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WH Budget Official Break Ranks, Testifies to Lawmakers; Witness Says He Personally Heard Trump Demand Biden Investigation; Yovanovitch: State Department is Being Hollowed Out From Within. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired November 16, 2019 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again everyone. Thank you so much for being with me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All right, right White House office of management and Budget official Mark Sandy is testifying behind closed doors on Capitol Hill in a rare Saturday deposition.

Sandy is expected to detail what he knows about the President's decision to hold up U.S. military aid to Ukraine. His testimony comes after another witness gave a first-hand account over hearing President Trump asking whether Ukraine will carry out the investigation. In a closed deposition late yesterday, David Holmes an aide to the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine told lawmakers that he overheard Trump talk about this is on a phone call with the U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland.

It's according to a copy of the Holmes' opening statements obtained by CNN. This follows a day of dramatic and unflappable testimony from the ousted ambassador from Ukraine. The ambassador of Ukraine rather, Maria Yovanovitch. The career diplomat told lawmakers that she was, I'm quoting now, "shocked and devastated," after learning the President disparaged her in his July phone call with the Ukrainian President.

Let's start with CNN's Kristen Holmes on Capitol Hill. So Kristen let's start with the testimony under way right now. What can you tell us?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Fred, Mark Sandy is a senior official over at the office of Management and Budget also known as the OMB and here's why is this so important. First of all, he's a career official which means that he wasn't appointed by the President and he has worked for both Republicans and Democrats.

We have to remember what this entire impeachment inquiry is about, whether or not Trump and his allies held funds back from Ukraine in order to get dirt on a political rival. That's where the OMB comes in. That is the part of the White House that would be responsible for either releasing that aid or withholding that aid.

And Sandy is the first person that has come to testify. This is not for lack of trying. These investigators have tried to talk to several officials over at the OMB. They have defied subpoenas. They have refused to release documents but Sandy did show up today.

So essentially you're going to be hearing or looking at once we see that transcript, likely questions about whether or not withholding these funds raised any red flags. What did the timeline look like. Were there any internal conversations as to why these funds were being withheld.

And again all of this behind closed doors happening right now and this follows a night of what Democrats are calling critical testimony that happened it behind closed doors that they say that the testimony of David Holmes, you mentioned there a staffer at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine is absolutely critical because they think it advances the impeachment inquiry.

And here's why. Holmes said that he overheard a conversation between the Ambassador to the European Union Gordan Sondland and President Trump talking about those investigations. Now according to a transcript, Holmes was out at lunch with Sondland and two other staffers when Sondland placed a call to President Trump.

The President speaking so loudly that although he wasn't on speaker phone, Holmes was able to one, hear his voice and distinctly hear what he said. Now this is what Holmes said that he said. He says, "then I heard President Trump ask, "So he's going to do the investigation?" Ambassador Sondland replied he's going to do it, adding that President Zelensky will do anything you ask him to.

Now the phone conversation ends there but Holmes continued the conversation with Sondland asking, is it true that the President doesn't care about Ukraine? And this is what he says Sondland replied. He says, "the President only cares about big stuff that benefits the President like the Biden investigation that Mr. Giuliani was pushing.

So why is this so important? Well, one it is a direct knowledge here of the President talking about those investigation. It also moves the President much closer to the entire Ukrainian pressure campaign and lastly it's all about Sondland who testified behind closed doors, never mentioned this phone call but will be in a public hearing later this week.

So you can bet that this is going to come up.

WHITFIELD: Yes indeed. All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. Meantime President Trump is in Washington today where he is doubling down on his attacks against ousted U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine, Maria Yovanovitch.

During her testimony Trump took to Twitter to smear Yovanovitch's name in real time writing, "Everywhere Maria Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia. How did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him."

Democrats are now accusing the President of witness intimidation. Let's go to Sarah Westwood at the White House so Sarah, any response coming from the White House about now these accusations? I mean, you know, characterizations that his words are you know witness tampering, harassment?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right Fred but President Trump and his allies, they are doubling down on this strategy of attacking the impeachment inquiry, attacking House Democrats and trying to undermine the credibility of the witnesses that we've seen testify so far.

