Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden Issues Fiery Rebuke of President Trump for Attacking His Son; Trump Orders Remaining U.S. Troops Out of Northern Syria; U.S. Situation "Deteriorating Rapidly" in Northeastern Syria. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 13, 2019 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[19:00:09]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Good evening. I'm Alex Marquart in New York. Ana Cabrera is off tonight. We have breaking news, former Vice President Joe Biden is angry and on the attack, issuing a fiery rebuke of President Trump for repeatedly targeting his son at rallies and on Twitter.

Both the President and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, they have accused Hunter Biden of improperly benefitting from his foreign business deals while Biden was Vice President. Now there's no evidence that he did, and the former Vice President is making clear he has had enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's get something straight. First of all, no one -- no one -- has indicated of any consequence that anything was done wrong or illegally by me or by my son. Every major national, international, and local news operations looked into it and said it's a lie. This is the President's flat-lying, number one.

Number two, the statement my son put out today, which I saw when he put it out, I was told it was going to be put out. I did not consult with him about what was being put out. In fact, it represents the kind of man of integrity he is and what, in fact, he has done and why he stepped down.

And I can tell you now, if I am your president -- next president, I'm going to build on the squeaky-clean, transparent environment that we had in the Obama/Biden White House, and no one in my family or associated with me will be involved in any foreign operation whatsoever. Period. End of story.

Now, let's focus on the problem. The problem is we have a president who violated his oath. He's invited -- not just relating to me, on three occasions, he's gone to foreign governments and asked for their input in a domestic election, the Russians, the Chinese and the Ukrainians. And there's not a single shred of evidence to suggest anything I did was wrong.

I enforced the policy of the United States government -- backed up by the IMF, backed up by the E.U. and backed up by all our allies -- to clean up the corruption and fire a prosecutor who was corrupt. Period. I never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever had a conversation with my son about anything that I was doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: CNN's Jeff Zeleny is joining from us Ohio where the Democratic candidates will be facing off Tuesday night in the CNN/"New York Times" debate.

Jeff, great to have you with us. Biden, they are pulling no punches, but also highlighting some significant news that his son, Hunter Biden, is stepping down from the board of a Chinese company on which he was serving.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He is indeed, Alex. Good evening. So clearly, the former Vice President there trying to get ahead of this before he does head to Ohio here for that debate on Tuesday evening. But Hunter Biden releasing that statement earlier today, saying he is going to step down from the board of the Chinese company at the end of the month but, more significantly, has pledged not to serve off on any foreign boards or work with any foreign governments if his father is elected president.

Of course, the Biden campaign is trying to draw a distinction between what his son, Hunter Biden, would do as compared to what the Trump children are doing. Eric, Donald Trump, Jr., clearly have business interests.

But Alex, this is also coming as other fellow Democratic candidates were also raising questions about this. You know, there's been no evidence of wrongdoing, but question is, going forward, what would candidates do? So most of the Democratic candidates were saying they would not allow family members or children to serve on boards. This is something that the Biden campaign is trying to clean up before he comes to this debate on Tuesday night here in Ohio -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: And, Jeff, before you go, Biden also adding his voice to the onslaught of criticism that the President is facing for withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, right?

ZELENY: He certainly was. Joe Biden earlier today in Iowa delivering a blistering response, really joining a chorus -- a bipartisan chorus of Democrats and Republicans questioning what the Trump administration's policy is on Syria. Listen to what the former Vice President had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: What in God's name is this man doing? What is he doing to our security? What is he doing to NATO? What is he doing?

It is a shame. It's shameful, what he's done. And to the best of my knowledge, from all the sources I have or in the intelligence community before, the people who have worked with me, leaders in the foreign policy community, there was no consultation with the military. This is outrageous. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:04:57]

ZELENY: So clearly there, Joe Biden going aggressively after President Trump. Again, joining Republicans and Democrats in questioning the policy here for Syria. But it clearly -- foreign policy has not been a major discussion in this Democratic primary campaign.

I think that may change this week at the debate here on Tuesday night, Alex, when 12 Democratic candidates gather here in Ohio. A pivotal moment for many of them, Joe Biden included -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: All right, Jeff Zeleny there in Columbus, Ohio. Thanks very much.

