Aid from an ally under russian attack to get that country to take action to help the president politically. Mick mulvaney admitted there was a quid pro quo with ukraine. He didnt use those words quid pro quo, but what he describes was just that. And then he said this have i news for everybody. Get over. There is going to be political influence in Foreign Policy. Get over it, he said. Followed by a half truth suggesting that were all just a little naive for somehow being surprised. Equating what happened with the normal diplomatic give and take between countries, which this is not. It appears to be for personal gain. After all, if this were normal, its hard to see why the white house has been trying fruitlessly now to stop all the participants in this scheme from testifying about it to congress. Another key player, by the way, Ambassador Gordon Sondland went before lawmakers today. Here is a key moment from Mick Mulvaneys news conference. Should a demand for investigation into the democrats was part of the reason he decided to withhold funding to ukraine . The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. That is absolutely appropriate. Withholding the funding. 2016 refers to that Conspiracy Theory the president has latched on to which blames ukraine and the democrats, not russia, for interference in the last president ial election. Now what mulvaney just spelled out there is the exchange of something for something or the now family latin equivalent. Lets be clear, what you just described is a quid pro quo. It is funding will. Flow unless investigation into the democratic server happened as well. We do we do that all the time with Foreign Policy. Oh, okay. Well, there it was. The president s acting chief of staff speaking for the president , talking about the very first thing the president brought up on that july 25th phone call with ukrainian president zelensky immediately zelensky asked about the military aid that they so desperately needed that was being held up. Mick mulvaney agreeing that what transpired on that call, what he Rudy Giuliani, Vice President pence, mike pompeo and a cast of recently indicted accused felons were involved with for months was the very thing in the very words that the president and others said it was not. You take a look at that call, it was perfect. I didnt do it. There was no quid pro quo. This has turned into a fullblown threat, a fullblown quid pro quo, and i just dont see it. This phone call is a nothing burgener terms of a quid pro quo. And there was never any quid pro quo. There is no quid pro quo. No quid pro quo. No quid pro quo. No quid pro quo. There is no pro quo. Or no pro quo. Today Mick Mulvaney admitted yeah, there was. No quid pro quo, but what he described was a get over it quid pro quo. He tried to suggest there was nothing wrong, admitting it because it just happens all the time. Keeping them honest, its hard to see anything but bs because tonight he is furiously backpedaling away from what he said earlier, a recognition that speaking what appears to be the truth is terrible for this president. So having made those disastrous remarks, he is now trying to unsay what he said. He released a statement reading in part, let me be clear. There was absolutely no quid pro quo because Ukrainian Military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election. The latest word from Mick Mulvaney in hopes perhaps of erasing the previous latest word, which well play again for you now. Just to be clear, what you just described is a quid pro quo. Is funding will not flow floe unless the investigation into the democratic server happened as well. We do that all the time with Foreign Policy. And, again, he said we should get over it. And perhaps he already has. There is more breaking news on all of this, including from the wall street journal, reporting that the president agreed on the need for mr. Mulvaney to walk back his comments. Yeah, you think . And personally approved his chiefs statement. The paper citing a white house official. More now from Cnns Jim Acosta who joins us from the white house. I can only imagine what the response was when Mick Mulvaney finished that press conference and went back to whatever room he went to and that cant have gone well for him. Right. Whats the reaction been inside the white house to all of this . Anderson, i think Mick Mulvaney has gone from liququid so to quid pro oh, no. When the president s legal team is putting out statements saying they were not involved in Mick Mulvaneys briefing in the White House Briefing room, that is pretty clear that they were not on board with this. Im told by sources familiar with these discussions that go on inside the president s legal team that they were essentially blindsided and did not feel that what Mick Mulvaney had to say helped their cause very much. Having said all that, i just spoke with a white house official in the last several minutes who said that the president was involved somewhat in this statement that was put out by the white house. The president , according to this official, felt that the media were intentionally misinterpreting what Mick Mulvaney said, but, of course, anderson, that is more cleanup on aisle 1600, as you just pointed out a few moments ago. Not only was Mick Mulvaney saying there was a quid pro quo, he almost seemed proud of it. Right. And he sounded professorial during this briefing, teaching all of us school kids this is how things work in the big leagues. We do this all the time. And then, of course, he had to come out later on and release that statement. One interesting thing to know, and if you go through that statement line by line, anderson, the one issued by the chief of staff this evening, it featured some of the same talking points that the president has been using over the last several