that the president's personal counsel told paul man of four that he would be quote taken care of this isn't falling into page one twenty three to twenty four. that you don't consider obstruction of justice you know not standing alone both for this and that on both the same reasons and i think that is my point here you look at the totality of the evidence that's what i learned when i was in law school you look at the totality of the evidence and the pattern here and look at this the report found that the president's personal counsel told michael cohen that if he stayed on message about the trump tower moscow project the president had his back volume to page one forty right but i think the council acknowledged that it's unclear whether he was reflecting the president's statements on that day the report found that after a man of four was convicted the president and himself called him a brave man for refusing to break yes and that is not it and that is not

obstruction because the president's state of the evidence i think what the president's lawyers would say if this were ever actually joined is that the president's statements about flipping are quite clear and express and and uniformly the same which is by flipping he meant succumbing to pressure on unrelated cases to lie and compose in order to get lenient treatment and he says that is not. so discouraging flipping in that sense is not obstruction ok well look at the pattern here that the report found that after cohen's residence and office were searched by the f.b.i. the president told calling to hang in there and stay strong the port found that after national security adviser michael flynn resign the president made public positive comments about him and then when he corroborated cooperate it. changes to during your confirmation hearing i asked you whether

a president deliberately impairing the integrity or availability of evidence when to be obstruction and you responded yes and this is a different take on center feinstein's question. would causing mcgann the white house counsel to create a false record when the president asked ordered him to have a when mcgann he told them to deny reports right he tells me again deny reports that the president ordered him to have the counsel fired if you don't see that as as obstruction and directing him to change testimony do you think that would create a false record to impair the integrity of evidence or should there it fails on. the evidence would not be sufficient to establish any of the three elements there first it's not sufficient to show a obstructive. act because it is unclear whether the president.

knew that to be false in fact the president's focus on the fact that i never told you to fire him again did i ever say fire i never told you to fire him again mcgann's mcgann's i'm getting at something it's about impairing the integrity of the evidence i just see it as different this is a second thing there's no it's hard to establish the nexus to the proceeding because he already had testified to the to the special counsel he given his evidence as the report itself says there is evidence that the president actually fought and believed that the times article was wrong that's evidence on the president's side of the ledger that he actually thought it was wrong and was asking for its correction it is also possible the report says that the president's intent was directed that at the publicity and the press the government has to prove things

beyond a reasonable doubt and as the report shows there's there's ample evidence on the other side of the ledger that would present prevent the government from establishing that ok again i look at the totality of the evidence and when you look at it it is a pattern and that is different than having one incident and mr chairman yes ma'am . thank you mr chairman general bar i'd like to go back to our you know when listening to the u.s. senator any closer shot from the state of her in a soda machine you could tell she is a former prosecutor she is also one of the twenty nine candidates who has declared her to be the democratic nominee for the president of the united states putting cut pretty tough questions to the attorney general bill barr trying to see if there is a pattern that actually meets the standard obstruction. and john f. you know he's a communications former communications director for the democratic national committee he's been listening as well joins us from washington d.c.

john are know if you notice this but during this here. during the word reasonable doubt bill barr keeps using the word reasonable doubt reasonable doubt reasonable doubt but the bottom line is this is not about a criminal proceeding per se for the president of the united states this is an investigation that could potentially lead to hearings and impeachment and that is not a criminal standard the standard for that is not reasonable doubt what do you make of the fact that he keeps using that word those two words. yet there is a lot of confusion you're exactly right there is a lot of confusion about this in the american public there is the perception that if the president breaks the law in the way that he would be convicted in a court of law which is beyond the reasonable doubt standard no matter what the law is that he should be tossed out on his ear can convicted in the senate and removed that's actually not true impeachment is a political process and so the constitution allows the congress first the house and

then the senate to consider what the president is doing it has some language about high crimes and misdemeanors. but basically you're right this is and it's very clear now a very political process so bill barr litigating the finer points of reasonable doubt here and there is actually beside the point i also want to point out that one of the ways that he's saying it's so hard to establish. a a permanent case beyond a reasonable doubt if that's what we're trying to do here is that there are so many different factors from talking to the media or not was donald trump. did he actually know what was going on or not none of that actually shows that he's doing a good job as press two so the evidence that he's trying to present is exculpatory is still very bad here and i'm glad she said that because some of the things that that amy closure say are things that the president has tweeted things that he has said the attorney general actually isn't denying those exact things he's denying

