Include lg in the afternoon session from volker. The special enjoy to ukraine who like sondland changed prior testimony. We have the key moments. Reporter four current and former Trump Administration officials testifying during day three of the public impeachment hearings. All expressing differs degrees of disappointment and disapproval of the president s july 25th phone call with president zelensky. Where trump pushed for investigations into the 2016 election and bidens. I was hoping for a more full throated statement of support from the president. Concerning president zelensky reform agenda. I found the call unusual. Because in contrast to other president ial calls, it involved discussion of what appears to be a domestic political matter. I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating corruption as equal to investigating former Vice President biden. I saw them as different. I should have seen the connection differently and had i done so i would have raised objections. It was inappropriate and improper for the president to request to demand an investigation into a political opponent. Lieutenant vindman still serving as top ukrainian expert on the National Security counsel. Most out spoken. The one who twice report his concerns about the call and recounted a july 10 white house meeting with ukraine officials where the expectation of investigations was made clear by ambassador sondland. Sondland said that in order to get a white house meeting the ukrainians would have to provide a deliverable. Investigations. Specific investigations. Republicans didnt dispute the facts but questioned vindmans ability. Your boss had concerns about your judgment. Your former boss had concerns about judgment. Colleagues had concerns about your judgment. And your colleagues felt that there was were times you leaked information. Congressman potentially taking queues from this tweet. From the white house account. Morrison, vindmans boss testified that he had concerns about vindmans judgment. Vindman quickly countered. I guess ill start by reading doctor hills own words. As she attested to in my last evaluation. Dated july. Alex is a top 1 military office and the best officer i ever worked with in 15 years of service. Hes brilliant. Unflappable and exercises excellent judgment. Morrison pushed back in the second part of the day. Saying he didnt want his word from the closed door testimony weaponized. I have Great Respect for the former colleagues. And the rest of the agency. Im not here today to question their character or integrity. Vindman asked the u. S. Army about the safety of his family. Since hes come under attack by President Trump and his allies. The army doesnt believe theres an imminent Security Threat according to an official. He paid tribute to his late father at the end of the opening statement. Assuring family theyll all be okay. Dad. Im sitting here today in the u. S. Capitol talking to our elected professionals is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the soviet union. And come here to the United States. In search of a better life. Do not worry, i will be fine for telling lt truth. Volker and former official morrison called as republican witnesses. But did little to bolster republican talking points. Volker aemding earlier testimony now recalling sondland talking about investigations. At the end of the meeting i recall having seen some of the other testimony i believe sondland did raise the point of investigations. This was after the meeting was already wrapping up. And i think all of us thought it was inappropriate. And the conversation didnt pick up from there. The meeting was over. Top republican used his time to bat back democrats new focus on bribery. By the white house. Did anyone ever ask you to bribe or extort anyone at any time during the time in the white house . No, sir. Did anyone at the white house ask you to bribe or extort anything out of anyone at any time . No, sir. There was a lot of testimony. A lot to talk about. Joining us our legal and political team. David, lets start with you. Volker. He changed his story from original testimony. Was it did it make sense his new story . No. A lot didnt make sense except in the context of a guy trying to clean up his record to stay outfront trouble aout of trou it doesnt pass the smell test you dont remember this key moment that everybody else remembers in a meeting where somebody says something inappropriate and your boss says the meeting is over. Now that i have heard i do remember something. He was saying he didnt initially understand the biden connection. Youre talking about a guy who has been around public life for decades. And diplomacy. At a high level. The notion he didnt understand that, it stretches. I think he was trying to salvage something and protect himself from potential exposure legally. But i dont think he did the republicans that much good. And for joe biden maybe struggling to put away the democratic nomination. He got an endorsement from volker. Who gave support to his integrity and dismissed the notion he should have been a target of investigation. He dismissed the 2016 election story. I dont think they were much help. And i dont know how much he helped himself. What stood out. This again was the republicans star witness. In some ways. Volker was. They wanted to call him and morrison. Didnt do them much good. Nunes there was a second bite of the apple that the republican lawyer could have taken. Nunes could have taken. He said why are you giving me this extra 15 minutes to question