into the bidens. those facts speak for themselves. i'm proud that those facts were cleared for the american public could alternate back over to -- speak a couple of questions. >> reporter: she got into the idea that there is a tented crimes, attempted murder, attempted burglary, and even something was attempted even though there was no deliverable, isn't that relevant if something was -- >> one of the three most corrupt countries on the planet, president trump and our our administration was checking them out. and guess what, after vice president pence visited zelensky, buys partisan visited with president zelensky, the aide was released because they were convinced that this is a guy worth the hard earned tax paying money. never wants and is 55 day time frame did presidents pay 27

announced that he was going to start any type of investigation into the bidens. and yet the eta got released. the fact that the facts. you can talk about all you want. the facts will not change. i think the american people clearly see that. >> the white house -- >> secondhand, sondland talk -- they had a conversation and sondland talk to morrison and morrison talk to taylor. this all happens and vice president pence's meeting with president zelensky. nothing happened there. >> reporter: finish the question. at the white house has been blocking -- this inquiry from responding to requests. >> the close advice of the president. that's a long tradition in our country and press and our country. an earlier court case. i think it is december 10th, we will find out then. >> reporter: you don't believe that testimony that gordon sondland made clear that after the conversation with

president trump that everything was contingent by announcing the investigation? >> i understand the facts as sondland just said, i understand the facts. the facts are squarely and strongly on the president's side. i think again the american people see that. >> we talk to sondland -- [indistinct] >> i want to hear from -- in the whistleblower's complaint, the point number one he says this, over the past four months, i've talked to a half a dozen u.s. officials. i want to hear from the whistleblower to those officials that he or she talked do. i want would even those individuals. [indistinct] >> the long history of our country is that they don't have to testify. yeah, but we will see what the

court says. yeah, yeah. that's up to them. that's up to them. thank you. >> reporter: their alleged association without whistleblower with a democratic politician, a promise -- does that bias that person inherently? speak to all of it. said is there's one member of congress who knows who the whistleblower is. when member of congress whose members have met without whistleblower and that is adam schiff and no one else. [indistinct] >> i think what should happen is that whistleblower should testify. all we ask for with our motio motion -- >> how did you have fun on the committee? >> neil: you have been listening to republicans not too pleased about the opens of the impeachment hearings. it was a day where he did not seem to move the needle on either side if you are republican, you think this whole

process is a sham. if you're a democrat, you think going after the president is justified. speaking of the president, he is moments away now from having a joint press or with the leader of turkey, and he will no doubt be taking questions on today's fast-moving developments the same day that we learn that the president was going to have this meeting despite the bipartisan approach to prevent it from happening in the first place. the real center of attention what was happening on the impeachment front where there were a lot of body blows. but everything landed on the president or could imperil him -- it's way too early to say. it is not move people to the degree that they would necessarily change their positions. we have seen republicans and lockstep unity on this issue. we have also been seeing the president earlier today saying that he has not been following these hearings at all. they continue to be a sham. in the meantime, he speaking to reporters right now. let's quickly go to him. >> thank you.

i want to get make a few observations about the hearing today. first of all, i want to thank these incredible public servants for their testimony, for their decades of experience between the two of them they have .5 centuries to one century serving the country in wars as well as in peace. i thought there testimony it was very powerful. obviously, these are two very credible witnesses who speak from the heart. and they have the greatest dedication not only to united states but the deepest care for ukraine. deep and abiding interest in ukraine and its future and its prospects. the portrait that i think their testimony paints and is one an irregular channel that ran from the president through mick mulvaney, ambassador sondland on down to rudy giuliani.

in which the president sought to advance his political and personal interest at the expense of the united states national security. and the president did that by pressing this vulnerable ally to get involved in the next presidential election in a way that the president thought would advance his reelection prospects. he did so by inviting zelensky to do these political investigations. and more than that, did so by conditioning of white house meeting as well as ultimately hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid needed by this ally. a couple of points on the white house meeting and on the military aid. when this was a new and politically inexperienced president of ukraine with a lot of promise who ran a campaign based on inane the conflict in ukraine with the russians, but also fighting for --

it was euphoric time for ukrainians to have this reform -- >> neil: now, of course, the president of the united states with the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan. and we have news that they doubted the same. >> president trump: i want to begin by welcoming the first lady with us today and the first lady of turkey. thank you very much for being here. it's a great honor to have you. and, we had out wonderful and very productive meeting. before we start, i would like to thank president recep tayyip erdogan for releasing detainee. who was in detention in different forms of detention and i thin think that very much. it was a very nice tribute.