Now, to get into a lot of this, we have CNN crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz. Shimon, this is a major attack -- a major week, rather, in this impeachment inquiry. And the center point of the week may be the testimony by the current E.U. ambassador, Gordon Sondland, who has been one of the President's point men on Ukraine. Explain why his testimony to these three House panels is so important.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, it goes to the -- really, it all starts with the career diplomat and the series of text messages that -- that are -- have gone between Gordon Sondland and Bill Taylor and where this concern that there was some kind of a quid pro quo really started. This career diplomat, Bill Taylor, raising issues that perhaps the President could be withholding aid from Ukraine, military aid, because of the -- of a political campaign, wanting Ukraine to dig up dirt -- so-called dirt on the Bidens, putting pressure on them to cooperate in that investigation.

And so, this text message between Bill Taylor and Gordon Sondland, which is now on our screen, is very, very important. And it says that -- you know, you see here Bill Taylor saying, you know, as I said on the phone, I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign. And then five hours later, Gordon Sondland responds to him, and we now know the reason why.

Gordon Sondland has said that he communicated -- and we've been told by sources -- he's been -- he talked to the President after this text message, tried to figure out what was going on.

MARQUARDT: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: And then the President said to him, according to "The Washington Post" and according to our reporting, is that there is no quid pro quo. And then Gordon Sondland relayed this to this career diplomat.

MARQUARDT: Right. And it looks like, if you read between the lines and you were skeptical, you could think that there might be some erosion of that relationship between the President and Gordon Sondland. And we should note, Gordon Sondland was a Jeb Bush supporter during the campaign. He had actually criticized the President -- the then-candidate Trump after he went after the gold star Khan family. But then he turned around and gave a million dollars --

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

MARQUARDT: -- to the inaugural committee. Now, the President -- sorry, Gordon Sondland is choosing to testify after the White House told him not to. So do you think that they should be reading into that?

PROKUPECZ: I think you can -- look, I think you can certainly read into it that he's -- at least the optics of it, that he wants it to be seen that he's doing it because he has to do it. He's under subpoena and so he has to appear.

This is a friend of the President. I mean, this is the buddy. This is the guy that he -- that the President was having conversations about what was going on in the Ukraine and what he wanted from Ukraine.

Rudy Giuliani is in the middle of all of this. Gordon Sondland and Rudy Giuliani are having text messages. There are conversations that we don't even really know that much about yet, so he is in the center of this.

And the other thing is, why is he in the center of this, right? He's not the Ukrainian ambassador. He's the E.U. ambassador.

MARQUARDT: Right.

PROKUPECZ: That's something that I think, certainly, should be questioned and people should find suspicious.

MARQUARDT: Well, you mentioned Rudy Giuliani. I mean, talk about one of his buddies. And we saw the President on Friday saying, I don't even know if he's still my lawyer and then, really, a real show of friendship this weekend. The two of them went to the President's golf course. He's talking about him being a tremendous lawyer and one of the best mayors of New York.

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

MARQUARDT: To what extent do you think that shows that the President is loyal to Rudy Giuliani as this water really heats up?

PROKUPECZ: Right. He's loyal until it really heats up and until, perhaps, maybe there's more reporting out there, more evidence to suggest that maybe Rudy Giuliani, what he was doing here, was highly improper.

There are some indications, obviously, as we've been reporting, that the FBI and the Southern District of New York prosecutors are very concerned about what was going on here and that they are scrutinizing the money, the finances, that went into some of this; his relationship, Rudy Giuliani's relationship, with people in Ukraine -- MARQUARDT: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: -- Rudy Giuliani's relationship with these two men that were indicted and arrested last week. So until more comes out, certainly, I think we're going to see the President support him and back him. But as we've seen with Michael Cohen -- you know, Michael Cohen was his fixer here; Rudy Giuliani was his fixer in Ukraine. What's going to happen ultimately depends --

(CROSSTALK)

MARQUARDT: And Rudy Giuliani, of course, was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York which has now indicted two of his associates.

