Are, quote, deeply relevant to the investigation. Minutes before u. N. Ambassador Gordon Sondland was set to appear before the three committees, the white house stopped him. And adam schiff said, of his testimony, its hard to overstate the significance. The failure to produce this witness, the failure to produce these documents, we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction of the constitutional functions of congress, a coequal branch of government. Ambassador is already a key witness in the investigation, even before new things are coming out, because of the Text Messages that have been released between him and other senior u. S. Diplomats about ukraine and Foreign Military aid. And a biden investigation. So, lets get to it. Joining me right now is cnns Jeremy Diamond at the white house, cnn Congressional Correspondent manu raju is on the hill. Manu, what are you hearing about everything thats already happening this morning. Reporter well, major questions right now on capitol hill about whether or not there are other witnesses who the committee wants to talk to will come forward, in the aftermath of the state Department Taking this move saying that sondland should not testify today. And ambassador sondland saying he would listen to the state department. Other state Department Officials also have been in the works to come and testify, including the formyovovich. They will consider this as carl articles of impeachment against his president , cite this as obstruction of congress. And going down the fight that theyve had all year to have witnesses come forward. But cite this as part of an effort a coequal branch of government. One of the reasons why sondland is so important because of Text Messages revealed by kurt volker, a former diplomat for ukraine in the United States. He released conversations about aid that was being withheld. And the decision by the president to ask for the investigations into his political rival joe biden. And here, in one of these Text Messages from bill taylor, an ambassador, saying are we now saying that Security Assistance and white house meeting are conditioned on investigations sondlands response, call me. The question is why did he say call me. And i did ask republicans whether or not they have any concerns about the president himself asking foreign governments to investigate his political rivals. Do you have any concerns about the president asking for ukraine to investigate joe biden . And also the president saying last week that china should investigate. Do any of you have concerns about that . The president s doing his job. The president when youre talking about the hardearned tax dollars of the American People going to a foreign government, the president is going to make sure that there is no corruption there. Hes doing his job, his duty as the commander in chief, pass duty as president of the United States. Reporter now, kate, we could see republicans coming forward and bringing forward Rudy Giuliani after the chairman Lindsey Graham invited him to come testify. But well see, but House Democrats have avoided taking that step. Kate. Manu, i just keep this sound bite by me. As manu was just telling us, jim jordan saying that the president is doing his job and the president saying he wanted to root out corruption where it exists. Last friday, the president was asked point blank, ask you haved for any investigation involves your opponent . The reporters response was we would have to look into that. Thats it. Lets get to the white house. What is the white house saying about this . Reporter well, kate, what were learning, the white house indeed consulted with the state department over this decision to block Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union from testifying. That came last night with the officials over sondlands deposition. One of the key factors weighing on the white house right now is how much they should cooperate with the house inquiries, at the same time as theyre also pressuring the House Speaker nancy pelosi to actually bring this for a vote on the house floor. Its a formal vote to open an impeachment inquiry. Thats something that the House Speaker has insisted that she is under no obligation to do, pointing to the constitution, of course. But this does fit into a broader strategy that were seeing from this white house, kind of testing the limits of how much they can disobey these requests from congress. A coequal branch of government, of course. One source close to the impeachment sessions saying the days of being nice are done. That appears to be the strategy of the white house. If you look over at the president s twitter feed, that much is also clear. He put out a tweet this morning saying i would love to send ambassador sondland a really great man to testify, unfortunately, he would be testifying before a Kangaroo Court where republicans have been taken away and true facts are not allowed out for the public. Now, theres no evidence to back up the president s claim that this is somehow a kanga, in fac of oversight over the executive branch, kate. And just basic, nothing here is about being nice or not nice. Isnt it just about getting to the truth and actually the rule of law in two coequal branches of government. Jeremy, thank you so much. Im going to get off of my soapbox and bring in other people. Cnn elie honig, and ross garver, somewhat of an impeachment expert that we rely and cnn Political Correspondent abby phillip. What dot democrats do now . I guess in the short term, its move to subpoenas. But if the white house is nowly since it was playing nice so far before, what do they do . Yeah, well see how far the resistance from the white house at this point goes. It seems like, based on our reporting last night, it was which this is extraordinary in and of itself. Weve known for days that sondland was going to testify. The white house decided last night to block this testimony. So something happened last night where