she was a lot of fun, catherine. she enjoyed life a lot. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. as president trump tries to fight an escalating impeachment battle, we've learned a second whistle-blower has come forward and is raising similar concerns about trump's july 25th phone call with the president of ukraine. >> plus, the president seems to have a new defense for the ukraine scandal. he's reportedly told house republicans he made the call at the urging of energy secretary rick perry. >> the white house says turkey will soon be moving forward with an operation in turkey and will be responsible for all isis fighters captured within the past two years. ♪ good morning, everybody, it

is monday, october 7th. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. we begin with president trump and he has a new defense for his july 25th phone call to the president of ukraine that is at the center of house democrats' impeachment inquiry. two sources familiar with the matter tell nbc news that trump told house republicans friday that he was urged to make the call by energy secretary rick perry. sources say trump suggested it was a call he didn't even want to make. in response to that news, which was first reported by "axios," the department of energy press secretary tells nbc news, quote, this, secretary perry absolutely supported and encourage ed president to speak to the new president of ukraine. he continues to believe there is significant need for improved regional energy security which additional options for natural gas supply will provide, and this is exactly why he is heading to lithuania to meet

with nearly two dozen european energy leaders. perry is set to resign from his position next month. a second whistle-blower has come forward with information. an attorney representing the original whistle-blower says their legal team is now representing the second whistle-blower who has firsthand knowledge of the events that support the first whistle-blower. this second whistle-blower has spoken to the inspector general of the intelligence community, michael atkinson, but legal sources tell nbc news he or she is not filing a separate formal complaint. the existence of a second whistle-blower could undercut pru president trump's complaints. >> president trump has denied that he did anything improper during his call with the president of ukraine, but republicans in the white house have struggled to put out a unified response. trump tweeted last night democrat lawyer is same for both whistle-blowers? all support obama and crooked

hillary, witch hunt. the president's personal attorney rudy giuliani weighed in on twitter writing this, surprised democrat lawyer has other secret sources. swamp media will corruptly fail to point out it means nothing now that conversation is public, no money, no liquid qquid pro q. white house press secretary stephanie grisham saying this, it doesn't matter how many people decide to call themselves whistle-blowers about the same telephone call. a call the president already made public. it doesn't change the fact that he has done nothing wrong. >> only three republican senators have spoken out against the president's call for china to investigate joe biden. senator susan collins, ben sasse. collins said the president made a big mistake and called it quote, completely inappropriate. sasse says americans don't look to chinese commies for the

truth, that's a matter for american courts. senator mitt romney tweeted when the only american citizen president trump singles out for china's investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the democratic nomination process it strains kra jillcredy to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated. compare that reaction to what we've been hearing from the president's defenders. let's start with republican senator marco rubio. >> do you think it's okay for president trump to ask china to launch an investigation of joe biden and hunter biden. >> i don't know if that's a real request or him just needling the press. he plays it arthriticlike a vio >> do you really think it was serious about thinking that china's going to investigate the biden family? >> why can't you answer yes or

no? do you think it's appropriate? >> because i don't think that's what he did. >> well, i doubt if the china comment was serious to tell you the truth. >> you don't take the president at his word? >> the president loves to go out on the white house driveway, i haven't talked to him about this, i don't know what the president was thinking. i know he loves to bait the are press. >> as for mitt romney, the president lashed out over the senator's response. the president wrote in part this, somebody please wake up mitt romney and tell him that my conversation with the ukrainian president was a congenial and very appropriate one, and my statement on china pertained to corruption, not politics. if mitt worked this hard on obama he could have won. sadly he choked. mitt romney never knew how to win. he is a pompous ass in quotes, he has been fighting me from the beginning, except when he begged me for my endorsement for his senate run. i gave it to him, and when he begged me to be secretary of state. i didn't give it to him. he is so bad for r's.