he will be coming back at some point in the not-too-distant future. that's very good news for the united states and also very good news for turkey. turkey as everyone knows is a great nato ally and a strategic partner of the united states around the world. our economic relationship has tremendous potential. and it continues to expand and to grow direct engagement of diplomacy between our nations are essential to ensuring a future of peace and prosperity and promise for our citizens. over the course of the day, president recep tayyip erdogan and i had a frank and productive conversation on a range of very important topics among those topics, we discussed was the situation in syria. last month, i sent vice president pence, secretary of state pompeo with us. national security advisor

o'brien, thank you, to meet with president erdogan and talks of ending all of the hostilities, the negotiations were very successful. in the united states and turkey achieved a tremendous amount on that day. i think we are working toward getting it better and better. it's a complicated situation. it's been going on for hundreds of years. today, the cease-fire continues to halt. i want to thank the president for his partnership and cooperation as we work to build a more stable and prosperous middle east. we have assured each other that turkey will continue to uphold what it is supposed to uphold. i'm a big fan of the president. to tell you that. and i know that the cease-fire, while complicated is moving forward and moving forward at a very rapid clip.

there's a lot of people that want to see that work after so many decades and so many centuries, you might say. the united states and turkey are working extensively on many other security issues. turkey has the second largest arms forces in nato after the united states. they are very strong second, i might add good i'm pleased that turkey has been steadily increasing its defense spending and is very close to the 2% of gdp range, unlike many of the other countries. at this appointment, there are e current in terms of their obligation financially. turkey has made a vital contribution to nato's resolute support mission in afghanistan and its partnership was important to our destruction of the isis -- recently, when we took out al-baghdadi, and take them out, we did.

turkey knew that we were going over certain areas that were very, very helpful. we appreciate that very much. good for both countries but we really appreciate it. we are grateful to president erdogan and the citizens of turkey for their cooperation. and the constant struggle against terrorism, he fights it like we do. they key to our security, collaboration is our trade defense and military equipment program. american foreign military sales to the turkey total many billions of dollars. and turkey supplies component parts to many american defense programs. they make parts of the frame, as an example for the f-35. turkey's acquisition of sophisticated equipment such as the as/400 creates a very serious challenge for us. and we are talking about it constantly. we talk about it today. we are talking about it in the future. hopefully we will be able to

resolve that situation. we've asked our secretary of state a minister of foreign affairs and respective national security advisors to me work on resolving the as/400 issue. we've also recently agreed to work toward a $100 billion two-way trade agreement. secretary ross is here. and i think we've made tremendous progress on that. we have a lot of trade with turkey, but it could be many times larger, and turkey would like to see that. it would also be good for the united states. we intend to bring up $200 billion. there would be four times what it is right now. our goal is to expand commerce between the united states and turkey and reduce our trade deficit and ensure a truly fair reciprocal relationship. just for those of you that have any interest, we discussed it today, also, our trade agreement with china is moving along very

rapidly. we will see what happens, but it's moving along rapidly. china wants to make a deal. that, i can tell you. one of my chief priorities as president has been removing the barriers to american trade and investment and ending the illicit practices that harm our workers. we encourage turkey to further open its markets. and they are doing that. they are doing that. very much. toward american goods and american services. our markets are open. turkey is opening up their markets, and opening up rapidly. mr. president, as we have seen in recent weeks, the u.s.-turkish alliance can be a powerful force for security not only in the middle east, but beyond. i look forward to working with you and to your representatives, i want to thank you very much for also being here. i've gotten to become very familiar with all the view. and i really appreciate you. you're doing a fantastic job for the people of turkey. and i look forward to continuing to find a common ground, a

common purpose, and to advance the vital interest of our peop people. and the abiding friendship between our nations. we have a great relationship, both personally, and with the great country of turkey. and we look forward to moving that forward in making it an even bigger and better relationship. thank you very much. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] [speaking foreign language] >> translator: ministers, secretaries, distinguished ministers of the press. i would like to salute you with most -- on behalf of myself and my nation. first and foremost, i will give my dear friend president trump and the first lady of the united states for being such gracious hosts today.

