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First Public Impeachment Inquiry Hearings Next Week; Current And Former Top U.S. Diplomats In Ukraine And Key State Dept. Official To Give Public Testimony In Impeachment Inquiry Next Week; Giuliani Hires New Lawmakers As Impeachment Probe Intensifies; White House Adds Two Advisers To Impeachment Team; Sources Say Growing Concern Over Taylor Testimony; Transcript Release Of Diplomat's Testimony About Quid Pro Quo; Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) Is Interviewed About Bill Taylor And Impeachment; Jeff Sessions To Announce Senate Bid In Alabama; Manhunt For Killers Of American Women And Children In Mexico. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 06, 2019 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: He was leaving the White House on his way to a rally in Louisiana tonight.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @jaketapper. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news. Public hearings. House Democrats announce public testimony in the impeachment inquiry starting a week from today. Key witnesses telling what they know about President Trump's Ukraine controversy on live television.

White House braces. Sources say President Trump's inner circle is increasingly concerned about the impeachment probe. Tonight details of new hires for the impeachment team and which testimony the White House fears the most.

Path to 2020. Democrats claim victory in closely watched elections including one where President Trump's personal appeals apparently failed to save a sitting Republican governor in a strong red state. What did the result say about the President's chances for reelection next year?

And massacre manhunt. An intense search for suspects in the brutal slaying of nine American women and children in Mexico. We have new details of the investigation and chilling new accounts of how some children survived.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We're following breaking news the do public phase of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump moving forward rapidly. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff now says the first public hearings will take place next week with a witnesses including the current and former top U.S. diplomats in Ukraine, Bill Taylor and Marie Yovanovitch.

And a short time ago the impeachment committee released Taylor's closed door testimony. He also described a quid pro quo saying it was his clear understanding that U.S. aid to Ukraine wouldn't come until the country's new president publicly committed to investigating Joe Biden and his son. We'll talk about the breaking news with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of the Judiciary Committee. And our correspondents and analysts are also standing by.

First, let's go to Capitol Hill. Our Senior Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is following all these late breaking developments for us.

Manu, this is about to enter a brand-new phase for the first time. The American people will hear directly from these key witnesses who are at center of this impeachment inquiry.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Significant development as Democrats try to make the case to the American public that the President deserved to be impeached and removed from the office because in their view he abused his office by seeking Ukraine to announce investigations into his political rivals including Vice President Joe Biden. At the same time as vital military aid for that country to help combat Russian aggression nearly $400 million had been withheld.

They're going to hear witness testimony from people who came behind closed doors. Current State Department employees who raised concerns about what they saw as a shadow campaign, a campaign led by Rudy Giuliani, the President's personal attorney, at the direction of the President. And concerns being raised about why that aid had not been approved and released to Ukraine.

Now, next Wednesday the first two witnesses who will appear will be Bill Taylor who's a top diplomat from the -- U.S. diplomat in Ukraine and George Kent who is a senior State Department official. Afterwards they'll hear from Marie Yovanovitch who is testifying on Friday.

She is, of course, have been recalled from that post amid a campaign by Giuliani and his associates to target her, go after her and push her out of the way after she had raised concerns to the highest level of the State Department about Giuliani's efforts to pursue those investigations urged the Ukrainians to announce those investigations.

Now Republicans today are pushing back. Pushing back at Taylor's upcoming testimony that Democrats believe will help shape the narrative that the President tried to link Ukraine aid to these investigations. But Republicans say, Bill Taylor, in particular does not have any firsthand knowledge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Taylor testified that there could -- he was told that there was -- aid had been withheld in exchange for announcing these investigations publicly. He testified that there was a quid pro quo. REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH), RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: It was no announcement about any investigations ever took place. The Ukrainians didn't even know aid had been held up at the time of the phone call. So the facts are the facts and I keep telling you all that those things -- those facts will not change and have not changed despite what some people may say.