[12:05:00]

So President Trump with continuing that pattern yesterday when he tweeted that attack on Yovanovitch and this came as the President's Republican allies were focused on their efforts to try to chip away at Yovanovitch's testimony by repeatedly hammering home the fact that for instance, Yovanovitch had been removed from her post before most of the events that are under scrutiny right now actually took place.

But the President's tweet sort of overshadowed that strategy and it created a sympathetic moment for Yovanovitch when Schiff asked the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine to respond to the President's attack in real time and she said, she felt intimidated.

And House Democrats are saying. they could consider witness intimidation as a potential article of impeachment if it comes to that later in the inquiry but President Trump defended himself, speaking to reporters at the White House yesterday by saying, he was simply exercising his free speech rights. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Were you trying to intimidate Ambassador Yovanovitch?

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want to have a total - I want freedom of speech. That's a political process. The Republicans have been treated very badly.

REPORTER: Sir, do you believe your tweets and words can be--

TRUMP: Quiet, quiet, quiet.

REPORTER: Sir, do you believe your tweets and words can be intimidating?

TRUMP: I don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now campaign sources tell CNN that privately many allies believe it was a mistake for the President to attack Yovanovitch during her testimony with one source saying that essentially the President ceded control of the narrative surrounding yesterday's hearing to Democrats.

The President this morning is tweeting about the stock market, linking it to impeachment, writing in part, "If something like that ever happened, it would lead to the biggest fall in market history so much for 401-Ks and jobs." So Trump still going after Schiff in that tweet, still focused on House Democrats as the White House grapples with the fallout from this first week of public impeachment hearings, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sarah Westwood at the White House. Thank you so much. Let's talk more on all this now. With me now is Seung Min Kim, a White House reporter for The Washington Post. John Bresnahan is the congressional bureau chief for politico. Samantha Vinograd is a former senior official on President Obama's National Security Council and a CNN national and security analyst.

Good to see all of you. All right, so Sam, let me begin with you because you know David Holmes who testified late yesterday and said first-hand account. He overheard the President you know in this phone conversation with the U.S. ambassador to the E.U. What can you tell us about him? Mr. Holmes?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, SERVED ON NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL UNDER OBAMA: Thanks Fred. I can tell you that I worked with David. He was a director for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the White House while I was there.

He was thoughtful, he was deliberative and he was always well prepared and you can tell from his written statement alone. That's the approach he talked to his job in Ukraine. I've seen a lot of people describe David as a staffer at the embassy in Ukraine. He was a political counselor and that's an important point because his portfolio, which he describes in the statement was to be the expert on domestic politics in Ukraine.

He was supposed to know what Ukrainian officials were doing and what the political currents were in Ukraine. As he described in his testimony Fred, he became deeply concerned that this a regular channel was undermining the actual U.S. government political work that was underway and that pre-dated - that concern pre-dated this conversation between ambassadors Sondland and the President in an open space.

WHITFIELD: And Sam, I mean you can relate to him as a you know public servant yourself and what this must be like for him to feel like you know, he has a duty to share his point of view, to report what happened, to document et cetera but at the same time you know, might he feel you know any real conflict, might there been any hesitation along the way to testify in the manner that he did?

VINOGRAD: For public servants, no. Public servants, real public servants believe in checks and balances and the oath that they take to the constitution, not any kind of loyalty pledge that they make to this President. Men like David Holmes, women like Maria Yovanovitch and Ambassador Taylor who is still working for the U. S. government, all they want to do is their actual jobs.

And I think that David Holmes wants to get back to Embassy Kiev wants to be able to do his job absent influence from the President, improper influence from the President and his inner circle. The issue Fred is, these public servants are no longer able to do their jobs because of the self-dealing coming from the Oval office. WHITFIELD: So John, if Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the EU

confers because he is scheduled to testify in you know an open setting this Wednesday, if you confirms Holmes' account that President Trump talked to him about this investigation you know, is Ukraine - you know, is the President going to do it, Ukrainian President going to do it?

