>> chris: i'm chris wallace. there are now reports turkish-backed forces are executing kurdish fighters and civilians while president trump declares he is an island of one for pulling back u.s. troops in northern syria. ♪ speak of the kurds are tending to leave, and that's good. let them have their borders, but i don't think our soldiers could be there for the next 50 years regarding a border. >> chris: the president's move opens the way for turkish forces to launch an assault against the kurds, the key american ally in the fight against isis. >> we have not abandoned them, nobody green-lighted this operation of a turkey, just the opposite. we pushed back very hard at all levels. the one we will discuss the fallout with secretary of

defense mark esper live in his first sunday show appearance. and we will discuss the bipartisan push to punish turkey for its actions with senator chris ben holland. then. democrats launch a new impeachment offensive after the white house refuses to cooperate. >> they know they can't won the 2020 election, so they are pursuing the insane impeachment witch hunt. >> chris: we will ask our sunday panel about the latest of elements and where prospects for impeachment stand now. and our "power player of the week," an exiled journalist fighting for women's rights back in her homeland. >> i had two options. to stay in iran and keep silent or leave iran and be loud. >> chris: all right now now on "fox news sunday." ♪ >> chris: and hello again from fox news in washington.

there are now reports turkish-backed militias are committing atrocities against the kurds as part of the turkish invasion of northern syria. eyewitnesses backed up by videos say militias are executing kurdish fighters and civilians and there is also evidence the turks are hitting prisons holding thousands of isis fighters allowing some to escape. in a moment, we will talk with the secretary of defense, mark esper. but first, let's get the latest from steve harrigan, who is live inside syria. steve. >> chris, reports of those possible atrocities are spreading like wildfire here across syria and when you cross over the border, you can really just sends people's fear. i heard a kurdish official tele journalist "you're never going to find a driver to take you around at that price, not with all the bombs falling from the sky. not with what they're doing to people. some disturbing video emerging of what may be -- boxes been able to verify its authenticity -- it

turkish-backed era militia fighter executing a kurdish fighter along the side of the road. as the fighter shoots the kurd he shouts "feel me, feel me." there are also reports, denied by the turkish-backed era militia, that they have assassinated a female kurdish political party leader. once again, the turks denying that. as far as the bigger picture here goes, we are in day five of this military offensive. no sign of a slow down. turkey's president pushing ahead with military action from the sky and from shelling. you can see plumes of smoke rise up from those towns as far as the action goes on the ground, they've taken control of a major city in syria, they've taken control of major highways too. they are cut off from each other, this despite worldwide criticism of turkey's operation. there's a real concern among a number of world leaders that this operation could lead to the

resurgence of the islamic state in this area. kurdish officials say they can't fight the turkish army and guard isis prisoners at the same time. they say more than 700 isis supporters escaped from a camp just this weekend. as far as the u.s. position goes, they have threatened sanctions, but not enforced any financial sanctions as of yet. the kurds, some leaders say they are deeply disappointed in the u.s., they feel like an ally has stabbed them in the back. others still hope for a u.s. no-fly zone. chris, back to you. >> chris: steve harrigan reporting live from syria, thank you. joining us now, the secretary of defense, mark esper, for his first sunday show appearance, welcome to "fox news sunday" ." >> secretary esper: chris, thank you for having me on today. >> chris: have to assume you're just as distressed as i am by hearing steve harrigan's report, story that turkish-backed militias are executing civilians and kurdish fighters, reports that the turks are hitting prisons and hundreds of either isis fighters or their supporters are escaping. how much of that can you

confirm? >> secretary esper: it's terrible, i've heard the same reports. itetworse by the hour. these are all the exact things that we have communicated to president erdogan and his ministers. i spoke to my counterpart a few days ago. i sent him a memo on friday night, gave them a formal responsewarns them that if they do this incursion, which we oppose, will see everything from the release of isis prisoners to a humanitarian catastrophe. it will damage u.s. relations with turkey. all of this is playing out exactly as we predicted and we again urge president erdogan to stop and go back to the status quo. >> chris: so what is the u.s. -- what is the pentagon, as the primary military force there, what are you goi to do about it? what are you going to do to stop this? >> secretary esper: this is part of the terrible situation that turkey has put us in an despite our protestations we now know that the turks now intend to go further south than originally expected enter go both west and east, which would increase their zone from beyond a 30-kilometer depth and nearly