his interpretation of whether or not it it's actually a crime that at one point a.b. clubber sure reference a tweet from the president were donald trump alluded to the fact that his former personal attorney michael cohen's family had perhaps committed some sort of crimes and the point she was trying to get to is she thought that that was perhaps obstruction or witness intimidation or something like that nobody even debate anymore whether or not. the president should be saying things like that. right that's right and so what the democrats are doing here i think you're beginning to see a strategy emerge which is that they're going to use hearings like this to illustrate for the american people forget what the lawyers say what your president was doing was all the things you see in the in the crime movies in the in the mob movies right that they would take care of you right or you know i could i could throw your family in jail kind of thing that are using words like flint imitating

motivating witnesses or using words like flip so so or like flip right ho ho if the things that we know what they mean so maybe bark can establish reasonable doubt that well he possibly could have meant something else so you can't throw him in jail but for the just general understanding of what this president has been up to that's what the democrats are trying to illustrate here ok the questioning does continue and it may continue in the house as well tomorrow john nothing there thank you very much appreciate it absolutely. there has been violence between protesters and french police in paris as thousands marched to mark may day this is the same in the capital as police fired tear gas to try to control the protest more than seven thousand officers for to follow it across the capital after french authorities warned security measures would be tightened here their traditional meeting union march would be hijacked by radical activists after so-called yellow best government protesters joined the march to peterson. a move or

sixty two years old and we can't get by anymore we're hammered with taxes our pensions are full and i retired with a certain amount and now i have much less and we can't get by anymore so we want to change we want renewal apparently mccrone was elected for a certain renewal but it hasn't happened to toll it's even worse than what we had before. there is unity between the yellow vests and unions but only for the protest normally the union should be supporting us for all workers will want to live by the unions have been with us from the beginning there are still some differences and we'd like them to be here with us more often. as live now from the rally in paris so what is what is the scene been in the last the last couple hours. oh it will hear. the plus to tell you which is the destination of the march most of the marches the remember the remnants all of them are in the bowl in the center of

the square listening to music and just shouting the atmosphere very calm and say it's been a fascinating day if you step back from the bangs on the smoke and the tear gas it's been said that that has happened during the day it has been always a battle of wills between the authorities and the three main protagonists ranged against the authorities you've got the unions i mean remember this is labor day and they all kind of crisis of identity you know they found themselves a sense of the eclipsed in their demands for social reform by the yellow that's it's been an important day for the all of us well they've already. six year old some fifteen billion euros of concessions from the president manuel macro on how much further come they push it without losing public support and of course is the black bloc now this was the i'm a case that the real hard core troublemakers who would turn up in the numbers of somewhere around fifteen hundred to two thousand we haven't seen i haven't seen with my eyes that the numbers guy has been trouble but the police have also been

here in overwhelming numbers seven and a half thousand police have been on duty and with a combination of new tactics and also very strong and very strong approach to tackling any hint of trouble the police appear to have kept a very tight lid on the warnings that we had for the possibility of paris turning into a city of riots holland so these different groups that you name is there been any coordination between these groups are they kind of just each doing their own separate thing at different places. there there is that they are touching at the fringes and overlapping to a small degree for example there is a kind of grouping within the yellow vests you called ultra yellows who kind of seem to align themselves more with the black blocs those who play a more direct action threatening police throwing things at the police and then of course is the unions who are leaving a little bit some of the unions leaving

a little bit more towards the yellow vests finding that after years and years of pressing for social reform the yellow vests sorry the unions the unions the press for years and years of social reform in the yellow vests which used so much in just the past five months and the unions look at the all of us and go that way if we take a tougher stance years ago we could have achieved what the all of us have done in this short period of time so yeah there is overlap and there's a lot of i think in many ways looking at the rival groups and working out whether they can do deals and make affiliations with them ok with the latest from paris thank you. there secretary of state says the united states is prepared to take military action and it is in venezuela if needed i pompei a warrants washington can intervene to stem the political crisis but pompei also the u.s. would prefer a peaceful transition of power with president nicholas witchell while leaving before elections are held as expected to hold talks with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov to discuss the situation in venezuela us president has made clear in

the event that there comes a moment and will all have to make decisions about when that moment is in the present and we have to make that decision he's prepared to do that if that's what's required there are indications that material was prepared to leave and that the russians asked him not to go those are those are those are very dangerous things dangerous for the venezuelan people and things that created enormous amount of arrest the violence will escalate something that i think no country in the region wants. meanwhile opposition leader want is calling from venezuelans to rally around the country in calling for material to step down. at rally right now and white house call comes a day after violence between protesters and state security forces on the streets of caracas has more from. the self declared interim president has called for millions of venezuelans to take to the streets to enact what he called the final phase of the operation to depose president nicolas maduro from power so

it's all a question now of how many people turn out on to the streets and how many people turn out to support the president nicolas maduro who's also called for a show of strength it's the same battle that's been running now since nicolas maduro came to power in two thousand and thirteen the difference is the very bold video the gamble the made on tuesday morning asking for the military high command in venice whether to defect to join him in the battle to depose nicolas maduro some did but not enough it seems for him to carry his plan through his whereabouts and now on the phone after he made a video at an undisclosed location late on tuesday saying that his plan was continuing and we're now having to deal with the political fallout from the case with claims counter-claims speculation to try to work out exactly what has happened with the russians involved as the u.s.

