"early start" continues right now. he's the ambassador with firsthand knowledge of the president's actions. what will gordon sondland say about the pressure of the campaign? will he testify publicly today. ten democrats on stage tonight. how this will be different from the iowa caucus. two guards now facing charges for lapses on the night jeffrey epstein died on their watch. what they're accused of doing instead. ♪ it's a beautiful day in this neighborhood ♪ the resemblance uncanny, and there could be a good reason. are tom hanks and mr. -- mister rogers related? i'm dave briggs >> i'm christine romans.

his name is gordon sondland, and he faces congress this morning with the president's future possibly in his hands. evidence so far all points to sondland as the witness who could tie president trump directly to the campaign. >> it follow as long day of hearings that culminated in one of the republicans' own witnesses essentially turning on them. kurt volker acknowledged some of his closed door testimony had been less than fully informed. what he didn't realize then, he does now. >> since i gave my testimony on october 3rd, a great deal of additional information and perspectives have come to light. in hindsight i see how others were investigate iing. in retrospect, i should have seen that connection

differently, and had i done so, i would have raised my own objections. >> one key change was directed to sondland. volker had denied any investigations came up. yesterday he recalled he did bring up investigations, which everybody thought was inappropriate. >> multiple sources tell us they're most worried about what sondland will say today and whether he'll turn on the president. here's phil mattingly on capitol hill. >> christine and dave, if you paid close attention to tuesday's testimony, you may have heard a name come up repeatedly, gordon sondland, the u.s. ambassador to the eu. he testified behind closed doors and then had to testify. he actually presented to the

ukrainian aides on september 1st when the vice president was in town. then you paid attention to others. multiple administration officials talking about someone had repeated contact with president trump, how sondland had ties with chief of staff mick mulvaney. you recognize there may be no one bigger than gordon sondland. now, there have been questions about his testimony. there are contradictions in his testimony, at least the contradictions behind closed doors. all of those will have to be answered. the real question, what is he going to say. the reality is nobody really knows. that's unsettling for republicans who some were hoping would be a strong defender of the president. they don't know what's coming. based on his closed door deposition, the democrats don't know what's coming either. it will be a nail-biting moment

not just for the white house, the republicans, and democrats, but everyone watching. he'll say whether he was oper e operating at the direction of the president-elect or anybody else. this will be a big day. >> lieutenant colonel alexander vindman testified on tuesday. he went straight to msc l s ks to report the trump/zelensky call. whach happens when vindman was asked if he spoke to anyone about the conversation. >> deputy assistant george kent and an officer from the individual intelligence committee. >> as you know, the intelligence community has several different

agencies. what agency was this individual from? >> if i can interject, we don't want to -- >> it's our time. >> i know. but we need to protect the whistle-blower. please stop. >> all right. the white house using a taxpayer twitter account. the account quoted the lieutenant colonel's former boss tim morrison who said he had concern about vindman's judgment. then the president retweeted a message. the president said this yesterday. >> vindman, i watched him for a little while this morning, and i think he -- i'm going to let people make their own determination, but i don't know vindman, i never heard of him. i don't know of any of these people. >> in his opening remarks

lindman delivered an emotional message to his father. he told his father, do not worry, i'll be fine for telling the truth. a reminder he's a decorated war veteran who carries shrapnel. tonight there will be the fifth democratic debate in atlanta. stakes are even higher. safe to say there will be greater focus on mayor pete buttigieg who's now leading. this will also be the first debate since senator elizabeth warren unveiled her plan to pay for medicare for all. and senator warren is being hit back at for this. >> it is time for wealth tax in america. i have heard there are some billionaires who don't support

this ad. >> warren says billionaires like blankfein and leon couperman don't pay their fair share. in an interview with cnbc, he criticized the ongoing battle with the billionaires. >> i used to be kind of a moderate democrat. now without moving anything, i've become in their eyes a right-winger because i don't want to blow up the financial system. >> while he believes the economic system should be fair, he criticized her wealth tax. >> you can modify our estate tax, but we shouldn't have unworkable demotivating kinds of taxes that will achieve equality by reducing everybody's level of

