doors, now that much of it will now be made public, our mary bruce asks not about the process, instead, asking, will you defend the president, will you defend that call with the president of ukraine? mary bruce leads us off. >> reporter: today, history in the house. >> what is at stake is our democracy. what are we fighting for? defending our democracy for the people. >> reporter: it's only happened three times before. the house voting on the impeachment inquiry of a sitting president. the vote exposing a bitter party divide. all but two democrats voting to move forward, confident they have enough evidence to launch public hearings. >> no one is above the law. >> we will continue to conduct this inquiry with the seriousness of purpose that our task deserves. >> brave, dedicated public servants and patriots are standing up for their country. >> reporter: republicans were united against the resolution, which outlines the rules for open hearings. >> it's shameful to create a constitutional crisis for purely partisan reasons. >> this is soviet-style rules. maybe in the soviet union you do

biden's son worked for and the democrats in the 2016 election. abc's mary bruce leads us off from the hill tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor, is directly linking president trump to the heart of the impeachment inquiry. telling congress tum p himself ordered a hold on foreign aid to ukraine until that country's president publicly declared they would investigate the bidens and debunked theories about the 2016 election. >> in my ten short months in congress, it's not even noon, right, and this is the -- my most disturbing day in congress so far. >> reporter: democrats in the room say there were audible gasps and sighs as taylor, a career dip low malt, detailed the white house's pressure campaign. taylor says he was given no official reason for why millions of dollars in foreign aid was held up but that the u.s. ambassador to the eu told him president trump wanted the ukrainian president to announce a public investigation into his democratic rivals. ambassador sondland said everything was dependent on such an announcement, including security

, but will he comply? mary bruce on the hill. >> reporter: tonight, the president's former national security adviser, john bolton, is being summoned to testify in the impeachment inquiry. multiple witnesses have testified bolton was deeply frustrated by the campaign to pressure ukraine to investigate trump's political rivals. according to a top aide, bolton once described the president's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, as a "hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up." today, deputy secretary of state john sullivan said giuliani was behind a smear campaign targeting the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch. >> you were aware that there were individuals and forces outside of the state department seeking to smear ambassador yovanovitch, is that correct? >> i was. >> and seeking to remove her. is that correct? >> i was. >> did you know mr. giuliani was one of those people? >> i believed he was, yes. >> reporter: it comes as there are new questions about the phone call at the center of this impeachment inquiry, between president trump and ukrainian president zelensky.

that text message that mentioned "no quid pro quo." mary bruce on the hill tonight. >> reporter: arriving on capitol hill today, the first white house official to testify in this impeachment inquiry, president trump's former russia adviser, fiona hill. lawmakers planned to press her on the president's attempts to get ukraine to investigate joe biden. and the role of his personal attorney, rudy giuliani, who led that effort. >> the arrows continue to point in just one direction, which is that a crime was committed. >> reporter: on thursday, lawmakers will hear from the president's ambassador to the eu, gordon sondland. a former trump megadonor, sondland worked with giuliani behind the scenes to carry out trump's wishes in ukraine, a country that isn't even in the eu. he's also defended the president against accusations trump was withholding nearly $400 million in aid to ukraine, until they agreed to investigate biden. in text messages turned over to house investigators, america's top diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor, writes, "i think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for

investigation tonight. and mary bruce is on the hill. >> reporter: emerging from a five-hour meeting with the turkish president, vice president pence today declared they have a deal that will save lives. >> a week after turkish forces crossed into syria, turkey and the united states of america have agreed to a cease-fire in syria. at all.rter: b just a pause. the turkish foreign minister saying their forces are not withdrawing from syria. they're just giving kurdish fighters five days to get out. in exchange, if the fighting ends, the u.s. will lift sanctions imposed on turkey this week. president trump is declaring victory, even though he helped create this crisis when he abruptly withdrew u.s. forces from syria, giving turkey a green light to invade. >> great day for the kurds. it's really a great day for civilization. it's a great day for civilization. and we've gotten everything we reporr:ut on capito hill, even his republican allies aren't buying it. >> it does not appear to me, however, with all due respect, that this is really a cease-fire. it is more an ultimatum, because wha

