>> i'm jim scuitto. at this hour starts right now with kate baldwin. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. hello, everyone, i'm kate baldwin. thank you so much for joining me. we are following breaking news on a couple fronts. we are one standing by to hear from house speaker nancy pelosi as well as house intelligence committee adam schiff. schiff is going to be speaking to reporters just as they announce subpoenas are coming. house democrats now demanding this morning that the white house turn over documents and any internal communications about the july calls. the center of the whistleblower report. and also communications about any efforts to pressure ukraine. this is all a part of the impeachment inquiry. so stand by to stand by for that. we are also following other

breaking news, just come true, senator bernie sanders, the democratic presidential candidate, he has undergone heart surgery there week his campaign announced. he is canceling further campaign events to recover. let's go to ryan nobles. he has been following the sanders campaign all along. ryan, what are you learning? how is the senator doing? >> reporter: it sounds he is doing great despite this scare he had yesterday. i want to read to you the official statement that came 20 minutes ago. it reads from senior adviser jeff weaver. it says, quote, during a campaign event yesterday evening, senator sanders was found to have a blockage in one artery and two stints were successfully inserted. senator sanders is conversing and is in good spirits. he will be resting up over the next few days. we will be canceling his events until further notice. we will continue to provide the appropriate updates.

so at this point, kate, we don't have a lot of insight into exactly how this all went down other than to the fact what that said, the senator had chest discomfort. he was immediately taken for evaluation. that's when they discovered this blockage. we should point out that senator sanders is known for his terrific health. this is someone who rearly takes a day off. he has no known heart issues we know of up until this point. he often will pack a schedule with as many as five or six events in a day. do so six or seven days a week. especially at this point in the campaign as we approach the iowa caucus. so there is no doubt this comes as a surprise. i do think the important part of this release is they do not point a date at which senator sanders will be able to return to the campaign trail. >> that shows you that this is something serious, of course, having two stints inserted is always something that should be taken seriously. we're still working to find out exactly how serious this situation is and when he will be able to get back on the campaign trail.

kate. >> any, of course, this is all just happening. what the campaign does in the meantime, he may need a couple days a tough campaign trail is nothing any candidate or campaign wants. >> well, especially someone like bernie sanders, kate. this is someone that prides himself on the fact he does a lot of public events. people see him up close and personal. he doesn't hold closed door fund raisers, dollars for dollars, to draw mine into his campaign. a 95% of his campaign is spent on the road, holding town halls, holding big rallies, meeting voters one on one. so the idea that you take senator sanders off the campaign for any period of time has got to be something that has his campaign very concerned. because they consider him to be his stroeventh asset. now to that point -- strongest asset. now, to that point, he has a co-chair former senator anita turner is someone who can draw a big crowd and speak on behalf of senator sanders in a very

powerful way. there is nothing like the candidate, himself. at this crucial time, this has to be something that they're going to find very difficult. but, of course, his health more important than anything else. they will take some time here to evaluate this situation, see exactly what it will take to get him back up and running. but you can bet sanders, himself, will be itching to get back on the campaign trail. i point back to this last week or so with senator sanders. he had a bit of a raspy voice in the last debate. that was currently evident. he wasn't sick. it was a matter of his voice being overworked. his campaign had to force him to take a down day in order to get that voice back up in order. this isn't something he likes doing. you can bet the second he's able to get back on that campaign trail, he will. >> you can be sure this is one of the situations everyone should be thankful he listened to his body. when he had that discomfort, he powered through. it's good to hear he is in good spirits, according to campaign put out. let me go to dr. sanjay gupta,

he jumped on the phone. what little we hear from the campaign is he felt chest discomfort. he went in to get it checked. they found a blockage in one artery. two stipulates put in. stipula stints has become a common surgery if you will. what recovery is he looking at? >> it's a simple procedure. it's an important one. he had some chest discomfort and decided to go get it checked out. a lot of people, obviously, depending on the severity of the discomfort won't get it checked out and/or wait too long to get it checked out and that can be a problem. i think that the question right now is this discomfort that he had, how significant was it? did he have actual -- was there a heart muscle tissue that was actually affected and did he have a heart attack or did he

get to the hospital? they were able to open up these blood vessels and get blood flow back to his heart before there was a more significant problem? and we don't know that yet. the fact that it was a stint, it was done urgently or emergently. it was not open heart surgery, he is talking, so he's obviously recovering. he's not in the intensive care unit or requiring any other assistance that would prevent him from being up and recovering. but it's going to probably take a couple of days to sort of just understand how significant this was. >> right. >> ryan also pointed out, we didn't know any past history he's had a problem with his heart. i remember back in 2016 this came up and that is his medical records at that point should have no history of heart problems so this seems to be a relatively new thing for him. >> yeah. absolutely. sanjay, thank you so much for jumping on the phone.

