did my coordination my core function which is coordination i spoke to the appropriate people within the inner agency and then circling back around mr eisenberg came back to me and told me not to talk to him i'm going to read from the transcript here why don't you go to your direct report mr morris and your response was this page one of 2 because mr eisenberg told me to take my concerns to him. and i ask you did miss did mr eisenberg tell you not to report to go around mr morsi and you said actually he did say that i shouldn't talk to any other people there right yes but there's a hold there's a period of time in there between when i spoke to him and when he circled back around it wasn't that long a period time but it was enough time for me to enough time to go to talk to someone that you won't tell us who it is right i've i've been instructed not to represent of jordan what here's what i'm getting the lawyer told you don't talk to any other people and you interpret that as not talking to your boss but you talk to your brother you talk to the lawyers you talk to secretary can you talk to the one guy adam schiff won't tell you what let us won't let you tell us who is the right

represent i did my job i'm not saying you did it all i'm saying is you and your the instructions from a lot the lawyer was you shouldn't talk to anybody and you interpret that is don't talk to my boss but i'm going to go talk to someone that we can't even ask you who that individual is that is incorrect with i just read what you said that i shouldn't talk to any other people but i'm on has expired there's i'm sorry chairman but that sequence is not the way it played out i've been trying to turn around script kernal been better and please let. the sequence played out where immediately afterwards i expressed my concerns i did my coordination function mr eisenberg circle back around told me not to talk to anybody else in that current time i did not discuss that when it happened that's when you're talking sized mr head that's right thank you mr chairman colonel inman let's go back to. their meetings on july 10th and bester bolton's office and down in the ward room where

you witnessed ambassador sanyal and inform the ukrainian officials 'd that as a proof to a white house meeting between the 2 presidents quote ukrainians would have to deliver an investigation into the bidens in quote you said that ambassador saddam was quote calling for an investigation that didn't exist into the either or is not correct that is correct. it's that same afternoon you went to mr eisenberg the council correct that meeting occurred in the afternoon and within you know a couple i'm sure was it was within a couple hours i spoke to mr eisenberg how did he react. he was cool calm and collected he took notes and he said he would look into it and did he not also tell you to feel free to come back it did not additional concerns you did congressman ambassador siloed had told you that his request to the ukrainians had been coordinated with the chief of staff acting chief of staff mick mulvaney your report out to mr eisenberg i did and what was his reaction. he

took notes and he said he was going to he'll follow up or look into it i don't recall exactly what he said colonel you've also testified that on the july 25th call now between the 2 presidents quote there was no doubt in quote the president trump asked for investigations into the 26th election and vice president biden's son in return for a white house meeting within an hour of that call you reported that mr eisenberg did you not i did went back to him just to see it's just it would be appropriate he's an assistant to the president it was less a suggestion more than more of an instruction did you tell the lawyers the president trump asked president on ski to speak to mr giuliani yes and the lawyers it was at this point told you not to talk to anyone else that that's that is not correct with regard to timing they didn't follow by

a. circle back around what ended up happening is in my coordination role i spoke to start state i spoke to a member of the intelligence community and the general counsel from one of the of the intelligence bodies notified mr eisenberg that there was. or that there was. information on the call on the july 25th call at that point mr eisenberg told me i shouldn't talk to anybody else about it colonel i want to go back to 2014 in iraq when you were blown up i presume that given the point your military career and what else was going on in the world that upon recovery there was the very real prospect or possibility that you might once again find yourself in harm's way is that correct yes sob congressman happened in 2004 by guess or excuse me thank you if you consider

leaving the military service at that point no frankly congressman i suffered a light wounds i was fortunate compared to my counterparts in the same vehicle and i returned to duty. i think that i think it may have been that same day that you could have been subjected to additional harm you chose to continue service in uniform i continued to serve in combat for the remaining 10 or 11 months of the tour you know colonel i have to say i find it a rich but incredibly painful irony that within a week of the president contrary to all advice of the senior military officials he pardons those who were convicted of war crimes which was widely decried in the military community within the week of him doing that is engaged in an effort and allies on his behalf including some here today to demean

your record of service in the sacrifice in the contribution you have made indeed sir less than 20 minutes ago the white house officially quoted out of out of context comments referred to earlier by mr morris and your judgment i can only conclude server. that what we thought was just the president as the subject of our deliberations on this inquiry isn't sufficient to capture what's happening here indeed what subject to this inquiry and what is a peril is our constitution in the very values upon which it is space i want to say thank you for your service but you don't thank you doesn't cut it please know however that it comes from the bottom of my heart and i know on the bottoms of the heart of countless other americans thank you for your service or are

