whether that delay was legal. white house lawyers are reportedly concerned that internal exchanges could, quote, at minimum embarrass the president. we're going to dig into that. a major ruling in the ongoing power struggle between the white house and congress over allowing executive branch witnesses to testify before congress. federal judge set to decide whether the house can compel former counsel don mcgahn to testify about his former boss, president trump. mcgahn's testimony was key to robert mueller's russia investigation providing some of the most scathing details of alleged obstruction by the president. it is a ruling that would have major implications, and could also give cover for impeachment witnesses who have not cooperated such as john bolton cover or perhaps motivation to testify. joining me now is cnn's joe johns at the white house. joe, let's begin with this "washington post" reporting. you heard gop lawmakers the president's defenders saying they couldn't connect the aid

delay to the president. how do you know it came from him? you have an e-mail trail it seems. >> yeah. that's certainly very important and look, just to sort of set the stage, right after the house of representatives decided it was going to embark on this impeachment inquiry, the white house counsel's office, pat cipollone and others, decided they were going to do some research, dig up the documents and try to figure out the timeline for the president's decision to hold up that $400 million in aid to ukraine, critical military aid by the way, and what the "washington post" reporting has determined and some of the follow on reporting from cnn is that the timeline is very interesting, interesting because the white house apparently decided to act first on delaying the aid and then dig up the justification for it at a later time. so there was also certainly degree, if you will, of intrigue

here at the white house, intrigue between the national security council, which didn't think it was a good idea, and the office of management and budget, run, by the way, by the acting chief of staff, mick mulvaney. they thought it was perfect perfectly okay. the white house is saying routine practices and procedures were followed and there was legal consensus every step of the way, the office of management and budget says. of course there is a law that controls all this and says the president has to spend money that congress appropriates for certain measures. >> ultimately that's what forced their hand. simple as that. joe jones at the white house, thanks very much. susan malvo on capitol hill with more on where the democrats' investigation stands. suzanne? >> as you know, the house and senate on recess for thanksgiving break, but we heard from house intel chief, the chair, adam schiff, on "state of the union" talking about he is willing to open up more hearings

and he is willing to listen to additional testimony from witnesses if they become available. he's not ruling it out. as you have mentioned before, taking a very close look at that court case that judge's ruling today, whether or not there is such a thing as absolute privilege or immunity to keep some people from testifying schiff says over the weekend he is still open to the possibility of the former national security adviser john bolton to testify. it has to be voluntarily because if subpoenaed, his attorney has said that they will fight it in court. schiff says they are not willing to do that. they're not going to take the time to do that. they can move ahead with the impeachment inquiry process and at the same time the intel committee staff, they are working diligently on this report they're going to be handing over to judiciary shortly after the thanksgiving break, jim? >> talk about devin nunes, the ranking republican on the intelligence committee, new information he traveled to europe to meet with the disgraced ukrainian prosecutor

to dig up dirt on biden, does that lead to an investigation in the house? >> it makes it very messy and complicated, as you can imagine. this was giuliani's associate lev parnas, his attorney, saying he has some documentation that he can prove that nunes was in vienna last year and that he was meeting with a former ukrainian official to try to dig up dirt on the bidens. we heard from schiff this weekend saying it's not in his district or his jurisdiction, this would be for the house ethics committee to handle. there are some democrats calling for a probe for just that because they say if it was a taxpayer trip paid by the american people that it would be an ethics violation and they should, in fact, go and investigate. nunes so far denying that -- saying much of this is not true, but this only makes this a much more multilayered and complicated situation after the break as they try to deal with his role in all of this as well. >> suzanne malveaux on the hill,

thanks very much. joining me to discuss, white house reporter for the "washington post," joseph moreno for the department of justice. the post has the story about these documents and e-mails, does that then buttress further the democrat's claim that this was the president's decision. if the white house kind of scrambles to become justify it, what does it tell us about who made that decision? >> it certainly could. there are a lot of documents that we disclose the existence of in the story from my colleagues over the weekend, and i do want to make this clear, there is not -- there's concern definitely that there's information that could be politically embarrassing to the president president, but what's not clear at this point if there's anything that could really trouble him legally. clearly these are documents, part of the many sort of documents that democrats have been trying to get from the administration, that have been withheld from them and going back to the larger issue here,