440 kilometers wide. at the same time was learned in the last 24 hours it looks like the stf is cutting a deal with the syrians and russians -- >> chris: we should say stf over those of the syrian democracy forces. >> secretary esper: defense forces, that's right. they are cutting a deal and now we're facing as u.s. forces in a trap between a syrian russian army moving north to take on the turkish army that is moving south. it puts us in a terrible position and the protection and safety of our service members comes first to me. i spoke with the national security team yesterday. we all talked on the phone. i've talked to the president and he is concerned and so last night he directed that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of u.s. forces from the northern part of syria. >> chris: how many people are we talking about? how quickly are they going to move out? >> secretary esper: we are talking about less than a thousand. i can't give a timeline because it changes hourly. we want to make sure that we do so in a very safe, deliberate manner, that we deconflict things as we go with those folks

on the ground and immediate area. >> chris: i'm not quite sure i understand. so the turks and their militias are committing atrocities against the kurds, who are our allies. the kurds are asking us for help, but we are going to pull out and allow the kurds to go to the russians and the syrians? that doesn't seem to make much sense. speech of the united states, first of all, doesn't have the forces on hand to stop an invasion of turkey that is 15,00 strong, if you will, preceded by air strikes and more i don't like artillery. got to keep in mind that we didn't sign up to fight turkey, a long-standing nato ally on behalf of the sdf. this is a terrible situation, that's why in a little over two months i've been on the job, this is probably in the number one issue that i've dealt with week after week with our turkish counterparts. we did everything we can to dissuade them from doing this. we thought we were making very good progress on the so-called "safety zone" in northern syria,

a way to keep the forces separated and ensure that we can keep both of these good partners at odds and ends, but as you know, chris, this conflict has its roots that go back 200 years and in fact in the last few years, since we began with this relationship with the courage to take on isis, the turks protested it from the beginning. this is now the third incursion into syria in the last few years to do this. >> chris: but you emphasized on friday that we stand by our kurdish allies, who fought with us, died -- 11,000 of them died in in the fight against isis, here you are, sir, on friday. >> we have not abandoned the kurds. it let me be clear about that. we've not abandon and nobody agreement of this operation were turkey, just the opposite. we pushed back very hard at all levels for the turks not to commence this operation. >> chris: but secretary, the u.s. has 50 special operations forces along the border acting as a tripwire, if you will, to keep the turks from coming across the border.

we were the protection for the kurds. after president trump talked to president erdogan last sunday, president trump decided to pull those troops out and the turks invaded. isn't that the definition of abandoning the kurds? >> secretary esper: i think you've got the sequencing in the reverse order. in the order that we've understood, i've understood for my counterpart, secretary pompeo from his and certainly from president erdogan, they are fully committed to doing this, regardless of what we did. we thought it was prudent, it was my recommendation. and of the chairman of the joint chief of staff agreed as well, we should not put u.s. forces in between them turkish advance. we are talking less than 50, more like two dozen. there is no way they could stop 15,000 turks from proceeding south. >> chris: what you have talked to your counterpart, the turkish defense minister, several days before the presidential phone call and you had said to him let's make the safety zone work, where the turks in the u.s. work together to keep this border and keep the turks on one side of the border and the kurds on the other side of the border.

then the president has his phone call with president erdogan and you say there's nothing we could do. one, did erdogan say "i'm going to come in anyway," yes or no? >> secretary esper: it was clear to me that president erdogan was committed to coming in. he informed us that he was coming in. he didn't ask permission. it was clear to me that he was coming in. >> chris: but do you think with 50 u.s. troops on the border acting as a tripwire, and with u.s. complete air superiority over the border, do you really believe that president erdogan and the turks were going to just come through the border, perhaps create a conflict with the united states, if we had stood firm? >> secretary esper: i think it's how you define standing firm. first of all, as i said, 50 service members are not going to stop a turkish advance. let me finish. to classify them as a tripwire and sacrifice them, if you will -- >> chris: you only sacrifice them if turkey goes ahead, sir,

if turkey says "we are not going to take on the west, we are not going to take on u.s. fighters overhead," maybe we would have stopped them. >> secretary esper: i don't believe so. i think they were fully committed. from what i took for my conversations with mike on her part, the chairman of joints deep domain chief of staff to furnace, secretary palmdale from his, we are not going to go to world, another war in the middle east against turkey, which is a long-standing nato ally that is fought alongside us from korea all the way through afghanistan. that's not what we signed up fo for. >> chris: do they seem like much of an ally now, turkey? >> secretary esper: no, i think the arc of their behavior over the past several years has been terrible. i mean, they are spinning out of the western orbit, if you will. we see them purchasing russian arms, cuddling up to president putin. we see them doing all the things that frankly concern us with regard to the direction you're heading. >> chris: but you say it concerns us. if the reaction is that the president is going to pull all of our troops out of that region