short time ago? abc's mary bruce leads us off from the hill tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the white house declaring they will not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, writing in a letter to house speaker nancy pelosi that the investigation is "dangerous, illegitimate and a violation of fundamental fairness." it comes just hours after the state department blocked a key witness from testifying just minutes before he was scheduled to appear. u.s. ambassador to the eu, gordon sondland, a no-show. >> the failure to produce this witness, the failure to produce these documents, we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction. >> reporter: on twitter, the president insisted he would love to send ambassador sondland to testify, "but unfortunately he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court." trump's top defenders quick to echo his words. >> what we see in this impeachment is a kangaroo court, and chairman schiff is acting like a malicious captain kangaroo. >> reporter: text messages turned over to house investigators show ambassador sondland worked behind

to get the witness to reveal the whistle-blower? abc's mary bruce leads us off from the hill tonight. >> reporter: lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, a decorated combat veteran, arriving on capitol hill today. the first person working inside the white house to testify, and the first witness who listened in on the phone call between president trump and ukrainian president volodoymyr zelensky. vindman, who works on the national security council, telling lawmakers he was concerned that trump was pressuring zelensky to investigate joe and investigate joe biden and his son, hunter. in his opening statement, vindman said, "i did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a u.s. citizen," adding that it would "undermine u.s. national security." he said he was also troubled by the behavior of gordon sondland, the u.s. ambassador to the european union. in a meeting with ukrainian officials, vindman recalled "ambassador sondland started to speak about ukraine delivering specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with the president." he says then nati

. abc's mary bruce on the hill. >> mr. ambassador, what are you going to tell them? >> reporter: tonight on capitol hill, the president's former envoy to ukraine, kurt volker, offering the first inside account of the president's efforts to press ukraine to investigate joe biden. volker handing over text messages that show state department officials debating whether trump was withholding nearly $400 million in military aid to pressure ukraine for his own political benefit. the top american diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor, writes, "i think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign." the u.s. ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland, replies, "i believe you are incorrect about president trump's intentions. the president has been crystal clear, no quid pro quos of any kind." but sondland then adding, "i suggest we stop the back and forth by text." according to the whistle-blower complaint, volker had regular dealings with president trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, who has aggressively pushed ukrainian officials to investigate biden. >> i

response. i want to get right to mary bruce, she's live on the hill tonight. and mary, the president's top adviser on russia, also already testifying, and you've learned tonight about what she said about ambassador sondland, who is expected to testify tomorrow? >> reporter: well, david, we learned that the president's former top russia adviser fiona hill believed that ambassador sondland was a potential national security risk, because he was so unprepared for the job. sondland was a former trump mega-donor with no diplomatic experience. hill testified this week that sondland would frequently use his personal cell phone for diplomatic affairs, to potentia leaving him vulnerable and took it upon himself to invite foreign officials to the white house. david, hill was so concerned that she reportedly raised this issue with white house intelligence officials. david? >> mary bruce with us, battling a windy night up there on the hill, and we thank you, mary. >>> next, a controversial deal tonight, a plea deal in an officer-involved shooting. a 73-year-old wife and retired libraria

here's abc's mary bruce. >> reporter: up until the very moment a defiant marie yovanovitch walked up to the capitol it wasn't clear if she was coming at all. the state department told her not to appear. but facing a subpoena, the former ambassador to ukraine showed up anyway. behind closed doors yovanovitch told lawmakers she was forced out under pressure from president trump. according to her opening statement obtained by "the new york times" she was told to come back to washington on the next plane in april. saying it was explained to her that the president had lost confidence in me, and that there had been a concerted campaign against mer me, even though i was assured i had done nothing wrong. >> i heard very, very bad things about her for a long period of time. not good. >> reporter: in the july phone call with the ukrainian president that sparked the impeachment inquiry, trump called her bad news. later saying she was going to go through some things. today, yovanovitch who served in six administrations called idea that she was disloyal to president trump fictitious. incredulous tha