And that indeed it's about you know investigating the Bidens, is this a game changer?

JOHN BRESNAHAN, CONGRESSIONAL BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: I think it is. I mean you already - we already have the transcript of the July 25 call. We know the President was focused on the Bidens, focused on getting Ukrainians to look at the Bidens. The White House has admitted that. The President has admitted that.

[12:10:00]

But the idea that there are you know, that he's using this back channel to pressure Zelensky and Ukrainian President Zelensky, the new President of Ukraine to do this investigation is - it's a huge moment and it undermines what Sondland has said earlier and I think Sondland appearing Wednesday morning, that's going to be a key moment in this whole impeachment proceeding and the investigation by the Democrats.

Did Sondland change his story what is he saying now because he didn't - he testified something - he didn't mention this call in his original testimony which he's already changed once and you could see the Republicans are already starting to attack Sondland privately, they're already whispering about him that you know, he's - he's you know - he's already changes story once, we can't believe him.

So they know how critical this witnesses is.

WHITFIELD: And then Sondland, one, is testifying today on this rare you know, Saturday occasion from the Office of Management and Budget and I'm talking about Mark Sandy who was subpoenaed but at the same time kind of breaking rank with everybody else in the White House who has been subpoenaed or requested and refused to testify.

Why do you suppose he is doing this?

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: Well, couple of important things to remember about Mark Sandy who is that official from the Office of Management and Budget who was testifying on Capitol Hill today. Conceivably as being an official at the OMB, he could have some knowledge about the $400 million of aid that was held up if that has become such a focal point of this investigation.

But out of the four OMB officials who have been called as part of this investigation he the only one who is not a political appointee. He is a career official. He has worked under Presidents of both parties. He conceivably does not have much - as much of an alliance to the President, to this administration as some of the other OMB officials who have been called to testify. And it seems to indicate that perhaps the oversight of this money, of

this pot of money to Ukraine may have been passed off to other officials in OMB so it's not clear how much information he may have to provide. We'll learn later today what - hopefully learn later today what Mark Sandy knows.

But I would suspect that some of the other OMB officials who have been called to testify such as Michael Duffy and obviously the Acting Director Russell Vought, they have been very defiant in their confessional subpoenas and considering the broader strategy that we've seen from the White House, decrying this impeachment inquiries as a sham and saying they won't comply, I would expect that to continue with the other OMB officials as well.

WHITFIELD: Right and you know Sam, a lot is being revealed by way of these testimonies about the sequence of events but then also about you know underscoring your point about what it is to be a public servant. You know, Ambassador Yovanovitch testified about how her firing you know and the attacks on diplomats is really causing serious problems within the U.S. state department as a whole, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA YOVANOVITCH, FMR U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Moreover, the attacks are leading to a crisis in the state department as the policy process is visibly unraveling. Leadership vacancies go unfilled and senior and midlevel officers ponder an uncertain future.

The crisis has moved from the impact on individuals to impact on the institution itself. The State department is being hollowed out from within at a competitive and complex time on the world stage. This is not a time to undercut our diplomats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Sam, do you worry about long term? How all of this might end up being a deterrent for people to serve?

VINOGRAD: It's not only a deterrent from recruitment purposes, Fred. Minutes before I came into the studio President Trump was attacking another witness Bill Taylor and what that means is every time the President tweets about one of these diplomats, he's attacking them and he's also attacking our national security.

As Ambassador Yovanovitch mentioned in her testimony yesterday, the Smear Campaign against her meant that even while she was in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials were asking her if basically she was going to be fired, which she was. Bill Taylor still posted to Kiev as the President attacks him, Ukrainian officials are wondering if he also is going to be fired, if it's worth engaging with him.

And so from that perspective, our diplomats are not being taken seriously overseas. At the same time, any bad after knows all they have to do is cook up a conspiracy campaign against a U.S. official which is something the Russians do quite often, link it in some way to President Trump's political needs and they can get any U.S. official pushed out, without the Secretary of State defending them.

So at this point both from a recruitment and from a retention standpoint, our foreign service or state department is under serious pressure from the President.

