The impeachment inquiry of president donald j. Trump. Right now a rare hearing happening in the house. You see philip reeker walking in one of u. S. Secretary of state mike pompeos deputies arriving just moments ago. He is testifying today in front of the house intelligence oversight and Foreign Affairs committees about details of an alleged quid pro quo between President Trump and ukraine after a bombshell federal judge ruling. The Justice Department must, according to the ruling, must now release redacted documents from Robert Muellers russia investigation. The move gives democrats more solid legal footing toward the impeachment process and it undercuts a key republican argument that the probe has been invalid. The judge says it is valid and legal. Meanwhile republicans are scrambling to defend the president despite calls for the white house to bring in advisers to handle the impeachment process. President trump says there is no need insisting his innocence and saying he is his own team. Cnns Suzanne Malveaux is on capitol hill this morning. Good to see you. Lets begin with whats happening there right now. Philip reeker testifying, giving his deposition in congress. He is the acting assistant secretary of state for european and eurasian affairs. What do we expect from him . Reporter good morning. This is a rare saturday session and will begin momentarily. We did see him just arrive a couple minutes ago. Essentially we do not expect bomb shels but he was not necessarily in the inner circle of secretary pompeo but certainly worked closely with him. He has been described as really a Problem Solver and creative thinker. A couple things democrats really want to press him on. We know from Court Documents he was aware of the Smear Campaign against the u. S. Ambassador to ukraine Maria Yovanovitch and who was behind that and what discussions took place around that. We also know through Court Documents he was aware Rudy Guiliani the president s personal attorney was involved in some sort of shadow diplomacy efforts in ukraine and nevertheless said dont push it, dont press that to a subordinate. Those are the kinds of issues theyll be pressing him on this morning. The democrats, fred, feel quite embo emboldened because of the decision by the federal judge saying this is a legitimate and Legal Process that the House Democrats are engaged in. Then the house will now have access to these redacted elements in the mueller report, information from grand jury hearings. What does this mean for the impeachment inquiry moving forward . What this means is first of all it emboldens the democrats. They feel like now they can take away, this is the redacted materials and look inside what was inside the secret grand jury proceedings, what was that information . They think perhaps it will reveal discussions, what did President Trump know about his former Campaign ManagerPaul Manaforts associations with those inside of ukraine and also was the president actually engaged in soliciting wikileaks to get dirt on his opponent Hillary Clinton . We saw that he asked for it publicly but was it orchestrated behind the scenes . Was he involved in that ahead of time . That may also be revealed in those documents. Thank you so much. Well check back with you throughout the day. In the meantime a defiant President Trump ignoring republican calls for the administration to build a team to handle impeachment. The president says he is his own best messenger. Heres the thing. I dont have teams. Everyone is talking about teams. Im the team. Kristen holmes is at the white house. Republicans want the president to follow the format of former president bill clinton when he was being impeached but no signs he will be taking that advice. What is the plan moving forward . Reporter no signs at all particularly if you look at his twitter feed last night celebrating jared and ivankas tenyear anniversary. He tweeted all night long ranting how the impeachment probe was a scam and then up doing it again today. Ill read the tweets here. It says the ukraine investigation is just as corrupt and fake as all of the other garbage that went on before it even shifty schiff got caught cheating when he made up what i said on the call. This is a pattern for President Trump. When he feels attacked he plays the victim that everyone is there out to get him. In fact, just yesterday, he seemed to liken the probe here to the injustices that africanamericans have faced in the criminal Justice System. Take a listen. Well never let up on our efforts to ensure that our Justice System is fair for every single american. And i have my own experience. You know that. You see what is going on with the witch hunt. It is a terrible thing that is going on in our country. No crimes. Reporter while republicans are meeting on the hill meeting here at the White House Holding phone calls, House Republicans sending out talking points, all of that is moot if they try to get him to focus on the process and he doesnt, it doesnt really matter what they are doing because again he believes he is his own best messenger and he is a team of one. All right. Kristen holmes, thank you so much from the white house. Lets talk further now. With me now is assistant editor for the Washington Post and a cnn political commentator, and a White House Reporter for the associated press. Also joining me ross garber who teaches impeachment law at Tulane University and is a cnn legal analyst. Good to see you all. Ross, what is the significance of the judges ruling ordering all the redacted grand jury information from the Mueller Probe be released to inquiring lawmakers and how might it impact this impeachment