it looks like it really does look like democrats are going to forge ahead. we'll look at the decision from -- look at the decision involving former white house counsel don mcgahn later today, but anything that kind of slows down this investigation i think democrats have made it adamantly clear that they are not going to entertain. i think speaker nancy pelosi's comments last week were pretty telling when she said we will not be at the mercy of the courts. >> joseph, on these e-mails, the white house has blocked a host of documents, e-mails, not just from the white house but the state department, but also officials from testifying who could answer very key questions here as to who made the decision on ukraine, et cetera, can democrats, do they have a path to getting access to these e-mails and communications now? >> sure, jim. they had a path, but it's a long one. that's the story with all these kinds of legal proceedings. look, as a lawyer, i would love to see a very methodical case built. as well as the democrats did in their hearings in the last few

weeks, there's still a bit of a gap as to what exactly came from the president with respect to why the aid was held and why it was ultimately released. i would love to hear from these people who know firsthand or love to see these documents if they provide some further light on it. that legal need for a methodical case runs up against a political reality which is the calendar. it will take time. so while in a perfect world we would get this information, i understand the democrats' hessy tense to push this months into next year. >> with an uncertain outcome how high they go. should folks at home the takeaway be, obstruction works. it's impeding the investigation. >> it's really not the american way and our justice system works. if i drag my feet long enough i can effectively grind the wheels of justice and prevent it from

happening. that's why the courts step in and they almost always step in on the side of transparency. so there is a good argument that even though the calendar is tight, the democrats really might want to go to the courts and let the courts weigh in. ultimately they will prevail in transparency will be the final word here. >> just an alarming exchange over the weekend, sitting u.s. senator john kennedy, from louisiana, defending, in effect, a baseless conspiracy theory placing doubt on whether it was russia that interfered in the 2016 election. i want to play it in case folks at home missed it and get your reaction. have a listen. >> who do you believe was responsible for hacking the dnc and clinton campaign computers, their e-mails? was it russia or ukraine? >> i don't know. nor do you. nor do any of us. >> the entire intelligence community says it was russia. >> right.

but it could also be ukraine. >> she's correct that russia tried to interfere in 2016. also, ukrainians themselves tried to interfere also. >> john kennedy in particular there as you know, it's a false statement. because it's not just the intelligence community, the senate intelligence committee, chaired by the republicans with a majority of republican members, found the same. what's the game here? why are senator kennedy and others clearly running defense for the president? what could they possibly gain from chasing down what is also we know from fiona hill's testimony, russian propaganda to create that doubt? >> i think certainly -- to be clear, most senate republicans will agree with the assessments of the senate intelligence committee that it was russia that interfered in the 2016 election. >> and yet, he's sitting there on national television on fox news stating a falsehood. >> exactly. i think a lot of it is kind of

trying to distort a reality here, particularly as the impeachment process almost inevitably moves over to the senate side and while like i just said most republican senators have long accepted the conclusions of the intelligence community, you have a growing kind of push from powerful committee chairmen to investigate this whole -- the debunk ukraine issue. powerful committee chairmen looking for documents from the dnc trying to establish that link and that just shows -- >> why? what's the point? i mean trying to give the president ammunition? an election less than a year away where the intel community has warned russia will and has started to interfere again. what do they have to gain from this? >> i think a lot of it is trying to make that case that debunked case that president has been pushing and that's why there is obviously -- obviously they are politically at a disadvantage in

the democratic led house, but there are a lot of, again, when they push -- when this gets pushed to the senate, the president and republicans feel they are on a little bit more favorable terrain here. obviously -- >> favorable but not factual terrain sadly. on the issue of mcgahn, a federal judge making a decision today really to don mcgahn's testimony before the house. this is not directly related to the impeachment inquiry, but relevant because it challenges the question of absolute immunity from the white house. say the judge rules in favor of the house here, what difference does that make and can things move quickly enough to allow some of the witness whoz still refuse like a john bolton, quigley enough to testify? >> possibly jim. it does two things, one, if the democrats want to reach back to the russia obstruction of justice issue, i think don mcgahn is a central witness. if judge jackson find hess has to respond to the subpoena and he complies and doesn't drag out the appeals process, you could

have an essential witness if the democrats want to go there. two, it blows a hole in the absolute immunity claim. judges are receptive to executive privilege or attorney general client privilege or fifth amendment assertions, right, there are certain reasons you can get away with not testifying, this absolute immunity, saying i don't even have to show up, judge jackson was really incredulous at the argument last month. i don't see her being receptive to this one bit and i think to your point, the other witnesses lore relevant to the ukraine impeachment issue will think twice before hiding behind this kind of curtain of absolute mooun immunity. >> unless they decide to wait it out. thanks to both of you. >> thanks, jim. still to come this hour, shocking twists and turns in the case of a navy s.e.a.l. facing accusations of war crimes. the secretary of the navy now out after the president intervenes to allow eddie

gallagher to keep his status as a navy s.e.a.l. a bloomberg blitz. the former mayor jumps into the 2020 race waste nothing time spending millions on tv ads. his rivals wasting no time taking aim at him. hong kong sends leaders a clear message, a record turnout delivers a huge victory for hong kong's pro-democracy party. how will beijing respond? excuse me a minute...