you'll back soon jordan thank you mr chairman sunday sunday the speaker of the united states house of representatives called the president of the united states an imposter speaker of the house called the president an imposter guy 63000000 people voted for the guy who want an electoral college landslide the speaker calls and imposture that's what's happened to our country to this congress speaker statement says it all the democrats have never accepted the will of the american people democrats don't trust the american people the american people want to send someone to this town who is willing to shake it up a bit they don't trust that and they have tried to do everything they can to undo what the american people decided on november 8th 2016 have been

out to get the present since the day he was elected a whistle blower's lawyer the whistle blowers legal team said this january 30th 2017 president in office about a week who has started 1st of many steps next sentence impeachment will follow ultimately i guess we're in the final step started. started 3 and a half years ago congressman to leave start of this congress 1st day of congress said it's the president representative green said if we don't impeach him the president got to win reelection we got to do it most importantly most importantly 5 democrat members of this committee voted to move forward with impeachment before the phone call ever happened the truth is tax actually started before

before the inauguration even before the election the ranking member talked about this is opening statement july 26th team f.b.i. opens investigation so-called trump russia coordination collusion which was never there open investigation spied on 2 american citizens associated with the presidential campaign my guess is that's probably never happened in american history but they did it and for 10 months jim comey the f.b.i. investigated the president guess what after 10 months they had nothing and you know why we know that because we depose mr komi last congress he told us they didn't have a thing no matter how consul moeller gets appointed and they do a 2 year 40000000 dollar 19 lawyer on believable investigation and guess what they come back and they got nothing but the democrats don't care so now we get this. depositions in the bunker in the basement of the capitol witnesses who are

allowed to answer questions about who they talk to about the phone call we get this all based on some anonymous whistleblower you know firsthand knowledge biased against the president these facts of never change we learn these right away who work with vice president biden who wrote a memo the day after somebody talked to him about the call waited 18 days to file a complaint in 18 days a fall a complaint what do you do in those 18 days we all know. ran off the top with chairmanship staff and then i have hired a legal team and i just talked about and i just talked about one of the steps in the whole impeachment who asked his legal team has said this is scary what these guys are putting our country through it is it is it is sad it is scary it is wrong

and the good news is the american people see through it all they know the facts are on and we are listening at the moment and watching this ongoing impeachment inquiry into us president donald trump the big 2 witnesses testifying now for some hours being left in the capital alexander then men whose director of european affairs the national security council when jennifer we're doing this he's a foreign service i took vice president paints now both of these people were on the telephone call that it's a hot at the heart of this that was the telephone call in july between president trump and president selenski of you crying both of use would such is unusual or improper and said that they were concerned about the political night at least this inquiry of course is continuing we'll go back to have ensued and frankly i think a lot of others do as well they see what this is this for what it is and they know

this is wrong especially wrong just 11 months before the next election you'll back mr welch thank you. what this hearing is about i think is best stated by colonel van min's opening statement the question before us is this is it improper for the president of the united states to demand a foreign government investigate the united states citizen and political. very well stated. i just listen to mr jordan as you did as well and i heard his criticisms of the process nothing really happened a lot of people are out to get the president i didn't hear an answer to the question as to whether it's proper for the president of the united states to demand a foreign government to investigate a u.s.

citizen and political opponent and to date i haven't heard any one of my republican colleagues address that question colonel vinen ms williams thank you i want to ask some questions that go through the background what's come out during this process is that we had 2 ukraine policies one was bipartisan and longstanding and that was to assist ukraine which had freedoms to free to solve from the domination of russia to fight corruption and to resist russian aggression is that a fair statement earlier than i think that's a fair characterization or from end to give folks a reminder of the extent of correct corruption by the way a legacy of putin's russia russia is it your understanding that when their prior. president mr iana kovac fled to russia into the arms of mr

putin he took with him $30.00 to $40000000000.00 of that impoverished country those there are different estimates but it's on that scale yes vast scale for a poor country and is it your understanding that how our lists but motivated ukrainians rose up in protest to this incredible graft and theft and abuse by their president that is correct and that was. in the may den it was called the may den revolution the revolution of dignity correct correct and young people went into that square in downtown caved in demonstrated for months correct correct and a 100 died 106 young people died in older people died