PROKUPECZ: And is, you know, scrutinizing him and --

MARQUARDT: And -- right.

PROKUPECZ: -- and looking into what was going on here. That is an interesting point you make there, certainly.

MARQUARDT: What about -- looking ahead to this week, in addition to Sondland, there are a number of deadlines for different people and departments to hand over documents.

[19:10:06]

PROKUPECZ: Yes. So the big thing is, who is going to cooperate, right? The big question is, what kind of documents are they going to get? Well, really, the biggest question is, are they even going to get any kind of documents?

The White House has not given any indication that they intend to cooperate with subpoenas or requests for documents. And obviously, you have Mike Pence. There are documents there that they want from that office from him. Mark Esper, key here, because he is the Defense Secretary. Obviously, the money, the money that was withheld, the military aid. And then Russ Vought, he is the money man, right? He is the OMB Director -- he's the Acting Director there, so what does he know?

And in all of this, I think they're looking for the paper trail now, e-mails, even text messages. We've seen so much come out in all of this in text messages that the State Department has so far refused to release. We'll see what the White House does. And in the end, the White House is controlling all of this. We've heard that from Mark Esper today --

MARQUARDT: Right.

PROKUPECZ: -- when he said that, really, ultimately, it is up to the White House what gets released. And then the rest of the week, you know, there are documents that they've asked from the two men who were indicted, the Rudy Giuliani associates.

MARQUARDT: Right.

PROKUPECZ: I don't know if that's going to happen. They're under criminal investigation now, so their lawyer, certainly, will hesitate in turning anything over.

MARQUARDT: I want to bring in David Gergen, CNN political analyst and, of course, counselor to four presidents. We've been talking about Ukraine with Shimon. I want to talk -- I want to go back to Hunter Biden, David.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure.

MARQUARDT: He announced today that he would be stepping down from the board of this Chinese company that he's also a partial owner of. Is that not also an acknowledgment that the optics of this were really bad, even if there was no wrongdoing?

GERGEN: Well, it sure took him a long time to resign from the Chinese company, so I'm not sure he really fully understood just how negative the impact has been of these various relationships he's had, but I -- I'm glad he came forward. It was the right thing to do when he did it.

And I don't think it's cleared the decks. I think, you know, we're going to need to put in some rules and regulations that control the families of our presidents. This is not the first president who's had this kind of issues arise and certainly not going to be the last until we have regulations.

MARQUARDT: I want to play some sound for you both because it really is easy to see why the former Vice President is so angry as we heard just a short time ago when you have the President who is making comments like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But he's totally owned and totally controlled by the Washington swamp for many years.

Hunter, you know nothing about energy. You know nothing about selling. You know nothing about anything, frankly.

Hunter, you're a loser and your father was never considered smart. He was never considered a good senator. He was only a good Vice President because he understood how to kiss Barack Obama's ass.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: David, the President has clearly latched on to Hunter Biden as this point of attack that he can use against Joe Biden. Do you have any sense that this move by Hunter to remove himself from this board, has that neutralized that line of attack at all?

GERGEN: No. I think what will neutralize it is if enough people stand up in the Republican Party and say that the kind of language the President is using has no place in American politics. It may be what, you know, the sons and daughters here, including the Trump family -- and it sure takes -- it really takes some chutzpah, doesn't it, for President Trump to come out and criticize the children of Joe Biden when his own kids are so deeply into sort of money-grabbing, if you might --

MARQUARDT: Right.

GERGEN: -- want to call it that.

MARQUARDT: Yes. And Don Junior and Eric Trump have definitely -- they have taken up their father's attacks. But also, when we look ahead, David, to the debate on Tuesday --

GERGEN: Yes.

MARQUARDT: -- and Biden is going to be surrounded by 11 other candidates, is it a fair line of attack for them to talk about --

GERGEN: I think it's a fair line of questioning.

MARQUARDT: Questioning.

GERGEN: And I mean, I think what strains credibility is that he said, basically, he's never talked to him about his relationship when he, himself, Joe Biden, was deeply engaged in trying to figure out what the right -- how to deal with corruption in the Ukraine. So it's -- it's just hard to believe that that's the case. So I think he will face questions on that.