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this morning president trump says he's tapping the u.s. ambassador to norway to replace richard spencer as secretary of the navy. the president's announcement hours after spencer was fired by the defense secretary mark esper on his way out, spencer directed withering criticism at the president, accusing him of undermining military discipline and in effect demanding that navy violate his own oath. in a letter he writes, quote, i no longer share the same understanding with the commander of chief who appoint med in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline. i cannot in good conscience obey an order i believe violates the sacred oath i took. remarkable words. spencer's forced departure stems from the case of navy s.e.a.l. eddie gallagher. gallagher was convicted of a crime by military courts, specifically posing with a corps of an isis fighter, though, accused and acquitted of others. in a rare move that sparked alarm throughout navy leadership, the president reversed that decision and prevented the navy from

exercising disciplinary action against gallagher as well. joining me now to discuss, cnn military and diplomatic analyst, rear admiral john kirby, former press secretary for the navy and pentagon. great to have you on today. >> thanks. >> i wonder if you can explain to our viewers how unusual it is and perhaps in your view i wonder troubling for the president, to directly intervene in a case that has been decided by a military court and then intervene again, in effect, when the navy seeks disciplinary action? >> he's been very much involved with this particular case from almost the very beginning, jim. look, the navy did not exactly crown itself in glory with the case on the murder court-martial for gallagher. they had prosecutorial issues that ended up in the acquittal for that charge, but he was convicted of posing with war dead and the president just keeps getting involved in this case for almost from the very beginning. what's different now, jim, though is he's getting involved in essentially an administrative

qualification review process. it's one thing for the commander in chief to pardon or to get involved in actual court cases in the military justice system, even president obama did that on rare occasion, but what trump has done here is getting himself right involved in the qualification process. it would be akin to the president deciding in a particular case that a pilot, who had had, you know, several mishaps and was up for a review board about whether he or she could keep his or her wings, the president saying you can, it's at that level, a low level, usually reserved for unit level commanders. >> this disciplinary step that the navy was considering taking which is to take away his trident, which is a valued symbol of having passed what are arguably the most difficult admissions procedures to become a navy s.e.a.l. of that service, i've spoken to navy officers who said they -- this happens all the time for far lesser issues. one brought up the case of someone lying on a test.

>> right. >> how concerning is it that the navy wasn't even allowed the discretion to make a decision on that relatively small disciplinary step? >> very deeply concerning, jim. again, we're talking about an administrative review process. the navy s.e.a.l.s. do this all the time and people get their trident pins revoked for much less than what gallagher has not only been alleged to have done, but actually convicted of doing, and here's the other thing, jim, there are three other s.e.a.l.s. that are going through this same review process on their trident pins as gallagher was. those three other s.e.a.l.s. that were in the same photos. now what does the navy do about those guys? they don't have high-paid lawyers and they don't have the president or commander in chief weighing in on their behalf. but if they're going to exonerate gallagher for this same offense and let him retire with his trident pin, what do they do about the other three? more writ large what message does this send to the s.e.a.l. community? >> yeah. i want to get to that question

because this speaks to a broad range of behaviors here and again i've spoken to military commanders and others who worry because they take the law seriously, right. >> yeah. >> they want soldiers on the battledfield, it is difficult, but follow the law. this goes to chain of command and discipline and goes to how u.s. allies see u.s. forces deployed abroad. you've dealt with these issues for years. describe to people how, you know, the sort of odd fact that gallagher stays and spencer is gone now, how does the rank and file read that? >> i think there's some worrisome conclusions that some in the rank and file might take away from this, that if you have a high paid lawyer, if the commander in chief is on your side, you can flouts discipline. yesterday gallagher was on "fox and friends" despairing rear admiral green, the commanders of the s.e.a.l. forces. that was an incredible moment. there's going to be real concern by commanders across the force about what this says for their