and although he has talked about sanctions and authorized secretary steven mnuchin to info sections, there's been no action. >> secretary esper: all of these developers have happened in the last 21, the last 14 hours if you will. we still have been holding out hope that we can get to erdogan and tell him to stop what he's doing, returned to the border, and let's work on the safety zone, the mechanism. those talks, are still underway, right now. we want to get this and stabilize it. >> chris: what you say to the head of the sdf, our allies, the people who fought and died to help us beat isis. the head of the kurdish army said today you are leaving us to be slaughtered. what you say to him, sir? >> secretary esper: i would say what we been saying, because we stay in contact. we're doing everything we can to get the turks to stop this egregious behavior, get them to go back across the line and stop

and that's our message to them at this point in time. >> chris: president trump says that he is just keeping a campaign promise. here he is. >> we want to bring our troops back home and i got elected on that. if you go back and look at our speeches, i would say we want to bring our troops back home from these endless wars. >> chris: up but, while we are in the process of pulling troops at least back in syria, maybe not out of syria, although the president has talked about that, you just announced on friday the anotr 1800 troops intosend saudi arabia. so are we trying to get out of the middle east? are we trying to get out of endless wars or not? >> secretary esper: we do have the aspiration to relocate our forces, to move back in certain regions of the world so that we can reposition them to deal with the real strategic challenges we face, number one in china, and number two, russia. with iran we know their malign behavior of the last 40 years continues to create instability

throughout the entire middle east to include northern syria, so in that regard, we want to make sure we have suffient forces on the ground, first to help defend our partners, saudi arabia and the uae, and secondly to deter further iranian provocative behavior that could lead to a conflict. we are not looking to a conflict in the middle east and not with iran, but as i said to them, they should not mistake our restraint for weakness. if they do, and do something that would strike our interests or our allies, we will respond. >> chris: 2 minutes left, i want to ask you a question about arch object i'm sure you're dying to talk about, impeachment. house democrats have subpoenaed you personally, you was the secretary of defense, turn over all documents related to the decision being made about authorization and the decision to withhold military aid to ukraine. will you comply by the deadline for the house subpoena, which is this tuesday, two days from today? >> secretary esper: we will do everything we can to respond to their inquiry. my general counsel or a week or

two ago sent out a notice, we often do in these situations, to the key members in the pentagon say retainer documents and institute other controls. so again, we will respond as we can. >> chris: you say we will respond as we can, you're not making a firm commitment you will meet the deadline? >> secretary eer: i don't know the status of what that document preparation is. i don't know what restrictions they will have internally. at the white house has a say on the release of documents as well. there are a number of things that play into this. >> chris: finally, last may the president's phone call with zelinski was in july, two months before the under secretary of defense certified to congress that ukraine had made major efforts in fighting corruption and certified to congress that the pentagon was in fact going to release all military aid that have been approved by congress to the ukrainians. did president trump ever explain to you why he had decided to go against the pentagon's decision

and hold up the aid? >> secretary esper: chris, i have nothing to share with you on this. as you know, i came into office in late july and since that time, as we look at this issue periodically, the dod's focus has been on three things. what is the importance, the value of the aid to ukraine to deter russian behavior and defend themselves. number two, are they making progress on corruption, which is of key interest to the congress, and then number three, how are we getting other nato allies, european partners, to also help assist the ukrainians? the key point is this, we got most of the money out on time as required and at no point in time was u.s. national security harmed. >> chris: secretary esper, thank you, thanks for coming in, please come back. >> secretary esper: thank you, chris. >> chris: up next, the fallout from president trump's decision to pull out u.s. troops in a bipartisan measure that would be a major rebuke of the president's policies in syria. ♪ is that there's a lot to learn. grow with google is here to help you with turning ideas into action. putting your business on the map,

