Speaker Pelosi's Unannounced Trip to Jordan and Afghanistan; Tough Week Ahead for President Trump; Threat of Being Ousted for Mick Mulvaney; Trump Backs Down on Hosting the G7 Summit at His Resort.
CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper was in Afghanistan this weekend. So was one of President Trump's chief opponents. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office says she's wrapped up an unannounced trip to the country. She met with Esper and top Afghan officials. Pelosi also visited Jordan on Saturday. She led a congressional delegation and met with King Abdullah. Middle East policy and Syria topped the agenda. The impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Donald Trump rolls on this week. Several top diplomats are expected to testify before Congress and that includes Bill Taylor. He is the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine who raised concerns about the freezing of U.S. aid to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the president's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, was under fire for his infamous quid pro quo comments. CNN's White House reporter Jeremy Diamond has the details.</s>JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney continuing to play clean up over the weekend, appearing on a Sunday news program to insist once again that he did not admit to the quid pro quo that he admitted to just days earlier. Mick Mulvaney in that Thursday briefing at the White House conceded that White House security aide to Ukraine was in part frozen over President Donald Trump's interest in Ukraine investigating these debunked conspiracy theories related to the Democratic National Committee and one of their servers that was hacked during the 2016 election, but Mulvaney on Sunday insisting that he did no such thing.</s>MICK MULVANEY, ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: You've again said just a few seconds ago that I said there was a quid pro quo. Never used that language because there was not a quid pro quo --</s>CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes, but you are asked by Jonathan Karl, is that you described a quid pro quo and you said that happens all the time.</s>MULVANEY: Well, and reporters will use their language all the time, so my language never said quid pro quo, but let's get to the heart of the matter, go back and look at that list of three things, what was I talking about -- things that it was legitimate for the president to do.</s>DIAMOND: Mulvaney's latest defense appears to amount to saying that he did not say those words, quid pro quo, even as he continued to once again acknowledge that the president's interest in that Democratic investigation in Ukraine was part of the reason for freezing that security aid. But Mulvaney's performance on Sunday didn't necessarily calm any nerves at the White House. A source familiar with the president's thinking, telling me on Sunday that the president is growing increasingly frustrated with his White House chief of staff. Now, the president of course frequently grows frustrated and these aides find themselves on the shaky ground, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Mulvaney's exit is imminent. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.</s>CHURCH: And joining me now, Natasha Lindstaedt, professor of government at the University of Essex. Good to have you with us.</s>NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Thanks for having me.</s>CHURCH: So, a pretty tough week ahead for the president with both the U.S. troop withdrawal in northern Syria and the impeachment inquiry taking a toll on his leadership. How damaging have both issues been for him so far and how much support is he losing within his own party?</s>LINDSTAEDT: Well, they have been terrible and we have seen what's happened with the way the Republicans have responded. It hasn't been particularly good for Trump. So regarding the impeachment inquiry, what is very telling is that it is not that Republicans have said anything. They haven't said anything and that's the issue. Normally, they come to his defense. Normally, Mitch McConnell is vociferously the defending him, and instead he hasn't said anything at all. And then when it comes to the issue with Syria, we've seen key Republicans, including Mitch McConnell who put out an op-ed piece in the "Washington Post." You also have Mitt Romney who spoken out against this and Lindsey Graham. So, key Republicans in the Senate have made it very clear, in addition to other Republicans in the House, that his decision to pull out of Syria is going to be catastrophic. So that, in addition, to the fact that all the Republicans are completely silent on the impeachment process or at best, just saying the process is wrong and not being able to come to his defense isn't particularly good for Trump.</s>CHURCH: And as we just showed in our report, the president's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who admitted last week there was a quid pro quo involving Ukraine's military funds. He has since denied saying that and has been in damage control ever since. But we understand the president is losing patience with him. Can Mulvaney survive this and what are the optics if he is fired?</s>LINDSTAEDT: I don't think he can survive this because I think he was already on thin ice beforehand. There were reports that Jared Kushner, before the even impeachment process started wasn't a big fan of Mick Mulvaney. Now, he's this huge gap where he admitted there was a quid pro quo and then tried to backtrack. I think the issue that for anybody that works for Trump, they are under tremendous stress at the moment and there isn't a concerted strategy or effort or team working on the impeachment process and how to defend it. Instead, they are being directed by Trump to say there was no quid pro quo when they're going to be asked a barrage of questions by reporters, very tough pointed questions that are really hard to dance around when they only have this one defense. And I don't think that Mick Mulvaney can last much longer in this environment. I know, temporarily, Trump has said maybe, you know, he is going to be here a little bit longer because he has some confidence in him, but that performance was absolutely terrible, very damaging for the president.</s>CHURCH: Yes. And another issue dogging the president despite backing down on his plans to host the G7 at his Florida resort, he could still face a vote from the Democrats condemning him for making that suggestion in the first, place how critical is that?</s>LINDSTAEDT: Well, he's not supposed to be able to use his presidential power and benefit from and fight violating that emoluments clause and basically hosting a huge event at his golf course, which wasn't doing particularly well financially and which they cannot prove that they went through the proper channels to investigate and ensure that there were all kinds of other options on the table. And that they then decided, no, we have to go with this Doral Trump golf course. They can't prove that. It looked really bad. It was very brazen because it's been going on the heels of all these impeachment inquiries, and the fact that he made this unilateral decision to pull out of Syria. And this is just another piece of the puzzle for the Democrats. And so, though, I don't think this is going to be the last thing we hear about, it's just one of many examples of corrupt activities of the president.</s>CHURCH: All right. Natasha Lindstaedt, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your analysis. We appreciate it.</s>LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.</s>CHURCH: Well, Canada has a reputation for being a polite country, but the campaign rhetoric in the general election has been anything but polite. The challenge to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, that's ahead.