a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! the impeachment probe back in the spotlight today. four top officials set to testify. how a new revelation from the diplomat may be critical for democrats. >> u.s. role as a middle east broker in doubt. white house reversing decades of policy recognizing israel settlements in the west bank. major shift for a major brand. why chick filet will no longer

donate to groups with antigay views. >> he just turned three and his entire town is celebrating. good morning everyone. welcome to an early start. >> it is. it is 3:00 a.m. >> you are. every day i have been here. it is midnight pacific. that's where we begin this morning. with democrats trying to remove president trump and republicans battling to save him. bracing for the most momentous phase yet. four officials will testify in public today. that's the warm up. five more set to appear later this week. >> democrats accusing the president of bribery. saying he abused his power to pressure ukraine for political favors. republicans are hoping to show trimp was only exercising his sweeping authority. a week of packed testimony will test trump who has been blasting

witnesses publicly since last week. cnn has more from capital hill. >> i hope you're well rested and fed. maybe have some snacks. week two of hearings will be a slog. it's going to be a lot. nine witnesses over the course of three days. starting with four over two separate hearings. just today. here's what to know about the hearings today. two white house officials one jennifer williams in the vice president office. the other lieutenant vindman the top ukraine policy expert on the national security counsel. both of these individuals testified in their closed door depositions they had concerns with president trump july 25th call with president zelensky. wondering why certain investigations were brought up why vice president biden's son was brought up. as well as what the two individuals working in their roles inside the white house knew about the broader u.s. policy as it pertained to ukraine. particularly the outside shadow

policy channel run in part by rudy giuliani. these are two witnesses volker the special representative to ukraine. and tim morris son. who are witness requests from republicans. one of the individuals volker made clear in the prooif private deposition there was no quid pro quo. they didn't believe the president did anything illegal. however he raised concerns about individuals involved in the foreign policy. same for morrison. he was on the july 25th call. he didn't think anything illegal was said but made clear various elements of the u.s. ukraine policy outside of regular channels. giuliani or sondland were problems in their roles. that's tuesday's hearing. fast forward. there's a new development. on thursday a new individual has been added to the testimony list.

david holmes the the u.s. embassy in ukraine official who over heard the phone call. he testified that call in explicit detail has been central. that will come thursday. it will be a long week. >> thank you. some of that explicit firsthand detail was revealed over night in transcripts. david holmes testifying last week he heard sondland tell president trump ukraine was prepared to move forward with the investigation he was demanding. state department officials says he was taken aback by the conversation and the lack of operational security. told investigators i have never seen anything like this. someone calling the president from a mobile phone at a restaurant and having a conversation of this level of candor. colorful language. >> holmes described how ukraine officials pressed for a meeting at the white house. because it would lend credibility to the new

administration especially in the eyes of the kremlin. ukraine ps saw it as a set back when president trump agreed to meet with putin on the sideline. he insists he didn't go into betail. that could be ammunition for republicans raising questions how much internal government information holmes shared. >> transcript of testimony was also released over night. it took him two days to find out who was holdin up military aide to ukraine. he'll testify. i want him to name person saying this is the president's wish. i never got that response until the deputy small group meeting on july 25. in which omb stated on the record it was the president through chief of staff mulvaney. >> white house officials looking a at moving -- many staffers several witnesses including

vindman and former ambassador yovanovitch. they are on lone to the white house. president trump is suggesting dismissing them even as advisers firing witnesses could be viewed as reretaliation. >> the same day the president suggested he may testify in the impeachment inquiry. we learn the house of representatives is investigating whether he lied to special counsel mueller. president provided written answers to mueller's questions in the russia investigation. house lawyers say that need access to grand jury material following a series of revelations at roger stones trial. former deputy campaign chairman testified stone and trump talked about information that was coming that could help the campaign. but the president told mueller he didn't recall discussing wikileaks with stone. >> all right the supreme court

pressing pause on a ruling that would hand president trumps financial records it a house committee. without the order by the chief justice the accounting firm was under order to turn over eight years of personal and business records tomorrow. unrelated major ruling monday a federal judge ordered a two week grace period. if house democrats request the president tax returns under a new york law. the case is one of four in federal court where the house is seeking trumps financial records. >> white house leased a rert from trumps doctor claiming his check up at walter reed hospital was routine and planned. cnn reported the hospital visit didn't follow protocol but the doctor letter say it was handled because of schedules uncertain tich ty. the president had no chest pain. >> accused of padding her resume and creating a fake time

