Gordon Sondland Faces Congress This Morning
ROMANS: He is the Ambassador with firsthand knowledge of the President's actions. What will Gordon Sondland say about the Ukraine pressure campaign when he testify publicly today?</s>BRIGGS: Ten Democrats on stage for their fifth debate tonight. How this showdown is different less than 11 weeks to the Iowa caucus?</s>ROMANS: Two guards now facing charges for lapses the night Jeffrey Epstein died on their watch. What they're accused of doing instead.</s>BRIGGS: The resemblance uncanny and there could be a good reason. Are Tom Hanks and Mr. Rogers related? Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.</s>ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour. We begin with this. He is man with the most firsthand knowledge of events that brought us to this historic moment. To impeachment hearings, Gordon Sondland faces Congress this morning, with the President's future possibly in his hands. Evidence so far all points to Sondland as the witness who could tie President Trump directly to the campaign pressuring Ukraine to investigate 2020 rival Joe Biden.</s>BRIGGS: The E.U. Ambassador's testimony follows a long day of hearings that culminated in one of the Republicans own witnesses essentially turning on him. Former Ukraine Special Envoy Kurt Volker acknowledged some of his closed door testimony had been less than fully informed. What he didn't realize then he understands now.</s>VOLKER: Since I gave my testimony on October 3rd, a great deal of additional information and perspectives have come to light. In hindsight, I now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving Ukrainian company, Burisma as equivalent to investigating former Vice President Biden. In retrospect, I should have seen that connection differently. And had I done so, I would have raised my own objections.</s>ROMANS: One key change in Volker's recollection was connected to Sondland. Last month, he denied investigations ever came up at a July White House meeting, but yesterday Volker recalled Sondland did bring up investigations with the top Ukrainian official which he says everybody thought was inappropriate.</s>BRIGGS: Multiple Republican sources tell us they are most worried about what Sondland will say today and whether he'll turn on the President. Phil Mattingly, on Capitol Hill.</s>MATTINGLY: Christine and Dave, if you paid close attention to Tuesday's testimony, you may have heard one name come up repeatedly who wasn't actually testifying, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. He has been at the center of much of the impeachment investigation up to this point. He testified behind closed doors in a deposition then had to amend that testimony. That amendment seeming to make very clear that not only did he tie U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to the idea of investigations into the President's opponents, but he actually presented that to Ukrainian aides at his side bar meeting on September 1st, when the Vice President was in town. Then you actually pay attention to the other depositions that were going on. Multiple administration officials talking about how Sondland had repeated contacted with President Trump. How Sondland touted his ties and close contacts with White House Acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, and you recognize that in terms of witnesses, there may be no one bigger than Gordon Sondland. He was at the center of everything the administration was doing through their quote-unquote "irregular channel," outside of the normal channels. Now, there have been questions about his testimony, there are contradictions in his testimony, at least the deposition behind closed doors. All of those are going to be have to be answered. The real question, though, is, what is he actually going to say when he gets in front of cameras? I've talked to members on both sides of the aisle, and the reality is, nobody really knows. That's unsettling for Republicans who are hoping at some point he would be a big defender of the President. They don't know what's coming. Democrats feel like he could be a big witness for them. But based on his closed door deposition and the changes to that, they don't know what's coming either. It will be a nail-biting moment, not just for the White House, not just for Republicans, not just for Democrats, but pretty much everybody watching, because this is an individual that knows what happened and can say explicitly whether or not he was operating at the direction of the President and whether or not anybody else was, as well. So, this will be a big day -- guys.</s>ROMANS: All right, it will, Phil. Thank you. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman testified in the morning impeachment session on Tuesday. The Director of European Affairs for the National Security Council says he went straight to N.S.C. lawyers to report the Trump- Zelensky phone call. He told lawmakers he considered President Trump's demands inappropriate. In one tense exchange, it appeared the Republicans were trying to unmask the whistleblower. Watch what happened when Vindman was asked if he spoke to anyone about the Trump-Zelensky conversation.