The U.S. Role As A Middle East Broker Again In Doubt
ROMANS: The impeachment probe back in the spotlight today. Four top officials set to testify. Why they matter? And how new revelations from this diplomat make him critical for Democrats.</s>BRIGGS: U.S. role as a Middle East broker, again in doubt. The White House reversing decades of policy recognizing Israel's settlements in the West Bank.</s>ROMANS: A major shift for a major brand, why Chick-fil-A will no longer donate to groups with anti-gay views.</s>BRIGGS: Doctors said a little boy wouldn't live past his second birthday. Well, he just turned three. His town is celebrating. Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.</s>ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour. Let's begin with the Democrats here trying to remove President Trump and Republicans battling to save him. Both are bracing for the most momentous phase yet in the Impeachment Inquiry. Four senior national security officials will testify in public today. That's just the warm up. Five more are set to appear later this week.</s>BRIGGS: Democrats now accusing the President of bribery saying he abused his power to pressure Ukraine for political favors. Republicans are hoping to show Trump was only exercising his sweeping authority. A week of packed testimony will also test Trump who has been blasting witnesses publicly since last week. Phil Mattingly with more from Capitol Hill.</s>MATTINGLY: Christine and Dave, I hope you're well-rested, well-fed, maybe have some snacks ready because Week 2 of public impeachment hearings is going to be a slog. It's going to be a lot. It's going to be nine witnesses over the course of three days, starting with four over the course of two separate hearings just today. Now, here's what you need to know about the hearings that are happening today. The first hearing will be two White House officials. One, Jennifer Williams, who works in the Vice President's office; the other, Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman who is the top Ukraine policy expert on the National Security Council. Now both of these individuals testified in their closed door depositions that they had concerns with President Trump's July 25th call with Ukrainian President Zelensky wondering why certain investigations were brought up, why Vice President Biden's son was brought up, as well as what those two individuals working in their roles inside the White House knew about the broader U.S. policy as it pertained to Ukraine, particularly the kind of outside shadow policy channel that was being run in part by the President's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Keep it on the afternoon as well though. These are two witnesses: Kurt Volker, who is the former U.S. Special Representative to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a former top Russia hand on the National Security Council, who actually witnessed request from Republicans. One of those individuals, Kurt Volker has made very clear in his private deposition, closed-door deposition, that there was as Republicans say, no quid pro quo. They didn't believe the President did anything illegal. However, he did raise some concerns about some of the individuals involved with the foreign policy related to Ukraine. Same goes for Tim Morrison. He made clear that he was on the July 25th call between the two Presidents, saying he didn't think anything illegal was said on that call, but made clear various elements of the U.S.-Ukraine policy outside of regular channels, whether it's Rudy Giuliani or U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland were problems in their roles. So that's Tuesday's hearing. I want to flash forward just real quick because there's also a new development. On Thursday a new individual has been added to the testimony list. That would be David Holmes. He is the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine official who overheard the phone call between Sondland and President Trump at an outdoor tavern. That phone call which he testified behind closed doors in rather explicit detail in terms of what was said has now become central to the Democrats' Impeachment Inquiry that will come on Thursday, but as I said, it'll be a long week. So get ready -- guys.</s>ROMANS: All right, Phil, and we know that you will guide us. Thank you. Some of that explicit firsthand detail was revealed overnight in newly released transcripts, David Holmes testified last week. He heard Gordon Sondland tell President Trump, Ukraine was prepared to move forward with the investigation the President was demanding. The State Department official says he was taken aback by the conversation and the lack of operational security. He told investigators, "I've never seen anything like this. Someone calling the President from a mobile phone at a restaurant and then having a conversation of this level of candor, colorful language."</s>BRIGGS: Holmes also describes how Ukrainian officials repeatedly pressed for a meeting at the White House because it would lend credibility to their new administration, especially in the eyes of the Kremlin. He says Ukrainian saw it as a setback when President Trump agreed to meet with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-20. Holmes also admits telling friends about the Sondland-Trump call, but insists he did not go into detail. That could be ammunition for Republicans since it raises questions about how much internal government information Holmes shared.</s>ROMANS: For the Ukrainians, these impeachment hearings are a high stakes game. They rely on U.S. support to fight the Russians who have invaded their country. How are they navigating what's happening in Washington? Frederik Pleitgen is in Kiev.</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave and Christine. The Ukrainians really are trying to get out of this situation without being damaged too much. There's no doubt that the Ukrainian President, Vladimir Zelensky, he was put in an extremely difficult situation by President Trump, when President Trump in that phone call essentially demanded investigations into the Biden's. There's no doubt that the Ukrainians need strong bipartisan support in Washington, D.C. They're combating a Russian backed insurgency in the east of this country, and so therefore, they certainly need all the support that they can get. So essentially, what we've been seeing over the past couple of weeks, the past couple of months is the Ukrainians have really been trying to comment on this as little as possible, and hoping that all this goes away eventually. When they have commented, for instance, President Vladimir Zelensky, he said, look, I'm the leader of a sovereign nation, of a sovereign Ukraine, and therefore no one can put any sort of pressure on me, and therefore, Ukraine did not feel any pressure from the Trump administration. Now, of course, there are other politicians here in Ukraine who have said that, of course, for instance, folks like Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. had been mentioning things like investigations in the past. And of course, that's something that has essentially put pressure on the Ukrainians. So essentially, for them right now, they're looking at this impeachment process, obviously, very, very closely. For them, the main key thing is to not get on the bad side of President Trump and the Republicans, but also not get on the bad side of the Democrats either -- Dave and Christine.</s>BRIGGS: Fred Pleitgen, thank you. The White House has released a letter from President Trump's doctor claiming his unscheduled checkup at Walter Reed Hospital was routine and planned. CNN has reported the hospital visit did not follow protocol, but the doctor's letter says it was handled the way it was because of quote, "scheduling uncertainties." It goes on to say the President has not had any chest pain and was not treated for any urgent or acute issues.</s>ROMANS: And Pete Buttigieg is taking a critical pitch for black voters to black voters. A new CNN poll puts Mayor Pete Buttigieg clearly on top in overwhelmingly white Iowa. But the latest Quinnipiac poll in South Carolina shows zero percent support among black voters. In Atlanta, ahead of tomorrow's debate, he spoke to students at Historically Black Morehouse College.</s>PETE BUTTIGIEG, (D-IN), MAYOR, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Try not to get too caught up in poll numbers, but I did have a chance to look at the one you were mentioning and I think I saw that a strong majority of black voters in South Carolina still say that they have not formed an opinion or haven't heard enough to form an opinion at all about my candidacy. All the more indication that it's so important for us to do this engagement.</s>BRIGGS: Buttigieg just released a $500 billion College Affordability Plan that would make public college free for households earning under $100,000.00 a year. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren propose wiping out most college debt. The New York Fed says U.S. student debt climbed last year to $1.5 trillion.</s>ROMANS: And we know that 11 percent of student loan debt is in arrears is -- 90 days late or more. That is a big, big number. All right, disagreements on tariffs forced him out of the White House. Why Gary Cohn now says the President may have no choice, but to follow through on his threat.