[Jim Sciutto, Cnn Anchor, Newsroom:] Well, remember this big story yesterday? President Trump is defending his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria. This, ahead of an impending Turkish invasion.
[Text:] Republican backlash to Trump removing troops from Syria: Sen. Mitch McConnell [R], majority leader: "... would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime." Sen. Lindsey Graham [R] South Carolina: "... short-sighted and irresponsible..." Nikki Haley [R], former U.N. ambassador: Leaves U.S. allies "to die." Rep. Liz Cheney [R] Wyoming: "... undeserved gift to the Erdogan regime."
[Sciutto:] The president's move came in spite of strong opposition from several top Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
[Poppy Harlow, Cnn Anchor, Newsroom:] Their criticism, very noteworthy, especially since most Republicans have stayed silent on another key issue, the president's public call for foreign governments to investigate his political rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Doug Heye is here, Republican strategist, former RNC communications director and our political commentator. Good morning, Doug.
[Doug Heye, Cnn Political Commentator:] Morning.
[Harlow:] So you ran comms for the RNC, you were the deputy chief of staff for Communications for former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Would you advise such stunning silence?
[Heye:] Well, I think it depends on the issue. What we saw yesterday, was a lot of Republicans including Mitch McConnell, coming out on the issue with the Kurds and Turkey. That's an issue that's a policy issue
[Harlow:] Yes.
[Heye:] Republicans feel comfortable doing that. When it's going
[Harlow:] No, I hear you. And I meant on the phone call. But the phone call, I mean
[Heye:] Yes.
[Harlow:] that's about such a critical thing to our democracy. Like, do we ask
[Heye:] Sure.
[Harlow:] foreign governments to interfere or not? So how is that not a policy issue?
[Heye:] Sure. And you'd look, that should be low-hanging fruit, as should be and I say this as somebody who helped set up the Benghazi committee if Democrats said, we're not testifying to the Benghazi special committee, obviously, Republicans would have had a real problem with it. There's a silence right now. I find it troubling, but I also find it understandable, having worked in communications roles on the Hill, where your job is to protect your boss, your job is to make sure that your boss gets re-elected. And what we see, we often hear about Republicans having problems in primaries. Having worked for Eric Cantor, I know that's true. But there are also there are also potential problems in general elections if you are running in swing districts or, really, swing states in Senate races, where you don't get any reward from your base if you speak out against Trump, and you
[Harlow:] Yes.
[Heye:] don't really get any political reward from Democrats or independents if you do so as well. So you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't as well. And it's as a staffer, why I know a lot of Republican staffers on the Hill are getting requests for interviews and sliding it into the trash can and telling their boss, we didn't get any requests today. I'll let you know about tomorrow.
[Sciutto:] OK. So imagine that, self-preservation matters in politics, in Washington, for both parties here. But I wonder, as you see the polling change on this you know, "The Washington Post" poll out this morning, now 58 percent of Americans say they support the impeachment inquiry. That's up dramatically
[Heye:] Yes.
[Sciutto:] up 21 points in just
[Harlow:] Yes.
[Sciutto:] two, three months now. But notable are David Chalian noted this, that among the GOP, that as you know has been rock-solid behind this president, support for impeachment has gone from 7 percent negligible to 28 percent. Still a minority, but that's a big jump among Republicans. Do Republican lawmakers see those numbers and start to reconsider?
[Heye:] Not yet. They will if we see that in two or three more polls. Right now, we want to know, is that an outlier or is that a trend. If we get that answer
[Harlow:] Yes.
[Heye:] you might begin to see some more cracks. Look, obviously, Mitt Romney came out very forcefully over the weekend. That gives more permission members shouldn't need permission, but the political reality is that's what they look for for them to speak out. And if you do, you'll see one or two and then maybe the dam will burst. But I would tell you, again, having worked on the Hill and sometimes hidden interview requests from my own bosses in the past, you're not going to see a lot of Republicans speaking out because, you know, you see members speaking out in favor of Trump, members look at that negatively and say, I don't want to do that. And they are very mindful that you don't score points with Donald Trump.
[Sciutto:] Yes.
[Heye:] Donald Trump doesn't give points, he only takes them away, one at a time.
[Harlow:] Yes.
[Sciutto:] Doug Heye, you never his requests from Poppy and I, I assume? No interview
[Harlow:] I used to like you, Doug.
[Heye:] Never, absolutely not.
[Harlow:] All right, let me get
[Heye:] And I don't say that to everybody.
[Harlow:] Let me get your take fingers crossed behind your back. Let me get your take on this. The "L.A. Times" piece this morning was striking. It was interesting to me, the headline, why Republicans may want a House vote on an impeachment inquiry, and Pelosi doesn't. And it reminds us of the history, that in the Nixon and Clinton impeachment proceedings, the majority gave the minority the right to subpoena. Now, those subpoenas were also party to a vote. But it gave them that power. And what it's suggesting here, is that Nancy Pelosi is essentially scared of giving that power to the minority because they could
[Heye:] Yes.
[Harlow:] say, subpoena Joe Biden.
[Heye:] Yes. I think that's a fair point to make. And if you look at you know, it's troubling when you have people not showing up, when they've been subpoenaed to hearings, and it should be troubling whether that's a Republican House or a Democratic House or regardless of what party the administration is in. But also, I think if you looked at hearings over the past few weeks, they've been terrible for Democrats, they've been terrible for Republicans, obviously terrible for the country. We've not learned the information that we need to. I'd love to tell you that there's a good clear path forward, but I just don't see it right now.
[Sciutto:] Yes, yes.
[Harlow:] OK. Goodness gracious, as Jim says.
[Heye:] Uplifting, sorry.
[Harlow:] Doug Heye, thank you.
[Scuitto:] That's my mantra. Goodness gracious.
[Harlow:] That is his mantra.
[Heye:] Thank you.
[Harlow:] All right. Coming up, much more on that breaking news, the Trump administration's blocking the testimony of a key witness in this impeachment inquiry of the president. Stay right there.