government has indicated the russians have denied any involvement but really as i say a case now of seeing how many people take to the streets in a scenario that has been played out many times before what is obvious now is that nicolas maduro has survived this latest campaign to depose him he remains in power waiting to see what steps he can take next. forces loyal to libyan will word tar have detained two turkish nationals narcan met to mare were taken from southern tripoli and accused to being spies a charge turkey denies on monday turkish president russia typer to describe tough tours advance towards tripoli as a plot against libya's people and the route of talks between the taliban in the us started in qatar the state department says its peace envoy side is visiting to meet representatives of the afghan armed groups it's a six round of talks between the two sides who are trying to find a framework for peace in the country the afghan government has not been part of the

talks the african union has urged sudan's military council to hand over power to civilian within sixty days military council earlier warned protesters not to take the law into their own hands the demonstrators accuse the army of clinging to power and are demanding an immediate transition to a civilian government. showing us president says human rights groups should take some responsibility for the easter sunday bombings by the process saying and made the comments during an interview with al jazeera accusing the groups of working to weaken the country's intelligence services and offer and assess more from colombo. investigations continuing in the days following the deadly easter bombings we're hearing reports that a novel safe house where explosives had been stored was found in the east of sri lanka after the arrest of the driver of a parliamentarian from that area now as the rest sat down with president my policies and his office you see behind me still heavily fortified with security we

did ask him about his reference to the responsibility of civil society in weakening the intelligence services one reason he gave for the huge intelligence lapse we asked him if he thought that people could not be protected unless human rights were violated. this is not a question of whether it can be without violating human rights human rights organizations mainly a few of them worked to weaken the armed forces and intelligence over the last four years i made these accusations because they must act with responsibility receive guard human rights in whatever we do human rights organizations don't need to teach us about human rights these institutions have become businesses with a foreign income and i am completely opposed to those people getting involved in state affairs. the president essentially saying that human rights organizations don't need to preach to him that he was well aware of human rights and the need to

protect them now security as we said is being tightened the president instructing the three armed forces and the police chief to ensure that security around places of worship and schools are tightened this is we hear of the possibility that schools will resume in the following week of course still a lot of concern among parents among the general public about how things will unfold and people still as much as there's more traffic on the streets and people are coming back they're still very conscious of. of the overall situation and waiting to see. these are the headlines right now on al-jazeera u.s. attorney general william barr has defended himself against allegations that he misled the public to protect president trump and his summary amala report right now

still testifying before the senate judiciary committee or talked about the letter from muller that said his conclusions were misrepresented in our case. and i called bob and said but what's the issue here our usage and i asked him if he was suggesting that the march twenty fourth letter was inaccurate and he said no but that the press reporting had been inaccurate and that the press was reading too much into it and i asked him you know specifically what his concern was and he said that his concern focused on his explanation of why he did not reach a conclusion on obstruction but he was very clear with me that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report and there's been violence between protesters and french police in paris as thousands marched may day more than seven thousand officers were deployed across the capital after authorities warned of so-called radical activists. the leader of the pakistan based

armed group mohamed has been declared a global terrorist by the un my citizens group claimed responsibility for february suicide attack in eastern administered kashmir that killed at least forty troops there secretary of state says the united states is prepared to take military action in venezuela if needed but pompei warns washington could intervene to stem the political crisis pompei o. said the us would prefer a peaceful transition of power but nicolas maduro leaving before elections are held . meanwhile that israel is bracing for rival protests in the capital caracas hundreds of supporters of opposition leader wang and loyalist to president nicolas maduro are protesting on the streets. a new round of talks between the taliban and the u.s. has begun in qatar the u.s. state department says its peace envoy. it is visiting doha to meet representatives of the armed group the afghan government is not fair or so the headlines keep it

here on al-jazeera inside story is that next. a dramatic move to take power in venezuela folds as the president says he's crushed an attempted coup but the opposition leader maintains an uprising has only just begun he's backing them and what's next in this political crisis this is a story. hello