weeks and saying that there was no quid pro quo, that this was about rooting out corruption and so on. It sounds like they had to go back and rework that statement. Well, i dont understand how mulvaney could also in that same press conference stand there and say that the dirt on the bidens, that had nothing to do, that that was not part of the quid pro quo. Right. Even though weve all now seen the rough transcript in which that is item number 2, after the Conspiracy Theory about, you know, the server being this the ukraine. Thats right. And keep in mind, i mean, the president and his defenders for weeks have been saying there was no quid pro quo, but in the rough call transcript, the president admits he says in that rough call transcript that he wanted to get dirt on joe biden, that he wanted to get dirt on joe bidens family. What do we know by just looking at federal election law in this country . It is a violation of law to seek foreign help in an election. So the president has always is always trying to spin things obviously, but clearly there is a violation of the law baked into that rough call transcript. The thing that they were clinging to over these last couple of weeks, anderson, was that there was no quid pro quo. And i think there is just no way around it. The acting chief of staff blew that up today inside that Briefing Room. And the president was on camera with George Stephanopoulos a while ago saying oh, yeah, it would be no problem if a foreign country had information. I would totally take it. And who knows what he would get for that information and quid pro quo. He has spoken in this fashion time and again. Jim acosta, appreciate it. Thanks. A few moments before mulvaney suddenly reversed himself and the white house damage control began, i spoke with the House Democrat leader steny hoyer. Leader hoyer, how damaging were Mick Mulvaneys remarks for the president of this impeachment inquiry . Well, essentially, what i understand, i didnt hear mulvaney say it, but i understand he said yes, there was a quid pro quo and in fact get daring people to get over it because thats Foreign Policy. No, its not. The congress of the United States appropriated money for an ally who is in a war and losing people. And what the president decided to do is withhold that money which mulvaney says was quid pro quo. He doesnt say that was the quid pro quo, but a quid pro quo for them doing something that he wanted done. And then the course of his conversation he said look, by the way, i need a favor. And the favor was to look into a political opponent, not in 2016, but in 2020. And so i think it cannot help the case and will be part of the testimony and evidence that the committees are gathering. Mulvaney is claiming that the president pursuing this Conspiracy Theory, which flies in the face of what the Intelligence Community says was russian involvement in the dnc hack, mulvaney is claiming that was a concern about corruption in ukraine. Just logically, that also doesnt make sense. There is plenty of actual ukrainian corruption, but the president didnt raise any of that. All he talked about was this Conspiracy Theory about crowd strike and the bidens. Its there for everybody to read. The conversation the president told the speaker of the house, he thought the conversation was perfect, which is why i presume he released it, because he thought it was fine. It wasnt fine. It clearly was a quid pro quo. It didnt need to be stated this is the quid and thats the pro. Clearly the president of ukraine knew what was going on. Clearly he knew that the president was saying i need this favor. And by the way, ive got your money, and also, i know that you want to visit the white house. And obviously, the contingency between the two was patently clear. And i think mulvaneys comments, as i said, certainly were not helpful to the president s case. I want to ask you about turkey and the kurds and northern syria. The socalled deal that was announced today, which the president is trumpeting as something that will save, quote, millions of lives. The Turkish Foreign minister calls it a pause. And i guess the question is whats its going to change . The turkish government says it got exactly what it wanted. Well, i havent seen the agreement, but i think the turks are right that. Got exactly what they wanted. And very probably the iranians got what they wanted. Perhaps the syrians got what they wanted to getting isis out of their territory. And now theyve got the turks there. And frankly, i think the russians got what they wanted. So frankly, the president taking credit for some sort of positive move forward i think is absolutely incorrect. The president saying that this potentially will save millions of lives. If he was actually concerned about that, he could have kept anywhere from 50 to 100 special forces troops who were doing extraordinary job along the border basically encamped with the kurdish fighters, and that, that small number of special forces troops kept turkey from launching this invasion until the president , as you said essentially greenlit it by pulling them out. Yeah, i think youre right, anderson. And very frankly, the president s rationale for doing this, both public and armenia said im going get the troops out of the middle east. We want to send our condolences on the death of your colleague elijah cummings. You served in your house and the home state of maryland. You talk about him . What do you want people to know about him . He was a very good and decent person. The minority spoke on the floor today through their leader and said how much they felt his personal respect. He was a fierce advocate and effective advocate. And from their standpoint, an effective opponent, but they had respect for him. Why . Because he was decent person. He respected others. He was a