i'm hearing from the great people of utah are considering their vote for their pompous senator mitt romney to be a big mistake. i agree. he is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the do nothing democrats, ##impeachmit romney. senators cannot be impeached under the constitution, and utah has no provisions in state law to recall a sitting snartd. >> president trump is escalating his attacks on joe biden and his son's dealings in ukraine and calling on the former vice president to end his 2020 bid. trump tweeted the biden family was paid off pure and simple the fake news must stop making excuses for something that is inexcusable. slee sleepy joe said he never spoke to the ukrainian company. sleepy joe won't get to the starting gate, and based on all the money he and his family

probably extorted joe should hang it up. i wouldn't want him dealing with china and you. in a statement reacting to trump's tweet, the biden campaign said it is puzzling that donald trump would love to run against joe seeing as how he sent his administration into a tail spin by trying to bully a foreign country into spreading a comprehensively debunked. joe biden would beat this pathological liar like a drum. soon trump will run out of krpts he can pressure to bail him out politically and he will lose the old fashioned away, an intervention by his own country courtesy of the american people in 2020. >> in an op-ed biden criticizes trump's plea for china to investigate him, enough is enough, every day every few hours seemingly more evidence is uncovered revealing that president trump is abusing the power of the presidency and is wholly unfit to be president.

he is using the highest office in the land to advance his personal political interest instead of the national interest. the president's most he cent violation of the rule of law calling for china to interfere in our elections as he stood on the south lawn of the white house is so outrageous it's clear he considers the presidency a free pass to do whatever he wants with no accountability. >> joining us from washington, d.c., political reporter for the washington examiner, emily larsen. thanks for betting up early for us. what do you make of president trump ramping up his attacks on joe biden and his son's dealings in ukraine? it has been the running theme now for the past couple of weeks, and how likely is this to impact 2020 voters watching the impeachment drama unfold? >> well, i think it's extremely likely that these attacks on joe biden from donald trump and some of his allies will continue. this is what the whole ukraine controversy was about to begin with, right?

i mean, giuliani wanted to have ukraine and look into joe biden's son' business dealings in ukraine to see if there was any wrongdoing there, and so that is something that i think that they will continue to highlight. as far as whether it will have an impact on the election, i think, you know, there's no evidence of illegality on the side of the bide ens. i think from that point that's not going to be a huge factor. but the biggest risk for joe biden here -- and people don't really know how this is going to work out. democratic strategists i've talked to are unsure how this is going to impact the primary race because on the one hand joe biden looks a little bit sympathetic. on the other hand some of his rivals have said they would not want their vice president's son or daughter to be serving on the board of a foreign company. so that is sort of the appearance of it being

uncomfortable is something that i think voters might think about as they go to the polls next year. >> lets talk about this second whistle-blower here and the impact it could possibly have on the white house's strategy in combatting the house democrats' impeachment inquiry. >> well, certainly i think that the house of representatives is going to be a great asset for the democrats there because they will use this whistle-blower to try and dig more into the details, perhaps there will be new information that this whistle-blower will reveal, and it throws a wrench into the arguments we've heard from republicans and the white house saying this original whistle-blower complaint was just secondhand knowledge, it was hearsay. even after the transcript of the ukraine call came out, so the second whistle-blower who reportedly has firsthand knowledge i think is going to really boost up the complaint. >> let's switch gears for a moment and talk about the reaction coming out of

republicans both in the senate and the house. you've got the so-called red wall supporting president trump, with some minor cracks when you include senator ben sasse, susan collins, what do you make of the defense that the president wasn't serious when he was talking about china, that this is part of conspiracy and it's the fbi and the deep state working against the president? >> i think the argument is sort of an echo of what a lot of trump voters and trump supporters say that whenever trump says something a little bit off the wall or a lot off the wall, you know, the democrats take donald trump literal li literally, and a lot of his base does not take him literally. i think that's an echo of what he's hearing from his voters. in that sense it makes sense why

