firefighters, thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. fair, balanced, on and unafrain us after the democratic debate, "the story" starts right now. >> martha: we look forward to that coverage throughout the evening. tonight as he's been talking about, doesn't democrats have taken that big stage for the fourth debate in ohio, hunter biden tried to ease concerns about his role and some of his father's campaign. >> i'm a human, did i make a mistake? may be in the grand scheme of things yeah. but did i make a mistake based on an ethical lapse? absolutely not. >> martha: reaction to the interview and the timing of it left a lot of people asking

questions about all of that in the media and in politics, some of them scratching their heads today. >> why they chose it today, i can't imagine there is a political advisor who thought it was a good idea. >> it's not going away and there is no perfect solution, the campaign has to manage through it. if i was sitting next to hunter biden i would say buck up -- at least he's taking responsibility for it but it does look kind of awful. i would say don't ever go on tv again ever, you look awful. you look guilty. >> martha: longtime friend of the biden's former pennsylvania governor ed rendell said "i wouldn't have put hunter on the air." joining me now with reaction and a look at what the biden campaign hopes to do tonight is simone sanders, it's good to have you back of the program. i know you have a big night ahead.

with regard to this interview today, we are hearing it was hunter's decision to do the interview, was there discussion about it at the campaign? >> this is absently hunter's decision to do the interview. frankly for three weeks, hunter biden has been the focus of attacks, lies, and smears, unsubstantiated smears of the administration, donald trump himself, and the trump campaign. it's no surprise he wanted to come out today and speak for himself and that is just what he did. >> martha: did you personally sign off on it and say we are okay with this -- what is the campaign reaction to how it wen went? >> hunter biden is in part of the campaign, we don't book his press, we don't tell him who do interview with, this is completely his decision. he spoke with conviction, he was strong and forceful and he answered every single question thrown at him and that is more

that what we can say for donald trump and also rudy giuliani. our posture is the only reason we are having this conversation is because donald trump and rudy giuliani injected these lies and smears into the atmosphere -- you know why they did at? because donald trump is terrified of facing vice president biden in a general election. >> martha: we are going to walk about that as well. i want to ask you this question which is a big picture -- this is what concerns people about the way politics and big money tend to work. watch this. >> what do you say to people who say this is why people hate washington. a vice president's son can money where their father is doing official government business. >> it was a mistake in retrospect as it related to creating any perception that there was wrong. >> martha: who says this?

is there and out of touchness in that answer -- there's a lot that never happened in my life if my name hadn't been biden, i probably wouldn't have gotten this job if i hadn't been a biden. what does he not understand about the questions and concerns about that? >> i saw some criticism online from donald trump jr. of all people who was obviously a bastion of ethics that we should all look to. i'll say this. in a biden white house unlike in a trump white house, vice president biden's children will not sit in nor his family members will sit in on cabinet meetings as though they are high-ranking government officials, they won't have any foreign business dealings. that is a commitment that vice president biden has made, frankly a commitment that was held in the obama biden white house and that's what we continue to do if elected president, that's way more than we can say for donald trump and

how he is running his administration. if we want to talk about corruption, if you want to talk about the swamp -- look no further than 1600 sylvania avenue. nancy pelosi is going to speak from the house about what the house democrats are planning to do and donald trump is involved in a scandal of his own making because he could ask foreign governments to interview. >> martha: as we get ready -- i'm sure the white house -- we're going to talk about that in the next block as i said. with regard to the biden campaign, the biden camp warns rivals off attacks on his family in the ohio debates saying no

one who calls himself a democrat should bring up these discredited lies about a biden and his son, without making a found statement about themselves. have you guys to pass that message along? three of the opponents that are going to be up there tonight -- kamala harris, cory booker, and beto o'rourke said they all said they would never allow a family member to have the kind of arrangements sitting on boards in ukraine and china sitting on on -- but the vice president was overseeing relationships with. the chances of that coming up are pretty good. >> we have heard -- we are grateful for great democrats like pete buttigieg and cory booker and senator harris for saying everybody needs to leave joe biden alone and don't use this as a distraction. senator cory booker noted if you want to get to joe biden on this, you're going to have to come through me. pete buttigieg said last sunday

