[laughter] 's beauty once the plural of most? >> katie: meese. >> juan: , no it's not. set your dvr. never miss an episode of "the five." >> hailing from a place where the moose is a national animal, the plural of moose is moose not meese. [laughter] see you tomorrow. thanks, juan. ♪ president trump last democrats over the impeachment and glory and urges china to dig deeper into the bidens. plus, the democrats get their first deposition but some republicans say he is blowing holes in the democratic case for impeachment. bernie will be back on the trail. the question is when. we will let you know. this is a "special report" ." good evening and welcome to

washington. i'm john roberts and for bret baier. at this hour, president trump has just arrived back to the white house from florida where he delivered more sharp criticism to democrats over what he called impeachment crap. earlier double down on his calls were joe biden and has on to be investigated, now saying china should look into them, too. this is house democrats getting their first deposition in the impeachment inquiry and the state department's former specil envoy to ukraine. correspondent richardson joins us now from the north lawn with this. good evening. >> good evening, john. president trump has just returned to the white house, walked over to some supporters on a cell phone, then walked into the white house. the president is defending his conduct, knocking the impeachment inquiry and now pushing two countries now to investigate former vice president joe biden and his son. >> china should start an investigation into the bidens. >> president trump wants china to investigate hunter bidens

time on a corporate advisory board and whether he profited from his father, then vice president joe biden. they've denied any wrongdoing. >> what happened to china is just about as bad as what happened with ukraine. >> the president again pushed ukraine's president to investigate the former vice president and his son. >> i would say that president zelensky, if it were me, i would recommend that they start an investigation into the bidens. >> biden's campaign says the president is lying and desperately clutching to conspiracy theories. in congress, democrats are running their impeachment inquiry, investigating second of state mike pompeo, attorney general william barr, and the president's attorney rudy giuliani. on a conference call, house speaker nancy pelosi said, "i think that our chairman used really good word for barr and pompeo and giuliani, and they are henchmen." house minority leader kevin mccarthy rode this bigger this morning requesting she spent all impeachment efforts until house democrats

establish transparent rules governing it. the president received support from his vice president, mike pence. >> the american people have the right to know whether or not the vice president of the united states or his family profited from his position. you look at the video of vice president biden and you see there was clearly a quid pro quo. >> mike pence and other republicans charge then vice president biden pushed out a ukrainian prosecutor for investigating a natural gas company. his son, hunter, served on the company's board. bidens defenders have pointed out that american allies in western europe also pushed ukraine to fire the prosecutor over corruption concerns. >> president zelensky, it is a great honor to meet you. >> now a report from "the washington post" claiming the president repeatedly involved vice president mike pence and efforts to pressure the leader of ukraine to investigate the bidens. the president instructed pence to stay home and made from the inauguration of ukrainian president boulder mayor zelinski. the post reports officials close

to pence and says he was unaware of the president's efforts to press ukraine for damaging information. the vice president's office also said the report is glorifying a grand conspiracy by disgruntled former employees. this, as the vice president is now saying there are legitimate questions that ought to be asked about his predecessor. john? >> john: rich edson at the white house with the president returns but did not take any questions. kurt volker was relatively unknown until his name came up several times in the whistle-blower's complaint. the former special envoy to ukraine resigned shortly after the complaint came out. but today, he appeared before house investigation to answer questions about whether the president or anyone in his administration pressured ukraine to investigate his political rival. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge with the report from capitol hill. >> former special envoy to ukraine, kurt volker, navigated congressional security, than a closed-door transcribed interview with house

investigators. volker resigned after the whistle-blower complaint alleged he tried to "contain the damage from rudy giuliani's ukraine investigation into joe 100 biden." and that volker advised if you knew ukrainian leadership how to " out navigate the demands the president made to president zelensky during the july 25th phone call." during a break, republicans said volker's testimony was a bust. >> as i said, he has said nothing that -- nothing that coincides with other democrats are staying with her whole impeachment narrative. >> while releasing a stats packages with volker, giuliani said that he gave the state president his biden research. giuliani said it was volker reached out to him. on july 25th phone call that's part of the whistle-blower complaint, volker testified giuliani describing the "great call with ukrainian president," exactly the right messages as we discussed. in another series of encrypted's tech messages in obtained by