inquiry . It could be very significant. There could be a lot of material and stuff we dont know about if that information is actually released. I would be surprised if there werent an appeal here and who knows what happens on appeal . The judges ruling was long and well thought out but there were some controversial pieces to it. What it really relies on is this notion that an impeachment trial as judicial proceeding. Everything sort of turns on that. And it is a concept that the Supreme Court certainly hasnt weighed in on and so this could be a decision that winds up getting reversed on appeal. I think for now the thing to look for is whether it gets appealed. I think it will. And what an Appeals Court does. But then when you appeal if you appeal there needs to be an argument. What would be the argument . Youre talking about disputing the constitutional right of this coequal branch of government. How do you do that . Yeah. So the basic argument is that under the federal rules of criminal procedure grand jury materials can be released only under these circumstances if there is a judicial proceeding and that commonly that means courts. And the constitution. A judicial proceeding is left with a separate branch of government from congress. Its left with the courts. So congress cant get this information would be the argument. Congress can do its own investigation but it cant act as a sort of judicial body and it is not doing a judicial proceeding so it doesnt get grand jury materials. It is a pretty reasonable argument and one a court might actually find persuasive. On the other hand in the nixon situation grand jury materials were given to the house for purposes of an impeachment investigation and in that case the court said that indeed, impeachment inquiries were preliminary to a judicial proceeding and an impeachment trial would be a judicial proceeding. So there is precedent for releasing this information. You know, as with so many of these issues, were sort of on the cutting edge of the law. A lot indeed. So, david, that same judge ruled that the impeachment inquiry as a whole, being held in congress, is legitimate, is lawful, and this comes as the Washington Post reports, your paper reporting, you know, President Trump and his closest advisers now recognize that the snowballing probe poses a serious threat to the president and that they have little power to block it. According to multiple aides and advisers. So with that given, even if there is an appeal on one, you know, decision, that it seems this is snowballing with these depositions particularly, what might be the strategy of the white house even though the president just came out yesterday and said, you know, i am the team. Yeah. Good morning, fred. I think the white house is still trying to figure out its strategy. On the legal front i agree with ross that were likely to see an appeal and it is likely to even go to the Supreme Court at some point but these two things are running on parallel tracks. Democrats are going to keep proceeding with their impeachment investigation whether or not they get certain grand jury materials that might help their investigation but ultimately are not probably from their point of view essential to their investigation. That is a political calculation that democrats are going to have to make. Meanwhile, republicans are facing a reality that because they dont control the house of representatives and dont control the relevant committees there is only so much they can do to sort of stop the impeachment train from pulling out of the station. Thats what theyre figuring right now. The president doesnt want to have a war room or an Emergency Response because that is like admitting a problem. But the problem there is that they do have a problem. So i know folks really need a flow chart because there is a lot going on at once, but ambassador philip reeker who has walked in to testify or be deposed by three committees behind closed doors, he is now the ninth official in this administration to do this. And he apparently, or his track record is, he has communicated with key officials including Rudy Guiliani the personal attorney of the president. Trump himself. Pompeo the secretary of state. And other top aides. So reekers deposition now is coming after a full week of blockbuster testimony and developments in this incomplequ a whole. Bill taylor giving devastating testimony when he told lawmakers trump pushed ukraine to investigate joe biden and his son in exchange for u. S. Military aid to be released. We also learned that lawyers for the whistleblower will not be testifying. And that is something the president is jumping on to call this impeachment a hoax and a witch hunt. These attorneys saying, you know, the whistleblowers testimony and identity to be revealed really is unnecessary because there have been so there has been such a powerful depositions and testimonies taken already. So is that argument on behalf of the attorneys for the whistleblower right . I mean, is that persons testimony, deposition even necessary at this point . You know, in a lot of ways the attorneys are arguing the whistleblowers have already done their job. They started the Snowball Effect here that were seeing play out on capitol hill. And for democrats who at a certain point this is not just a judicial proceeding but a political proceeding, they need to show the American People they are dotting their is and crossing their ts and hearing from the whistleblower in some form may be essential to that at some point. Really what is interesting here is compared to the Mueller Investigation which lasted over two years and began a year