[Hala Gorani, Cnn Host, Hala Gorani Tonight:] Hello, everyone. Live from CNN London on this Friday, I'm Hala Gorani. Tonight, Donald Trump is claiming he's battling corruption, but new damning text messages about Ukraine may tell a very different story. Then, a controversial ban on face masks goes into effect in Hong Kong. Protestors are angry and say they will not back down. And later, Hollywood's woman of the moment. We have the story of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's meteoric rise. Let's get right to another incredibly busy day in Washington. The clock is ticking on a key deadline for the White House, to turn over documents in the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump. But the administration suggests it will only comply if Democrats meet their demand to hold a House impeachment vote first. Mr. Trump confirmed today that he's sending a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The president also gave a fiery defense of his open call for foreign powers to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, insisting that it actually has nothing to do with politics.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] This doesn't pertain to anything but corruption. And that has to do with me. I don't care about politics, I don't care about anything. But I do care about corruption.
[Gorani:] Well, that was his defense. He repeated it, time and time again, in that Q&A with reporters before heading to an event in Maryland. In the meantime, the inspector general who deemed a whistleblower complaint against Mr. Trump urgent and credible, is talking to Congress right now behind closed doors. But some of today's biggest headlines are coming from a marathon deposition, Thursday, on Capitol Hill. Former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker had a lot to say, and a lot of documents and text messages as supporting evidence. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux tells us how they clearly show the Trump administration pressuring Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden.
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn National Correspondent:] Overnight, the three House committees, releasing an avalanche of new evidence after former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker met behind closed doors with investigators for more than nine hours. House Democrats, releasing text messages provided by Volker, showing President Trump wanted Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to launch investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden before meeting with the newly elected leader. Volker, texting Ukraine's top diplomat, Andrey Yermak, less than an hour before Trump's call with Zelensky, writing, "Heard from White House assuming President Z convinces Trump he will investigate'get to the bottom of what happened'in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington." According to President Trump last month,
[Trump:] There was never any quid pro quo.
[Malveaux:] But senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor, questioning if that's the case. Texting on September 9th, "I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign." More than four hours later, Ambassador Gordon Sondland, responding, "I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The president has been crystal clear, no quid pro quos of any kind." The text messages, also revealing just how involved Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was in setting up the call between Trump and Zelensky. The whistleblower complaint alleging Volker held meetings with Giuliani where, in one, according to "The Washington Post," he warned Giuliani "against trusting information he was receiving from Ukrainian political figures" about Biden and his son.
[Rudy Giuliani, Personal Attorney For President Trump:] If Volker had said to me that my sources were incredible or wrong, any of them, I would have immediately said, did you do an investigation? Because I really wanted them to.
[Malveaux:] Republicans, insisting Volker's deposition showed no wrongdoing by the White House.
[Rep. Jim Jordan:] Not one thing he has said comports with any of the Democrats' impeachment narrative, not one thing.
[Rep. Lee Zeldin:] The administration is in an even stronger place today than they were this morning.
[Malveaux:] Earlier, President Trump, making this stunning suggestion.
[Trump:] China should start an investigation into the Bidens. Because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.
[Malveaux:] And doubling down on Twitter, despite his pending impeachment inquiry, writing he has "an absolute right, perhaps even a duty, to investigate, or have investigated, CORRUPTION, and that would include asking, or suggesting, other countries to help us out!"
[Rep. Nancy Pelosi:] The president has confessed to his violation of his oath of office, right then and there. So we don't need too much inquiry.
[Gorani:] And that was Suzanne Malveaux reporting. All this news surfacing, as this is surfacing the head of the Federal Election Commission is going on Twitter and television to remind Americans of one fundamental point. Quote, "It is absolutely illegal for anyone to solicit, accept or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with any election in the United States." Let's bring in CNN White House reporter Jeremy Diamond for more. Despite that, the president is doubling down, tripling down, quadrupling down on his defense that he is entitled to do this, that he can recruit the help and foreign government help, to help him investigate corruption even if it means investigating a political rival at home Jeremy.