we have managed to copper has ably discussed all the issues throughout the day and the discussions were very sincere. we all agreed that we needed to further profound our cooperation and that turkish-american relationships should be built on a strong a very healthy foundation. -- remain resolved in order to -- novels with our deeply rooted alliance. we have reciprocally stated our will to fight terrorist organizations imposing a clear and present danger upon our national security. we have especially underlined the significance of fighting -- especially in the aftermath of the death of al-baghdadi. we have detained several prisoners trying to free the

prisoners in syria coming to turkey. we currently have more than 200 -- who have been incarcerated. and with the operation peace spring and issued on october 9th, turkey took another step forward in fighting terrorism in a very resolute fashion. our country, with this operati operation, blew a very significant impact on the separatist agenda of terrorist organization's. in order to further strengthen our cooperation with syria, we believe that we've gained a significant momentum with our october 17th agreement. but -- they are attacking our soldiers and the civilians i in a very provocative fashion. in the last 24 hours, more than 19 attacks harassing shot took

place. at the beginning of this month, a bomb was placed. an explosive device was placed in an outdoor market. as a result of the explosion, 13 civilian lives were lost. despite all of these developments, in order to settle conflicts in syria in a sustained fashion, we are reiterating our commitment to our memorandum, our agreement with united states. but some circles were unsympathetic toward these organizations are deeply upset and disturbed and using this information in order to cloud the understanding of the public opinion. and that perception with the gain or goal of harming our relations. in some historical developments and allegations have been used in order to -- are reciprocal and bilateral relations. especially in the house of representatives, some solutions

where passed on october 29th and served this purpose. they hurt deeply the turkish nation and have the potential of casting a deep shadow over our relations. i share this information with mr. president. the decision-makers that took place about 104 years ago should not be politicians, but historians. -- i need to stay very clearly that we are as turkey on the set of dialogue open to discussing added debate. and we have voiced our proposals to the arminian -- to open -- the archives specifically and establish a history permission. i believe the senate will take this -- to the united states of this vicious cycle which happened as a result of the resolution of

the house of representatives. turkey in the united states stand side by order to fully obligate -- in order to bring stability to syria once overall appeared for this purpose, we should keep working together. turkey remains where it should be the most reliable partner of the united states in this region to achieve these targets. we are the only nato ally turkey -- so far, we have fighters, and we have sent them back to their countries of origin. and we have entry 277,000 individuals considered to be affiliated with a terrorist organization. right now and our presence, a total of 1,206,000 -- incarcerated coming from 40 different countries. we have reason to detain 287

individuals including women and children who have fled the prisons that have speed their turn and ypg. our country is being showcased as the targets. and this terrorist organization cost 304 turkish citizens to die against which we are going to keep on fighting. it's very important to understand that the -- should be excepted by the countries of origin. we have an understanding with the present in order to convince the countries of origin to do this. ladies and gentlemen, we have a mind with syria. and when the war broke out, nine years ago, we were the ones at the forefront impacted heavily. and maybe the most. currently we have 33 million

refugees. and we have spent about $40 billion even beyond that for these refugees in our country. and so far, europe only sent 3 billion euros despite a higher pledge. -- some of the providing humanitarian aid remain on the same territory. not compared to 2015, and the g20 summit launched in order to establish a safe zone and syria. but because of the delay, hundreds of tens of thousands of civilian lives were lost. this problem cannot continue forever. previously, without operation, shield olive branch, we have cleared an area of 4,000 square kilometers of present spirit and

i agree with the proposal of the president. it's very important to realize our goals. i think that operation shield and olive branch and through these operations, we've manage managed -- back to their native lands especially -- and thanks to the operation secured in many towns in many villages. and the rightful settlers are going back. we have shared our projects with president trump, and are several plants for the safe zone. and for the support of the united nations and international community, we can reap patch several more refugees in syria. we are talking about an area of 444, litters in length. 1 million people can be