WHITFIELD: Sam Vinograd, Seung Min Kim and John Bresnahan, thanks to all of you. Really appreciate it.

VINOGRAD: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, President Trump goes against the Pentagon, pardoning two officers who were facing war crime allegations. What those officers are saying after their new found freedom plus as impeachment inquiry heats up on Capitol Hill, what are the key questions that still need to be answered. More right after this.

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, right now two soldiers accused of military war crimes are now free men after they received pardons from President Trump. CNN getting an exclusive look at one of the men's emotional reunions with his family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That was the scene after Army First Lieutenant Clint Lorance was released from the United States disciplinary barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas last night. In 2013, Lorance was found guilty of second degree murder for ordering his men to fire on three men on a motorcycle in Afghanistan. Upon his release Lorance shared his gratitude.

1st LT. CLINT LORANCE, PARDONED By PRESIDENT TRUMP: I appreciate the whole country for everything that all of you have done and you know, it's just - it's kind of overwhelming. You know, I wanted to join the army and just you know, go over your soldier and I didn't realize all this was going to happen.

So it's just kind of overwhelming for a country boy from the middle of nowhere so I guess all I have to say is I really appreciate my new American family.

[12:20:00]

WHITFIELD: CNN Pentagon reporter Ryan Browne joining me now with more on all of this so Ryan, there have been mixed reactions to this decision, especially considering Trump's decision went against the Pentagon's advice. What are you hearing?

RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: Well, that's right Fred. Senior Pentagon leaders had advised the President against this course of action. They had provided him with ample amounts of information about why pardoning Lieutenant Lorance as well as Major Matthew Golsteyn and restoring the rank of Navy Seal Gallagher, why those decisions would potentially undermine the uniform code of military justice.

That's the military justice system and potentially undermine good order and discipline amongst U.S. military service members. You know for their part Major Golsteyn and his lawyer has accused - he had been charged with killing an unarmed Afghan detainee during a deployment to Afghanistan.

They accused U.S. military prosecutors of engaging in a runaway prosecution and his lawyer saying that Golsteyn spoke with the President yesterday after receiving news of the pardon. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR GOLSTEYN, SOLDIER PARDONED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP: You joke about stuff like that but it's very interesting to you know, get a call, stand by for the President and on he comes. It was an incredible honor and again, just - just struck by the - the words and listening and--

WIFE OF MAJOR GOLSTEYN: The compassion?

GOLSTEYN: The compassion.

WIFE OF MAJOR GOLSTEYN: And such warmth and an understanding for what not only Matt has been through but our family, our children, everyone around us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWNE: Now Golsteyn's case had been the subject of a lobbying campaign by several Republican members of Congress and Fox news personalities, something that had caught President Trump's attention and was one of the reasons he went against the advice of the Pentagon.

Now, the military for its part, it's saying that it's going to carry out the pardon orders pointing to the fact that President Trump as a Commander-in-Chief is part of the military justice system but many critical voices from former military officers and outside groups like the ASLU lambasting the decision, saying it violates militaries tradition of order and discipline. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ryan Browne in Washington, thank you. All right, coming up more key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry testify on Capitol Hill but is their testimony enough to impeach a President for the third time in history? More straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

WHITFIELD: Significant new details emerging out of yesterday's testimony and testimony from last night but first, earlier in the day from the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Maria Yovanovitch. She said she felt threatened by the President's attack on her when serving in her post and was alarmed by the State Department's failure to defend her. Yovanovitch's appearance comes as Democrats argue the President sought

her removal in order to pave the way for a pressure campaign in Ukraine. Joining me right now CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Michael Zeldin and before I - good to see you, Michael.

Before I ask you about Yovanovitch, I mean we had testimony late in the day yesterday from a state department employee, David Holmes today, the Office of Management and Budget. Mark Sandy is testifying behind closed doors so for Holmes, Holmes was part of that overhearing the conversation between the President of the United States while abroad and the U.S. ambassador to the E.U., Gordon Sondland.