unfounded unsubstantiated smears -- >> martha: the three that i mentioned said they never would've allowed their son to have that kind of position. >> if people want to talk about corruption, you can look at the trump administration. >> martha: there wasn't that policy in the biden vice presidency, what changed? >> i want to be really clear, the conversation you and i are having right now is a conversation donald trump wants us to have. to answer your original question, we hope democrats don't take the bait. this should be a substantive conversation about what is going on in syria right now, president trump endangering our national security interest in abandoning our allies -- that's what we plan to talk about tonight. other campaigns are going to have to make calculations, we don't think it's a great calculation. >> martha: we are covering all of those stories out there, the fact is that hunter biden went out there and made a big splash

with an interview, so it's tough to avoid the questions about it tonight in that debate. do you wish that he didn't do it this morning or maybe he did it tomorrow or the next day? >> hunter biden -- it's hard to hear you -- hunter biden answered every single question. if he is a private citizen, he didn't have to say anything. >> martha: i'm asking you about the timing. do you wish that interview had not aired this morning, is it inconvenient with the debate tonight making it top of mind? >> fair question, but for three weeks, hunter biden has been the subject of attacks from donald trump and his campaign and his henchmen and his cronies. it's no surprise that he wanted to come out, we are proud that he spoke with conviction this morning. we don't book his press. i think you are looking for me

to say something -- i don't have anything for you. he has his right to come out and defend himself because donald trump is scared of facing vice president biden and a general election. we aren't going to play his game, we aren't going to allow these unsubstantiated lies and it smears to go unchecked. we also aren't going to allow this to consume our campaign. you can expect vice president biden to talk about all of the issues, he's going to take all of the questions. >> martha: he has to be more aggressive tonight, we will be watching all of it with great interest and all of the candidates up there. we really appreciate you doing it. joining me now, marc thiessen cohost of the american enterprise institute podcast and fox news contributor, always good to have you. i love this podcast, thus the question that we have every day.

you answer that question, what do you want to hear tonight? do you think it is unusual, is that time a good or bad? simone sanders doesn't want to take credit for that interview and she also doesn't want to own it but she gives respects his right to what he wants to do, he's a grown man. >> i'll answer the question she didn't, they are unhappy because it makes it much more unlikely that cnn and "the new york times" will avoid the question tonight. >> martha: maybe it's we have to get past this, we have to get it out there, we might as well take the questions on it and deal with it. >> the morning of the debate is bad timing. if you listen to her interview, every question that you asked was look at donald trump. joe biden the other day was asked to did you have a conflict of interest, he said i'm not going to answer that, talk about donald trump. if that's what they are trying

to do. it's possible that donald trump did something wrong and that phone call with ukraine and joe biden did something wrong and how he dealt with these issues with hunter biden's for business dealings -- the two ideas are incompatible. they can't push this off and say look at donald trump and what he is doing and not address the fact that joe biden had a major conflict of interest created by his son's business dealings in ukraine and china. >> martha: it's also a fact that the new prosecutor, everyone has their favorite prosecutor that they wanted. >> we all know ukrainian prosecutors really well. >> martha: now there is a new prosecutor in place and he has reopened this case. the unfortunate thing for the biden campaign is that in pushing this impeachment narrative, they have also dredged up something that makes them have to answer questions too. what's the question you would like to see tonight? i know you came up with eight.

>> the number one question is -- there's so many, it's hard to say one -- hunter biden just said and joe biden is elected president, he won't have any form of business dealings and will comply with all regulations on ethics and conflicts of interest and even the appearance of conflict of interest. if that would be a problem for him if your president, why wasn't it a problem when you're vice president? the reality is that hunter biden's business dealings -- joe biden should not have been running ukraine policy of his son was working for a ukrainian oligarch. there are federal regulations that he violated, why did you not hand us up to somebody else? >> martha: it seem like he didn't want to say no to his son, they had a don't ask don't tell policy at least according to them about what his business dealings were. we'll see what goes tonight and what they end up asking. thank you, always good to see you.