administration's pressuring of ukraine. abc's mary bruce is on the hill. >> reporter: tonight, democrats are now reaching deep into the white house, investigating the role of the vice president, issuing a subpoena to mike pence, demanding documents about any role you may have played in the effort to pressure ukraine to investigate the president's political rivals. >> we have concerns about the role the vice president played in this presidential extortion scheme. >> what are you going to tell them? >> reporter: we're learning new details from the first eyewitness to testify before congress, former u.s. envoy to ukraine kurt volker. in his opening statement obtained by abc news, volker describes a president obsessed with a debunked conspiracy theory that ukraine, not russia, meddled in the 2016 election to help democrats. and volker handed over a trove of text messages that appear to show top u.s. officials dangling a potential white house visit as leverage to get ukraine to investigate trump's rivals. in one text, volker tells an aide to ukrainian president zelensky, heard from white house. a

mary bruce with the images tonight. another day of drama on the hill. >> reporter: one day after the most explosive testimony yet, house republicans tried to grind the impeachment inquiry to a halt. >> we're going to go and see if we can get inside. >> reporter: the president's allies on the hill forcing their way into the secure room in the basement of the capitol where lawmakers of both parties were trying to question a top pentagon official for ukraine and russia. >> by golly, if they're going to do it, do it in public. don't hide it from the american people. >> reporter: president tmp has been urging republicans to get tougher. many of the members protesting today met with him last night. today's hearing delayed nearly five hours. >> this is an effort to please the president, to try to shut down the process. it's a stunt. >> reporter: it comes 24 hours after the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor, delivered stunning testimony. taylor outlining what the president and his allies have been denying, a quid pro quo campaign. describing in detail how trump himself withheld nearl

congressional correspondent mary bruce starts us off on capitol hill. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, george. the first eyewitness to testify in this impeachment inquiry has handed over explosive text messages. they reveal detailed conversations and show that there was an understanding that the ukrainians would not get a meeting with president trump unless they agreed with trump's demand to investigate his rivals. overnight new text messages revealed showing senior state department officials using a potential summit between president trump and the ukrainian leader as leverage to get ukraine to investigate trump's political rivals. the former envoy to ukraine, kurt volker writing to an aide to ukrainian president zelensky, good lunch, thanks, heard from white house, assuming president z convinces trump he will investigate, quote, get to the bottom of what happened in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to washington. an apparent reference to trump's request that ukraine investigate a debunked theory that ukraine, not russia, meddled in the 2016 election. that message

resigned overnight, and mary bruce on capitol hill. terry moran at the white house. let me start with you, mary. nancy pelosi has been resisting any floor vote but now she has the votes. >> reporter: yeah. democrats this morning are confident they do have the votes to take it into the next phase. in just a short time, every single member of the house will have to go on the record to state whether they're for or against against this impeachment movement. it's a clear sign the democrats are confident that the public increasingly is behind this push. also a move that republicans had been asking for, they have been demanding that the house take a formal vote like this on impeachment. now they say it's too little too late. they're expected to be united in their opposition. it will outline what's come next including the procedures. >> lot of democrats want to move quickly. >> they've been moving at a rapid pace here, that's expected to continue. no dates has been set yet. they're expected to start these public hearings some time in the middle of next month. george. >> okay, mary bruce. thanks.