And Ambassador Volker backed up those four fundamental facts in his testimony. He was the first witness called but he's certainly not going to be the -- based on what we've seen is not going to be the first guy called.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Of course he's referring to Kurt Volker, the especial envoy to Ukraine, who did testified that he did not see a quid pro quo. But in a revised testimony from a separate witness yesterday, Gordon Sondland, the European Union ambassador, revised his testimony to say that he later told a top Ukrainian official that the aid was likely was contingent on these announcement of investigations, that announcement had to be made by President Zelensky of Ukraine.

[17:05:08]

And there's a sign, also Wolf, that Democrats are planning to move forward on these investigation. They announced today that they are withdrawing a subpoena for the -- to push an individual to come and testify, Charles Kupperman, someone who served in the White House who had fought that subpoena in court. They announced today that they are withdrawing that subpoena in part because they're trying to make the case that they want to move quickly on this impeachment inquiry because the court has set a schedule to delay that proceeding until later this year.

A statement from an official working on the impeachment inquiry said that they don't want to lead to a schedule that would delay -- result in only delay, which is why they are withdrawing the subpoena. So, Wolf, all of these indications are signs that Democrats are moving quickly, something that could lead to impeachment, potentially, by the end of the year. Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. They clearly want to draft the articles of impeachment sooner rather than later.

Manu Raju, up on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

And now more on the newly released testimony of the current top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor. Our Justice Correspondent Jessica Schneider is working the story for us.

Jessica, Taylor also describes a quid pro quo for U.S. aid going to crane.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That is right, Wolf. And Taylor was specific to say that he was told that Ukraine would get no military money until the country's President Zelensky announced the political investigations that the President was requesting. Taylor was incredibly detailed in his testimony even telling the committees that he took meticulous notes in a little notebook complete with quotes so he is certain about the accuracy of his recollection.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, told lawmakers it was his "clear understanding security assistance money would not come until Ukrainian President Zelensky committed to pursue the investigation" into the 2016 election and the Ukrainian company where Joe Biden's son served on the board, Burisma.

Taylor recounted how top NSC official, Tim Morrison, told him "President Trump did insist that President Zelensky go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of Biden and 2016."

Taylor was alarmed and sent a cable to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, "describing the folly I saw in withholding military aid to Ukraine at a time when hostilities were still active in the east and when Russia is watching closely to gauge the level of American support for the Ukrainian government."

Taylor's testimony points to a quid pro quo. Something the President has repeatedly denied.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There was no quid pro quo at all.

I didn't do it. There was no quid pro quo.

SCHNEIDER: Taylor was asked if the President ever told Taylor directly why the aid was being withheld. Taylor responding, "I didn't hear it from the President, I can't say what the President was thinking." And that is what Republicans are seizing on as their latest defense.

REP. MARK MEADOWS, (R-NC), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: What they said was, is any information that they had was from whom? Ambassador Sondland. None of them talked to the President. I assure can assure you that there has been no direct link to the President.

SCHNEIDER: Taylor also repeatedly criticized the President's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, for his rogue foreign policy on Ukraine.

When Taylor was asked if E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland was responsible for withholding Ukraine aid in exchange for investigations something former National Security Advisor John Bolton had called a drug deal, Taylor said it was actually Giuliani who was the proxy for Trump. "I think the origin of the idea to get President Zelensky to say out loud he's going to investigate Burisma and the 2016 election, I think the originator, the person who came up with that was Mr. Giuliani."

Meanwhile depositions continued behind closed doors today on Capitol Hill before the public phase begins next week. David Hale is a high ranking official at the State Department. And according to the Associated Press, intended to testify that Secretary of State Pompeo was reluctant to defend ousted Ukrainian Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch because it would hurt efforts to get the military aid to Ukraine released. Plus, the AP reports there were concerns about how a public defense would play with Rudy Giuliani.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: And at the same time the testimony keeps pointing fingers at Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani announcing on Twitter tonight that he has hired a new team of lawyers. Giuliani previously told us that he would not be seeking a new lawyer unless he felt one was needed. But in the weeks since, sources have told CNN Giuliani has been approaching defense attorneys.

