out of this courtroom in the next few days. the trial is expected to go on for about three weeks. >> okay. well, lucky you. we'll be talking a lot. day one is any indication, we'll be talking a lot. shimon prokupecz, thank you very much my friend. thank you for being with me. i'm brooke baldwin. "the lead" starts now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapperment a and break news. an admission by a top trump aide that he told the ukrainians if they wanted $400 million in aid from the u.s. they would need to publicly announce they were investigating the ukrainian firm bur he's -- burisma and as he p burisma equals biden. after two explosive transcripts, kurt volker for ukraine and gordon sondland the ambassador to the eu testified as to their

discomfort as president trump pushed them to rudy giuliani and giuliani pushed them to get the ukrainians to announce an investigation into joe and hunter biden. as sondland put it, quote, it kept getting more insidious as the time line went on. that is the word that president trump's own ambassador that he appointed used. insidious. the deposition transcript was released today and he was forced to revisit his testimony from october 17th and amond -- amend and he said he informed a top agent of the quid pro quo aid for investigations and that he had that conversation with the ukrainian aide on sent 1st when the aid was still being withheld, the military aid. in other words it is not true that the ukrainians didn't know there was an alleged attempt to force them to investigate the bidens at time.

sondland called the demands by trump and giuliani improper and potentially illegal. quote, i'm not a lawyer. i don't know the law exactly, sondland said. it doesn't sound good. cnn's alex marquardt kicks off our coverage today. >> reporter: in black and white, one of the president's top envoys changing his testimony. now admitting he told ukraine leadership that hundreds of million dollars in military aid were being held up until trump got the investigations he wanted. ambassador gordon sondland who is a long-time republican donor turned diplomat who gave money to trump's inaugural committee amending his original testimony. writing, i now recall speaking individually with mr.yer macwhere i said resungs -- resumption would not occur. that public statement that trump wanted, according to the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine, was

that president zelensky go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of biden and 2016 election interference. those investigations were being pushed by the president's personal lawyer rudy giuliani. >> there is really only one story. all of the witnesses agree that the president engineered a shakedown of the ukrainian government. >> reporter: in sondland's transcript when released this afternoon when asked if what giuliani was doing was illegal, he responded i believe so. >> that is illegal. can you not solicit a foreign power to investigate american political parties or your opponent. >> reporter: over same sondland said things get more insidious, the demands on ukraine bigger and bigger and ukraine would have to play ball before the ukrainian president got a meeting with trump. and when sondland raised it with

his boss mike pompeo, pompeo rolled his eyes and said, yes, it is something we have to deal with. another member of the trio in charge of diplomatic relations with ukraine was former special env envoy chert who according to the transcript told the ukrainians about the giuliani factor in which he controlled ukrainian access to trump. volker was asked that information flow, he answered, would reach the president. and the president spokesperson has just responded to the transcripts released today. stephanie grisham saying they show there is less evidence for this illegitimate impeachment sham than previously thought and highlights part of the sondland testimony where he's uncertain and adds no amount of salacious media biased headlines which are clearly designed to influence the narrative change the fact that the president has done nothing wrong. jake. >> alex marquardt, thanks sop.

and let's chew into this. and i want to drive into sondland using the word insidious. this whole thing was a sort of a continuum. it starts as trump saying talk to rudy and then let's get the ukrainians to talk about corruption and that isn't enough we need to talk about the 2016 elections and bur he's ma investigations and it kept getting more insidious as the time line went on and at the end of the continuum, i believed there was a link between the white house visit and aid to the ukraine being held up. david urban you are a 2020 campaign adviser. insidious is gordon sondland's word. not schiff or the media. sondland. >> a couple ever things about sondland, he goes back to correct this. i think ambassador sondland may have had an issue with -- perjured himself so he may face legal jeopardy of his own to begin all of this.

but i don't see in here, and jake, i didn't get -- i'm just reading the excerpts but i don't see the president told me to do x. president told me -- >> no, he said that -- the president told him to go to rudy. >> right. and he said talk to rudy about what? and he said i don't know. i wasn't sure what to talk to rudy about. and sondland's testimony said i was unclear what i was supposed to talk to rudy about. so the connection between the president and where sondland thinks he is, is a giant leap. >> what do you think? >> to be filled in. >> i mean giant leap is interesting as you say given -- this is no longer a case of we talked about this last week on the show. never trum pers. they say they are never trumpers and now we have sondland you can't call him a never trumper when he donated a million