repatriated. 1 million more individuals could be repatriated. a total of 2 million refugees can be repatriated. it is gentlemen, as you know, the terrorist organization attempted to destroy the constitutional order of turkey. it's a terrorist organization behind this failed coup. they have killed individuals harming 2,193 citizens. and they have even dared to bomb our parliament. airborne. we have once again accentuated our expectations with our friends at the u.s. administration to one several eradicate such a presence here. and we have also discussed with presidents for 24 how to achieve the $100 billion trade volume threshold as soon as possible. we believe that we should not

confuse political essences with commerce related aspirations. and there are of commerce are currently achieving the $100 billion threshold. we hope and pray that you will shy away from certain measures which will make it much more challenging for us to reach these targets. we have also discussed our -- in the field -- primarily the s-400 system and the f-35 program paired we can only surmount the hurdles through dialogue. previously stated back in the summit, the injustice orchestrated against turkey in terms of the acquisition of missiles. and we have clearly stated to president trump that under similar circumstances, we could acquire patriot missiles as well. as turkey, we are ready and

committed to sustain a very constructive dialogue with the united states congress. this idea i've shared with president trump as well paired with these thoughts in mind, i hope and pray that our discussions and deliberations throughout the day with presidents between report will yield the best results. i would like to thank you for that kind of rotation and being such gracious hosts. all throughout the day. on behalf of my personal stuff in my delegation, i would like to thank you. [applause] >> president trump: thank you very much, mr. president. i called up to the senate. i asked a couple of our senators. and we really ended up with 5. and others wanting to come. we will keep them apprised. but some of them joined us and happened to be here. thank you very much. ted cruz, thank you very much. lindsey graham, thank you. and rick scott, thank you, rick, very much.

joni is here someplace. these are people that want to see piste in the middle east. i thought it would be appropriate to have them come over and they met with the president. we had a lot of very frank discussion. we are dealing with a very big subject, a complex subject. it's been going on for centuries in many cases. but we are making a lot of progress. tremendous progress in the middle east. okay, a couple of questions? go ahead. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. i would like to start getting your general reaction today to the impeachment hearings on the hill. do you feel that democrats made their case? how did you feel about republicans performance? >> president trump: are you talking about the witch hunt? is that what you're talking about? i hear that it is a joke. i have not watched it for one minute, because i've been with the president, which is more important as far as i'm concerned. this is a sham.

it shouldn't be allowed. it was a situation that was caused by people that shouldn't have allowed it to happen. i want to find out who is the whistleblower. because the whistleblower gave a lot of very incorrect information including my call with the president of ukraine, which was a call. and how the appropriate. and he wrote something that was much different than the fact. i want to find out why the ig, why he would have presented that when all he had to do was take the call it self and he would have seen it. i'm going to be releasing -- i think come on thursday, a second call which actually was the first of the two. and you will make a determination as to what you think, they are. but i purchased a report. they said it's all thirdhand information. nothing direct at all. it can't be direct, because i never said it. and all they have to do is look very, very simply at the transcript. if you read the transcript, it was analyzed by great lawyers. this was analyzed by

gregg jarrett. it was analyzed by mark levin. it was analyzed by everybody. they said the statement that i made, the call that i made with the president of the ukraine was a perfect one. this country gets put through that month that we have to waste this gentleman's time by even thinking about it, talking about it, i would much rather focus on peace in the middle east. and i hear that it is -- i hear that it is a hoax, and is being played as a hoax here if that's what i hear. but you have to tell me. go ahead. >> reporter: on syria and peace in the middle east, presidents between event talk about repatriating syrian refugees back to their homeland. if you have those discussions with european leaders? >> president trump: no, i think frankly europe should be paying for this to a large extent spewed as of this moment, turkey has been paying for most of it. i think the president was saying today, they spent over