i know we all feel the same way, which is we wish the senator a very speedy recovery. and thankfully he is in good spirits and recovering according to from. oh, right now, we will turn away from the campaign trail to the speaker of the house. the house committee chairman adam schiff speaking to reporters right now. >> a thursday district work period, the holy days, the, as we gather here, our members across the country are having communications with their constituents on two subjects, in particular, and one perhaps. the first is on our legislation, hr-3 to lower the cost of prescription drugs now. we are very pleased as the response that members are receiving as we've asked them to go out there to receive public comment on hr-3. and when they return, we will be ready to proceed, some in committee, others just among

members to present the legislation. hr-3 is important because as i've said to you before across the country, you could see grown men cry at meetings because of the cost of prescription drugs. it's almost impossible for them to be healthy and financially healthy with the rising costs of prescription drugs. in the last year's election, this was a very my priority. it continues to be so when the president says that he can't do anything if he has the threat of impeachment as a consideration of impeachment, i hope he doesn't mean he doesn't want to work together to lower the cost of prescription drugs. it would give the secretary additional powers to negotiate for lower costs. it would end the disparity of costs between what consumers in america pay and what they pay in other countries. it would have a cap on out of pocket expenses for catastrophic medicare expenses.

it would also in a negotiation not only be for medicare of for all and it would have an inflation reit that reverses years of increases. so we're very pleased with the work that has gone into it so far by three chairman frank pa loan of energy and commerce, richie neil of ways and means and bobby scott of education and work force and many members as well. we will be discussing this again over the break and the district work period when we return. at the same time, we are making progress on the u.s.-mexico-canada trade agreement. this is an issue of concern around the country and we want to be sure that as we go forward, we are protecting, we are strengthening america's working families and our farmers who are very affected by this. this is not about trickle down trade. we're not trickle down economics people. we're not trickle down trade people either, unless it hits

home for us workers and our farmers in terms of enforceability. we can't be there yet. but we are on a path to, yes, as you probably know, on friday, our house task force under the leadership of richie neil ways and means put for atmosphere counteroffer to what the administration has proposed. when we can arrive at a place where not only do we have our issues addressed but that we have enforceability, that will make it real for america's families and farmers, then we can go down that path. i hope again the president saying because of other actions in terms of upholding the constitution of the united states that he is not -- he can't work with us because i do think he wants this u.s.-mexico-canada trade agreement and we want it when it is right in terms of enforceability. and that we can work together. at the same time, we are hoping that we can return, renew our

conversations about infrastructure, building infrastructure of america. as i've said, our agenda last year when we ran was for the people. lower the cost of healthcare by lowering the cost of prescription drugs. that's what we're doing. building the infrastructure of american greenway so we can increase paychecks, lower healthcare, bigger paycheck. cleaner government. well, i think that we can work with the administration on prescription drugs. i hope so, and infrastructure. i hope so. clean government. that's more of a challenge. and so as we gather here today, we are clearly at a place where we are legislating to try to meet the needs of the american people in a transformative way. we are investigating. we are litigating. we also here today are on the one-year anniversary of the khashoggi was killed, it's such

a very sad thing and at the same time you see the administration schmoozing with the very people who perhaps orchestrated that. the, again, it's yesterday the chinese observed their 70th anniversary. at the same time the president was very positive about that. well, observing their anniversary is one thing, praising them for it is another when they have serious repression going on right now in china, whether it's undermining the cultural language and religion of tibet, whether it's placing in education camps, one, two you, or three depending on the confident 1 million uighers and whether it's the suppression of democracy in hong kong and justice violation of human rights throughout china. it's the same fight we have been having for years. for what does it profit a man or a country if he ga insurance the whole year and suffers the loss

of his soul but we seem to be able to ignore the shoutout from our soul on respecting the dignity and worth of every person. so i know many of you are here, some of you are regulars. many of you are not. and i said, mr. schiff, maybe you should come to all of our meetings, we might get some coverage for what we are trying to do for the american people. but we are very proud of the work of our chairman of the intelligence committee. our -- we take this to be a very sad time for the american people for our country, impeaching a president or having the investigation to impeach a president is not anything to be joyful about. i don't know that anybody is joyful. but it is a sad time. and as you've heard me say over and over again, the dark days of the revolution thomas payne said the times have found us. we think the times have found us