of rudy giuliani were arrested, is giuliani now part of the investigation? here's mary bruce. >> reporter: up until the very moment she walked up to the capitol, it wasn't clear she was coming at all. the state department told her not to appear. but the former ambassador showed up anyway. behind closed doors, she said she was forced out under pressure from president trump. according to a statement, she was told to come back on the next plane in april. saying that the president lost confidence in her, and there had been a concerted campaign against her. but she was assured she had done nothing wrong. >> i heard very, very bad things about her for a long period of time. not good. >> reporter: in a july phone call, trump called her bad news. later saying she was going to go through some things. today, she called the idea that she was disloyal to president trump fictitious. she described herself as incredulous that she was removed from her post based on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives. and placed blame squarely on rudy giuliani, who claimed she was block

. our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce is tracking the very latest there on capitol hill. good morning, mary. >> reporter: robin, good morning. this new whistle-blower could provide new leads in this investigation and this person claims to have firsthand knowledge of the president's behavior which undercuts one of trump's main arguments which is that the first whistle-blower was not a direct witness and now this morning you can be sure members of congress are likely going to want to speak to this new whistle-blower soon. this morning, democrats are applauding the news of a second whistle-blower who claims to have direct knowledge of the president's interactions with ukraine. >> we are tremendously dependent on people of courage stepping forward. >> and this morning, more breaking news. >> reporter: abc news was first to report that an attorney who represents the first whistle-blower is now representing a second whistle-blower. a member of the intelligence community who claims to have firsthand information about the president's efforts to push ukraine to investigate his po

political rivals. mary bruce starts us off. >> reporter: good morning. his name is lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, a decorated war veteran, served in the army for more than two decades, describes himself as a patriot and says it was a sense of duty and obligation that he felt the need to go to his superiors with his concerns about what he was hearing not once but twice. this morning on capitol hill a key witness who listened in on the call at the center of this impeachment inquiry will tell investigators he was so concerned about by what he heard, he feared it would undermine u.s. national security. lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, a decorated combat veteran and top ukraine expert on the national security council, he's the first white house official to testify who heard the phone call between president trump and ukrainian president zelensky when trump demanded ukraine investigate his political rival, joe biden. according to his opening statement obtained by abc news, vindman will tell investigators i did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government in

senior congressional correspondent mary bruce starts us off from capitol hill. good morning, mary. >> reporter: george, good morning. president trump is now staring down the very real possibility of impeachment in the house, and now he is trying to rally his own party telling republicans this morning, it's time to toughen up. as the impeachment pressure grows this morning president trump is pushing republicans to fall in line. >> i think the republicans should get tougher. >> reporter: overnight, the president taking on detractors in his own party. >> i think that the democrats are not good politicians, but you don't have the mitt romneys of the world. you don't have people that will go against the party. you have better -- they stick together. >> reporter: senator romney is one of a few republicans criticizing the president, now signaling he's open to voting to remove trump from office. >> we certainly can't have presidents asking foreign countries to provide something of political value that is after all against the law. >> reporter: this morning on capitol hill another key witn

do it voluntarily. abc's mary bruce has the details. >> reporter: the president's former national security adviser, john bolton, is being summoned to testify in the impeachment inquiry. multiple witnesses have testified bolton was deeply frustrated by the campaign to pressure ukraine to investigate trump's political rivals. according to a top aide, bolton once described the president's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, as a hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up. deputy secretary of state john sullivan said giuliani was behind a smear campaign targeting the former ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch. >> you were aware there were individuals and forces outside the state department seeking to smear ambassador yovanovitch? is that correct? >> i was. >> seeking to remove her? >> i was. >> did you know mr. giuliani was one of those people? >> i believed he was, yes. >> reporter: it comes as there are new questions about the phone call at the center of this impeachment inquiry between president trump and ukrainian president zelensky. trump insists the white house released a co

mary bruce, live on the hill tonight. and mary, the president's top adviser to russia already testifying, and you learned what she said about ambassador sondland who is expected to testify tomorrow? >> reporter: well, david, we learned that the president's former top russia adviser believes that ambassador sondland was a potential national security risk bnds a f mega-donor with no diplomat six eck experience. hill said that he would frequently use his personal cell phone for diplomatic affairs and reportedly took it upon himself to invite foreign officials to the white house. david, hill was so concerned that she reportedly raised this issue with white house intelligence officials. >> haimary bruce, thank you. >>> next, a controversial deal tonight, a plea deal in an officer-involved shooting. a 73-year-old wife and retired librarian was taking part in a community safety workshop in florida. the officer she was working with shot and killed her. he says he did not know his gun had real bullets, and tonight, her family shocked to learn that the officer will serve no jail time. h