mike emanuel, see near diplomats talked about the suspension of military aid to ukraine for a top diplomat to ukraine, ambassador bill taylor text, "i think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign." the u.s. ambassador to the european union, gordon, who contributed a million dollars to trump's inaugural fund, response, "the president has been crystal clear. no quid pro quo's of any kind," adding mr. trump is "trying to evaluate whether ukraine is truly going to adopt anticorruption reform. i suggest we stop the back and forth by text." >> do you have any comment about the interview -- we will not have any comment until it's concluded. >> secretary pompeo had never promised rudy giuliani would investigate anything about ukraine. the source adding the only ukrainian work that secretary pompeo oversaw was ambassador volker's efforts to reduce corruption as other matters in ukraine and just for some context, john, that

closed-door session with the ambassador is now entering its ninth hour and that's a care facility at the house and diligence committee. >> john: catherine herridge on capitol hill. i know that you will keep watching for us. president trump is known to use twitter to fire off his opinions on everything from lawmakers to the media. but as the impeachment inquiry goes into high gear on capitol hill, is it time for the president to find a broader system of defense? correspondent david spunt with a closer look. >> the statement i made was perfect. it was perfect. >> absolutely perfect phone call. >> the conversation was perfect. >> the conversation i had was absolutely perfect. >> perfect, a theme for president trump as he fights the word impeachment. a tempest brewing stronger by the day. with just a few words last week. >> the house of representatives to move forward with an official impeachment inquiry. >> the the presidents world ch. administration source tells fox news the white house team is

mounting a vigorous defense, while those close to the president are planed on the idea of a formal war room. >> i will tell you, there should not be. it the reason is, a war room is going to imply that you don't have the internal resources to combat what's going on. >> former trump campaign manager and close confidant corey lewandowski doesn't work for the white house but gave us part of the staff's playbook. >> you let trump be trump. you understand with the messaging is that he wants to articulate, and then you subsidize that with additional messaging points if you are in a longer interview process. >> white house officials don't like the term "war room." >> who started the war? he's a must battle-tested person i've ever met. why do we need an impeachment war room when the other people should have the burden of showing why they are impeaching a president? >> war room, rapid response team, whatever you want to call it, a man who knows what has messaging thanks a formal strategy would benefit president trump. >> if i were the white house, but i would do, mostly to mollify the critics in washington, is just organize an

entity inside the white house that is going to be the focal point for rebutting all things impeachment. >> the white house may not have a formal war room come up with a trump campaign has a twitter account called "trump war room." he bill clinton was impeached during his second term in office. the rnc that is total disposal. >> john: we'll see if the key is letting the president lead the way. david spunt, thank you very much. the french government is promising the european union will respond in kind to the u.s. decision to impose tariffs on a range of its exports, all of its yogurt, fruit, and large aircraft are among the european imports at the trump administration plans to head with tariffs over a case involving illegal e.u. subsidies for aircraft giant airbus. the tariffs will range from ten to 25% and to take effect later on this month. stocks dropped early in the day after a report showed growth in the u.s. service sector slowed in september to the lowest level

in three years, raising concerns of a weakening economy. the markets are covered throughout the day, finishing up. the dow was up substantially, 122. the s&p 500 finished ahead to 23 by the nasdaq closed 87 points higher. the adp private sector jobs report came out slightly stronger by expected, setting the stage for tomorrow morning's labor department. turning to the 2020 campaign, vice president joe biden is sharpening his defense against the president's attacks on him and his son, hunter. it looks like bernie sanders may be down but not out. correspondent peter doocy with our report tonight from las vegas. >> the politician promising a political revolution is making progress in a las vegas hospital tonight. bernie sanders is up and about and cracking jokes, according to his wife, jane, who adds, "there has been no need for any additional procedures. we expect bernie will be discharged and on the plane back to burlington before the end of the weekend."