correct that was and in and in between february 18 2014 in february 2002 is that correct correct 106 died including people who were shot by snipers kids and yana code which had put snipers on the rooftops of buildings to shoot into that square in kill murder slaughter those young people is that your understanding is correct in our bipartisan support by the way i want to say to my republican colleagues a lot of leadership to have this bipartisan support came from your side thank you but our whole commitment was to get rid of corruption and to stop that russian aggression is that correct. that amounts to some of the key pillars that's right and the giuliani soundman in appears trump policy

was not about that it was about investigations into a political opponent correct i'll take that question back we knowing and you know i'll say this to president trump you want to investigate joe biden you out of investigate 100 biden go at it do it do it hard do it dirty do it the way you do do it. just don't do it by asking a foreign leader to help you in your campaign that's your job it's not his my goal in these hearings is 2 things one is to get an answer to colonel vin man's question in the 2nd coming out of this is for us as a congress to return to the ukraine policy that nancy pelosi and kevin mccarthy both support it's not investigations it's the restoration

of democracy in ukraine and the resistance of russian aggression i yield back mr maloney. thank you both for being here. you know lieutenant colonel women this may be one of your 1st congressional hearings like this so. you may not under arrest i. can't blame you for feeling that way sir. particularly when i've been sitting here listening to my republican colleagues you know one of the advantages of being down here at the kids' table get to hear the folks above you. ask their questions and i've been listening closely to my republican colleagues and i've heard them say just about everything except to contradict any of the substantive testimony you've both given you may have noticed there's been a lot of complaints and there's been a lot of insinuations there's been a lot of suggestions maybe that. your service is somehow not not to be

trusted you know you were treated to questions about your loyalty because of some half baked job offer i guess ukrainians made you of course beautifully reported i guess there's a caster's implying maybe you're you've got some dual loyalty which is of course an old smear we've heard many times in our history they try to demean you as though maybe your you've overstated your importance of your job of course you're this guy on the national security council responsible for directing ukrainian policy we've heard them air out some allegations with no basis improve but they just want to get them out there and hope maybe some of those strands of spaghetti i guess will stick on the wall they keep throwing them we even had a member of this committee question this is my favorite question why you would wear your dress uniform today even though that dress uniform includes a badge a brass plate that has a combat infantry badge on it and

a purple heart medal ribbon seems like anybody gets to wear that uniform somebody who's got breast plate with those combinations on it so let's do it again let's do the substance can we do that because we've had a lot of a lot of dust kicked up this williams you heard the call with your own ears right. not 2nd hand not hearsay you heard the president speak you heard his voice on the call correct and your conclusion was what he said about investigating the binds was your words unusual and inappropriate i believe that might be my right as my testimony and mr vandeman you were treated to a july 10th meeting in the white house where you heard ambassador saw online raise investigations conditioning a white house meeting on that investigations that you thought were unduly political i believe that's how you described them and you went to n.s.c. counsel and you reported it right correct and then later you 2 were on the white house call my right you heard it with your own ears correct not secondhand not from

somebody else not hearsay right correct you heard the president's voice on the call i did and you heard him raise that subject again that ambassador song and had raised before about investigating the bidens right i did and i want to ask you when you heard him say that what was the 1st thought that went through your mind frankly i couldn't believe what i was hearing it was probably an element of shock. maybe in certain regards my worst fear about how are you current policy could play out. was playing out how this is likely to have significant implications for 'd us in our security and you want immediately in your ported didn't you i did why because that was my duty you still have your opening statement handy i do read the last paragraph for me again the other one the very last one the 2nd the last one if you read that one again for me 7 the american public deserves to

hear it again. the story start at the one i think my dad would appreciate this one too. bad my sitting here today in the u.s. capitol and talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the soviet union and come here if you didn't need states america in search of a better life for our family do not worry i'll be fine for telling the truth. you realize when you came forward out of sense of duty that you were putting yourself in direct opposition to the most powerful person in the world do you realize that sir i knew i was assuming a lot of risk and i'm shocked by that word don't war that phrase do not warry you dressed your dad was your dad a warrior. he did serve it was a different alter ego and it would have worried if you were putting yourself up against the president and states is that right he deeply worried about it because in his context there was there was the ultimate risk and why do you have confidence

that you can do that and tell your dad not to worry because this is america this is the country i've served and defended that all of my brothers have served and here right it matters thank you sir gilbert thank mr mix. thank you mr chairman 1st of all this williams let me thank you for your service to our nation it it truly matters lieutenant colonel then. i had the honor of speaking to a group of veterans this past weekend and what i said to them was that no words no words are really adequate or sufficient to fully express our gratitude 'd for their service to our nation so lieutenant colonel than men today i