magazine cover with her face on it. she's the victim of character assassination she claims. she worked in the division that responds to conflict threatening american interest. in her letter she cite a toxic culture. raising questions about hr qualifications. >> 2020 now. buttigieg taking a critical pitch for black voters to back voters. a poll puts buttigieg clearly on top in overwhelmingly white iowa. south carolina shows 0% support among black voters. in atlanta he spoke so students at more house college. >> try not to get too caught up in poll numbers. i saw that strong majority of black voters in south carolina they that haven't formed an

opinion on my candidacy. it's so important to do this engagement. >> buttigieg released a $500 billion college affordability plan to make college free for householding earning under $500,000 a year. the new york fed says u.s. student debt climbed last year to $1.5 trillion. >> he's been the president's punching bag for a year. first-degree chair went face to face with the president yesterday. what happened behind closed doors.

trump administration up ending 40 years of u.s. poll on israel. secretary of state announcing u.s. determined west bank settlements do not violate international law. the major reversal risks the role as neutral broker in the region. pompeo claims it increased the likelihood of a middle east peace settlement.

cnn standing be live. with the latest. the secretary of state how does had think it will follow through with middle east peace? >> there wasn't an explanation. but it can't bring them down. the odds of that peace process working out are just about 0%. with the distrust and the animosity. between palestine and trump administration. secretary of state announcing this decision said previous policies hadn't worked so this was a new way of starting this. we have learned the administration was considering this policy for the past year. lt timing -- it's a slap in the face to the european court of justice which ruled goods produced in israel have to be labeled as such sold in europe. this seems a rejection of that. the other part of the timing is that it's a benefit for prime minister netanyahu in a perilous political situation. a boos to him and israel and

advocates who see this as a green light to pursue a wire annexation of the west bank. they are celebrating this decision. it's a win for president trump. this is the kind of issue when it comes to israel to excite and energize the evangelical voter base and they began celebrating. and we saw the statements from evangelical organizations here who see this as a victory for them. does this changes israel political situation? perhaps not. still a victory claimed by netanyahu and trump. >> u.s. ratcheting up sanctions against iran. it will end the sanctions related to the nuclear facility. effective december 15. teheran restarted the enrichment at the site. >> the right amount of is zero.

there's no reason to resume. >> iran hid from inspectors until it was exposed in 2009. european countries have been trying to salvage the nuclear deal. they have been stepping back since president trump ordered the u.s. out of the pact last year. >> trump held a private meeting with the fed chief. the chief he publicly krit criticized. the first meeting since february. mnuchin also there. he routinely attacked powell. last week saying this about the fed chair he appointed. >> we all make mistakes, don't we? not too often. we do make them on occasion. >> calling the choice a mistake. he pressures him often to slash interest rating calling for

negative rates and breaking precedent. the fed is not a political institution. he doesn't work for the president united states. he works for the people. they discuss interest rates at the meeting and federal reserve says powell told trump the fed will continue to set interest rates based on non-political analysis. the fed said the meeting came at the president's invitation. >> the scary scene in illinois. a truck goes flying before a state trooper. the driver stuck on the road. how this ends. next. ine of haberdashers. we chose eleanor. it was great-grandma's name. so we're in this little town near salerno and everyone has dad's eyebrows. help your family discover their unique story, with a gift from ancestry. hyour cold's gonna make you a zombie tomorrow.e story, wrong. new mucinex nightshift fights my cold symptoms so i can sleep great and wake up human.

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chick filet changing its approach to charity dpifing. the chain has been criticized for donating to groups with antilgbtq views. it with the focus on education, homelessness and hunger. the foundation will donate $9 million to the causes next year. the company is not ruling out support for faith based charities moving forward. >> california is suing jewel for failing to warn consumers about potential health risks. it comes days after jewel announced a $1 billion recovery plan including cuts to the marketing budget. the company announced plans to stop selling most flavored pods that appeal to younger users. two counties and a school district sued jewel. and a major shareholder for targeting minors. no comment yet.