it's not clear how sick sanders was but "the wall street journal" reports that a sanders spokesman originally said the senator did not have a heart attack, but later said more tests would be run to determine that diagnosis. just last month, sanders went over his medical history with dr. oz. >> 78 years old, he's strong, his heart muscle is fine. it's not going to impact his future. but if he ignored the pain, that could have been a catastrophe. >> the 78-year-old said he tries to keep healthy habits, although sometimes eats dinner too late and only sleeps five or six hours a night. >> the campaign trail is really not conducive to good health habits but what i tried to do as much as i can's walk. i'm a big walker. >> sanders fights for a clean bill of health, joe biden is trying to clear his name. >> i'm not going anywhere. [cheers and applause] >> biden believes president trump fears facing him next year and argues he never abused his power as obama's vp. >> we weren't pressing ukraine to get rid of a tough

prosecutor. we were pursuing ukraine to replace a weak prosecutor who wouldn't do his job. >> of democratic rivals want to press biden on this, the next debate is in 12 days. bernie sanders says he will be there for what will be his 13th primary debate in a row dating back to last cycle. >> throw your hands up! >> bernie sanders is the only democrat running this time who also ran last time. we don't know if we are going to see him on the campaign trail before that next debate in ohio because he does plan to rest even once he leaves the hospital where he is about to spend a third night in a row and where he just found out that the $25 million he raised in the third quarter is $10 million more than the number joe biden just announced a few minutes ago, 15 million. john? >> john: we wish him well. he's a tough bird to be sure. peter doocy in las vegas. thank you. up next, new details on just

what a vaping related illness does to the body. first, though, here are some of what our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. fox 25 in gulfport were 87 parachuting soldiers were blown into trees. 32 of them were injured, and 18 hospitalized, after a nighttime parachuting exercise at a mississippi military base. an army spokesman says the paratroopers were among 650 soldiers that were jumping last night. one of those injured he suffered a broken back but is expected to make a full recovery. fox 45 in baltimore break coast guard lieutenant epic cues are stockpiling weapons in targg supreme court justices, prominent democrats, and television journalist, pleaded guilty today to gun and drug offenses. federal prosecutors have described christopher hassett as a domestic terrorist but they have not filed any terrorism related charges against him since his arrest back in february. he faces 31 years in prison. and this is a live look out

las vegas from fox 5. the big story they are tonight, other than bernie sanders, mgm will pay up to $800 million to settle lawsuits that came out of the largest mass shooting in u.s. history. hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against the owner of the resort where the gunman opened fire into an outdoor concert in 2017, killing 58 people. mgm resorts chairman said he hopes the settlement will help in the healing process for the victims families. that is tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we will be right back. ♪ ♪ (dramatic orchestra) performance comes in lots of flavors. there's the amped-up, over-tuned, feeding-frenzy-of sheet-metal-kind. and then there's performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result.

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it's a different kind of wireless network, designed to save you money. switch and save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill. plus, get $250 back when you buy an eligible phone. that's simple. easy. awesome. call, click, or visit a store today. ♪ >> john: the number of deaths and illnesses from vaping is on the rise, and just what it does to the body is now being narrowed down. there is as we learn that there is a new push back against the banning of flavored e-cigarettes. correspondent jonathan serrie with an update for us tonight from atlanta. >> although most patients became ill after vaping products containing thc, and active ingredient in marijuana, scientists have yet to find the specific cause of sick beer longer injuries and more than 1,000 people. >> we are continuing to see new cases occur. we recognize that people -- we

recommend that people avoid using e-cigarettes are vaping products, particularly ones wit. >> in a study published in "the new england journal of medicine," mayo winick researchers describe the damage they signed biopsies from 17 patients. >> something within the vapor is directly caustic or injurious to the long. it's causing the cells to be injured and die. >> vaping is suspected in 1,080 cases of severe respiratory illness, resulting in 18 deaths in 15 states. the cdc also released a report suggesting that among youth who use tobacco products, more than half of middle school students and more than two-thirds of high school students used flavored e-cigarettes. >> they lure them was a sweet flavor such as fruit, candy, chocolate, menthol, mint. >> this week, ohio's republican governor called on legislators to ban flavored vaping products but an executive order banning flavored babes in massachusetts

is facing a legal challenge from vaped shop owners. >> they were denied an opportunity for a public hearing to be heard so they could exchange information and evidence and ideas. >> there is also pushed back at federal level. "the hill" reports that a cola version -- abandon plans to ban flavored vaping products, saying it would reduce options for adults trying to quicken cigarettes. jon cryer! >> john: a lot of complaints about big government with that band. jonathan serrie, thanks. a new new reports of the trump administration is turning to the private sector to help see what the number of migrant children in the united states. in a move that some believes stands to benefit a former administration official. the administration says the move is better for the kids. correspondent doug mckelway reports tonight. >> what to do with thousands of migrant children, some smuggled across mexico in hopes of reuniting with family in the u.s.?

