JUDY WOODRUFF: A new twist
in the impeachment inquiry.
Two associates of Rudy Giuliani
who were to appear before
Congress today and tomorrow
have been arrested on charges of
violating campaign finance law.
The two, Lev Parnas and Igor
Fruman, were apprehended at
Dulles International Airport
in Washington with one-way
tickets out of the country.
This afternoon, a U.S. attorney
in New York and assistant
director of the FBI laid out
the severity of the charges
and how they strike at the
heart of our democratic system.
GEOFFREY BERMAN, U.S. Attorney,
Southern District of New York:
They sought political influence
not only to advance their
own financial interests,
but to advance the
political interests of
at least one foreign official,
a Ukrainian government official,
who sought the dismissal
of the U.S.
ambassador to Ukraine.
WILLIAM SWEENEY, Assistant FBI
Director: These allegations are
not about some technicality,
a civil violation
or an error on form.
This investigation is
about corrupt behavior,
deliberate lawbreaking.
JUDY WOODRUFF: To examine these
latest developments and how the
American public views them, our
own Lisa Desjardins
and Yamiche Alcindor.
Hello to both of you.
So much going on.
Yamiche, I'm going
to come to you first.
Tell us who these men are.
And what is their
connection to Rudy Giuliani?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, the
allegations laid out against
them are very serious in this
21-page indictment.
Parnas and Fruman are accused
of trying to channel and
funnel foreign money into U.S.
elections to try to interfere
with U.S. elections.
They're accused of setting
up a company to mask
hundreds of thousands
of dollars of donations
to foreign -- to U.S.
politicians and candidates
in a pro-Trump super PAC.
They are accused of also working
with President Trump and Rudy
Giuliani to pressure Ukraine
to investigate Joe Biden.
That's really important,
because, even as Rudy
Giuliani is saying he's
not really connected
with these two men in terms of
the work that they were doing,
these two men are accused
of essentially trying to
meddle in these elections
by using this money.
Now, it's also important to
note that these are two men that
House Democrats want to know
a lot about.
There are photos of President
Trump and these two men circling
around on the Internet, both
with Rudy Giuliani and
with the president.
The president just took
questions about this on
the White House lawn.
He says: I don't
know these two men.
I take photos with a
lot of different people.
The president said that he
hopes Rudy Giuliani doesn't get
indicted, but he wouldn't say
whether or not he was
concerned about that.
It's also important to note that
these two men were arrested,
as you said, with one-way
tickets on an
international flight.
Federal prosecutors are
essentially saying they were
trying to get out of town.
Rudy Giuliani says that
they were just going
on a business trip.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, so
again, so much to follow.
So, Lisa, tell us more about
how all this relates to
Ukraine, as Yamiche mentioned,
and to the House
impeachment inquiry.
LISA DESJARDINS: There are so
many complicated threads, but
here are the connections we know
about right now distinctly.
First of all, we know that these
two men worked not only for Rudy
Giuliani, but, specifically,
that they assisted the
president's work -- Giuliani's
work for President Trump.
We also know from reports from
many different outlets that
these two were pushing Ukraine
to investigate Vice President
Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Also, these two men are cited
in the whistle-blower complaint.
So it does draw together
some of these threads.
Judy, also today, we had a new
subpoena, not only for these two
men, but for Energy Secretary
Rick Perry.
How does that connect?
Part of that subpoena is asking
for information about why Perry
was pushing for a change in
management at a
Ukrainian energy company.
Who else might have
an interest in that
Ukrainian energy company?
Democrats say these two men
also had interest in that
Ukrainian energy company.
So a lot of sort of early
edges to this puzzle.
Many questions still remain.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, separately
from all this, Yamiche, we
have the results now of a new
poll, "PBS NewsHour"/NPR/Marist,
looking at how voters are
reacting to the impeachment
inquiry.
What do we see from that?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: This new
poll that is out this afternoon
shows that a slim majority
of Americans now support going
forward with an impeachment
inquiry against President Trump.
I want to walk you through
some of the numbers.
The poll shows that
national support for an
impeachment inquiry has
actually been up after
- - from two weeks ago.
Two weeks ago, 49 percent
of U.S. adults supported
an impeachment inquiry.
Now it's 52 percent.
That -- those numbers dovetail
with The Washington Post and FOX
News and a number of other polls
who show that the majority
of Americans want to see
an impeachment inquiry.
I also want to walk
through that independents
are a big part of this.
Two weeks ago, when we took this
poll, 44 percent of independents
supported an impeachment
inquiry.
Now the poll that's out
today shows an uptick of
10 points to 54 percent.
That's -- that's bad
news for President Trump.
He wouldn't answer questions
about this poll specifically
at the White House lawn today.
But what it tells you
is that the president is
essentially facing more
pressure with impeachment
inquiry, as he says that he
did nothing wrong, as he says
that he doesn't want to comply
with House Democrats.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Fascinating.
And, Lisa, I know
they're watching all this
closely on Capitol Hill.
What are you
learning from there?
LISA DESJARDINS: They are.
Democrats were not sort of like
jumping in the aisles over this.
But they do feel that this adds
to the cloud over the Trump
presidency, and it raises more
questions about corruption
in his administration and
among those around him.
So they obviously are trying
to get details themselves,
but they think that this adds
to what they see as their
narrative, which is, this is
an administration that tries to
cross legal boundaries
on a regular basis.
Now, Democrats are also
paying attention to some
other kind of effects of this.
As part of the indictment
today, it named - - it said
these two men had been reaching
out to a specific congressman.
We know, from transactions,
dates, times and
other reporting, that
that congressman is
former Congressman
Pete Sessions of Texas.
There he is right there.
He's not just any Republican.
He was chairman of
the Rules Committee, a
very powerful position.
The allegation here in the
indictment is that these two
men were trying to get him -- to
leverage donations with him
to get him to pressure for
the ouster of that Ukrainian
ambassador.
He has released a statement
saying there was no such
transaction, no request.
I never did anything like that.
But, Judy, he's trying to
get back into Congress.
And so this is again where
Democrats see a gain for them.
Two other quick notes
about what's happening
with Democrats tonight.
Nancy Pelosi is planning
a call tomorrow afternoon
with all of the Democratic
members in Congress.
They're going -- or
in the House, rather.
They're going to talk about
impeachment and talk about
things like, do they hold a full
House vote?
What do they do next?
How fast do they move?
As these layers pile
up, Democrats again will
have to choose which
ones they pursue and
for how long.
Finally, tomorrow, Ambassador
Marie Yovanovitch, who
we keep bringing up,
the one that Giuliani
wanted out, is supposed to
testify behind closed doors.
And my Democratic sources
say, even though she's still
at the State Department, they
think she's going to come.
We will see.
It's tomorrow morning.
We will know within 24 hours.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Her testimony
was delayed from last week.
LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And you
remind us, there has not
been a formal vote yet
to pursue an impeachment
inquiry.
LISA DESJARDINS: Not
by the full House.
That's right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Lisa and
Yamiche, thank you both.