>> a man and woman shot and killed in walmart parking lot in oklahoma. police say they the gunman turn td his weapon on himself after a bystander with a firearm con froe fronted him. it has everyone shaken. >> with the history in the last several years it has a lot of impact. it makes people fearful. everybody is on edge. schools and hospitals, businesses. everyone. >> police confirm the victims knew the suspect. but cannot detail the nature of the relationship. no shots fired inside the store. >> now that is a close call. illinois state police call it the miracle on ice. it happened november 12. with roads still icy after a storm. two troopers were helping to change a tire when they saw the skidding truck, they yanked the driver into the ditch.

officials say the truck flew over right her barely missing the troopers. no injuries. >> reality tv star turned billionaire cosmetic mogul. agreed to sell a majority stake in the line for $600 million. with plans to stay on as the creative leader. you should the deal cover girl will buy a 51% stake. the two companies say the partnership helps the grand expand globally and enter new categories. she's wildly popular on social media with 150 million followers and 30 million twitter followers. >> doctors said a boy with a rare disease wouldn't live past two. they held a parade in his honor when leeched his third birthday. more than 100 trucks and jeeps drove down the family street to

celebrate. he has a disease that affects breathing and the spine. his mom called it a magical day. happy birthday. >> yes. happy birthday. just the start of a very big week for top officials testifying today in the impeachment probe. and new revelations from a diplomat in ukraine make him critical for democrats.

the impeachment probe back in the spotlight today. four top officials set to testify. why they matter and how new revelations from this diplomat make him critical for democrats. >> u.s. role middle east broker again in doubt. reversing decades of policy recognizing settlements in the west bank. >> major shift for a major brand. no longer donating to groups with antigay groups. >> doctors said a boy wouldn't live past two. he just turned three. his town celebrating. welcome back to early start.

>> it is 31 minutes past the hour. let's begin with democrats trying to remove president trump and republicans battling to save him. both are bracing for the most momentous phase yet in the impeachment inquiry. four senior national security officials will testify in public today. that is just the warm up. five more set to appear this week. >> democrats accusing the president of bribery. saying he abused his power to pressure ukraine for political favors. republicans are hoping to show trump was exercising his sweeping authority. a week of packed tesmo t blastig witnesses publicly since last week. more from capital hill. >> i hope you're well rested and fed. have some snacks ready. week two of impeachment hearings will be a slog. it will be a lot. it will be nine witnesses over the course of three days. starting with four over two separate hearings. just today. the first hearing will be two

white house officials. jennifer williams in the vice president office. the other vindman the top ukraine expert. both individuals testified in closed doors they had concerns with the july 25th call with president zelensky. wondering why certain informations were brought up and why joe biden's son was brought up and as well as what the two individuals working in their roles in the white house knew about the policy in ukraine. the outside shadow policy channel run in part by rudy giuliani. these are two witnesses volker. and morrison a former top russi republicans. one of the individuals volker made clear in his private deposition that there was as republicans say no quid pro quo. they didn't believe the president did anything illegal.

however he raised concerns about individuals involved with the foreign policy related to ukraine. same for morrison. he was on the call. he didn't think anything illegal was said. but made clear various elements of the policy outside of regular channels whether it's giuliani or sondland were problems in their role. that's tuesday's hearing. fast forward. there's a new development on thursday a new individual has been added to the testimony list. that would be david holmes the official who over heard the phone call between sondland and trump. at an out door tavern. that phone call which he testified has become central to the democrats impeachment inquiry. that will come on thursday. it will be a long week. >> all right. we know you will guide us. some of that explicit firsthand detailed revealed over night

transcripts. david holmes testified last week he heard sondland tell president trump ukraine was prepared to move forward with the investigation. the president was demanding. he says he was taken back by the conversation and lack of operational security. saying he had never seen anything like this. calling the president from a mobile phone at at restaurant and having a conversation of this level. collarful language. >> he described house officials pressed for a meeting at the white house to lend credibility to the new administration. especially in the eyes of the kremlin. the ukrainians saw it as a set back when trump agreed to meet with putin on the sidelines of the g 20. holmes admits telling friends about the sondland trump call. insists he didn't go into detail. that could be ammunition for republicans since it raises questions about how much internal government information holmes shared. >> for the ukrainians the impeachment hearings are a high

stakes game. nay rely on u.s. support to fight the russians who invaded their country. how are they navigating washington? we're in kiev. >> good morning. the ukrainians are trying to get out of this situation without being damaged too much. no doubt the ukraine president was put in a difficult situation by president trump. when president trump in that phone call essentially demanded investigations into the bideens. no doubt the ukrainians need strong bipartisan support in washington. they are combatting a russian backed in the east of the country. therefore they certain lu need all the support they can get. essentially what we have been seeing over the past couple weeks is the the ukrainians have been trying to comment on this as little as possible and hoping this goes away. when they have commented the president zelensky said i'm the leader of a sovereign nation and