the defenders of the president would echo that same sentiment. >> it's just interesting to me, emily, because in fact the evidence is there to suggest that in fact he's very serious in many of these instances if you look back to the russia, if you're listening moment back in july of 2016 leading up to the election. he said russia, if you're listening, talked about hillary clinton's e-mails and then there was the hacking of those e-mails later on. so the evidence is there despite what we're hearing. >> well, certainly, and i think that this is going to be trouble for the republicans as they continue to defend the president. you know, we'll see how it goes, if the president will continue to say outrageous things like this and get people riled up, how far the republicans are willing to go in defending him, especially if this turns out to be more than just talk and more than just as they say trying to rile people up on the white house lawn. >> emily larsen, thank you.

still ahead, reporting from "the wall street journal" that ukraine officials were already sweating under pressure from the white house months before trump's phone call with the president of ukraine. later, an update on bernie sanders's health after his campaign says he suffered a heart attack. we're going to have those stories and a check on weather when we come right back. you got a minute? i need your help. you see, one out of six vehicles have been recalled because of dangerous takata airbags. one of them could be yours.

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from accessing your passwords, credit cards and cameras. and people inside from accidentally visiting sites that aren't secure. and if someone trys we'll let you know. xfi advanced security. if it's connected, it's protected. call, click, or visit a store today. welcome back, everyone. "the wall street journal" is reporting that in the months before president trump's controversial phone call with the ukrainian president, ukrainian officials were already feeling pressure to cooperate with the white house to find out information about former vice president joe biden and his family. according to the journal, just two weeks after zelensky was elected he got word that trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani wanted to go visit kiev to talk to zelensky about information regarding his client's political rival. however, zelensky fearful of getting sucked into a foreign drama declined to make that meeting: over the next several months his administration tried to sort through conflicting

sign signals from washington that have become central to the ongoing inquiry into trump. long after washington decided to withhold $400 million in zelensky's difficulty consider magnified by his lack of familiarity with american politics. zelensky said he did not feel pressured by the president, but with ukraine thrust firmly in the middle, the prosecutor general announced it would look at a number of investigations that had been closed under previous administrations. however, biden was not mentioned by name. >> former vice president joe biden leads in two important primary states according to the latest fox polls. the polls show that biden holds an almost 30 point lead in south carolina, up six points since july. massachusetts senator elizabeth warren sits in second place with 12% and vermont senator bernie sanders in third with 10%. that's down four points since the middle of the summer.

in the battleground state of wisconsin, joe biden is at 28%, and leads the democratic field by six points. he is followed -- closely followed by elizabeth warren at 22 and bernie sanders at 17. in 2020 head to head matchups, biden, warren and sanders all come out ahead of the president in wisconsin. biden leads trump by the largest margin, nine points 48 to 39 followed by warren and sanders. tom stiers campaign announced that after receiving 4% of support in fox news's south carolina poll he appears to have qualified for the november debate stage. >> with that let's switch gears and bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> good monday morning. >> felt like fall this weekend. >> this week has been drama free. we're not going to be dealing with anything in the tropics, i don't think we're going to have anything in the way of severe weather or flooding. we're going to be watching a couple of cold fronts with areas of rain moving through. it's mostly an umbrella forecast.

we have a lot of them today, areas of northern mississippi and alabama get some pretty good thunderstorms waking people up. a lot of lightning. heavy rain. if you're up in the nashville area, that rain probably won't be ending until 5:00 in the morning. we're going to watch all this rain today tracking through northern new england. unfortunately a lot of laeheavi a -- leaves are peaking. a cold front will go through, it's warm and muggy in the i-95 corridor. that cold front will go through. there's not a lot of rain. this is at 8:00 p.m. this evening. a lot of the rain gets held up in areas of central and eastern pennsylvania. i don't think i-95 is going to be that bad with heavy rain, just on and off showers, light rain. the heavier stuff should be further inland. as we go into tuesday, we shift that rainy focus into areas of florida, areas to the north will clear on out. here's the rainfall forecast. the areas of blue and also the purple and the red, that's an inch and a half to two inches of