the trump administration is turning to the private sector. "the associated press" and pbs's frontline report how chs, comprehensive health services, want a no bid government contract to care for one fourth of the estimated 72,000 children apprehended this year. while housed at a huge detentio, florida. hhs plans to expand this for-profit program, anchoring the nonprofits who run most attention care. >> the concerns are profiteering off of families and kids and adults. i think people are just concerned that this migrant flow and that care and custody of these kids and adults is just like anything else. business. >> the trump administration seized the for-profit choice as a temporary, least hurtful option given the sheer numbers of migrants who have overwhelmed the government's capacity to accommodate them. >> ideally we want all of our kids, and they all now all of our kids, and permanent

facilities, that are state licensed, that are small, that's the goal. >> the choice is only inflamed democrats, many of whom visited the homestead detention center in june. >> corporations should not be making money out of imprisoning people. >> further angering opponents, former white house chief of staff general john kelly recently joined the board of chs's parent company. they did not respond to our request for comment. at present, the homestead facility is empty of detainees as cases have been adjudicated. but chs continues to be paid by the government, a safe guard secretary azores has come against being caught unprepared in the event of a new wave of migration. jon cryer! >> john: doug mckelway reporting. thanks. up next to my bret baier talks with author peter schweizer about his research into hunter biden's business dealings. first, beyond our borders tonight, nearly three dozen people have died during three days of massive antigovernment protests in iraq. in baghdad today, security forces fired live bullets and

tear gas against protesters who came out in force despite a curfew. authorities have also cut internet access across much of a rock in an attempt to stop the protesters from organizing. french officers a four people died in a stabbing at its paris accordance before the attacker was shot to death. the officials say the assailant was an administrative employee who they said never posed any problems before. after nearly two months of promises for solutions to brexit, prime minister boris johnson's proposals were slammed today by the european parliament supervisory brexit group, saying they do not match even remotely what is needed for a compromise. the brexit steering group said the proposals put on the table ahead of the october 31st deadline where a step backwards instead of forwards toward an overall deal. just some of the other stories beyond our borders tonight. we'll be right back. ♪

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♪ >> john: questions over the extended business dealings involving donald trump's children have dogged his presidency. so, too, though, have long-standing concerns raised about democratic presidential front-runner joe biden's son, hunter, and has business ventures in china and ukraine. my colleague bret baier spoke with peter schweizer, author of the book on the bidens titled "secret empires." he is also president of the right-leaning government accountability institute. he recounts a key overseas trip

that then vice president took with his son six years ago. >> december of 2013, joe biden flies to beijing, china, on air force two. on the plane with him is his son, hunter biden. this is a very controversial visit by biden. the chinese have extended their military presence into the south china sea. frankly, he gets criticized on the trip for going soft on beijing. what we now know is that ten days after they returned from that trip, hunter bidens small investment firm announced a $1.5 billion private equity deal with the chinese government. it was an unusual deal, it was done through the shanghai free-trade zone. in fact, no other major investment firm had this, not deutsche bank, not goldman, not jpmorgan. so it was a highly highly unusual deal. >> bret: what specifically was the deal? >> it was a private investment

firm, basically an investment fund by which the chinese government entities, including their social security pension funds and others, would put money into the funds and then those funds would be interested overseas. they bought companies in the united states, they bought companies in china, and africa and around the world. so it's an investment business and hunter biden was on the board of directors, and his business partner, devin archer, was the vice chairman and also a member of the investment committee. so they were directly involved in the operation and management of this investment firm. >> how many times have you ever spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings? >> i've never spoken to my son about his business dealings. >> we've heard over the past few days, the former vice president saying he did not talk to us ons dealings. we have seen that picture of devin archer and hunter golfing with the vice president. >> yeah, exactly. the photograph shows the interaction. we also have the words of the

chinese executives involved in this investment firm. they told reporters that during match 2013, december 2013 trip on air force two, they were introduced to the vice president by hunter biden. >> bret: fast forward from december 13, a few months, this ukrainian deal starts to develop. >> that's right. a very curious, bret. joe biden is appointed the point person to two countries on policy, china and ukraine. in both of those countries, they happen to be the epicenters of hunter biden's business activities. so in february 2014, the government falls, the russians move into crimea, there is a crisis situation. joe biden becomes the point person on the western response and ukraine. literally two months after that event, hunter biden and devin archer are appointed to the