moments ago, speaker pelosi address of the impeachment inquiry against president trump, here's what she said. >> the fact that we would be here in an inquiry for the president asking a foreign government to help in his reelection by granting or withholding the timing of military assistance that had been voted on by the congress, just so many violations in it. >> martha: that sets up some good questions, hogan daly is going to join us in just a moment including reports today that john bolton said rudy giuliani was a hand grenade that was going to blow them all up. that and much more. corey lewandowski will respond to the veteran news anchor that's just called some trumped voters ignorant, we will talk about that and much more. >> they will follow him to hell

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how'd he get out?! a camera might figure it out. that was easy! glad i could help. at xfinity, we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. >> martha: bombshells from ex-white house russia advisor thrusting a new figure center stage of the impeachment inquir inquiry, former national security advisor john bolton -- according to "the new york times," bolton told the advisor fiona hill to contact lawyers after he got into a heated exchange with the e.u. ambassador gordon sondland over how the ukraine situation was unfolding. alton said to hill, according to her testimony, "i have not part of whatever drug deal sondland and mulvaney are cooking up." he repeatedly described giuliani as a hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up, giuliani is a

saying he's disappointed in john bolton, as tensions between those with current and past ties with the president appeared to boil over. here now hogan gidley, good to have you here this evening. with regard to john bolton and rudy giuliani, i heard mayor giuliani say john bolton doesn't have a good understanding of the work he was doing in ukraine and he doesn't understand the connection of ukraine to the origins of collusion in 2016. is that the white house take, that john bolton doesn't understand the investigation here? >> i haven't had a direct conversation with president trump about john bolton or any conversations that fiona hill talk to democrats in the least secret hearings and backdoor meetings that she had the last couple of days. what i can tell you is that conversations the president and i have about this center around a much broader problem, that is

the fact that there are several people in the federal government who consistently and dangerously leak information about our national security to the press. it puts people's lives at risk, it's got to stop. it happens all too often, we have seen so many of the president's calls leaked whether it was with mexico or australia, obviously ukraine was an issue. it isn't just these shadowy people in the federal government, it's also members of congress. adam schiff lied to the american people and he lied directly to members of congress when he tried to pass off his own deranged, demented words as those of the president. if the call between president president zelensky was so damaging, why didn't he just read the text of the call? >> martha: no need for him to improvise because the transcript was right there and i think most people would agree his responsibility was to stick to

the work that he had in front of him -- i don't know. he may regret that he did that freelancing let you talk about people who the president is concerned about when you talk to him and there is a story tonight that the white house believes john bolton may be the source of these leaks -- the president said that. does john bolton fit that description and is the president unhappy with what is going on? >> i haven't talked to him directly with what he may or may not have said but the broader point still remains -- there is definitely still an issue and what he is upset about is the fact that the media and the democrats continued to focus on nonsense. they are holding secret meetings, secret witnesses, we can't see them or talk to them, it's tough to get questions out and they turn around and leaked selective cases of testimony only to bolster their position. >> martha: this was when john bolton was working in the white house, is at your memory

that there was friction between him and gordon sondland, that he was saying to people, i don't like the situation is being dealt with? i don't like the role that rudy giuliani is playing in it? you are working there, did that happen? >> i don't know of any conversations with rudy giuliani but the president wants to have discussions, he wants division, he wants to see the case laid out in front of him and he ultimately makes the decision. it's our job as members of the administration to carry out what the president wants it done -- that's a simple fact. >> martha: let me play the sound bite that we just got in from adam schiff, the chairman of the intelligence committee -- watch this. >> that pace is accelerating, we've had a busy few days and weeks ahead. we are running into what we expected and that is a complete effort by the administration to

stonewall. >> martha: how do you respond to that? >> that's an absolute joke, this is further proof that democrats don't have an agenda at all. he didn't talk about usmca infrastructure, lowering drug prices, fixing the health care system -- instead he would rather focus on impeachment. the american people don't want this, this man lied about the president on multiple occasions, he said he had stone cold evidence about collusion with russia, he didn't. he said he had didn't have any information about the whistle-blower, he lied about kavanagh, this with the democrats have done and congress has taken weeks off in the summer, six of them, they came back for a couple of days and they went on vacation again, what does that say to the american people? >> martha: i want to something of substance not related to impeachment, that has to do with syria. steve harrigan was reporting