rain. we could get a soaking rain, interior sections of pennsylvania, hudson valley, northern new england. i-95, a quarter inch or less, just enough to keep things damp. if you want gorgeous, beautiful fall weather, that's everywhere from dallas, you've been waiting for days like thrks 75, low humidity and sunny. chicago looks great, minneapolis, too. we have a lot of good stuff. it looks like we'll clear out during the afternoon, evening in the northeast for our beautiful tuesday. >> it looks like phoenix didn't get the memo that summer's over. 97, 98 degrees. >> it takes them a while. >> they like to slowly ease into it. >> late to the game. >> the nighttimes cool down i'm sure. >> excellent analysis. [ laughter ] >> thanks. >> i've been studying up on my weather. >> still ahead, the supreme court gets back to work today. we could see several big decisions made about divisive issues this term. we're going to have a preview of some of the major cases on the docket next.

. welcome back, the supreme court is back in session today, and it's shaping up to be a blockbuster term. >> the justices will be hearing cases about hot button issues from immigration to gay rights to religious freedom. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has a preview. >> in one of the term's most important cases, supreme court will decide what's to become of daca, the obama era program that lets children of undocumented

migrants stay in the u.s. if they were under 16 when their parents brought them here. it now covers more than 700,000 young people including claudia quinones, a college student who came here as a young girl with her mother from bolivia. >> daca truly changed my life, and you know, i have a social security number. i have the ability to work. i have the ability to contribute and pay taxes. >> reporter: president trump tried to shut daca down but lower courts blocked the move. in another case, the justices will decide whether existing federal law makes it illegal to fire employees because they're gay, lesbian or transgender. gerald lost his county job in georgia after joining a gay softball league. >> i was fired for being gay. i lost everything. i lost my livelihood, my source of income. >> the question, does the civil rights law that bans sex discrimination also apply to sexual orientation. the court will decide whether

states can block religiously affiliated schools from scholarship programs funded with taxpayer money, whether to issue its first ruling on gun rights in nearly a decade, and whether to approve new restrictions on the right of access to abortion. and the court might take up a battle over how the electoral college is supposed to work, which is how america chooses its president. a big uncertainty is the health of justice ruth bader ginsburg after battles with lung and pancreatic cancers. >> at my age, 86, you have to take it year by year, so i know i'm okay. i was okay this last term. i expect to be okay next term. >> justice ginsburg says she intends to serve as long as she can devote full steam to the job. pete williams, nbc nuews at the supreme court. >> a lot of monumental decisions to be made over this next term. still ahead, reporting that gop senator ron johnson winced when he heard ukraine aid was being tied to the investigation of the bidens.

former secretary of state collin powell has a message for the republican party, get a grip. those stories and more coming up.

. welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. a second whistle-blower has come forward with information about president trump's phone call with the president of ukraine. while attorneys say this new whistle-blower has firsthand knowledge of the events, the white house is dismissing it. >> we get the very latest from nbc news white house correspondent kelly o'donnell.

>> reporter: good morning, the whistle-blower whose story led to the impeachment inquiry is getting some backup. lawyers for that cia employee tell me they are now representing, quote, multiple whistle-blowers. they wouldn't be more specific about the number, except to say it's at least two. a second witness is challenging president trump's ukraine call and the foreign help he sought to investigate the bidens. the new whistle-blower is cooperating with the intelligence community inspector general, michael atkinson, but is not expected to file a separate complaint. according to legal sources, this government official has firsthand knowledge that supported the first whistle-blower who submitted this nine-page document august 12th. firsthand knowledge is critical because whistle-blower one was not a direct witness but claimed to be informed by more than half a dozen u.s. officials. for democrats, this new