board of directors of burisma, notoriously corrupt energy company. there are a lot of private equity firms that would report at the time that they would not deal with burisma because of its origins. we know that payday is huge, bret, because we have financial records that indicate that hunter biden and devin archer were each paid $83,000 a month for serving on that board. hunter biden joined the board in april of 2014. he read remained there until earlier this year. his take was more than $3 million. the problem is, bret, just like in china, and the case of ukraine, he has no background that would warrant him getting this position. he has no background in energy policy, and he certainly has no background and ukraine. >> bret: on the financial documents, it's listed, robert biden. >> yes, that's right. that's his legal name, robert h biden. what you see in that financial

account, bret, is really kind of something unusual. you see the money coming from burisma and ukraine, but there's too a lot of other foreign money that's moving into that account that we can't account for. >> bret: democrats say there was nothing proven wrong, that the vice president at the time in relation to all of this. they always say, there is nothing, zero wrong, zero evidence. is there zero evidence? >> i think, bret, it's follow the money. if you ask the average american rather it was the biden family or the trump family that you have the adult child of the vice president traveling to china and then inking a major private equity deal with a foreign government, the american people are going to have a problem with that. and i just think it's sort of a bazaar inside the beltway mentality to say that there is nothing inappropriate about it. the bottom-line question for me, bret, hunter biden was not being paid by the chinese or by the

ukrainians for his expertise. he does not have expertise in these areas by any stretch of the imagination. >> bret: since you bring up the trumps, that is often a push back when they say that ivanka trump is getting copyrights for businesses in china and the trump sounds are doing business in dubai and other places with their father's name. >> yeah, i think those are issues that can be of concern and ivories those concerns but i think there is a huge distinction here. in the case of the trump family, like them or not, these are businesses that were pre-existing. ivanka trump's shoe business, she had applied for these patterns earlier from the chinese before her father ran for president. of course the trump family has hotels around the world. in the case of hunter biden, he literally started his investment firm, rosemont seneca partners, months after his father became vice president. up until that point, his job was serving as a lobbyist for the online gambling industry.

we got access to these bank accounts because hunter biden's business partner, devin archer, went on trial in new york on fraud charges. we obtain the financial records from prosecutors. but there is a lot of money flowing in there and flowing out that we don't know where it's going to do and we don't know where it's coming from. and that is a major problem because foreign countries desperately want to influence our decision leaders, and one of the ways they try to do it is by essentially striking lucrative deals with their children to get the parents to give them favorable treatment. >> bret: how is it possible that the obama administration did not have a problem with this? >> again, we don't know. we do know that questions were raised about the ukraine deal with burisma almost immediately. but apparently he was allowed to continue to do it. so they were certainly aware of that one, and to me, i can't understand for the life of me why they did not tell the vice president your son needs to stop doing this because it just

looks so bad. the china deal, i don't think anybody was aware of. we uncovered it by going through chinese corporate records. it had not been previously reported. >> bret: when democrats on the hill repeatedly say that the vice president and the ukrainian situation was acting on the behest of the administration and other european countries to get rid of that prosecutor, thereby, he was not affecting hunter biden or burisma directly, how do you respond to that? >> what i think his other two are not mutually exclusive. the fact that the prosecutor was corrupt or not corrupt, the fact that the other people wanted him out for other reasons is irrelevant. for the vice president, whose son is being investigated by this prosecutor, and that is what he said in a deposition, and others have confirmed that, for the vice president to be they want to pull the trigger on this prosecutor, and to, in the video, state a quid pro quo, is completely and totally inappropriate. >> bret: when you come out of

some of this and you have done that before, democrats call you a conspiracy theorist, say that you are a conservative attack dog. you've done it for both parties, though. >> yeah, if you look at my books, "sacred empires," it's probably 50/50 republicans and democrats. yes, i am a conservative but my views are facts are facts, and everything that we have spoken about, the amount of money, the timing of these transactions, the visits, the entities involved, the arrangements in china, are all based on records and documents. we don't use anonymous sources. this is all based on public record, so i don't understand why follow the money and explaining what hunter biden is doing in china and his corporate ties and has financial ties, i don't understand why that is a conspiracy theory. that's just reporting the facts and saying that we need to have more facts to find out what was going on.