they decided to change their strategy. And our reporting is that its because theyve decided that they are no longer going to play nice with investigators. Now, the House Democrats can move towards subpoenas. But subpoenas may not even end up forcing this testimony either. Because weve seen the white house using all kinds of convoluted legal arguments to prevent documents from being procured. But listen to what adam schiff said. He was very clear. We will use this as evidence of obstruction that can become an article of impeachment. Its very possible, kate, that democrats might just add this to the pile of things that they want to create for articles of impeachment and simply move towards that vote. Elie, why do you think adam schiff revealed when he spoke earlier this morning that the state department is in his view withholding a personal device with Text Messages of sondlands with more messages on that are relevant to the investigation. What is he doing there . Hes trying to answer the question why do you need this . People might say you already have the Text Messages. Or you have the president s words . Right. And the answer to that is theres more out there, right . Lets attention all investigators, prosecutors, detectives always assume someone is doing personal business on their personal phones. Weve seen it time and time again. Weve seen that as stuff you that dont want captured by subpoena. Thats where the really good stuff is. I think schiff is giving us a movie trailer there. Hes telling us theres something that we believe even better than the text weve seen out there. And thats the reason were pushing so hard to get his testimony. Forget better or worse. Maybe more important or relevant to the investigation, right . Exactly. And so this formal vote on the house floor, over launching impeachment proceedings, democrats have so far been resisting it. Ive asked every single one of them. And they dont think they need it. Its not required by the constitution. The president , the white house wants it and insisting on it its part of whats going on behind the scenes of stopping sondland, you should say. What would a formal vote on the floor to launch impeachment proceedings actually do . So, there are two parts to it. The speaker is right. Under the constitution a formal vote of impeachment process or proceedings is not necessary at all to impeach a president. Not necessary under the constitution. The two places where it actually is important, one is if the democrats actually do want to go to court and try to enforce subpoenas, it could matter in a battle over executive privilege. But the house, for the first time in a president ial in a modern president ial impeachment did not vote to begin impeachment proceedings, so thats one. The second is, in this notion to fairness to process. The president is saying, not surprisi surprisingly, if it was good enough to start it with nixon and clinton this way, why not put the white house on official notice and why not engage in a regular process and relate it to that i think were also going to see a battle over the rules that the committee are using to conduct these investigations. In both nixon and clinton, there were rules that prevented crossexamination. Thats not here either. I think what the white house will be saying, look, if youre going to do an impeachment process, do it in the way it was done in nixon and clinton. Do that here. A valid question. It still does not stop where we are in this moment, of someone who wanted to voluntarily testify before congress, had been offering himself up. And then was blocked because hes still, you know, an employee of the state department. Abby, then there are these impeachment poll numbers coming out in a New Washington post poll. And theyre rough for the president. The reason theyre relevant, im going to go back to some of jamie gindales reporting, republicans told her as far as her reporting, watch the polls, watch the polls, watch the polls, as far as where they stand to speak publicly. 58 now support the impeachment inquiry, where the vort majorit actually opposing it. And no 38 . Thats nearly 3 in 10. It sounds small, but when you look at where it was, thats a 21point jump among republicans since the Washington Post started asking this question in july. We dont see this number of republicans move against the president really on anything. What do you think this does, if anything, to the conversation on the hill . Well, it changes the dynamic of the debate. The direction of the debate is heading in the wrong place for republicans. And you know who else is paying attention to these polls, its President Trump who i should say often doesnt believe them. But hes cognizant that polls matter. This is a national poll, its a snapshot of where the nation at large is. But for a lot of republicans on the hill, theyre looking state by state, district by district. Right. And some districts, you know, impeachment is not a winner. In some of these districts where democrats are sitting in seats that republicans want, impeachment may not be a winner. But for some republicans who are in these marginal districts that are really the battlefield for this next election, theyre go to be start to worry because the president is losing his margin here. And i think thats a very troubling sign for the party overall. Super perspective, guys. A million more questions. And a million more hours to actually discuss this. What happens now . Will the democrats be able to get the answers theyre looking for . A key member of one of those key committees is joining us next. Plus, putting his life on the line again. I sat down with a former military photographer who risked everything to expose the atrocities against his people. Hes calling on congress to take action. Much more, ahead. Im embarrassed to even say i felt like i was going to spend my whole adult life paying this off thanks to sofi, i can see the light at the end of the tunnel as of 12pm