now. not that we place ourselves in a category of greatness, of our founders, but we do place ourselves in a time of urgency on the threat to the constitution, a system of checks and balances, that is being made. it is far independence, they declared independence, they fought and won. they established a democracy, thank god they made the constitution amended. also, we could ever be expanding freedom and we see the actions of this president being an assault on the constitution once we had his even admission to that. we had no choice but to go forward. it's hard. we want to weigh the equities. we want to be fair as we go forward and we couldn't be better served than by the leadership of our chairman of the intelligence committee, adam schiff, who i present to you

now. >> thank you, madam speaker and thank you for leading the entire house of representatives through this very fraught time in the history of the congress and indeed the history of the country. i also want to express my own condolence once again to the family of jamal khashoggi who bravely sought to advocate for and it cost him his life.arabia- we are deeply in his debt and we are determined to bring about justice for those who are responsible for that heinous murder. it's also an appropriate time to recognize the danger facing journalists all over the world. in terms of the issues that we have been focused on this week, i want to give you a brief update of what has transpired really just within the last week. last thursday, the intelligence

committee held an open hearing with the acting director of national intelligence. the following day chairman engel issued a subpoena to the state department in close consultation with myself and chairman cummings. we are deeply concerned about secretary pompeo's effort now to potentially interfere with witnesses whose testimony is needed before our committee, many of whom are mentioned in the whistleblower complaint and we want to make it abundantly clear that any effort by the secretary, by the president or anyone else to interfere with the congress' ability to call before it relevant witnesses will be considered as evidence of obstruction of the lawful functions of congress. and more than that, we'll allow an ad verse inference to be drawn as to the underlying facts. >> that if they are going to prevent witnesses from coming forward to testify on the allegations and the

whistleblower complaint, that will create an ad verse inference that those allegations are, in fact, correct. on monday, i issued a subpoena to rudy guiliani, again in consultation with chairman cummings and engel, we expect mr. guiliani to comply with the legal process we are using. he is obviously a key figure in all of this by his own admission as well as by the allegations in the whistleblower complaint. today and just within the last hour, half hour, chairman cummings noticed a subpoena that will go out later in this week or next week after the notice period has expired, that that committee intends to subpoena documents that the white house has been withholding from congress. we are, obviously, coordinating very closely with chairman cummings on that. on thursday ambassador voelker

is scheduled to appear before our committee and on friday, inspector general, the inspector general of the ic, mr. atkinson will appear before the committee and testify as well. the last time that the inspector general testified, we did not have the complaint. we know do. we certainly intend to ask the director about the efforts that were made to corroborate that complaint which we now know the inspector general found both credible and urgent. next week, we have also scheduled a deposition or interview with the former u.s. ambassador ivanovich to ukraine. we are in pursuit of other depositions. we will be very busy this week. we will be busy next week. we are proceeding deliberately but at the same time we feel a real sense of urgency here that this work needs to get done and it into evidence to get done in

a responsible period of time. thank you. >> just one moment, please, i'll decide who asks questions. do we have any questions first to meet the needs of the american people in terms of the usmca and the hr-3? on that subject? >> how do you envision working with this president on these key democratic agenda items, lowering prescription drug costs, you know, ensuring tougher gun safety measures as you are actively -- >> they have nothing to do two each other. we have a responsibility to uphold our oath of office to support and defend the constitution of the united states. we also have a responsibility to get the job done for the american people. the president has said he wants the u.s.-mexico-canada trade agreement to go forward and we are awaiting the language on

enforceability. so does it mean that he doesn't -- he can't do that? that's really up to him. and i do expect that he does want that. and that he doesn't need that and he's not going to blame it on us, because we are honoring our oath of office. he says he wants to lower the costs of prescription drugs. the american people want us to do that. so is the president saying if you question my actions, i can't agree on any subject, then the ball is in his court on that. so many of you have always been interested in usmca. any ongoing interest? yes? >> the president keeps saying that usmca will pay for his wall. how does money generated by the usmca work its way into the general fund to be appropriated by congress? >> it doesn't. it doesn't. okay. >> thank you. >> thank you for this

conference. my question to you chairman schiff. for you, do you have plans or have you taken off the table the idea of a full house vote on the impeachment inquiry? >> on the first doing, hr-3? anyone on hr-3? does anybody in this room care about the cost of prescription drugs and what it means to america's working families? from time to time you have asked us questions? does anyone care about the usmca? u.s.-mexico-canada -- >> when do you need this to be resolved? >> this being what? >> usmca? >> no we -- i'd like -- we're on a path to yes as far as the trade agreement is concerned and at some point i'm saying it's either yes or no. we either have enforceability or we don't. but i'm hopeful that we will and i'm hopeful that it will be soon. >> do you have a deadline by the administration or anything? >> no, we have a good working relationship. believe me, the quiet you hear