whistle-blower could aid their impeachment inquiry. >> we will want to hear from that person. >> people who are in the very core of all of these events are saying this can't happen. >> reporter: president trump taunted on twitter, they're going to the bench and another whistle-blower is coming in from the deep state. keep them coming. but party unity has a few splinters, three gop senators, mitt romney, ben sasse and now susan collins criticized president trump for urging china to investigate joe biden and son hunter's business there. the bidens deny any wrongdoing. collins is considered vulnerable for re-election in may. >> i thought the president made a big mistake by asking china to get involved in investigating a political opponent. that's completely inappropriate. >> reporter: responding to that gop criticism, president trump excoriated mitt romney on

twitter with belittling tweets, but he has not done the same for ben sasse and susan collins, at least not yet, and that may be because both are up for re-election and hitting them could actually help democrats. ayman. >> our thanks to kelly o'donnell for that report. >> republican senator ron johnson thought he was helping the president when he told "the wall street journal" the u.s. ambassador to the european union described in august an arrangement involving military aid to ukraine. according to the journal, he said they told him ukraine would appoint a strong prosecutor general and move to get to the bottom of what happened in 2016. if president trump has that confidence, then he'll release the military spending. johnson said quote at the suggestion, i winced. my reaction was i don't want to see those two things combined. he asked the president about it on the phone the next daynd claims the president denied such an arrangement.

chuck todd asked the senator about it on "meet the press". >> why did you wince and what did you mean by those two things combined? >> you've got john brennan on. you ought to ask brennan what did peter struck mean when he texted lisa page in december 2016 -- >> senator. >> chuck, let me finish. >> what does this have to do with ukraine -- >> man scorned -- >> what does this have to do with ukraine? >> it has everything to do with ukraine. i have my third letter to the inspector general asking to just confirm are you investigating those leaks that peter struck talked about in -- >> i have no idea why -- >> no, that's a setup. it is entirely relevant to this point. >> why a fox news conspiracy prop begaganda stuff is popping on here. i have no idea why we're going here. >> senator, i'm asking about -- >> this is underlying exactly why president trump is upset and why his supporters are upset at the news media.

>> this is not about the media, senator johnson, senator johnson, please, can we please answer the question that i asked you instead of trying to make donald trump feel better here that you're not criticizing him. >> i'm not. >> i'm trying to ask you a simple question of what made you wince. i'm asking a simple question about you clearly were upset that somehow there was an implication that military aid was being frozen because the president wanted an investigation. why did you wince? >> because i didn't want those connected, and i wanted -- i was supporting the aid as is senator murphy and everybody that went to that initial inauguration. here's the salient point of why i came forward. when i asked the president about that, he completely denied it. he adamantly denied it. he ve hemtly denied it. he said i'd never do that. >> and then we saw the read out of the phone call.

president trump's personal attorney was back on television defending president trump in an interrue befo interview before things down. >> the president of the united states has every right to ask countries to help us in a criminal investigation that should be undertaken. >> that happens to involve a political opponent. >> i can't help that. i mean, suppose the political opponent committed murder, what are we going to do? he's a political opponent so you don't investigate him? the fact is this is not a political opponent. the reality is this biden stuff, i've known it for six months. i started this investigation long before he was a candidate. i started it in november of 2018, solely for one single purpose because i'm his defense lawyer, and it exonerates him. it shows that there was a lot more collusion in ukraine than in russia. >> there's no claim even in the lawsuit that joe biden knew about this. >> you can't be that naive. if there was an article about my

brother when i was mayor, i'd call my brother into my office and say brother, cut it out, damnit as opposed to i didn't know about it. i didn't hear it. you all buy that. bull. and you should be ashamed of yourself, your profession. >> rudy, rudy, rudy, i got a hard break coming up. a 6% -- sfi can't hear you. >> have we lost contact? you have to reconnected the microphone. i'm not connected. i can't hear him. >> forget the whistle-blower, we have the transcript of the call, and the president's remarks on the lawn. >> wait, wait, before you interrupt me howard. i know you want to defend it so bad. >> i don't want to defend anything. i'm asking questions. >> it's pathetic. >> that went well. >> wow. >> former secretary of state colin powell is calling on the republican party to get a grip after many are defending the president while he is being investigated for impeachment. >> the republican party has got to get a grip on itself. republican leaders and members