there are u.s. choppers flying low trying to protect our own people on the ground from attacks from the turkish military, this is a very hot situation. i know the president has called for a cease-fire. does the president think this toothpaste can be put back in the tube? >> it's more than a cease-fire, the president is sending a delegation headed up by the vice president of the united states, robert o'brien, ambassador jeffrey as well. we've got to fix the situation, the president has been very clear. >> martha: did erdogan promised the president this would not happen? >> i'm sorry? >> martha: did erdogan promised president trump in that phone call that this would not happen? >> the president had a conversation with president erdogan, he made some promises to donald trump. donald trump said in the statement at the time we have assurances from erdogan. if he doesn't comply or hold up

to those promises at his end of the bargain, he's going to wreck the economy and that's what donald trump has done. we did it before and we got the desired results, hopefully the crippling sanctions we have placed now on turkey will get the desired results again. we got to get a cease-fire here. >> martha: thank you very much, good to have you here tonight. also joining me now, corey lewandowski former campaign manager and donna brazile and fox news contributor joining us this evening. good to have both of you here. just talking with simone sanders tonight, both sides are pressing very hard on this impeachment scenario. the bidens are saying it's not about us, it's about president trump, president trump saying it's not about us, it's about the bidens. sam donaldson thinks a good chunk of trump supporter's have no idea what's going on and don't know the details of any of

this anyway -- watch this. >> he has 30, 31% hard-core, they will follow him to hell or whatever he's going, they don't care about the facts, they are fine people except they are ignorant about these things that we are talking about and they will not budge from that. >> martha: it reminds me a little bit about the "basket of deplorables" statement. do people think that is a good way to go to insult people? >> i totally disagree, i don't think it's the same comment at all. when he said they were fine people, he was describing the attitudes of those who may or may not support the president. i don't treat my fellow citizens like that, i will let sam speak for himself. i believe that tonight's debate is about substance but it's about character.

the vice president should address these issues, he will have 90 minutes when the topic of his son comes up and i hope that he is able to tell the american people directly what we all know to be the truth and get this behind him because hunter biden is a private citizen. he is not the one facing on impeachment inquiry. the president of the united states is facing it over his call to another foreign leader to investigate dirt. that is the issue. the vice president should answer that tonight. >> martha: speaking of the impeachment situation, we just got word that nancy pelosi has announced as we had been hearing that she is not going to call for a vote right now in the house of representatives in order to move forward with unofficial inquiry here, what do you say to that? >> the reason she isn't going to call for a vote is because she knows there are a number of democrats and congressional districts that are first termers

that were carried by donald trump in 2016 and she knows that this is going to divide her caucus, it's going to ensure that those democrats who are sitting and congressional districts that donald trump won four years ago are going to lose their election -- she will become the first speaker of the house to lose a majority on two separate occasions. she doesn't want to call for this vote because she knows has going to hurt her caucus and she knows it gives privileges to the minority members of the caucus, meaning the republicans, the opportunity to have subpoena power. >> martha: she is trying to have it both ways, she's moving forward of hearings and testimony but not taking a vote which has been the custom in the past in the clinton situation and the nixon situation -- kamala harris is going to be on the stage night ends try to stand out and move up in this group. she says this thing could happen really quickly if they would just move forward, watch this. >> it doesn't take up profit to

see that was a confession. we have a cover-up, when people say how long do you think this impeachment process -- it shouldn't take very long because he did it out in the open. >> martha: what do you say to that? >> the constitution gave the house the sole discretion. i was a congressional staffer during the clinton impeachment, this is a different ball game. i think the leaders should make the decisions as to how the procedure should be regulated. in so far as worrying about the reelection prospects of members who won in 2016, they took the same oath of office as donald trump, they owe their allegiance to the american people in the constitution, i hope they put that first and foremost. in terms of kamala harris, she's going to be part of the jury, she's not selecting the evidence, that is the responsibility of members of the

house. based on my recollection, only two members who are running currently are members of the house of representatives that will be taking that vote when that vote occurs. >> martha: we will hear what they say, thank you very much. >> good visio, corey. >> martha: as the united states moves out, russia has moved in, expanding its military footprint in syria. we will take you to the front lines tonight right after this. nice. but, uh... what's up with your... partner? not again. limu that's your reflection. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪

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for the middling influence of russia. >> who else is benefiting? president putin, russian troops have now swept into the region according to reports. russia envies the oil in northern syria that it might control. >> martha: those are senators tonight sound the alarm about how russia stands to benefit from the withdrawal of u.s. troops in syria, moscow announcing military units have moved into patrol the line between turkish and syrian forces. "the washington post" summarizing it's one superpower exceeding influence to another, steve harrigan and northern syria with the story. >> a very complicated battlefield here along the syria-turkish border has gotten more complicated than the last 24 hours. on the one side you have turkish government forces, turkish

backed arab militias. on the other side, you have kurdish fighters and their u.s. allies, and now the kurds have invited in syrian government forces and their allies, the russians. you have the u.s. leaving on the russians coming in, it looks like a loss for the u.s. come again in prestige and influence, power for the russians. if you look at a strategic city right now along the border, you have russian forces playing the role of the u.s. used to play. as the mediator in the middle. on the one side, syrian government forces, on the other side turkish government forces in the middle of the russians negotiating, being a dealmaker between both sides. they may be trying to pull off a cease-fire before the u.s. does. it looks like a win for russia in the short term but keep in mind, this is the start of what could be a very ugly war. turkey is trying to do very grand things, it's trying to push in along a 200-mile border,

20 miles deep into syria. it wants to resettle 2 million syrian refugees, take 2 million people from turkey, move them back into syria, and to do all this while fighting the kurds. turkey has a modern powerful military but we have seen less modern militaries do quite well in afghanistan and iraq. the kurds could be fighting turkey for a long time. is russia a winner? check back in five years and see how this fight could be going. back to you. >> martha: next enraged hong kong protesters set fire to lebron james jerseys after he returned from china and did not support their pro-democracy protest.

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we're the kirby family, and we are usaa members for life. get your auto insurance quote today. ♪ >> you see something that is ingest or something that going to divide us as a race or a country, then i feel like my voice can be heard and speak volumes. >> martha: the protesters in hong kong see something unjust but lebron james apparently sees nothing when it comes to oppressive communist leadership in china were basketball and lebron are king. in a response to this tweet heard around the world, lebron says only this. >> i think when you are misinformed or you are not educated about something, talking about the tweet itself, you never know what the ramifications are that can happen. we all see what that did.

what it did to our league, but for all of us in america, for people in china as well. i believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand and he spoke. we do have freedom of speech but there can be a lot of negative it can come with that as well. >> martha: just spent three days embedded in the hong kong protest and wrote a piece about the young man who started it all who first protested no extradition to china before he jumped to his death as he missed the insulated police cushion that was there to catch him -- he is 1 of 9 people that have committed suicide -- there was a lot going on and you were there to see it firsthand. what about lebron? >> i think lebron had an opportunity here, he's one of the few people who was bigger than the league itself. he can come out and say things other nba players cannot say.

he could have sent a message by saying something that really understood the value of free speech and express some sympathy for these american flag-waving kids who are in the street, who are protesting on behalf of their personal autonomy and freedom and independence. they like the nba over there, it's a significant part of the nba's business. if he could have sent a message -- instead by saying this was about something to do with being uneducated or misinformed, that's not what was going on here. the houston gm tweeted an image that has been shared commonly, we don't want to see those despair and beijing draw that back. >> martha: it makes it sound like lebron is the one living in a bubble and has been first in chinese society. tell me about the people on the streets, what did you find so unique and compelling about what is going on the ground? >> this is a broad-based

expression on the part of the people of hong kong. i think that people are used to seeing the different instances where students come forward and protest, you have campus-based issues or class-based issues, that was was a broad-based movt that includes people from all walks of life. it's not just for the young. some of the people who were the boldest where the adults who felt like they were seeing the autonomy they appreciated as members of the hong kong society for years being pulled away from their kids and those who are going to follow behind them. that is something that makes this very unique. you don't have a population of 7 million people in hong kong and have 1.5 to 2 million people in the streets without having a real basis for -- we don't want to be extradited, they want their autonomy to be protected and enshrined, they are worried that beijing is going to pull it away. >> martha: the age difference,

we got to leave it there. come back and talk about it some more. it's always great to see you. coming up next, and exclusive with a former cia spy behind a bombshell new memoir that talks about her work in the agency posing as an international art dealer to get extremists to stand down and not set off bombs. her incredible story, next.