dollars -- >> and he still works for trump. >> and fee owno hill worried he was a national security risk but trump gave him that job and told him to talk to rudy giuliani and rudy giuliani is in trouble with the testimony today and the conspiracy theories they were pushing and i think the problem now is that everybody who has come before this committee pretty much everybody has either said they have a problem with the phone call, or that the phone call was -- when they saw the phone call it was at issue and that is why the republicans we've discussed this endlessly here, keep attacking either witnesses or the process or adam schiff or the media or stephanie grisham because there is no counter argument of what has been said. >> i want to bring other people. sunlen, this is what -- this is what people think is the most important line and david is right, he did have to amend his testimony and there were questions about whether he perjured himself and he went back and talked about september 1st and tells a top aide to

ukrainian president zelensky and he said i now recall speaking individually with mr. yermac, where i said the resumption of u.s. aid would likely not occur until they provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been speaking about for many weeks including the 2016 election and bur he'sa and burisma equals biden. >> and that is why quid pro quo is a point of discussion particularly for republicans on capitol hill. and we reported last week that there is a shift in the senate republican messaging, it goes against the president what has been saying all along, in this perfect call there is no quid pro quo. that there hasn't been any. but we have a growing number of gop senators saying, well, looks like there was a quid pro quo, but it is okay, because, a., it is not impeachable, b., the president seemed to have a criminal intent and, c., it happens in foreign policy all of the time. a couple of problems goes against what the president has been saying and also shows how

when the president is asking his defenders to defend him on substance rather than process it becomes a tricky thing for a lot of republicans. i think that is particularly why senate majority leader mitch mcconnell who is not to be fair a talkative person said today during the weekly news conference that he won't comment on the daily drip, drip, drip from the testimony. he'll jut stay out of it for now. >> david you were talking about the excerpts. so the hundreds of pages of transcripts, what sondland said is these instructions about what the ukrainians need to announce is coming from rudy. so trump tells them to talk to rudy and rudy makes demands. >> and again, so i guess to my point on the evidentiary basis, there is still no smoking gun -- >> the phone call. >> but my point is again until -- and this is all great, right. but i don't hear one republican today changing their position in the house, i don't hear one senator saying their going to

vote for conviction now. this is just a lot of white noise. >> nia, let me share this. sondland described the effort as demands from trump and giuliani and asked the demands weren't there that an investigation take place of 2016 or burisma and those were demands were they not. and sondland -- ultimately yes. you had to accommodate the president and his lawyer. and sondland, i think that is fair. if you mean those conditions would have to be complied with prior to getting a meeting, that was my understanding. that is another example of a quid pro quo. those conditions would have to be complied with prior to getting a meeting. >> and he's saying those were the president's and rudy giuliani's demands and we know from the phone call that the memo of the phone call that it is donald trump who is saying, giuliani essentially knows what he wants to happen in this situation and that zelensky, right, should talk to giuliani so it is very hard to say that

giuliani is operating apart from the president. these -- >> but you're not even criticizing giuliani? >> i think what mayor giuliani did is -- is far afield of what is normal in an administration. i'll say that. >> he did it with instruct sh-- with the instructions of the president of the united states. >> that is a big leap to make. >> how is that a big leap? he said talk to rudy. how is that -- >> talk to rudy about what. >> everything until the transcript. >> you show me -- [ multiple speakers ] >> one at a time. but we do -- we're not here but in the july 25th phone call he tells zel tel tells zelensky to talk to rudy. >> but again you can't con flate. there needs to be clear lines. you can't con flate talk to rudy in one instance and about burisma. >> that is what the president said -- >> he did on the call on the 25th. >> is that not enough for you.

>> i'm talking about what gordon sondland said. two complete different things. >> we have a whole other transcript to go through and excerpts reveal that kurt volker the special envoy to ukraine felt he needed to clean up rudy giuliani's work. that is next. and democrats now want to interview a top aide and that is not the only person on the list. stay with us. >> announcer: "the lead" with jake tapper brought to you by marco's pizza. get two medium one topping pizzas for just $6.99 each. and right to your door. every day, get two medium, one-topping pizzas for just $6.99 each. hello to america's most loved pizza. hello marco's.