and welcome to the program i'm in wrong on venezuela's president is hailing victory after what he calls an attempted coup nicolas maduro is promising to prosecute those behind a dramatic attempt to remove him from office on tuesday opposition leader one cold on the army to oust majority but by the end of the day i was in hiding and dozens of people were injured in scuffles with security forces both sides are doing that supporters to hold more protests has the backing of more than fifty countries including the united states which is calling for a peaceful transition of power but secretary of state warned military action is possible if that's what's required we'll get to our discussion in a moment but first this report from our latin america editor the see anyone. it was perhaps his boldest move yes opposition leader one wide all appearing before dawn in front of

a crack us air force base surrounded by some twenty five soldiers appealing to the military to join him by his side was. perhaps than israel's most famous political prisoner he announced he'd been released to house arrest by security forces who turned against president nico last mughal ability to defend freedom out with tyranny everyone out onto the street. opposition supporters answered the call but were pushed back by security forces dozens were injured in clashes between pro and anti-government groups. after he and lopez took part in a march by dog disappeared from sight amid nagging rumors that he would be arrested but come nightfall he issued a new call from an undisclosed location venezuelans to rise up again. we will continue calling on the armed forces to take part in the final phase of operation liberty to rescue our dignity that is why on may one we will go back onto

the streets nationwide gathering in the areas we have already designated. president maduro responded on nationwide television surrounded by army officers whose continued support he depends on. this was truly a fake a minor a simulation and that's why eighty percent of the military and police who joined them in the beginning had left them by newt. but amid reports that his support may be cracking u.s. secretary of state might come pail said had been about to step down and go to cuba but was dissuaded by russia another key ally. says that's rubbish and adding more fuel to the geopolitical crisis president donald trump is again pointing the finger. he is warning about unless it immediately withdraw what he calls military help to the model regime he will slap on what he is now describing as a full and complete embargo as well as height will be economic and financial sanctions

. in venezuela weibo and mother who are both planning to mark international workers day with a major show of strength on the streets one to try to force the president from power the other to try to maintain it you see in human. let's bring in our panel joining me on skype from miami. former mayor of chuck our district which is an opposition stronghold in caracas from merida venezuela also on skype paul dobson journalist at venezuela analysis dot com and from work in the u.k. tom long professor of south american politics at work university welcome all to the program i want to bring in roman which. first i saw it on t.v. as we all did a very bold statement a very grand statement that the attempted coup was underway now he's in hiding is

this it for him as he finished. well no i mean. what happened yesterday manish was. try by president way bill. to move forward and. the regime in a situation where the military around. will just need to recognize plato or as a precedent i mean this is not is intuition it's really it's really hard and really difficult to understand many things moving at the same time but way too it's trying to push the military to change sites this is not easy we don't know if that's going to happen anytime soon but wait dog close your border not bits and it was easy it's frightening hard to reach that will let's bring in pulled over and.

in venezuela poll majority must be thinking that he's got the upper hand right now . without a doubt i think the events of yesterday were can only be considered a failure for white zero five but only fifteen soldiers he did his call to rebel against their chain of command is definitely a victory for milo and the fact that mulroney didn't feel the need to come out and speak to the nation until the evening as well which shows that there are certain level column within his office and those definitely no panic from the government and i think they would definitely fear that it was a victory for their side yesterday so long in warrick madeira has the support of not only fifty countries but the u.s. has the support of the u.s. as well so fifty countries the us yet still this coup seems to be faltering it's full of false starts in your opinion as a south american specialist is this just par for the course or would you think he's actually faltering and this is getting towards the end of the situation in

venezuela well i think there's been there's been a bit of a tendency to try to interpret what's happening in venezuela through a lens of great power politics that this is really about the u.s. russia and china squaring off in venice well or but i think the events of yesterday and really the events of the last few months show that the determinant factor is for what happens in minutes well are located within venezuela. and so i don't think that this situation is over yet though yesterday was not a good day for ford why though but a lot of the underlying problems are still there and unchanged so a very interesting point ramon i want to bring you in here it's not quite the end but yesterday was a bad day for gordo seems to be what we're hearing right now but has he got the support within the country if this is about international power play between russia

china and the u.s. he needs the support internally do you think he has the support why has not shown itself. in greater numbers yet there's no doubt one way though has a very strong a large soup or popular support is for the most venezuelans want one change as you know we haven't in the middle of our great humanitarian crisis what we saw yesterday was not act cool a tent but an attempt by the way bill to be recognized as a legitimate president and start the transition in venezuela transition to back to the mother city and to have fair elections that the main thing wedo has it's a strong bitter support he's not having military for yet and that's the only thing he really needs the only additional pain he needs to move forward and answers he should go back to the ma prosy and open venezuela to receive