is progress, is progress. go back and forth and over this break, the stature of the between the two -- the trade rep and our negotiators are seeking clarification and where there is room for cooperation, where we may have more challenges. but it's going in a forward direction so we're very pleased with that, because, again, we're trying to find common ground with the president. he always wanted this. we do too. and let's just find our common ground in that regard. >> another question -- >> personal policy before we bet to the other fuse of the day which is impeachment. what about gun legislation? a few weeks ago, the white house telegraphed we might hear the president would support some sort of gun package? we in the press have heard nothing. have you heard anything? >> well, the most recent communication i had from the white house on gun violence prevention is from the president

last tuesday. so we can segue from one subject to the next here. he called early that morning to say how happy i would be to see the progress that he was making on coming to agreement on gun violence prevention. i was curious about what that progress could be. he said he was working with democrats and republicans. i don't know of any -- i reminded him that we had sent a bill over to the senate, hr-8 and hr-1112. two pieces of legislation that would save the most lives. i had hoped whatever he was talking about was close to that oh, yes, are you going to be very pleased. that's the last i heard of that. at that point that is when the president segued into the telephone call in which he admitted that this call took place and that what happened was perfect. i didn't say, i said, it's not perfect. it's wrong. but youred a mention to what has now been in the public domain,

it forms the timing of how we go forward. so, again, that was the last i heard from them. let me just say on gun violence protection prevention, we're not going away until we get legislation signed into law that protects our children. i said to the president on another occasion on the 200th day, chuck schumer and i called the president on that that was a couple of sundays ago, i think like the 15th of september, maybe two-and-a-half weeks ago, that was the 200th day since we sent over hr-8. i said to the president, i pray for you and the safety of you and your family. and i hope that god will pray good will give you illumination. an enlightenment to pray to work for the safety of other families in our country. so again the most recent, i'm not going to say the last. i hope it's not the last. but the most recent communications i've had from the

white house was in the same call where the president admitted to what he said having the telephone conversation. okay. >> on impeachment, have you taken off the table or do you plan for a full house vote on an impeachment inquiry and chairman schiff, as the white house seems to be originally interfering, delayed, in the past, taken a long time years to compel documents and testimony from the white house, are you preparing for a court battle and how do you make sure that happens in what you say is an expeditious manner? >> first of all there is no requirement that there be a for vote. >> that is not anything that is excluded. by the way, some republicans have very nervous about our bringing that vote to the floor. >> just say that we are concerned that the white house will attempt to stonewall our investigation much as they have stonewalled other committees in the past. it's why i sa i the white house needs to understand that any

action like that, that forces us to litigate or have to consider litigation will be considered further evidence of obstruction of justice. and, of course, that was an article of impeachment against nixon. the obstruction of the lawful functions of congress that is. we will also draw the inconference, though, as appropriate, that they are trying to conceal facts that would corroborate the allegations of the whistleblower complaint. so we'll have to decide whether to litigate or how to litigate. we're not fooling around here, though. we don't want this to drag on months and months and months, which appears to be the administration's strategy. so they just need to know even as they try to undermine our ability to find the facts around the president's effort to coerce a foreign leader to create dirt that he can use against a political opponent, that they

will strengthening the case on obstruction if they behave that way zblmp house speaker, thank you very much. i would like to ask madam speaker and also cha i remember this as well. the president wants to interview the whistle proceeder. he says he has the right to meet his accuser. your response, both of you, please. >> the whistle-blower has the right under the statute to remain anonymous. and we will do everything in our power to make sure that that whistle-blower is protected. >> that that whistle-blower's preferences in terms of their anonymity are respected. and let's not make any mistake here. the president wants to make this all about the whistle-blower and suggest people that come forward with evidence of his wrong-doing are somehow treasonous and should be treated as traitors and spies. this is a blatant effort to intimidate witnesses.

it's an incitement of violence and i would hope and we are starting to see members of both parties speaking out against attacking this whistle-blower, others that have pertinent information. so the other thing i want to underscore though, what the whisling-proceeder has set -- whistle-blower set out that is within our power to confirm, with see confirmed in that call record. the president can attack the whistle-blower rhetorically all the president wants. it doesn't claening the fact that the record of that call shows the president of the united states in a same conversation, indeed, immediately after the ukraine president asked for more military help, the president of the united states asked that leader a favor, though. and no attack on the whistle-blower anyone else will change those underlying facts. >> mr. chairman, again on the subject of the whistle-blower.