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we're back with breaking news. deposition transcripts of kurt volker the former sperm envoy to ukraine and the ambassador to the european union are out. fresh this afternoon they faint a stunning picture of how many concern there was in trump's administration about president trump and rudy giuliani push for ukraine to investigate joe biden and his son hunter in exchange for security, aid and a white house meeting. let's talk about the kurt volker testimony. nia, let me start with you. question, this is about volker's concern about rudy giuliani spreading conspiracy theories about ukraine. question, ambassador volker in your opening statement you referred to a problem you had to deal with. answer yes. this is the problem. question, rudy giuliani was the problem? answer, the negative narrative about ukraine which mr. giuliani was furthering the problem, it wasn't my view it was impeding our ability to build the

relationship the way we should be doing it as i understood it and he also talks about how when he heard that giuliani was going to ukraine to talk to a former prosecutor he called up and said this guy is not credible and don't listen to it. but this cost one u.s. ambassador her job? >> yeah. and rudy giuliani obviously all over the transcripts, all over sort of the president's plan and the idea that president seemed to have had for many months if not years that ukraine was somehow out to get him. that they were part of the 2016 plot to interfere in the election, and so you have giuliani in the middle of this. you have people complaining to secretary pompeo about rudy giuliani. and him essentially saying this is a problem has to be dealt with and rolling his eyes. i think that was in the sondland testimony. >> let's bring that up. the 2.5 in the script here. here is how sondland described how secretary pompeo viewed giuliani. did you ever discuss rudy giuliani with secretary pompeo

and sondland said only in general terms. question. and what did you discuss? sondland, that's he's involved in affairs and pompeo rolled his eyes and said yes, he is something we have to deal with. you know pompeo. a west point classmate of yours. if i could interpret the eye roll, it is god, i have to deal with rudy giuliani in this stuff. >> there are a lot of people who advise the president that give cabinet secretaries attitude and i don't think that is unique to this administration -- >> no, i think this is -- >> the president is was asking people at mar-a-lago to advise him on how to reform the department of veteran affairs, i can't think of any president in american history that has done that. >> i'm not sure you're a historian and knows what happens with president carter or bush. this president does everything outside of the norms -- >> and the law. >> and we all agree he is unique. volker said, back to number two, he said he tried to talk to

trump, and tried to talk him out of believing the conspiracy theories about burisma and biden trying to fire the prosecutor, et cetera. quote, i believe that giuliani was interested in vice president biden's son and i pushed back and maintaining that distinction. question so you were main thaning that zunk shun so you believed that was debunked and no evidence to support it, right. answer from volker, yes. >> stepping back with the whole giuliani issue and we could argue how much of a legal threat this posed before the committees but at the very least the rudy factor is a political and messaging problem for the administration and i don't think it is a coincidence that giuliani has gone a little bit quieter these days, not on the airwaves or cnn or other networks as often because every time he goes on -- he goes on and says a lot of things on air, sometimes he said things that causes some trouble for the

president, and the ukraine issue is not the first time this has happened throughout his presidency. republicans who are trying to kind of keep their head down with prefer rudy not talk as oftenment seems to be listen to that -- >> would you? would you prefer the mayor -- >> sometimes a great advocate, sometimes not a great advocate. >> what about in the ukraine situation. >> i think it muddies the waters. i think everyone needs to exhale and water needs to clear. >> do you think he advised him. >> and he said i don't know him. i've never met him. it is highly inappropriate. we could talk about historical standards to have him in this role freelancing around ukraine and ukrainian officials saying should we talk to rudy and what do we do, his personal lawyer a private citizen has not been mayor and he wanted to be secretary of state and he didn't get that job and i would say there are questions for mike pompeo to answer. how is he okay with being

secretary of state and having rudy giuliani doing this stuff on the side. >> and to read the part you are referring to there is a point in which volker is asked and the answer is the -- question, the kraenss believe by speaking to giuliani they could communicate with president trump and that would reach the president. because giuliani would convey that information and the answer is yes. and he's a free floating ambassador out there. stick around. we'll take a quick break. the impeachment inquiry is closing in and a high ranking official was summoned to testify this week. who is it? that's next. chevy's the only brand... to earn j.d. power dependability awards... across cars... trucks... and suvs. four years in a row. since more than 32,000 real people... just like me.