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♪ >> chris: president trump is facing a fierce backlash from both republicans and democrats over his decision to pull u.s. troops from the syrian border, allowing turkey to attack our kurdish allies there. this week, when congress returns from recess, lawmakers plan to take up a bipartisan bill that would slap tough sanctions on turkey. joining me now, democratic senator chris van hollen, who has written a bill along with a republican, lindsey graham. senator, you just heard secretary esper talking about the fact that the president has ordered him to pull u.s. troops -- all of the u.s. troops -- out of northern syria, basically to leave the kurds on their own and that we understand that they have made a deal, cut a deal, the kurds have, with a sods forces in syria and the

russians and they are going to go to them for protection against the turks, your reactio reaction? >> senator van hollen: well, chris, what we are seeing on the ground right now is absolutely sickening. it's absolutely shameful that president trump allowed turkey to begin killing the syrian kurds, who are our allies in the fight against isis, and that's why you have this big bipartisan uproar. you have isis right now being the big winner because the syrian kurds were are most effective partner in going after isis. now they're going to have a comeback. if that's what secretary mattis, former secretary of defense just said, you just are the current secretary of defense essentially say the trump administration is doing nothing. they are asking turkey "oh please, please, stop what you're doing." that is nothing. that's why you're going to see a strong bipartisan response from the congress. first of all, we want to insist that president trump actually step up and do something. he said he was going to destroy

the turkish economy if erdogan did this kind of thing and yet he's doing absolutely nothing. in fact, this administration sided with russia and opposed a resolution at the united nations security council, a statement condemning turkey's actions. so congress is going to first call upon the president to do the right thing, but since we can't count on that, we will have this bipartisan legislation that will impose very stiff sanctions on turkey until they stop their aggression and withdraw their forces. >> chris: now, treasury secretary mnuchin on friday said that president trump it authorized him, not that he had imposed, but authorized him, at some point, to impose tough sanctions against turkey. there is the secretary of the treasury. >> these are very powerful sanctions. we hope we don't have to use them, but we can shut down the turkish economy if we need to. >> chris: so, i guess the question is, when are they going to do that?

>> senator van hollen: for god sakes, what are they waiting for, right? people are being killed right now. our syrian kurdish allies are being killed right now. it looks like many of the isis detainees, there are about 10,000 fighters, are now possible going to be escaped. there are reports this morning that isis sympathizers have already escaped, thousands of them in here you have secretary mnuchin saying we will think about it, maybe we will do something. president trump tweeting that he's going to destroy their economy. they look ridiculous right now. so that's why it's important that the congress move forward on this front. i don't know what this administration is waiting for. all they are doing is talking while people are being killed. >> chris: so let's talk about you and lindsey graham. a pretty staunch democrat and a very staunch republican are writing, putting together your own set of sanctions, but as we say, while this is going on, and i understand the congress comes back from recess tomorrow, the

kurds are being slaughtered. as you say, isis supporters and fighters are leaving. have you gotten a commitment from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, one, that he is going to take this up, and two, scheduled for a quick vote? because the longer you wait, the longer the turks are there to do their worst in northern syria. >> senator van hollen: it you're right, chris. we believe momentum is building for the congress to act since this president has shown a total unwillingness to do something in the face of this slaughter. you're already seeing bipartisan movement in the senate, the bill you discussed. you're also seeing bipartisan legislation in the house coming together. so the key is to act quickly, as you say, time is of the essence, but when congress wants to act quickly, it can be varied so the could take this bill up, pass it, send it to the senate and then send it to the president's desk. the president who said he wanted to "destroy the turkish economy" if they did this kind of thing,

so we need to move very quickly. >> chris: have you gotten any commitment for mitch mcconnell that they are going to move quickly? >> senator van hollen: to my knowledge, mitch mcconnell has not yet committed to that, which is why it's very important that members of the senate on a bipartisan basis call upon him to do that. i do understand that in the house you have a strong bipartisan group also pushing for sanctions because every day that goes on isis is the winner. i mean, these are the guys who have posed the biggest terrorist threat to the united states in the world. they are celebrating what's happening here and so i do believe congress will muster the bipartisan will to do something quickly. >> chris: i want to ask you two quick questions in the time we have left in the other big story, in washington, which is impeachment. you have now, since the zelensky phone call, the rough transcript was released, you have now called, supported the house impeachment inquiry. from what you've seen so far, do

you believe that there is sufficient evidence that the president should be removed from office? >> senator van hollen: well, chris, what we've seen from this president in that transcript and other actions is a president who was abusing his power, using the power of the office of the presidency to try to get a foreign government, the ukraine, to interfere on his behalf in the american election and the evidence is also mounting that he withheld vital u.s. military assistance to ukraine that they need to stop russian aggression. in my view, that is an impeachable offense. but, but, the hearings will have to collect the evidence of the president of the white house will have an opportunity to put forward any exculpatory evidence they want, so i won't reach any final conclusion until all the evidence is in, but the evidence that is in is very damning of the president's actions.