say to you there are no words that are sufficient to fully express our gratitude to you for what you have done for our nation and. amazingly what you are still willing to do for our nation it is vitally important that the american people understand how presidents trump an ethical demand that ukraine deliver a politically motivated investigations in exchange for military assistance created on security risks for our united states of america national security of the president was not just playing a political game by up holding military aid and and meetings with ukraine threatening the hundreds of millions of dollars of military it says that congress had appropriated it has real life consequences for ukraine and for the

usa and you are just a deposition colonel van man you testified and i quote a strong and dependent ukraine is critical to our security interests could you please explain why a strong and dependent ukraine is so critical and why it is so vital to u.s. interests we sometimes refer to korean as our front line state it's on the front line of. europe it's they have actually described to me the ukrainians and that is it is a they treat they consider themselves as a barrier between russian aggression and europe and what i've heard them describe is the need for u.s. support in order to serve this role in order to protect european and western

security. lieutenant colonel this is not just a theoretical conflict between ukraine and russia you've already said this morning that russia is actively fighting to expand into ukraine that ukraine is on a hot rock war with russia right now is that correct it's stable but it's the war and isn't it true lieutenant colonel that even if the security assistance was eventually delivered to ukraine the fact that it was delayed just that fact could signal to russia that the bond between ukraine and the us was weakening that was the concern of myself and my colleagues and was the risks of even the appearance that the u.s. ukraine bond is shaky is that it could embolden russia to act with more aggression would you say that's correct i believe that was my testimony just last month during

an interview president putin joked about interfere in our political elections i can only guess that's what we have become to russia and its president i think he fell in bold and by the presidents reckless actions both attempts to hold critical military aid from ukraine and president trump's effort to blame ukraine not russia for election in a ferentz miss williams and lieutenant colonel then man i can only say that every american regardless of our politics should be critically concerned about that and let me just say this yes we do trust. the american people but you know what the american people trust us to as members of congress to support protect and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies

foreign and domestic and we intend to do just that thank you again for your service mr chairman i yield bank to krishnamurthy good afternoon lieutenant colonel than men and miss williams thank you for your service lieutenant colonel lynn i'm concerned that your loyalty has been questioned not just because you're bringing forward evidence of wrongdoing against the president president of the united states but because you're an immigrant recently fox news host brian kilmeade said he meaning you were born in the soviet union emigrated with his family young he tends to feel simpatico with the ukraine i find this statement reprehensible because it appears that your immigrant heritage is being used against you lieutenant colonel i came to this country when i was 3

months old your family fled the soviet union and moved to america when you were just 3 and a half years old right correct and i understand that your father work multiple jobs while also learning english right correct your father stressed the importance of embracing what it means to be an american correct that is correct all your childhood memories relate to being an american correct that is correct you and your family face difficult times during your childhood correct yes i can relate that's my story too but your father went on to become an engineer right. reestablished himself in his former profession and in the united states. i can relate i got to b.s. and engineering of course some people claim i practice the b.s. part now your father never gave up working hard to build his very own american dream diddy he did know well lieutenant colonel binmen your father achieve the

american dream and so did you and your family from one immigrant american to another immigrant american i want to say to you that you and your family represent the very best of america i assume that you are as proud. to be an american as i am correct yes or. no sir i want to turn your attention to your english sankoh. you called him a disruptive actor in your opening statement correct correct. mr lutes sankoh the former prosecutor general in ukraine has made various claims about various americans right correct you're unaware of any factual basis for his accusations against ambassador given of its right correct he also was a source for an article by john solomon in the hill right that is correct

and you said that key elements of that article as well as his accusations are false right. sankoh is not a credible source correct correct sir the other side claims that there was absolutely no pressure on this july 25th phone call i think that's what we heard earlier right i believe so and you have termed what president trump asked in terms of investigations on that phone call as a demand correct correct and you pointed out the large power disparity between president trump on the one hand and present presidents lenski on the other correct yes there was pressure on that phone call right. the the ukrainians is needed the meeting the ukrainian