And of course Giuliani isn't just being brought up in Congress, Wolf, we've learned that federal prosecutors in New York are looking into his business dealings in Ukraine in addition to a counterintelligence probe.

BLITZER: Yes. He's clearly hired a team of lawyers, criminal defense attorneys to help him get through what is clearly a very, very serious investigation.

All right, Jessica Schneider thanks very much.

There is growing concern inside of the White House over all these really fast-moving developments. Our Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us with that part of the story.

Jim, you're in Louisiana where the President will be holding another political rally later tonight.

[17:10:04]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. President Trump is on his way to Louisiana to campaign for the Republican candidate for governor in the state. The White House is obviously very concerned about these fast-moving developments in the impeachment inquiry. The President may be campaigning down here but that didn't go so well for him last night as there were big losses for the Republican Party in contests across the country.

Still the White House has its focus on impeachment, hiring new officials to respond to the inquiry. Still Republicans are getting jittery about impeachment and 2020 with one source close to the White House telling me that last night's elections and impeachment are sizing up to be a bad omen for the President.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): President Trump is escaping to the campaign trail with a cloud of impeachment hanging over his every move. The White House is bracing for the upcoming public hearings and the inquiry and getting more nervous about the newly-released testimony from senior officials like the top diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, and European Union Ambassador, Gordon Sondland, who resized his recollections to say there was a quid pro quo with the Ukrainian President. But aides to the President say they still don't see a quid pro quo.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNCELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: That is the White House's position and I don't think that his latest revision has changed that.

ACOSTA: White House is bringing on new staffers to beef up the counter impeachment message despite Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham's claim last week that Mr. Trump can handle all that.

STEPHANIE GRISHAM, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He is the war room. The difference between Clinton and Nixon which is what people constantly compare us to, is that those two did something wrong. The President has done nothing wrong. So at this time he feels confident with the people that he has in place.

ACOSTA: President's loyalist are changing their tune on the inquiry, now claiming the administration was too incoherent to engage in a quid pro quo.

SE. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: What I can tell you about the Trump policy toward the Ukraine, it was incoherent. It depends on who you talk to. They seem to be incapable of forming a quid pro quo. So no, I find the whole process to be a sham and I'm not going to legitimize it.

ACOSTA: Contrast that with the excuse that the whistleblower's account was all hearsay.

GRAHAM: This seems to me like a political setup. It's all hearsay.

ACOSTA: Other Trump loyalist are saying they no longer believe what Sondland says preferring the account of former Ukraine envoy, Kurt Volker.

JORDAN: You all want to make a big deal out of Mr. Sondland's presumptions that he had in his statement yesterday, but Mr. Volker is the one has -- in my mind defending the account.

ACOSTA: But hold on. The President once said Sondland could be trusted.

TRUMP: The text message that I saw from Ambassador Sondland who is highly respected was there's no quid pro quo. He said that.

ACOSTA: The President is licking his wounds after campaigning for Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin who lost a close battle for reelection.

TRUMP: If you lose, they're going to say Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world. This was the greatest. You can't let that happen to me.

ACOSTA: One of the slew of contests that swing to the Democrats from Kentucky to Pennsylvania to Virginia. A source close to the White House told CNN the results were "totally bad. Kentucky and Virginia signal to the GOP they are underestimating voter intensity against Trump, and it could be terrible for them next year. A bad omen for impeachment."

The President is spinning it all as a big win tweeting, "Our big Kentucky rally on Monday night had a massive impact on all of the races. The increase in governor's race was at least 15 points and maybe 20. Will be in Louisiana." The President is betting his most vocal supporters will remain loyalr no matter what he does.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: If he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, would you vote for him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to know why he shot him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, why did he shoot him?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now the Trump campaign released a statement saying that the President had to drag the governor of Kentucky Matt Bevin across the finish line but if the President keeps losing some of these races in places like Kentucky and Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, other candidates may pass up the opportunity to be dragged by the President.