therefore no one can put pressure on me and ukraine didn't feel any pressure from the administration. of course there are other politicians here in ukraine who said of course for instance folks like sondland the ambassador had been mentioning investigations into the past. and of course that is something that has put pressure on ukraine. essentially for them right now they're looking at this impeachment process very closely. for them the main key thing is to not get on the bad side of trump and the republicans. but not on the bad side of the democrats either. >> thank you. the white house is released a letter from president trump doctor claiming the check up the walter reed was routine and planned. the hospital visit didn't follow protocol. but the doctors letter said it was handled the way it was because of scheduling uncertainty. saying the president hasn't had chest pain and was not treated for any urgent or acute issues.

>> buttigieg is taking a critical pitch for black voters to black voters. a poll puts buttigieg clearly on top in white iowa. but the poll in south carolina shows 0% support among black voters. in atlanta he spoke to students at more house college. >> try not to get too caught up in poll numbers. i think i saw that strong majority of black voters in south carolina say that they have not formed an opinion about my candidacy. the more indication it's important for us to do the engagement. >> buttigieg just released a $500 billion college affordable plan. making college free for householding earning under $500,000 a year. warren and sanders propose wiping out debt. it climbed last year to

$1.5 trillion. >> 11% of debt is in arrears is 90 days late or more. that's a big number. >> disagreements on tariffs forced him out of the white house. the president may have no choice but to follow through on a threat. [♪]

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violent clashes police and protestors in hong kong. the political unrest. the latest flash point the campus of the university where a small number of demonstrators remain barricaded inside. let's go live inside the university and bring in paul a. >> in the main courtyard here. we are seeing dozens of protestors holding up in this particular area. a look around, this is quite something. there are boxes and crates. shopping trollies galore of pet row bombs. weapon ri still here. we have seen acetone and from the laboratories in the campus. officials have come through and looking a the this. checking what's missing from the

laboratories. about 600 protestors at least have left this campus. those are the are going outside and will be arrested immediately. by police. those under age 18 there's been a deal. they are minors. and believe about 200 them. they won't be arrested. we spoke to a 16 year-old is one of the so called front liners. determined to stay here. he says he wants to continue this fight. there's a sense this is calmer than it was on monday. there's less riot police. there's been at least 1,100 protestors that have been arrested from just this one university on monday. and tuesday. there is a sense of this calming down. the police have said they will calm down if the protests calm down. the president of the university saying he sees light at the end of the tunnel. but there's a small hard core radical element.

that is refusing to give up. they are still holding down here. >> calmer but no sign of stopping. live for us in hong kong. thank you. >> wall street on any hint of progress in the 17 month old trade war with china. and this from former white house adviser. he says the president will impose new tariffs next month if no deal is reached. >> december 15 is a listening time from now. in terms of negotiations. i think that he thinks that's a forcing function and if he keeps blinking he loses credibility. in the chinese eyes. >> he left the white house in 2018 because he didn't agree with the way the president was embarking on this trade war. with tariffs in particular. he urges trump to sign the trade deal with china and avoid the tariffs. big round set for december 15. that next big tariff round that list include iphones. video games and toys. this is ten days before

christmas. products popular among consumers. the phase one deal the president promised at start of the tad war. this is an agreement leaving issues until later. progress to keep them talking. even though phase one plan has been difficult. billions of dollars in tariffs remain on u.s. and chinese goods. that hurt businesses. it hurts farmers and products have been hit hard by retaliation. >> trump administration up ending 40 years of u.s. policy on israel. secretary of state pompeo announce the u.s. determined west bank settlements do not violate international law. it risks americas role as a neutral broker in the region. pompeo says it increases likelihood of a middle east peace settlement.

>> it's not really clear how the secretary of state said this would help the peace process. he said what worked before or tried before didn't work. so we'll try something new. it is a major announcement. but not much of a surprise. the administration has been moving in this direction for quite sometime. first not calling the occupied west bank occupied anymore. then the leader on the peace team said he didn't want to refer to them as settlements but cities and towns. a normalization of the occupation of the west bank. the administration says they have been working on this for a year. a rejection of a european court ruling that goods and products have to be labeled from settlements. can't be said made in israel. and a gift to netanyahu. in a prekars situation.