about sondland's cell phone use according to abc's mary bruce. >> hill said he would frequently use his personal cell phone for diplomatic affairs, potentially leaving him vulnerable and reportedly took it upon himself to invite foreign officials to the white house. david, hill was so concerned that she reportedly raised this issue with white house intelligence officials. >> reporter: sondland has defended the president against accusations that trump was withholding military aid to the ukraine until ukrainians agreed to investigate joe biden and his son. in text messages already turned over to house investigators, america's top diplomat in ld security assistance for help with a political campaign. sondland responds, the president has been crystal clear. no quid pro quos of any kind. according to "the washington post," sondland is expected to tell congress today that that response was essentially dictated by the president. trump has cited ambassador sondland's text to clear himself. >> the text message that i saw from ambassador sondland who is highly respected was, there's no quid pro q

identity. >> our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce starts us off. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, robin. this impeachment inquiry has only been under way for a week but swiftly gaining momentum and rest's closest allies and new questions about whether the president hey have used his office for political gain. this morning, the pressure is heating up on president trump's inner circle. abc news has learned that trump's secretary of state, mike pompeo, was listening in on that july phone call between trump and the ukrainian president. the call at the center of the impeachment inquiry. the revelation comes after pompeo told our martha raddatz he didn't know about the whistle-blower report of that call. >> and i want to turn to this whistle-blower complaint, mr. secretary. the complaint involving the president and a phone call with the foreign leader to the director of national intelligence inspector general. what do you know about those conversations? >> so, you just gave me a report about a whistle-blower complaint, none of which i've seen. >> reporter: co

set to testify this week against the wishes of the white house. turning now to mary bruce. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, t.j. with congress now back in session and this impeachment inquiry deepening lawmakers are set to hear this week from several key witnesses despite the trump administration's efforts to block them. including u.s. ambassador to the eu gordon sondland. now, he is reportedly expected to testify that a text message he sent saying there was no quid pro quo between the president and ukraine was dictated by trump himself, that he does not know if the president was telling the truth or not. now, trump and his allies, of course, have been defending the president's push for ukraine to investigate his political rivals by insisting that there is no quid pro quo. that the president was not withholding military aid as a condition for ukraine to investigate. well, the ambassador's testimony here this week, t.j., could poke a big hole in that argument. >>> let's turn to joe biden for a moment. a lot of people will say he was a little slow to call for the imp

, it jumped from last week. our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce starts us off from capitol hill. good morning, mary. >> reporter: george, good morning. democrats say this testimony is the most damaging yet to the president and it outlines what the president and his allies have been denying, a clear link between trump and the campaign to push ukraine to investigate the president's political opponents. in explosive testimony bill taylor, the top u.s. diplomat in ukraine, personally implicates president trump in a quid pro quo pressure campaign. describing in detail how trump withheld military aid to force ukraine to investigate his political rivals. >> this is my most disturbing day in congress so far. very troubling. >> reporter: democrats in the room say there were gasps and sighs as taylor, a career diplomat, described eight separate times he was told the president demanded pressure be put on ukraine to investigate the bidens and debunked theories about the 2016 election. >> his opening statement which is now in the public domain is devastating to donald trump. it