And just a few moments ago, Wolf, we noticed the President did not stop to talk to reporters as he was leaving the White House for this rally down here in Louisiana. Something he often does when he leaves the White House in the early evening hours. That may mean, Wolf, that he is saving things up for tonight. Wolf.

BLITZER: Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

Let's get more on all of this. Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York is joining us. He's a member of the Judiciary Committee, he's also a chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. And as you know the House has released the transcripts now from the deposition of the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor. Lawmakers will have the chance to question Bill Taylor once again next week during the first round of public televised impeachment hearings. How valuable do you believe Ambassador Taylor is as a witness?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, it's good to be with you again, Wolf. And Ambassador Taylor is an important witness, one, because of his inherit credibility. This is somebody who served the country incredibly well, who's a Vietnam War veteran, decorated hero, West Point graduate, a diplomat of impeccable credentials.

[17:15:004]

And his testimony will confirm that the underlying narrative which is that the President betrayed his oath of office, that he abused his power by pressuring a foreign government to target an American citizen for political and personal gain by soliciting foreign interference in a 2020 election. Betrayed the integrity of our elections in that process and violated the Constitution.

BLITZER: What would you like to hear from some of the lawmakers when these televised hearings begin next Wednesday and millions of people across the country will be watching?

JEFFRIES: Well, the focus, I think, is going to be on the witnesses and communicating to the American people why Trump's wrongdoing implicated and undermined our national security interest.

Three hundred and ninety-one million dollars in military and economic aid was withheld from Ukraine that had been allocated in a bipartisan way. Ukraine is a friend, Russia is a foe. Ukraine is a democracy, Russia is a dictatorship. And the United States right now may be the only thing standing between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine being completely overrun by Russia as part of Putin's fantasy of recreating what he views as the glory days of the Soviet Union.

Right now you have Russian-backed separatists at war in Ukraine. That is why Congress allocated this money in a bipartisan basis, yet it was withheld as part of a pressure campaign to target an American citizen and try to compel this phony investigation into Joe Biden.

BLITZER: Once the hearings go public next week, Republicans at those hearings, they'll be able to cross-examine some of these witnesses even use staff attorneys to ask questions as well. As you know, the President and his allies have tried to paint witnesses like Bill Taylor as never Trumpers, they've gone after them personally. Do public hearings carry some level of risk potentially for Democrats?

JEFFRIES: Not at all. I believe it was Justice Brandeis who once said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. And what you have right now as evidence of wrongdoing by Donald Trump is hiding in plain sight. That evidence needs to be presented to the American people in a clear and comprehensive and compelling fashion and that is exactly what is going to happen. We're going to continue to follow the facts, to apply the law and be guided by the Constitution. And make sure that the truth is presented to the American people.

BLITZER: What's the timeline, and I understand it's not specific, but give me a sense of the timeline for holding a vote on articles of impeachment?

JEFFRIES: Well Speaker Pelosi who continues to do a fantastic job in leading us forward in a real serious solemn and sober fashion has made clear that we won't put a specific timeline on our proceedings, but that we will proceed in a fashion that is expeditious, that's comprehensive and that is fair.

We are going to be guided by the facts as they exist and as they unfold and are presented to the American people. Sooner rather than later, I think it's fair to say in terms of moving forward and ultimately coming to a decision that the Intel Committee will have to make as to whether they're going to recommend articles of impeachment to the House Judiciary Committee.

But the Intel Committee has been proceeding in a way that is consistent with simply trying to uncover the entirety of the story, present that wrongdoing engaged in by Donald Trump to the American people and then see where it leads.

BLITZER: Congressman Jeffries, thanks as usual for joining us.