i said to the president on that call, you've come into my wheelhouse 25 years on the intelligence committee as a member, as ranking member, as mr. schiff was before he became the chairman when we got the majority. so i was quite a gang of four before i was even in the leadership as a gang of eight. so for 25 years, one way or another, i was there when we improved the whistle-blower legislation in the late '90s. i was a part of that i was there when we made further improvements and president obama made executive, i don't know, executive order, but executive action, improvements in the whistle-blower legislation and then we have further legislation. and then i was there when we created the office of the director of national intelligence. and what his responsibility was in terms of a whistle-blower. so, this is very, i hope that you understand and i suspect is

that you do, the seriousness of the president of the united states sailing he wants to interview that person. we will treat the president with fairness in the -- as we go forward. we will have investigations and questioning that are worthy of the constitution of the united states. it's unworthy of the constitution of the united states to do what he did in that call and he admitted to me, said it's perfect. no, it's not perfect. it's wrong. a. and b, that protecting whistle-blowers is a very, very important -- important requirement that we have. the intelligence community recognizes the importance of whistle-blowers. protecting whistle-blowers who see wrong doing of any kind in our government is essential. so the president probably doesn't realize how dangerous his statements are when he says he wants to expose who the whistle-blower is and those who

may have given the whistle-blower that information. this is a very serious, very serious challenge that the president has put there. it's very sad. i don't see impeachment as a unifying thing for our country. i weigh those equities hard and long until i had the president's admission that he did what he di did. >> one question, one following up on what you just said, some republicans have said that the president's phone call wasn't great but that it isn't an him epeachable offense. is it possible you are making too much of one phone call? >> absolutely not. i want to yield to you. >> well, if you think about what the framers were concerned about at the time of the drafting of the constitution, they were paramountly concerned about foreign interference in american affairs. they wanted to ensure that the president of the united states was defending the interests of national security of the united

states and not corruptly secretly advancing some private agenda with a foreign power. it's hard to imagine a set of circumstances that would alarmed the founders more than what's on that call. where you have a president using a full power of his office to try to effectively coerce a foreign leader that is completely dependent on our country for military, economic, diplomatic and other support to intra15 in our election -- intravene in our election to his campaign. to my colleagues that say there is nothing to see here, yeah, it's bad, is it something you'd remove the president from office for? they're going to have to answer if this conduct doesn't rise to the level of the concern the founders have, what conduct does? now, we only know some of the facts at this point. the call record seems to be pretty indisputed.

the suspension of military assistance is undisputed now. the sequestration of this call record and maybe others into a file in which they were never supposed to be placed. a file that is for classified information of the highest order covert action, for example, those facts are not contested. but all the facts are around that, we still need to flesh out. what was the state department's role? what was the secretary's role? what was the role of the attorney general? there is a great more we need to know to understand the full depth of the president's misconduct. and maybe when they comes out, it will persuade some of those republicans to recognize the gravity of the situation, but i think we have to be realistic here. there seems to be no floor below this president can drop that some of the gop members and maybe even many of the gop members would not be willing to

enforce, look away from, avoid comment on, let alone rise to condemn as incompatible of the duties of his office. >> in that telephone call, the president undermined our national security. because of his -- what he had done a few days later. did i say that in the call? no, you look at the sequencing, the few days before the president withdrew that. why? why could that just come from the president? there was no as far as we know, we will find out if there is any national security council justification for the president withdrawing that had been passed by the congress of the united states in a bipartisan way and then the president just on his own decided he was going to use it as leverage. so using that as leverage, we support that military assistance

in the interest of our national security. yumpbd mining our national security -- undermining our national security. undermining his oath of office to defend and protect the constitution because he was overthrowing an act of congress just on his own. undermining the integrity of our elections. and that's what means something to people in their lives. they have to know their vote counts and it will be counted as cast and this president of the united states is stooping to a level that is beneath the dignity of the constitution of the united states and our founders since the chairman mentioned our founders. they put guardrails in the constitution because they knew there might be someone that would overplay his ore her power. they never thought we would have a president who would kick those guardrails over and disregard the constitution and say article 2 says that i can do whatever i feel like.

so this is sad. we have to be prayerful. we have to be worthy of the constitution as we go forward. we have to be fair to the president and that's why this is a -- an investigation. an inquiry, not an outright impeachment. around we have to give the president his chance to exonerate himself, what he thinks what he did was perfect. so we have that situation, but i sa i to my colleague, calmness, quiet, so that we can hear, that we can hear what is being said in this regard. again, when, on that very day, september 17th, that was constitution day. a tuesday. two tuesday's ago from yesterday. >> that is when that explosion hit of what possibly happened in that phone conversation which the president confirmed to me in our call.