international help and some find nancy that it's much needed to reveal their country but again right now p. point military support way does not have the military support he needs yet we don't know how long will this take but there's no way to resolve the venezuelan crisis we don't gating without getting out of power i mean there's no way out of the humanitarian crisis and a political crisis with my little bit of york with motivate others will keep seeing the same he movie sic terror movie should i should say we have we're watching in venezuela but ramon if as you say he does have popular support the why hasn't that translated to support within the army soli the army know which way the wind is blowing. yeah well reason is that it's an it's a great question we don't have an army. in the state to share

mean we haven't won a ministry that but there is not an army as an organized institution that it's under the constitution when we haven't you know there's a bunch of people with arms but they are at the end not to the constitution but to my doodle and to challenge me and to the revolution so that's that's a key point chavez systematically destroying they armed forces in venezuela and there's no way i mean it had been very difficult for them to react they have been trying i mean there's a lot of these guns and incite the armed forces and we know that that these guys yesterday or oh it or a month ago we got average asshole rebellion me a piece out and we have being you know a baby here and there needed sorry it's there before and there are like more than five hundred military columbia he crossed the border to do a trip to support away goals so i mean there's

a lot of these contained but for but there is no way for them there's no way to transform that these contain inside the military can any city to turn all. of sirte to these from you know situational move forward to get rid of a model and support waiting hold of some let me bring you in here wrote on literature as saying it's just a matter of time the army will change its mind and this is about tactics and just in some ways a waiting game to believe that. i think no i think any change in the political line of an estimate has to come to elections has to come through the ballot box and its way to one of the meant democratic countries in the world with around twenty elections in the last eighteen or nineteen yes. all of these elections have been observed by and independent international observers have declared to be free and fair so i think if the venezuelans want to change the political course of a country they have accounted do it and there's a through an election. as

a way to have free elections in venezuela and like the last elections we had all these problems started when my little tried to sworn in as president after i mean lections it was not recognized by the democratic we're i mean there's no way to have square elections in venezuela. just in a way and we now you know recognize their position to see how they are from or to see in the last elections you have to do it all up with for example or do they get up to this main opposition leaders were now i'm able to even run ask candidates for sent them sell me there's that's what's going on i'm going to spread out so we need to get rid of the always that dictator and then start transition that would get us to free and fair elections we international community monitoring that and let me bring in let me bring it home long ahead we've heard both of our guests that. pro and mentor a point of view will probably get a point of view but we've heard the words peaceful transition of power there needs

to be elections in your opinion why didn't that happen before and is it possible with the political landscape as it currently is. well i would say that political scientists are largely in agreement that elections in venice will have gotten less free and fair for for all sorts of reasons. as a sort of gradual process of the consolidation of power by the government. one point regarding the military as well i think it's important to remember that the military is not a monolithic institution either in terms of how it is organized or in terms of the politics of people within the military so part of the events of yesterday were not just to see whether the military as a whole would swing one way or the other but to see whether the military might

might fragments or indeed whether divisions within the my little government would would come to the light. coming back to your question about a negotiated transition yes i think that it is possible still. after the events of yesterday the immediate context for it is not particularly favorable. and that is some sort of a negotiation in which mother would or would allow greater representation of the opposition. first of all it's not clear for years that modo has been interested in doing anything along those lines but the events of yesterday give him very little motivation to do so unless he's given a strong push in that direction by other figures within the government or the military that's a very interesting point pull and i want to bring you in hey if he's so confident and mature is so confident that he has the populace most of the people want to just

call the election and be done with it. well i think that some extent it's a question of pride venezuela has its constitution venezuela has is elections why should he call new elections just because donald trump and john bolton are calling and ramos out your call example do say venezuela has three elections last year and and to some extent the venezuelans had their opportunity to l.a. they had two left wing candidate two right wing candidate the fact that some party decided not to participate doesn't mean it doesn't necessarily mean that the elections were unfair there was an opportunity for everyone to participate within the realms of venezuelan law so mother a basically says why do we need to you know we're we're not we're not anybody's lack rights we're no a colony of the united states we had our elections and our laws said that these are the monday now last until two thousand and twenty five unless there is a recall referendum for a long research what's your response to that. well you just let me point out that