$40 billion on the cost of that. $40 billion. how much? $40 billion. that's what i said. whatever. he's got a lot. [laughter] they are throwing out all of these different numbers. i heard it was $40 billion. is $40 billion correct? $40 billion. i further from others. and that is a lot. europe has contributed about $3 billion. a lot of these people would go all throughout europe and many would be devastating situations for europe. he's got 4 million people. he has a lot of courage that they are helping and taking care of. i have spoken to europe about it. i think they should help us with isis, because many of them left france, and they left germany, and they left the u.k. the left different countries. these countries should help us because if they ever did to get released, which we won't be doing, but if they are pretty good release, that's what they

want to go. they want to go back to france, germany, and the u.k., and all of the other countries that are not helping us. i gave them the option. would you like to have them back? intelligently, they said no thank you. but that's not right, and is not fair. i can tell you also that turkey captured -- some escaped during the conflict when they had the heavy shooting. i think i know how they happened to escape, but it's one of those things, it doesn't matter, because turkey captured everybody that escaped plus an additional group. when we took over, when i became president, isis was rampant all over the middle east. and as of about a month ago, i think we can say that we have now 100% of the caliphate. it will always trying to grow but they haven't been able to do that. what we did last week with al-baghdadi, who has the absolute founder and leader set

them back. we also got his number two and we have a sights on his number three. they are not going to be going too fast. i will say that turkey has been helping us a lot. >> reporter: i also have up president for president erdogan. with what you are calling a realignment on the border, a lot of christians in that region are feeling very vulnerable. groups on the ground are saying that attacks on christians happen under this new policy. and that they are not feeling safe in a longer. can you guarantee that the turkish government will also protect christians in that region? the fact that there was an attack on an arminian fleet died this week -- >> translator: thank you, thank you. on the contrary. christian minorities is an area where we are especially

sensitive about. we have certain different plans, whether it be the ones remaining on the side of syria, whose centuries have been destroyed, whose churches have been destroyed, we will see that their sanctuaries are getting revived, and their churches will be reconstructed so that they can go back and start praying again. these are the plans that we are making for them. as i said before, the christian minorities -- catholics, caledonia, and the ones who are living on our side of the border have no problems whatsoever. with the ones remaining on the side of this syrian territory woundwill see their worshiping practices restored in a special manner. they are receiving health care. they are seeing the humanitarian aid in every aspect possible.

thank you. >> president trump: thank you very much. would you like to pick somebody? i friendly person from turkey, please? only friendly. they are too many of them around here thank you. >> reporter: one of those flaws was aligning the u.s. with u.s. -- the pkk and ygg. you're trying to manage them. the ringleader of -- and he is responsible for at least 18 terrorist attacks. because the death of 164 soldiers and 40 civilians. so after today's meeting, do you still think just go to the --

very offensive and hurtful, thank you. >> president trump: we had a very good talk with him. we are working very closely together. we will also work very closely together with your great president. and a lot of things are happening. a lot of very positive developments are happening. a lot of that his definition. what is your definition of the various groups within the courage? you have various groups like them and some don't. i think we've made a tremendous amount -- we've gained a tremendous amount of momentum and strength and knowledge over the last short period of time. so we will see what happens. i will say that the relationship with president erdogan and turkey has been outstanding. and you know, it is a major country with her tremendous military. they are one of our very big

purchases of military equipment. united states makes. we make by far the best equipment in the world. turkey understood that a long time ago. so i think a tremendous amount of progress is being made. okay. thank you very much. you can ask the president a question out. are you sure that you are a reporter? you don't work with turkey for that question? [laughter] >> translator: mr. president, we are not getting the best of news out of the united states. and the office targeti is excessively invested in their daily works. i can feto. my question is, how do you perceive the situation developing vis-a-vis the feto terrorist organization and the

american approach to feto in that regard? can we expect anything further? yes, thank you. during the current visit we are going to submit as we already have, actually, a great deal of documents and evidence. and feto is a terrorist organization. and he is the leader, the ringleader of the terrorist organization. they have killed 251 people in turkey. they tried to undertake a coup against the government, this state. and more than 1,000 -- more than 2,000 people have been injured. and the ringleader is living on an area of 400 acres in the united states, running his network all around the globe. and this is something unacceptable. and during this visit, as i've said before, we've introduced an array of documents. we will submit them to the