JEFFRIES: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We're going to learn a lot more ahead on all of the breaking news. Will next week's start of public televised hearings in the impeachment inquiry sway public opinion about removing the President from office?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:23:35]

BLITZER: Breaking news, House Democrats announce public hearings in the Trump impeachment inquiry will start one week from today. The first day will include U.S. diplomat, Bill Taylor, the transcript of his closed-door testimony came out earlier this afternoon.

Joining us now, former FBI General Counsel Jim Baker, CNN Legal Analyst. Jim, thanks very much for coming in.

And let me read a little excerpt from Bill Taylor, the distinguished American ambassador who's now serving in Ukraine. He's laying out his understanding of what a quid pro quo was. Ambassador Taylor, "That was my clear understanding. Security assistance money would not come until the President," meaning President Zelensky," committed to pursue the investigation of the Bidens" he's referring to. The chairman, "So if they don't do this, they are not going to get that, was that your understanding?" Ambassador Taylor, "Yes, sir."

The chairman, "Are you aware that quid pro quo literally means this for that." Ambassador Taylor, "I am."

So what is your analysis?

JIM BAKER, FORMER FBI GENERAL COUNSEL: So it's very clear evidence that there was a quid pro quo at least as understood by Ambassador Taylor who is interacting directly with the Ukrainians. And it also amplifies what we heard yesterday in the corrected testimony from Ambassador Sondland about there being a quid pro quo that he had communicated to the Ukrainians. And so I think that line of defense, I think, has really collapsed.

The significance, I guess I would say there's -- I give you two sort of perspectives on it. Number one, thinking about it like a former prosecutor or thinking about it like that members of the House who have to bring the charges against the President, if they decide to do so. It's very compelling. It is very clear evidence, it supports articles of impeachment.

[17:25:16]

If you look at it, however, from the framework of an impeachment which is a different, a unique type of activity under federal law, then it's going to depend on how, in particularly, the senators examine and think about this evidence and how the public does at the end of the day. Because they're the ones that the Senate is going to focused on how they are reacting to this type of activity.

BLITZER: And you need two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict and remove --

BAKER: To convict, exactly.

BLITZER: -- a president from office, 67 senators. And Republicans are pointing out and correctly that Bill Taylor never actually had a direct conversation, a personal conversation with President Trump about this. But Taylor himself, in his testimony, sworn testimony, he draws a direct line to the President.

Let me read to you from his testimony. This is Taylor, "I think the origin of the idea to get President Zelensky to say out loud he's going to investigate Burisma and the 2016 election, I think the originator, the person who came up with that was Mr. Giuliani." Representative Malinowski, "And he was representing whose interests in? And then Taylor says, "President Trump." So how significant is that?

BAKER: That's also a very significant, I think. Everybody knows that Rudy Giuliani is and was the President's attorney. They knew it in Ukraine and he was acting on behalf of the President. Exactly what he was doing, it's been confusing throughout this whole series of events. And I think the actors, like Ambassador Taylor and others were struggling to try to figure out exactly what Giuliani was doing and whether he was doing it at the President's behest.

I think common sense, applying your common sense to this type of situation, you would think that of course the President was acting through Rudy Giuliani. And the President has talked about his knowledge about the events in Ukraine and what was going on. So if the use of Giuliani was intended to create some type of plausible deniability like Iran contra, I don't think it works because it just -- it doesn't make sense.

BLITZER: Giuliani was his personal lawyer. The President kept saying talk to Giuliani, talk to Giuliani --

BAKER: Exactly.

BLITZER: -- to all of these people.

Today we learned that Giuliani is now lawyering up. He's hired a trio of criminal defense attorneys to help him. We're told that he's under potential investigation by prosecutors right now. ow much trouble potentially could he be in?