But I -- it's also true that the other candidates are under more pressure this time to be more personal in their attacks. And some of them may take a swipe that's bigger than they have taken in the past, but I think they're going to be -- a lot of this is going to be consumed by the Kurdish issue as well.

MARQUARDT: Well, and I'm glad you mention that because we have heard very little from Republicans on Capitol Hill when it comes to the Ukraine inquiry.

GERGEN: Yes. Right.

MARQUARDT: They've been arguing that it's, you know, part of the President's efforts to root out corruption.

GERGEN: Right.

MARQUARDT: We've heard a lot more from Republicans about Syria and essentially allowing the Turks to go in and fight the Kurds.

GERGEN: Right.

MARQUARDT: And then the Kurds are heavily outmatched. Why do you think the President -- do you think the President realized that he was opening himself up to what could be a huge amount of criticism from Republicans, not just on Capitol Hill but voters as well?

[19:15:01]

GERGEN: Well, their latest reporting is that the President thought Erdogan, the Turkish leader, was bluffing, that he wouldn't go in and that he realized that the relationship with the United States was a very important one for him. But, clearly, the White House misjudged. And I think this has really underscored how dangerous it can be when you have impulsive, erratic decision-making in the White House.

This was not a carefully thought through measure. It just boomed, they put it in there. One of the results, for example, we didn't give our military enough time to get ahold of the ISIS prisoners that the Kurds are holding and get them the hell out of there. Instead, these people have now -- you know, they have escaped in many cases.

MARQUARDT: Right.

GERGEN: The last time, we were talking about six or eight escaping. Now, now we're getting into the dozens and dozens escaping along with families and all their (INAUDIBLE). Plus, the slaughter, plus the Russians are on the move to get involved in this. This has become a real mess.

MARQUARDT: It absolutely has become a mess, you're right. There are reports from the Kurds that hundreds of family members have escaped from a camp.

GERGEN: Yes.

MARQUARDT: And we understand that there are some more than 11,000 who were in these ISIS prisons that are extremely vulnerable, have always been and even more so now that, as you say, the Turks and the Syrian Army and the Russians are all on the move.

Shimon Prokupecz, David Gergen, thank you so much for joining me.

GERGEN: Thanks, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Breaking news, the President is ordering the remaining troops out of northern Syria in the wake of attacks. Attacks that were caused by his initial order for U.S. Special Forces to pull back from the Turkey-Syria border. We will have a look at the very complex, dangerous, and bloody situation on the ground. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:07]

MARQUARDT: Breaking news here on CNN. U.S. troops, almost all of them, are going to be leaving Syria. That was just announced today by the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Now, this is a major change from the earlier troop withdrawal that had been announced last weekend from northeastern Syria that President Trump had announced. Those were around 50 Special Forces. This is a much bigger number that triggered widespread shock and

outrage, accusations that the U.S. is abandoning a loyal, key, and proven ally, the Kurds, known as the SDF. They were crucial in the fight against ISIS. Some 11,000 Kurdish forces died in that fight, and they are now being confronted by a Turkish incursion. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said today that the decision to pull troops out of northeastern Syria was President Trump's.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ESPER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies, and it's a very untenable situation. So I spoke with the President last night after discussions with the rest of the national security team, and he directed that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of forces from northern Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Esper also said that he only learned this weekend that the Kurds were trying to make a deal with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and, by extension, his main backer, the Russians, for military help against this Turkish incursion.

Let's get right to CNN Pentagon reporter Ryan Browne. Ryan, Esper is saying that he only found out about that possible deal between the Kurds and the Syrian regime the past 24 hours. We here at CNN have been reporting that a Kurdish leader told U.S. diplomats about that possibility many days ago. Do you think -- do you know that that detail was a deciding factor in this decision by the President to pull out essentially all U.S. troops from Syria?

RYAN BROWNE, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's interesting, Alex. To your point, the Kurds had long said that if the U.S. was not going to assist them in the face of this Turkish attack that they would turn -- reluctantly but would turn to the Syrian regime, to Russia to help defend them against the Turkish military and these extremist groups that are backed by Turkey that have conducted a series of attacks. So that's not news, the U.S. should have known that.