they are going to say tional american stages keep getting out my mother was representative and welcome that i would use a new wave of representative. for representing now the benefit of the government because let the governments of the region just read that mags for likely that there were not elections not favorite elections in many square so you know that's a very hard fact it's very unusual to see something like these apennine ever being in. a place like they're going to say shut up american states but very very are going to there is no democracy to say that there were no when elections are still waiting to happen let's do it looks and we need to get my little out of power to be able to move to a transition back to the moxie it's a real i mean it's a very heart fact told long and. taking this broadening is how to read to the regional governments they must be looking at venezuela right now and wondering one

earth is going on but wondering what influence they have who are the big players and what were they looking for as an outcome for venezuela. well i think one of the immediate outcomes that countries in south america are concerned about is the refugee crisis if you look at a country like colombia it's had more than a million venezuelans come across the border and this is a huge issue for colombia colombia of course is going through its own peace process and instability in the border regions many of which were at the center of the colombian conflict and continued to be at the center of all sorts of dynamics of organized crime contribute to instability and make it really difficult to consolidate any sort of a meaningful peace so that's a massive issue for colombia for brazil but really really for the entire region so stability is paramount also you certainly have countries with ideological interests

at stake that's become very clear in brazil with the positioning of. nato as well as the p.t. where venezuela has essentially become an extension of domestic political battles within within brazil so this is a this is a huge issue for different for different reasons but perhaps one where those countries are exercising less influence then than they they had they had hoped. part of that is because as long as the government is able to continue to have access to some sort of resources through the sale of oil even if that's the minish and it's able to maintain a relatively high degree of control over the armed forces it's able to consolidate and hold on to its position of defacto power with within venezuela quite

effectively let me bring in ramon. ramon one of the outcomes that certainly the u.s. is discussing in a wider signs rather than that it can grow. still a political sense is this idea that troops should u.s. troops may well intervene within the venezuelan conflict the venezuelan situation right now you don't want this to turn into an armed conflict in venezuela just for the sake of getting greta into power he. is out and i got your question. is it seventy eight possibly if the u.s. using force or send the troops to vanish away that i mean that. it's a very deep i mean it will be very difficult to get to the point i think sending troops to venezuela right now it's it will be part of a larger debate in the middle of a political competing in the u.s.

i don't think i don't see the u.s. government sending troops to venezuela anytime soon and being mother riggs counting on that and i think the russians and the cubans are counting on that too so that's probably why those scenes look so relaxed about what's going on i think he's really really sure that will never happen and colombia. your other guest was saying except that they are there is suffering for the migrant crisis but they are more than willing to keep a dealing with that crisis instead of sending troops to venice way that all members feel are farther much farther than the u.s. from passivity this so i'm not i don't see i don't foresee any action force a b. c. and any international troops are going to vanish way that any time soon however i

do think that's a possibility that should remain on the table and that we i mean i don't see any other way to get rid of muddle by the way i mean this is so hard so complex i don't see any other way to to get out of model right now pull those then there's no other way of getting rid of madhura unless there is real military options on the table by the u.s. as with dora worried about this. well i mean this is a position from a crew member and he saw a democrat would say elections but you know we've already talked about it so i think you know i think by the order is definitely worried about the threats of u.s. action both overt and covert we can't really talk about u.s. intervention in its way without to craft covert action as well which has been going on for some time. for example we only saw today that the u.s. have found low flying aircraft in venezuela neath base which is a traditionally historically them is a precursor to airstrikes so this is

a very worrying piece of news coming out of the white house but the main point here and it's a following are the u.s. generally preparing for some sort of armed intervention in venezuela or all these sorts of actions have taken taking mere pressure tactics to try to change the dynamics of power internally in venezuela intervene let's say without actually pulling the trigger this is a question which we're trying to figure out here in venezuela and most venezuelans the vast majority of us don't opposed to any sort of foreign intervention be it american colombian brazilian or from any other country so this will be definitely meet great resistance if the u.s. did decide to send troops on the ground to venezuela so long in work is the russian u.s. and chinese role helpful at all in the situation. no i don't think it's particularly helpful in finding a resolution certainly u.s. saber rattling i think is intended to create this sort of a shadow of

a threat to see whether that will change some minds in not of motherhood directly so much as the minds of those who surround him. but i don't think it's likely to be a particularly effective threat u.s. threats yesterday against cuba i think are very unlikely to change cuba's position in venice where the and russia which has to my mind largely used to venezuela as a way to to poke a finger in the united states i. is not taking on a particularly helpful role here either you know there are some serious proposals to try to act as as mediators from the lima group or from mexico into why the problem with that has been that there is a total lack of trust between the two sides who would be sitting across the table from one another and for some for some very good reasons. the opposition doesn't

feel like like previous negotiations with moto were really done in in good faith but having the united states kind of rattling the saber at venezuela doesn't make it much easier to to start that process of dialogue either i just want to thank all of our guests we are running out of time on the charger poll dogs and along thank you very much and thank you as well for change you can see the program again any time by visiting a website al jazeera dot com and further discussion goes well facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story and you can also join the conversation on twitter handle is at a.j. inside story for me among and the whole team here i think. i.