and that day is the day we observed the adoption of our constitution, september 17th. on that day, way back when, when benjamin franklin left independence hall, people said to him, what do we have, dr. franklin? a monarchy? or a republic? he said a republic. if we can keep it. it is our responsibility to keep that republic with the genius of the separation of powers, each co-equal branch of government, separation of power, a republic if we can keep it. that our responsibility. >> that itself the oath of office that we take and that is what is the -- one of the reasons why we just have to look at the facts and the constitution. any other objections people may have, to this president has no place in this discussion in terms of, is he too cowardly to protect children from gun violence? is he too cruel, too in denial

to understand climate change, the list goes on. save that for the election. this is about the facts relating to the constitution and that is how we proceed, with dignity, with respect, prayerfully and again worthy of the sacrifice of our founders. the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform who fight for our children and the aspirations of our children so they will live under future presidents who will honor the constitution of the united states. thank you very much. . >> reporter: all right, house speaker nancy pelosi, house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff with what turned out to be an important press conference about where democrats see the impeachment investigation right now and where they would like to see the process going forward. joining me right now is a cnn analyst, washington for the

press and a former federal prosecutor. jeff zeleny is our senior washington correspondent. jeff, first to you. just your take on what do you think the message -- i mean they said some very strong things about protections for the whistle-blower, where nancy pelosi thought the president was taking the office of the presidency in this moment and the threat to national security. but what do you think of the message that pelosi and schiff were laying out there right there? >> well, kate, first and foremost, speaker pelosi one week into this inquiry is again trying to present a road map for other democrats. this is not a time to gloat. this is not a time to be joyful in her word. . impeachment is a very serious and sad matter. so she has been consistent on this message going since the very beginning. so she is trying to keep her democrats in line. you will net she was starting with the cost of prescription drug, usmca. she is definitely trying to

convey to the american people congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. there is no evidence of that we should point out. she is also making the case that the president has a chance to exonerate himself in her words, in a respect, kate, she was talking directly to him. he was tweeting during this. >> exactly. >> so the president was at the white house watching all this unfold. i think the news out of this news conference this morning and one thing that democrats must decide, chairman schiff said that they will use this as part of an obstruction evidence if the white house refuses to comply here with some of these subpoenas, democrats know if they do want to work in a swift manner, they will have to decide if they want to fight all of these blockages illegally or move forward here. so chairman 65 also said, look at the facts from that memo of that phone call. there are plenty of facts in the public sphere already. so a lot of democrats do not want this to be litigated for

months and months and months. they want this to move quickly here. we'll see if they are successful in that. >> that was one thing adam schiff laid out. let me ask you about that. i have heard from more than one democrat, adam schiff obviously being the most high ranking. is that any effort to block them. any effort to not turn over the information that they are requesting or interfere in them getting testimony from people they want to speak to, will be considered evidence of obstruction. and you said, he said, we're not fooling around, we don't want this dragging out for months and months and months, which indicates they don't want to go to court to hand this over. what does evidence of obstruction mean? >> it means two things f. they blowing in the subpoenaing of document they will draw up an article of impeachment. are you obstructing justice by refusing to turn over documents we are entitled to. in essence on that, if you don't

hand over this information that we are requesting, then you are going to be adding to the problem. you are going to be considered, you are adding to what is potentially an article of impeachment, which is one of those against nixon. >> in the same way in a criminal case, someone may find themselves facing another obstruction of justice. there is an add inference, if you do something that is obstructionist like that, we can take an ad verse inference, we can use that as a piece of proof to say you didn't turn over these documents we are entitled to, therefore, we will infer those documents are harmful to you and helpful to our case. that's also from the legal system, you can get that inference, get a jury instructed bring the young to take an ad verse inference against the party. that's what they are saying, we will use this, you didn't give us the documents we sought. we can infer those were bad for you. >> turn them over. >> that this was going to be bad

for new that case. >> julie, on this point of -- i mean adam schiff made really clear. they're moving the way he put it, they want to get this done within a reasonable period of time. and he says we're proceeding deliberately and feel a 16 of urgency to get it done in a reasonable time. again, i've heard that from other democrats as well, they're going to be moving forward. this is not going to be a year's long process, if you will. are you getting any indication, any clue, though, of what that time line actually looks like? >> so, there is a lot of discussion about the end of the year being a deadline, essentially. the idea being that you don't want democrats still to be mired in an impeachment when the iowa caucuses are going on, when the new hampshire primaries, when it's cliek quickly going to lead into an election year. i think democrats want as much