We're being told that the real issue is that the U.S. was worried about the safety of its personnel because a lot of the forces backed by Turkey, some of these proxy forces, had been conducting indiscriminate attacks, had been cutting off key roads that the U.S. required to supply their forces there. So there were real concerns about safety and security, in addition to this deal that Secretary Esper referenced. A deal that will really cede a lot of key strategic areas that the U.S. and the Kurds fought to capture from ISIS.

But President Trump, calling into Fox News yesterday, made it clear that he didn't really care if the Kurds sought out someone else to help them in their fight against Turkey, possibly Russia and the regime.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) TRUMP: Maybe they'll get somebody else to go and fight with them. If

they want to go get somebody else to go fight with them, that would be fine. It would be OK with me. But we want to get out of the endless wars. We'll be stuck there forever, Jeanine. Forever. We have to get out of the endless wars.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BROWNE: Now, President Trump making it clear that he didn't really care whether or not the hard-fought gains in Syria became -- were turned over to somebody else. Some real chaos in U.S. policy in Syria right now -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yes, that vacuum now being filled by Syrian forces and the Russians. Ryan Browne, in D.C., thanks very much.

BROWNE: You bet.

MARQUARDT: Now, also this weekend, Turkish forces and their proxies are claiming that they have seized towns and territory inside that part of Syria that Ryan was talking about there in the north. They blocked a major highway, one that cuts off any way in or out of a town where U.S. troops have been stationed.

CNN's Nick Payton Walsh is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- road to Kobani tells you how savage this war already is and where it's going. Here, Kurdish female activist Hevrin Khalaf was shot dead allegedly by Syrian rebels Turkey is backing. A gruesome video of the killing viral online.

Just outside Ain Issa and its huge ISIS family camp, there's panic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And, guys, body armors.

WALSH (voice-over): Gunfire up ahead. Trucks turn around fast, families in disarray.

(SPEAKING IN SPOKEN LANGUAGE)

WALSH (voice-over): There are heavy clashes there (ph), he says. Nobody can go.

(SPEAKING IN SPOKEN LANGUAGE)

WALSH (voice-over): What do you want from us, he says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They're coming and will take everything. May God end America.

WALSH (voice-over): Turkey and the fallen ISIS have been their enemies here, but only America betrayed them.

And they are leaving. Just down the road, this patrol pulling out of Ain Issa.

[19:25:00]

WALSH (on camera): They didn't want to talk to us but, clearly, Americans still active in areas around the Syrian Kurds.

WALSH (voice-over): If they leave, Turkey makes its bold ambition to go anywhere here felt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jet. Jets.

WALSH (voice-over): Their jets flying low, sending a message to us -- the Kurds and the Americans -- leave now. But the arrival of two U.S. Apache helicopters to circle the area and their patrol showed the Americans are not ready to do that just yet despite President Trump's instincts to end the endless wars, as he says. Syria's war, though, just keeps getting longer.

WALSH (on camera): Well, a U.S. official has told me that, actually, the road now towards Kobani where they have some of their troops based is being cut off by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels. They set up checkpoints just outside that town we were in, we've had to leave. But it's extraordinary. Nobody thought this was originally part of Turkey's invasion plan.

WALSH (voice-over): And as we drive away, it seems clear Turkey plans to seize the road in part. These are Turkish armored personnel carriers and tanks bearing Turkish flags. More of them arriving in the dust.

Soon, Syrian Kurds won't be able to drive down here at all and the west of their area cut off from its east. The city of Kobani, again, left to face a siege.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Ain Issa, northeastern Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Nick Paton Walsh there and his team.

Now, coming up, how the President is going out of his way to show that he still supports his lawyer and friend, Rudy Giuliani.

[19:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:31] ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: As the impeachment inquiry kicks into high gear in the House of Representatives, there's also some action on the Senate side to report.