subsequently when they found out about it needed the security system so they pressure was brought to bear on them correct i believe so sir colonel denman last week we heard a decorated military veteran namely ambassador bill taylor come before us you interacted regularly with ambassador taylor and you know him to me a man of integrity and he's a patriotic american isn't that right superb individual i asked him bastard taylor a series of questions based on his experience as an infantry commander i asked him quote is an officer allowed to hold up baksh and placing his troops at risk until someone provides them a personal benefit ambassador taylor responded no sir colonel than men do you agree with and master taylor i do i then asked him bastard taylor quote is that because they would be betraying their responsibility to the nation ambassador taylor responded yes or colonel when men do you agree with them bastard taylor or do i

then ask them bastard taylor quote could that type of conduct trigger a court martial ambassador taylor said yes or do you agree with ambassador taylor colonel binman or do thank you for your service. includes a member questioning of representatives your recognize from your concluding remarks . or act want today's circus is over for those of you who have been watching at home the democrats are no closer to impeachment than where they were 3 years ago in the process they. department of justice f.b.i. state department elements within the i.c. the i.c.i. g. have all suffered long term damage the democrats can continue to put to poison the american people with this nonsense we sit here all morning without any evidence for impeachment. which would be a very serious crime high crime and misdemeanors says in the constitution

no such thing policy disagreements and the democrats valure to acknowledge their involvement in the 2016 election i would say it's astonishing but that would be putting too little emphasis on their actions that i yield back the balance of my time thank the gentleman i want to thank. are witnesses today ms williams are over both of you for your service to the country for your testimony here today and i just want to address briefly some of the evidence you presented as well as others of those 4 in the impeachment inquiry 1st of all i want to join my colleagues in thanking you. or all vent men. for your military service. and i should tell you that notwithstanding all of the

questions you got on why did you go talk to your supervisor why didn't you go talk to mr morse and why did you go to the national security lawyer as if there's something wrong with going to the national security lawyer are you aware that we asked mr morrison whether he went to the national security lawyer right after the call and that he did. and or you were also that we asked him well if you had this problem with colonel inman not going to you instead of the lawyer naturally you must have gone to your supervisor and your was the answer was he didn't go to his supervisor either it went directly to the national security council or is i hope my colleagues will give him the same our time for not following his chain of command that he complained about with you apparently. the president may attack you and has others on right wing t.v. might attack you and they have. but i thought you should know and maybe you know already that this is what the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff had to

say about you colonel women is a professional competent patriotic and loyal officer has made an extraordinary contribution to the security of our nation in both peace time and combat i'm sure your dad is proud to hear that. my colleagues have tried to make the argument here today and we've heard it before that the president was just interested in fighting corruption that's our goal fighting corruption in ukraine this terribly corrupt country the problem of course with that is there's no evidence of the president trying to fight corruption the evidence all points in the other direction the evidence points in the direction of the president inviting ukraine to engage in the corrupt act of investigating a u.s. political opponent ambassador you have on of it was known as a strong fighter of corruption so what does the president do he recalls her from

her post and best you have on of it she in fact was at a meeting celebrating other anti corruption fighters including a woman who had acid thrown in her face on the day she was told to get on the next plane back to washington you prepared talking points for the president's 1st conversation was alinsky is supposed to talk about rooting out corruption if this president had such a deep interest in rooting out corruption in ukraine surely he would have brought it up on the call but of course we now know that he did not we then see rudy giuliani not fighting corruption but asking for an investigation of the bidens and my colleagues say well maybe he was acting on his own even though he says he's acting as the president's lawyer maybe was really acting on his own but the 2 investigations. that rudy giuliani wanted come up in the meeting you participated in on july 10th at the white house when a boston basters saw him and brings up the biden's embarrassment 2016 tells the

ukrainians who want that meet in the white house you got to do these investigations now they would say your best respondent was acting on his own but that doesn't quite work either because we have the call record from july 25th which the president was forced to release in which the president doesn't bring up corruption it doesn't say how those any corruption court's going or great work in the rada of course not what does the president say i want to invest the investigate the bidens and this debunk conspiracy theory pushed by vladimir putin that also helps me in my reelection so much for fighting corruption the message to ukraine the real message here crane our u.s. policy messages don't engage in political investigations the message from the president however was the exact opposite doing gauger political investigations and do it for my reelection and it's also made clear they want the white house meeting