and the fact that they refuse -- the fact, chris, that they refused to present the information, you asked the secretary about documents about the ukraine arms sales -- the fact that they refused to present more information suggests that they don't have any exculpatory evidence. >> chris: very briefly, even if all 47 democrats were in the senate to vote to remove the president, you would still need 20 republicans to get to the super majority of 67. at this point, and again, briefly, do you see any chance that 20 republicans are going to jump ship -- senate republicans -- jump ship on the president and vote to remove? >> senator van hollen: chris, i'm not going to prejudge anything because there's still a lot of evidence to come in. the evidence about this administration withholding very important military assistance to ukraine while the president tried, through his lawyer giuliani, and others, to try to get ukraine to interfere on president trump's behalf in an election. is that evidence comes in, i hope people will take a very

close look at it and ask themselves what would they have been doing if president obama had done something like that? >> chris: senator van hollen, thank you, thanks for your time, always good to talk with you, sir. >> senator van hollen: you too buried >> chris: up next we will bring in our center group to discuss the split between president trump and congressional republicans over the turkish offensive against the kurds. plus, what would you like to ask the panel about the president's decision to pull back the troops in syria? just go to facebook or twitter, @foxnewssunday, and we may use your question on the air. ♪ it's time to sell or trade in your car. with truecar, just enter your license plate and see your car's value in real time. sports package and low mileage? nice. within minutes, you'll have a true cash offer,

and you can head to a dealership and get paid, today, right now. >> chris: coming up, as turkey invades syria, president trump defends his decision to pull u.s. troops from the border. >> we don't have any soldiers there because we left. we won, we left. take a victory, united states! >> chris: we will

>> we had a big victory, we left the area. i don't think the american people want to see us go back in with our military, go back into that area again. >> i know that every military person has told him don't do this and this is the pre9/11 mentality that paved the way for 9/11. >> chris: president trump, staunch supporter of lindsey graham, breaking with the president over his decision

to pull back troops in syria allowing a turkish offensive against our kurdish allies. it's time now for our sunday group, jason riley of "the wall street journal." charles lane from "the washington post." former dnc chair donna brazile and guy benson, of fox news radio. jason, i'm not often often or easily shocked there at the anchor chair on sunday mornings, but i have to say that the conjunction of reports that the turkish-backed militia are committing atrocities and slaughtering, executing kurdish civilians and soldiers, the fact that isis fighters are escaping, that the president has decided to pull all u.s. forces out of northern syria and allow the kurds to make common causeith the assad regime and russians, i find that shocking. >> i think a lot of people find it shocking. chris, the defense secretary said that our biggest strategic

interests were china and russia, two big, important, powerful countries that are currently watching a couple ten fact dictators in turkey and syria thumb their nose at the united states, call the shots in terms of what turkey is going to do. tell us what they are going to do, as the defense secretary said. i find that shocking as well. and the big concern here, of course, is we are abandoning allies in the kurds. these are the people, they were the ground came. we have air support, we so bright supplied intelligence but they took with the, thousands of casualties and they are now going to turn come out of self-preservation, to russia and syria if we are not going to back them. the other problem here, chris, is that isis is dispersed right now, but they are not defeated. they will reconstitute if they have a safe place to do that. that is another problem with us leaving syria. >> chris: the other question i have come, on this, is the

defense secretary, mark esper, says it turkey was going to do this anyway, they were going to come across the border and invade. he had troops, not a lot, but we have some troops on the border. we had u.s. fighters patrolling the area. they say they thought that erdogan, the turkish president meant business. if you really think he was going to take on the u.s., defy the u.s. and moving? >> there is the sense that we got from the secretary that the u.s. was just impotent in the situation. well, turkey was going to do what they were going to do and we had nothing that we really had at our fingertips to stop them. no options. and i just find that hard to believe. i think many americans find it hard to believe. we don't have to say let's go to war with turkey without saying behind the scenes "if you do this, the first boot on the ground, there's going to be a massive consequence. there will be military consequence is, economic consequences." i don't know if that was said but it sounds like it was not. i just keep coming back to this quote, a tweet from the president just a few days ago on

the situation. "anything that i and my great and unmatched wisdom to considd to be off limits, i will totally destroy and obliterate the economy of turkey." i think many conservatives will rightly deeply critical of obama on a redline and syria. this wasn't a specific redline but he said if they go out-of-bounds, they are in huge trouble. the question than that i have this morning is what the definition of out-of-bounds if not what we are seeing right now? >> chris: there is another side to this story and the president and many of his supporters are advancing it, and that is -- we ask you for questions for the panel and we got this on the issue of the president pulling back u.s. troops and allowing turkey to invade. we got this on facebook from karen. if the middle east has been fighting each other since biblical times, mostly over religion and oil, how will sacrificing american lives change anything? donna, how do you answer karen, particularly in the context of president trump and the decisions he has made with regard to turkey and the kurds?