as possible to separate what is happening on the hill from that campaign. certainly, have you look at these in tandem. i think if they can wrap this up, have a vote on articles of impeachment by the etched of the year, democrats would be quite pleased with that, this time frame, this faster time frame that they are trying to move on here really has 'ut the white house on the back foot. they are caught off guard by this. they don't have a clear plan right now for answering exactly the questions that you are raising here. whether they're going to cooperate. that's a hugely significant question for the president that will impact his future, the future of his presidency and they're really scrambling to try to figure out how to proceed given how fast the democrats are trying to move on this. >> let's get back into the room. manu raju was in that news conference. he has been able to pop up. he is joining me now. really interesting is right before the press conference they alluded to, they announced that subpoenas to the who us are

coming. >> reporter: yeah. on friday the house i don't have sight committee in consultation with two other committees plans to issue that subpoena to the white house after several, two letters were sent earlier in september asking for documents related to ukraine. the documents were -- the requests were not complied with. now they're threatening this will be the next batch of subpoenas that would go over to the white house asking for this information, demanding they be turned over. this, of course, after issues subpoenas sent to the state department and the president's personal attorney rudy guiliani, adam schiff is making clear there will likely be even more subpoenas coming forward. but exactly the headline out of here, if for certain is what adam schiff alluded to there. they are not going to let this drag out in court. we have seen this strategy play out for months now. with the house judiciary committee now in court on several issue, including getting the testimony that former white house counsel don mcgahn, that is not necessarily the way they want to go now.

they will decide how to pour sue these, i am told by multimillion democratic officials if they don't get compliance, that essentially will be one of the articles of impeachment that would be obstruction of congress and exactly what adam schiff just alluded to here in talking to reporters. that's a sign that the democrats want to make. they don't want to be consumed with impeachment up through next year, through the election year. which is why they want to wrap this up in the coming weeks, which is one way nancy pelosi at the beginning of the press conference tried to talk about her agenda and would not take questions for several minutes about impeachment. because it overshadows what they're trying to sell the public. as she noted it is very divisive and does not play particularly well with some democrats who are in tough re-election races. so they do want to whatp this up quickly. if the white house doesn't comply, they'll say this could be one reason to impeach and they hope to wrap it up in a matter of weeks. kate. >> the they knew, that's one of the reasons nancy pelosi

hesitated, one of the many reasons nancy pelosi was not there on impeachment protection for so long. she knows that, yes, technically they can walk and chew gum at the same time. yes, they can pass legislation. but when are you dealing with the consideration of impeaching the president of the united states, that is -- that is one of the most serious questions that can be considered by the house of representatives. okay. it's going to over shadow any other agenda item. >> reporter: no question about it. what's interesting, if you look at who ill there is overwhelming support, even among some of the vulnerable democrats in those swing districts, they're supporting an impeachment inquiry. at the moment they're not on page, supporting articles of impeachment. when they do that it will be a difficult conversation, a different conversation within the caucus to get everybody on the same page. so there is a lot that has to move the caucus into evidence to move forward on. >> that i have to resolve that in a matter of weeks. they don't want this to i don't have shadow what they are

selling to voters to try to keep the house in 2020. >> one of the things, i know the speaker and the chairman cut it short, one of the things they weren't able to ask about is one of the more interesting details and developments that is going to be happening today, the inspector general of the state department reaching out to the hill, to the held staff, the committee staff saying that he wants to have a briefing and that's going to be happening today and it's related to if some way, shape or form, documents about yukraine. what are you hearing about this? >> reporter: yeah, a number of democrats and republicans i spoke to who got that e-mail said they were shocked to see that. they were stunned. they had no idea what this could be about. but what was interesting to several people that i spoke to, that it came about an hour after mike pompeo sent that letter to capitol hill saying he would not essentially be complying with the subpoena for documents that the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee sent

last week and was pushing back the idea of deposing five current and former state department officials. then the ig, the inspector general, september that letter to capitol hill saying, let's have this meeting, urgent meeting behind closed doors about documents related to ukraine. documents of the inspector general apparently from the legal adviser of the state department. when i talked to a number of people, there is a lot of speculation. at the moment, no one really knows. it can fuel the democraticiment people. investigation. maybe tamps it down. of course we know the intelligence community is the one who drove this investigation saying the whistle-blower complaint is credible and urgent. we'll see what happens later today, kate. >> thank you, i know you have to run. thank you so much. pop up when you have it. jeff, let me bring you in on this, there is a spiking thing and i think i have it right here. a striking thing that adam schiff actually said during this