he puts up your own record on this trial in fact a few years ago there is place only for one state on the land of israel i do not believe in a two state solution for the official story is that there are no i'm sure we all feel sorry i don't care about the official story if you were to go visit today you would say what has the media been tallied now the world is watching life there's lots of plays in here join me mad the hot sun on the front of my guests from around the world take the hot seat and we debate the week's top stories and big issues here on al-jazeera. it's a daunting climb to one of the holiest sites in bhutan taiga's ness bald history

seems to defy gravity every few cities is expected to complete the pilgrimage to ensure peace and happiness but it became a democracy in two thousand and eight the time put happiness at the center of all political policy inspiring the un to pass a resolution urging other nations to follow bhutan example but how do you measure it many brits a nice happiness is what we ensure it's if it is quantifiable but by simply turning its pursuit into policy time has done what no other country has. as we embrace new technologies rarely do we stop to ask what is the price of this progress what happened was people started getting sick but there was a small group of people that began to think that maybe this was related to become. an investigation reveals how even the smallest devices deadly environmental and health costs we think ok we'll send our you waste to china but we have to remember that air pollution travels around the globe death by design on al-jazeera.

we understand the differences and the similarities of cultures across the world. so no matter where you call home al-jazeera will bring in the news and current affairs that might to tease. out to zero. zero. but i'm richelle carey this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes the u.s. attorney general rejects allegations he misled the public to protect president trump and testimony before the senate. plan in caracas as the u.s.

secretary of state raises the stakes in venezuela's political crisis. on the balance in a steep fall in the lungs and with the latest from europe including trouble in the british government u.k.'s defense secretary sucks eggs for a leak about the chinese telecoms giant twal way i want people to go to school eight hundred meter pick and will champion costs and then your loses her finds against the rules which would force her to take her still soon reducing medication if she wants to defend. his attorney general william barr has defended his actions over the handling of the russia report submitted by special counsel robert muller he made the comments while testifying before the senate judiciary committee are released a controversial short summary of the report after mahler completed his four hundred

forty eight page of pages of findings that is in my. on tuesday it emerged the attorney general received a letter from special counsel muller expressing concern over the summary miller said that bars conclusions is a quote did not fully capture the context nature and substance of his report in a crowded senators are now pressing bar on his finding particularly on whether president obstructed the investigation also in the letter moller sent to the attorney general he wrote there is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results are of our investigation this threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the department appointed the special counsel to assure full public confidence and the outcome of the investigation and the opening statement bar talked about the letter from muller. and i called bob and said but you know what's the issue here our usage and i asked him if he was suggesting that the march twenty fourth letter was inaccurate and he said no but that the

press reporting had been inaccurate and that the press was reading too much into it and i asked him you know specifically what his concern was and he said that his concern focused on his explanation of why he did not reach a conclusion on obstruction. but he was very clear with me that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report on pressure or trying to silence me from capitol hill or the latest so allan obviously this is a partisan exercise politics is partisan maybe even even keeping that in mind or publicans the democrats have had completely different things and they're questioning what is it that we've seen so far today. exactly dick durbin who is a veteran democratic senator from illinois perhaps summed it up best when he said that the republicans are going with. defense because they've talked

a lot about hillary clinton and her use of a private e-mail server which happened six years ago and actually if you look at what this inquiry is about it is about the twenty six thousand election and russian interference so they're actually making a valid point that the republicans are slightly off topic here but this is to throw a bit of confusion a bit of mud in the and hoping that some of it sticks what we've seen in the last oh has been actually very instructive bill bar when he was asked about the donald trump asking someone to change their testimony he said that that isn't necessarily obstruction of justice. who is a democratic senator who has already announced the she is running for the democratic nomination for president for twenty twenty she said as a former prosecutor and law school she was told when you given the two tallaght of evidence you look to see some whether whether someone has committed a crime or not and really with ten instances of possible obstruction of justice she

was suggesting that donald trump should be facing charges now bill barr has been very you stewed throughout this he's saying luke donald trump wasn't guilty of obstruction what he was perhaps guilty of was frustration frustration at being accused of something which. special counsel's report phone did not happen that is a conspiracy between the trump campaign and the russians to alter the election day just. in twenty sixteen and so he's saying that is why this can't be obstruction of justice it was just the president being through street to richard blumenthal who has been the butt of some of donald trump's tweets in the past when he was very specific with bill he said that history will judge you harshly because he believes that he's been appointed the fall guy for the miller report to present this evidence to the public and it's interesting that. he says