BAKER: Potentially significant and so it's a good thing and a wise move that he got himself an attorneys -- he got himself some attorneys. He needs them. They're potential -- look, weH don't, again, we don't know all of the facts and exactly what happened. It's a very confusing set of facts here but there is a variety of federal laws that might have been violated, especially the election laws, conspiracy perhaps to violate those laws. I've also been wondering about exactly whose money was being spent to fund all these trips to Ukraine and whether any public funds were being used and whether that's somehow a misappropriation of federal funds. We just don't know.

The President could get Giuliani out of a jam if he would say, yes, he did everything in my behest. Or he could throw him under the best. We don't know.

BLITZER: Yes, he was getting some money from Lev Parnas who himself was arrested not that long ago and charged by the U.S. district -- the U.S. attorneys for the Southern District of New York.

All right, thanks very much. We're going to continue our analysis, Giuliani hiring lawyers today.

The White House meanwhile is bringing in new staffers as it braces for public hearings in the Trump impeachment inquiry. So how messy could this fight actually turn out to be?

[17:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Public -- breaking news we're following. Public hearings in the Trump impeachment inquiry begin next Wednesday. First day will include U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor whose closed-door testimony described the quid pro quo President Trump wanted from Ukraine to unblock U.S. security aid.

Let's bring in our experts to discuss.

Gloria, how explosive will these public hearings beginning next Wednesday be?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think the public is going to be able to judge the credibility of the testimony for themselves. And I think that's very important. And when you look at somebody like Mr. Taylor, whom the Democrats think is really a good witness for them, he's a career public servant, he is somebody who is a military veteran, and who firsthand observed how foreign policy was overtaken by rogue component led by Rudy Giuliani and watched it kind of fall apart.

And here he was trying to get this aid to Ukraine and he finally figured out that Rudy Giuliani was doing the president's bidding and trying to get the president of Ukraine to dig up political dirt on Joe Biden. And I think as he tells his story and the others, and the others say we agree with that, it's going to be -- it's going to be very effecting for the public.

BLITZER: Nia, clearly the White House is bracing for this testimony. NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BLITZER: Who do you think they're most worried about?

HENDERSON: You know, probably Bill Taylor. He's the leadoff witness here, sort of the lead batter, and I think he sets a nice narrative for Democrats next week along with George Kent and Marie Yovanovitch on Friday.

[17:35:02]

And I think if you think about how the president consumes information, I think he must be worried about sort of the televised events spectacle part of it. Right? The last go around with Mueller, I imagine he came away sort of pleased with the way Mueller present presented himself but in these witnesses you think about somebody like Bill Taylor meticulously taking notes, meticulously really detailing what he saw.

Listen, you'll have Republicans try to make hey with the fact that Bill Taylor never really talked to the president, or probably make hey with the fact that a lot of these people didn't necessarily know the president, and try to have some distance between the president and Giuliani in this sort of quid pro quo scheme. That's going to be very difficult, though. So we'll see. But I think if you're the White House, you're nervous. They're hiring folks because so far they haven't really been able to mount an effective defense.

BLITZER: Jeffrey, how valuable is Bill -- Ambassador Taylor as a witness?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think he's enormously valuable because he brings great credibility. It's going to be very difficult to define him as some sort of rabid Democrat because he is simply not one, and also he has knowledge of the whole policy. I mean, he was involved in this from beginning to end and the problem that the president has is the facts.

I mean, there is no evidence out there suggesting that there wasn't a quid pro quo. That all of the evidence that's come in and certainly the evidence that's come from Taylor is that the entire American policy towards Ukraine was geared towards getting dirt on the president's opponents, whether in 2016 or 2020. And, you know, they can argue as they will that this is hearsay. They can argue that it's not enough to impeach someone, but in terms of what the actual facts are, there's almost no dispute at this point.