>> bret: peter, as always, thank you. >> thanks, bret. >> john: reached out to the biden campaign for a reaction about the former vp's role with ukraine and china in the interview and we have yet to hear back. democrats get their first testimony in their impeachment inquiry as president trump urges china to look into the bidens. we'll discuss with our panel coming up next. ♪ saturdays happen. pain happens. aleve it. aleve is proven better on pain than tylenol. when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong.

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♪ >> once again, to have the president of the united states suggesting, urging foreign countries to interfere in our presidential elections. >> you look at the whistle-blower's complaint, it's totally inaccurate. the conversation that i had was absolutely perfect. >> i think we go forward and follow the facts. >> john: a summation of where we are today with the impeachment proceedings of the house. let's bring a number panel now to discuss this and some events

that continue to be ongoing for a charles hurt, the opinion editor for "the washington times" is with us. a.b. stoddard, associate editor at realclearpolitics, and fox news contributor steve hayes. they say some things are still going on. kurt volker is now in its ninth hour of an interview off there and the house. we'll talk about that in just a minute. a.b., where are we with impeachment today and what kind of day do you think president trump had? >> well, i mean, the president was facing impeachment because of his phone call with the ukrainian president. the transcript of which the administration released, where, without a quid pro quo or any kind of questions of extortion, he was asking for the help of a foreign government. today he helped with the help of others, there's been reporting he's asked for help from australia and britain and now he is asking the chinese and admitting it out of the open. he is not allowed to do that. so far republicans who are completely silent on this, they

were in a really bad corner. he puts them in a bad one every day. they either have to say there is a new set of rules were president trump, and there will be for president warren, she'll be able to declare a national emergency and take away congress appropriated and approved funds from military construction progress, suspend to spend thar pride projects and sit in the oval office and ask foreign governments for help in her election in which case we don't need a congress. or they will say that this is a problem. and they are on recess so they remain in hiding except for the ones who love to come to the cameras and defend the president but this is very, very tough for republicans to defend. he is literally trying to break the system. it's a system that he has sworn an oath to and they have to be for the system and not the man. so it's regrettable for them. >> john: okay, i was going to play the sound of president trump calling out to china but time is short. i will skip that. we know what he said. he reached out to china. to me, steve, it's a strategy

where he's kind of normalizing what may look like unusual behavior and may have the effect of watering down this conversation that he had with ukraine if he's asking everybody for help. why is ukraine special? >> on the one hand, i think doing it out in the open allows republicans to say, he's doing it out in the open, he's not trying to hide anything. but you have to stop and think about what he said today. the president of the united states asked communist china to conduct an investigation into his political rivals. this is the same communist trend of the president has accused of stealing intellectual property, manipulating the currency, breaking deals, bad faith on trade. but if china produces an investigative report that condemns joe biden -- >> john: you don't think they will do that, do you? >> why would the president asked? the president is asking a

request that would be ridiculous if they honored it. you don't believe what the communist chinese say. i agree with a.b. this was a bad day for the president, another bad day for the president because the reality of the situation of the president is openly asking american -- foreign leaders, enemies and friends, conduct an investigation. >> john: originally, all of this impeachment hysteria began because donald trump allegedly colluded with russians in 2016 election. then it turned out that actually he didn't. it was a democrat who did that. then they were all upset because he did not take the russian meddling in the 2016 election seriously enough and they were going to impeach and because of that. now that he is asking foreign governments to help uncover the foreign meddling in the 2016 election, he is going to be impeached for that. >> he is asking about joe biden! >> okay, fine. it's not his fault that joe biden is obligated and all of this play that's not his fault. the first time he did this, that

really hilarious moment which of course no one in washington has a sense of humor, hilarious moment when he said, that if anyone in russia has hillary's emails, please let them go. it was hysterical. of course, everyone here got their knickers in a bunch and had heart attacks but of course, voters around the country could not care less. it did not matter to them. the idea that we are now going to have an impeachment hearing based on something that had already happened once before, and voters did not give a crap about his band ridiculous. >> john: let me jump in there because we have to go to a quick break. we'll get more about this. stay tuned. here at... snowfest...