ability to execute good order and discipline inside their ranks. also, you brought it up just briefly in what you said, jim, there's a message here to allies and partners, if we exonerate this kind of behavior, if we're able to whistle past that graveyard, how can they trust when they have american boots on their ground conducting operations in their countries that we have the ability and the forthrightness to hold our troops accountable for what is essentially war crimes. >> yeah. listen, i remember the deep concern after the abu grab scandal how u.s. forces operate on the battlefield, the soft power is u.s. forces follow the law where others may not. >> follow the law and stand for values that are greater than just ourselves. >> absolutely. well said. rear admiral john kirby, thanks very much. you bet. congress is on break for thanksgiving as democrats press forward with their impeachment plans and time frame. i'll speak to one lawmaker about his party's next steps. we're moments away from the opening bell on wall street.

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right now after two his herric weeks of impeachment hearings lawmakers are facing their constituents. how could the thanksgiving recess shape the investigation? the timeline moving forward. with me democratic congressman from new york. >> thank you very much. >> the share of the intel committee has been running things, adam schiff with would not go as far to say he supports impeachment at this point. you have been on the record saying there are still loose ends out there. is there any doubt that the house votes to impeach the president? >> i think there's still loose ends. we would love to hear from mcgahn or bolton, of course.

i think they have evidence to share with us. at the end of the day, i think we'll package the entire body of evidence and send it to jerry nadler and the judiciary committee. >> are they going to wait for bolton and mcgahn? the courts could drag it out for weeks. >> they may decide not to come in. this will take weeks and weeks. i think we will not wait, no. >> okay. do you think that's a mistake? i wonder. the key, as you know from watching the hearings, because the key republican defense at this point, is that no witness has directly testified the president told me to delay this aid. now, in fairness, all of the witnesses who could testify to that is been blocked by the white house. i wonder if you're concerned that weakens your case and, therefore, you should take the time and wait. >> we'll leave it up to adam schiff. he's done a tremendous job running the hearings. we heard evidence from taylor, vindman, sondland, his back and

forth was very telling, so there's enough there i think for us to really take a good look at this, but i'll leave it up to adam and jerry nadler to see where we go with this. for me i am convinced with the evidence that has been presented. >> you would vote to impeach the president today? >> i would do that, yes. >> you're there. the broader scope of the investigation now because we've learned that a giuliani associate, associate of the president's personal attorney, is willing to testify that devin nunes, the ranking republican on the intelligence committee, met with a former ukrainian official wildly disparaged by our allies and the u.s., to dig up dirt on joe biden. should nunes be investigated. >> meeting with a disgraced prosecutor, poroshenko, not only the united states and european union but many countries across the world felt he was very corrupt, leaves a lot to be desired. we have to take a look at what that conversation was about.

in fact, this entire impeachment proceeding is about whether we twisted ukraine's arm and forced them to handle an illegal investigation that will have an impact on an election. this is not about whether we do quid pro quo for national security or other matters that are important to america. this was for personal gain for the to the have an edge, an advantage in next year's election. >> fiona hill called it a domestic political errand in her phrasing. the holidayses are a time to meet with constituents. the president tweeting yesterday, thanking democrats in his word for the impeachment inquiry saying, his own information, it's driving his poll numbers up. we haven't seen that necessarily. we do know many democrats, voters are uncomfortable with this. are you hearing from your constituents? >> that's not what i heard. i was out and about last night in the community and people were not communicating that to me at all. in fact, they want us to push

harder. i represent naturally a very progressive district, but i think across america, people understand when they hear and see the truth and i think that the arguments and the evidence presented during this couple weeks is compelling. >> you have, as you know, some nervous colleagues in less progressive districts than your own, particularly ones that won in swing districts in 2018, flipping from red to blue, do you hear from them concern -- >> most if not all of them are already there. they've been through this process already. again, good government is good politics. i think it was good government for us to engage in this impeachment process. >> final question, you're from new york. another new york politician who is officially in the race. >> i saw that. all over the media last night. >> michael bloomberg, what does that mean for democrats in this race? >> well, look, i think the american people are uncomfortable about somebody coming in with lots of money and like throwing their money around, but, you know, he's --

>> elected one in 2016. >> that's correct. he had a good record. the city with regards to gun control and climate change. but he didn't have a good record with regards to criminal justice reform and how the city became so expensive that working-class people continue to struggle. there's mixed views and see what develops. >> could he win the nomination? >> i'm not sure. >> we'll be watching. congressman, thanks as always. happy thanksgiving. >> same to you. >> you will be serving meals later this week. >> that's correct. >> good on you and i hope you get time for yourself. we will much more on bloomberg's bid and a major ad blitz by bloomberg kicking off today. in one week... a lot will happen in your life. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin.