>> we've been in endless wars in the middle east, a long time, and we will likely be in the middle east for much longer. but this is a disaster the of the president's own making. there are serious consequent is a withdrawing from syria. we know that this could lead to the reemergence of isis or resurgence of isis. we know that it will likely lead to more conflict in the region. the president made a huge mistake and i think this coming week both the house and the senate needs to come together and decide what if any actions they will take to prevent turkey from doing more damage to our >> chris: there is a larger policy question here, and that is what the role of the u.s. military should be. here is president trump on that this week. >> we are like a police force over there. we are policing. we are not fighting, we are policing. we are not a police force. when the greatest military force

ever assembled. >> chris: but we have deployed u.s. troops around the world for more than half a century, in a sense, not to fight wars. 35,000 u.s. troops right now in germany. 26,000 right now in south korea. 55,000 in japan. chuck, what president trump calls a police force has been a decision that if the u.s. puts troops on borders as tripwires, if you will, that sometimes -- oftentimes, in these cases, for decades, it prevents wars. >> we have, and the greater middle east, about 60,000 troop troops. there are places of lot of americans probably don't even realize like qatar, and as you say they are there for a general securities function. but we are learning out of the situation is many people who before his election regarded donald trump as some sort of kind of got it wrong.

he is deeply ideological about this point that we are overcommitted overseas, people take advantage of us an advantage of our troop presence and don't pay for it at all we get out of it is money and lives lost, and that's a big part of the america first ideology that he deeply believes, and what he's learning is that that simple grade, when you try to impose it over a complicated situation like this, it doesn't always work because he simultaneously promised we will wipe out isis and we will end the endless wars and we are learning today that you can't really have both of those thing things. >> chris: we've got to wrap this up quickly because i want to move move on to the next se, but you almost hate to talk about the political impact of this when you're talking about people's lives and atrocities and isis getting out, jason, but the president believes -- he made this campaign promise to his supporters, i want to get out of these wars, and i think

he believes there are an awful lot of voters out there who are not going to be upset but are going to be happy to see u.s. forces not fighting other people's land. >> they are. he did make a promise and we all understand the sentiment of the u.s. foreign policy has to respond to the world as it is, not as we want it to be, and these conflicts, many of which he inherited of course will not get better in the absence, if we just stick to our own business, stick to our own knitting, that is not how the world works. we know if there's a vacuum, bad guys will fill it, particularly in this part of the world and if there's more mayhem over there, if there's more bedlam, if we see beheadings and executions, that is not going to help donald trump politically or at home. >> chris: panel, we have to take a break here but when we come back, the latest on the democrats' impeachment inquiry, and is the president's lawyer, rudy giuliani, now in trouble? ♪ announcer: time magazine reports: "the new american

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>> you're running a country. i just don't think that you can have all of these people testifying about every conversation you had. >> chris: the president announcing this week an end to

any cooperation with the house impeachment inquiry, but in the last few days, mr. trump is being urged to cut ties with his personal lawyer rudy giuliani amid reports the mayor is now under investigation for his work in ukraine. get the latest from kevin corke at the white house. kevin. >> reporter: chris, at this we can, whether he was still the president's attorney, he told the fox news yes. but there were no questions about just how long that might be the case. >> i stand behind rudy giuliani, absolutely. >> in six words, president trump put to rest any speculation that he's turning his back on his private attorney, rudy giuliani. and while no one knows for certain, "the new york times" reports the former new york city mayor is now squarely at the center of an impeachment probe thanks to his ties to two foreign nationals, arrested and charged with campaign finance violations stemming a prosecutors alleged was a pressure campaign to investigate democrats. >> the defendants broke the law

to gain political influence while avoiding disclosure of who is actually making the donations and where the money was coming from. >> reporter: meanwhile, former ukraine ambassador who was recalled abruptly back in may give a closed-door deposition to three congressional committees investigating whether there are grounds to impeach the president. in her prepared remarks, she accused the state department of bringing her back to washington because of disinformation spread by people, including the president's attorney. this ahead of the week when even more officials are expected to testify, including u.s. ambassador to the e.u., gordon sondland and fiona hill, who was until recently president trump's top eight on russia and europe. sources tell "the washington post" that gordon sondland is expected to build lawmakers of the content denying the quid pro quo with ukraine came correctly after phone call from president trump himself, although he is also expected to tell them, chris, he's not sure if that's true or not.