And Holmes testified that he heard the conversation. He heard the President asking about whether Ukraine was going to go on with the investigation. So when Sondland who is scheduled to testify in open this week, when he testifies, how important will it be for him to corroborate what Holmes testified? What he said in his opening statement which was revealed last night?

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So Sondland becomes really the lynch pin of this. If he confirms what has been testified to by Holmes behind closed doors, what Giuliani essentially admitted to, that they were involved in an investigation of the Bidens and that Biden and that Giuliani was working on behalf of the President.

If Sondland says the same and admits to the call and remembers the call and says yes, the President was interested in these investigations then I think you've got pretty compelling evidence on behalf of the allegations that the President abused the powers of his office for personal political gain.

WHITFIELD: And now, let's talk about other former ambassador Yovanovitch and I'm wondering if in your view, did her testimony strengthen the Democrat's impeachment inquiry?

ZELDIN: What it did was to give plain sight to her as a victim of the campaign that is been alleged against the President, which is to say that she was removed from her office because she was a road block in the way of the Giuliani cabal to get the investigation of the Bidens.

And she suffered mightily for that and so what we see is the impact, the personal impact of that campaign on an individual or a sympathetic individual and we have the very compelling testimony from her which said that it's amazing to her that Americans would align themselves with corrupt Ukrainians and so easily remove an United States ambassador. That's pretty telling stuff.

WHITFIELD: She also testified of being threatened and harassed after you know, questioning why the U.S. would withhold military assistance in the middle of such volatility in the region and then in the midst of her testimony, the President actually tweeted out you know, in part that everything she touched you know, went bad.

So how did this just undermine the Republicans' position that the president, you know, was motivated by weeding out corruption? MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it completely undermines that as a defense because it appears to lay plain the fact that Ms. -- Ambassador Yovanovitch was an impediment to the plan. And she was a very sympathetic witness before this tweet and became now a very sympathetic and vulnerable witness after this tweet. And clearly the Republicans appeared shaken by this tweet understanding that while it may not be actionable intimidation of a witness that would get a prosecutor an indictment, it is clearly harassing and it sends a terrible message to all of those who are fearful of the president.

One can only hope that it backfires in the sense that people say, well, she was a profile encourage, I'm going to be a co-profile encourage. I'll take the political hit just as she took the political hit because the truth matters more.

WHITFIELD: All right, Michael Zeldin, always good to see you, thank you so much.

ZELDIN: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So as the impeachment inquiry embroils the White House, President Trump's false claims about his dealings with Ukraine have only accelerated. The dizzying details, next.

But first, is your garage packed with bulky things you almost never use? An entrepreneur says there is no reason to own all of that stuff when you can just rent it instead. His idea is today's "Start Small Think Big".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:36:00]

JOE FERNANDEZ, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, JOYMODE: So in 2005, I moved to New York City, I met a girl there. We moved in together. Our apartment was so small that any time either of us bought something we basically had to get rid of something and that really changed how I thought about ownership. I spent like a year trying to figure out how to solve that problem and in kind of the 10 years since then my world change, cherry economy, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and that rally inspired me to try it again.

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The most popular bundle on Joymode is a backyard movie night. It's a screen, projector, chairs, old time popcorn machine, even the blankets. It wasn't that long ago when you would walk into somebody's house and you would see a huge DVD collection, now it's weird. I think you'll say why do you have all of these DVDs so you know (INAUDIBLE). You know, my hope is that over the next few years, it will be just as weird to see, you know, these things that fill our closets and garages and you'll wonder why you didn't just get that from Joymode.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, right now all eyes are on the impeachment inquiry against President Trump unfolding in Washington. CNN took a moment to fact check the president's claims about his dealings in Ukraine.

And CNN Reporter Daniel Dale joins me now with what he found out. So Daniel, you recently put together a list, a list of 45 ways the president has been dishonest about his Ukraine dealings and the impeachment inquiry. So, on that list, what stands out to you?

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: Well, there's a whole lot of egregious up is down kind of stuff. The president is basically making a comprehensive effort to reframe reality on this scandal. The most frequent false claim he's made is the claim that the whistle-blower who has been proving highly accurate was highly inaccurate.