of the congress both senate and the house are holding back because they're terrified of what will happen, any one of them if they speak up. will they lose the primary? i don't know why that's such a disaster, but will they lose the primary. and so they need to get a grip, and when they see things that are not right, they need to say something about it because our foreign policy is in shambles in my humble judgment, and i see things happening that are hard to understand. >> so speaking at a lek turn last week, the retired four star general could himself a moderate republican. he served under both bush administrations. in recent years he has leaned towards democratic candidates and has openly opposed donald trump. >> joining us once again from washington, d.c. political reporter for the washington examiner emily larsen. great to have you back with us. let's talk a little bit about some of this pressure we are seeing. could it amount to house democrats impeaching or could it possibly cause a split within

the republican party? how do you see this playing? >> i think we're already seeing a little bit of some cracks. i don't know if it's a full split yet. there are some house republicans who are being attacked by others in their party and privately and also by, you know, president trump publicly for just saying this. maybe we should continue an investigation, not like fully supporting impeachment. they're not saying donald trump should be removed from office, but they just want to know a little bit more, and for that they are being traitors. you have president trump calling for mitt romney's impeachment, even though that's not an actual process in utah, and so it's definitely we're starting to see that little bit of a estimaspli. the question is how long these people on the fence will wait until they decide to publicly speak out against the president or if they will continue to remain silent. >> how have the missteps, emily,

by some of the president's allies like senator ron johnson as we played a little bit earlier in defending him, how have they ultimately impacted this investigation? >> well, i think that this shows that the white house and the republicans are kind of struggling to figure out cohesive response to a lot of the impeachment inquiries and investigations and especially as new details are referred, their second whistle-blower is being represented by the same lawyers of the first whistle-blower now, and so there's a lot of new developments that the republicans have yet to come up with a cohesive response. right now the tactic is to divert and deny that there was any wrongdoing. and until i think they figure out what their next step is going to be that's what we're going to see going forward. >> have we seen that strategy of divert as you mentioned, gain some traction or even some success with trump supporters?

i mean, how do you see this -- >> or moreace as well. >> yeah, i mean, specifically, emily you know better than i do, but tell me, i mean, how does this play along the fault lines of those who are die hardcore supporters of the president and those that are on the fence? >> well, i think that those who are hardcore supporters of the president, to them this is just sort of like an extension of the russia, mueller investigation skprgs th skpr, and this is something that's a distraction. i think your average voter even if they're very engaged doesn't know the details of what's going on in these investigations. so what they see is the democrats twhowho have been cal for donald trump's impeachment since before this whole ukraine revelation came out, and so now that there is this whole new revelations and new line of impeachment attacks, they see that as just another attack on the president, and it makes them skeptical, so i think for those voters the whole divert redirect

attention to joe biden tos aspects of the mueller investigation that republicans concerned with, voters respond well to that whether it will affect swing voters, we're not really sure yet. w we're still in the early stages of this. >> thank you. still ahead, breaking news overnight. it appears the u.s. fight against isis in northern syria may be coming to an end. we're going to have the announcement from the white house. >> richard engel joins us to explain what it means to america's kurdish allies. we'll be back in a moment.