this witness. That i wanted to have before this committee. In that way, the republicans i think did get a little mileage out of trying to attack vindman. They essentially said you have all the issues, people question whether or not you have the right judgment. Question whether or not youre the leaker. Thats something i think they were able to do. Because of donald trump remained silent. This go round. The white house did tweet something out about him. They were able to try to under mine his credibility. I think a largely this testimony today set up for tomorrow from sondland. Sondland fingerprints all over everything. Seeming to be a real important point guy to the president in to this what the democrats call a bribery scheme. That will be a big day. What stood out to you . Im thinking about the law of impeachment. Two different things. One is bad faith. And bad act. It seems like both the two witnesses and ambassador volker essentially have corroborated yet again. That defuations from the normal procedure suggest that President Trump was not in good faith. And also the bad act seems to be verified again. This clearly repeated emphasis on the necessity for a public declaration of investigation into biden. That had to be done. Lieutenant vindman said theres a demand for it. Hes present on the call. This is the first time we heard from people on the call and verifying everything we have heard bad for the president. Im wondering the notion that volker and morrison were the witnesses that the republicans wanted. Do you think they served the purpose of the republicans wanted . They extracted moments from them. They asked did you see evidence of quid pro quo. Or bribe. No. Did anyone ask you to do that. No. He didnt have the same reaction when he heard the call on the 25th. That vindman did. To the extent they were used to rebut the notions. They did. They had other moments that probably werent what the republicans were expecting. Particularly volker. I was watching this and looking at the reaction it strikes me everybody thinks they won. Democrats think they had this go to the basketball game watch the score board and everybody leaves happy. Democrats think they won. Republicans think they extracted enough moments. This afternoon to rebut the quid pro quo stuff. And im not sure how much of that will matter by tomorrow. After we hear from really the only person that i think may matter this week. Sondland. There was also morrisons argument that he was on the call listening in. Didnt like what he heard. He didnt like them bringing up the bidens. He doesnt think it was illegal. Hes not actually an attorney. He did go to law school. His reaction was go to attorneys at the white house and inform them about the details of the call. And suggest that they lock it down. And if i dont understand, he was asked directly later on in the day, trying to be pinned down why did you want them to lock it down . He says it was because he was afraid it would leak. Whats wrong with it youre afraid it will leak . He wouldnt really answer that. Right. I watched that and had a similar view. And having worked in the white house on and off. You dont go to the lawyer unless something is terribly wrong. You avoid the counsel office, no offense. At all costs. There was another moment that struck me as sort of contradictory. To his actions. When it was raised that trump directed him to go to the ukrainians and work out this deal. And he didnt do it. Even though that was the Administration Policy directed by the president. He clearly was trying to be a good soldier and a republican working on the hill for 20 years. His actions in the white house werent aligned with that. I think the afternoon probably was a draw. In the sense that the republicans got some things democrats had some things like biden cleared. And a couple of the points they like. The part i think well remember is the morning. Lieutenant vindman and not because of all the details. There were important ones. Because he spoke from his heart and he was so authentic and nervous. That is compelling to people. Attorneys often say dont ask a question you dont know the answer to. The republicans i dont think they got played. This was the best they could do. Its always the case the minority gets some witnesses. The witnesses would have disputed facts. Would have attacked the credibility of another witness establishing an alternative narrative. That didnt really happen. Yes, they played it to a a draw. On this National Scale where youre having four or five days of hearings. One afternoon where the best they can say is Joe Biden Campaign got bolstered is a loss for the republicans. Its not a win. The question is how youre grading this. I have to defer to the lawyers. Im not sure how people are scoring this. The reason that both side say they got something. Theyre playing two timpdiffere games. Democrats are proving a case. Republicans are trying to turn this partisan so people in their world will dismiss it as such. And all those members who have to vote will stay in play. Its a legal case. With elected officials voting on it. Both things are true. They have to meet the minimum legal threshold. But mebs of congress have to get elected to win political points. If the goal is win over some republicans in the senate to vote for impeachment. That doesnt seem like progress. Its not happening. The House Republicans sticking together in likely the same for senate house. Youll hear from a lawmaker doing questioning today and the attacks including from the white house on Lieutenant Colonel vindman. The price hes paying for testimony. He fought back in the hearing room today. Im a regular in my neighborhood. Im a regular at my local coffee shop and my local barber shop. When you shop small you help support your community from after School Programs to the arts so become a regular, more regularly. Because for every dollar you spend at a Small Business, an average of 67 cents stays in the community. 