let's bring in mary bruce there on capitol hill and, mary, bolton was especially concerned it seemed about rudy giuliani calling him a hand grenade about to blow everyone up. >> reporter: cecilia, the president's own national security adviser at the time, john bolton, was so concerned about rudy giuliani's campaign to pressure ukraine for political help that he repeatedly tried to sound the alarm. now, "the new york times" is reporting that fiona hill, the president's former russia adviser told congressional investigators here that giuliani, the president's personal attorney, and his allies inside the trump administration were going around official channels essentially running their own foreign policy to help the president. hill says at one point the u.s. ambassador to the eu, gordon sondland, told her that he was running ukraine policy even though ukraine isn't even in the eu. and when she asked according to whom he told her the president. now, john bolton urged hill to take this matter to white house lawyers and tell them, quote, i am not part of whatever drug deal they are cooking

staffer amid a nasty divorce battle. our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce has the details. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, george. this is a dramatic turn for the rising democratic star. katie hill was facing growing pressure and a house ethics investigation into these allegations that she had a sexual relationship with a member of her congressional staff which is a violation of the house rules. now, congresswoman hill denied those allegations but she did admit to and apologize for having a sexual relationship with a member of her campaign staff. now, that's not against the rules but hill did admit that it is inappropriate. hill, as you mentioned, is in the middle of a bitter, nasty divorce battle. she says her husband is abusive and is accusing him of running a, quote, smear campaign against her by leaking nude photos of her and a staffer which were circulated online without her consent. this morning, hill says that stepping down is the hardest thing she has ever had to do, but ultimately, the best thing for her constituents and the country, george.

going to take it from here, and bring in our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce for more. we saw that broad bipartisan condemnation of the president's policy in the house. the question now, what will happen in the senate? >> reporter: yeah, and george, this morning it is not clear when or even if republicans in the senate will take this up. even though republican leader mitch mcconnell has been incredibly critical of the president's move. we saw that vote yesterday, an extremely harsh rebuke for the president. republicans here have been incredibly hesitant to break with the president, to criticize him at all. and yet, here you had all of two-thirds of them siding with the democrats even if this was a symbolic move, george, we know it clearly did not go over well with the president. >>> meantime, on impeachment, senator mcconnell is preparing his senate troops for an impeachment trial. >> reporter: making clear he wants it to be a speedy process, one that could possibly wrap up before the end of the year. yesterday, we learned that leader mcconnell gave his members what's

correspondent mary bruce >> good morning. the ambassador had agreed to answer questions voluntarily. the state department have ordered him to not to appear. this morning on capitol hill, a key witness is a no-show. just moments ago, abc news confirming that the ambassador the eu, gordon sondland are not be testifying today after the state department ordered him not to appear. in a statement, his lawyers saying that the ambassador is profoundly disappointed that he will not be able to testify today. democrats are outraged. >> the failure to produce this witness, the failure to produce these documents, we consider yet adaxal strong evidence of obstruction. the president and secretary of state are taking actions that prevent us from getting the facts needed to protect the nation's security. >> reporter: he worked behind the scenes to help ukraine carry out president trump's wishes. text messages turned over appear to show sondland push to ukraine to investigate the president's rival joe biden. this morning, democrats are weighing every option to protect the whistle-blower who sparked this i

that call and our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce is on capitol hill with the details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. there were always gaps in the white house version of the transcript of this call. the white house said that that was just a voice trailing off or a pause in the conversation, but now a key witness listening in on that call and was tasked with editing this transcript reportedly says that details were left out. this morning, new questions about the handling of the call at the center of this impeachment inquiry. lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, the first witness with firsthand knowledge with that call to testify to that call reportedly told investigators the crucial phrases were left out of the white house transcript of the call. according to "the new york times," vindman, a top ukraine expert on the national security council, testified that on the call, the president claimed there were recordings of former vice president joe biden discussing corruption. you can see the ellipses in the version of the transcript released by the white house. "