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in our politics lead today, democrats want acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney to testify friday as part of the impeachment inquiry. it is not clear if mulvaney will show up since the white house has ordered staffers to not cooperate but as kaitlan collins reports now, one trump adviser may be preparing to ignore that advice. >> they've been plotting to overthrow the election since the first hour that we won. >> reporter: one day after president trump railed against

the impeachment inquiry at his kentucky rally, his chief of staff was summoned to testify before house impeachment investigators this week. >> get over it. there is going to be political influence in foreign policy. >> reporter: democrats are looking to wrap up the closed-door depositions before going public and mick mulvaney is the highest ranking official they've called so far , in a letter they believe he is substantial firsthand knowledge relevant to the impeachment inquiry. >> he mentioned the corruption related to the dnc server. absolutely, no question about that. >> reporter: and it is unclear but unliky that mulvaney will show up but one senior aide to mike pence is expected. to jennifer williams was on the july call with the ukrainian president and the first person on the vice president's staff to appear on capitol hill. the fallout from the inquiry has spread throughout the administration. after a senior aide to energy

secretary rick perry failed to show up, perry refused to answer our questions. >> secretary perry will you be willing to testify publicly? did you hear any mention of burisma? >> reporter: the president and his allies continued to insist it is all a ploy by democrats to take him down. >> the reality and the process will vindicate him and hurt people in the middle. >> reporter: now, jake, williams, that top aide to vice president pence did travel with him to poland where he met with ukrainian president zelensky a trip that trump was supposed to go on and stayed back to monitor a hurricane. she's hired a attorney not responding to request for comment and if she does go on capitol hill and testifies, she'll be the third official who listened in on that call to do so. >> kaitlan collins at the white house. thanks so much. let's discuss. sunlen, in the letter request mick mulvaney's testimony, the democratic chairman write the evidence and public reporting

suggest you played a central role in president trump's attempt to coerce ukraine into launching his desired political investigations. they go on to describe his briefing at the white house last month as a, quoting televised confession. but most white house officials have been refusing to go to these depositions even if subpoenaed and this isn't a subpoena. >> exactly. and it goes to -- to see whether they take that additional step to compel him to testify but even if he does, you could turn this to the courts which is what is going on with current subpoenas and with the courts sometimes the democrats do win the legal battle but what is working against them is time and i think considering that the various west wing advisers who have -- or administration officials who have declined to appear before congress so far, i would not -- be extremely surprised if mick mulvaney came along. >> and four white house officials refused to show up.

two national security council lawyers and senior budget official and two aides who were requested and not subpoenas but requested didn't show up, a energy adviser and a budget aid. at a certain point do you worry this makes the white house look like they have something to hide? >> i think it exemplifies the phishing expedition. the folks listed on there have absolutely zero to do, wells griffith and some folks are far removed from any of this -- >> well one of them put the rough transcripts into the secret -- >> no that -- correct. but i'm saying the laundry list of people, it appears that -- so i don't believe there is any political blowback for them not appearing. >> what do you think? >> mulvaney obviously is not a phishing trip. >> but the list of seven or eight -- >> and we start with mulvaney and if he doesn't show up. it is a good one they should stick to with televised and he

said at the time, absolutely no question about that. that the president mentioned corruption and the dnc server and that is why we held up the money. that is why we held up the money. that is up there with do me a favor though. these are -- this is why, to go back to our discussion, you can't really defend on substance. you have to say it is either not impeachable or drove on about secret hearings and soviet style and that is all the republicans have because again and again don jr. is saying you should go and read the transcript which i find hilarious because reading the transcripts got in trouble. >> and the president keeps saying read the transcript and it is rather damning because he brings up the bidens. >> he brings up bidens and burisma and the dnc server from 2016 and he thinks he'll brand the transcripts and this call as perfectly reasonable. he's got these t-shirts and in mississippi or kentucky where

people behind him had the shirt on read the transcript but not as catchy as make america great again but you do what have you to do. even if they say this was terrible, not impeachable, then sort of what is the punishment for a president who does this? how do you prevent him from doing this again. >> which is where people will end up. he should not have done it but it is not impeachable. stick around. rand paul now repeating the president and attacking the whistle-blower. what a difference a few years make. we'll show you. stay with us. is just like our original sandwiches...only littler...so we bought a little ad...on lil jon. little johns, yeah! $3, what?!

come before congress as a material witness. i say tonight to the media, do your job and print his name. >> that was kentucky rand paul at a rally with president trump last night taking a page from trump's playbook attacking the credibility and integrity of the whistle-blower who sounded the alarm and trying to get the media to reveal the whistle-blower's identity. phil, as a former fbi and cia analyst, what do you think when you hear rand paul saying we should be revealing the whistle-blower's identity even though his lawyer or her lawyer has done everything they can to say we don't want this out there. >> at a personal level, i hope i don't meet rand paul any time soon. that is appalling. forget about the legality of this and i would bet i haven't talked to my friends back in the business but i bet they share this view. you worry about personal security. we know what happened.