and ultimately if they want 400000000 and usaid this is what they have to do the only lament i hear from my colleagues is it wasn't successful they got caught they didn't get the political investigations and they still had to release the money now this them got in the white house meeting but they had to release the money because a whistle blower blew the whistle. whistleblower the president wants to punish and because congress announced it was doing investigations and very soon thereafter the president was forced to lift the hold on the 8 they argue well this makes it this makes it ok that it was a failed effort to bribe ukraine a failed effort to extort ukraine that doesn't make it better it's no less odious because it was discovered and it was stopped and we have courageous people like yourself who come forward who report things who do what they should do who have a sense as you put it kernel of duty of duty. not to the

person of the president but to the presidency and to the country and we thank you for that at the end of the day i think this all comes back to something we heard from another career foreign service officer just last friday in a conversation he overheard with the president in a restaurant in ukraine in which the president not rudy giuliani not anyone else the president states wanted to know are they going to do the investigations this is the day after that july 25th call are they going to do the investigations and he's assured by ambassador silent they're going to do it and what is simon relate to this foreign service officer if he hangs up that call the president doesn't give a expletive about ukraine he only cares about the big things that help his personal interests that's all you need to know

and it isn't just about ukraine course ukraine is fighting our fight against the russians against their expansionism that's our fight too that's our fight to at least we thought so in a bipartisan basis that's our fight too that's why we support ukraine with the military aid that we have. well the president may not care about it but we do we care about our defense we care about the defense of our allies and we do our well care about our constitution we were joined. the police asked the the audience to allow the witnesses and the members who have to go vote to leave 1st. who is now concludes this session of the placement inquiry of u.s. president donald trump 2 witnesses that being to testify in here for the past few

hours lieutenant general alexander even men and jennifer williams now both will listening in on donald trump's phone call to ukraine's president in july which is at the high of this inquiry both of testified that his request to ukraine to investigate the bidens was improper. now much of the questioning revolved around who the 2 witnesses might have spoken to particularly lieutenant colonel then been who said that he'd spoken to someone in the intelligence community now during the hearing house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff had to interrupt those questions to protect protect potentially the whistleblowers identity you're here to answer questions and you're here under subpoena. so you can either answer the question or you can plead the 5th on behalf of my client we're following the will of the committee the rule of the

chair with regard to this issue and this does not call for an answer that is invoking the 5th or any theoretical issue like that following the ruling of the chair what counts or what ruling is that i could interject counsel is correct was a blow or has the right statutory right to anonymity these proceedings will not be used out the whistleblower. let's go now to joe tester who's on capitol hill and there are 3 words really during that testimony one is improper unusual and political tell you just threw it so i thought. right in all of those adjectives you just said stan were used by today's witnesses to describe their reaction to hearing the phone call in july when trump asked the president of ukraine to open investigations into trump's political adversaries in the u.s. and today's 2 witnesses were both national security experts on ukraine and the

narrative that they laid out is this they said prior to that phone call there was a meeting at the white house between ukrainian and u.s. officials in which the ukrainians were explicitly told that they had to provide this investigation or else their president a lot of years olinsky would not be invited to the white house something that he deeply coveted then of course we have the phone call in itself in which the lewinsky still at the time not knowing that there was also $400000000.00 of security aid that was being withheld he thinks trump for helping ukraine in its defense against russia and trump responds asking for a favor those investigations into joe biden and the democrats then you fast forward a little over a month when then it's explicitly communicated to ukrainian aides that it's not only the white house meeting that is being leveraged for this investigation to the bidens but also that security aide that asked made by ordered song when the u.s.

ambassador to the e.u. these are things that the witnesses today testified to and but and you can see that the president has denied that there was any sort of link between the security aide and the investigations and republicans rather than focusing on evidence that would prove the president right and that they're focusing attacks on the process as you just heard trying to discredit the whistleblower and attacking today's witnesses as well saying they refuse to answer questions about the whistleblowers identity when of course u.s. law protects that person's identity from being made open to the public. how do you think you're going to go to white house correspondent kimberly hellcat who's going to join us now that the republicans on this committee the attitude was really summed up by devon is the ranking republican of the embry said act one of today's circus is all of the strategy here kimberly is to ridicule least we've seen this

from donald trump attack the witnesses is it in the fictive strategy. well they would argue that they're really in essence they have been relegated to the strategy because they make they argue meant that the democrats who are in control of the house of representatives have not permitted all of their witnesses have not always permitted them to ask the line of questioning that you would typically see in a normal sort of due process trial so that's the counter argument in all of this and when you talk about the circus or the drum or the performance well all of these republicans are performing for an audience of one we do know the u.s. president donald trump despite saying in the past that he hasn't bothered to watch these hearings this time came out forcefully saying he is watching very carefully he did continue to attack the process as unfair as his republican congressman colleagues have done as well as well as