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and people inside from accidentally visiting sites that aren't secure. and if someone trys we'll let you know. xfi advanced security. if it's connected, it's protected. call, click, or visit a store today. ♪ >> ambassador volker has been very impressive and i said, has said nothing that -- nothing that coincides with up with what the democrats are saying with their whole impeachment narrative. >> the argument for -- in favor of an allegation of quid pro quo basically today just blew a massive hole throughout the entirety of that argument waits to go deposition is planned for next week. >> john: congressman jim jordan and lee zeldin talking about what they heard from kurt volker, the former u.s. special representative, special envoy to the ukraine. we are back with our panel.

a.b., you are saying that the president has put republicans in a difficult spot but there is two republicans coming out soon, what we are hearing from volker -- >> two republicans -- >> john: its blowing holes and that the democrats'. >> the reporting out of "the washington post" from the ongoing testimony is that he told rudy giuliani, do not trust your sources in ukraine and that he told president zelensky after his phone call with trump, do not get involved with u.s. politics. you are vulnerable, you need this aid, don't get into a situation where it looks like you are taking the side of one of the political parties. you need bipartisan support for an independent and strong ukraine. this is a bad means to your end. i don't know what the end result of this testimony is going to be. i think that the fact that the reporting out today shows that he told giuliani he intervened to stop what giuliani was doing -- >> john: he also texted giuliani the day after the president had a phone call with him on july 25th to say, hi,

mr. mayor, you may have for the president had a great call with the ukrainian president yesterday, exactly the right messages as we discussed. which is it? >> i think we will learn a lot more about what ambassador volker sat behind closed doors. i think the obvious question, we can look at the details, the treason, the big question for m, what about the forest? what is rudy giuliani doing? he's clearly going to solicit dirt from a foreign power on the president's ostensibly top political rival. there are channels, there are proper channels, within which to do this. it would be appropriate for the dresses department to take a look at this. you could have a treaty, a mutual agreement between the ukrainian law enforcement apparatus and the u.s. to do an investigation. it doesn't have a president leading on this. i think people involved in this know what outcome the president

wants. >> john: the state department went so far to say that secretary pompeo did not seek to investigate the dossier of information that rudy giuliani gave the state department back in march. something else happened today. we caught an encrypted text stream between bill taylor, the ambassador to ukraine, and gardens on one, the e.u. ambassador, who was named in the complaint. bill taylor says in this conversation, "as i sat on the phone i think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign." he writes back, "you are incorrect about president trump's intentions by the president has been crystal clear. no quid pro quos of any kind. the president is trying to evaluate whether ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that president zelensky promised during his campaign." charlie, the whole thing started with a quid pro quo. there you have sondland, saying no quid pro quo.

>> and other case is falling apart. i also don't think the democrats necessarily puts for republicans in a bad position. he's got a lot of them elected. i think nancy pelosi puts her people in a terrible position if she actually loses control of this and it winds up going to an impeachment's. can you -- donald trump is a guy who does very well in in the professional wrestling arena. do you really -- is this really where democrats want to take this? >> john: i'm wondering, is the water cloudy enough now that may be that thing doesn't have as much momentum as it did if you days ago? >> if you would've asked me last week i would have said, no chance. this week, i think of these people have gone completely -- the frame wow train is off the tracks. nancy pelosi -- >> john: ten seconds. >> adam schiff misquoting with the president said, measure presenting his offices contact with the whistle-blower are problematic. they don't do anything to touch the big thing, which, as we

discussed, the white house, the president, rudy giuliani, and others, have all admitted. >> john: he said it all. >> we could make process arguments until what he said in front of the chopper but it's all over now. >> john: thanks, panel. when we come back from a homecoming proposal that are sure to put a smile on your face. ♪ that keeps you up again, and again. advil pm silences pain, and you sleep the whole night. advil pm my bladder leak underwear.orried someone might see so, i switched. to always discreet boutique. its shape-hugging threads smooth out the back. so it fits better than depend. and no one notices. always discreet.

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balloons, and a sign that read "will you be my sunshine" to homecoming? wow. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. good night from washington. "the story" hosted by martha maccallum starts right now. >> martha: good evening, john. thank you very much. hello, everybody. this presidency has been pretty much on the verge of implosion. if you follow the whole thing, so many times, it's hard to keep track of all the times that the president's critics have said this time it's over. >> there is ample evidence of collusion in plain sight. i use the term that this is nothing short of treasonous because it is the betrayal of the nation. he is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. >> those in the highest level of the government must stop invoking fear, using racist language, and encouraging reprehensible. >> martha: you can go all the way back to the beginning, to the "access hollywood" tape, the dossier, the escapades and russian hotels, two on acted on