he claimed stroivictory for thi celebrating this. many called for an annexation. that is the green light from the trump administration even if pompeo tried to hedge away from that. who is the real winner? that would president trump. israel it a big issue for the evaluate voter base and see this as a victory for them and rally behind trump. >> live in jerusalem. thank you. >> a vegan man suing burger king for not making its whopper his way. he claims the company contaminates the meatless burgers. what's this? your cold's gonna make you a zombie tomorrow. wrong. new mucinex nightshift fights my cold symptoms so i can sleep great and wake up human. don't eat me i taste terrible. fight your worst symptoms so you can sleep great and wake up human. new mucinex nightshift cold and flu.

schools across almost half of the indiana are closed today teachers from 147 districts are demanding pay raises and better funding for public education. thousands of teachers plan to protest at the capitol. thousands of students will be out of the class. schools that cancelled class

will have students complete assignments from home. the superintendent said her central focus it on the studenth to charity giving. criticized for donating to groups with antilgbtq views. it plans to give to smaller number of organizations with focus on education, homelessness and hunger. the founation will donate over $9 million to the causes next year. and not ruling out support for faith based charities moving forward. a five year-old brought cocaine to school in massachusetts. his dad is facing charges. the boy ingested the cocaine and was taken to the hospital. he's expected to be okay. listen to prosecutors describe how the child was caught. >> the student told the teacher the powder turns into a super-man. >> he turns into super-man. the father 29 year-old garcia is held without bail. facing drug possession and other

charges. >> the zempbt seventh time 12 days. a racist incident at a syracuse resident hall. this graffiti targeted african americans. le school announced sunday al fraternity activities on campus have been suspended for the fall semester because of racist incidents. >> 300,000 customers in california counties it may shut off power. the outages start tomorrow morning once again due to high fire risk conditions through thursday. the utility implementing the shut off. in october they cut off power to 800,000 customers in northern california. >> incredible show in the sky over eastern china. some 1,200 drones lit up the sky sunday night. ahead of a film festival. crowds cheering adds that the look liked dolphins and a golden

symbol the festivals logo. >> a doctor said a boy with rare disease wouldn't live past his second birthday. chicago held a parade in his honor when he reached his third. 100 cars and jeeps drove down the street to celebrate. he has a rare disease effecting proo breathing and the spine. he is fed through an iv. his mom called it magical. >> u.s. postal service giving us the chance to be santa's helpers answering gift requests from children in need. many ask for a warm coat. new shoes or a favorite toy. up until last year less than two dozen cities participated. this year letters from every u.s. city maybe answered before the post office sends them to the north pole. to read some of them or answer

one santa can't go operation santa.com. >> let's get a check on the business. markets around the world. you can see yueuropean shares opened here. futures are higher. still above 28,000 for the dow jones. concerned over the state of the u.s. china trade talks. three steps forward two steps back. we're in the two steps back mode. beijing is pessimistic citing government sources. president trump reluctance to roll back tariffs. this contradicts both sides. they said the talks were constructive. that sent u.s. stocks to fresh record highs across the board monday. watch this space. we works 12,000 employees bracing for mass lay offs. the troubled coworking start up confirmed lay offs are coming. it didn't reveal how many. reports cite 4,000.

we works declined to comment publicly. cancelled after investors balked at the growing losses and mismanagement. a cautionary tale for start ups and the new york attorney general is investigate gt the company. suing burger king for not making a whopper his way. without meat. a vegan employee says they are contaminated. by cooking them on the same grill as meat products. leaving it coated in meat by product. it seeks damages for all u.s. customers who bought impossible burgers. burger king didn't respond for comment. they began selling the impossible burger in august. plant based protein has become popular. >> clear your holmes of clutter.

now she wants to replace them with products that spark joy. she told you to get rid of your stuff and she's selling you some. she launched an online shop selling 100 products across categories like aroma therapy, cooking, decor and organization. she said she's not encouraging customers to overpurchase anything. >> we should have been suspicious. she wanted us to get rid of stuff. and event lif we'd replace it. >> i did it in two different rooms. at first i thought about it. and i went to the thrift shop and i really like that hat. wait, that's my hat. i gave away things i wanted back. >> early start continues right now.

the impeachment probe back in the spotlight today. four top officials set to testify. why they matter and how new revelations from this diplomat make him critical for democrats. >> u.s. role as a the u.s. royal as a broker in doubt. recognizing israeli settlements in the west bank. why chick-fil-a will no longer donate to groups with anti-guy vi anti-gay views. a little boy that a doctor wouldn't operate on is celebrating. it is 4:00 in new york. democrats are trying to remove president trump. and republicans are battling to save him. both are ready for