we saw it break out today when sondland said yeah, yeah, we did it. and you don't knee the whistle-blower. but you release the name you have to deal with personal security. if i were him or her i would want someone checking my mail looking for anthrax and i want 24/7 around the house and if i have a family i want to be relocated. >> you're a former forward prosecutor listen to rand paul talking to suzanne malveaux about what he said. >> the whistle-blower statute protects the whistle-blower from having his name revealed by the inspector general. >> you don't think this is danger to out the whistle-blower the president said he's treasonous and a traitor. >> i think the sixth amendment of the constitution is clear and what we should have is the right to confront your accuser. >> what do you think about that argument? >> so it is okay to break the law via proxy according to a senator. >> it is against the law to reveal the whistle-blower's name? >> well the spirit of the law

said that you're not supposed to retaliate against the whistle-blower. and that in terms of employment practices and the spirit said the reason you want to protect is because you want to encourage people to come forward with any grievances and any information about abuses of power and the like. so technically revealing the fame and leaking it would -- i don't think it would technically be illegal but it violates the spirlt -- the spirit of the law that a senator has writ tone say here is the law -- has written to say here is the law as it stands and they already have exemptions in case and they could have recourse and those in the intelligence community don't have the same avenue so he's undermining his own legislation and he didn't write it but it is his government. >> and i saw dismay at what rand paul said and for the record he was very strong when it came to

expanding whistle-blower protections. here is senator paul back in 2015 in the wake of the edward snowden revelations. >> i would expect the whistle-blower statute for people who want to come in and want to tell an authority, an investigator general or somebody that they reveal something is being done illegal. >> so what happened? just a republican got elected president? >> guess so. i just don't understand this as a general level. say take it out of the political realm and you see financial fraud in the cia where i work and it is substantial financial fraud going to hundreds of thousands or million dollars you want to maintain your career and say hey, my supervisors are doing something wrong and i think i have the right to anonymity to go forward and say investigate john and jane dough without being outed and why is this a big deal because people

will not disclose fraud in government. >> and there were some that disagreed with rand paul today. let's play that sound. >> the whistle-blowers, particularly those blowing whistles on action -- [ inaudible ] so going after the whistle-blower is miss directed. >> we need to know who this person is because without the complaint there would be no impeachment inquiry. >> so two very different takes. mitt romney saying protect the whistle-blower identity and lindsey graham saying out the whistle-blower. >> and neither of them are addressing the particular facts in this case. remember, here is the issue. this is like shooting the messenger. for what reason? this is like saying here we have a package full of mail, we have the mail bomber and corroborating testimony from everybody and then, guess what, i would like to know the person who actually delivered the mail to the person, unrelated. this is shooting the messenger. the whole key here is you have corroboration and testimony and that is what we need to hear and

started the impeachment inquiry and the conduct of the president himself. >> thanks so much. phil mudd and laura coates. drama for roger stone today in court. the odd request that abruptly stopped the first day of his criminal trial. stay with us. er pizza. only marco's can deliver america's most loved pizza. hot and fresh, and right to your door. every day, get two medium, one-topping pizzas for just $6.99 each. hello to america's most loved pizza. hello marco's. some farms grow food. this one grows fuel. ♪ exxonmobil is growing algae for biofuels. that could one day power planes,

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in our national lead today, day one today for the criminal trial of long-time trump crony

roger stone. it all started with that early morning raid in south florida when authorities came to his home and then of course there were the news conferences where stone mimicked his idol richard nixon but the charges are no joke. he's on trial for obstruction of justice accused of misleading congress during the investigation of russian election interference and lying about his efforts to get information from wikileaks and witness tampering among other charges. shimon prokupecz joins me now. and day one and there is already drama. roger stone had to leave court. >> he wasn't feeling well. it all started this morning around 10:15. he went to the bathroom, his wife followed him. she said he wasn't feeling well and in there for quite sometime. he came out and then later in the afternoon he asked a judge if he could be excused for the rest of the day. he wasn't feeling well. the judge let him go and even offered him some imodium to try to get him to stay in court. that didn't happen. he left. but there was even more drama.