wealth. >> he accused warren of moving from populism. two prison guards are accused of falsifying prison records. they failed to keep up with accounts of prisoners. they were apparently shopping online and napping when epstein took his own life. both pleaded not guilty and are on bond. >> it's hoped we can reach a reasonable agreement on this case. if not, we'll be prepared to review the evidence and defend them in this case moving forward. >> epstein was being held at a federal jail. officials ruled his death a suicide. breaking overnight, two u.s. servicemembers killed in a helicopter crash over

afghanistan. the cause is under investigation. but preliminary reports do not indicate it was caused by enemy fire. the names of the fallen servicemembers have not been released. there are about 12,000 troops still in afghanistan. is isis ramping up. in concerns by the pentagon next.

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[♪] check your credit scores for free and learn how to improve them at creditkarma. here's to progress. the pentagon says turkey's attacks on forces has allowed

isis to regroup and potentially launch new attacks from abroad. a new report from the department of the inspector general paints a darker picture of the president's plans to abandon our allies. a pentagon spokesman tells cnn that training for kurdish forces was suspended but has now resumed. the a.g. says the recent death of its leader means someone could make a comeback. an internal watchdog has uncovered significant problems. among issues, the fbi agents sometimes use work fones to contact confidential informants, calls that could be traced back to government. the problems can result in

jeopardizing fbi agents, sources, subjects of investigation, and the public in harm's way. a georgia teen could be charged. the 16-year-old took significant steps over several weeks as she planned a knife attack on a church in gainesville, florida. it was thwarted friday when students overheard her talking about the plan and alerted school officials. >> she's a racist. i can promise you we have valid evidence now. i don't know how she felt in the past, but that's how she feels at this point. reading those details, it's very sickening. >> police believe the girl acted alone and no others are at risk. more damaging emails from former senior white house adviser stephen miller.

miller's emails from 2015 were released tuesday by the southern poverty law center. they were leaked by a fired breitbart editor. earlier releases show he promoted organizations to breitbart staffers. miller and the white house have not responded to cnn's request for comment. a leading automaker is cutting ties. we'll tell you who and why. automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus 0% interest for 24 months on all smart beds. ends saturday

earlier releases show he

north america's economy is the most resilient in the world for withstanding the climate crisis. climate change will shrink the u.s. economy be 1.1% compared to europe's 1.7% decline and 3% globally. preparation for the global crisis is strongest in north america, making its economy more durable. the developing world will bear the brunt of the economic impact. the state of california says as of january it will no longer

buy public vehicles from gm, ford, chrysler, or or toyota who support prchlt they said carmaker that have chose on the be on the wrong side of history will be on the losing end of california's buying power. the miami dolphins have cut mark walton after police say he punched a woman pregnant whis baby. walton remains in jail. a bond status hearing is expected today. walt walton's attorney denies the charges. he was drafted with the bengals but was arrested three times. boeing needs to make engine fixes to avoid a repeat.

a passenger was killed when a fan blade broke causing part of the engine covers to fly into the plane, breaking one of the window, killing a woman in the window seat. theory recommending they retrofit the engine covers on all of its next generation planes. tom hanks' new movie role hitting closer to hope than ever imagined. ♪ it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood ♪ >> the iconic mister rogers, "a beautiful day in the neighborhood." it turns out tom hanks and fred rogers are actually related. it's something hanks and wife rita wilson were surprised to learn this week. >> this is crazy. >> did you have any idea?

>> i would like to find out the johnny depp is related to fred rogers. >> turns out they're sixth cussens. they share great, great, great, great, great, that's five greats, grandfathers. a massachusetts teacher opens her home to a student after his mom died of cancer. she met jake and his single mother jean four years ago and fell in love with him recently. knowing she had breast cancer, she spoke to her husband and two kids and made jean this offer. >> if you need a backup plan for jake, then our family is happy to make him part of our family, and she said, i'll sleep better tonight than i've sleft in a long time. >> my mom went through everything.