Through last Sunday, I haven't kept my count up to date yet. He said that 38 separate times in different ways. Thirty-eight separate times saying something that is verifiably incorrect.

WHITFIELD: So since his story, you know, broke, we've also heard this, in fact, repeatedly from the president. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you explain delaying military aid --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because I want Germany, and I want France, and I want the European Union to put up money and I didn't delay anything. We paid the military aid to the best of my knowledge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So multiple testimonies we've heard, you know, from career diplomats this week suggest otherwise. Explain.

DALE: Yes. So there are two things wrong there. One, European countries have spent billions of dollars providing loans and grants to Ukraine since Russia's invasion in 2014. But more importantly, there was of course a delay. As you said we have testimony, we have reporting and we have Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on the record saying, quote, we held up the money. And so this is another example of Trump, you know, describing up is down. These aren't slight exaggerations, these are whoppers, these are really big lies.

WHITFIELD: Another script President Trump, you know, is trying to rewrite is how House Intel Chair Adam Schiff, you know, plays into all of this. And what did d you find out?

DALE: Well, he -- Trump has been blasting Schiff for comments Schiff made at a House Intelligence Committee meeting in September, and that's fair enough. Schiff did exaggerate what Trump said according to the rough transcript on that July call. But Trump as been doing something really weird and he's been switching up the timeline of this.

He's been arguing that Schiff made his comments before Trump released the rough transcript and then Trump outsmarted him by releasing the transcript that prove him wrong. In fact, Schiff spoke the day after Trump released the transcript. And so this is the president playing with time, again, playing with reality to make some very confusing, very trivial point about what happened here.

WHITFIELD: Daniel Dale, thank you so much.

DALE: Thank you.

[12:40:02]

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, the White House isn't the only place where details about impeachment seem to be getting lost. How Fox News is filling the air waves with the set of alternate facts, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, right now in Washington, there seems to be that there are alternate universes when it comes to impeachment coverage in the media. Where many see damning testimony that incriminates the president, others seem to be finding vindication.

Here me with now, Brian Stelter, CNN's chief media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources". So Brian, how is conservative media framing this impeachment inquiry so far?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Really this follows on what Daniel Dale was just talking about, about the dishonesty that we are seeing from President Trump. The dishonesty also comes from his right-wing media cheerleaders. I mean, it's crucial to understanding the impeachment inquiry because even though we've all been watching these hearings, learning these damming new facts about this Ukraine scandal, what Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson and other conservative hosts are saying at night is an absolute alternative reality that is supporting President Trump 1,000 percent.

[12:45:05]

Let me just give you a little taste of some of what was said about the first two witnesses earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Day one of this impeachment farce --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was such a disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A triple full disaster for the Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A complete and utter disaster for Adam Schiff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it was a Schiff (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bunch of professional nerds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two homeless guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looked like people who sat by themselves at recess.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was kind of boring to watch on television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flat out boring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is stupid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Republicans had a great day all way around in this circus. The sham, the charade honestly, for the sake of the country should be shut down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: So you get a sense right there. And the same time, Hannity is saying this is a win for Republicans. He's also saying shut down the impeachment sham. This is the kind of message that's being reinforced every single day by right-wing media. And the president is listening to all of it and then reflecting it back on Twitter.

So, that is what's new, that is what's different from the other impeachments in American history. It is this incredible megaphone presenting an alternative reality every single day. Last night, for example, Tucker Carlson said this is all a waste of time. And Sean Hannity said there were zero facts at the hearing.

This is not tittered to reality but it is very persuasive for millions of people.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brian Stelter, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: We're back in a moment, but first more than eight million tons of plastic ends up in the world's oceans every year, the equivalent of a garbage truck dumped every minute. A lawyer in Mumbai is working to tackle this global problem. And he's one of this year's top 10 CNN heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AFROZ SHAH, CNN HERO: The whole beach was like a carpet of plastic. For the first time in my life, I didn't want to be near the water because the garbage was, like, five and a half feet.