BLITZER: And it's interesting, you know, Bianna, that the president keeps saying no quid pro quo, no quid pro quo, but only in the past couple of days we've seen sworn testimony from two key witnesses, Bill Taylor and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, describing a quid pro quo.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes. So you have the president saying no quid pro quo. Now you have some Republicans including Senator Kennedy saying well, there is such thing as an appropriate quid pro quo and an inappropriate quid pro quo. So this is just a red herring right now. And what we heard from Taylor today, Ambassador Taylor, was that there was specifically a quid pro quo with regards to investigating corruption on two circumstances.

Not corruption as a whole in Ukraine which everybody -- every diplomat had been very impressed by Zelensky's attempt to get rid of corruption and really fight it. It was two specific cases and that was the Bidens and that was the origins of the 2016 election. So none of that was in pursuant of U.S. foreign policy and U.S. national security. That was all to help the president of the United States.

So it's going to be very difficult to try to convince the American public that this was appropriate quid pro quo that was actually helping the U.S. foreign policy with regards to Ukraine.

Also I will just say one thing that Bill Taylor brings next week is that he doesn't have an agenda. He even says in his testimony that he wasn't necessarily against the two channels, the regular and the irregular channel, because he thought, hey, if somebody like Sondland has a direct connection to the president, maybe this could actually be helpful. It was only when he realized that there were two different objectives with regards to the regular and irregular channels that he started worrying.

BLITZER: Everybody, everybody, hold --

TOOBIN: And can I just --

BLITZER: Hold your thought. Very quickly, Jeffrey, go ahead.

TOOBIN: Just one thing about the spectacle, he is going to be able to be examined for 45 minutes by a lawyer. Someone who can bring out a full story that he's telling as opposed to these five-minute increments that we saw in the Mueller testimony, Corey Lewandowski, Michael Cohen that really make it very difficult to tell a story. This will be presumably better television.

BLITZER: Yes. It'd be riveting, I'm sure. And of course, wall-to- wall, the president likes to watch television. We'll see. I assume he'll be watching as all of us will be.

We're following major breaking political news at the same time. Sources says former attorney general Jeff Sessions is now poised to jump into the race for his old U.S. Senate seat. Stand by for details.

[17:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We have breaking news. Sources now say that the former attorney general Jeff Sessions is now poised to announce a bid for his old U.S. Senate seat from Alabama.

Let's bring in our political director David Chalian.

David, the deadline to enter the race this week.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That's right. Friday is the deadline and according to our colleague Jeff Zeleny, Jeff Sessions is going to make it official tomorrow. He wants his old job back. He wants to run for the United States Senate.

Remember this is the job he had before he was Donald Trump's attorney general, and you know, Wolf, that was a relationship that soured, soured quickly when he recused himself from the Russia investigation. Donald Trump never for gave him for that. Abused him verbally throughout until he finally got rid of him.

But the question here, Wolf, is, how is Donald Trump going to react to this? How is his political operation? This is somebody who has been ousted from the Trump orbit. He's going to now have to run in a Republican primary in Alabama. Is Donald Trump going to get his supporters on board to say, don't vote for Jeff Sessions? Or is the president going to stay out of this? This is tricky terrain for Jeff Sessions.

I will note also, this is the seat held by Doug Jones. Right? This is -- the Democrat.

BLITZER: The Democrat.

[17:45:03]

CHALIAN: The most vulnerable incumbent in the entire Senate, this Democrat, in a seat in Alabama. That's why Jeff Sessions who is so eager to return to the Senate sees this as a prime opportunity to do so.

BLITZER: So that Republican primary is going to be fascinating. We just checked the president over these months called the attorney general an idiot, beleaguered, very weak, disgraceful. One point he said if we had a real attorney general, he said at another point he never took control of the Justice Department.

CHALIAN: You basically just wrote his Republican primary opponent's ads for him by using those words. And all those Donald Trump words are going to appear all over television ad and airwaves when Jeff Sessions gets into this Republican primary.

BLITZER: He was I think the first U.S. senator to endorse Donald Trump when he was running.

CHALIAN: That's right.