bruce, abc news, capitol hill. >> our thanks to mary there. >>> this morning we're learning that congressman elijah cummings was still working until the very end. >> cummings died yesterday at the age of 68. the renowned civil rights leader was the son of sharecroppers. he served in congress since 1996, where he had been a key force in investigating the trump administration. and just hours before passing, cummings signed subpoenas for documents relating to an immigration policy. >> a pioneer and a civil rights icon there. >>> this morning new orleans is under a state of emergency. >> it is due to a tropical disturbance just a few hundred miles off the coast. that system is on track to become a tropical storm, potentially making landfall in the florida panhandle. >> accuweather meteorologist chris nallan is tracking it all for us. chris, good morning. >> kenneth and elizabeth, we are closely watching this next system here over the gulf of mexico, bringing in a lot of moisture and then potentially impacting coastal zones here into the weekend. specifically early saturday morning an

during her testimony that she was concerned about sondland's cell phone use, according to abc's mary bruce. >> hill said he would frequently use his personal cell phone for diplomatic affairs, potentially leaving him vulnerable and reportedly took it upon himself to invite foreign officials to the white house. david hill was so concerned that she reportedly raised this issue with white house intelligence officials. >> reporter: sondland defended the president against accusations that trump was withholding military aid to ukraine until the ukrainians agreed to investigate joe biden and his son. in text messages already turned over to house investigators, america's top diplomat in ukraine, bill taylor, writes, i think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign. sondland responds, the president has been crystal clear, no quid pro quos of any kind. according to the "washington post," sondland is expected to tell congress today that response was essentially dictated by the president. trump has cited ambassador sondland's text to clear himself. >> the tex

majority leader mitch mcconnell told our mary bruce. >> is that how you would characterize this inquiry, as a lynching? >> given the history in our country, i would not compare this to a lynching, that was an unfortunate choice of words. >> reporter: republican senator susan collins was quite critical of the president's use of the term, tweeting quote lynching brings back images of a terrible time in our nation's history and the president never should have made that comparison. jonathan karl, abc news, the white house. >> our thanks to jonathan there. >>> former vice president joe biden was among those criticizing president trump for describing the impeachment inquiry as a lynching calling the comparison abhorrent. >> biden blasted trump in a tweet saying quote impeachment is not a lynching, it's a part of our constitution. but biden later apologized after a 1998 interview surfaced of him making a similar comparison about the impeachment probe against president clinton. >> even if the president should be impeached, history is going to question whether or not this was just a partisan lyn

congressional correspondent mary bruce is tracking it all from capitol hill. and mary, house speaker nancy pelosi is holding firm on her refusal to hold a formal vote on an impeachment investigation. >> reporter: yeah, george, despite growing pressure the speaker is holding off for now on a formal vote to authorize this impeachment inquiry and she's defending their impeachment process. meeting late yesterday, the speaker and top democrats couldn't come to an agreement on a vote because in part they are facing a lot of pushback from vulnerable democrats in swing districts who are concerned that a vote to authorize this inquiry might be confused with an actual vote for impeachment. now, the white house, of course, has been quick to note the democrats are breaking with precedent here. they say that without this vote, they are deprived of certain rights, but, george, it seems democrats don't want to appear that they are caving to political pressure from the white house and the speaker is adamant that under the constitution, they simply do not have to have this vote. >> those are the rules, mea

king talks with bruce springsteen about his directorial debut. i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news." s." but we're also a company that controls hiv, fights cancer, repairs shattered bones, relieves depression, restores heart rhythms, helps you back from strokes, and keeps you healthy your whole life. from the day you're born we never stop taking care of you. [boy gasps] for real cold and flu protection with lysol, you can help protect them from a real cold. lysol disinfectant spray kills the #1 cause of the cold and clorox wipes don't. lysol. what it takes to protect. have a skincare routine. but what about a lip care routine? pay your lips some attention. the chapstick total hydration collection. exfoliate nourish naturally enhance help us at taps.org/family. >>> our top stories >>> our top stories this morning -- house republicans took extreme measures to hamper the impeachment inquiry into president trump. yesterday dozens of gop lawmakers barged into a closed door meeting with a key witness. it delayed testimony in the impeachment investigation for about five hours

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