we had a witness -- a juror seated in the audience who collapsed and an ambulance had to come and remove them. and then there was an argument of some kind in the hallway between two roger stone associates. so that is sort of turned to a thing. and when you think about this is just the beginning. this is just jury selection. we're supposed to start opening statements tomorrow. and then we start seeing some of the more interesting witnesses, associates of roger stone come in and testify. >> what a surprise that a stone trial would start off as a circus. this trial is happening as the impeachment inquiry is going on. are there any larger implications of stone being tried for lying to congress about the russia investigation, which has quite a bit to do with the ukraine scandal. >> in the end it does have to do with the ukraine scandal. we'll investigate what went on during the mueller investigation and we'll learn things that are redacted in the mueller report that could come out and how much did trump know and how much was roger stone sharing with people

close to him. that will get revisited at this trial and that is where we could see drama and implications for the president. >> day one. appreciate it. also in our national lead, it is election day today. president trump is not on the ballot today but today marks a big test in how his brand, not to mention impeachment is or is not resonating with voters with president trump pushing hard for republican victories in mississippi and virginia and kentucky. as cnn's dianne gallagher reports. >> reporter: it is election day. three states with major contests which could be seen as a test of the impact of impeachment and donald trump's political power. >> if you lose, it sends a really bad message. >> you can't let that happen to me. >> reporter: an election push from the president in kentucky, a state he won by nearly 30 points in 2016 for unpopular republican governor matt bevin who is locked in a bitter race with the democratic attorney general andy beshear and he has

been featuring support for the president. >> kentucky is leading the way in that we support the president of the united states, donald j. trump. >> reporter: but bashear the son of a former democratic governor believes the key to winning the deep red bluegrass state is a focus on local issues. >> this race isn't about who is in the white house. it is about what is going on in the houses all across kentucky. >> reporter: a similar situation in the ruby red state of mississippi. with the gubernatorial race between democrat jim hood, a state attorney general and the republican lieutenant governor tate reeves whose campaign has also embraced the president. >> i'm standing with president donald trump and jim hood is standing with the liberals. >> y'all you know me. i worked for you for years. i do my job and i'm a straight shooter. >> reporter: hood, mississippi's only statewide elected democrat has run a moderate democrat c e came -- campaign with focus on

medicaid expansion and in virginia several tweets but to visits for the president. instead it is 2020 democrats showing support for candidates. >> let's elect those guys and everybody else who is running as a democrat. >> reporter: fighting to flip control of both general assembly chambers narrowly controlled by republicans. and here in mississippi there is an additinal hurdle for the candidates for governor. it is not enough to simply win the popular vote. the candidate also has to win the majority of state house districts and, jake, to complicate it even further, if there is a split the republican-controlled legislature decides who gets to the governor. >> thanks so much. coming up next. a rough story. the american family ambushed in mexico, some members even burned alive. how relatives realized that their loved ones were the victims. stay with us. just like our oril sandwiches...only

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shock after a horrendous attack by suspected criminal groups left nine people dead including three women and four small children and two babies. it happened monday while they were traveling in a cara van through northern mexico south of the border to pick up family for an upcoming wedding. >> just can't believe that this actually happened to our family. it just seems like a bad dream. >> reporter: family members tell cnn the group was driving between the mexican states of sonora and chihuahua in a caravan for safety reasons when they were attacked by a armed group which sprayed the car with bullets and set one on fire. mexican officials say it is unclear whether the attack was targeted or a case of mistaken identity with the shooters mctaking the family as rival groups. kendall lee miller is the bride at the upcoming wedding and her sister-in-law is among the victims. >> she was one of the most vibrant happy souls that i've ever met.

she was -- just had so much spark in her. >> reporter: she was driving a vehicle with four of the seven children to tucson, arizona, to go shopping for the wedding. 43-year-old donna langford and her two children were in another vehicle and 29-year-old christina johnson and her 7-month-old son were in a third vehicle. seven children overall were injured in the attack. and are now hospitalized. >> my grandchildren didn't make it out. they burnt to a crisp. and my daughter-in-law, and they are about as innocent as they come. and i'm not saying it because she's gone. but she was a good mother to those children and they're innocent as the day is long. >> reporter: the victims are all members of a mormon community in northern mexico, not affiliated with the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. and, jake, the boy off the top who walked all of that way, before he walked the 14 miles he

hid six siblings likely saving their lives in the process. >> thank you for that horrible story. follow me on facebook, instagram and twitter and our coverage continues now. thanks so much for watching. we'll see you tomorrow. happening now, breaking news. testimony reversal. a key u.s. diplomat changes his testimony in the impeachment inquiry and admits there was a quid pro quo with ukraine linking military aid to political gain for president trump. impeachment sham. the white house dismisses the newly released testimony insisting that the president has done nothing wrong even as the u.s. ambassador to the eu said the push for a ukraine biden investigation was probably illegal. >> asking mick mulvaney to testify behind closed doors in the impeachment inquiry as a senior adviser to vice president