before mueller was appointed when the fbi started the beginnings of the russia probe this has been a month and a half now of sort of National Headlines but the daily drip, drip, drip is really what is imperilling the president right now. It is how quickly it is happening is making it much more difficult for the white house to formulate a response. Theyre used to investigations and probes but theyre not used to sort of the steady drip and the daily revelations coming out about the president and people around him. All right. Gentlemen, stick around. Zeke, ross, and david we have so much more straight ahead. Lots to cover. Including this unrelated. Or is it related . An accident buttdial from Rudy Guiliani to an nbc reporter could put the president s attorney in more legal jeopardy. He is on tape smearing president ial candidate joe biden. Plus the mystery behind trumps call with ukraines president. Why did the president suddenly release 400 million worth of critical aid to the country . And later, from top to bottom, the state of california on fire. Flames are tearing through multiple communities as hundreds of thousands are without power in Northern California and Southern California. Many are left to evacuate as well. Were live on the scene. But were also a company that controls hiv, fights cancer, repairs shattered bones, relieves depression, restores heart rhythms, helps you back from strokes, and keeps you healthy your whole life. From the day youre born we never stop taking care of you. To date weve removed over 2 Million Pounds of trash from the ocean. All of our cleanup efforts are funded through the sale of our bracelet. Every bracelet purchased helps with the removal of one pound of trash from the ocean and supports the for ocean cleanup. Visit 4ocean. Com today to become part of the solution. We have no debt, we dont owe anybody anything, and its fantastic the ukraine scandal just took another strange turn and this time it involves buttdialing and the president s personal attorney. According to nbc news Rudy Guiliani accidentally called a reporter there and left not one but two voicemail messages in which guiliani is heard smearing former Vice President joe biden and asking someone for hundreds of thousands of dollars. You cant make this stuff up. Just listen. The problem is we need some money. We need a few hundred thousand. Here to discuss with me all of these things my guests. All back with me. All right. So, david, you get to begin this one. Guiliani once again seems to be operating in this kind of shadowlike way, doing stuff, you know, it is difficult to figure out what it is but with the blessings of the president apparently and guiliani has told our dana bash the call shows he isnt doing anything dishonest. But what might that buttdial reveal . David . Fred, no, the information that is in that transcript you just played there doesnt necessarily suggest anything criminal and its hard to tell exactly whats going on and with the obvious caveats weve all misdialed on our mobile phones, here is the problem with mayor guiliani at this point. His mission as far as we understand it from all of the reporting was to try and make joe biden and hunter biden look swampy. But the conversation while it may not suggest any criminality or specific wrongdoing, makes him look more swampy and by extension to the extent he is representing President Trump makes him look more swampy as well. It sort of defeats the purpose. This is why. It has these elements. You cant figure out the complete pathway of the discussion but it has elements of the president , of money, you know, of the bidens. I mean, so youve got those things in there, which are all potentially leading to incriminating conversations or details or plots. Yeah. Potentially. I mean, again, i think we should be careful to draw too close a conclusion but it tightens this web, puts more bricks in the wall of what democrats are trying to show in this impeachment inquiry. Youve got mayor guiliani there talking to someone named rob who some of the reports speculated, we dont know, is one of his former legal partners, who if that is who it is is a lobbyist for turkeys government, number one. At the same time youve got him talking about the bidens and saying this might influence the 2020 election. Well, that circumstantially suggests one of his motivations for looking into this wasnt just a corruption probe but for a political outcome. We dont know that yet. So, ross, i use the word potentially incriminating. Im no attorney. You are. But i mean add to the litany of words that i mentioned, yes. There is turkey in there. 2020. What do you hear when you hear this kind of cryptic portion of a conversation . Portions. Heres what we know. What we know is it didnt help and it also wasnt planned and calculated and executed thoughtfully. So we know those things. And, look. You can imagine if you were a client in a very, very significant situation, thats not the kind of thing you want to hear from your lawyer. This is not the kind of distraction you want from your lawyer. And at some point, you know, i think that the distractions caused by Rudy Guiliani, the issues caused by Rudy Guiliani for donald trump are just going to get to be too much that even donald trump with his pretty steadfast loyalty to Rudy Guiliani will have just had enough. Rudy guiliani is causing President Trump, you know, significant issues. This is just another issue that Rudy Guiliani has caused. So, zeke, while there are Many Republican lawmakers who seem to be distancing themselves from guiliani. But, you know, those same lawmakers may not be distancing themselves from the presiden