General is scheduled to testify on friday, which caps a very busy week ahead in this impeachment inquiry. Joining us now cnn Political Correspondent abby phillip and cnn political director david shine. Great to have both of you. For a congress known as do nothing, they have certainly shifted into a higher gear in terms of theyre supposed to be on recess, and all of these developments that have just come out, all of the people theyre calling, the records theyre subpoenaing, i mean, this is quite a week. Yeah, i think while most of the congress is out, it was made clear by adam schiff that his intention committee was going to continue to work on this and not lose any of the momentum that they had in all you remember how sort of rapid fire the developments have been coming last week, and so if they were just going to go away and say well get back to this in a couple of weeks, that could have really caused a problem in terms of standing up the impeachment inquiry that nancy pelosi announced. The Intelligence Committee continuing to do their work so when the rest come back theres going to be a road map and a path for how this impeachment inquiry is going to play out this fall. What really interests me is that the defense or the strategy if there is one that this white house and its allies have taken has been blowing up in their face at times. The Inspector General of the Intelligence Community who is a trump appointee, felt the need to respond to things that the president and his allies have been saying. Theyve been saying its just hearsay what this whistleblower said. The Inspector General whos a trump appointee said no, no, no, it counts, and you know what, i have other stuff here. Let me read you what he wrote. He said in short the icig did not find that the complainant could find nothing more than secondhand or unsubstantiated assertions. The icig said other information obtained during the prelame nar review supported the complainants allegations. The substance there is fascinating to me and also the fact of we went through two years of the Mueller Investigation where he never responded to the term witch hunt. The argument by the president s allies has been on two fronts. One, theyve alleged some kind of conspiracy in which the Inspector General the Inspector General of the ic had somehow changed the whistleblower laws to allow a secondhand information, which also this letter says is not true. But then you hear Lindsey Graham going out repeatedly saying you cant get a parking ticket based on hearsay, which first of all is not true. But also, it does not apply here. They are making it clear that the information contained in this letter, some of which is secondhand. The details of the call are secondha secondhand, but that was verified by the transcript of the call itself, and then subsequently, i think this letter from the icig really lays it forces you to read this whistleblower complaint a little bit more closely because it says this person did have direct knowledge of some of the things they talked about in this letter, a, and b, they are subject Matter Experts that gives even more credence to the kinds of things they have to say. I think it really is one of the tro strongest forms of pushback weve seen from a trump appointee mind you about a narrative that is coming from all sides amongs president the allies. Its not just the president who may be in trouble with an impeachment inquiry beginning. Its all high level people around him. So obviously his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been implicated in much of this. When you hear the report as well as the rough transcript. Attorney general bill barr and secretary of state mike pompeo, and there was this interesting moment where mike pompeo has been asked what he knows about some of this pressuring of foreign leaders. This is his purview, so martha rad dat rad dats asked him what he knows about that july 25th call with the ukrainian president. Here was his answer. What do you know about those conversations . So you just gave me a report about a whistleblower complaint, none of which ive seen. He was on that phone call we now know. He was on that phone call. I love that you said answer with a question mark. What was that . It was a deliberate nonanswer. I mean, Martha Raddatz was talking about a wall street journal report at the time about giuliani being mentioned eight times by the president. He just went straight to that report. Her question was if he knew anything about the call. He chose not to answer that question. He just made up some smoke screen over here. I mean, i really think the question is if mike pompeo was on that call, why wasnt he the whistleblower . Like why did he listen to that call and hear the way the president behaimaeved and remai silent . We dont know if he remains silent within the walls of the west wing. There are all sorts of advisers and people around the president who are not comfortable with this and who actually went to the whistleblower to tell the whistleblower about their discomfort and may i add moved the transcript, the total transcript of that call into the secret code word protected computer. I dont know that mike pompeo was one of the people supplying information to the whistleblower, but maybe, i guess. Maybe. I wouldnt count on it. In answer to the question martha asked, he most definitely didnt say everything because i was listening to it, which would have been the most honest version he could have given. Its interesting to me that mike pompeo was even on this call in the first place. Based on our reporting its not that common for the secretary of state to be on foreign leader calls, and we also reported yesterday that john bolton, who was the National Security adviser at the time, was not on the call. So there is Something Interesting happening here in the fact that pompeo was on the call in the first place. It suggests that he well, obviously he knew what the president said on that call and then subsequently when there were conversations within the white house about whether or not the call should be the transcript of the call should be released, pompeo was one of the voices that said i dont think we should release this. He cited precedents in those conversations. Obviously he knew the substance and the context of what was discussed and did not think that it was going to be helpful to the president s case. Ultimately, he was right about that. This transcript did not put a lid on this controversy. It actually in some cases really blew the lid completely off of it and opened up a window for democrats to move forward with this impeachment inquiry. And it makes him a witness. It makes him a witness now, and its going to make his life uncomfortable in the coming days and weeks. Theres also reporting, david, that there were all sorts of people on these calls. Our jamie gangel reports that when john kelly was the chief of staff, he would often have these calls with foreign leaders on speakerphone and that people, john kelly advised people to go in and babysit these phone calls because the president was so unprepared, and he would go off on tangents and john kelly would sometimes mute the phone so people around the president could give him better direction and guidance of what to say so i think there were lots of people listening to these calls. I would just note this wasnt a typical foreign leader call. We have the actual call rough transcript to show us that it wasnt. It was a mission to get joe biden investigated, and a mission to pursue a Conspiracy Theory about the dnc server and how the 2016 election was hacked. This wasnt just a congratulatory typical call and concern that the president may speak odd and funny with World Leaders. This was the president of the United States wanting to get on a call with a foreign leader to do his bidding in his domestic politicaluati situation. There was nothing routine about this call. This isnt the wacky way President Trump talks to World Leaders. This is about what we have now seen in black and white, which democrats say is evidence the president pressured a foreign leader to act on his behalf for political gain. David chal yan, Abby Phillips thank you. We have a rare interview with one of the Democratic Front ru runners, senator Elizabeth Warren and her husband speak to cnn exclusively. Toglass. They have exclusive technology and service i can trust. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Great customizes your caru wheninsurance, tual so you only pay for what you need. Wow. Thanks, zoltar. How can i ever repay you . Maybe you could free zoltar . Thanks, lady. Taxi only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Youre stronger than you know. So strong. 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The my account app makes todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Not my thing. All right, this morning as weve seen republicans struggling to defend President Trump amid the flurry of developments on ukraine. John avlon here with a reality check on this defense, john. Yeah, theres some awkward moments because the facts of the ukraine whistleblower case are bad, and so the president s defenders are sounding a little bit desperate in he cent dayrec. First, theres denial. President trump set the tone here with a tweet, quote, it was a perfect conversation with the ukraine president. The all caps does make it more convincing mr. President. Weve seen the transcript you released, and its not good. Maybe the only person who hasnt seen the transcript was House Minority leader kevin mccarthy. What do you make of this exchange . President zelensky says we are almost ready to buy more javelins from the United States for defense purposes, and President Trump replies. I would like you to do us a favor, though. You just added another word. No, its in the transcript. You said i would like you to do a favor though . Yes, its in the white house transcript. Oops as rick perry might say. That deer in the headlights moment was awkward. Its only one step away from the hearsay defense weve heard. Heres senator Lindsey Graham. Its all hearsay. You cant get a parking ticket conviction based on hearsay. The whistleblower didnt hear the phone call. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines hearsay as the same thing as a rumor, unverified and unsubstantiated. The trump Inspector General found the complaint was credible and urgent. Its been backed up by the call transcript. So its not hearsay. Theres the deep state dodge, which includes the accusation that the whistleblower regulations were steersmysterio changed weeks ago. That is false. Whistleblower allegations have to be corroborated and thats exactly what happened here. How about the i know you are but what am i, exemplified by Stephen Miller . The president of the United States is the whistleblower, and this individual is a saboteur. Got that . The whistleblower followed all the proper procedures. They are literally a whistleblower. While the president is literally not. Theres also the classic project and deflect for surrogates like jim gordon present trump as an anticorruption. Muddying the waters between fact and fiction can result in a loss of cross talk. And then statements like this. You know, youve got an opinion. Ive got an opinion. All got opinions. Thats also called the ron burgundy defense. Agree to disagree. Except this isnt a comedy. Its our country, and its really not that much to ask members of congress to have a factbased debate, and thats your reality check. We always appreciate a good ron burgundy reference. Number one. Number two, in terms of a factbased defense or analysis, you know, intel chair adam schiff has i think understandably upset the president because he did this whole riff as though what it would sound like if he were a mob boss. This is at the hearing for dni maguire, and he read it like it was a page from the god father. Is that a problem for this it is a problem. It was a huge mistake. It was an unforceder r error, sf never should have done it. Its not treason, which is perhaps the larger issue. I get the point. Thank you. Senator Elizabeth Warr surging in the polls and she takes her president ial pitch to voters. Theres one person weve not heard from in her camp, warrens husband speaking out in his first interview. If she does become the nominee, she will go up against President Trump. Are you ready for that . Were reporters from the new york times. No flights. No roads. Were trying to figure out what animals are being affected. Galapagos is a really challenging place to work. El nino is starting to go haywire. Everywhere is going to get touched by climate change. Senator Elizabeth Warren is trying to become the first woman president , and that would make her husband of nearly 40 years the first gentleman. How does he feel about that and more . The pair talked exclusively to cnns mj lee. And she joins us now. Senator warrens campaign has obviously had a lot of political momentum lately, and for the First Time Since she announced her campaign on new years eve, her husband bruce is speaking out. We sat down with him, and then the couple together, and we talked about a whole range of things including the story of how they met 40 years ago, and a previously unreported reporting about their deliberations over whether senator warren should jump into the 2020 race and how they might be preparing for a match up against President Trump. So lets talk about the two of you. This is your first joint interview of the campaign. It is. How did you two meet . Oh, at a pink hotel. Yep, yep, in key biscayne. Meet bruce man, a Harvard Law School professor better known these days as Elizabeth Warrens husband. So 1979. Yes. You meet senator warren. What was she like . Oh, first, let me set the scene because. Please. Its completely improbable. The two met when they were 29 years old, attending a Law Conference in florida. Warren had recently separated from her first husband jim warren. As i approached the reception across the lawn, from about, oh, i dont know, 25 yards away, the i saw elizabeth talking to a couple of people, and the and even from that distance, i was just i was just drawn to her. I mean, she was so lively, so animated, so engaged. I just fell for her from 25 yards out before even meeting. Love at first sight . For me, yes, it took her a couple of days. And you . I was much slower. That was a sunday Late Afternoon when we met. Thats right. I wasnt completely in love with him until sometime midmorning on monday. He was in the row ahead of me down at the other end of the row, and it was on monday when i actually saw him in shorts and good looking legs. Wow. Yeah. Thats when i was all in. Thats right. She completely objectified me. Its true. As the couple tells it, it was a whirlwind romance built on a shared olove of teaching and academia and a bond over their similar upbringings. Months after they met it was warren who popped the question. It was in the fall, and id watched him teach a class, which id never done before, so im sitting in the back of the room while hes teaching. He taught a really good glass, and students lots of interaction, students asked him questions. And he walks back in this big empty classroom, he looks down at me and he says, well, what did you think . And i said great, will you marry me . And he said. Yes. Yes. And that was it. That was it. I got to see him in one you know, got to see h