relevant authorities including mr. president, and in light of these documents, i think they will appreciate the situation. we send them back if they ask for them. i'm sure they will do the same for us. >> president trump: -- >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. there was one moment where ambassador bill taylor recanted a conversation that an aid of his herd -- it was a day after the phone call with zelensky on july 26 in which the aide said, have you ever heard you say to gordon sondland, how are things going in proceeding with the investigations? sondland repeated back to you according to this age that ukraine was prepared to do everything that you wanted them to do. is that correct? can you for than similar? >> president trump: i don't nothing about that. at the first time that i heard it. the one thing obscene that sondland said is that he did

speak with me with for a brief moment. i said no quid pro quo under any circumstances. that's true. i never heard this. in any event, it is more secondhand information, but i've never heard it. >> reporter: do you recall a conversation -- >> president trump: not at all, not even a little bit. the only thing -- and i guess sondland had stayed with his testimony that there was no quid pro quo. pure and simple. yes, please. >> reporter: presidents for 25, the president sent you a letter not to launch military action into northern syria beauty said "don't be a tough guy. don't be a fool. "you ignore that letter and you launch military action. can you explain why you ignore the president's warning? >> translator: this letter was represented to

mr. president this afternoon. and i have also underlined the fact that the terrorists such as fethullah gulen should not be considered -- such as the united states. this individual fethullah gulen has been instrumental in the killings of 100 turkish citizens. he's a person labeled as like a son for the terrorist leader who is currently incarcerated in turkey. so a person like this should not be welcomed by a country such as the united states. and similarly, this person was welcomed by a country such as russia. so, it's very difficult for me to understand if these come in when we are trying to fight terrorism on a global scale. if we are going to sustain our

fight against terrorism and a healthy fashion, we need to be much more sensitive than we currently are. it happens to us today and it will happen to somebody else tomorrow. it's a saying that goes in our language. we've also provided information and documentation thereof to o our -- the white house including mr. president. i've also submitted a document produced by the ci pointing out that this individual is at terrorists. to mr. president. and as i've said before, i have shared them with mr. president. and, we gave back the letter that we have received. >> thank you very much.

thank you very much. mr. president, for all you have done for kurdistan for the fight against isis. >> president trump: thank you very much. i appreciate that. >> reporter: my question is also -- i interviewed them. turkestan is very unique in all minorities. what is your policy on the -- another question for president for 25, while you are not enabled for the administration with the kurds in syria? do you think they will be your friends? in the future? thank you very much. thank you very much. >> president trump: thank you very much. i will say that we've had a great relationship with the kurds. and we follow them very successfully against isis. we have great generals. we have great equipment, and it

certainly helped a lot. but we were very, very successful. and we captured, as i said before, 100% -- i was going to come up when we were at 97%, i was going to say, well, that sounds pretty high to me. and i was thinking about stopping it then. a lot of people said, please go to 100%. and very quickly, very rapidly come at the military got the 100%. i wanted to have that. but with a great relationship with the kurds. we have had. we are with them now. we get along with them paid by the way, i think the president -- a maze of factions within the kurds, but i think the president has a great relationship with the kurds. many kurds live currently and turkey and they're happy and taking care of including health care. we were talking about it before, including health care and education and other things. so that's really a misnomer. a relationship kurds has been a very good one. thank you.

>> translator: first, we have to make a distinction between two things. we have no problems with the kurds. we have problems with terrorist organizations. some terrorists coming out of the kurds. which are they? what are they? they are an offshoot of the terrorism organization. we have no problems with our brothers and sisters in the northern parts of iran. we enjoy a great relation. and we have no problems with similarly our brothers and sisters in the northern sod, i told him, that he needs to give these individuals passports, and that he was making a mistake. there's something really important i want you to know this. my political party has more than 50 mps of kurdish ethnicity in the party. we don't have problems with the