press briefing when he says the president wants to make this all about the whistle-blower and suggests people that came ahead with everyday and this is a blatant effort to intimidate witnesses and an incitement to violence. that is where the president's focus really is. it is on i want to interview, i want to find out the identity of this whistleblower. that is at least at the moment kind of, that's his messaging target. >> no question. and the president every day, sometimes several hours during the day, has been trying to redirect the focus of this on the whistleblower, trying to say that he's being treated unfairly, that he should meet his accuser. what chairman schiff was trying to do there was essentially expand the lens here if you will and take a 30,000 foot view of this. yes, we are going to have these hourly developments but the point is what we learned last

week when we have the memorandum of that phone call, a transcript if you will, a rough transcript, that is outlining all of this. so that is the basis of this impeachment inquiry. it is not the president going after the whistleblower. that is what he's trying to redirect this, of course. but that's what chairman schiff was trying to do there, focus on the president's words. the reality here is as i talk to republicans -- again, we're a week and a day into this. republicans are more concerned by the president's reaction to all this than the actual substance of that phone call. look what senator grassley did yesterday. he's back home in iowa recovering from a surgery himself but he put out a statement protecting the whistleblower. he has made it his life's work in the halls of the senate to protect whistleblowers. that is where the president could get into trouble with republicans is his conduct in the aftermath, never mind the actual substance of that phone

call. >> it is very clear the president was watching this press conference live because he has been tweeting. now he's tweeting expletives about democrats on capitol hill. that just gets me to my question of what is the white house -- we know there is very little white house strategy on how to respond to the seriousness of an impeachment inquiry, but what are you hearing there? >> right now the strategy is to let trump be his own defender. it's so interesting to think about the contrast between what we're seeing right now and what happened during the clinton impeachment where basically the rule was no discussion of impeachment from the president, no discussion of it even from the press secretary. they were deflecting all questions to a small group of people who were focused on this issue and they were trying to show the country, hey, we're doing other things, we have other priorities. this is a president who is signaling to the american people that he is following every twist and turn and that he thinks his best defense is to just get

incredibly personal in his attacks on democrats. it's the same strategy we saw play out during the mueller investigation. the take-away from the white house is that this is a strategy that works. >> they believe that. there is a very important significant difference here. this did not come from a dossier. this came from a whistleblower and also is backed up by an inspector general of the intelligence community who called it urgent and credible, an inspector general that the president himself appointed. guys, thank you so much. a lot going on today. i feel like i say that every day now. much more on the breaking news ahead. president trump is set to speak moments from now, this coming just after house speaker nancy pelosi and adam schiff are warning the white house against any stonewalling and saying if that's what happens, it will be considered obstruction. plus, more, an update on

senator bernie sanders undergoing a procedure for a blocked artery this week. we have an update on his recovery. also this, a plane crashes at bradley international airport in connecticut. and the dow is tanking over concerns about the economy. yes, another day in the news. it's a busy one. stay with us. hi, i'm joan lunden. when my mother began forgetting things, we didn't know where to turn for more information. that's why i recommend a free service called a place for mom. we have local senior living advisors who can answer your questions about dementia or memory care and, if necessary, help you find the right place for your mom or dad. we all want what's best for our parents, so call today. sleep number 360 smart bed. you can adjust your comfort on both sides your sleep number setting. can it help keep us asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your

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more breaking news this morning. according to the faa, a vintage plane crashed while trying to land at bradley international airport in connecticut. alex, what are you learning about this? >> still very much a breaking situation. we can see those black plumes of smoke shooting out of the aircraft. we don't know how many people were on board. we don't know the extent of the injuries. the investigation into the cause of the crash now being launched with state agencies and first responders on scene. this is a world war ii b-17 vintage aircraft. it was at the airport as part of a wings of freedom tour, which is an experience that allows people to purchase experiences on board these aircrafts. obviously a tragic ending to

this flight. we will update on the status of the people injured. >> much more on this. alex is going to be following these developments. much more developments throughout the day including president trump will be speaking at a preferenss conference this afternoon. thanks for joining us, everybody. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing this busy news day with us. bernie sanders has two stents inserted to treat an artery blockage and cancels campaign events until further notice. meantime, the stock market is getting slammed today over fears the president's trade war now causing a u.s. manufacturing slump. and high impeachment drama on capitol hill, new subpoenas from democrats, an urgent request from the state department watchdog and tough words from the speaker of the