queen angel mom. >> she's your queen angel mom. >> she's always in my heart. >> do you love her so much? yeah. on wednesday jean manning passed away and jake joined his new family. they set up a gofundme page. i'm sorry. that one gets me. it's so important to take care of each other, and what a wonderful family. what a wonderful kid. >> and what a wonderful story. ahead, john dean, monica lewinsky, gordon sondland, the eu ambassador joins a list of witnesses with firsthand knowledge and impeachment probes. what will sondland say when he testifies publicly today. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis

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check your free credit scores at creditkarma. here's to progress. he's the ambassador with firsthand knowledge of the president's actions. what will gordon sondland say about the crukraine/presidentia campaign when he testifies today. two guards now facing charges for lapses the night jeffrey epstein died on their watch. what they're accused of doing instead. ♪ it's a beautiful day in this neighborhood ♪ >> the resemblance is uncanny, and there could be a reason.

they're related distantly. welcome back to "early start," everybody. i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. two big movies on my list. >> gordon sondland faces congress this morning with the president's future possibly in his hands. evidence so far all points to sondland as the witness who could tie the president directly to the campaign, pressuring ukraine to investigate 2020 rival joe bide snoon the eu ambassador's testimony follows a long day of hearings that culminated in one of its own witnesses essentially turning on them. kurt volker testified that some of his closed door testimony hadn't been fully informed. >> since i gave my testimony on

october 3rd, a great deal of perspective has come to light. on the one hand i saw the investigation as an equivalent to investigating former vice president biden. >> a key change in volker's recollection was connected to sondland. last week he denied investigations ever came up but yesterday volker recalled sondland did bring up investigations with a top ukrainian official which volker said everybody thought was, quote, inappropriate. >> multiple sources tell us they're worried about what sondland will say today and whether he'll turn on the president. phil mattingly is on capitol hill hill. >> christine and dave, if you paid close attention, you may have heard one name that came up repeatedly, gordon sondland.

he's been at the center of much of the impeachment investigation at this point. he testified behind closed doors and had to amend that testimony. not only did he tie security assistance to ukraine but he actually presented that to ukrainian aides at his sidebar meeting on september 1st when the president was in town. then you actually pay attention to the other depositions going on, talking about how sondland has repeated contact with president trump, how he touted his ties with acting chief of staff mick mulvaney. and you recognize in terms of witnesses, there may be no one bigger than gordon sondland. now, there have been questions about his testimony, there are contradictions in his testimony, depositions behind closed doors. all of those will have to be answered. the real question, what will he have to say when he talks in front of cameras. nobody really knows.

that's unsettling for republicans who hoped at some point he would be a strong defender. democrats feel like he could be a big witness for them. they don't know what's coming either. it will be a nail-biting moment, not just for the white house, republicans, or democrats, but everybody watching because this is an individual who know as what happened and he can say whether or not anyone was acting at the hands of the president. this will be a big day. >> thank you. lieutenant colonel alexander vindman testified on tuesday. the director of european affairs for the national security council said he went straight to nfc lawyers to report the trump/zelensky call. in one tense exchange it appears the republicans were trying to unmask the whistle-blower. watch what happened when vindman was asked if he spoke to anyone about the trump/zelensky

conversation. deputy secretary george kent and an individual in the intelligence kmunlty. >> the intelligence community has several different agencies. what agency was this individual from? >> if i can interrupt here. >> it's our time. >> we need to protect the whistle-blower. please stop. >> the white house using a taxpayer-funded twitter account to attack vindman. they slammed the iraq war veteran while he was testifying. it was quoted that tim morrison had concerns about the president's judgment and then the president retweeted a question. the president said this yesterday. >> vindman, i watched him for a

little while this morning, and i think he -- i'm going to let people make their own determination. i don't know vindman, i never heard of him. i don't know any of these peoplpeopl people. >> vindman told his father, do not worry, i will be fine for telling the truth. >> the president making a rare public comment. fred pleitgen spoke with zelensky. he spoke live. what did you hear? >> good morning, dave. one of the things you could hear from president zelensky, he was trying to lay low and the things leading up it to as well. ukrainians have acknowledged they need bipartisan support. it was yesterday at an event where they flat out said, one of the things that were good for them is they had both parties behind them. they have the conflict going on