[Jeremy Diamond, Cnn White House Reporter:] That's right. We heard the president, once again today, insisting that this was a perfect call with the Ukrainian president, insisting that there was no quid pro quo whatsoever. And tried, once again, to make this about corruption rather than about his political rival Joe Biden. He said, this is about corruption, dozens of times today, during a 20- minute or so gaggle on the White House South Lawn this morning, insisting that this was about corruption and not about politics. But when he was asked about what other corruption investigations he has asked other countries to launch, he could not name any others but the one involving Joe Biden in Ukraine. So that much was clear. All of this, though, is happening the president's denials, the president's claims are happening as we're seeing these text messages between these U.S. diplomats, which, while you do see the pushback from Ambassador Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, that there is no quid pro quo. You do also have, in these text messages, first of all, concerns from career foreign service officer, an ambassador, Bill William Taylor. And you also have a clear sense that the Ukrainian government was under tremendous pressure by these U.S. diplomats, by the Trump administration, to deliver on the fronts of investigating the 2016 election, investigating the company on which Joe Biden's son sat on the board, and doing so would get them a better relationship with the United States, would get them the meeting that they had been seeking between the Ukrainian president and President Trump. So all of these pictures happening at the same time. But Congress, House Democrats are indeed moving forward with their impeachment inquiry, and the White House is simply daring them to do so, calling on Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, to hold a vote on the House floor to formally open an impeachment inquiry. This White House and the Republican Party certainly want many of those vulnerable Democrats in Trump districts, on the record about their position on impeachment Hala.
[Gorani:] And is that going to be the strategy, going forward? Just to keep on repeating that this is about corruption even though and it's important to remind our viewers that was not always the explanation Donald Trump gave for what he asked the president of Ukraine to do. Initially, it was that the European countries weren't paying their fair share and the United States was tired of always paying. Then it became about corruption, corruption, corruption. So this is another version from the one we heard early on.
[Diamond:] Yes. It's certainly true. And we have heard multiple explanations. And of course, it was the president, just yesterday, who was encouraging yet another country China, in this case to also investigate Joe Biden. We haven't heard the president make any other proclamations about corruption investigations involving anybody else but Joe Biden, who we know the president has been singularly focused on throughout this Democratic primary, believing that he represents the biggest threat to his re-election prospects.
[Gorani:] Jeremy Diamond, thanks very much. The person who got the whistleblower report and deemed it credible and urgent has been testifying in front of lawmakers today. Michael Atkinson is the U.S. intelligence community's inspector general. He's known as a straight shooter who is not involved in partisan politics. CNN will bring you details on his testimony as soon as we have them. Meanwhile, we're getting new details about yesterday's testimony from Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine. Our congressional correspondent Sunlen Serfaty has the very latest on that, and those remarkable text messages as well, that are shedding light on what top diplomats were saying to each other, just a few weeks ago, about that phone call that Donald Trump had with President Zelensky of Ukraine Sunlen.
[Sunlen Serfaty, Cnn Congressional Correspondent:] That's right, Hala. And those text messages reveal just how extensive the conversations behind the scenes were going, and the fact that there were many U.S. diplomats involved in these discussions. And certainly, we are hearing more of what the former special envoy to the Ukraine, Kurt Volker, told lawmakers behind closed doors, where he spent nine hours yesterday. CNN, as you mentioned, obtained the opening statement that he sent to the committee. I just want to highlight a few parts of that. In the opening statement, he said he was not aware of any effort to Ukraine to specifically investigate Vice President Joe Biden. He delineates, in fact, the investigation, making a point to distinguish between investigation for Joe Biden and that of into Burisma, of course, which is the energy company where Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, is a member of. And in that opening statement, he, in fact, says great things about Vice President Biden. He says, "Any suggestion that he would be influenced in his duties simply has no credibility to me. I know him as a man of integrity and dedication to our country." Now, perhaps more significant here, as we're seeing in this opening statement from Volker, a point that he's trying to defend himself, portraying himself as someone that was constantly trying to essentially tamp down the influence of Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, and his influence over Trump about these investigations, trying to make sure that President Trump sees Ukraine as a new government, committed to reforms. And that reflected in what he told the committee here, yesterday, at least in his opening statement.
[Gorani:] All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks very much. Though many Republicans in Congress are sticking by the president, there are some conservative commentators who are concerned about the president's actions. Joining me now is S.E. Cupp, the host of CNN's "S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered." Thanks for being with us. First of all, your reaction to the president today, on the White House lawn, really just hammering this message that it was about corruption, that requesting of foreign governments, to help investigate a political rival at home, that there's nothing wrong with that. What did you what do you make of what the president has been saying just over the last 24 hours?