kurds. we have problems with the terrorists. you're not going to own up to the terrorist whoever they are. we have to make a distinction here. we are just fighting terrorists, period. because the terrorists don't have an ethnicity appeared they don't have a nationality, they don't have a flag. if they are at terrorists, that is a terrorist. if you don't fight back, tomorrow you will have to pay a very hefty price. thank you. >> president trump: thank you very much, everybody. thank you. >> neil: all right, the president he did not devote that much time to impeachment issues that were front and center today. he did say that the meeting with president erdogan, and meeting that up by parce bipartisan grod be a good idea. he's been a good friend to him and the country and delivered on promises in that region in

northern syria. there are many people that quibble with that appear at the fact of the matter is a present that was supposed to be an opportunity for the president to address what was going on in washington, like the elephant in the room today. aat the first impeachment hearig and the better part of two decades, not nearly getting as much coverage and attention. john roberts raised it moments ago. >> neil, good afternoon to you. you saw the president answer a question about what was important to breathe a big moment of the impeachment hearings today. and that was when ambassador bill taylor said on july the 26th, this was new information for him that in aid of his overheard a telephone conversation that president for 24 had with sondland in which the president allegedly asked sondland how the investigations were going and what progress was being made on the idea of investigations. sondland said that the ukrainians were willing to go ahead and do everything that they wanted to do.

the aid said that the president cares more about biden then he does about ukraine. i asked the president about that. he said that he did not recall having that conversation on the 26th of july, which was the day after he had a telephone call with zelensky. so that is clearly going to get a lot of play up on capitol hill, the fact that this was the democrats big moment. and the president saying that he doesn't even recall the telephone call. he went on and also earlier to call what was going on at capitol hill a sham. he continues to be a witch hunt. this is based on thirdhand information. we saw jim gordon earlier in the day connect the dots calling it basically a game of telephone. if that is really what the white house push back on all of this today has been, neil. none of this is first-hand information. that's all a matter of so-and-st this was said to such and such.

that is really what the white house is keying in on today. but there is no question that the democrats had themselves a lot of time to put some key witnesses on the stand today to tell their stories. as democrats -- as republicans rather pointed out, those where the marquis witnesses for the democrats. they haven't changed anybody's mind today, it may not be than any of the witnesses still to come could change anyone's mind one way or the other, neil. >> neil: john roberts, thank you very much. that's what this will come down to in the future day, whether undecided congressman are moved by this. so far, you're a democrat, your keen on pursuing this if you are a republican, you are in lockstep taking that this is a waste of time so far. >> that's right, neil. one of the more explosive claims we've heard really for the first time today he came in this hearing. it was brought to us by

ambassador -- acting ambassador to the ukraine bill taylor. he claims that since he last testified behind closed doors, he is gathered or evidence other democrats are calling "a quid pro quo." taylor says that one of his staffers told him that he overheard president trump tell gordon sondland, if you can follow that, one of taylor's staffers overheard a conversation in which the president allegedly said "a top priority in ukraine was investigating the bidens more than anything else." take a listen. speaker last friday, member of my staff told me of events that occurred on july 26. the member of my staff could hear presidents between a four on the phone asking ambassador sondland about the investigati investigation. mr. sondland told president trump that the ukrainians were ready to move forward. he cares more about the investigations of the bidens which giuliani was pressing for.

>> republicans at this hearing said that this tidbit from taylor is more secondhand information, more hearsay. a double down on questioning taylor's credibility as a witness. listen to jim jordan. >> you aren't on the call, were you? you do not listen in on president call? >> i did not. >> you never talked with mick mulvaney? >> your their star witness. you are first witness. >> intelligence chairman adam schiff said all of these tec's from republicans is entirely beside the point. he said a bigger issue in this inquiry is whether president trump violated his office by failing to put american interests above his own. listen. >> of the matter is as simple it is terrible that. our answer to these questions will affect not only the future of this presidency, but the future of the presidency itself. and what kind of conduct or

misconduct the american people may come to expect from their commander in chief. >> the other big bone of contention, neil, between democrats and republicans over the whistleblower and their identity. members like jim jordan, and we even heard from tesco say, we need to hear directly from this person. we need them to testify behind closed doors or in public. none of this adds up to anything unless we go to the source, which they say is that whistleblower. they reiterated again just behind me in a press conference, neil. >> neil: gillian, thank you very much. before we take a quick break, we will be talking to a democratic congress woman and what she makes all this back-and-forth. in the meantime, the market had a collective shrug of this reaching records today. landau another record. under this president. two major market averages that tended to look at a situation many democrats have called a constitutional crisis.