This problem of pollution is created by us. And with this in my mind, I started to clean the beach. Then I told myself it would be difficult for a single man to do it, so I said why not take this personal journey to others.

If this huge ocean is in a problem, we'll have to rise up in huge numbers. When you have complicated problems sometimes solutions are simple.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow. To vote for your favorite top 10 hero, go to cnnheroes.com

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:51:24]

WHITFIELD: Police say five men are in custody after a high school football shooting in New Jersey that sent three people to the hospital. Listen to the chaos when gunfire erupted last night all caught on camera.

Police say shots rang out toward the end of the game, two people are still in the hospital including a 27-year-old in stable condition and a 10-year-old in critical condition. A 15-year-old is now out of the hospital after being grazed by a bullet. And police say the players originally thought the gunshots were fireworks but once they realized what it was they ran for their lives. Terrified fans diving for cover under the bleachers as well.

The 16-year-old shooter who killed two classmates and hurt three other students at a high school in Santa Clarita, California has died. Police say the teen used his last bullet to shoot himself in the head just 16 seconds after the shooting started. His motive still a mystery.

Last night a football playoff game in Santa Clarita was dedicated to Thursday's shooting victims at Saugus High School. Students held a vigil at a playoff game between two other schools decorated the bleachers blue. And then they released balloons as you see it there during halftime.

CNN's Sara Sidner reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We're here in Central Park in Santa Clarita, California, this is where parents game to reunite with their children after a school shooting at Saugus High School. The shock of that shooting has started to subside and now sorrow is setting in.

(voice-over): A sign of sorrow and remembrance after tragedy. A makeshift memorial grows each hour after yet another deadly school shooting. This time it happened at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California.

NADIA FURMANSKI, SAUGUS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: Me and my friends were like running up this hill and everyone was like following and just trying to get to safety.

SIDNER (voice-over): One of 14-year-old friends Nadia Furmansky's never had a chance to get to safety. Fifteen-year-old Grace Anne Muehlberger was shot to death.

FURMANSKY: She was such a pure person. It's sad to see like stuff like this happen so close to home and like to witness it firsthand is so terrible and like she was one of the sweetest people like I've ever met.

SIDNER (voice-over): Also killed, 14-year-old Dominic Blackwell. Three other students were wounded. Sheriff's investigators say it was the shooters birthday, he had just turned 16 the day he opened fire using the last bullet to shoot himself in the head. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said surveillance video revealed the shooter pulled the semi-automatic 45 pistol from his backpack and fired without saying a word, without missing a shot.

SHERIFF ALEX VILLANUEVA, LOS ANGLES COUNTY: In 16 second, he cleared a malfunction and he was able to shoot five people and himself so he seemed very familiar with firing the weapon.

SIDNER (voice-over): Investigators say the gun used in the killings was not registered but six others recovered from the family home belong to his deceased father. What has not been discovered is why.

CAPT. KENT WEGENER, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Sufficed to say we did not find any manifesto, any diary that spelled it out, any suicide note, or any writings which will clearly identify his motive behind this assault.

SIDNER (voice-over): The deadly assault on this community is exacting a terrible toll

[12:55:01]

It lives on in the minds of the students, staff, and parents who endured it.

FURMANSKY: It's so hard because the sound of the gun shots and the sights of everybody running just keep replaying in my head.

SIDNER (on camera): A terrible thing for a 14-year-old, a freshman in high school to have playing over and over again in her head. But the school district says there is counseling available and the community here in Santa Clarita is coming together like every never before.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Santa Clarita, California.

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WHITFIELD: Coming up, new testimony on the impeachment inquiry happening right now on Capitol Hill. An official breaking with the White House to testify behind closed doors. We'll take you there for the latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Right now, a senior White House official at the Office of Management and Budget is testifying behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. Mark Sandy is breaking ranks as he's expected to lay out what he knows about the decision to hold up U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Sandy's testimony today comes on the heels of David Holmes' testimony last night in which Holmes, an aid to a top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine gave first happened details of a phone call he overheard between Trump and the U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland.

Holmes claims in that phone call he heard the president asking whether Ukraine will carry out investigations into the Bidens.