a female congresswoman but he also believed that they were doing genuinely a good job. but you have a kangaroo court there is but i have little shifty ship where we don't have lawyers we don't have with issues we don't have anything and yet i just got to watch and the republicans are absolutely killer again they are doing so well because it's just been just to big scale they're doing something that the founders never thought possible in the founders didn't want and they using this impeachment hoax for put their own political gain at the argument that has been made is that what democrats have been trying to do is undo the results of the 2016 u.s. election that well this is the 1st impeachment inquiry there how been votes in the past on the floor of the house of representatives to impeach the president dating back to the very 1st years of his presidency so now moving forward the argument also is is the impact this is having on the president's health not only is he

undergoing this now pitchman inquiry but prior to that it was the probe into whether or not his $26000.00 campaign colluded with russia under special counsel robert muller that in fact these concerns about the president's health the impact on it reached a bit of a crescendo over the weekend on saturday when he went to the hospital and this was not put on the public calendar for the president speculating in fact that he may have had some harsh chest pains potentially a heart attack while the u.s. president talked about that as well from inside the white house once again discrediting the media as he has from the beginning day one of his presidency saying that the press is sick and dangerous a corrupt media i hope they get their act together also assuring the public that he was completely fine. kelly thank you for that let's discuss this further now with geoffrey kemp a service who is the director of political studies going and center and author of rule and ruin the downfall of moderation and destruction of the republican party he

joins us from washington d.c. nice to have you with us both of these witnesses were on in on the july telephone call between president trump and president selenski both of them raised concerns and took those concerns to a high level i want to get your assessment of what you heard today the quality and the strength of their evidence in the credibility of the 2 witnesses i think both witnesses came across as credible on the other hand i'm not sure it matters in the broad political theater that has become the impeachment hearings one of the phenomena about political life in united states right now is that it has become intensely tribal and if you are part of one tribe you see almost anything the other side is doing as false and wrong and harmful to the country and in that sense it doesn't matter how credible the witnesses were republicans are bound and determined to see them as part of a deep state conspiracy against the president and therefore they simply won't

credit anything that they say and to that end questions were directed specifically at them and their credibility both if they would never trump isn't particularly the tenet turnover in been questioned about his links to ukraine about a job offer to become defense minister in ukraine questions about whether he had leaked information all of this trying to discredit him to what extent is that an effective strategy in terms of playing to that that hard core republican base who see this as a democratic conspiracy. i think it probably is effective on the part of republicans to paint these witnesses as part of a deep state plot and i think that they would be blamed by not only the president but by the base if they didn't put up a kind of ferocious argument against the entire proceedings however there's a bigger question as to how this will play out politically in the long run whether

in fact attacking immigrants whether attacking naturalized citizens of foreign backgrounds whether attacking people who have fought and bled in the service of their country in the united states military will backfire on the republicans politically there was something else that was rise to die and that is the allegations that the hot this the allegations against joe biden's son hunter and his connections to the energy company a new crime which really so much of this really revolves around but most of the witnesses said that there is potentially an appearance of a conflict of interest and questions arise again about where the hunter biden should i should be forced to testify he what's your thoughts on that you know i think there's no doubt that it looks bad to a large segment of the american people when the offspring of prominent politicians get a cushy job for which they are evidently qualified. and these suspicions are raised

manifold when it's a job with a foreign company. particularly in a state known for corruption like ukraine. on the other hand there have been no independently verified allegations that 100 biden did anything wrong that he broke any laws whatsoever whether of the united states or the ukraine or that joe biden has had any kind of toward action with regard to the brim of the company that employed his son or the ukrainian government so i think the attempt on the part of the republicans here is to create the appearance that where there's smoke there must be fire if this looks a little bad if this looks maybe a little unethical it probably was even unlawful to free up a service appreciate you joining us on the program thank you thank you moving on now amnesty international says at least 106 people have been killed during your runs fuel protests much higher than the government's estimate the official toll is