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Volker as you saw at the top says he understands that others equated investigating the Ukrainian Company meant having ukraine investigate the bidens. He testified quote i should have seen the connection differently and had i done so i would have raised objections. Which didnt stop democrat from attempting to make the point explicit with him later on. I could have a mayor of a city with hold funding for the Police Department budget unless the police chief agreed to open up an information investigation on a political rival . I dont think he should do that. In that hypothetical. Ambassador you agree . Yes. Same true with a governor with holding the budget unless the police agree to conduct an investigation on a political rival. You would a gree . Correct. Yes, sir. Your view is it any different for a member of congress . Of course not, right . Would you agree the president has the same obligation as the mayor, as the governor and the member of congress . To not with hold aide unless he gets an investigation into a political rival . Yes, sir, i i would agree with that. I would agree. I spoke with the congressman before air time. The analogy you made is a really apt and interesting one. And the fact they both agreed with the analogy. I find sort of fascinating and yet morrison continues to claim that when he heard the call, he went directly to the attorney and yet he claims that was just because he was afraid it might leak out. And wanted to lock it down. Which doesnt make much sense. It makes sense if what leaked out is what we now know. That is that the president was asking a foreign leader to do an investigation on a political opponent. He continues to claim he he said on one hand he didnt like what he heard but wasnt going attorney because there was something inherently wrong about it. Right. So morrison is being hesitant. Its not his call to make. Its the position hes taking. Vindman was really in a way much more courageous. Because he had this sense of duty. And incredible story about his father. Not afraid of telling the truth. And he felt it was a duty and obligation to go forward because what he heard is i was asking in the question. If the ma i yor told the Police Commissioner ill support you. You have to do an investigation on my political opponent. Vindman was quite able and insisting saying that wrong. Morrison was hesitant but his actions demonstrate his alarm. He knew it was bad flt he went to the lawyer and was part of putting it in the secure system. So bottom line, what did the president do . And what i was trying to do when i was analogizing to a mayor. Is demystify it. Its the president and National Security. Its so beyond the every day experience of most of us. Its like we dont we suspend judgment. If our mayor made that deal with the Police Commissioner. Hes gone. Its not even a question. You feel authorized to come to the conclusion thats obvious. When its the president and you have a lot of deference to the authority of the office, and also you inject into it the partisan battle that were having in the country over everything. You suspend judgment. My effort was to say to the american people, common sense. Your judgment is valuable. Use it. Do you hi volker and morrison ended up being the witnesses the republicans wanted . I dont think they were. It was a mix. I thought pretty weird about volker is that hes a smart guy. Experienced. And hes been around. Hes very hesitant to connect the dots. He was part of the official ukraine policy which is very honorable. And had total bipartisan support. Supported by nancy pelosi and stop corruption in the ukraine. Resist aggression from russia. Which was the policy that yovanovitch was trying to execute. Exactly right. Yovanovitch was seeing how there was an outside force and was starting to deal with it. As a result of what she got fired. Recalled. Volker was seeing it but acting as though thats just the way rudy talks or him blusering. Or he had a kind of excuse that allowed him to not come to the obvious conclusion that was before him. Namely that there was an alternative ukraine policy that was the one that was being pushed by the president. Also his essentially his argument i didnt know it equalled biden. Which is hard to imagine. You cant be a diplomat who is nuance and not be in on the joke. So to speak. Sondland tomorrow im so curious just to see how hes going to try to play this. Does he just come clean . Does he say he doesnt remember . Does he say he was bragging to the david holmess of the world. Were all waiting. The thing about sondland of course is he was a political appointee because he made a huge donation. 1 million. The aspect of it that was of interest of the president. More cunning about it. Sondland really wanted to quote help. But had no experience in what Foreign Policy was and how politics works or Foreign Policy works. So if the president is telling him this is what i want you to do. Get that investigation. He was helping. Thank you for being with us. Congressman. Still to come another exchange from the hearings. Vand shar