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♪ >> martha: former cia spy penning a captivating new memoir about clandestine operations all over the world and what is being called one of the most revealing memoirs ever put to paper by an american intelligence operative, but her accounts are being met with some pushback from some cia officers. she is the author of "life undercover." >> she claims current and former cia officials worked for the agency from 2,000 to 20,101st as an analyst and then in the national clandestine service. it is replete with fascinating details and harrowing accounts,

it is also surrounded by controversy because she submitted the book for publication without approval, it's there to make sure no secrets are being revealed. she hasn't heard back but the book reportedly includes the sort of details that the cia censored from other books like when she pose as an art dealer in china seeking to infiltrate nefarious networks that acquire nuclear weapons. because fox claims she operated under noc, the details are sensitive because that means she poses a private citizen, not a diplomat leaving her without diplomatic protections. in the book, she talks about things like the cia, obtaining false ids for motor vehicles and passport agencies, information many believe the nation's top spies are not eager to share. fox acknowledges changing

certain facts and names to protect national security but says any fictionalization is inconsequential but some former cia agents think much of the book might be fiction and they point to the climactic scene where fox claims he met along with al qaeda terrorists in an effort to stop them from setting off a radiation bomb in pakistan. she says the meeting was successful, the critics say the agents never would have sent an american case officer alone to meet with dangerous extremists. fox maintains the book is absolutely true even if every detail is not. >> martha: here now exclusively, amaryllis fox author of "life undercover," coming-of-age in the cia. you and i spoke for a while, and i encourage everybody to listen to the podcast because there is so much here to tell. answer some of those questions that trace brought up in the piece about pushback and that the meeting with the al qaeda operative.

>> it's a long and important process that we go through when we want to share stories but may be don't know what is and is not appropriate to share at a particular moment but for me, the details operationally in terms of identification that i thought needed to not to be in the piece, gave me a moment to say "does the story make sense without them?" is this still a useful thing to share? because this isn't a book about one particular operation, this is a coming-of-age journey of understanding what it was to be un-american, to be a human in the days of the war on terror, .

>> martha: does it feel like they could put other agents in danger? >> "the new york times" said john the carrying meets "eat, pray, love" we forget young peoe in their 20s when they are doing this work, they are figuring out what their place is in the world and bearing this great responsibility and i'm a huge believer in the fact that each and every one of us has a call to service, it's different for each and every one of us, one of the things that i hope people take away from this book is many young people and especially young women, this is a form of service that can be incredibly rewarding, they don't necessarily feel it would be for them based on the movies but it

could be in-store narrowly valuable to their country in doing this kind of work. that is something i think some of the hollywood portrayals and some of the things that are out there don't really give a sense of, the sense that it is very soulful. this is about cultivating relationships and connections with sources, allowing them to come to the light side and be a part of leaving a legacy. >> martha: talking people out of becoming suicide bombers. >> that's exactly right. in many cases, this ability to build that relationship to predict and prevent acts of war, that saves our brave men and women from being put in danger. it's a form of service that i would encourage young people to consider, if not that, then creating the same kind of dialogue in our own communities. >> martha: i encourage everyone to read it, thanks a lot, good to see you.

"the story" continues right after this.

>> martha: that is the story of tuesday october 15th 2019 but is always the story goes on and we will see you back here tomorrow night a at 7:00. tucker carlson takes over now. good night, everybody. these musical >> tucker: good evening and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." 30 years ago is pretty fast. 30 years ago was the fall of 1989 believe it or not. seems like yesterday. at the time, if you can remember, america seemed unbeatable. our chief rival, the soviet union, had just collapsed. our economy and ability strength dwarf those of every nation on the planet. america and 1989 was the uncontested leader of the world. free and otherwise. about three decades later, that advantage has evaporated completely. instead of expanding and solidifying power, we have wasted it and as a result we are now in the rac