Pelosi & Schiff Open Door to Trump Impeachment
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had a great conversation. We don't want our people creating (ph) to the corruption already in the Ukraine.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump did a terrible thing. Focus on the violation of the Constitution this president has engaged in.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): There's enough smoke here. Somebody other than me needs to look at it.</s>DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: In just hours, world leaders will gather at the U.N. amid escalating tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not confident that we can avoid a war.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The military option is always on the table.</s>MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I know the Iranian people want a peaceful resolution.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, September 23. It's 6 a.m. here in New York. And new this morning, the president says he did it. He admits it. Now, the question is, what are Democrats going to do about it? There are new signs this might be a tipping point on impeachment. President Trump did raise unfounded corruption allegations against Joe Biden during a phone call with the president of Ukraine over the summer. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff are both signaling their opinion on impeachment has shifted. The speaker is now demanding the White House turn over a whistleblower's complaint about the president's conduct by Thursday or face, quote, "a whole new stage" of investigation.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The White House, meanwhile, is trying to shift the discussion to Biden, though there's no evidence of wrongdoing by the former vice president or his son. Biden accuses President Trump of conducting a smear campaign against him. One prominent Republican is calling on the administration to disclose the details of Mr. Trump's Ukraine phone call. President Trump claims that he also hopes the transcript will be released, though he's the one who has the authority to order it. This all comes as the president and world leaders convene here in New York at the United Nations. So let's begin with CNN's Joe Johns. He is live at the White House with our top story. A lot happened this weekend, Joe.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Alisyn. It is a stunning admission by the president and even says something how worried he is about his re-election campaign. It's also expected to put more pressure on House Democrats in their impeachment investigation.</s>VOICE-OVER): President Trump admits he did discuss former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in a phone call with Ukraine's new president over the summer.</s>TRUMP: The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, was largely corrupt in all of the corruption taking place. It was largely the fact that we don't want our people like Vice President Biden and his son, creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine.</s>JOHNS: The Democratic frontrunner responding on the campaign trail.</s>BIDEN: The House should investigate this. This appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power. To get on the phone with a foreign leader who is looking for help from the United States and ask about me and imply things, if that's what happened.</s>JOHNS: The president's closest adviser is demanding investigations into Biden, despite no evidence of wrongdoing by the Biden family.</s>POMPEO: I do think if Vice President Biden behaved inappropriately, if he was protecting his son and intervened with the Ukrainian leadership in a way that was corrupt, I do think we need to get to the bottom of that.</s>JOHNS: President Trump telling reporters Sunday he hopes officials will release details of the call, but some advisers urging the opposite.</s>STEVE MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I think that would be a terrible precedent. Conversations between world leaders are meant to be confidential.</s>JOHNS: A source telling CNN the call with the Ukrainian president was part of the initial whistleblower complaint, which raised concerns about multiple actions. The White House still refusing to turn that complaint over to Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sending a letter to all members of Congress, calling the stonewalling "a serious possible breach of constitutional duties by the president." Adding that, if it continues, "they will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness, which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation."</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): I don't know whether the whistleblower complaint is on this allegation. But if it is, and even if it isn't, why doesn't the president just say release the whistleblower complaint? Clearly, he's afraid for the public to see either one of those things.</s>JOHNS: CNN has learned that Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff were in close coordination all weekend, formulating a strategy on how to proceed as some Democrats blamed Congress for not starting the impeachment process sooner.