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>> neil: earlier today, whether he does any damaging, house judiciary kangas thanks fortaking the time. what do you think? >> i think it was a very powerful day. i did hear their testimony a couple of weeks ago, but i thought it was very important the american people hear directly from them and that's what happened today. >> you heard the part of your republican colleagues who want at least some of her witness what do you think?

>> it would be completely inappropriate to call the whistle-blower. if we would do something like that, you should throughout the whole concept of protecting people who can come forward to play out wrongdoing in the government. i think would be a terrible precedent, and our sight is willing to entertain the witnesses but they need to bring forward with with this is that makes sense. i know they all weren't, you know, cast aside. >> neil: they want hunter biden, but that doesn't look likely. but that crowd, anything to next week? >> i haven't seen specifically. i hope they do put someone forward that makes a lot of sense. by republican colleagues i think art in a bind because they have difficulty arguing the substan substance, and also these witnesses are people who have

had exemplary lives. they are absolute patriots. for this to come forward, i was disappointed that in the beginning that the ranking member malign the two witnesses who came forward and referred to him in the negative way he did. so i'm just hoping that they will decide that this is a very serious situation for our country and not them. >> neil: congressman, i know it's early on -- are you leaning towards impeaching yourself? >> well, i do think it's important to keep an open mind. but to be honest with you, i think the things that have happened, to me this is different from the mueller report. the mueller report i thought was very, very serious, but the mueller report was about the past. this is about the upcoming election and the idea that the president would intervene or attempt to intervene in the upcoming election, that's a completely different ball game.

i wasn't one of those that had my name on the list calling for the impeachment inquiry. until this happened. because of the fact that it's happening right now, that's what moved me over to say that we absolutely need to do the inquiry. >> neil: congresswoman, thank you very much. i know you are in between votes, but we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on. >> neil: we've got judge the paul tonko. didn't move move any minds? >> doesn't appear as there was any minds were change, neil. the democrats proved that the aide was held up, the political favor never arrived and the aide was eventually released. the republicans established came from first hand sources but they cannot shake the belief of the two witnesses that were there today that this is in fact what happened. the president was more concerned with biden than he was with

helping an ally that was fighting a bloodied war with russia. >> neil: no relate should to joe biden, did that make the difference here. would he be as concerned, as to anyone else, republicans reinforce the argument, he was concerned about the corruption in ukraine wanted it addressed? >> the democrats make to legal arguments. one is soliciting campaign aide. if this was not joe biden, some unknown person, it wouldn't be a campaign aide, would the failure to perform an affirmative duty until a favor is received, whether the favor comes or not, is bribery. that is their second argument. it wouldn't matter if it was joe biden or joe blow. >> neil: republicans have said even if there is the proverbial quid pro quo that we've talked about way too much, it'impeacha.

you say it very much is impeachable? >> well, an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the house of representatives thinks it is. that's president gerald r. ford, a republican. i think the argument that asking for a favor and in return for doing a legal obligation releasing the funds is pretty clearly a violation of a criminal bribery laws. republicans may not want to acknowledge that, which is why they'd rather undermine the witnesses that address the merits. >> neil: judge, i follow the market. they trudge at this but they don't think anything will come of this. what do you think? >> i am happy like everyone else for very selfish reasons when the market goes up. >> neil: that is a nod to answer, my friend. very astutely handled. >> that's from hanging around with you! >> neil: he was not going to dip into those waters.

on the day here, the markets sometimes are a good proxy for how they think things are going right now so far for the president, okay in their eyes. we shall see. here comes "the five." >> greg: i'm gag great greg gutfeld. this is "the five." prepare to get your mind blown with eye-popping testimony. >> what i can do here for you here today is tell you what i heard from people. >> where is the impeachable offense in that call. are either of you here to assert there was an impeachable offense and that call? shout it out. anyone? >> greg: congrats, adam