welcome back, into a major u.s. policy change in the middle east. late last night the white house announced that u.s. troops are beginning a withdrawal from northern syria. the decision followed a phone call president trump had with the turkish president yesterday. in a statement from the press secretary, the trump administration says that quote, turkey will soon be moving

forward with its long-planned operation into northern syria. the united states armed forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and the united states forces having defeated the isis territorial caliphate will no longer be in the immediate area. >> let's get some more information on this, we want to bring in nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel for us who's been standing by on the phone. appreciate you joining us this morning, richard. talk us through the latest developments on this. >> this is a major development, and there are deep, deep concerns in the region that this is going to be a bloody operation that is going to have major political consequences, major geopolitical consequences. the people who are most concerned right now are the kurds. these are the kurds who live in northern syria. these are people who have long been american allies. they were the fwrouground force helped the u.s. military, u.s.

special forces defeat isis. they are in the cross hairs of the turkish, possible turkish invasion. it is only because u.s. forces have been there protecting them that the turks haven't already moved against them. there are deep concerns if the u.s. troops leave and now president trump has given turkey the green light to go into northern syria that these american allies will be displaced, could face ethnic violence. some people are talking about ethnic cleansing. it has a very serious consequence for american allies and very serious consequences for, frankly, the stability of the region in the middle east. >> richard i've been tracking some of the comments and reactions coming out of turkey and an car, the turkish president saying this operation could be started in the next couple of days, very soon in fact. tell us, given what we've learned about how president trump conducts his foreign policy, even with some of the allegations involving ukraine being transactional, a quid pro

quo, what is it that the united states gets out of this? why do they want to withdraw, leave our allies in syria out to fend for themselves, and simply wash their hands from what they've been doing in northern part of the country for the past couple of years? >>. >> okay, so this is an incredibly important story, and it's important that people don't not understand it or fail to understand it because of its complexity, but the basic issue is this, the kurds in northern syria, allied with the american special forces and defeated isis. once they did that, they carved out a semiautonomous area for themselves under american protection. that semiautonomous area has been flourishing. it has been an area of stability, but it is right object turkish border and the turks, turkish president erdogan has long been opposed to this. he does not like the kurds

across his border have this autonomous region because he worries that will cause the kurds within his own country to rise up and cause destabilizing actions inside turkey. he doesn't like this bubble. he doesn't like that the americans have been protecting it, and president trump has been long advocating that the u.s. leave this. this isn't our problem. we shouldn't worry about continuing to protect the kurds. let the turks do this, but it was only because we had people like defense secretary mattis who resigned over this issue. we had brett mcguirk who resigned over this matter. it was only because of people like that who took very bold actions that this didn't happen before. now the those stopgaps have been removed. some people say the responsible people have left the building. now it is president trump left

up to his own decision-making capability, his own decision-making strategy. had this conversation with erdog erdogan. he had long wanted to wash his hands of this situation. erdogan has long wanted to do this, and now there are not people telling him it is a bad idea. >> nbc's richard engel for us following these developments throughout the day. thank you, richard. let's switch gears and bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins with a check on your weather. >> last week we talked about the historic heat wave. the relief came this weekend. the temperatures are back down where they should be in many areas, like new orleans still 88 degrees, a little warm today, but san antonio's 80, birmingham instead of 100 will be around 80 degrees. that's nice today, and we have a very enjoyable weather pattern to start the week in the middle of the country, no problems whatsoever. much of the east coast is kind of cloudy and damp as we go throughout the beginning of the week, and then it will actually be clearing out and getting a little better as the week goes on. the opposite will be in the case in the northern plains.

notice in north platte, high temperatures is 41. there's a significant shot, very cold air that's going to come in towards the end of this week behind a pretty big storm system. the bigger weather story is going to be isolated flash flooding. there's not a lot of weather concerns. there will be some rain moving through northern new england, central new england later on tonight. areas of pennsylvania, west virginia, kentucky and tennessee, perfect fall weather in the middle of the country. by the time we get to wednesday, we watch a snowstorm breaking out in montana. tuesday and wednesday in areas of montana and through areas of wyoming, and then by thursday and friday, it sweeps into the northern plains, areas like fargo and northern minnesota, you're going to get snow out of this. beautiful weather as we head towards friday for the east coast. a typical fall type pattern, some cold, some warm, and that's how it shifts around a little bit. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, the democratic fund-raising picture is coming into sharper focus this morning, where the money raised now stands. the reporting on joe biden and

whether he's proved himself unprepared for president trump's attacks. the latest in the 2020 race for president is coming up next. t. devices are like doorways