with the russians and russian backed force. we were with the president yesterday. he didn't want to answer any questions. but i asked him whether or not he was ready to move forward with an investigation of burisma and that's when he came back and became quite emotional and here's what he had to say. >> i think the people of ukraine are tired about burisma. we have our kun trirk our independence, and we have our problems. >> so ukrainians there saying they really don't want to talk about this issue that much anymore. again, as we've been saying, they've been trying to lay low, speak as little about this as possible. they need support from both sides if they're going to keep up and maintain. so ukrainians are really trying to not get involved too much. they're not trying to get on the

badside of everyone. zelensky put in a very difficult position by president and president trump demanding the investigation. >> nice job. appreciate it. live in kiev this morning. thanks. a fight to take the lead of the fifth democratic event tonight. stakes even higher. there will be greater focus on pete buttigieg who's leading the field. this will also be the first debate since senator elizabeth warren unveiled her plan to pay for medicare for all, a palangio bind called mathematical jim nas kicks. two prison guards are being charged. tova noel and michael toms are charged with falsifies prison records. prosecutors say they were shopping online and napping when

epstein apparently took his own life. both officers pleaded not guilty and were released on bond. >> it is our hope that we'll be able to reach a reasonable agreement in this case. if we cannot, after we review the evidence, we'll be prepared to defend them in this case moving forward. >> epstein was being held at the manhattan jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. the tariff man is back. >> china's going to have to make a deal we like. if they don't, that's it. if they don't, i'll raise the tariffs even higher. >> a new tariff threat. u.s. and chinese trade teams spoke last week. they publicly used the very same word to describe the state of play. constructive. but both sides are divided on core issues. the u.s. wants promises on

agricultural purposes, in intellectual property protections and enforcement. there's intense pressure on both sides to sign some kind of deal and a stop to the new round of tariffs on consumer goods made in china. now t difficult in achieving even a narrow deal underscores how far apart the two sides are. ahead, his mother died after a battle with cancer. now a teacher stepping up to offer him a home. a story you don't want to miss. ? we're related to them? we're portuguese? i thought we were hungarian? grandpa, can you tell me the story again? behind every question is a story waiting to be discovered.

breaking overnight, two u.s. servicemembers killed in a helicopter over afghanistan. the cause of the crash is under investigation. preliminary reports do not indicate it was caused by enemy fire. the names of the fallen servicemembers have not been released. the u.s. has about 12,000 troops remaining in afghanistan. the penl gone says attacks on kurdish forces after the u.s. pulled out had allowed isis to regroup and launch new attacks to start. there's painted a damaging picture of president trump's plans to abandon kurdish allies.

a pentagon spokesman tells cnn training for kurdish forces which had been suspended is now resumed. the i.g. says the death of isis's leader will have little effect on their ability to make a comeback. the u.s. wants seoul to pay more to keep forces on the korean peninsula. president trump hiked the price take for 2020 by more than 4%. they claim the proposals were not fair and equitable. mr. trump's $4.7 billion price tag infuriated the south koreans have who released missiles. this morning the north indicated it's no longer interested in dealing with the u.s. this is after president trump tweeted "see you soon."

a teen is attacked after police say she planned a racially motivated attack churve on becthel african methodist church. >> she's a racist. reading those details, they're just sickening. >> police believe the girl acted alone and no other churches are at risk. police are not aware if she has an attorney. we'll be right back. (danny) let me get this straight.

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after waiting for more than a year, carmelo anthony finally made his nba return with the portland trail blazers. >> andy scholes has more. good morning, andy. he never found a home and it looked like his playing days were over. melo stepping right into the starting lineup. he made his first shot, which because three. the rest of the night, though, a really tish struggle, melo making just four of his 14 shots for ten points. he had five fouls and five turnovers as well. the blazers would lose to the pelicans, 115-105. his buddy lebron having a much better night.

throwing down the alley-oop. and in the fourth quarter, lebron running the old pick and roll with anthony davis. with that assist, lebron had a triple-double on the night. lebron, now the first player in nba history with a triple double against all. the lakers win. they have the best record in the nba at 12-2. it's certainly happy times at staples center once again. everyone was having fun includi including james corden and gronk. venus williams was also out there. all the dancing not even the high light of the night. take a look at max. max hits eight shots in a row to score 30 points in the contest.