today, i am debt free not owing anyone anything is the best feeling in the world, i cannot stop smiling about it come on lets hide in the attic. No. In the basement. Why cant we just get in the running car . Are you crazy . Lets hide behind the chainsaws. Smart. Yeah. Ok. If youre in a horror movie, you make poor decisions. Its what you do. This was a good idea. Shhhh. Im being quiet. Youre breathing on me if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Its what you do. Lets go to the cemetery democrats completely caught off guard this morning after the white house makes a last minute move to block a key witness to congress in the impeachment inquiry, pushing the standoff between the white house and congress to a whole new level. What happens now . Joining us right now one of the members of one of the committees set to interview ambassador sondland. Thank you for being here. Thank you, kate. When did you learn that sondland wasnt going to be here . I learned this morning. Again, this is like a classic nixon watergate action. That the coverup becomes worse than the crime itself. So the white house and state department continue to orchestrate a massive coverup by stopping witnesses that had actually prepared to testify. Because all indications publicly that he wanted to testify, he voluntarily wanted to come in . Thats correct. Is that the impression you had . Thats the impression. But, you know, he had back and forth with volker. So, we want to know about this. He had prepared to testify, all of a sudden, he gets a call from the white house. What was the key you that wanted to learn about him . We wanted to know the conversation was kind of murky, at one point, he says give me a call. He may want to tell us why he wanted volker to call. And what was behind that type of interaction. And this is critical to the investigation. Did you know one thing that adam schiff said this morning, one thing that hes been made aware of, there is this personal device that the state department is withholding that has Text Messages and i believe he said emails that are deeply relevant to the investigation. What do you know about that . Well, again, kate, just like in the nixon watergate investigation, as more evidence surfaces, and as we move forward, well see more of this. I dont know exactly whats in that device. But i do know the more we hear witnesses speak about this, the more evidence we get, like the nixon tapes, the American People will begin to understand this even better. Even republicans are now going to begin to shift their position on impeachment . Are you sure of that . I think republicans will shift weve seen senator romney, what hes doing in the senate. Weve seen some governors, also, their position on impeachment. Weve seen the poll numbers. The more you get from witnesses that are obviously being told not to testify, i think the American People will have a fuller grasp of this whole investigation process. There are two minds to this. Is there more information than you need, that the president has said it several times in terms of wanting china to investigate, wanting ukraine to investigate a political rival. But if you want information from sondland, if you want the white house not to block everyone, how can you do that . Youve got subpoenas . Right now, its just a lot of talk and wait, you should, you cant, and were not seeing it. There are several avenues right now. The more they do that, the more we build our case regarding another article of obstruction of justice, right . In the end, you think thats where this leads . Well, thats one way. Maybe contempt as well. Slap them with fines. Thats another avenue that i have looked into. Since the Mueller Investigation, no one has been slapped at a fine, ive not yet heard of the sergeant at arms putting anyone in handcuffs. We should take a good look at that. Ill tell you what, clearly, this investigation, its the rule of law. This is about three things, Natural National security. Ukraine, all of a sudden, were putting them at peril, russia. And betrayal of office. This is about that as well. And so article 1, section 2 clause 5 gives the power, this is about oversight as well. And the separation of powers. And the checks and balances in the constitution. So, do you think theres another another the former Ukraine Ambassador was supposed to be testifying on friday, do you think shes going to appear . I hope so, look, theyre going to stonewall this investigation. Do you think its actually going to happen . I think the more they do, this is quick sand for them. The more they try to stonewall and obstruct the investigation, the deeper theyll get into the quick sand. One thing weve heard from the president and republicans as well, is hold this formal vote on the floor to launch impeachment proceedings and that is the way process has worked. Not required but that is the way the process has worked with the last two president ial proceedings with nixon and clinton. Well follow the rule of law. We dont have to do that. But if it was okay for the nixon impeachment proceedings, if it was okay for the clinton impeachment proceedings why not hold the vote if it gets you closer we have to comply by law. But if it slows you down and those articles in the constitution tell us we do not have to do this. You dont have, but you can. We dont have to engage. We choose our path as a duly elected member of congress. An independent branch of government, the legislature. We choose the path that we think is the right path. And in this case, we have chosen not to do that. If is it gets witnesses faster, the information you want faster, why not . I dont think they will adhere to that. I dont think they will comply with our subpoenas. You dont think this is a linchpin to getting them to agree . Of course not. Theyve already come to grips with their reality which is theyre going to obstruct this investigation. And delegitimize this investigation. Lets see what happens in the n