Senate Republican from Texas Ted Cruz, he says he thinks the Senate Judiciary Committee needs to hear from the President's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani about his efforts to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son hunter in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: I don't know what Rudy has been saying. I do know though that we should decide our elections. It should be the American people making those decisions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you do want him to testify before your committee?

CRUZ: I think would make a lot of cents for Rudy toe testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. That's ultimately a question for the committee chairman, Lindsey Graham, but I would like to see Rudy testify, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So let's get right to CNN's Jeremy Diamond at the White House.

Rudy Giuliani, reportedly, according to "New York Times" on Friday under federal investigation by the southern district of New York, but President Trump doesn't seem to be backing away from him.

JEREMEY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No, Alex. He certainly does not appear to be. But it has been interesting to watch kind of the development. You know, on Friday, the President was initially asked if Rudy Giuliani was still his attorney and he couldn't confirm whether or not that was the case. But yesterday we saw the President after this "New York times" reports surface that Rudy Giuliani is reportedly under federal investigation looking into whether or not he violated federal lobbying laws. The President had lunch with him at his golf course yesterday in Sterling, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. And the President also issued a series of tweets defending his personal attorney and then he said this on FOX News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is a great gentleman. HE was a great mayor. One od the greatest, maybe the greatest mayor in the history of New York. He was a fantastic prosecutor. I know nothing about him being under investigation. As somebody said I heard a report today, I can't imagine it. He is a man that looks for corruption. And whatever he does I really believe he's a totally -- I mean, I know he's an honorable man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And Alex, these comments maybe a little bit disappointing to some White House officials who repeatedly told me that they think Rudy Giuliani often does more harm than good. And while the President was focusing on the man who is supposed to be defending him, House Democrats are preparing a busy week of testimony and subpoena deadlines all coming this week including testimony from the United States ambassador to the European Union at the center of this Ukraine affair -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: That's right, Gordon Sondland. A very big week in this impeachment inquiry.

Jeremy Diamond, on the north lawn of the White House. Thanks very much.

Now coming up, as the impeachment saga escalates, a key witness as Jeremy was just mentioning. It is going to be a very big week. There's another key witness set to testify before Congress. That's tomorrow. Why Democrats are so eager to hear from this former top aide to the President on Russia. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:00] MARQUARDT: House Democrats are accelerating their impeachment inquiry against President Trump as they return to Capitol Hill after recess this week.

Tomorrow the star witness testifying before lawmakers is President Trump's former top Russia adviser. Her name is Fiona Hill, and she left the national security council about a week before the President's call with Ukraine's leader which triggered the whistleblower report.

So why might her testimony be so important? Let's get your weekend presidential brief with CNN national security analyst Samantha Vinograd.

Sam, Fiona Hill is someone who is not known to too many people. She could be crucial in this. We haven't spoken about her enough in my opinion. How valuable do you think her testimony is going to be?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Alex, if I was President Trump I would be most concerned about Fiona Hill at this point. For starters she is a private citizen. She doesn't have to coordinate her testimony with anyone in the White House. And can speak freely without fear of retribution like, for example, being fired.

Plus, as White House senior director for Russia and Europe she had a front row seat to a lot of content. Her responsibilities if Trump actually let her pursue them was to sit in meetings with the President, to write readouts of those meetings, to sit in on his calls with Russian and Ukrainian officials, and so she may know where a lot of skeletons or a lot of readouts I should say are buried and that could lead to a lot more questions.

I think that her testimony may open up more lines of inquiry for the congressional committees. As I mentioned on Russia she likely knows what happened in the 2017 oval office meeting with the Russian foreign minister where Trump said, for example, he was unconcerned about Russian election interference.

And then when we turn to Ukraine, I think we're going to see a Fiona versus Rudy scenario unfold. Fiona hill was supposed to be the point of contact for all Ukraine policy. Instead that was outsourced to Rudy Giuliani. So Fiona Hill will likely know who at the White House condoned or directed Rudy's behavior.

MARQUARDT: She really is an "x-factor" in all of this.

The new national security advisor, Robert O'Brien, just a couple days ago he announced to staff he would be slashing the overall size of the NSC to around half and would be replacing some detailers from other agencies with political appointees. Now we know the President doesn't listen to a lot of his experts. We have heard a lot of people say that the NSC ballooned under President Obama, but how significant is it that the NSC is essentially being cut in half?