[S.e. Cupp, Cnn Political Commentator:] Well, this is going to be a gut- check time for all of us. For voters on both sides of the aisle, for folks in the media, for partisans and nonpartisans. And also, for the global community. The gut check is common sense versus whatever spin the president is going to use. And he's going to use it all. And we've seen that over this week. We saw it today, but we've seen it ratchet up over this week, this strategy of inundating the field with information, with conspiracies, with personal attacks, trying to drown out the seriousness of each and every one of these developments, and normalize them. And the more he talks about having done it, the more he publicly says, I'm going to continue doing it and there is nothing wrong, the more he hopes you think it's normal and not that big a deal. And he might be successful in that. But it's
[Gorani:] Will that work
[Cupp:] up to all of us to trust our instincts here.
[Gorani:] but sorry to jump in,
[S.e. -- Cupp:] Sure.
[Gorani:] but will that work this time, though? Because this time, you have big-name Republicans I mean, granted, Mitt Romney has been a Trump critic in the past, he's run against him for the Republican nomination. He tweeted that the appeal to Ukraine and China is wrong
[Cupp:] Yes.
[Gorani:] we've heard from Representative Will Hurd of Texas, also saying this is wrong, China is an adversary. Will it, this time I mean, obviously, you know, most Republican elected representatives on Capitol Hill have remained silent
[Cupp:] Yes.
[Text:] Mitt Romney: 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 credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated. By all appearances, the president's brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.
[Gorani:] but some big names have not. Is it significant?
[Cupp:] Not yet. And I'll say I'll add to that: Mike Turner of Ohio, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Justin Amash of Michigan have also weighed in to condemn the president for what he has done, whether that's specifically through the texts or the phone call with Zelensky. But it's not enough yet. As you mentioned, the majority of elected Republicans have either been silent or some of them in the case of Jim Jordan, for example have defended the president and gone along with the spin that there was nothing wrong with the phone call, or nothing wrong with the president's actions. I saw Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, earlier, saying, when the president suggested China investigate the Bidens, he was joking. I mean, if we can't take the president at his word when it's backed up by phone calls and transcripts and text messages, I mean, what's the point of having a figurehead if you can't if you can't take him at his word.
[Gorani:] And these text exchanges, some of them are absolutely remarkable. One in particular has been quoted since yesterday. Bill Taylor, the top envoy to Ukraine: "Are we now saying that security assistance and White House meetings are conditioned on investigations?" And Gordon Sondland, who's the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, not saying yes or no but just saying, "Call me." You know? I mean, here this is this is just tangible evidence. These are not theories
[Cupp:] But this is what I mean
[Gorani:] that people are spinning, yes.
[Cupp:] this is exactly yes. Exactly what I mean, Hala. It is in black and white. And yet, Trump, his administration, congressional Republicans who support him, "Fox News" will spin this in multiple directions, and sow doubt in the American public. It has worked. And it helped get him elected, it helped get him through a Mueller investigation. It has worked to President Trump's advantage. And so we shouldn't underestimate how formidable an advantage Trump will have through this. That doesn't make anything that he's doing right. But we have to acknowledge that when it comes to Trump versus reality, Trump versus common sense, sometimes Trump wins. So, like I said, this is a call for all of us to trust common sense and everything that we're seeing come out of this.
[Gorani:] But I was struck by that poll, the CBS YouGov poll, in which 55 percent of all Americans not Republicans, obviously, but of all Americans support the idea of an impeachment inquiry. But within the Republican respondents, there was a growing number of Republicans
[Cupp:] Yes.
[Gorani:] who were open to the idea of hearing more about what this impeachment inquiry might reveal. So I wonder, in a general election, that has to matter, right?
[Cupp:] Yes, yes. And I'm going to be watching for that Republican number as well, because we've seen in a few polls now, that the movement on an impeachment inquiry is coming from Republicans, and especially young people, young Republicans. So I'll be watching that too. But no question, in a general election, this could peel off some moderates or some people who were kind of holding their nose, saying, well, I don't like everything he's done but the economy's good for me
[Gorani:] Yes.
[Cupp:] this could peel some of them off, no question. But his base? His base is going to continue to defend this. We'll have to see whether enough congressional Republicans, Republican lawmakers, decide enough's enough, I want out, I can't do this anymore.
[Gorani:] All right. S.E. Cupp, thanks so much for joining us
[Cupp:] Thanks, Hala.
[Gorani:] as always. Still to come tonight, Iraqi people are fed up with their own government. Dozens have been killed as weary residents fill the streets to fight for jobs, basic services, and dignity. Plus, the government in Hong Kong invokes emergency powers: what it says will no longer be allowed during protests.