116 demonstrators and 5 security forces in the past 5 days but amnesty says it has credible reports backing its. iran's supreme leader the home and i now says the protests were not carried out by the people he says i've been a security matter and i've quote pushed back the enemy the cost of fuel soared on friday when the government cut subsidies and announced rationing bahraini is amnesty international's research on iran and human rights and she joins us now by skype from london so just take us through this about these protests and what you're hearing if. hello again formation that be have to be and that be have all taint 340 people patterned off on northward killings across the country the happed out here in new york for at least 106 cases of it's a $21.00 is across the country how their belief that it really anon there may be

much higher yet even that it's not in your total. block on access to it and this is of course at their leverage a template in your inventory teeth to restrict the flow of information and will it lead crackdown to the. list is saying that it has credible reports backing that estimate what those reports what are you basing that estimate on. v. have tangs and information from ivy on the ground and a new dish on human rights activists inside the country who are all creaking and they're very difficult to form sentences as well as giuliani's and independent human rights and there's up side the country has been boy king tirelessly to gather information and but. they're off to 'd a skid and they have interviewed these in the they join in or are there to ascertain to create the ability and you know i believe just the formation that they

have provided us of course. if i'm doing the x. if iran is going to lift that ban on access to the eternity he can access the family to the kids and i think more information about the sequence that is leading to that helped a lot once the information that be received so far such as that in a pattern cause consistent past practices security forces are even refusing to return the bodies of money off to us kids to their families or are forcing companies to bury their loved ones on their watch their consensus and the top time in the pendant autopsy and between the presence of security officers and this is of course again international law on a sunday or a speech calling for either pendent issuance at autopsies in cases of potential on off with kings and as you say against international law and you calling for independent investigation into this the united nations has raised its own deep concern it says that the iranian security forces use of live ammunition in these

protests but where does this go to from here right now as you cite getting the iranians to release the information to lift those controls on the internet is one thing but what what more pressure can be brought to bear here. it is very important at this point that the u.s. and its and the e.u. i'm in need be joined as states across the board hold that they a not guilty icon for these. a vault unlawful killing that they are carrying out in the country it is a problem of systemic impunity in need on board in the current protests that we've seen i've been at the in previous protests a security force to force to enjoy complete impunity for on lawful killings and they've never been held to account unfortunately the statements that top officials at the recent days including the supreme leader it is the den and the head off digit this year to have given a green light to the security forces to come to new that bloodshed and that is

lloyd's and very crucial that the international community a step scene calls on you want to end their crackdown on also air to iran to if not independent u.n. experts to visit the country needs it hospitals and defense incentives and give a more. fair picture it will at least happening dozens of. hundreds of injuries actually have been imported and i'm quoting to state media over one house and i restore a situation of people in detention and also a very concerning given patterns of torture and treatment in young prisons rob or any thank you so much for diffusers on. soldiers in burundi have been killed in what the defense ministry is describing is the largest attack in use dozens more missing after the jungle ambushed north of the commercial capital region bhura towards the border with rwanda no group has claimed responsibility. swedens dropped

a ripe investigation into wiki leaks founder julian assange citing a lack of evidence the 48 year old australian is in british police custody since being dragged from ecuador was embassy in london in april he had been holed up there for almost 7 years to avoid extradition. a standoff between police and protesters at a hong kong university appears to be ending police had surrounded the campus and were arresting anyone who left it's unclear how many people are still inside the campus or authorities say they've arrested more than a 1000 people on a number of charges a leader has condemned protesters who threw petrol bombs and fire at a police and of course you can see more on our website that's w w w dot. com that's it for me for this news hour the be no more news in just a myth. stranded

8 long years on the su is canal. creating their own community and economy it was you know president bush used you go when you made al-jazeera world tells the tale of 14 cargo vessels accidentally caught up in the arab israeli conflict it was quite a surprise to find myself in right in the middle of a war through the sailors whose ships of the desert sands the yellow fleet on al-jazeera. there is room growing in a very short time to be

a trusted news source wherever you are in the world he really want to know what's going on there and you find out very quickly when i look at the news some nations prison. we are probably international everybody will learn something watching our coverage. be shown that we can be the best international news and mistrust and source of stories that people actually can't find elsewhere and that's going to continue. 50 years ago britain forcibly removed the inhabitants of the struggle haven and leased it to the u.s. military. for 5 decades geragos islanders have preserved their culture in exile and they're now escalating their struggle to return home. was at their feet still lies in the hands of their colonisers. another paradise i witnessed a documentary on a just see it oh. oh

. 2 key witnesses described donald trump's july 25th phone call with ukraine's president as improper and unusual as they appeared before the impeachment inquiry is improper for the president of the united states to demand a foreign government investigate a u.s. citizen and a political opponent. in our intake of this is al jazeera live from london also coming up more than a 100 people killed in protests across 21 iranian cities one rights group warns the toll could be much higher. just hours.