</s>SCHIFF: You know I have been very reluctant to go down the path of impeachment. But if the president is essentially withholding military aid at the same time that he is trying to browbeat a foreign leader into doing something illicit, that is providing dirt on his opponent during a presidential campaign, then that may be the only remedy.</s>JOHNS: In that same letter, the House speaker called on the acting director of national intelligence to turn the whistleblower complaint over to Congress by Thursday and clear a path for the whistleblower to speak directly to Congress. The president is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to meet with the president of Ukraine. Back to you, John.</s>BERMAN: All right. Joe Johns for us at the White House. Joe, keep us posted, because we keep on hearing from the president about this. It's possible he's said something else in the next few hours. Want to bring in CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash and CNN political analyst Margaret Talev. She's the politics and White House editor for Axios. And Dana, I want to start with you, because it's your reporting that Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi were in contact before they both came out with what were very new positions on investigating the president. Adam Schiff saying we've crossed the Rubicon and maybe now impeachment is something we need to look at. And Nancy Pelosi saying a whole new stage of the investigation. What's going on here?</s>DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What's going on is that the pressure that we have been talking about and we have been seeing now for months reached a completely new level last week with Corey Lewandowski -- we can't forget that -- and the frustration, anger really, among a lot of Democrats that -- that he wasn't held in contempt right then and there when he was, you know, not answering questions, never mind not treating the members of Congress with the respect that they felt that they deserved. But then, of course, this. The whole question of Ukraine and the idea that the acting DNI is not turning over the whistleblower complaint. The fact that Adam Schiff, who has not been in the impeach crowd, not even close to that. He's been extremely cautious. He's been much more in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and other members of the leadership who have been saying, hold on. Let's just wait. We're not there yet. The fact that he used the "I" word and then, as you said, I was told that he coordinated closely with the House speaker this weekend. She released the letter, notably did not use the "I" word. Did not use impeachment. But still, nonetheless, her letter was extremely tough. A lot of focus on the fact that she said that this would -- if there's no reaction from the administration, it would put the investigation into a whole new level. But she actually wants immediate action. What she was trying to do, I'm told, in this letter is appeal to not just Democrats but Republicans. There are a lot of them who have said that they're retiring, so they don't have any, you know, kind of political strings on them, to push the DNI to really come on Thursday and deliver the report to Congress that has the information about the whistleblower's report.</s>CAMEROTA: Margaret, Nancy Pelosi didn't use the "I" word. She used the "E" word. She said this is an emergency that needs to be addressed immediately. And we just don't know this week what that will look like.</s>TALEV: But we know that it will look like the president is at the U.N. G.A. with the entire world watching, and she's running the tables back in Washington. There are some things that are changing inside her caucus now, as Dana was mentioning. There are a number of kind of either centrist Democrats or Democrats in vulnerable districts who now are more interested, more open to the idea of impeachment. There are Republicans in the Senate, as well as the House, who are uncomfortable with the notion of what the president may have done and want to see this transcript themselves, although they don't want the impeachment fight. She understands that the internal pressure on her is increasing to do something. That if she does not shift accordingly, it could be a problem for her. She understands that this is a moment to put the president on the hot seat to try to get that transcript, and to put the Republicans on the hot seat, if they continue to defend him.</s>BERMAN: You know, as James Carville was quoted today -- I think it was "The New York Times" -- who basically said, you know what? The politics of this have changed. You might be able to take an impeachment vote in the House now and force Republicans in the Senate --</s>TALEV: Right.</s>BERMAN: -- to explain their vote against it. Not saying that they wouldn't vote against it, but if they have to explain it, it puts them in a difficult position, Dana. Which brings me to the Republican senator from Utah, Mitt Romney, who put out this statement last night. Let me read that: "If the president asked or pressured Ukraine's president to investigate his political rival, either directly or through his personal attorney, it would be troubling in the extreme. Critical for the facts to come out." I'm not sure Mitt Romney watched the news this weekend, where he saw the president admit to having had that discussion, or Rudy Giuliani flat-out say to Chris Cuomo last week. However, if Mitt Romney is now saying the facts need to come out, is that what you're getting at, Dana and Margaret, when saying --</s>BASH: Yes.