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michael bloomberg has launched his first tv ad, kicking off his 2020 bid officially. it's not a small one. part of a $37 million media blitz hitting states across the country, helps to have all those billions. i'm joined by the editor and publisher of "inside elections." nathan, begin with you, his

essential pitch here, he is a moderate candidate that can beat trump. part of his drive for entering the race is fear that the current democratic candidates cannot beat trump. is that fear reasonable? >> well, i think there is some fear about not being able to defeat trump but i'm not sure that mayor bloomberg is the answer. one thing that stuck out from the 60-second ad he's unveiling we're old enough to remember in 2001 bloomberg decided to run as a republican because the democratic primary would have been too difficult. there are multiple reasons why i think this is a challenge for bloomberg. first of all, if money and ads were the -- were what drove you to the nomination, tom steyer would be doing better than 2% in the polls and i'm not sure where -- and also skipping the early states, that is not the traditional path for a democratic nominee, which is what bloomberg is planning on doing. i'm not sure what part of the democratic electorate is crying out for what he's offering.

>> yeah. i want to get to that strategy, but jason, first to you, what is a selling point here? >> well, it's a very big question. i can tell you what is first of all we'll start with what is a selling point. he's a moderate. he's a successful businessman. what is not a selling point for him and this is something he's going to have to get at, stop and frisk. you think about that, that policy, you go out to these neighborhoods in new york, a policy that ended in 2014, to this day, it still resonates with people of color in these neighborhoods. then -- >> just in new york or broadly? >> more broadly than that. you go into places in the south, this is something that really has been talked about and this is a man, this is a candidate, that is eventually going to have to reach these voters and reach african-american voters. not sure how he's going to do that. he says he's apologized for this, moved on from it, realized the mistakes of his ways. not sure how that's going to play out when trying to reach out to those type of voters. >> nathan, when running in the

primary, i mean he has apologized we should note for stop and frisk saying it's a mistake, but running in a primary, you have a more progressive voting base making that decision as to who will be the democrat nominee, can he thread that needle to make a credible run? >> i'm skeptical. i think there are even though the primary is crowded and multiple candidates and there is that fear of maybe not defeating president trump with a few of them, i just don't know that bloomberg is -- bloomberg is that answer. joe biden, vice president biden, has proven that he right now has a lock on african-american voters. one of the key constituencies of this primary. i don't see what would change. bloomberg, one of the biggest challenges for bloomberg, he's entering the race with high name i.d. he's trying to reintroduce himself with this ad, but people already know him and a chunk of people don't like him already. that's hard to break out of. >> let's talk about the strategy just quickly, because he's skipping iowa and new hampshire and nevada and south carolina and focusing on super tuesday

states. from the math of this that could work out if you have a big day on super tuesday. but he would be well behind the pack by that point. >> right. and we -- it's tough to i think estimate the momentum that can be gained by the candidates who will win or finish first, or second in those early states. there will be a media narrative that develops about those candidates that are winning and it's going to be tough for bloomberg. we saw this with mayor giuliani a couple presidential cycles ago, all-in on florida, looks good on paper but in reality it's hard to execute. >> giuliani was a national leader for some time before he fizzled. so jason, he does run be or own a news organization which has to cover him. >> large one. >> how do they handle that? >> this is an ethical fine line for the news organization because, you know, some of the journalists there, there's a question that they're putting themselves in a position of self-censorship because the editor in chief has basically come out and said we're not going to run investigative

pieces on bloomberg or any of the 2020 candidates. released a statement saying in part no previous presidential candidate has owned a journalistic organization of this size and went on to say, he says there's no point in trying to claim that this -- that it's going to be easy covering this particular type of candidate with this newsroom that's built itself on a reputation of being independent. look, bloomberg is the big boss. he very easily could have said, i'm stepping away completely, cover me as you wish, that didn't happen. we'll see how it goes. >> where else did someone not step away from their businesses officially. rings a bell. jason carroll and nathan gonzalez, thanks very much. stunning wins for pro-democracy parties in this week's elections in hong kong. this is a remarkable stand. will it be enough to end months of protests? how crucially will china respond? - [spokeswoman] meet the ninja foodi pressure cooker,