the bar said during his exchange with richard blumenthal that we have to stop using the criminal justice system as a political weapon no democrats will point to that and see this is exactly why bill barr is in position why don't we wanted him as his attorney general he is there to protect him from political attacks like this of course the senate and the house where bill barr is due to give evidence on thursday will say no no no this is oversight this is what we're meant to do this is a job as one of the three branches of government there's at least two more democratic candidates for the presidency still to ask questions to bill barr so this rough afternoon from here for him still isn't over ok alan fischer live for us in washington d.c. allan thank you jennifer here is

a former communications director for the democratic national committee he joins us also from washington d.c. so john some of the senators have taken their time their questioning to to spend a little bit of time talking about specifically russian interference in the election that's really how how all of this started and there was a moment a while ago where senator chris coons put the question to build. are if in two thousand and twenty a foreign power let's say north korea has pulled north korea as an example approaches one of the candidates and says i have dirt on on another candidate should not that campaign go to the f.b.i. and the attorney general of the united states pause pause for a full three or four seconds before replying and then his first reply was well what do you mean he mean a form long story short if there was a pause and being having a forceful response to what a campaign should do what do you make of the fact that that's where this

hearing is. you're you're exactly right to call that out and as was senator coons that is exactly the issue here and i think what democrats are going to be trying to do as a political matter is illustrating not just the sort of mob like behavior that the president and the ministration engaged in that is focused on in the mall report as potential criminal obstruction of justice but also very much the underlying conduct nobody thought that the behavior that the campaign against it in twenty sixteen nobody thought that was legal prior to this close examination and not total exoneration at all by robert mueller but robert mueller did not find enough evidence to prove a particular kind of a conspiracy count beyond a reasonable doubt that's fine as a criminal matter but it had always been understood that the correct thing to do if you had any suspicions of foreign interference in american election what's

a go to the authorities immediately and you're right that three or four seconds from the united states attorney general the top law enforcement officer in the united states that his position now is that he has any confusion about that whatsoever tells you who he is serving he is serving his political master first and only reason to pause in answering that question is because he's thinking about what would donald trump say what will he feel will he fire me if i answer this obviously correct way to try and navigate his way out of that so. the special counsel robert mueller my understanding is that the hague has agreed to come testify before congress at some point. what do you think will be gained from that. well i think seeing muller himself and getting a chance to see the man himself speak to what he found i think is potentially

extremely powerful because there are lots of cover and little corners of his report that in very precise legal language say words to the effect of we were not able to find this double trump refused to sit for an interview with us and so there are all kinds of incriminating details in the report in fact there's a pile of evidence of what could and should be called collusion there where you have the trunk campaign aware that a hostile foreign powers trying to interfere in our election and in fact encouraging that concealing that facilitating that in a variety of different not provably criminal ways but nevertheless enthusiastic ways and i think to see robert muller who has been held up even before this assignment as sort of a paragon of rectitude and right thinking and right behavior in our country to see him react in the moment so what he found i think could be politically explosive ok

john f. ing or thank you so much for joining us. you better show here secretary of state says the united states is prepared to take military action in venezuela if needed might pompei a war and that washington can enter vein to stem the political crisis pompei o. said the u.s. would prefer a peaceful transition of power if president nicolas maduro leaving before elections are held also hold russia with the stabilizing venezuela and renewed calls for it to end its support for mentor oh. the president has made clear in the event that there comes a moment and we'll all have to make decisions about when that moment is in the present and we have to make that decision he's prepared to do that if that's what's required there are indications that the door was prepared to leave and that the russians asked him not to go those are those of those are very dangerous things dangerous for the venezuelan people and things that created enormous amount of risk the violence will escalate something that i think no country in the region wants

meanwhile rival rallies are being held in venezuela's capital caracas in support of opposition leader was quiet when president nicolas maduro police fired tear gas or protesters attempting to block a highway were attempted to start a military uprising on tuesday estimator accused him of trying to stage a coup and promised criminal criminal prosecutions and the last hour by the address to supporters saying his side was waiting despite the lack of military backing. is already been defeated we want to live in ca and our electricity and water supplies i want to say that we are on the right path we are being listened to they want to join the country together me to forward the regime cannot imagine someone saying he's the president even though he has this regime hasn't got control of the country they'll try to stop me and persecute me and they'll think that they'll stop us but we know who the winner is. oppositional.