</s>BERMAN: -- that there are now Republicans saying, release this transcript. Put the pressure on them.</s>BASH: Absolutely. Look, one of the big questions when Mitt Romney became a senator, and knowing his history with not having a very high opinion of the president, how much he was going to push back. And he has been very careful to pick his moments. This is a moment. And this is notable. The fact that he decided to tweet it. Yes, it is true that the president admitted it. Rudy Giuliani paved the way last week, as he is wont to do. But what Romney is saying is we need more than that. We need the details. We need what Nancy Pelosi called for, which is the actual whistleblower complaint to come to Congress so that there could be a full report to get to more than, OK, yes, I did it. Well, what exactly did the president say and, you know, the context around that? And so that is significant when it comes to the Senate, but in the House, you still don't have -- never mind a critical mass of Democrats. I mean, you have a lot of Democrats. But you don't have the 218, as far as the math that I'm looking at, to get to impeachment. We're not quite there yet. But more importantly, historically. I mean, the last time this happened, it was bipartisan. It was largely Republicans who voted to impeach President Clinton, but there were Democrats on board. That's not happening now. And that is why the part of Nancy Pelosi's letter where she's calling on Republicans to help pressure the White House on this issue is really important.</s>CAMEROTA: As Dana points out, times have changed --</s>BASH: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: -- since there was a bipartisan vote on impeachment. And so I mean, I guess my question is why would impeachment have to be this belabored experience that all the Democrats seem to fear, if they are doing the count of their vote right now? If something has changed this weekend, can they just quickly take a vote and just all be on the record? They know it's not going to happen in the Senate. They know the president's not going to be officially impeached or -- by the Senate. But shouldn't -- if they believe people should be on the record, can they do that quickly?</s>TALEV: I think yes is the short answer. But there is a longer answer, which is that Nancy Pelosi has -- part of her concern has always been, OK, so let's say that the House votes, the House Democrats vote. What does it get you if most of the -- if the American public itself is divided --</s>CAMEROTA: Just posterity. That's it.</s>TALEV: That's what -- that's why this could be, potentially, a pivotal change. Because it's one thing to go after, essentially, the Mueller report, after the Mueller report is out. This is something different. This is something new. This actually goes to -- I mean, you're going to hear the word collusion if this continues to move forward. But it's not going to be, ironically, with the Russians. It's going to be a question about whether President Trump, whether there was a quid pro quo, whether he tried to hold up military aid to a U.S. ally at a time when they needed it to defend themselves against Russia. So we are still talking about Russia. I just think that, while the calculus has changed for the Democrats, they are still trying to understand would the American public be behind them? Is it worse for them if they do or if they don't proceed on this front? And can they use the pressure of it to get anything that they want out of the White House?</s>BASH: And -- and the one other dynamic that I think it's important to point out is that the Democrats who have been calling for impeachment since day one, the AOCs of the world, they have reached a different point in their rhetoric, as well. And that is they're blaming not just, you know, Republicans and the White House for stonewalling. They're now blaming their own leadership for letting the -- the White House get away with it. And that's -- that's pretty intense stuff. And the fact that they're willing to go there and willing to go there loudly also gives you a sense of where the dynamic is inside the House caucus.</s>BERMAN: There's also a House transcript. I mean, there's one tangible thing to fight about over the next few days.</s>CAMEROTA: And the complaint. I mean, the whistleblower complaint. There's two tangible things.</s>BERMAN: Sure. Two tangible things, and there's a tangible person. There's the inspector general of the Intelligence Committee, who thinks this is of urgent concern. So there are many more tangible things here, perhaps, than we had during the whole Mueller investigation. So maybe that will give Democrats the hook they -- if they want to go that way, to dig in here. Dana, thank you for your reporting. Margaret, you, too. Great to have you here on set. It is day one of the U.N. General Assembly, but President Trump will not be at one of the biggest summits of the day. We'll let you know what he is skipping and where he will be instead, next.</s>CAMEROTA: And later this hour, we have a CNN exclusive with George Clooney.</s>GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: What we realized was we need to start -- we may not be able to shame war criminals, but we can sure shame people that live 15 miles from here in a beautiful home.</s>CAMEROTA: All right. More of that interview ahead.