</s>VINDMAN: Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent and an individual from the office of -- an individual in the Intelligence Community.</s>NUNES: What -- as you know, the intelligence community has 17 different agencies, what agency was this individual from?</s>SCHIFF: If I could interject here. We don't want to use these proceedings --</s>NUNES: It's our time.</s>SCHIFF: I know, but we need to protect the whistleblower. Please stop --</s>BRIGGS: The White House, using a taxpayer-funded Twitter account to attack Vindman, the West Wing slamming the decorated Iraq War vet while he was testifying. The account quoted the Lieutenant Colonel's former boss, Tim Morrison, who testified he had concerns about Vindman's judgment. Then the President retweeted a misleading post from his social media director, it question Vindman's loyalty to the United States. The President said this yesterday.</s>TRUMP: Vindman, I watched him for a little while this morning, and I think he -- I'm going to let people make their own determination, but I don't know Vindman. I never heard of him. I don't know any of these people.</s>BRIGGS: In his opening remarks, Colonel Vindman delivered an emotional message to his father who brought his family to the United States from the Soviet Union decades ago then told him quote, "Do not worry. I will be fine for telling the truth."</s>ROMANS: All right, Democratic presidential candidates fight face-to- face to hold or take the lead at the fifth democratic debate tonight in Atlanta. High stakes now even higher with less than 11 weeks to the Iowa caucuses. Safe to say they'll be greater focus on Mayor Pete Buttigieg who is now leading the field in the latest CNN/Des Moines Registry Iowa poll. This will also be the first debate since Senator Elizabeth Warren unveiled her plan to pay for Medicare-for-All, a plan Joe Biden called mathematical gymnastics.</s>BRIGGS: Two prison guards have been charged with covering up their failures on the night Jeffrey Epstein died at a New York correctional facility. Tova Noel and Michael Thomas are accused of falsifying prison records. Court documents show the two repeatedly failed to complete required counts of prisoners. Prosecutors say they were shopping online and napping when Epstein took his own life. Both officers pleaded not guilty and were released on bond.</s>JASON FOY, TOVA NOEL'S ATTORNEY: It is our hope that we'll be able to reach a reasonable agreement in this case. If we cannot, after we review the evidence, we'll be prepared to defend them in this case moving forward.</s>BRIGGS: Epstein was being held at the Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on Federal sex trafficking charges. Officials ruled his death, a suicide.</s>ROMANS: A white Georgia teen now faces attempted murder charges after police say she planned a racially motivated attack on a black church. They say the 16-year-old took significant steps over several weeks as she planned a knife attack Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Gainesville, Georgia with knives. Police say it was thwarted Friday when a student overheard her talking about the plan and alerted school officials.</s>JAY PARRISH, CHIEF OF GAINESVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: She's a racist. I can promise you, we have valid evidence now that, I don't know how she's felt in the past, but that's how she feels at this point. Reading those details, they're just sickening. It's just very sickening.</s>ROMANS: Police say the girl -- they believe the girl acted alone and that no other churches are at risk. They say they're not aware if she has an attorney.</s>BRIGGS: Breaking overnight, two U.S. service members killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, according to a statement from U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The cause of the crash is under investigation, but preliminary reports do not indicate it was caused by enemy fire. The names of the fallen service members have not been released. The U.S. has about 12,000 troops remaining in Afghanistan.</s>ROMANS: The Pentagon says Turkey's attack on Kurdish forces after the U.S. pulled out of Syria has allowed ISIS to regroup and potentially launch new attacks abroad. A new report from the Department of Defense Inspector General paints a damaging picture of President Trump's decision to abandon America's Kurdish allies. The I.G. says Turkey is unlikely to fight ISIS despite its public pledge to do so. A Pentagon spokesman tells CNN that training for Kurdish forces has now resumed. The I.G. also says the recent death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi will have little effect on the group's ability to make a comeback.</s>BRIGGS: Ahead, his mother died after a years' long battle with cancer. Now, his teacher is stepping up to offer him hope and a home. A story you don't want to miss.