter at the Washington Post Hello Amber Hi there can you explain this because a very interesting construction isn't it that's shared by the president and his allies and supporters what does he mean when he says not only that we when it's over. He is trying to undermine the entire impeachment inquiry by essentially saying there's no there there I want an election I'm going to win another in November and Democrats are just making stuff up to get me out of office by other ways in the ballot box the problem with that is it comes as you talked about on a day where his own appointee and a donor to is not greasing Commenee testified Yeah I there was a quid pro quo for Ukraine that didn't agree with it I tried to execute it and I thought I was doing it at the president's request that's a that's a huge donor by the way a $1000000.00 wasn't it yeah $1000000.00 My colleagues at The Washington Post have reported he's always had dreams gardens on London being an ambassador one way to do the Americas to get rich and don't have a lot of money and hope to get appointed and he hit his wagon to trump despite not necessarily agreeing with everything the president says or doesn't it worked out for him. How reliable a witness his garden saw in law because there's a question isn't there about his memory. That's exactly right he went before Congress in October 1 of the 1st witnesses and said a whole bunch of I don't recalls this isn't closed door testimony other diplomats and and White House officials came forward and said I actually do recall Gordon someone offering Ukrainian's a quid pro quo suddenly someone remembered so the question is is his memory faulty or was he trying to protect himself from perjury by coming forward and being willing to tell the truth if it's the latter it would suggest that Sunland was truthful and reliable today because he doesn't want to go to jail. So you might say that's a reasonable position when he made his opening statement what was the reaction in the room because it was pretty plain unvarnished Wasn't it he said you know when you all boil it down in the question is Was that a quid pro quo and the answer is yes yes he can right and said everything that Democrats were hoping he would say to help explain what was going on there actually in the room among Democrats was relief that they weren't going to have to fight someone to some nail did you say this did you say that because he was this wild card witness even going in the moments up to the hearing they had no idea whether he was going to cooperate and continue to have a refresh memory or a bunch of I don't recalls Republicans I didn't get the sense they were flustered they continued to stick with their talking points that President Trump did nothing wrong they have shown remarkable unity throughout this no matter what evidence comes their way in there I think that bodes well for the president if there's an impeachment vote he can argue it's very partisan because Democrats may vote yes and I don't see any evidence Republicans will vote yes as well. Again we had this last night and again the 25 Washington time the hearings are still proceeding on there is Mr Simon still there. He had he had a marathon day he finished a couple hours ago. But the House Intelligence Committee regrouped and in another hour they had 2 top officials at the Defense Department and the State Department talk about Ukraine military aid and why that was held up and those people actually broke news as well oh and hearing just wrapped up in what we learned was that it's very possible the Ukrainians knew their military systems was on hold the day President Trump and President Selenski got on the phone and talk to each other that would go a long way to suggesting that transcript was indeed a quid pro quo when Trump said I need to do me a favor though it's quite possible president Selenski knew in the balance on 400000000 dollars in military aid he badly needed he knew what that was and we are talking about the so-called 2nd call on July the 25th our way yes thank you for clarifying Yep the July 25th call which is the one that President Chavez said is perfect and his national security officials in his own White House have said they were very concerned by. What were the implications today of Mr Song one saying that the secretary of state the vice president and the chief of staff were all in the loop right yeah that's the 2nd biggest piece of news out today is that someone was going to go down he wasn't going to go down alone he went to Congress with e-mails and text messages that showed him telling all these top level fishes that you just named I'm asking the president of the Ukraine to announce investigations. All of these people categorically denied it that someone's telling is correct we're kind of in a his word versus their