VINOGRAD: Well, size does matter for the NSC. There's an argument for right-sizing the NSC. It got very large under President Obama. But arbitrarily slashing it in half, for example, could really lead to missing out on key functions. The NSC doesn't just advise the President. They are kind of the hub for the U.S. government. They communicate with counterparts across U.S. government, state department, treasury, defense and others on how policy is being developed and implemented. If there's not enough hands on truck departments and agencies could start operating in silos and that could lead to a more incoherent policy implementation.

In terms of the political appointees, they just don't have the experience necessary to really coordinate with the departments and agencies. And it looks like Trump wants more political appointees because he feels like they will be more loyal to him.

[19:40:44] MARQUARDT: Right. Like Gordon Sondland who is testifying next Thursday.

I want to ask you about Syria. And the secretary of defense announcing most of the U.S. troops in Syria will be pulled out. The President has said he doesn't really care who is going to fill that void.

Mark Esper, the secretary of defense, says he wants to get U.S. troops out of harm's way between these two warring factions, the Kurds and the Turks. What do you make of all of this?

VINOGRAD: Well, what I make of this is that the President of the United States did not deter Turkey from entering Syria. Past Presidents have used the power of their office to prevent bad behavior before it has. Trump may not have endorsed this operation but he didn't prevent it.

What the U.S. government is doing right now is trying to look at options to impose costs on Turkey so that they stop the violence. That should have happened when -- before Trump got on the phone and should have laid out those costs for Erdogan. They may include sanctions. We can designate individuals in these operations, bar their travel to the United States and freeze their assets. We can Designate any companies associated with the Turkish military. At a minimum we should disinvite Erdogan from the White House and we're reviewing our military cooperation with Turkey and our arms sales. How can we train Turkish soldiers when we know Turkish troops attacked our own?

MARQUARDT: The administration acting so surprise that had Turkey is doing a lot of what it's doing when in fact so much of it was entirely predictable.

VINOGRAD: Indeed.

MARQUARDT: Sam Vinograd, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Getting ready for what could be major make-or-break moments in the race for the White House in 2020. Twelve democratic candidates will be facing off Tuesday night in Columbus, Ohio. How will they try to stand out when it comes to impeachment and taking on Donald Trump? We will give you a preview. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:46:23] MARQUARDT: The countdown is now on to the next Democratic presidential debate which will be airing right here on CNN this Tuesday night. Twelve candidates will be taking the stage in the battleground state of Ohio. And you can be sure that the House impeachment inquiry into the President will be looming large.

CNN's Abby Phillip is outside the debate site in Ohio.

Abby, great to see you. So much has happened since the last debate. Most noticeably the house began an impeachment inquiry. And we know that every candidate on that stage obviously opposes President Trump. But how do you think those candidates, again, there are 12 of them, how do you think they will differentiate themselves when it comes to their individual stands on impeachment?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Alex. It's going to be a really crowded stage. There's not a whole lot of daylight between these candidates on the issue of impeachment. However, this is the dominant issue in politics right now. And you are going to see it a lot of these candidates trying to stand out by how tough they are going to be on Trump and his associates.

Remember, three of the candidates are sitting United States senators. All of them on the on the Senate Judiciary Committee. And already there have been questions raised about whether people like Rudy Giuliani, the President's personal lawyer might be called to testify, whether or not attorney general Bill Barr might come back to Congress to talk about his involvement in some of this.

I think you'll see a lot of those candidates really speaking out trying to stand out on that issue, particularly senator Kamala Harris who has made her big pitch to voters being that she can prosecute the case against Donald Trump. I think on Tuesday night you can expect to see her and others really trying to move that ball forward, calling for more and more to happen, even while the house impeachment inquiry goes on in a parallel way in the Senate.

MARQUARDT: And a number of those candidates, of course, could be, would be jurors in an impeachment trial.

Abby, I want to ask you about one of the senators, senator Bernie Sanders. He, of course, suffered a heart attack two weeks ago. He is slowly coming back to the campaign trail. He is going to be on that debate stage on Tuesday night.