>> chris: kevin corke reporting from the white house, kevin, thanks. and we are back now with the panel. perhaps the biggest development, and there were a lot this week, with the arrest of those two associates and there you see them, a rudy giuliani, on campaign finance charges. now "the new york times" reports federal prosecutors are investigating whether he failed to disclose he was lobbying in the u.s. on behalf of foreign officials. there was president trump being asked about giuliani on friday. >> i don't know, haven spoken to rudy. i spoke to him yesterday briefly. he's a very good attorney and he has been my attorney, yeah, sur sure. >> chris: yeah, sure. so guy, the president did call him last night and say yes, giuliani is still his attorney and he is a "great gentleman," that was the quote. but it doesn't seem that there is ringing vote of confidence. do you see a potential break in

the trump-giuliani alliance? >> i just watched that clip again and the first time i saw it my ears perked up because the tense of verbs sometimes matters when someone is signaling or telegraphing where they might be going, so instead of saying rudy is my attorney, he says rudy has been my attorney. i said that cannot be good for rudy. and i will tell you this, speaking to every single right-leaning person and republican over the last few weeks, frankly, almost unanimously they are all saying rudy is a liability for the president. it's all over tv constantly. he's contradicting himself, he sometimes seems a little bit sort of crazed and some of his responses, and now with this whole thing with the friends of rudy getting arrested, this is a series of headlines that is not helpful to his client, who happens to be the president of the united states. >> chris: chuck, i want to pick up on that because there has been criticism, critics of giuliani's performance, but with

the rest of these two people and with new reports, and you got it from the ambassador to ukraine, who was called back, that it seems that the president and giuliani were running their own off-the-books foreign policy, their own operation ukraine outside and apart from the administration, how big a liability, potentially, is that to the president? >> well, when the president says he stands absolutely behind rudy giuliani, rudy giuliani probably ought to think about all the other people the president has said he stands behind. including the kurds today, and actually that is quite often in our history been the prelude to dumping him. there is a problem. i think giuliani is a liability both substantively and for the all be optics reasons that guy talked about and now he himself is under criminal investigation. kind of awkward to have your personal attorney in that position, but let's not forget these two guys go back a long way. if donald trump can be said to

have a close best friend, it might be read giuliani. going all the way back to new york, and so rudy knows a lot, maybe too much to be cut loose just like that, so i would be surprised if in the very short term, before it absolutely becomes necessary, the president has to cut him loose, but definitely a lot of people want him to. >> chris: let me turn to another part of the developments this week, the president is pushing the argument about executive powers, as far it seems as any president ever has in the various court cases he says he has immunity from investigation, immunity from prosecution while these president and now this week he announced a complete halt to any cooperation with congress and his lawyer, the white house counsel, said this is unconstitutional and it's simply an attempt to overturn an election. do you think -- on the one hand if you say i don't have to cooperate with the court's and i

don't have to cooperate with congress, do you think you can make that stick? >> i think some of the argument laid out in that document by the attorney -- >> chris: the white house counsel. >> hold more weight than others or potentially hold more weight than others with the court. we know the constitution gives congress wide berth to define high crimes and misdemeanors. it can be whatever essentially they wanted to look there are sort of traditions that have been followed when it comes to impeachment inquiries, whether it was a democratic congress going after nixon, republican congress congress going after bill clinton, and that was you have an entire house vote on the formal inquiry to begin and it gets gives a sort of bipartisan sheen to the proceedings in the current speaker of the house nancy pelosi has stopped doing that. she's avoided doing that i think partly to protect some of our members that come from from district and partly because she knows she will get barely any, if any, republicans to support this, which will expose it at the partisan exercise that it is, but i think the white house

