live thursday at 8:00 eastern on c-span. watch anytime on c-span.org, and listen free using the free c-span radio app. >> the chair of the house intelligence committee is adam schiff. he spoke about the trump administration's flakka u.s. ambassador gordon sondland from testifying at an impeachment inquiry today. then republicans give their response.

>> good morning. we were informed an hour and a half ago by the attorney for the investors the state department would refuse to allow him to testify today. this was after conversations well into yesterday afternoon and evening with the state department legal advisor where there was no indication the ambassador would be a no-show. not only is congress being deprived of his testimony, the people are being deprived of his testimony. we are aware the ambassador has text messages or emails on a personal device which was provided to the state department, although we requested this the state , department is withholding those messages. those messages are deeply relevant to this investigation and the impeachment inquiry. i want to explain for the public the significance of this witness and significance of the decision evidently by the secretary of state and president or both to

this key witness's testimony today. we know from the text messages the investor was in discussion with ukrainian counterparts, with fellow diplomatic personnel and the president, as well as a -- at least when u.s. senator about the events we are investigating. we know diplomatic personnel raised concerns with him, that military assistance was being withheld a secure help from ukraine in the present's election campaign. the ambassador had one discussion with a fellow diplomat on the very subject of why military assistance was being withheld. the ambassador was a key player in efforts to obtain a commitment from ukraine to investigate a bogus conspiracy theory about the 2016 election, as well as joe biden and his son. we know the ambassador has

relevant evidence that ukrainian -- really sought -- was being conditioned on these investigations the president believed would help his reelection campaign. it is hard to overstate the significance of the testimony and the documents but the , testimony of others as well. produce thiso witness, to produce these documents, we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction of the constitutional functions of congress, a coequal branch of government. there are four issues we are looking at, all go to the heart of national security. by preventing us from hearing from the witness and obtain documents the president and secretary of state are taking actions that prevent us from getting the facts needed to

protect the nation's security. clear looking into whether the president solicited foreign help in a u.s. presidential election again. we are looking into the issue of whether a meeting ukraine test -- desperately sought with the president of the white house was being conditioned on the willingness of ukraine to investigate this bogus conspiracy theory about 2016 and investigate the bidens. we are looking at whether ukraine was given a reason to believe that military assistance it desperately needed to fight off the russians was being withheld until the make commitments to do these political investigations for the president. and we are looking into the question of whether there has been an effort by the president and secretary of state and others to cover up this misconduct.

is anador sondland important witness on each of these subjects. he is not the only important witness. we will consider this act today. we have had members flying in from around the country to hear the ambassador's testimony, as well as withholding of the ambassador's documents and efforts that may be made to discourage or have the effect of discouraging other witnesses from coming forward to testify as they have agreed to to be further accented obstruction of a coequal branch of government. this is one of the few impeachment inquiries in our country. he goes to the core of whether the president abused his office to seek political help in his reelection campaign, and did so to the detriment of our nation's security. did so by effectively coercing a country that has been invaded by

russia to investigate a rival and condition the relationship between this country and that country on whether they're were willing to play ball. that is the gravity of the issues we are investigating and the impeachment inquiry inquiry is looking into. it is hard to imagine a set of facts more damaging to our standing in the world, but also more of a fundamental breach of the president's oath of office. the american people have the right to know that the president is acting in their interests, in the nation's interest with an eye towards national security and not his narrow personal political interests. they have a right to know. the american people have a need to know. through this impeachment inquiry we are determined to find the answers. thank you. reporter: [indiscernible] your office's first contact with the whistleblower?

>> um, we understand the reason why the state department decided sondlandve ambassador appear today. it is based on the unfair and partisan process that mr. schiff has been running. you think about what the democrats are trying to do. impeach the president of the united states 13 months prior to an election based on an anonymous whistleblower with no first-hand knowledge with a bias against the president. the guy running the process, chairman schiff, did not tell the whistleblower prior to the whistleblower filing the complaint. adam schiff, the way he treated ambassador volcker in the interview last week, that treatment is the reason why the administration said we will not ambassador sondland to

the same treatment. we were looking forward to hearing from the ambassador. we thought he would reinforce what ambassador volcker told us. when give a speaker who says we need to strike while the iron is hot, when a chairman of the committee is so bias against this president that he would not even tell us he met with his staff and that with the whistleblower prior to the whistleblower filing a claim. this is a pattern with mr. schiff. he did the same thing. michael cohen. he did not tell us his staff met with him hours to prior to mr. cohen testifying. last summer, he met with mr. simpson in colorado. this is a pattern. we were hoping to hear from the ambassador today. we are to stand exactly why the administration and the state department have chosen to say if it's going to be this kind of process, selectively leak text messages, 67 pages we had.