Do we have any sense of how his opponents, his rivals, may be addressing this, essentially what is a sensitive subject and how the senator himself will be talking about it?

PHILLIP: It's very sensitive. And it has been for quite some time, not just for Bernie Sanders but for several of the other candidates. Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden in their 70s in this race. We have seen this issue kind of backfire for some candidates like Julian Castro who was criticized for how he addressed it with Joe Biden in a previous debate.

But I think you will see Bernie Sanders, who has been trying to show the world that he is back in business. He is going to be on the debate stage. He's been playing baseball in his backyard on camera. He is going to be trying to show that he has what it takes to be on there even after a really major health scare just a couple of weeks ago. I think he will be the one to address it directly.

MARQUARDT: Yes, and for those who are asking the question about whether Bernie Sanders would drop out because of his health scare and then throwing his weight behind fellow progressive Elizabeth Warren, so far there is no sign of that. Quite the episode. Today we saw some of the strongest contrasts that he's drawn with senator Warren to date. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are differences between Elizabeth and myself. Elizabeth I think as you know is a capitalist. I'm not. I am the only candidate who is going to say to the ruling class of this country, the corporate elite, enough is enough with your greed, with your corruption. We need real change in their country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:50:02] MARQUARDT: Abby, this Sanders/Warren dynamic, this rivalry is something we've always been keeping a close eye on, perhaps more so now. Is there any expectation of how that's going to play out on Tuesday night?

PHILLIP: Yes, I think you are seeing the signs that in some ways, the nays are going to be out for Elizabeth Warren. She has been rising really steadily in the polls. But for Bernie Sanders, the issue is so critical because she attracts some of the same voters who were attracted to him in the last election. So, but with Warren, you know, rising all around, I think not just Bernie Sanders, but you are going to see some of the more moderate candidates going after her as well. I'm not big on predictions, but I think that one is going to be one that I'm willing to stand by going into Tuesday, Alex.

MARQUARDT: All right, Abby, you are going to have an interesting time out there in Columbus, Ohio.

Abby Philip just outside of the debate venue. Thank you very much. And that fourth Democratic presidential debate is coming to CNN live

from Columbus, Ohio, this Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. eastern time.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:54:44] MARQUARDT: Police in Ft. Worth, Texas, are now investigating the sixth fatal shooting by one of their officers this year. 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson was killed in her own home early Saturday morning. And we just learned that the woman's 8-year-old nephew was also in the room when the shooting occurred. Police were there because a neighbor noticed that the victim's door was open.

CNN's Polo Sandoval reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[19:55:07] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We went from a welfare check to a woman being killed by the cops.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Outrage is building over the actions of a Ft. Worth, Texas, police officer. Saturday morning, just before 2:30 a.m., police were called to the home of 28- year-old Atatiana Jefferson after neighbors noticed her front door was open. Heavily edited body camera video released by Ft. Worth police picks up what happens next. After police peer through the front door, they walk the perimeter of the property when suddenly, police say, an officer spots someone standing near a woman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your hands up! Show me your hands!

SANDOVAL: The medical examiner identified the woman who the officers shot as Jefferson. She died at the scene. James Smith says he is the concerned caller who first alerted police.

JAMES SMITH, CALLED POLICE: I feel guilty, because had I not called the Ft. Worth police department. My neighbor would still be alive today.

SANDOVAL: In a statement, Ft. Worth police say their officer drew his weapon and fired the single shot after quote "perceiving a threat." In addition to the body camera footage, investigators released this still photo showing a firearm inside the house.

CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson cautions not to jump to any conclusions.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You are going to release the fact that she has a gun in the home, as perhaps, what, to suggest she had a gun and that we were perhaps fearful for our life? There's no indication where that gun was. There's no indication she had that gun. There's no indication that she should not have had the gun.

SANDOVAL: CNN has requested the unedited body camera footage. A police spokesperson said nothing additional will be released at this time and that the department quote :shares the deep concerns of the public" and is committed to completing an extremely thorough investigation. Police have not named the officer who joined the department in April of last year.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)