guys. talk about not being scared by the moment. he was in the nba 3s. those are no joke. what an awesome performance. i think mcgee was shocked because he koultn't have done that well in the contest. >> we us going say, le be beyond lebron james, who on the lakers roster could pull that off right now? >> it was legit. he never stopped moving except for the final fadeaway. it was awesome. >> that's impressive. >> do you like gronk or james corden? >> i think gronk is impressive. >> i think they all are very brave, but venus wins. >> good stuff. thank you, man, we needed that. a true giant among celebrities headed to china. the 4-year-old bei bei, the nation's giant pan da left on

tuesday aboard the fedex jet dubbed the panda express it. was part of an agreement with the chinese government. they move to china when they turn 4. let's take a look at markets around the world. negativity here mostly about concerns. on wall street trading leaning down. it was a mixed day on tuesday. the dow ended 102 points lower, dragged down by weak sales from home depot. they cited concerns about tariff and the u.s./china trade war. major averages are really near to territory we've never seen before. investors will pay very close attention to any developments that could point to a potential deal. the president said he's willing to put more tariffs on china if he doesn't get what he wants. home depot's stock fell 5% after its third quarter sales fell short of expectations.

the decline will only put in a small dent. it lowered its sales outlook kriegt concerns about lumber and the trade war. kohl's is also struggling. the profit fell for a third quarter. a sign that its makeover and partnership with amazon may not be working just yet. one week after its launch, some disney plus customers are saying they've been locked out of their accounts. disney plus itself does not appear to be hacked, but customers' kre deb chals were stolen in other security breaches. many people use the same email log ins and passwords. what should you do if you think you've been hacked. change your password and use a different password for each account. disney says it takes users' data very seriously. a massachusetts teacher has opened her home to one of her

students after his mother recently died of cancer. jake has down syndrome. kerry says she met jake four years ago. knowing jean had breast cancer spoke with her husband and kids and made jean an offer. >> if you need a backup plan for jerick our family is happy to make him part of our family. she said, i'll sleep better tonight than i've slept in a long time. >> queen angel mom. >> she's your queen angel mom. >> she's always in my heart. >> she is. is she always in your heart? yeah. on wednesday jean pass aid way.

jake passe tom hanks' movie role hitting closer to home than he ever imagined. ♪ it's a beautiful day in this nabd a beautiful day for a neighbor ♪ >> hanks plays the iconic mister rogers in the flm "a beautiful day in the neighborhood." it turns out they are actually are lated. this is something hanks and his wife rita wilson were surprised to learn. >> all this comes together. >> this is crazy. >> did you have any idea? >> well, i would like to see if johnny depp is related to mister rogers kchl you find out from ancestry.com? >> they're sixth cousins. they shared the same great, great, great, great, great grandfather. i don't know.

five greats, is that close? i could be related to mister rogers. >> you'd see that or "frozen" first? >> i will see that first. >> double feature. >> okay, okay. thanks for joining us. i'm christine romans >> i'm dave briggs. this is "new day." in hours gordon sondland will testify publicly. >> we just want the truth. >> at the time of the call on july 25th, how its disclosure would play in washington's political climate, my fear has been realized. >> it's an embarrassment to our administration. >> i believe the messages conveyed to rudy giuliani are a problem. >> this was a very good day for the truth, a very good day for the president of the united states. welcome to our viewers in

the united states and all around the world. this is cnn's special coverage of the impeachment hearings. it's wednesday, november 20th, 5:00 in new york. call it the gordon problem. that is how trump administration officials, people on the inside refer to the millionaire ambassador to the european union gordon sondland, the gordon problem. this morning the gordon problem is that witnesses have placed him at the center of the scream to pressure the ukrainians to investigate biden or loose aid. the gordon problem is he's had to reverse his testimony on what he knew. and finally the gordon problem is that no one really know as what he will say this morning lchl he turn on the president. cnn has learned people close to