they take a handful and release it to you and not give it full context or transcript, we understand why they made this decision at this moment. reporter: ambassador sondland says he is disappointed he was not allowed to attend this deposition today. >> we wish he would've been able to testify but we understand why the administration made the decision they did. when you have a chairman release certain parts of what was said in a closed-door interview and not release the entire transcript and give a context, you can see why they didn't want sondlandt ambassador to the same kind of treatment. reporter: is that more reason why he should be allowed to testify in answer questions? >> ambassador volcker was clear. why not release the transcript you can see what investor volcker told us?

there is no wrongdoing. he was completely no quid pro quo. on the call no quid pro quo. , the democratic chairman said no quid pro quo. adam schiff continues to have this bias against the president. >> i do believe we will get to hear from the ambassador but only when there is a fair process. this is not a fair process. we spent more time with ambassador volcker than adam schiff did. you may have noticed he came out here to the press. he gave this benign thing and raced off to a fundraiser. this has to be a fair process. when you have a press release being drafted by our democratic colleagues cherry picking text messages when the full text of

ambassador volcker's testimony last make -- last week would have been exonerated this president, let's release it. i'm all for bringing the ambassador in, but only after we released the full -- reporter: are you concerned about the president asking a foreign government to investigate joe biden, and the president saying china should investigate joe biden. do any of you have concerns about that? >> the president is doing his job. when you are talking about the hard-earned tax dollars of the american people going to wake foreign government, the president will make sure there is no corruption. he is doing his job, his duty as the president. i don't have a concern about. -- i don't have a concern about it. reporter: [indiscernible] >> we will see. >> we would like to see the volcker testimony release before we continue the depositions and

transcribed interviews. what we see in this impeachment is a kangaroo court. chairman shift is acting like a -- chairman schiff is acting like a malicious captain kangaroo. he lied about meeting with the whistleblower prior to the writinglower's ultimate of their complaint. we would like to unpack the last set of lies regarding the volcker testimony for go to the her set of lies on sondland any further witnesses. reporter: [indiscernible] >> we think there are real concerns. you have done some reporting on that. we think there are real concerns that hopefully over time they -- the american people will be able to see. we can't get really into that but we have real concerns.

reporter: [indiscernible] >> i think the american people have a right to know who the whistleblower is. reporter: why would the state department cancel this deposition a few hours before it was set to begin, after ambassador sondland had already flown here from brussels? >> the hope we would have the volcker testimony released. >> the max amount of time to release the testimony from last week. we have the information and we know in good faith they will release the testimony for the mac and people to see as opposed to parsing out little pieces that support their narrative that if they are willing to do that, i think the administration is willing to do more. it will be a one-sided deal -- >> you guys are journalists. is there a single journalist here the doesn't want to see the full transcript of ambassador volcker's testimony?

i agree, and the american people agree with you. let them judge for themselves. that is what we need to do. reporter: [indiscernible] >> you mean adam schiff made the argument? reporter: i am putting it out there for you to respond. there's an argument against releasing -- >> i have not heard that argument. >> there is an argument against transparency? there was an argument -- hold on a second. there was an argument in favor of cherry picking selective releases of texts. there's an argument in favor of only telling the american public what is best in the interest of wanting to take out a sitting -- take down a sitting president. maybe you should ask what was volcker's deposition during his interview with regards to adam schiff's fairytale quid pro quo charge that aid from the united states to ukraine was being released with the investigation to the

bidens. what did ambassador volcker say about that? i am glad you asked that question. the reason the question was so important for you to ask is because he was in this room for several hours. during several hours of testimony he talked about how president zelinski had no dea there was a hold on aid on the july 25 called. -- call. ambassador volcker testified at the readouts of the phone call made him, he asked there was nothing about there being a hold on u.s. aid or a quid pro quo. i am glad we were having this discussion. the next day ambassador volcker met with president zelinski. in that meeting there was no reference to a quid pro quo, or president zelinski having any idea there was a hold on aid. oh over the course of the next several weeks engaging with

ukraine. ukraine makes no reference to a hold on aid or quid pro quo. by the way, yeah what else ambassador volcker testified to. the aid was getting released. it was going to get released. guess what happened. the aid got released. there was no new investigation that had to be created. this whole thing is a fairytale. adam schiff is misleading you and you are playing along with it. many of you are at the rec and public is being deceived. what adam schiff said that president trump was asking president zelinski to manufacture dirt on the bidens, investor volcker testified that was absolutely untrue. that is what we call an inconvenient fact for the narrative. adam schiff has been saying he had no contact with the whistleblower. he would like to but he did not have contact. he lied.

you know what else he lied about? when he gave his opening statement before the acting director of national intelligence as to what was what the transcribed interview said. going back to ambassador volcker's interview in the process, we were here ready to do our part. if anyone is going to testify behind us closed doors we will make sure we are there to ensure the other 99% of the stories are being told. if you were not there last thursday, you would have no idea of everything ambassador volcker said to obliterate the charge. as far as administration goes if , they don't want to send the ause it is here bec a kangaroo court. minority does not have any rights for subpoenas. because the president does not have the right to have counsel present ask questions for , subpoena power, to present evidence. this is a political charade a