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it should be clear why trump's ukraine dealings are bad. it is worth taking a second to reflect just how bad because using your office to take down your political rivals is what dictators do. trump asking china and ukraine to do that should really bother us. the only question is will

republicans care, and many seem to be trying very hard to avoid commenting, maybe because when marco rubio did comment, it didn't exactly go well. >> you think it's okay for president trump to ask china to launch an investigation of joe biden and hunter biden? >> i don't know if that's a real request or him just needling the press knowing you guys were going to get outraged it. i think he did it to gig you guys, i think he did it to provoke you to ask me and others and get outraged by it. like i said, he plays it like a violin. that's not a real request. >> okay. first, he plays the media like a violin, only makes sense if he means trump plays the media exactly like he plays the violin, ie, very loud, very badly, and sometimes screaming at it for literally no reason. [ laughter ] >> all right, the former vice president joe biden has been caught off guard by the increased level of attacks from president trump. biden said quote, it is way beyond anything i quite frankly thought he would do.

long-time confidants said he is surprised that the president has escalated his attacks so dramatically and so early. we're told biden's reluctance to discuss his family in the campaign is a major reason why he has chosen not to respond forcefully until recently. the onslaught is threatening to overwhelm biden's candidacy at a time when he finds himself in a little bit of a difficult situation with his front runner status imperilled by tightening polls and slower fund-raising. bernie sanders's heart attack last week has forced his campaign to reset at a pivotal time where rival elizabeth warren has passed him in several polls. watch this. >> hello, everybody. we're in las vegas. i just got out of the hospital a few hours ago, and i'm feeling so much better. i just want to thank all of you for the love and warm wishes that you sent me. see you soon on the campaign trail. >> sanders was discharged from

the hospital in las vegas on friday while his rivals were attending a forum for service employees. many activists there were wondering if sanders will be healthy enough to keep up in the 2020 race. at 78 years old, sanders is the oldest candidate in the democratic field. joe biden is 76, and president trump as well is -- excuse me, president trump is 73 years old. massachusetts senator elizabeth warren raised $24.6 million in the third quarter of 2019 according to his campaign. warren had 509,000 donors with an average donation of $26. warren trails bernie sanders who leads the 2020 field after raising $25.3 million in the third quarter alone, but is ahead of mayor pete buttigieg's $19.1 million. former vice president joe biden is at $15.2 million. former congressman beto o'rourke told reporters that unlike his fellow 2020

candidates, he is not prepared to share his third quarter fund-raising total. >> how much money have you raised in the third quarter? >> not prepared to share that right now, but more than we raised in the last quarter and very grateful for everyone who's contributed. >> thank you. >> just don't want to, but appreciate it. >> thanks. >> coming up, a second whistle-blower comes forward, apparently with direct knowledge of the president's dealings your ukraine. >> and the president's explanation for his call with the president of ukraine, rick perry made me do it. we'll dive into that next. takata airbags. one of them could be yours. defective airbag parts can explode causing serious injury, even death. go to safeairbags.com and see if your vehicle is on the recall list. and if it is, get it fixed for free. it could save your life.

as president trump tries to fight an escalating impeachment battle, we learned a second whistle-blower has come forward. and is raising similar concerns about trump's july 25th phone call with the president of ukraine. >> plus the president seems to have a new defense for the ukraine scandal. he is reportedly told house republicans that he made the call at the urging of energy secretary rick perry. >> new overnight the white house says turkey will soon be moving forward with an operation syria and will be responsible for all isis fighters in the area captured over the past