is smart to litigate this to death because the longer they do, and the closer we get to november of next year, the more voters will save why do we need to impeach? let's just go to the polls and decide if this amounts to something donald trump should lose his job over. >> chris: and then there are the president's attacks and some of his critics and rivals in which he is using -- increasingly using language, some of which we cannot put on the air here. take a look at -- we are going to put this on the air -- take a look at this exchange from this week. >> we all laughed when he said he could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot someone and get away with it. it's no joke. he's shooting holes in the constitution, and we cannot let him get away with it. >> he was only a good vice president because he understood how to kiss barack obama's ass. >> chris: so some of the

chattering class in the beltway is going to get their knickers in a twist about this, but you've got to know, and it played well with that crowd, that a lot of the president's supporters like the bluntness of those attacks and that was one of the ones we could put on tv. >> you know, the president is going to continue to rally his base to his defense and avoid looking at what is really at stake. the house is gathering evidence. that evidence will be presented in articles of impeachment. the senate will be able to look at this evidence and they will proceed to be the jury. i think the president shouldst figure out what is best strategy is. obstructing congress, stonewalling with congress when the house has sole discretion paired the constitution gives the power to the house, the people's house, to make this decision. the president can go around name-calling all he wants but nancy pelosi is focused on abiding by the constitution and making sure that her committees come up with the evidence that

will be presented to the american people and the senate will act. >> chris: one of the things the president attacked fox news what is our latest poll, which i could say another thing i was shocked about, 51% now support not just impeachment, but removal. the president -- there were other polls that say different things. do you think though that public opinion is moving against the president at this point? >> it has been so far but there's a long way to go in this process and i think the fact that, to your point, that the democrats and speaker pelosi has not called for a full vote, that's an issue and all of this operating in secrecy. are they going to try to impeach a president in secret? i think that's going to rub a lot of voters a long way if they continued on that path. >> chris: thank you, pal, see you next sunday, plenty of time to discuss this. up next, our "power player of the week," the political activist mobilizing women to fight back against iran's leaders. ♪ess is that there's a lot to learn.

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♪ >> chris: it when we iran's president at the u.n. two weeks ago, we focused on the foreign policy differences between his

country and the u.s. but there are also serious questions about what goes on inside iran. here's our "power player of the week." ♪ >> we are banned from thinking. we are banned from dancing. we are banned from showing our hair. >> chris: masih alinejad is talking about law in iran that barred women from so-called "indecent behavior." >> when you done for her own dignity -- >> chris: now living in brooklyn, she spent the last ten years mobilizing women in her home country to fight for their freedom. >> i'm not fighting against the class, i'm fighting against one of the main pillar of a religious dictatorship. >> chris: it's part of the islamic dress code, women must cover their head in public or risk imprisonment. five years ago, she started a website called "my stealthy freedom" urging women to share pictures of their defiance.

>> i got bombarded by photos and videos from women inside iran holding headscarves, waving it in public and saying "this is our true self." >> chris: and what happens to women in iran who take off -- who wave the scarf or sing or dance in public? what kind of risk are they taking? >> being a woman means that you risk your life every day. >> chris: but she didn't stop there. in 2017, she launched "white wednesday." urging men and women to wear that color in protest. the videos people sent became much bolder. she says 29 people were arrested in one day last year. these two sisters were each sentenced to 15 years in prison. >> they know the risk. they know the danger, but they are like the women of suffragettes. if they want freedom and they are ready to pay the price.

>> chris: which brings us to masih alinejad's story. she always wondered why she couldn't enjoy the same freedom as her brother. >> i started my own revolution for my family's kitchen. >> chris: by 2009 she was a journalist but iranian officials didn't like her constant questioning. >> i had two options, to stay in iran and keep silent, or leave iran and be allowed. >> chris: at the revolutionary court has certainly heard her. this summer they banned any interaction with masih. >> they call me a whore. they call me a prostitute. if they call me the cia. that you may me an agent resident from. >> chris: that isn't even the worst of it. they interrogated her mother and arrested her brother and her father stopped talking to her. >> i don't want to actually show them that they can break us. >> chris: in making this break

with your family, with tradition, it comes at a cost. >> you know, it's not easy. i haven't seen my family for ten years. it's not easy. >> chris: but there is no chance masih or supporters back in iran will stop fighting. >> that is why i have to be strong. otherwise, you know, they are going to win the battle, and i'm not going to let them win. >> chris: masih met with secretary of state pompeo a few months ago. she urged him if u.s. officials negotiate with iran about nuclear weapons and terrorism, they shouldn't forget human rights, especially the rights of women in their own country. and that's it for today, have a great week and we will see you next "fox news sunday." ♪ - oh, so much. - i used to think that all kale was alike.

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