, clown show. we are ready for whoever is testifying in the other room but we have to be here because if we are not adam schiff is not going , to tell you. all yesterday was right now release the transcribed interview, but he won't because it destroys his narrative. it blows it up. that is what we heard over the course of several hours. they have a back-and-forth, clips from jim jordan and me where they are basically saying jerry connolly did not hear anything of what jim jordan said they heard, right? they had this back-and-forth dumbing down their audience. what is not pointed out in the connollyforth is jerry was the last person to show up, the first to leave. he was not there for any of it. what is important is we are here. we can answer any question you want as far as what ambassador

volcker testified to. you are not asking any of most important questions. some of you are. many of you are not asking the most important questions such as what did you hear last thursday we don't know about? adam schiff will not answer but he should release the transcript. house hasthe white refused to hand over documents. now the administration is blocking a key interview. does that not imply there is something there trying to hide? >> no. i don't think anyone can say it better than lee just said it. would encourage people to defy congressional subpoenas? >> we encourage adam schiff to run a fair process. which americans would go on trial without a counsel? >> nick. we will take a couple more.

[indiscernible] that is nancy pelosi's call. reporter: [indiscernible] does that impact the credibility of the whistleblower? >> absolutely. >> i know there has been reporting. reporter: [indiscernible] >> i think that is a problem. there was a preliminary investigation done by the inspector general. general. if the whistleblower is not being forthcoming -- that's a big problem. reporter: [indiscernible] that's a form of perjury. --the american peo

i think it's appropriate for the reckon people to know who the person is behind the charge that the democrats are pursuing removing the president of the united states 13 must before election. i believe the american people have a right to know. >> is important to point out you all know the american public knows more than the whistleblower does. this whole thing about what does the whistleblower know, they now know less than what you will know. we should be talking about what we know now and how to go forward. we showed up on thursday. adam schiff started with the ground rules that this would be a transcribed interview. it was not until jim jordan pushed back that adam schiff said he would allow the never stance questions. it was discouraged. he was discouraging never stance questions.

>> it went so bad for adam schiff he jumped in for 25 minutes and voices cracking. ambassador volcker was not giving them the answers they were leading ambassador volcker to conclude. more -- adamng schiff talked about four acts. the first, second, third and fourth act has reached a conclusion for adam schiff. let the american people decide what the final act will be. when the truth comes out you not see this president did withhold aid to tread it influence a foreign country to do anything. >> one thing important to point out is another show put up on sunday one of the texts from bill taylor.

follow thatd not text with the response that says unequivocally there was no quid pro quo. furthermore, with the show did not say after was the context from ambassador volcker's transcripts with regard to bill taylor's texts. you would know if we had the transcribed interview in front of us, but it's been out there in the public. he read a politico story. he wanted to get the aid to ukraine released. he was concerned and was corrected. why is it the coverage is only going to show bill taylor's texts another response correcting it, cannot provide any context whatsoever? ed as i stand here. this congress, our country is watching this who are disgusted without 2019 has gone.

all their priorities -- why are we not working together to pass usmca next week? we know it will grow jobs, increase investment in the united states. it would increase gdp. -- why areeworking we working to lower prescription drug costs? wiry networking on a bipartisan process the past parities important to constituents? an enraged appease liberal activist base insisting on resisting impeaching opposing and obstructing everything and anything. byare all being held hostage a few members of congress who have leveraged congressional primaries against democratic leadership and committee chairs. they have instilled fear on the part of their colleagues in their own conference.

they are preventing us from standing here for all of us to be able to spend 100% of our passy working together to bipartisan important parities for our country. ,f we sound like we are pissed it is because we are. the american people are getting screwed. they don't care what the crime is. they don't care what the facts are over the evidences. reporter: [indiscernible] [indiscernible] >> chair of the house intelligence committee adam schiff and house republicans speaking this morning after the state department locked u.s. ambassador george sunman from testifying against president trump. democrats are preparing to

subpoena the ambassador. the subpoena will call for the ambassador to appear before the committee and provide documents. then ashton carter, talks about working at the pentagon inside the five sided box. that's tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern on c-span two and enjoy tv this week and every weekend on c-span2. night on q&a, historian

discusses his book the vagabonds about the summer road trips taken by henry ford and thomas >> they had all these different amenities, they have a refrigerated car powered by edison batteries so they could have fresh dairy. they have chefs who prepare goal -- gourmet meals at night. they would dress in freshly ironed clothes. famous and america was so grateful to them that it didn't matter. the point was we are out in cars traveling and seeing these things. you can do it too.

>> sunday morning at 8:00 p.m. eastern on q&a. thinking about participating in 2020 competition but ybefore? no problem. we have resources on our website to get started area check out our getting started and download pages for producing information and video links to footage in a c-span library. teachers will also find materials. >> my advice to anyone who wants to compete this year. find a topic you are truly passionate about and pursue it as much as you can. courts we're asking students to create a short documentary on an issue you would like the presidential candidates to address in the 2020 campaign. cash prizes will be awarded plus a $5,000 grand prize.