BLITZER: For president of the United States. We'll watch it closely.

David, thank you very much.

Coming up, we have details on the manhunt for the killers of nine American women and children in Mexico.

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BLITZER: Very disturbing new details are coming out tonight about the brutal slaying of nine American women and children in New Mexico.

CNN's Brian Todd is working the story for us.

So, Brian, you're learning new information about the investigation.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are, Wolf. Tonight we have new information on who investigators could be looking for in this case and new distressing details of what happened with the wounded children in the aftermath of that massacre.

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TODD (voice-over): Security forces descend on the grizzly scene where three women and six children were murdered. A manhunt is under way tonight for the killers suspected to be affiliated with organized crime and Mexico's top officials are promising they'll solve this. One suspect was arrested then ruled out, and relatives of the victims are frustrated.

OMAR LEBARON, RELATIVE OF VICTIMS: There needs to be justice here.

TODD: Tonight, dramatic accounts from the extended family of the victims of how some of the surviving children carried wounded children to safety, and how one of the mothers, Donna Ray Langford, saved the babies in her car before she died in a hail of bullets.

LAFE LANGFORD, RELATIVE OF VICTIMS: She turned around and yelled at all her children to duck down immediately and they started grabbing the babies and putting them under the dash and trying to hide them and all of a sudden bullets just reigned from above. She had saved her baby by pulling it off the seat and tucking it down on the floor and she covered her baby up with a blanket. And how her nursing infant stayed there for eight -- nine hours or something is a miracle.

TODD: A U.S. official tells CNN some of the evidence may indicate that those members of an extended family of a fundamentalist Mormon group were deliberately targeted. The official points to the burning of evidence at the scene and accounts that the gunfire continued even after women and children got out of the cars.

MALCOLM BEITH, AUTHOR, "THE LAST NARCO": The message that is clearly received is no one is -- no one is safe really.

TODD: Analysts say the LeBaron family has a history of tension with local drug cartels.

CHRISTOPHER WILSON, MEXICO INSTITUTE, THE WOODROW WILSON CENTER: Actually about a decade ago formed a group called SOS Chihuahua, an activist organization trying to draw government attention and pressure the government to do more to fight criminal organizations in the region, and they had received some pushback from the cartels. TODD: Pushback like the murders of two LeBaron family members who had

led protests against the cartels after a relative was kidnapped. Still, one relative says the only thing those mothers were activists for was their children.

Tonight, a stunning admission by Mexico's president that the family and other law abiding residents of that region of northern Mexico were left vulnerable by their own government.

PRES. ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR, MEXICO (through translator): Not enough policemen. Completely abandoned. Everything related to public safety. We are working on that.

TODD: Experts say the outmanned, outgunned Mexican Security Forces are up against a maelstrom of violence and chaos in that northern region of northern Mexico, a brutal war between drug gangs some of which are splinters of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was run by now imprisoned kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

BEITH: And you have newer groups, some of them formerly related to those cartels, who are trying to establish their own dominance through violence usually, through hyper violence. So this family was basically caught off in the middle of that.

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TODD: Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has ordered the formation of a new commission to investigate the murders, a commission consisting of Mexico's foreign minister and top military officials. The police are not even mentioned as being part of that commission. Analysts say there's still a lack of complete trust in Mexico's national police and especially in local police forces since they have been corrupted by those cartels for decades -- Wolf.

BLITZER: A very disturbing story indeed.

Brian Todd, thank you for that update.

There's more breaking news coming up next. The White House braces for public impeachment inquiry testimony next week with growing concern about one witness in particular.

[17:55:00]

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BLITZER: Happening now, breaking news. Impeachment goes public. Democrats are set to make their case against President Trump on live television. Americans will hear from pivotal witnesses in the Ukraine scandal just days from now.

Clear understanding. The top diplomat in Ukraine has given lawmakers a detailed account of an obvious and brazen quid pro quo.