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watch this story because it really is remarkable. in a stinging rebuke to beijing voters in hong kong handed landsli landslide victories to pro-democracy elections. the question now is will these victories and that unrest, how will china respond? they certainly see it as a direct challenge to their authority. cnn's nick paton walsh joins me now from hong kong. i imagine it's a mood of

celebration there? >> you would think so, wouldn't you? what you're seeing behind me is, again, a scene of protests, a tense standoff, small numbers certainly, but this is a focus of where we've had issues over the past week. the poly u university campus, you can see there one of the younger protesters pushing as fast as they can really, within elastic limits of the barrier put up to keep the crowd back and police have reinforced their numbers. this is the way in to the poly u campus, the scene of intense clashes a week ago. great peace and calm descended on here but also in hong kong in the days of the run up to the election. campaigners and, yes, oh, my gosh, the protesters got the message they wanted from those polls. 90%, according to local media, of local council seats in the hands now of pro democracy candidates and a 71% turnout. imagine those numbers in u.s.

politics. starting to hear that kind of mandate. jim, it comes with a catch. this does not change the leaders of power, really, in hong kong. these are local councillors, things that aren't going to change how beijing feels it has control over hong kong here. instead, we have, i think, protesters on the streets again, conscious that the protests have come to hong kong. we saw down the road a police was thought to be having a wedding in a hotel and protesters rushed the doors, flashing lights in the eyes of those attending to disrupt it. despite all that chaos, they have the vast majority of hong kongers on their side. again we have stand-offs like this and a bit to try to get the remaining students and protesters are still inside the

poly u campus out. there's still great tension, jim. >> does beijing look at this as a direct threat to their authority? do they respond? nick p nick paton walsh, thank you. >> a lot hangs in the balance. around me for days ♪ after being a part of millions of love stories... ♪ ...at kay, we've learned the most important love story... will always be your own. every yes. oh my gosh, yes. begins with kay. get zero down special financing with the kay jewelers long live love credit card.

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this morning, supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg is home and resting after being hospitalized over the weekend. supreme court said she checked into the hospital friday after experiencing chills and fever, days after she missed a day in court due to a stomach bug. she's had a number of bouts in recent years. do we know how serious it is and how she is? >> she's back. her presence was seen on an orders list released about half an hour ago. she clearly participated in all the cases that the justices talked about in their private conference last week. she even wrote something separate in one of them. so, she's feeling better, according to the court, and she's obviously doing the work of the court, according to this

orders list. but you're right that we're watching for a stomach bug, the chills she had over the weekend, anything, because here is a woman who is 86. she has survived cancer four times. she's a senior liberal on the bench. if she were to feel the need to resign and give president trump a third appointment to the supreme court, it would be highly consequential. in fact, this appointment, if it ever were to come to that, would be more significant than the first two. >> i thought there were no appointments during election years, but we can get to that topic later. the supreme court is handing down some decisions and there were more to come. what can we expect on a morning like this? >> okay. this is what you should really watch for, jim. the orders list was essentially the justices telling us which cases they weren't going to participate in, literally scores of appeals have come to their doorstep that they were turning down. but the most important cases sitting up there right now that we're awaiting word on is what

this court is going to do with disputes over president trump's financial documents that the house of representatives are seeking and also that grand jury up in new york is seeking. so, really watch this space. and i'm sure ruth bader ginsburg will be an active participant in these. >> just to be clear, will we get an answer on the court's decision or just an answer on whether they'll take up the case on the president's axis? >> there's a grand jury in new york and one here in d.c. they blocked the subpoenas that could be enforced at any moment. so the president is first asking block these subpoenas and then please take up our case on the merits. so right now it's more the sort of temporary but urgent stage on the part of the president. >> all right. step one. we'll stay on top of that.

>> it's a very important step, though. super important. >> i hear you. when that happens, i bet we'll give you a phone call. stay where you are. >> thanks, jim. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> very good monday morning to you. it's thanksgiving week. i'm jim sciutto in new york. poppy harlow has the day off. the washington post is reporting fresh new details about an after the fact effort by the white house to justify the president's decision to withhold military aid from ukraine, according to "the post." white house lawyers conducted a conversation review that turned up hundreds of emails and documents showing conversations that attempted to rationalize the ukraine freeze after notably that whistle-blower came forward. why did they do that? key question. also today, an important ruling is expected that will have major implications on whether key witnesses will be forced to come forward in the future. federal judge any