quiet man but a very forceful man. And the house has lost a great member. The country has lost a person of great elect and integrity. And we are a lesser place for his loss. As you know, he was the speaker pro tem, the first African American speaker pro tem in the history of the maryland legislature. He was president of the Student Government of howard university, a tie beta kappa. He had elect and great moral strength, and were going miss him very, very badly. What an extraordinary arc of life he had. Just so much accomplished. House democratic leader steny hoyer, i appreciate your time. Thank you, anderson. Even without the late developments at the end of a very significant day which also included ten hours of testimony from gord sondland, one of the three people President Trump delegated to dealing with ukraine. Ill be speaking about that shortly. But joining us jeffrey toobin, Gloria Borger and david gergen whos that seen some of this kind of drama play out from the inside during the nixon administration. Jeff, so adam schiff today said that mulvaneys acknowledgment of a quid pro quo, though he didnt use those words, have gone from very, very bad to much, much worse for the president. What does this do to the impeachment investigation . Well, i think the facts are becoming increasingly clear. I mean, this was a Government Initiative led by the president for to trade u. S. Tax dollars, u. S. Taxpayer dollars for dirt on his political opponents. And all of the investigation so far starting with the partial transcript, but also with all this subsequent investigation thats continuing every day is proving the same thing, that this exchange was going on. And the question now is whats Congress Going to do about it . Is the impeachment going to go forward . It certainly looks like it will be in the house. And will there be any leak average of his support in the senate . That doesnt appear to be the case so far. But facts are looking clearer and clearer. And the number of defenders of the substance of the president s behavior is still pretty small in the senate. Were going to take a quick break. Were going to hear more from gloria and david and jeff. Also the president securing a fiveday pause is, quote, a great day for civilization, and their victims, the kurds are happy about it. At fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan to cover the essentials in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. Because when youre ready for what comes next, the only direction is forward. The lexus es. Every curve, every innovation, every feeling. A product of mastery. Lease the 2019 es 350 for 379 month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Aleve it. With aleve pm. Pain happens. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid. And the 12hour pain relieving strength of aleve. So. Magic mornings happen. Theres a better choice. Aleve pm. Theyre americas bpursuing lifechanging cures. In a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs. Like a way to fight cancer by arming a patients own tcells. Because its not just about the next breakthrough. Its all the ones after that. Were talking tonight about todays stunning admission by the acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney of the white house, and now his pivot away from it on whether the president with his help and the help of others involved in a quid pro quo with the president of ukraine. Back now with jeff toobin, Gloria Borger and david gergen. David the white house once again saying believe us, not what you see but what you hear. He is saying reporters misconstrued them. He answered directly Jonathan Karls question about it. Thats right, anderson. Ive had a chance to go back before he made the pivot, before he issued the later statement to check out the websites of eight major publications. How did they interpret his original press conference and what he said. All eight, all eight unanimously agreed that he said that there was a quid pro quo. And that basically, this is done all the time in Foreign Policy. Get over it. And that clearly so clearly, this is not fake news, which is what their claim. This is all just a madeup conspiracy to hurt the white house. He clearly acknowledged it. He clearly was under instructions from others, including the president to walk it back. Hes tried, but i think most people will walk away saying, yeah, the walkback didnt really succeed because he said the truth the first time. Gloria, the thing is mulvaney had multiple opportunities to clean up the comments in the Briefing Room. He was asked repeatedly about the quid pro quo, and he didnt. No, he didnt. Look, he was adopting sort of the Rudy Giuliani and donald trump strategy which is kind of yeah, we did it, but so what. There is nothing wrong with it. Its done all the time. Get over it, folks. And let me just read you something. Its so stunning that he would take it back. Its a little like alice through the looking glass, because heres what he said. Did the president mention in passing the corruption to the dnc server . Absolutely, no question about it. Thats it. And thats why we held up the money. Period, end of sentence. So the doj interpreted that way and backed away from what he said saying thats news to us. The president s attorneys, jay sekulow backed away from that saying, well, he didnt consult with us before he said this. So everybody heard it the same way. Can i just point out why this matters. This is not just some gotcha thing. Right. Because we all want to get something on the chief of staff. Here we have congressionally appropriated money. Congress says give this money to the ukrainians. Taxpayer money. Taxpayer money. And what the white house has done and what they admitted today was you only get the money if you help us win the election. Not because yo